‘Politicized Science’--Legacy Media Falsely Blame Record Cold And Snowfall On Climate Change - Climate Change Dispatch

Lately, a series of mainstream news outlets, including USA Today, AP News, BBC Future, and Fast Company, have churned out articles claiming that January 2025’s record cold and heavy snowfall across the United States are to greater or lesser degrees due to climate change, or at least that such a connection can’t be ruled out. - Anthony Watts This is false.
Their arguments hinge on the increasingly popular yet scientifically dubious idea that climate change is disrupting the polar vortex, causing frigid Arctic air to dip southward into mid-latitude regions like the United States.

• While this explanation is neatly packaged to fit the narrative that “everything bad is caused by climate change,” the science backing these claims is weak, unsubstantiated, and riddled with contradictions...
  
• As outlined below, there is no solid evidence to support these claims. 
• Instead, the mainstream media’s claims rely on flashy headlines and alarmist language, leaving out inconvenient facts that undermine their sensationalist conclusions.

Let’s start by summarizing the claims made in these articles:

USA Today describes the recent Arctic blast as being caused by a disrupted polar vortex, which it links to melting Arctic ice supposedly induced by human-caused climate change...

A close examination of these claims, that of a link between variations in the polar vortex and climate change, reveals glaring problems with the logic and science behind these claims.

• The polar vortex is a long-established well-documented feature of the upper atmosphere—known decades before politicized climate scientists and media mavens began talking about climate change.
• The polar vortex was first described in 1853, but the term became popular with the media in 2014 after a cold snap in North America...