wayneL
VIVA LA LIBERTAD, CARAJO!
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Storms happen. As far as I can tell, Hurricane Sandy was a Cat 1 that just happened to coincide with (1) a storm from the west, (2) a cold front from the north, and (3) and full-moon tide.
Climate science is all about trends -- where are they?
The Bill McKibben's and Brad Johnson's who jump on every storm in service of their cause are just as misguided as climate change deniers. It is the ultimate cherry pick -- wait until an event happens, and they proclaim it as typical. There needs to be just as strong a term for them -- "climate exaggerators," perhaps -- because despite what they think they are doing, they are ruining the cause of controlling carbon and minimizing future impacts. They have turned religious on the issue, and like all zealots they believe their cause justifies any lie.
They have become clowns who can always be counted on to parrot their beliefs, regardless of the facts. And that makes people dismiss the issue, not understand it.
Sandy was still unusual even without the full moon and connection to northern cold front. If the bell curve has been shifted to the right, we would expect to see more unusual events.
From Mish's blog.
Sandy is classified as a Hurricane 1 status, a low-grade hurricane. However, don't let that fool you in terms of impact. It's not the absolute magnitude of the hurricane, but rather the magnitude vs. what the infrastructure can handle that matters.
Barometric pressure is 27.76, the lowest pressure recorded for a storm in the Northeast. Sandy is unprecedented in size as well. The hurricane is likely to reach shore with a full moon high tide raising storm surges several more feet.
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogs...ndy-update-first-100.html#xEIe4QMb7dW7Itco.99
.While Emanuel said that there is a clear link between climate change and general trends toward more intense tropical hurricanes, in the case of Sandy more long-term study is required to determine whether climate change played a major role.
Other scientists say climate change likely aggravated whatever unique circumstances produced Sandy. They include the global warming that has caused ocean temperatures and sea levels to rise, contributing to more destructive flooding and other damage.
"Sea level rise makes storm surges worse and will continue to do so in the future," said Stefan Rahmstorf, professor of physics of the oceans at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Potsdam, Germany.
World sea levels have risen by 20 centimetres (8 inches) in the past 100 years, a trend blamed on melting ice and expanding water in the oceans caused by rising temperatures. "Every centimetre adds to damage," Rahmstorf said.
...All debate aside, US states still reeling from Sandy say they need to take a lesson from the increased threat of monster storms. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he has no doubt there are more extreme weather events.
"That's not a political statement; it's a factual statement," Cuomo said after a tour of New York City's ravaged infrastructure. New Yorkers will have to deal with "a new reality" when it comes to weather patterns, he said
Didnt they have a big one back in the late 1930s?
Maybe the data is faulty but incidence appears to be increasing rapidly!!
Maybe the size and frequency of hurricanes hasn't increased but the warmer northern waters have increased the numbers hitting New England?
"Fascinating" might not be the word the thousands of people without electricity or water, many still trapped in high rise buildings, would use.It's all quite fascinating but I have no desire to experience one.
"Fascinating" might not be the word the thousands of people without electricity or water, many still trapped in high rise buildings, would use.
Back to your familiar head in the sand approach Wayne.
The question abut whether Sandy was caused by global warming is misleading . There have been storms before and there will always be storms.
The issue is how much is global warming affecting the severity and outcomes of these storms.
.Now, if you can explain to me how desiring a more holistic consideration of environmental issues and the sober consideration of Sandy rather than knee jerk Rommisms, is having my head in the sand, I'd appreciate it
.
Because Wayne, all intelligent, honest, climate scientists in the world are in furious agreement that climate change caused by human produced excessive greenhouse gases is the most critical environmental issue facing us. Its effects will dominate our landscape and irrevocably change our way of life.
One of troubling issues we will face is that we won't be able to tackle all the environment issues we face. We will have to prioritise and attempt to solve as many as we can using creative solutions rather than one solution actions.
For example ... reducing and eliminating fossil fuel energy in favour of clean renewable energy will reduce toxic smoke emissions, stop the destruction of water resources, tackle climate change and dramatically reduce our reliance on limited fossil fuels.
We should be taking this path anyway if we were serious about tackling broader environmental issues.
[/QUOTE][QUOTE]Extreme Weather on Steroids
The bottom line is that while global warming did not cause Hurricane Sandy, it did contribute to the "Frankenstorm" at least by causing higher sea levels (and thus bigger storm surges and flooding), warmer sea surface temperatures (and thus a stronger hurricane), and more moisture in the atmosphere (and thus more rainfall and flooding).
More importantly, as Francis noted and as many impacted residents are coming to realize, this type of extreme weather has and will continue to become more commonplace as the planet continues to warm. We know that many types of extreme weather events have already been linked to global warming, including hurricane intensity. A warmer world will "load the dice" and make extreme events, including strong hurricanes, more likely to occur. It's important not to lose sight of the long-term trends in arguing about whether or not climate change contributed to any single extreme weather event. As Dave Roberts notes,
"There is no division, in the physical world, between “climate change storms” and “non-climate change storms.” Climate change is not an exogenous force acting on the atmosphere. There is only the atmosphere, changing. Everything that happens in a changed atmosphere is “caused” by the atmosphere, even if it’s within the range of historical variability."
And as Stephan Lewandowsky put it,
"We are living with climate change.
It is happening now.
Debating the extent to which Frankenstorm Sandy was put on steroids by climate change is a distraction.
Nearly all weather events now have a contribution from climate change and it is up to us to manage and reduce that risk with mitigative action."
The broadening consensus:
“Climate change amps up other basic factors that contribute to big storms. For example, the oceans have warmed, providing more energy for storms. And the Earth’s atmosphere has warmed, so it retains more moisture, which is drawn into storms and is then dumped on us.” Even those of us who are science-phobic can get the gist of that.
From the famously climate catastrophist organisation, Bloomberg:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/its-global-warming-stupid#p1
Wayne you know xxxx all about me and the assumptions you do make are so wrong its laughable.
Wayne you know xxxx all about me and the assumptions you do make are so wrong its laughable.
After the years of watching your dissembling on this forum I simply don't trust you enough or care about you sufficiently to want to correct you.
But in the end all that is a just a possum running across the road. A distraction to take our eyes off the main picture. What really gets up my nose with your comments is how you attempt to debase an entire scientific set of observations on a sliver of alleged incidents (which then prove to be totally unremarkable)
I refer to millions of independent observations which show rising sea levels, increased ocean warmth, massive ice melt, rising wold temperatures and clear changes in biology as result of these changes. Your response? An abuse of the scientists involved that never, ever ever actually has the gonads to show where the evidence showing widespread climate change is wrong. Its just a smear without substance.
The hypothetical question is "Will Climate change ultimately be catastrophic " ? Well this is 2012 and we are already seeing climate events like Sandy, and the American heat waves and Russian heat waves that are on 3rd and 4th Standard Deviation of previous normal weather. Their impacts are very serious. Catastrophic may simply be having them repeat themselves every 5-10 years. After all how many times can you afford to rebuild a city.
But this is just the start Wayne. Climate science is clear that the amount of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere (390 + PPM CO2 )will cause at least a further .6 C temperature rise on top of the .8C we already have. And that doesn't add the effects of many tipping point events already unfolding around the world. ( Loss of Arctic summer ice , melting of permafrost, rising ocean temperatures reducing CO2 absorption and so on )
From the earliest days scientists realised how CO2 trapped heat and kept our planet warm. After that was established the question of what would happen if CO2 levels were raised caused concern. We are now way past that point.
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