Trump Questions Climate Science Amid Massive Winter Storm
Trump posted on Truth Social mocking climate change as a winter storm forecast to affect more than 230 million people approaches.
CBS NewsWinter storm doesn't disprove climate change, despite Trump's claim. Scientists explain why.
Breitbart NewsWhite House 'Is Closely Monitoring' Winter Storm
Boston HeraldFACT FOCUS: As cold hits, Trump asks, where’s global warming? Scientists say it’s still here
Associated PressFACT FOCUS: As cold hits, Trump asks, where's global warming? Scientists say it's still here
Overview
President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday saying a "Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States" and asking "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???" as a storm set to affect more than 230 million people approaches, according to the post.
The storm, forecast to bring damaging ice, heavy snowfall and gusty winds from Friday through Monday, has prompted at least 14 states and Washington, D.C., to declare emergencies and raised warnings of prolonged outages, officials and forecasters said.
Christopher Callahan, a professor of climate science at Indiana University Bloomington, said in a statement that Trump's post conflates short-term weather with long-term climate and added that NOAA records show global winter temperatures and recent years have warmed overall.
Forecasters and AccuWeather provided specific impacts, saying about 230 million people could be affected, more than 2,000 flights were canceled as of Friday afternoon and AccuWeather warned up to 1 million customers could lose power for an extended period.
A White House official said the administration is "closely monitoring" the forecast and briefing the president, while scientists including Victor Gensini and Ryan Maue said research into links between Arctic warming and extreme winter outbreaks is ongoing and contested by some researchers.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame Trump’s post as misleading by prioritizing scientific authority (NOAA, multiple climate scientists), using declarative headlines and evaluative verbs, and emphasizing long-term global temperature data and historical records. They foreground expert rebuttals while confining Trump’s perspective to his social-media quote, which reduces its framing weight.