An blast of ice-cold wind and snow is slamming the Midwest. Some forecasts show parts of Illinois and Minnesota could reach a wind chill of -60 degrees Fahrenheit — as cold as Antarctica. And businesses and schools are shutting down as the weather poses a hazard to human life.
And President Donald Trump decided to use this moment to deny climate change:
Once again, Trump is confusing weather with climate — the temperature outside in a given place at a given time says nothing about global temperature trends. In fact, cold snaps like this are predicted to get more common as the planet gets warmer, because the energy loss from melting Arctic sea ice disrupts the "polar vortex" that traps cold air at the North Pole, allowing freezing winds to migrate to lower latitudes. None of this, however, seems to be reaching the same man who once called global warming a hoax by the Chinese.
Social media was quick to leap on Trump's latest show of ignorance: