A Snow Job
A few years ago in the month of January, a friend said that she was going to Arizona in a couple of weeks where her husband would be attending a conference. After a harsh beginning to a more northerly winter, she said she couldn’t wait to get into some warmth. I asked her what part of the state they would be going to. She advised that it was Flagstaff.
I informed her that she may want to take a little geography lesson and that she might wish to bring her skis rather than golf clubs. Her heart sank as I told her that the town of Flagstaff was almost 7,000 feet in elevation and, with a mountain peak over 12,000 feet, Arizona Snowbowl in the San Francisco Peaks is a favorite ski destination. The ski season can extend well into April, but with surplus snows, like this past year, Cinco de Mayo ski celebrations can be held on the upper reaches of the Arizona Gondola.
This brings to mind another favorite snow story. Referring to McLean, Virginia, about a one-half hour drive northwest of Washington, DC, home of many in the US congress, Robert Kennedy Jr., in a Los Angeles Times Op-Ed, wrote “Recently arrived residents in the northern suburbs, accustomed to today’s anemic winters, might find it astonishing to learn that there were once ski runs on Ballantrae Hill in McLean, with a rope tow and local ski club. Snow is so scarce today that most Virginia children probably don’t own a sled.” He further mentions in years previous tobogganing with his father Robert and Uncle John – such a name-dropper.
He wrote this in 2008, but with the abundance of cold, snowy weather in all the of northeastern and mid-eastern United States winters since, I see he has removed the article from his own blog website, but it still remains with the LA Times.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate (IPCC) 2007 report said that the Himalayas, the highest mountains on earth, could be glacier free by 2035 – that’s a mere 13 years from now. The IPCC admitted a colossal error, stating it should have read 2350 and was a typo, but when researched, the date actually came from a World Wildlife Fund donation campaign and was indeed 2035 on their documentation – so much for the valid peer review process, not to mention a little prudent proof-reading. However, if an assumed fact irrespective of veracity or validity seems to promote anthropogenic climate change, the fear-mongers and political left use it – and in the case of the World Wildlife Fund scare tactics produce additional donations and taxpayer funding.
In the linked article from 2014 and 2022, the climate alarmist New York Times also printed an article on the end of snow and the likely closure and bankruptcy of ski resorts. As this linked paper states, utilizing satellite measurements, the Rutgers University Global Snow Lab (GSL) maintains data on global and continental snow cover from the 1960s to current. Here are those statistics:
In his explanation of the chart meteorologist Anthony Watts says, “. . . the massive amounts of snow that occurred in the U.S. in the 1970s, when global temperatures plummeted, and scientists were warning of a new ice age.” and “With the ski operators booming, and seeing “no slowdown in sight,” it becomes clear that the media-stoked fears of “climate change is ruining your ski holiday” are nothing more than a snow job.”
As one can see a weather deviation in one event or one year to the climate advocate means the certitude of anthropogenic climate change and it must be loudly broadcast despite inaccuracy or falsity.