Some scientists say snow is consistent with global warming!

Britain may be in the grip of the coldest winter for 30 years and grappling with up to a foot of snow in some places but the extreme weather is entirely consistent with global warming, claim scientists.

LONDON, England - February 3, 2009 - Temperatures for December and January were consistently 1.8 F ( 1 C) lower than the average of 41 F (5 C)and 37 F (3C) respectively and more snow fell in London this week than since the 1960s.

But despite this extreme weather, scientists say that the current cold snap does not mean that climate change is going into reverse. In fact, the surprise with which we have greeted the extreme conditions only reinforces how our climate has changed over the years.

A study by the Met Office, which went back 350 years, shows that such extreme weather now only occurs every 20 years.

Back in the pre-industrial days of Charles Dickens, it was a much more regular occurrence - hitting the country on average every five years or so.

"Even though this is quite a cold winter by recent standards it is still perfectly consistent with predictions for global warming," said Dr. Myles Allen, head of the Climate Dynamics group at Department of Physics, University of Oxford.

Ed. Note: Some scientists say this.  Most scientists do not.