Did Scientists Predict that Global Warming Would Make Most Cities Uninhabitable in 1922?

In a video promoted by both Heartland and Climate Realism that has been circulating on social media and blogs like WUWT for since at least 2022, two people discuss what they an AMS Monthly Weather Review report describing the warming of the Arctic Ocean. One of the two reads from the report. After reading some language from the report describing large and dramatic climatic changes in recent years he says, "it goes on and on... Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coast cities uninhabitable." Then comes the big reveal - this report was written in 1922. So dire predictions stemming from climate alarmism have been around for over a century. Who knew? The short answer to that question is, Apparently nobody in 1922.

It turns out that these two people were not reading from an AMS Monthly Weather Review report. They were in fact reading from a Washington Post Article that summarized portions of that report. An AFP fact check tracked down the WaPo article, and guess what? The dire prediction that most coastal cities would become uninhabitable is completely missing from the news article.  And of course, without that concluding sentence, it's just a news Article with observations of climate changes in one region of the Arctic Ocean. The language here may be a little sensational, but there's nothing that qualifies as alarmism, and there are no predictions here whatsoever.

WaPo Article Found by AFP

Well, maybe these two had tracked down the original AMS monthly weather report and found such a dire prediction there. But it turns out we can find that report here. The monthly report does not contain anything resembling the dire prediction that these two people claim to have read. In fact, the report says quite the opposite: "The warmth of the waters makes it probable that the favorable ice conditions will continue for some time."

So it turns out these two people just fabricated the dire prediction. Nobody in 1922 associated with the AMS report or the WaPo article predicted that "within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coast cities uninhabitable." In fact, the AMS viewed the dramatic changes as "favorable ice conditions" that could continue for some time. It's true they documented the disappearance of white fish, but they were replaced with herring: "with the disappearance of white fish and seal has come other life in these waters. This year herring in great shoals were found along the west coast of Spitzbergen, all the way from the fry to the veritable great herring."