2023 - A (Cold!) Year in Review
If you had your hand on the Earth's thermostat, which way would you turn it?
‘‘If we do indeed have custody over the Earth’s average temperature, should we not be thinking just a little bit more carefully about which direction to take it in?’’
DISCLAIMER: I believe that an imbalance in weather reporting reinforces the false impression that we are accelerating towards a cow-fart and coal-induced climate catastrophe. So in order to provide some balance, I intentionally focus on cold-related weather events from around the world.
The Year in Review
During 2023 there came numerous ‘hottest month on record’ claims. The year as a whole will almost certainly be declared as ‘the hottest ever’, if it hasn’t been already.
But in spite of such claims, there have been no shortage of local stories telling of low temperature records, bumper ski seasons, frost-induced crop failures, travel disruptions, and sadly, the all-too-often loss of life that often goes hand-in-hand with such extreme conditions.
I have selected one example of a record breaking cold or snow event from each month of 2023 to give you a taste of just how widespread such stories are.
The following list shows those country’s whose wintery-weather stories made the cut:
China
USA
Martinique
Greenland
Pakistan
Belarus
South Africa
French Polynesia
Antarctica
India
Denmark
Russia
Keep on scrolling to see each month’s highlight from 2023, and keep going to the very end to read my final weather-related thoughts for the year!
Final Thoughts for 2023…
Throughout history human society has thrived during periods of relative warmth.
Conversely, the cold kills - and in far greater proportions than heat, and in every continent on Earth.
So when you research the countless examples of cold weather extremes from around the world as I do, you can’t help but ask yourself the question;
‘‘If we do indeed have custody over the Earth’s average temperature, should we not be thinking just a little bit more carefully about which direction to take it in?’’
If the use of fossil fuels, for example, can increase the Earth’s average temperature as we are told they can, then for the good of humanity wouldn’t it be reasonable to request that our leaders meet and discuss how we might sensibly increase their use, rather than phasing them out?
(And that’s without even considering the obvious, society-changing benefits that the provision of cheap, plentiful energy provides us with.)
To quote fossil fuel advocate, philosopher and author Alex Epstein:
‘‘Our use of fossil fuels hasn’t made a naturally safe environment more dangerous, we’ve actually made a naturally dangerous environment more safe.’’ Alex Epstein, Author of Fossil Future
Hmmm, food for thought!
Be Careful out there!
I hope you’ve found my (cold) weather reviews of 2023 informative! I hope to keep bringing you highlights in 2024, but I might play around with the format a little bit to help keep the editing (and reading!) time down a bit.
So enjoy the holiday season…
…and remember to wrap up warm!
-T