In November 2019, The Lower 48 in the U.S. was swept by an intense cold wave that was very unusual for so early in the season. The question above apparently refers to that extreme weather event. At least, that’s what I’m assuming.
Below is an edited and expanded version of the answer I posted:
No, it is not normal, if by “normal” you mean average. Far from it. In fact, the November 2019 cold snap is the strongest November cold wave since 1911, and in many cities stronger. Here are articles from the Washington Post and AccuWeather documenting just how unusual this cold wave was.
But it is not some unprecedented event. The atmospheric conditions that unleashed this arctic air mass and sent it South, bringing with it well below average temperatures in the Lower 48, happen from time to time. Yes, records were broken. But remember that systematic weather records have only been around for about 100 to 200 years, depending on location. In the history of meteorology, that’s a pin prick in time.
As to climate change, I wouldn’t put too much stock in the notion that a single weather event signals anything about climate. Climate is an average of weather conditions measured over a long period of years spanning decades or longer. What the cold wave signals to me is that the hysteria over a so-called “climate crisis” is hogwash. Unfortunately, “climate change” has been so politicized that most of the “debate” about it is geared toward political ambitions rather than oriented around rationality and facts. Attributing an extreme weather event to climate change is a political “explanation.” Weather deviates from “normal” all the time. That’s not climate change. That's the weather.
Climate change is defined as the long term shifts in weather patterns. Is our climate changing? Probably. Human activity likely contributes to those changes, especially in recent centuries. But so do natural forces. According to political “wisdom,” we face a climate crisis, and humans are to blame. But the steady stream of Chicken Little hysteria is best ignored. There are plenty of calmer, rational experts telling a different story. One I recommend is Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters by Steven Koonan. And if you read Brian Fagan’s The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850, you get a picture of just how wild weather and climate swings have been historically. It puts into perspective how comparatively mild today’s alleged “climate crisis” is historically.
Related Reading:
The Atlantic: Exploiting Hurricane Disasters to Talk Climate is OK—Eric Worrall for WUWT
A Carbon Tax Won't Stop Hurricanes—James Agresti for FEE
The Collectivist Left Media Launches Major ‘Climate Crisis’ Propaganda Campaign
It’s Time to Listen to the ‘Climate Denialists’
Stop ‘Denying’ the View From Outside the Climate Catastrophist Government Establishment
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