In a Truth Social post last week, President Donald Trump questioned the existence of the climate crisis, citing extreme cold weather that was set to hit the country over the weekend.
“Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States. Rarely seen anything like it before,” Trump said, before delving into his skepticism.
“Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain — WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???” he asked.
Trump has frequently peddled disinformation about the climate crisis over the years, and has dismantled a wide range of climate protections while in office. He has, for example, expanded non-renewable energy production in the U.S., including oil and coal, and early in his second term (as he did in his first), he withdrew the U.S. from the international Paris Climate Agreement.
Climate scientists have noted that Trump’s claims on the storm are not based in science, as warmer global temperatures — especially those in the Arctic — can actually result in weather phenomena like the polar vortex.
“Big waves like this are more common when the Arctic is unusually warm, and it’s near record-warm right now,” Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist and senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told Inside Climate News.
Indeed, when warmer air currents move into the Arctic, it pushes the cold air that normally resides there to the south, resulting in colder temperatures in areas like the U.S. This is observable even to people without a degree in meteorology: In Chicago on Friday, wind chill temperatures reached -36 degrees Fahrenheit, while in Nuuk, Greenland, evening temperatures on the same day were a positive 36 degrees Fahrenheit.
The consequences of misunderstanding these types of weather patterns, as Trump has demonstrated, can be dire. Over this past weekend, at least 30 people in the U.S. died due to the extreme cold, and as of Monday, more than 600,000 homes and businesses were still without power.
Meanwhile, Trump has made major cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Such cuts could have devastating consequences, limiting how effective the agency can be in helping Americans in need of aid during extreme weather events. Importantly, the federal government paused some FEMA layoffs and funding cuts as this storm was approaching. But those cuts will likely be implemented at some point, meaning future events could see more distressing outcomes.
The continued warming of the planet also means weather events like these are likely to become the new norm. Indeed, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently ranked 2025 as the third-warmest year on record, with the 10 warmest years all occurring since 2015. If that trend continues, future extreme events, including intense polar vortices, will be commonplace.
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