President Donald Trump on Wednesday once again called into question whether climate change was real.
‘Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS – Whatever happened to Global Warming?’ the president tweeted late Wednesday.
Trump was referring to the Arctic blast which will drive temperatures into the twenties throughout the Northeast United States this Thanksgiving holiday.
Boston may endure the coldest Thanksgiving on record.
A forecast high of 21 degrees Fahrenheit would break the record of 24 degrees Fahrenheit set on Thanksgiving Day in 1901.
On Wednesday, light snow will fall in New York, though it is not expected to stick, while a couple of inches will likely accumulate in Boston.
Wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour could affect Thanksgiving parades in the Northeast, including the world-famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City, but not travel itself.
Trump came into office after an election campaign in which he claimed that climate change was a ‘Chinese hoax’.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday once again called into question whether climate change was real. ‘Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS – Whatever happened to Global Warming?’ the president tweeted late Wednesday
Trump was referring to the weather forecast for this weekend, which calls for record low temperatures throughout the Northeast
One of Trump’s biggest decisions since becoming president last year was withdrawing from the Paris Accords, an agreement in which 196 countries committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump has also appointed officials to government posts who are on record as denying climate change.
Earlier this month, as parts of California were devoured by two deadly and fast-moving wildfires that killed dozens, Trump blamed the blazes on ‘gross mismanagement of the forests’ while dismissing the role of climate change.
Trump in the past has blamed environmental regulations for fires in California and promoted tree clearing to stop blazes.
Last week, he took to Twitter again, saying, ‘There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor.’
The president was pilloried by firefighters and California Governor Jerry Brown, whose spokesman called Trump ‘uninformed.’
Nearly 60 percent of California’s 33 million acres of forests are under federal control, Trump’s critics said, noting the importance of climate change in causing more frequent and destructive fires.
With a warming climate, rising temperatures and an increase in dry conditions in already-dry areas lead to a higher likelihood of drought.
During an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes last month, Trump somewhat backed off his climate change denial, though he said he did not know if it was man-made.
Trump said he does not want to put the U.S. at a disadvantage in responding to climate change.
‘I think something’s happening. Something’s changing and it’ll change back again,’ he said.
‘I don’t think it’s a hoax. I think there’s probably a difference. But I don’t know that it’s manmade. I will say this: I don’t want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don’t want to lose millions and millions of jobs.’
Earlier this month, as parts of California were devoured by wildfires that killed dozens, Trump blamed the blazes on ‘gross mismanagement of the forests’ while dismissing the role of climate change. A view of Paradise, California is seen above last Thursday
Trump called climate change a hoax in November 2012 when he sent a tweet stating, ‘The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.’
He later said he was joking about the Chinese connection, but in years since has continued to call global warming a hoax.
‘I’m not denying climate change,’ he said in the interview. ‘But it could very well go back. You know, we’re talking about over a … millions of years.’
Temperature records kept by Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that the world has not had a cooler-than-average year since 1976 or a cooler-than-normal month since the end of 1985.
Trump also expressed doubt over scientists’ findings linking the changing climate to more powerful hurricanes.
‘They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael,’ said Trump, who identified ‘they’ as ‘people’ after being pressed by 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl.
She asked, ‘What about the scientists who say it’s worse than ever?’
The president replied, ‘You’d have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda.’
Trump’s comments came just days after a Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a warning that global warming would increase climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth.
The report detailed how Earth’s weather, health and ecosystems would be in better shape if the world’s leaders could somehow limit future human-caused warming.