It is cold in my backyard, therefore global warming isn't real.It is that sort of quite natural human (ego-centric) perspective that contributes to the difficulty that many face in comprehending climate change and global warming. Of course, this difficulty is exacerbated by those who actively distort, seeking to emphasize "cold" records while failing to discuss "hot" records.
Even honest and truthful reporting can lead to confusion, remembering that far too many people have a hard time looking past what they can see from their front porch (even if they can another country from that porch ...).
We find it hard, in part, to comprehend something as large (and, by human terms, gradual) as climate change for, among other reasons,
down and the weatherman begins to talk of breaking cold records, the global warming deniers and self-proclaimed "skeptics" flock and smirk and declare 'proof' that climate change is not occurring (and, absurdly, ready and willing to speak of impending ice age). Simply put, these comments are based on deceit, data cherry-picking, and conveniently forgetting that around the globe, from America to Australia to the Arctic to ...., each decade is seeing more hot temperature records than cold temperature records.
This tendency for "it's cold here" to lead to a raft of climate skepticism creates sensitivity. Thus, reading something like this on Saturday raised 
hackles even if it's basically truthful information.
Baby, it is cold outside:
By the end of the weekend, 180 million Americans may shiver through record-setting cold.
The unyielding cold spell gripping much of the nation was expected to hang on tight over the weekend, though some areas that saw snowfall during the week were expected to have drier weather.And the big picture? By the end of the weekend, 180 million Americans may shiver through record-setting cold. Sixty percent of Americans will see and feel temperatures 15 to 30 degrees below normal.
This article begs a question: What is "the big picture"?
Again, there is a 'framing' problem in discussing the "it's cold in my backyard, how can the globe be warming"-type discussions. As we're aware, US culture is incredibly inward-looking. Thus, "record-setting cold" in the US has this subtext, for many Americans: "Global warming is likely BS."
A bigger picture ...
There is a context for the US cold streak.
It is not just that US temperatures have been going up decade-to-decade, on average, even if there are occasional (very) cold snaps.
It isn't just that weather isn't climate (see Richard Stuebi's Feb., 2009 HuffPost piece).
It isn't just that a location / area (the United States) or an isolated time period (today) isn't necessarily representative of a global phenomena occurring over time (Global Warming / climate change).
But, it is also that while North America and much of western and northern Europe and Russia are cold, much of the rest of the world is unusually hot.
Thus, While Americans (and Brits, and (northern) French, and Swedes and Russians...) froze,
Temperature records were seen across Bulgaria on the first day of the new year, marking the second day in a row with unusually warm weather, the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) announced on January 1.Thermometers soared to 22,4 centigrade in the Northern town of Veliko Tarnovo, an absolute record for the season. It was also hot in Varna, Burgas, Ahtopol, Blagoevgrad, Dragoman, which saw temperatures ranging between 17-22 centigrade. In the capital Sofia the mercury zoomed to 17,3 centigrade, beating the record from 1971 when it reached 16 centigrade.
Puerto Ricans roastedAnother record high temperature was reached at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in San Juan on January 5th, 2010. At 1:29 pm, the temperature reached 89F, which tied the record high temperature for January 5th, set back in 1980. This marks the third record high temperature of the new year in San Juan, PR.
The "bigger picture," at least when it comes to climate change, doesn't stop at the border and doesn't encompass just one weekend.
Oh, by the way, some journalists get it right. The title to one AP story: Experts: Cold Snap Doesn't Disprove Global Warming . And ABC had No, the Cold Does Not Mean No Global Warming. For another view of the current weather situation from a more global ("bigger picture") perspective, see Lou Grinzo, The Cost of Energy, The Arctic Oscillation, Again. Hat-tip to Lou for calling attention to the graphic below. See the red zones? Greenland at 50 degrees in January with much of the Arctic colored red; much of the US, Europe, and northern Asia are blue.
For a related item, see Fire and Ice.
Follow A. Siegel on Twitter: www.twitter.com/A_Siegel
Then, scientists come up with something like global warming, and all of the sudden people don't believe or trust in science or scientists any more. Just because it doesn't match up nicely with their particular political beliefs or somebody on Fox News told them what to think. WTF?
Do these people think their cell phones and their computers were developed by magic, or what?
By the way, about attacking models (as part of this): there are elements of every day life that are "modeled", from how many cashiers are at the supermarket checkout line to timing lights on the road to air control systems.
People put their lives in the hands of "models" all the time yet, when it comes to climate, "the models are wrong". (By the way, they have been wrong -- they have been consistently over optimistic: http://getenergysmartnow.com/2007/03/19/optimists-or-pessimists-what-is-it-with-those-ipcc-types/)
Semper fi
First, the world is not flat.
The sun isn't like a table lamp that shines above the whole table(or the earth) equally. Certain area's get more sun depending on the season and the tilt of the earth (which is a sphere). When it's winter in the northern hemisphere, it's summer in the southern hemisphere, because at this time the southern hemisphere is tilted more toward the sun. So, even with global warming there will still be some sort of season, depending on which hemisphere is tilted more toward the sun.
( So, in baby language, when the top of the sphere(baseball like thing) is closer to the light it's hotter, and then the bottom is further away, so it's colder.)
Basically, what global warming is saying, sort of, is that when we are tilted closer to the sun, it will be extraordinarily hotter, because the shield that cools down the suns rays is getting thinner and in some areas disappearing. So more of the suns rays can get in. Think like an Ice cream cone with a hard chocolate coating, put it under a light the chocolate will start to melt away, but not necessarily the ice cream underneath, it's not until the chocolate is half melted or all melted that the ice cream starts to melt.
So, it seems you are asserting that the sun is the only factor in global warming and climate change?
And, if your description is accurate, why (look at the graphic provided above) is the Arctic and Greenland (far) warmer than normal since "the top of the sphere (baseball like thing" ... is further away [and should be] colder"?
Sadly, I don't think that you meant this as a joke.
There's obviously more to global warming to that. This is how it was described to me when I was 5. Since, I'm treating them like children I thought I'd use the same example. You never over complicate things with children, it's all about motivating them.
Joke, Sarcasm, should I print it out for you.
The windfarms in Great Britain are providing only 0.2 percent of the energy being consumed in Great Britain right now. Without coal, gas and nuclear power, the British people would frozen.
Evidently, for you, areas like the Arctic and Greenland are not part of the Arctic circle?
i can't believe you finally got it lol.. say have you seen this:
The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists.. like Mojib Latif of the IPCC. The scientists’ predictions undermine the standard climate computer models, which assert that the warming of the Earth since 1900 has been driven solely by man-made greenhouse gas emissions and will continue as long as carbon dioxide levels rise. This challenge to the widespread view that the planet is on the brink of an irreversible catastrophe is all the greater because these scientists.. like Mojib could never be described as global warming ‘deniers’ or sceptics.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1242011/DAVID-ROSE-The-mini-ice-age-starts-here.html
You did not get enough abuse for citing The Daily Mail as a respectable source?
You think posting that link here makes your mindless position stronger?
You are a perfect illustration of what is wrong with this debate. Solid science, reasonable models, cautious predictions and love for our fellow humans can often be negated, with the help of a media looking to profit off denier rhetoric, by purely irrational and emotional claims of conspiracy.
The AVERAGE surface GLOBAL temperature for 2009 is in also. It is still rising.
This is all documented and explained quite well at:
http://global-warming.accuweather.com/.