Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Gina McCarthy took to the EPA and White House blogs Wednesday to declare that “We Must Act Now to Protect Our Winters.” McCarthy was in Aspen, CO, last week, the famous ski destination and home to an X-Games venue, and she warned that without action on climate change, “Aspen’s climate could be a lot like that of Amarillo, TX, by 2100.” Her post reads in part [emphasis added]:
According to the website usclimatedata.com, temperatures and snowfall in Aspen and Amarillo compare as follows:
Annual low temperature: 28.3°F
Average temperature: 42.05°F
Av. annual snowfall: 179 inch
Annual low temperature: 43.7°F
Average temperature: 57.3°F
Av. annual snowfall: 19 inch
For the climate of Aspen to resemble that of Amarillo, a temperature swing of 15 degrees and a 13-foot drop in annual snowfall would need to take place over the next 85 years. Even the most catastrophic models of global temperature change in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) do not predict a temperature increase of 15 degrees. An attempt to contact Administrator McCarthy was not returned.
McCarthy’s entire post can be read here or here.
