Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was supposed to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner this weekend, but those plans were changed after temperatures shot up 20 degrees above normal which resulted in heavy spring thaw flooding. Palin, a global warming skeptic, believes that climate change is not man-made.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “An unusually warm spring thaw in Alaska is causing some of the state’s worst flooding in decades, with rising rivers wiping out an entire village and bombarding another town with ice chunks as big as houses… The floods resulted from a rare combination of unusually heavy winter snow and a spring warm-up over the past week that saw temperatures soar into the 70s — a good 20 degrees higher than normal for this time of year.”

Palin said, “Alaska is experiencing the worst ice jam flooding in recent history. I am committed to do everything I can to help this region recover quickly. I appreciate the efforts of the Division of Homeland Security getting the necessary supplies to those in need.” Politically speaking, this provides a good excuse for Palin not to go. Her pre-2012 is killing her approval rating in Alaska. Last March Palin was at 77%, but she has sunk to 54%.

In the past, Gov. Palin has claimed that global warming is not man-made. Palin told Newsmax, “A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.” The benefit of saying that global warming is not man-made is that the skeptics can say this is natural, and oppose climate change legislation. Palin will probably chalk this up to Mother Nature, and not give it another thought. However, there will be a Palin at the dinner, as the governor is sending her husband to sit in for her.

(h/t: Think Progress