Party of Science at work: Ilhan Omar says, 'I don’t know if my children will have a planet to live on in 20 years'

Global warming will ~checks notes~ destroy Earth in 20 years, says Rep. Ilhan Omar:

? The world is on fire. ?

I don’t know if my children will have a planet to live on in 20 years. If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you, I don’t know what will.https://t.co/9a0jHjS3L6

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 7, 2020

Can we PLEASE stop taking her seriously now?

"I don’t know if my children will have a planet to live on in 20 years."

I'm pretty sure even the most apocalyptic worst case scenarios do not project "planet spontaneously combusts in 2040." https://t.co/exDbkHPttu

— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) February 7, 2020

As for what’s going on in Antarctica, we do wish Rep. Omar would consult a meteorologist. Via Ryan Maue:

A location on the Antarctica peninsula reached 65°F.
However, headlines and weather maps can be misleading.

Why show an anomaly map when the actual temperature is the record? Where did this record occur on the map — e.g. where is the Antarctic peninsula? pic.twitter.com/oULUdQ75gv

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) February 7, 2020

The caption reads:

"Temperature anomalies for Friday as modeled by the GFS reveal a plume of very warm temperatures in Antarctica."

The "warmth" is relative over the rest of the Antarctica continent compared to "normal" which is highly variable.

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) February 7, 2020

You see, what’s really going on is they measured the temperature at the very tip of a peninsula that just north and it’s not indicative of the temperature of the rest of the continent:

NCAR runs the "Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System" and kindly provides the data. This is a high-resolution weather model over the continent.

I've mapped the actual temperatures modeled at 15:00 UTC coincident with observation of record warmth at Esperanza Base. pic.twitter.com/6oCf9ZY3Ia

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) February 7, 2020

As it's summer in Antarctica, the sea-ice edge around the continent reaches its minimum.

Actual temperature of the open water are generally in the low 30s °F

Temperatures over the ice cheat range from tolerable 20s to -20 °F

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) February 7, 2020

As for the 65 degrees, it’s something that’s happened in just this one tiny area:

So… where's the 65??

— Jesse Ferrell (@WeatherMatrix) February 7, 2020

It appears to be a micro-scale, topography induced mixing episode of warmer air aloft reaching the surface.

Difficult to diagnose.

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) February 7, 2020

So, we may have a planet to live on in 20 years?

For the meteorologists, you can see the spikes in 850 hPa temperatures with the Foehn wind effects on the peninsula. Mix that air down and get rapid but brief warming episodes. pic.twitter.com/dYPeijjOKO

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) February 7, 2020

Please alert Rep. Omar for us. Thank you:

It should be obvious that this temperature record is due to strong Foehn winds as part overall synoptic weather pattern. Hardly represents changes to the overall continent but whatever.

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) February 7, 2020