Post by Ryan Maue
It’s a wonder why the media continue to trot out the likes of Bill Nye and Michio Kaku to speak about climate change and the weather when they already have folks like Al Roker and Sam Champion on the payroll.
For some unknown reason, Bill Nye showed up on Fox News Saturday afternoon to chat with Uma Pemmaraju about tornadoes Video Link. The meandering answers by Nye led to many quizzical looks by Uma, who got out of the way, and let Nye demonstrate his meteorological expertise. One should ask, as Amy Ridenour does in her off-base, satirical videos, is Bill Nye smarter than a 5th grader when it comes to understanding the weather?
And a NPR blogger wonders what motivates Climate Change Deniers?
Jeff Poor, over at the Daily Caller (where Anthony is a contributor), has the transcript:
“Well, it is very difficult to connect tornado to climate change,” Nye said. “They are small even relative to the other big picture. But i will tell you this – last 11 years are the warmest 11 years on record, since the 1800s. And there is 4 percent more water vapor in the atmosphere than has been in the past. Four percent doesn’t sound like a lot but it is a huge amount. And if you think of the Earth as a disk in space just receiving sunlight, and there are on the other of one and half billion BTU [British thermal unit]-worth of heat than there used to be. When you get that much extra heat and water vapor in the air, you are going to have more storms.”
“Notice that the floods that are probably connected to the tornadoes,” he said. “These floods – there is no Katrina or Rita, it just rain rained. When water vapor changed from a liquid to a vapor it gives up heat high in the atmosphere, or medium height in the atmosphere. And that heat up there makes it churn up more and that leads to more storms. Now, people have talked about this for years and everybody, this is serious business. The tornado is very difficult to mathematically connect to climate change. But the rains and extra warmth in the atmosphere, the extra water in the atmosphere, those are the facts. That’s the real deal.”
“You know, we are patriots, we are from the U.S. – I am,” he said. “And you would like the U.S. to be the leader in addressing this problem. We would like to be out in front in trying to deal with whatever it is that is holding in the heat and creating all of the extra water vapor in the atmosphere. Tornadoes are almost certainly a consequence.”
“Well, there is not that many other countries that have the configuration of North America to make the tornadoes,” Nye said. “And the word hurricane is a word coined in the Caribbean. This is a unique area in that regard. We have the Gulf of Mexico and we have this access of cold air from Canada or from the Arctic. And these two things conspire to move the jet stream, and then that helps to carry the extra water vapor over the heart of North America. So, it is unique place. You don’t have tornado in Norway. The weather is set up differently. But here in the U.S., it is a serious problem.”
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Bill Nye should just admit he knows nothing about the weather or climate change and let the professionals like Al Roker, Sam Champion, and Michio Kaku explain it to the rest of us.
Climate expert Michio Kaku: “El Niña” or global warming causing snowstorms, or something
Al Roker believes climate change is moving tornadoes into urban areas
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Villarini, G., et al., 2011. Is the recorded increase in short-duration North Atlantic tropical storms spurious? Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, D10114, doi:10.1029/2010JD01549
Based on our results, it appears that the long-term record of the basin-wide shorties is sufficiently contaminated by spurious components to mask any climatically induced variation within the raw data. Moreover, based on these results and those of Vecchi and Knutson [2008] it is unlikely that a homogeneous record of Atlantic tropical storm counts would contain a statistically significant positive trend since the late 1800s. Our results provide a context for interpreting studies exploring trend behavior in the North Atlantic tropical storm activity starting prior to the 1940s. In particular, the conclusions of certain studies reporting large secular increases in North Atlantic tropical storm activity in which shorties are included [e.g., Holland and Webster, 2007; Mann et al., 2007] could be affected by what we interpret as likely spurious nonphysical trends unless an alternative physical explanation can be uncovered for the pronounced increase in shorties starting from the middle of the 20th century. Further, statistical models of tropical storm activity built using century‐scale records that include shorties [e.g., Mann et al., 2007; Sabbatelli and Mann, 2007; Mann et al., 2009] likely include an element reflecting the spurious shorties in the record.
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“For tornadoes, this is because better observing technologies (and a lot more people looking) have increasingly identified small storms which were previously overlooked.”
http://www.worldclimatereport.com/index.php/2011/05/26/no-long-term-trend-in-atlantic-hurricane-numbers/
Wasn’t he in Stargate Atlantis episode (in the one they pushed climate change on poor sci-fiers)
When he says “not many countries besides the US have tornadoes”, that is quite factual. Other countries do have tornadoes, but the majority of the worlds tornadoes do occur in the US because of the things he mentioned. And almost all the world’s EF4 and EF5 tornadoes occur in the US. There’s plenty of things to bash Bill Nye about, but this isn’t one of them.
[Ryan: true, the most intense tornadoes are in the US, but the deadliest are in Bangladesh, and they are a worldwide phenomena]
Wow! Did I ever get it wrong in ninth grade science class. I always thought that water absorbed heat as it changed from liquid to vapor.
Do I feel stupid.
cheers,
gary
“water vapor changed from a liquid to a vapor it gives up heat high in the atmosphere,”
Because wet and dry adiabatic lapse rates have been all wrong all these years.
Wonder if I plug in my kettle to turn cold water into steam if it will now give back electricity back into the wall?
I watched this pathetic interview. According to AccuWeather, people that get paid for doing this say blaming global warming for this is just crazy they predicted it was coming last year. The air temperature between 15,000 and 30,000ft is unusually cold and when the gulf stream warm moist air meets that cold air the rotating storms start up. As for the number of tornadoes there were many more in May 2003 than this year. Usually they don’t hit cities, this time they did. This happens every spring just like clockwork.
I’m old enough to remember Mr. Wizard, aka Don Herbert. He likely is responsible for starting many more kids on the road to science degrees than Bill Nye.
http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/
That quote about water vapor is just incredible.
I like “hurricane is a word coined in the Caribbean” too. Maybe that’s why hurricanes never hit the western Pacific coastline.
Gary Turner: I guess you fell asleep during that class. You probably sleep through the class where Al Gore explained that the center of the Earth is million of degrees. But don’t worry I sure these geniuses will tutor you for a fee.
Ryan already mentioned Bangladesh, but I figure a little Norwegian twister action might be nice.
I can’t watch much History and Discovery because of the political indocrination in their programs. Not really a surprise given They are based in NYC and Maryland, respectively. Should be called Hysteria and Distraction Channels.
Here’s what someone who lived in the USSR during Soviet times says about the direction our country is going. She recognizes too many disturbing similarities:
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/572566/201105181917/Soviet-Propaganda-Would-Fit-In-With-USA-Of-Today.aspx
Keep up the fight.
I should apply for a job at Fox. Or that 5th grader should. ‘Meandering’ does describe his attempted answers.
Gary,
Did you not get the message.
All the thermodynamics books from centries need to be corrected to align with Nye’s findings. He wants to be “out in front” correcting thermodynamics.
We too have our resident ABC ‘science guru’, firmly wedded to AGW, Dr Karl. He is the one who when interviewing N Oreskes recently, could not even remember the CO2 concentration in the air.
You get the drift, be vague when you are cornered.
@ur momisugly Wucash
I remember that episode! Didn’t watch much of the show after that (not the only reason but it helped)
Best I can figure, it was supposed to be a commentary on the screw brained ideas involving geo engineering and the people that push for them. Although they still had to make the eposide safe for public consumption by including the “everybody has to do their part” at the end.
It’s called the boob tube for a reason.
Pathetic.
Bill Nye’s performances (and “aid” on Millionaire have not been overly impressive either.) Sorry Bill, you SHOULD give up the day job!
I want more Professor Cuckoo! There is nothing quite like a theoretical physicist going on a tear over global warming. Just don’t get him started on the “Companion” that he figured was following Comet Hale-Bopp, or Mel’s Hole. Go to the following link to hear his prediction for our current weak solar cycle. lol
http://wn.com/Michio_Kaku%27s_warning_for_2012
Nye (Science Guy): ‘You don’t have tornadoes in Norway’
dallas: Beautiful – Norwegian tornado footage
In short ‘No. He is not.’ His rambling commentaries approach incoherence.
It is a matter of language. On Mars there are dust devils. In Australia there are water spouts, willi-willis and mini-cyclones. There word Tornado is used only by people educated or have work experience in USA. Similarly with Hurricanes. These are cyclones in Australia and the Pacific area. By restrictive definitions one can always have a biggest, strongest, longest etc. I mean you can say it is the strongest willi-willi in whoop-whoop since the last one two years ago.
At least with this post, I’m not being pilloried by “conservatives” who subscribed to the “Think-Tank” reasoning. Amazing how easy a target Bill Nye is, but when you mention a fellow traveler like Amy Ridenour and her outfit, all hell breaks loose.
Ryan, conservatives like what you have to say scientifically as long as it fits with their ideology. Likewise liberals. These are people who are interested in advancing their political agenda, not seeking truth. If both groups are upset with you it’s a clue you are on the right track, actually.
Ryan Maue says:
May 28, 2011 at 5:07 pm
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Not getting enough attention….huh?
I honestly do not see what sort of statistics anyone can get from either hurricanes or tornadoes.
The way they are counted has changed, so you can’t compare pre 1960’s/70’s.
You can’t compare deaths or damage. That’s just the luck of the draw, or not.
We get around 1000/1500 tornadoes a year, depending on who’s counting.
Do they all hit corn or wheat fields, or all hit downtown Atlanta?
That’s just the luck of the draw……
Same with hurricanes. We know have the equipment to find and name storms, if even for a few minutes, that would have never been named before. And where they decide to land, makes all the difference. As bad as hurricane Andrew was, if it had hit downtown Miami, it would be a whole different ball game. If it had passed over the Keys, another different ball game.
So, how do you compare today’s numbers with past numbers? You can’t, and there goes the claims that they are increasing or decreasing.
How do you compare deaths and damage? You can’t, it’s just the luck of the draw.
Of course the greater question is:
Just what are 5th graders being taught.