Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Narrative, Oops

NOAA have been very slow in releasing the final tornado data for 2016, but it is finally out now. As the provisional indicated at the time, last year was another very quiet year for tornadoes, and continued the pattern of a lower level compared to the 1970s... There were no EF-5 events (the strongest category) at all last year, the third year in succession for that. There were also only two EF-4s, which normally average eight a year.

Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Narrative

Natural weather patterns, not man-made global warming, are causing the historic drought parching California, says a study out Monday from federal scientists. "It's important to note that California's drought, while extreme, is not an uncommon occurrence for the state," said Richard Seager, the report's lead author and professor with Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. The report was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

  The persistent weather pattern over the past several years has featured a warm, dry ridge of high pressure over the eastern north Pacific Ocean and western North America. Such high-pressure ridges prevent clouds from forming and precipitation from falling. The study notes that this ridge — which has resulted in decreased rain and snowfall since 2011 — is almost opposite to what computer models predict would result from human-caused climate change.

Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Narrative, Oops

Such a streak, or “drought”, is unprecendented going back to 1900. As of the start of this hurricane season, the span will be 3,142 days since the last U.S. major hurricane landfall. The previous longest span is about 2½ years shorter...

Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Science, Narrative, Fear

Analysis of trends and of aggregated time series on climatic (30-year) scale does not indicate consistent trends worldwide. Despite common perception, in general, the detected trends are more negative (less intense floods in most recent years) than positive. Similarly, Svensson et al. (2005) and Di Baldassarre et al. (2010) did not find systematical change neither in flood increasing or decreasing numbers nor change in flood magnitudes in their analysis.

Warming, Liberal, Science, Narrative, Oops

In a Senate hearing Thursday, environmental scientist Roger Pielke of the University of Colorado said it’s “incorrect” to claim that global warming is spurring more extreme weather disasters. “It is misleading and just plain incorrect to claim that disasters associated with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or droughts have increased on climate timescales either in the United States or globally,” Pielke said

Warming, Liberal, Financial, Science, Narrative, Oops, Economy

The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway told CNBC that he has not changed the way his companies calculate the likelihood of a natural disaster because of global warming. Berkshire Hathaway owns several insurance companies that often have to pay out huge claims when natural disasters strike. Environmentalists and the Obama administration have warned that global warming has caused natural disasters like hurricanes to become fiercer and more common. But Buffett’s experience leads him to believe otherwise, saying that insuring against hurricanes in the U.S. has been a profitable venture in recent years as only a few storms have actually made landfall.

Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Science, Narrative, Oops

2013 has turned out to be one of the "least extreme" weather years in U.S. history... Whether you’re talking about tornadoes, wildfires, extreme heat or hurricanes, the good news is that weather-related disasters in the US are all way down... Tornadoes: 'lowest total in several decades' Number of wildfires: 'On pace to be the lowest it has been in the past ten years' Extreme Heat: The number of 100 degree days may 'turn out to be the lowest in about 100 years of records' Hurricanes: 'We are currently in the longest period (8 years) since the Civil War Era without a major hurricane strike in the US (i.e., category 3, 4 or 5)'.

Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Narrative, Oops

“In summary, there continues to be a lack of evidence and thus low confidence regarding the sign of trend in the magnitude and/or frequency of floods on a global scale.”

Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Narrative, Oops

“Current datasets indicate no significant observed trends in global tropical cyclone frequency over the past century … No robust trends in annual numbers of tropical storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes counts have been identified over the past 100 years in the North Atlantic basin.”

Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Science, Narrative, Oops

While many climate alarmists still try to tell us that global warming will increase tornadoes, we are in the middle of a tornado drought, and well below normal. Normally we’d see 1221 tornadoes in the USA, so far for 2013, only 716 have been reported. So far, we are about 200 tornadoes below this time last year, and last year was also a low event year.

Environmentalist, Liberal, Narrative

The USA in the last 12 months has seen the fewest number of tornadoes since at least 1954, and the death tolls from the dangerous storms have dropped dramatically since 2011. Just two years after a ferocious series of tornado outbreaks killed hundreds of Americans, the USA so far this year is enjoying one of the calmest years on record for twisters.

Environmentalist, Hypocrisy, Warming, Liberal, Science, Narrative, Oops, Demagoguery

Today let’s look back a few years ago at U.S. tornado activity, when a record was set for most EF1 and stronger tornadoes in a 12-month period, from June 2010 to May 2011. In an email interview with ThinkProgress, Dr. Kevin Trenberth, one of the world’s top climate scientists, who has been exploring for years how greenhouse pollution influences extreme weather, said he believes that it is “irresponsible not to mention climate change” in the context of these extreme tornadoes...

  Fast forward to today. In a NOAA blog post tornado expert Harold Brooks notes that during the 12-month period from May 2012-April 2013 there were just 197 tornadoes rated EF1 or stronger. This is, Brooks says, apparently a record low for U.S. tornadoes in a 12-month period.... Note to those saying "It's irresponsible not to mention climate change" in '11; same for ongoing tornado drought now?

-Andy Revkin

Democrat, Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Obama, Science, Oops, Demagoguery, Lie

President Obama’s State of the Union, where he said, talking about global warming: “Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods – all are now more frequent and intense.” That statement was demonstrably false, as SEPP’s The Week That Was points out: The claim is so factually challenged that it is a wonder it got by the White House staff.

  Looking at the weather stations that have 80 years of data shows heat records were set in the 1930s, the Palmer drought index shows the 1930s and the 1950s were hotter and dryer with the 1930’s dust bowl lasting a decade. … Increased floods are not supported by the data, and, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, wildfires are declining.

Environmentalist, Warming, Editorial, Liberal, Narrative, Oops

Measured by total energy (Accumulated Cyclone Energy), hurricane activity is at a low not encountered since the 1970s. The U.S. is currently experiencing the longest absence of severe landfall hurricanes in over a century—the last Category 3 or stronger storm was Wilma, more than seven years ago.

Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Oops

While alarmists have been blaming their fellow man for every hurricane, tornado and other ill wind whipped up by Mother Nature, science is now concluding that the cause of these damaging storms has nothing to do with human activity. The surprise absolution of human beings from the crime of triggering severe weather phenomena was handed down by none other than the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), leader of the campaign to sell the world on anthropogenic climate change.

Environmentalist, Warming, Science

The extreme surface warmth over western Russia during July and early August is mostly a product of the strong and persistent blocking high. … The indications are that the current blocking event is intrinsic to the natural variability of summer climate in this region…

Environmentalist, Warming, Science

Upon closer inspection, however, researchers have noted that the prominent upswing in tropical cyclone detections beginning in the mid twentieth century is attributable predominantly to the detection of “shorties,” tropical cyclones with durations of less than 2 days. That the apparent surge in cyclone activity could be attributable to changes in the quality and quantity of detections has gained ground as a potential alternative explanation.

Environmentalist, Warming, Science

“If you look at the past 60 years of data, the number of tornadoes is increasing significantly, but it’s agreed upon by the tornado community that it’s not a real increase,” said Grady Dixon, assistant professor of meteorology and climatology at Mississippi State University.

  “It’s having to do with better (weather tracking) technology, more population, the fact that the population is better educated and more aware. So we’re seeing them more often,” Dixon said. But he said it would be “a terrible mistake” to relate the up-tick to climate change.

Analysis of trends and of aggregated time series on climatic (30-year) scale does not indicate consistent trends worldwide. Despite common perception, in general, the detected trends are more negative (less intense floods in most recent years) than positive. Similarly, Svensson et al. (2005) and Di Baldassarre et al. (2010) did not find systematical change neither in flood increasing or decreasing numbers nor change in flood magnitudes in their analysis.

Environmentalist, Warming, Science

On December 4, 2011 it will have been 2,232 days since Hurricane Wilma made landfall along the Gulf coast as a category 3 storm back in 2005. That number of days will break the existing record of days between major US hurricane landfalls, which previously was between 8 Sept 1900 (the great Galveston Hurricane) and 19 Oct 1906. Since there won’t be any intense hurricanes before next summer, the record will be shattered, with the days between intense hurricane landfalls likely to exceed 2,500 days.