Mount Kilamanjaro – Tanzania, Africa – still snowy. Photo by Neil Modie, January 2008
Last week, I broke the story of a press release issued by NOAA where they publish an opinion smashing any link between hurricanes and global warming saying that “There is nothing in the U.S. hurricane damage record that indicates global warming has caused a significant increase in destruction along our coasts.”
Many readers may recall that Al Gore used hurricanes prominently in An Inconvenient Truth, and mentions hurricane Katrina specifically. Gore claims that increased hurricane activity is caused by global warming.
Last week, when the NOAA press release came out smashing any link between hurricanes and global warming, I wrote to my local newspaper editor, David Little, and said to him “Do you care to bet that AP and Reuters won’t run this story?” He responded: “I hope they do, it seems newsworthy to me.”
Well here is is, 4 days later, not a peep.
A Google search of news stories for “NOAA increased hurricane” (keywords of the press release) reveals a tiny handful of stories about the press release. Could you imagine though if the story said the reverse? What if NOAA claimed they had established a definitive link between global warming and hurricanes. Oh my, the humanity of it all! Gloom, doom, death, destruction, angst, and demands for action on Kyoto. If it bleeds it leads. Compare to all the stories still circulating about hurricane Katrina and global warming.
Here is another story about a point from Gore’s AIT hit parade; Mount Kilimanjaro. Mr. Gore asserted that the disappearance of snow on Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa was expressly attributable to global warming; “Within the decade, there will be no more snows of Kilimanjaro.” That was in 2005 in his movie An Inconvenient Truth.
Deforestation seems to be causing Mount Kilimanjaro’s shrinking glacier. Researchers think deforestation of the mountain’s foothills is the most likely culprit. Without the forests’ evapotranspiration of humidity into the air, previously moisture-laden winds blowing across those forests now blow drier. The summit, no longer replenished with water from those winds, started shrinking. Studies show the ice is evaporating through a process called sublimation. You can witness this effect at home, have you ever noticed that ice cubes left in your freezer tend to shrink with time?
Last year, a British Court ruled Gore’s point about Kilimanjaro not to be true.
So when a news story crossed my desk today that said: “Mount Kilimanjaro: On Africa’s roof, still crowned with snow” I had to wonder, will we see this one covered in the main stream media? Or maybe those beacons of truth over at Real Climate will make a note of it?
Don’t hold your breath. But, at least the New York Times travel section covered it. It seems more of a touristy thing to have snow on Kilimanjaro than a scientific issue of truth I suppose.
UPDATE: Kate over at SDA created a collage over time showing the snow of Mt. Kilimanjaro:
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You can’t tell the players without a scorecard. Has anybody made one for the AIT claims that have been disproven?
“beacons of truth over at Real Climate…” Bwahahahaha! As for the MSM, they should be ashamed for allowing themselves to become lackeys for AGW propaganda. Gee, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Polar Bears, Hurricanes. One by one, their favorite icons are getting picked off. They must be getting pretty desperate. Next they’ll be predicting giant snakes will be invading North America!
Anthony, I have noticed as a friend of mine noted that there really isn’t much news about global warming or “climate change” when it is 20f outside but just wait untill July August and September when it is 95f outside and see what happens. I would almost wager that there will be plenty of warming stories then.
I happen to think that a little warmer is a good thing vegitation grows better in warm weather. We used to never plant until the night time temps were up to 70f. I agree with you that the main stream weather is biased and I think so are some of our government scientists and policy makers.
Just 2 cents worth 🙂
Bill
Anthony,
Funny find from the google link you provided, talk about wanting it all
Opps, comments didn’t come out right, from the article
“Researchers link hurricanes to rising sea temperatures”
“Researchers at University College London, writing in the journal Nature, said a half-degree temperature increase in sea surface temperatures in the summer can lead to a 40 per cent increase in hurricane frequency.”
meanwhile in the same article….
“Last week, for example, a study published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters by researchers at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) argued that global warming would lead to a decrease in the intensity and frequency of hurricanes.”
[…] started reading Anthony Watts Blog Watts Up With That and he published a post called Yet another inconvenient story ignored by MSM. Mount Kilimanjaro still has snow on its […]
A lot of things have been happening that seem to contradict the doom and gloom projections of the AGW alarmists. Just off the top of my head:
1. One of the coldest Januarys in years.
2. Arctic sea ice recovering
3. Thickening Antarctic
4. China with snowiest winter in 50 years
5. Snow in Baghdad, Rio, Athens Johannesburg etc.
6. Cold winter in Canada
7. Now snows of Kilmanjaro are coming back
8. Diminishing hurricanes
9. Disappearing sunspots
Anyway, at this point I don’t think MSM would report even if hell froze over. At least I would not hold my breath.
Hell freezing over would be attributable to climate change.
the judge did NOT say, that the point was not true.
the NOAA press release did NOT smash the link between storms and global warming.
and a traveling journalist encountering a day with plenty of snow does NOT change the trend on the Kilimanjaro glaciers.
Anthony, you can do better than this!
try searching for NASA temperature database y2k problem and see what you get.
not a single major US media outlet carried that news either…
It is very obvious that so many people can’t see the forest through the trees on this issue. There also seems to be a concerted effort to entirely ignore all cyclical variations regarding global temperatures, both long-term and short-term.
I decided to do my own statistical analysis using global temperature anomaly data. I believe there are well-documented faults in the information, but taking them at face value, there is a clear trend of the trend. i.e. a changing of the slope. Looking at 120 data point rolling averages, I present the slope. The conclusion is that the 120 data ppoint trend does, in fact, show a warming trend. But that trend line has a lower slope than it did a month ago, which is less than it was two months ago, etc. This has actually gone on for a few years. The obvious conclusion, at minimum, is that there is clearly no acceleration in warming, and in fact, it seems undeniable to suggest anything other than a deceleration in the trend. Can we say it’s actually cooling yet? Recent data suggests it, but it’s probably too soon to tell for sure. But we sure are not observing a continuing or accelerating warming trend, and it is entirely possible we are in the early stages of a cooling trend.
People can talk about a lot of fancy things, but the straight numbers tell a different story.
Here is my analysis:
http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/happy-valentines-day-heres-a-global-temperature-analysis/
LOL at Sod, er…Catpain Strawman….
Also, try searching for “hockey stick debunked” and see what you get. I had NO IDEA about Steve’s work on that until years later…
Sod,
“the judge did NOT say, that the point was not true.”
Is this good enough for Sod the wordsmith?
“Mr Gore said the disappearance of snow on Mt Kilimanjaro was expressly attributable to human-induced climate change. The judge said the consensus was that that could not be established.”
I’ll try that on the little woman tomorrow.
“You said you weren’t going to stop at the bar!”
“That can not be established, dear.”
the NOAA press release did NOT smash the link between storms and global warming.
What it did was establish the proposition that increased $damage was due to increased housing in the damage area, not increased hurricane activity.
Pick your verb.
I wonder if this will be one of the topics of discussion at 2008 International Conference on Climate Change next week.
Try this PinC link:
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=332289
I wonder if the Conference itself will be “Yet another inconvenient story ignored by the MSM.”
Thanks for reporting this. It’s important that people understand the complete idiocy of “global warming” as preached by the Rev. Al Gore.
Kathy
katsyfga.wordpress.com
[…] another inconvenient story (or two) February 26, 2008 — thoughtfulconservative Noted this story yesterday when logging on to WordPress. Mr. Gore asserted that the disappearance of snow on Mount Kilimanjaro […]
I see today that the UN is concerned about famine due to falling food production. The warming they are so happy to promote would aid agriculture, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. However if we are entering a cooling trend, things will not be good – in fact, extremely serious.
But of course, it is no longer global warming – it is climate change… a rose by any name. Please sir, can I keep the prizes ?
It will give the Main Scream Media something to mull over – eventually.
Climate change of any kind has scary implications. Those who just want to trash Al Gore are ignoring the realities.
The real problem we face is overpopulation. We _are_ going to run out of food, and our current plateful of resources, some day. This has already begun, and it will become serious in most of our lifetimes. What can we do now to avoid worse calamities?
Think seriously, people, and don’t let the shortsighted distract you from the real problem. We’re not the first species to overpopulate their environment, but as far as we know we have the biggest impact, and are the most numerous. This is the big test: how smart are we (you)?
The real problem we face is overpopulation. We _are_ going to run out of food, and our current plateful of resources, some day.
In a word, no.
We are never, ever going to run out of food. The only largescale factor restricting food production now is basic lack of demand.
The only food problem in the longterm future will be obesity. There will be short-term shortages only because of temporary bad luck and (especially) bad management.
Or population level is moderating even as we speak. Check out birthrates in 1990 vs. birthrates today. Down, down, down. And down. And, for good measure, down.
The planet could easily sustain 1 population of 15 billion at a far great rate of affluence and with far more “personal space” and ‘elbow room” than today, with minimal environmental impact. New York with 8 million is FAR less crowded than when it had 1 million. (Modernity and technology.) But it looks as if world population will stablize long before it reaches 10 billion. (Too bad. The more, the merrier.)
Our “current plateful” of resources is expanding far, far faster than we are using it up. Even the non-renewables, such as oil. In 1975, an optimistic estimate of potential reserves was 3.5 tbls. Today, according to the far more pessimistic estimates to be found on wiki, we have 6.4 tbls potential reserves, far more accessible than in 1975 and–and growing daily.
6% of the earth’s crust is aluminium, 5% iron, 1% copper, etc., etc. We have a virtually unlimited plateful of reserves, many of which are renewable and recyclable. (Not to mention man’s greatly expanding ability to substitute.)
We’re not the first species to overpopulate their environment, but as far as we know we have the biggest impact
And have by far the greatest power and control. Our population is on an s-curve projection, not a j. Not because there is any need for it, but it turns out that–in an affluent society (only)–children are VERY EXPENSIVE.
This is the big test: how smart are we (you)?
Quite. And up on the subject.
These concerns were thoroughly put paid back in the 1980s. They remain so. The Club of Rome crowd was just plain old wrong on every issue and for every reason. Even Malthus, in his old age, admitted his gross error. His inheritors still somehow fail to do so.
>Those who just want to trash Al Gore are ignoring the realities.
The fact that his realities simply aren’t is forgivable. What is trashworthy is his sanctimony.
We are all intelligent enough creatures to weigh the facts and draw our own conclusions. Thank you for sharing the facts, it’s scary when either side starts to bury findings.