{"id":425741,"date":"2026-02-11T20:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=425741"},"modified":"2026-02-11T20:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:12:13","slug":"right-new-york-times-scientists-do-disagree-on-the-polar-vortex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=425741","title":{"rendered":"Right, New York Times, Scientists Do Disagree on The Polar Vortex"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Diagram<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Climate Realism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Linnea Lueken<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A recent article in The<\/em> New York Times<\/em> (NYT) \u201cWhat\u2019s Up With This Big Freeze? Some Scientists See Climate Change Link\u201d<\/a> describes different perspectives of climate scientists regarding winter cold extremes. Some scientists are claiming based on climate model projections that global warming is making extreme cold snaps worse, others point out that that data does not support those claims. The latter are correct, long-term trend data points towards a clear decline in extreme cold rather than any increase in polar breakouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saying this perspective is held by only \u201csome scientists\u201d is a step in the right direction for the NYT. It is certainly a more honest take than last week\u2019s firm declaration that \u201cclimate change is fueling extremes, both hot and cold,\u201d which\u00a0Climate Realism<\/em>\u00a0debunked<\/a>\u00a0with well-established weather data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NYT reports that at least one scientist, Dr. Cohen from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says \u201cclimate warming in the Arctic is causing this disruption of the polar vortex,\u201d which leads to breakouts of extreme cold from the Arctic, brought south by the polar jet stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The polar vortex theory is unfounded in historical evidence. The theory isn\u2019t new, climate alarmists have fearmongered about a \u201cdestabilizing\u201d polar jet stream for years, and data has long existed that refutes it. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wrote<\/a> after a February 2021 cold snap that \u201con average, winters are warmer and cold extremes are less likely than they were a century ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate Realism<\/em> has covered the polar vortex\/jet stream issue several times, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>, and the evidence has not become stronger since those posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NYT recovered a modicum of credibility by acknowledging a handful of other perspectives, saying \u201cnot all scientists agree.\u201d The authors quote other expert research scientists saying the models and papers published by Cohen and his collaborators are \u201coften not that convincing,\u201d because \u201clong-term temperature trends and climate models show the exact opposite[.]\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another scientist interviewed explained \u201c[w]hat the data shows is that these cold extremes are getting less extreme, and they will continue to get less extreme,\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s difficult to link a given weather event, such as a cold spell, to climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this is absolutely true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publicly available data looking at deadly cold snaps in the United States show they are becoming less frequent over time, not more. Winters in the 1890s, 1910s, and 1970s were significantly worse than they are today. (See figure below)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Line<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If climate change was causing more polar vortex instability, we would not see a trend towards fewer cold extremes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where the NYT fails in this article is where they insist with no nuance that \u201cwarming has been largely driven by the burning of oil, gas and coal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alarmists say this like a mantra in just about every article that touches on the weather or climate issues, and it\u2019s just as unverified as the claims that the NYT cited asserting that climate change is making the polar vortex less stable. There is no legitimate scientific consensus<\/a> that the modest warming of the past century is either largely driven by fossil fuel use or threatens catastrophic consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a lot of debate and nuance with regard to these issues that The<\/em> New York Times\u2019<\/em> readers would probably benefit from hearing about, if only the paper would provide balanced coverage of the issue, as it did in this article on the polar vortex and cold weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent article in\u00a0The\u00a0New York Times\u00a0(NYT) \u201cWhat\u2019s Up With This Big Freeze? Some Scientists See Climate Change Link\u201d\u00a0describes different perspectives of climate scientists regarding winter cold extremes. Some scientists are claiming based on climate model projections that global warming is making extreme cold snaps worse, others point out that that data does not support those claims. The latter are correct, long-term trend data points towards a clear decline in extreme cold rather than any increase in polar breakouts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":425748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the debate on the polar vortex and climate change in this article, analyzing conflicting scientific perspectives on extreme cold events.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Polar Vortex Insights: Debunking Cold Weather Claims","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI2XC8wMlwvMFNjcmVlbnNob3QtMjAyNi0wMi0xMS0yMDEwMjgtMTAyNHg1NzYucG5nIiwidHh0IjoiUmlnaHQsIE5ldyBZb3JrIFRpbWVzLCBTY2llbnRpc3RzIERvIERpc2FncmVlIG9uIFRoZSBQb2xhciBWb3J0ZXgiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTU1ODEyNDQ5fQ.wg-QyLkLRWEEHlBCRPJLjo1mQBfjjBlV1g6FynLc-SMMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691828507,691818087,691836149,691821637,691841337,691841338],"class_list":{"0":"post-425741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-climate-model-projections","10":"tag-global-warming","11":"tag-polar-jet-stream","12":"tag-polar-vortex","13":"tag-the-new-york-times-nyt-3","14":"tag-winter-cold-extremes","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0Screenshot-2026-02-11-201028.png?fit=1667%2C937&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1MKN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":425227,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=425227","url_meta":{"origin":425741,"position":0},"title":"False, New York Times, Climate Change Doesn\u2019t Cause Both Extreme Heat and Extreme Cold","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/02\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The recent New York Times (NYT) article \u201cClimate Change Is Fueling Extremes, Both Hot and Cold\u201d by David Gelles claims that global warming is simultaneously driving \u201ccolder colds\u201d and \u201chotter hots,\u201d presenting recent U.S. weather as confirmation of a long-warned scientific expectation. 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