Amid record-low temperatures across the U.S., President Trump in a tweet Thursday suggested the East could benefit from global warming, adding the U.S.--but not other countries-- would have paid trillions to battle rising temperatures.
"Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against," he said.
Dangerously cold temperatures are expected to last into the New Year across much of the Midwest and Northeast. But an unusually cold winter does not disprove global warming or climate change, scientists say.
In fact, 2017 is on track to be the second-or third-hottest year ever recorded globally, according to researchers. There have been far more record highs than record lows throughout the year.
"We can still expect periods of very cold temperatures, snowstorms, and even days of record low temperatures. However, climate change continues to shift the odds towards more periods of warmer weather and less so for colder weather," Zack Labe, a doctoral candidate studying Earth systems science at the University of California, Irvine, told USA TODAY.
The Trump administration has been a frequent skeptic of climate change science and rolled back initiatives to combat climate change, including withdrawing from the Paris climate accord.
Analysts predicted the move would provide a small and immediate lift to the oil and coal industry, but could cost the U.S. up to hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next decade.
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
