As the United States braces for another wave of Arctic weather, many are left wondering what exactly this means in an age where global warming and climate change have become virtually interchangeable terms.

Some justify the recent rapid heating of our planet by saying that we are just in the midst of a warming trend that has caused the earth to heat and cool for millennia. These recent cold spells are physical proof of what environmental protection groups have been saying for decades; human emissions have significantly impacted the balance of our environment.

To state it simply, summers are getting hotter and winters colder. The past three years have been the hottest on record, yet there are also record-breaking cold temperatures across the country. It is currently colder in New Orleans than it is in Anchorage, Alaska. In New Orleans alone it snowed last month, days spent below freezing are gradually becoming normal, and this is not simply some freak occurrence. Erie, Pennsylvania was recently buried under almost seven feet of snow in less than a week.

In 2016 there were two disastrous hurricanes that caused billions of dollars in damages. The state of California is engulfed in flames.

This is climate change, and this is the new normal.