As she often does, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Instagram on Thursday to post her random thoughts. Among them were some of Instagram stories she shared about what she believed was conclusive proof that the so-called “climate crisis” was happening in Washington, D.C. as she spoke.

“Well, that was something,” she wrote. “Alarms went off in the building advising people to seek shelter.”

“Apparently the tornado moved/missed the city so quickly that they ended the warning shortly after,” the freshman Congresswoman noted.

She went on to say that “apparently this is a thing that happens in the summer here? With increasing intensity?”

The weather event, she was confident, was evidence that “the climate crisis is real, y’all – guess we’re at casual tornadoes in growing regions of the country?”

Her Instagram notes on this issue caught the attention of meteorologist Ryan Maue, who responded on Twitter by correcting AOC and noting the difference between climate and weather:

I thought this was fake but it's from @AOC Instagram story.

No idea what she means with "casual tornadoes" and how this line of severe thunderstorms is proof of any "climate crisis".

It's just the weather in D.C. 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/r015cScVZg

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) May 23, 2019

—

The Congresswoman @AOC does not know the difference between weather and climate.

Let’s try an easy analogy:

Weather is what outfit you wear heading out the door.

Climate is your closet wardrobe. pic.twitter.com/mmdLr6F2mD

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) May 24, 2019

Self-described weather watcher and Democrat Mitch Drabenstott suggested the weather ignorance in the Democratic party was not limited to Ocasio-Cortez:

I’m a dem but even our own politicians don’t know how the weather works. Literally anything unusual they blame on climate change. So annoying, one of my biggest gripes of the party

— Mitch Drabenstott (@mitchdwx) May 23, 2019

A quick click to Climate.gov would have told Ocasio-Cortez the difference between climate and weather, too:

The short-term state of the atmosphere—in the past, present, or future—is weather. People describe weather in terms of temperature, precipitation, humidity, cloudiness, wind, and other variables. Weather can vary from minute to minute and location to location.

[…]

Climate is a description of the long-term pattern of weather conditions at a location. The expression “long-term” usually means 30 years or more: climate scientists have agreed that 30 years is a good length of time to establish the usual range of conditions at a given location throughout the year.

How much do you want to bet she’ll jump on Twitter at some later point and try to shame Maue and Republicans for taking her claims literally?

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—Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–