Category Archives: Disaster

NOAA and “climate disasters” – made up words?

Posted on January 19, 2012 by

I got a chuckle out of this new buzzword that NOAA has created in this press release: “climate disasters”. Personally, I think they’ve been caught up the disaster hype. Why? Well, because the term is undefined. It isn’t even in … Continue reading →

Posted in Alarmism, Disaster | Tagged , , , , , , | 69 Comments

NOAA’s Weather Ready Nation

Posted on August 17, 2011 by

This press release from NOAA came in an email today. I’m not too impressed by the “2011 Ties Record for Billion Dollar Disasters” statement because as inflation and property values rise, so will monetary estimates for “most expensive disaster year”. … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster, NOAA | 46 Comments

Quantifying the Fukushima reactor leak with atmospheric Sulfur Dioxide

Posted on August 15, 2011 by

From the University of California – San Diego  via Eurekalert First quantitative measure of radiation leaked from Fukushima reactor Observations of radioactive sulfur that formed when seawater was used to cool reactors and spent fuel ponds reveal the amount of … Continue reading →

Posted in Current News, Disaster, Radiation | 42 Comments

The folly of linking tornado outbreaks to “climate change”

Posted on April 29, 2011 by

In times of tragedy, there always seems to be hucksters about trying to use that tragedy to sell a position, a product, or a belief. In ancient times, tragedy was the impetus used to appease the gods and to embrace … Continue reading →

Posted in climate_change, Current News, Disaster, Opinion, thunderstorms, tornadoes, weather | Tagged , , , , , | 69 Comments

The negligent promotion of nuclear panic

Posted on March 26, 2011 by

It pains me to see large parts of the media still hyperventilating over the very modest amounts of radioactive material coming from the Fukushima Daiichi plant on the east coast of Japan. Nothing has been made more plain that most … Continue reading →

Posted in Current News, Disaster, media, Opinion, tsunami | Tagged , , , | 288 Comments

Good news from Japan: Situation ‘fairly stable’, says IAEA

Posted on March 18, 2011 by

IAEA= International Atomic Energy Agency – update here Story below from the Register: The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant in Japan, badly damaged during the extremely severe earthquake and tsunami there a week ago, continues to stabilise. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Current News, Disaster, energy | Tagged , , , , | 124 Comments

Nuke Tsunami Makes Clean Coal Look Better

Posted on March 18, 2011 by

Guest Post by Ira Glickstein The recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami, which shut down several reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex in northeastern Japan, followed by a failure of the backup cooling systems that resulted in hydrogen gas explosions and … Continue reading →

Posted in Current News, Disaster, energy, politics, tsunami | Tagged , , | 111 Comments

Really? You had to ask this question?

Posted on March 15, 2011 by

Click image for the story. h/t to WUWT reader “Eric”. I’m always amazed at the lack of historical perspective some people have related to natural disasters. It’s doubly amazing when reporters who work in newspapers, who have huge archive resources … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster, media | Tagged , | 240 Comments

More on ARKstorm

Posted on March 7, 2011 by

I covered this earlier in a post here.  Atmospheric Rivers can cause this sort of pattern, read more about them here. If the goal of press releases like this one from USC and the ones from USGS is to scare … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster | Tagged , , | 82 Comments

6.3 quake in Christchurch, NZ, 65 deaths reported

Posted on February 22, 2011 by

Note aftershocks ranging from  5.6 to 4.5 have also been felt in the last few hours. Here is a list of quakes. We wish our Kiwi friends well, and hope that the quake is not as bad as first reports … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster | Tagged , , | 135 Comments

Extreme Nonsense by Krugman

Posted on February 9, 2011 by

Guest post by Indur M. Goklany 1. Krugman in Gradual Changes and Extreme Events forgets that there is a threshold on the left hand side, below which cold kills. In fact, in the moderate to higher latitudes more people die … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Alarmism, Disaster, economy-health | Tagged , , | 112 Comments

Same news, different century

Posted on January 19, 2011 by

They say those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Read this article in the Vancouver Sun, May 1982, and tell compare to the sorts of news stories we are seeing today about the same topic with … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster | Tagged , , | 91 Comments

Dueling Hypotheses

Posted on January 16, 2011 by

The Trenberth article contains so many glaring errors and biased assumptions, it’s hard to know where to start. First of all, the difference between theory and hypothesis: The problem is not with dueling hypotheses, it is with dueling theories regarding … Continue reading →

Posted in Alarmism, Disaster, IPCC, media, Science | Tagged , , , | 137 Comments

Is the Brazilian flooding catastrophe evidence of another global warming era extreme ?

Posted on January 15, 2011 by

Guest post by Alexandre Aguiar, METSUL Communications Director, Brazil (note there’s much more here at METSUL’s blog) Corpses are still under tons of rocks and mud in the hills of Rio de Janeiro, but some experts are already rushing to … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster | Tagged , | 60 Comments

Bogus claims on Australian and Brazilian floods from ABC and Dr. Richard Sommerville

Posted on January 14, 2011 by

This ridiculous video story below from ABC news cites über alarmist Richard Somerville of Scripps in San Diego, and is backed up with this print story. Here’s what the print story headline said: Raging Waters In Australia and Brazil Product … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate News, Disaster, Opinion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 176 Comments

The Australian cites covered up report of Brisbane flood danger

Posted on January 12, 2011 by

By Hedley Thomas, The Australian A SECRET report by scientific and engineering experts warned of significantly greater risks of vast destruction from Brisbane River flooding – and raised grave concerns with the Queensland government and the city’s council a decade … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster, Government idiocy | Tagged , , , , | 101 Comments

Climate Disasters: New Baylor Study Explores How People Respond

Posted on January 12, 2011 by

From Baylor University News Study looks into the interaction of knowledge, risk perceptions and action as it relates to climate events New results from a Baylor University study show that different behaviors and strategies lead some families to cope better … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster | Tagged , , , , | 28 Comments

Australia’s tragic flooding – 30 feared dead

Posted on January 12, 2011 by

UPDATES ADDED: See updates below the read more line My heart goes out to Australia. The ugly side of this is that a portion of the tragedy may have been prevented with a dam to control floodwaters. But as James … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster, Government idiocy | Tagged , , , , , , | 132 Comments

Abandon all hope, ye who read this

Posted on January 10, 2011 by

Climate change to continue to year 3000 in best case scenarios New paper in Nature Geoscience examines inertia of carbon dioxide emissions New research indicates the impact of rising CO2 levels in the Earth’s atmosphere will cause unstoppable effects to … Continue reading →

Posted in climate_change, Disaster, post-normal science, satire | Tagged , , | 227 Comments

Contest

Posted on December 24, 2010 by

By Charles The Moderator, I have lived in California all my life, the first half in SoCal, the second half in NorCal. A funny thing happens ever year. If we have a below normal amount of rain, in the spring … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster, drought | Tagged | 57 Comments

Undetected crack causes unpredictable results

Posted on November 12, 2010 by

From Geekosystem:  [This is a must watch video / safe for work] On Wednesday, thousands of Springfield, Ohio residents were left without power when a 275-foot smokestack being demolished fell the wrong way, knocking down two 12,500 volt power lines … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster | Tagged | 113 Comments

35 years ago: The Witch of November Come Stealin

Posted on November 10, 2010 by

Today is the 35th anniversary of the sinking of the Great Lakes ore carrier, the Edmund Fitzgerald. The shipped was sunk by “The Witch of November”, a strong Lake Superior storm that often occurs around the same time each year. … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster, weather | 68 Comments

Failure to forecast morphs to criminal investigation

Posted on September 4, 2010 by

From an AGU press release, potential charges for failure to forecast an earthquake. h/t to Dr. Leif Svalgaard. Scientists May Face Manslaughter Charges After Earthquake 22 June 2010 AGU Science Policy Alert 10-18 Seven Italian scientists and government officials are … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster, politics | 107 Comments

NOAA on the Russian heat wave: blocking high, not global warming

Posted on August 19, 2010 by

The Russian Heat Wave of 2010 Draft Report by NOAA CSI 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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster, weather | 71 Comments

Interior Dept. Inspector General Investigating post facto falsified statements from engineers on drilling moratorium

Posted on July 26, 2010 by

While this isn’t our normal fare here at WUWT, I found it interesting and relevant, since WUWT covered the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling spill story early on here, with several follow ups. This story is a result of that spill. … Continue reading →

Posted in Disaster, energy, Environment, Government idiocy | 84 Comments