No. A single cold snap in the US can’t disprove global warming any more than a record heat wave in Australia can prove that it’s happening.
Global warming refers to the rise in the average temperature of the Earth’s climate system. The Earth is a big place. It can be cold in one part and warm in another. The relevant metric here is the long-term trends for the whole planet.
It’s also worth noting that global warming won’t abolish cold weather — at least not anytime soon. Many climate models suggest we’ll still see record cold snaps in the United States as the planet heats up. They’ll just become less frequent over time — while record heat waves will become increasingly common. Like so:
Record high and record low temperatures set in the US each decade:
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/assets/4201307/UCAR-record-temps-USA.png)
That’s a picture of a nation that’s clearly getting warmer and warmer overall — but still experiences plenty of cold.
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What is global warming?
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How do we know global warming is real?
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How do we know humans are causing global warming?
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Where do greenhouse gas emissions come from?
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How has global warming affected the world so far?
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How high will global temperatures rise?
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What impacts will global warming have in the future?
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What is sea-level rise?
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What is ocean acidification?
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Is it “dangerous” to have more than 2°C of global warming?
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What happens if the world heats up more drastically — say, 4°C?
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How do we stop global warming?
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Can’t we just adapt to global warming?
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What are the UN climate talks?
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What is geoengineering?
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Did climate change cause today’s awful weather?
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What is climate skepticism?
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Has global warming slowed down recently?
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What else should I be reading about global warming?
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