Duluth, Minn. — January in Minnesota was the warmest since modern records have been kept, more than 100 years.
But University of Minnesota climatologist Mark Seeley says one wimpy winter can't prove the climate is changing. He says there have been other warm Januarys, even strings of warm winters. The climate change community likes to tend to hang their hat on longer term trends," he says. "That is, measurements and patterns that are certainly of longer duration, and particularly those that fall outside the range of historical variability." Seeley says there is evidence of global warming, lots of places on Earth. He's studied the work of a Penn State researcher named Michael Mann.
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Some scientists say we're approaching a tipping point, where the changes could become irreversible, and we won't be able to go back to the climate we're used to. (ED. - climate scientist Peter) Ciborowski compares it to a fast drive on a dangerous road.
"You've got your foot down on pedal, you're going 90 miles an hour," he says. "You get very concerned that you're not going to be able to control the car; you're coming into terrain you don't know; maybe the weather conditions aren't right. The sensible thing is to slowly ease your foot off the gas pedal, until you have a better sense that in fact you're going to be able to survive the drive."
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http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2006/02/01_hemphills_warming/