Climate change summed up in stick figures
Digital Reporter
Saturday, January 25, 2014, 11:59 AM -
Climate change often makes it into the funny pages, but never quite this succinctly.
Everyone knows someone who thinks one cold winter means global temperatures aren't ticking upward after all - basically, confusing weather with climate.
Popular webcomic xkcd.com has summed up exactly why that's an inaccurate way of looking at the issue in its latest comic, published Friday:
Image: xkcd.com
It's exceptionally timely this season, given the much-discussed "polar vortex" that has gripped the United States.
It seems the comic is based on data put together by Climate Central, suggesting that extreme cold has become rarer, even as this season has brought the coldest weather in decades to many parts of the United States.
Xkcd tackles pretty much any topic, in all its stick-figure glory, ranging from mathematics, grammar, space, relationships and, yes, meteorology.
Check out its brilliant send-up of the increasingly exasperated National Weather Service bulletins from the famously never-ending 2005 hurricane season.
PLENTY OF COLD HERE IN CANADA, TOO: Tune in for regular updates on Ontario's snowsqualls, stiff East-Coast winds, and up-and-down temperatures out west.
