To the Journal editor:

Oof da!, that was a cold one. Global warming?

Yup, if you weren’t in your long johns the last couple of weeks, you probably aren’t going to need them. Across North America we even broke a couple cold weather records. An individual even tweeted that global warming is a hoax.

Unfortunately, even if this cooling was a global phenomenon lasting a few years, it would not qualify as a proof that climate change is a hoax. Mother Earth has simply been warming too long and too fast.

And, if we exam the term “global warming” we are obliged to exam the whole earth. If one examines the global data during our cold snap it is frightening. The whole continent of North America makes up only 4.8 percent of the earth’s surface.

Central America, Mexico, the U.S., Canada, and Alaska make up less than 5 percent of the earth’s surface. During our cold snap about half of North America was experiencing below normal temps.

For the most part, the rest of the earth was normal, too warm, too hot. For every cold spot like us, the earth had at least 20 warm-to-hot spots. Despite our nasty weather, the earth overall was still .9-degree F above average. Mother Earth is still running a potent fever. In fact, the 1950s were the last time there were equal warm vs. cold records. Since then we have been experiencing twice as many hot day records vs. cold day records.

It is nice to know that we in the north country still need our long underwear. But, that should not lull us into forgetting we are in the age of extreme climate consequences. Consequences we can mitigate if we choose.

Greyson Morrow

Wakefield