A comment made by Al Gore last week, while attending a speaking engagement at ETSU, really “irked” me. He said global warming can be blamed for an increase in tropical activity on our shores. Once again, Mr. Gore, perhaps you should check the facts.
The fact remains that we’re actually at a 30 year low in terms of global tropical activity. Just take a look at this graph posted below.
Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE), which combines a storm's duration and its wind speed in six-hour intervals. The years 2007 and 2008 had among the lowest ACE measurements since reliable global satellite data was first available three decades ago.
A couple quotes from a recent USA Today article include (for the complete article please read http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/hurricanes/2008-11-11-hurricanes_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip):
“It tells you that from year to year you have large swings of activity,” said Maue, who plans to present his work next month at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. “If you want to find a global warming signal in all that data it’s generally going to be rather small.”
Kevin Trenberth, a lead author of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment, was among several climatologists who made such claims. He said in 2004 that the intense hurricane season that year was “a harbinger of the future.” His prediction prompted the resignation from the panel of Chris Landsea, science and operations officer at NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, who said there was no basis to make such a prediction.
- Coming up later I’m going to post some interesting stuff from the equator. There’s some mighty interesting data coming from down there now as all of those computer models several years ago that were touting the tropical regions around the equator would warm significantly (3-5 degrees C) during this span of time are FLAT OUT wrong. Instead, there’s been very little warming…on the order of .5 to 1 degree C. I’ll dig some of those charts up later this week if I get the chance between our stormy weather.
One more thing, the flooding up in Fargo is NOT because of Global Warming as a journalist stated on a cable news outlet earlier this evening. INSTEAD THE FLOODING IS DUE TO HEAVY SNOWFALL. (It’s almost laughable what I’m hearing coming from some folks these days. I wonder sometimes if they stop and think before they speak) Okay, enough with this rant!
- More later on Old Man Winter’s Return which is on deck!
SEL1
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 91
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
220 PM CDT SAT MAR 28 2009
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
NORTHERN ALABAMA
EXTREME SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS
PARTS OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL KENTUCKY
MIDDLE TENNESSEE
EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 220 PM UNTIL
900 PM CDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 65 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 75 MILES NORTH OF FORT
CAMPBELL KENTUCKY TO 30 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF HUNTSVILLE
ALABAMA. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU1).
REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...
