Video Credit: Daily Caller/C-SPAN – click for video
By WUWT Regular Just The Facts
First, I’m sure I speak for everyone at WUWT when I say that our hearts go out to all the families in Oklahoma affected by the weather tragedy there today.
In the video above US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse states that:
“When cyclones tear up Oklahoma and hurricanes swamp Alabama and wildfires scorch Texas, you come to us, the rest of the country, for billions of dollars to recover. And the damage that your polluters and deniers are doing doesn’t just hit Oklahoma and Alabama and Texas.”
Read more: Daily Caller
If Senator Sheldon Whitehouse did more reading and less ranting, he might know that Continental US Temperature Lower Troposphere (TLT) – 1979 to Present;
is currently below average.
US Strong to Violent Tornadoes (EF3-EF5) – 1950 to 2012;
are below average. US Inflation Adjusted Annual Tornado Trend and Percentile Ranks;
are currently below average. US Tornadoes Daily Count and Running Annual Total;
are currently well below average.
US Extremes in Landfalling Tropical Systems – 1910 to Present – Annual;
are currently below average.
This US Acres Per Wildfire and the Number of Wildfires Per Year graph;
shows that the number of wildfires have decreased, while the acres per fire have increased.
This is an important distinction as the associated article elaborates:
This graph shows the inverse relationship between numbers and sizes of US wildfires over time. Note the greater number and smaller sizes of fires between the creation of Wilderness in 1964 and the beginning of the modern wildfire era in 1987 and 1988 (with Silver Complex and Yellowstone fires of those years), as compared with the smaller number and greater size of recent fires. One factor may be the shift in USFS policy from rapid suppression to “let it burn,” which has allowed for numerous smaller fires – previously extinguished individually — to coalesce into larger fires and singular complexes.Evergreen
For reference;
“Forest managers agree that the current fire risk is primarily a combination of two factors — higher-than-average temperatures and a profusion of fuel, the product of nearly a century of fire suppression policies.”
“Recognizing widespread overgrowth in American forests, in the late 1970s the Forest Service began reintroducing policies of prescribed burning and allowed many smaller, natural fires to burn out on their own, provided they didn’t threaten lives or property. The decision this summer to attack all fires, while not a direct reversal of this policy, does represent a departure from that practice of natural restoration, said Jennifer Jones, a public affairs specialist with the Forest Service. Scientific America
The shift in thinking was formalized in a 1995 statement of federal fire policy, and strengthened in a 2001 revision. The policy recognizes that fire is “an essential ecological process,” and that decades of trying to keep fires from burning have led, ironically, to “larger and more severe” conflagrations because of the buildup of underbrush and other fuel. USA Today
As such, US Forest Fire data is biased by “nearly a century of fire suppression policies” and “the shift in USFS policy from rapid suppression to ‘let it burn,'”, which begin “in the late 1970s”, “was formalized in a 1995 statement of federal fire policy, and strengthened in a 2001 revision.” Furthermore, given that continental US Temperatures are currently below average, it is absurd to blame to recent forest fire activity on Global Warming.
US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse used the tragic weather events in Oklahoma to spout erroneous alarmist Global Warming rhetoric. Mr Sheldon, less ranting, more reading…
Hat Tip to WUWT Reader “007”
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Anthony: Unfortunately, there is shameful precedence for this sort of opportunistic political rhetoric, WUWT readers may recall when the Center for American progress blamed southern conservatives voting record for tornadoes:
This might be a good time to remind readers of this essay:
The folly of linking tornado outbreaks to “climate change”
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Many AGW promoters and profiteers have woken up to the fact that the putrescent stain of AGW advocacy is permanent in the age of the Internet. They are now in a panic spiral, desperately trying to find an exit strategy. However Senator Whitehouse’s olfactory sensitivity to caffeinated beverages seems abnormally low. Perhaps even lower than climate sensitivity to CO2.
Glad to see we in Australia haven’t got the only stupid politicians.
Gail Combs says:
May 20, 2013 at 10:38 pm
Judging by the comments I read I think Whitehouse really stuck his foot in his mouth.
______________
If he comes out here to Oklahoma and says something like that, he’ll get a boot in his @ur momisugly$$.
Reblogged this on The Science Blog.
Sheldon is up to his neck in BS and drowning in his own feces.
Perhaps wuwt should set up an astroturfing system for these people, to “call them out”, like Barak Obama has done for skeptics –
http://www.barackobama.com/climate-deniers/
He’s probably parroting the rhetoric he reads in the environmental newsletters he subscribes to.
I can’t decide whether he and those like him are incredibly stupid or incredibly sinister.
Maybe ‘both’ is the answer.
Man-Made Global Warming Charlatans. That’s what I call them now.
Something disturbing I observed today on the political front, All the scandal news on all MSM channels was trumped by the mid-west tornadoes, as if those tornadoes never happened before. I think they’re getting ready to sell us on the carbon tax again and cover up other things. I started this thread on Daily Paul to bring attention to the phenomenon.
To Cover-Up Government Employee Crime, MSM Owners Order Wall to Wall Tornado Coverage
http://www.dailypaul.com/286090/to-cover-up-government-employee-crime-msm-owners-order-wall-to-wall-tornado-coverage
What caused these tornadoes? Certainly wasn’t us skeptics…..
Worst US tornadoes since 1900
18 May 1902 114 deaths in Goliad, Texas
24 April 1908 143 deaths in Amite, Louisiana and Purvis Mississippi
23 March 1913 103 deaths in Omaha, Nebraska
18 March 1925 695 deaths in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana
5 April 1936 216 deaths in Tupelo, Mississippi
6 April 1936 203 deaths in Gainesville, Georgia
9 April 1947 181 deaths in Woodward, Oklahoma
11 May 1953 114 deaths in Waco, Texas
8 June 1953 116 deaths in Flint, Michigan
22 May 2011 158 deaths in Joplin, Missouri.
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Who on earth voted this man into any form of political power?
Justthefacts:
“http://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/ptorngraph-big.png
…
I think our understanding of Earth’s climate system is still too rudimentary to make accurate long range forecasts.”
… or even short term one 😉
Yes betting on weather events is a dodgy business, I should have avoided making simplistic annual predictions. However, the divide between cooling period and warming periods seems pretty clear cut in the tornado data.
The warming period is recognised to be linked to the Pacific shift in 1974-75 and that’s the last time there was a strong tornado year.
If there’s one thing that did not happen during the last 30 years of global warming it is an incease in tornadoes.
Quite the opposite, it has been a period of notable low activity.
There was a downward trend that is similar to the inverted surface temperature trend. There is also a lag of about 5 years in the decadal patterns. That merits a closer look but in view of the inevitable false claims of “stronger and more violent storms” I wanted to show genernal relationship is just the opposite.
Here is a plot of lagged tornado count vs surface temperature:
http://climategrog.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=257
It shows the strong correlation between (inverted) temperature and tornado count even down to the inter annual level during the post 1975 warming period.
The lag relation is valid during the previous cooling period thought the level of activity is.
Now understanding what creates tornadoes and prediciting them is something that is poorly understood but the negative correlation to temperature seems clear.
Conclusion: global warming causes LESS frequent LESS violent storms.
“CodeTech says:
May 20, 2013 at 8:26 pm
And, being dropped on your head causes people to be Democrats. Got it.”
He’s not a Democrat. He is a Progressive Socialist.
Look at it this way. If Whitehouse was smart, he wouldn’t be on the Hill.
Sadly, Whitehouse’s actions are neither surprising nor unexpected. They are the ghouls of humanity who must feed on the death and misery of others to further their own political agenda. We were warned about this 4 years ago.
He is just like the people who used to proclaim that AIDS is a punishment from God, and he deserves the same treatment in the media. But he won’t get it.
Clashes of warm, moist air and cold, dry air cause tornadoes. It has been this way since before Dorothy and Toto went on their travels. See below (caps mine).
http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/tornadoes/causesoftornadoes.shtml
“Tornado conditions are caused when different temperatures and humidity meet to form thunderclouds. In the United States, warm, wet winds from the Gulf of Mexico move northward in spring and summer, MEETING COLDER, DRY CANADIAN WINDS moving southward. The place where these two winds meet is called a dry line. High, dry air coming from the north piles on top of low-moving, moist Gulf air at a height of over 10,000 feet. The warm southern winds try to rise, but the cold northern air blocks them. This clash causes the warm, trapped air to rotate horizontally between the two air masses. At the same time, THE SUN HEATS THE EARTH BELOW warming more air that continues to try and rise. Finally, the rising warm wind becomes strong enough to force itself up through the colder air layer.
When this occurs, the cold air on top begins to sink, sending the rising warm wind spinning upward. The warm winds rotate faster and faster in a high column. When the updraft is strong, the column can rise to heights of 10 miles or more, twisting at speeds of up to 100 miles an hour. The rotating winds produce strong storm clouds about 70,000 feet high, sometimes spreading 10 miles wide.”
What we don’t know is what effect does wind generator farms make on mixing hot and cold air currents? Did that or will that plays a roll in generating tornadoes?
A few questions for Mr. Whitehouse.
http://dailybail.com/home/why-wind-power-wont-work.html
http://dailybail.com/home/the-mafia-is-moving-into-green-energy.html
NOTE: A special project (investigative report) is now underway and will be published in a few weeks…
The reactionary ill-informed tone, as well as the substance, of Sen. Whitehouse encourages the worst sort of provincialism. He would be well advised to study the history of his own state a wee bit more before making further inflammatory and self-embarrassing diatribes.
Why do not Meso-Americans, with doxastic commitment, not build traditional tornado shelters? If Glow-bull Warning causes more worser tornadoes, perhaps they’re claiming Denier status?
There are signs, however, that a degree of sanity in reporting this tragedy has descended over the BBC. In today’s coverage their science reporter, David Shukman, told viewers that the statistics don’t bear out the claims of increasingly violent tornadoes (although he still referred to rising global temperatures). He informed us that the increased damage results from spreading urbanisation which raises the chances of storms hitting populated areas.
Yes, it was a rant, and political opportunism of the vilest sort, but make no mistake; he was simply voicing the basic position now of all Climatists. Facts don’t matter in the slightest to them. Reality and rationality are the enemy to them. They prey on people’s emotions, hoping to instill and fan the flames of hysteria. It is both outrageous and diabolical. It is just one more proof (as if we needed any) that what we are up against is an ideology. It is probably the most destructive and costly ideology mankind has ever faced, based on the biggest lie.
philincalifornia says:
May 20, 2013 at 9:49 pm
“I’m pretty good with vitriol, but even I can’t muster enough for this lying, conniving douchebag.”
I am tempted to use MUCH harsher words for this idiot senator than you Phil. I just cannot comprehend someone so sick and evil that they would use the tragic deaths of children and adults in the Moore, OK tornado to advance their political agenda. But this is the reality of the CAGW movement today…and we KNOW who has “educated” this senator.
I hope ALL climate scientists and meteorologists will denounce this horrible rhetoric in the strongest of terms…and I’ll be observing to see WHO denounces this and WHO just sits back and, like a coward, says nothing.
Greg Goodman says: May 21, 2013 at 3:23 am
Now understanding what creates tornadoes and prediciting them is something that is poorly understood but the negative correlation to temperature seems clear.
Conclusion: global warming causes LESS frequent LESS violent storms.
Yes, that would appear to be the case over decadal timescales. However, the challenge with predicting any year’s outcome is the natural variability, e.g., what will ENSO do?, i.e. “The Relation of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) to Winter Tornado Outbreaks” Cook and Chaefer, 2008:
Impacts Of ENSO On United States Tornadic Activity, Mark C. Bove, 1999