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Fact brief - Does cold weather disprove human-caused climate change
Posted on 4 November 2025 by Sue Bin Park
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline.
Does cold weather disprove human-caused climate change
The planet continues to warm due to human activity; bouts of cold weather don’t change this.
Satellites around the world measure temperatures at different places throughout the year. These are averaged to calculate annual global temperatures.
The past ten years (2015-2024) have been the ten hottest since modern record-keeping began in 1850, and 2024 was the all-time hottest. The last time Earth had a colder-than-average year was 1976.
Weather refers to meteorological conditions — heat, humidity, precipitation, etc. — in a given moment, while climate represents patterns of weather over time.
Cold snaps still occur, but they’re becoming less common as Earth warms from human emissions of heat-trapping gases.
Go to full rebuttal on Skeptical Science or to the fact brief on Gigafact
This fact brief is responsive to quotes such as this one.
Sources
NOAA 2024 was the world’s warmest year on record
Scientific American The Past Three Summers Were the Three Hottest on Record
Yale Climate Connections September 2025: Earth’s 3rd-warmest September on record
NOAA Global Climate Report August 2025
Carbon Brief State of the climate: 2025 on track to be second or third warmest year on record
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer "yes/no" answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact — a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all of our published fact briefs here.
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