Further Update:
Turns out I was hoping for too much. Brad Johnson found at least three scientists eager to be quoted in his follow up article: Kevin Trenberth, Michael Mann, and Gavin Schmidt. The quotes from these top scientists are worth going over there and reading. No additional comments are warranted.
Top Climate Scientist On The Monster Tornadoes: ‘It Is Irresponsible Not To Mention Climate Change’
Update by Ryan Maue:
Under the title of “Tornado and global warming“, Brad Johnson disgustingly uses quotes by Dr. Kevin Trenberth, and grotesquely blames the recent tornado outbreak on (GOP) congressional delegations in states that opposed climate legislation. I hope no scientist wants anything like this said on their behalf.
Update by Anthony:
4:45PM PST I have an updated article on this issue here:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/04/29/the-folly-of-linking-tornado-outbreaks-to-climate-change/
9:30AM PST:
I was writing simultaneously with Ryan Maue and I couldn’t even come up with a title I was so disgusted. So I made the title “No title”. I’ve combined the articles. This is what I wrote:
This post has no title because the closest title I can think of is of the caliber of [expletive deleted]. The Center for American Progress and NCAR’s Dr. Keneth Trenbert invoke the thought of famous line from Joseph N. Welch “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”
I wonder how long they had to search for this particular (uncredited) photograph, choosing the juxapostion of the Chevron sign with the tornado. For all I know, it may even be photoshopped. (update: After about 30 minutes of searching, I found the original here http://yfrog.com/h232uwjij )
To say I’m disgusted, simply does not do justice to the feelings I have about this. The real test will be to see if CAP paid disinformer Joe Romm reposts this article from Brad Johnson on Climate Progress.
Here’s the proof that refutes the issue, and pigeonholes these clowns for what they are, which is nothing about science, but about hateful political cheapshots.
From the National Climatic Data center. Tornadoes of the intensity seen in Alabama this week (F3-F5) on the Fujita scale:
Source: National Climatic Data Center http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/climate/research/tornado/tornadotrend.jpg
They New York Times got into the act too. CCM Mike Smith of Meteorological Musings writes:
Leave it to the NY Times to Write an Inaccurate and Insensitive Article
I had planned on moving on to other topics today. There is little more to say about the tornadoes of the last three weeks until the investigations are completed. As I was going through my email this morning, a reader sent me a link to this article inThe New York Times:
Predicting Tornadoes: It’s Still Guessing Game
Compared to the slime job by the Center for American Progress, it’s tame.
I urge readers to read this article below from Physorg and to use it and the graph above to refute comments in online forums.
“…it would be a mistake to blame climate change for a seeming increase in tornadoes”
Update: The graph that Joe Romm and Brad Johnson don’t want you to see: tornado deaths per million over the last century
Source: NOAA’s US Severe Weather Blog, SPC, Norman Oklahoma
http://www.norman.noaa.gov/2009/03/us-annual-tornado-death-tolls-1875-present/
Al Gored says:
April 29, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Hmmm. Just anticipating the next fake linkage…
Breaking News! Alabama Pika Population Entirely Wiped Out By Tornadoes!
===========================================
That and brown recluse spiders – might, maybe, could – move further north into territories where they have historically been for ages………….
Curiousgeorge says: “Not all Southerners are religious. I’m not and I reside in MS. But we do like our guns, and we know how to use them. 😉 We also like our freedoms, and we know how to use those also.” (April 29, 2011 at 12:10 pm )
Goodness, I hope you don’t think that I buy into that; it’s what many of the commenters on the Think Progress appear to assume automatically. Odd, how the lefties, who always claim the moral high ground on everything there is, repeatedly reveal themselves as angry, spiteful, prejudiced and violent. I sure hope they don’t ever get comfortable with guns and ammo, because I’ll doubt they’ll use them in defense of freedoms.
Truly shocking and upsetting.
The ‘Kiwi’s’ must be very proud of him.
hmm, the CenteR for American Progress?
As you have recently reported a reduction in CO2 emissions in the USA how can it be the driver?…. and since your temps have been through a very cold period there cannot be warming driving this.
What is more I understand storms come from a meeting of cold fronts with warm fronts, so more heat means less cold fronts, means less storms.
Therefore would somebody out there please commit Trenberth to a lunatic asylum….preferably one with Jack Nicholson in residence complete with axe!
If you are a follower of the church of AGW then the concept of divine retribution will come naturally to you. It has been meted out to the unbelievers in those unfortunate states.
there is no other way to describe such behaviour but disgusting – still, give ’em enough rope and they will hopefully hang themselves – but even that’s too good for them IMHO.
Holden Magroin says:
April 29, 2011 at 12:29 pm
That’s funny…these kinds of storms were once blamed on Global Cooling…
Like in this TIME article from 1974
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944914,00.html
Scientists have found other indications of global cooling. For one thing there has been a noticeable expansion of the great belt of dry, high-altitude polar winds — the so-called circumpolar vortex—that sweep from west to east around the top and bottom of the world. etc
http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/extreme/gfs/current/nhdt.html
it looks like that another storm is underway
You want to see a hockey stick
http://www.bullionvault.com/gold-price-chart.do
PS I should have made it clear that my post was sarcastic.
Don’t mess with Mother Nature. Gaia has been monitoring CSPAN very closely and is making a list and checking it twice of all legislators who have been naughty or nice… Yes, Climate Change is a religion and Earth Day is the new Christmas.
This is my translation of Dr. Trenberth’s comments: “Given that global warming is unequivocal” and the science is settled, we already know all the answers. Therefore there’s no reason to do any more climate studies. But the funding will dry up if we stop doing them. So we will continue doing half-hearted climate research, cherry-picking data, and using incomplete models just to make sure the gravy train continues.
To sort of paraphrase Val Kilmer (Doc Holliday) in Tombstone:
His hypocrisy knows no bounds.
I find it interesting that xkcd had a cartoon on the null hypothesis today.
http://xkcd.com/892/
Those of us who try to use statistics and numerical thinking to make informed decisions, and who try to spread such thinking, are being undermined by those who look at data as material for creating a predetermined spin. Sometimes I fear for Western Civilization.
For the La Niña connection, see
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2011/04/are-eastern-us-tornadoes-and-our-cold.html
So by Trenberth’s logic, global warming affected the UK for the last 3 weeks so we have had a good spring weather event, as opposed to the series of hurricanes weather event we could have had.
From what I have read so far over 300 people have been killed so far. Here is a selection from the past. It’s worse that we thought – fewer people back in the day.
TORNADO DEATHS:
[Nashua Daily Telegraph – May 29, 1896]
“Over Three Hundred Dead Bodies in St. Louis and East St. Louis.”
[The Atlanta Constitution – Apr 26, 1908]
“Nearly, 400 lives lost,…”
[Herald-Journal – Mar 19, 1925]
“…the total dead at 957…”
[New York Times – March 24, 1932]
“TORNADO DEAD 329”
[Los Angeles Times – Apr 8, 1936]
“TORNADOES’ DEATH TOLL PASSES 400”
Intellectual pollution, I’d say.
You have sinned, oh sinners, against the might of the Great and Glorious Gaia, for which you have been punished! Now repent, ‘fore you are punished further!
/sarc
Feeling a tad ill, just thinking of people like that.
Over on Huffpo they have a story – 2011 Tornadoes: Is Climate Change To Blame For The Devastating Weather? where it mentions –
(emphasis mine)
I can’t figure out where in the report they are painting that positive correlation but if the research was preliminary in 2008 then why isn’t there something more current for them to report three years later? Perhaps their claim of correlation in 2008 was found to be premature?
Dr T G Watkins says:
April 29, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Truly shocking and upsetting.
The ‘Kiwi’s’ must be very proud of him.
——————————————————
Wash your mouth out! And it was my city too!!!
Douglas
How cool. Gaia follows Alabama politics. Who Knew?
I do recall quite clearly that a gallon was around $2 min here in Southern California just before Obama was elected. California gasoline is *always* higher than the rest of the nation due to extra taxes thrown on, and special blends depending on season required by our great unelected CARB people. So yes, I would agree with all who are saying that Gas was indeed ~$2 a gallon within the last 5 years.
What has happened since then? Oh, our great federal government started printing money to make up for Fannie and Freddie. I doubt we’ll see $2 again unless the Feds start a massive buyback of their own outrageous debt.
James Sexton,
I was going by memory regarding gasoline prices when Obama took office. I paid $1.87/gal that day. Thanks for the chart. I see that the lowest price was around his inaguration.
All Obama has to do to drive gas prices back down to that level again is to lift the drilling moratorium he imposed upon being sworn in as president.
But Obama can’t do that, because he is a wholly owned subsidiary of the enviro-lobby. So everyone suffers, and the poorest suffer the most.
@ur momisugly Smokey, boballab, mike g, bobbyj0708, ShrNfr, DonS, James Sexton, Jeremy…
I stand corrected, but I have to say that if it ever dropped to below $2.50/gal in northern VT I missed it. I remember the price going to over $3/gal and then dropping back slightly for about 6 months, but since then it has been either static or gradually increasing. Granted, we are a long way from the refineries.
Thanks for the civil corrections. My comment wasn’t based on ideology, just what I remember about the price at the pump.
What took so long for them to jump on this? That ain’t like these loons. Love the Chevron sign in the shot though – priceless…
Looks like he thinks he’s on a roll – Brad Johnson pulls in Michael Mann and Gavin Schmidt quotes to support the storms being related to climate change (and not a return to 1974 conditions).
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/29/climate-science-tornadoes/
Kevin Trenberth: “It is irresponsible not to mention climate change. … The environment in which all of these storms and the tornadoes are occurring has changed from human influences.
Michael Mann: “Climate change is present in every single meteorological event.”
Gavin Schmidt: “this latest outbreak must in some sense have been affected, but attribution is hard.”