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January 28, 2010--Harsh winter a sign of disruptive climate change, report says (Washington Post)

This winter's extreme weather -- with heavy snowfall in some places and unusually low temperatures -- is in fact a sign of how climate change disrupts long-standing patterns, according to a new report by the National Wildlife Federation. It comes at a time when, despite a wealth of scientific evidence, the American public is increasingly skeptical that climate change is happening at all. That disconnect is particularly important this year as the Obama administration and its allies in Congress seek to enact legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions and revamp the nation's energy supply. "It's very hard for any of us to grasp how this larger warming trend is happening when we're still having wintry weather," said National Wildlife Federation climate scientist Amanda Staudt, the new report's lead writer. The study charts how climate change is linked to more heavy precipitation. During warmer winters lakes are less likely to freeze over or are freezing later [and] surface water evaporation is recharging the atmosphere with moisture.

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