Relying on late September snow in the Rockies, KFKA's Oliver again questioned global warming

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Amy Oliver of 1310 KFKA asked on her October 1 broadcast: “What happened to global warming?” before recounting how she had gone to the mountains over the weekend “just for, literally, a few hours ... And in that time it snowed.” As Colorado Media Matters has noted repeatedly, pointing to a sporadic regional weather event to call into question climate change is a simplistic, conservative talking point that ignores the scientific consensus that global temperatures are rising.

On her October 1 program, 1310 KFKA host and Independence Institute director of operations Amy Oliver repeated a conservative talking point by proposing that cold weather at a certain time and in a particular geographic locality discredits the scientific consensus that global temperatures are rising. After asking her listeners, “What happened to global warming?” Oliver stated that over the weekend, she went “up to the mountains just for, literally, a few hours ... And in that time it snowed.” She later added, "[T]he only shoes I had were flip-flops, because remember global warming, sea levels are going to rise. I was hoping it would be hot up there. So I look outside, there's a dusting of snow, and I have nothing but flip-flops."

Oliver's comments echoed those she made on the March 6 broadcast of The Amy Oliver Show when she suggested that an unusually cold February in Toronto contradicted the plausibility of global warming by saying, “It is freezing in Toronto because of global warming. Go figure that.” As Colorado Media Matters has noted repeatedly (here, here, here, here, here, and here), pointing to any sporadic regional weather event as “evidence” that disproves climate change on a global scale is simplistic and has no scientific merit.

On September 18, the Rocky Mountain News reported that "[f]rom Breckenridge to Vail to Rocky Mountain National Park, there were reports of the season's first accumulations of the white stuff for which Colorado is famous." The article continued:

Snowfall forced the closure of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park at 8 a.m. Monday. Because of poor visibility and the forecast for more snow through Monday evening, the road was expected to remain closed this morning, park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said.

But temperatures will start climbing into the 40s and 50s in the next few days in the high country, so the snow won't stick around past today.

Teeter-tottering of the seasons is common in the high country this time of year.

“There is snow in the mountains at any time of the year,” said Frank Benton, forecast meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “In the mountains, or at the higher elevations, there is no earliest snowfall.”

USA Today has reported that "[g]lobal warming is shorthand for 'climate change,' and the term is correct if you realize that it's referring to the average temperature of the Earth over years and decades; not to the temperatures at particular times and places." The article further reported that climate change “can lead to more snow piling up in places such as Antarctica and Greenland, and it can even include some parts of the Earth growing colder.”

As Colorado Media Matters noted, Oliver on her August 16 broadcast similarly made assertions about global warming based on geographically limited observations, by mischaracterizing a correction on temperature data issued by NASA. After saying that “facts come out that [are] possibly damaging to those drinking the global warming Kool-Aid ... [b]ecause as it turns out, NASA backtracks on 1998 warmest year claim,” Oliver added, “1934 is now the hottest year on record. Then it goes to 1998, then 1921.” But Oliver did not inform listeners that NASA's revision affected annual temperature rankings for the United States only; it had no effect on the annual global temperature rankings.

From the October 1 broadcast of 1310 KFKA's The Amy Oliver Show:

OLIVER: Speaking of the weekend, though, I have to share something with you. First of all, here's my point: What happened to global warming? I go up to the mountains just for, literally, a few hours -- went up there late Saturday night and then came home early Sunday morning. And in that time it snowed. What the heck happened to global warming? I was hoping for a tropical rain forest up there -- had a dusting of snow.

[...]

OLIVER: So, I'm on the way down -- meanwhile, after having been in the mountains for literally about, I don't know, 12, 14 hours at the most. And I -- the only thing I, the only shoes I had were flip-flops, because remember global warming, sea levels are going to rise. I was hoping it would be hot up there. So I look outside, there's a dusting of snow, and I have nothing but flip-flops.