Via POLITICO’s Morning Energy – May 21, 2013:
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif. – Chair of Senate Environment & Public Works Committee) took to the Senate floor and invoked the Oklahoma tornadoes in her speech on global warming.
“This is climate change. We were warned about extreme weather. Not just hot weather. But extreme weather. When I had my hearings, when I had the gavel years ago. -It’s been a while – the scientists all agreed that what we’d start to see was extreme weather. And people looked at one another and said ‘what do you mean? It’s gonna get hot?’ Yeah, it’s gonna get hot. But you’re also going to see snow in the summer in some places. You’re gonna have terrible storms. You’re going to have tornados and all the rest. We need to protect our people. That’s our number one obligation and we have to deal with this threat that is upon us and that is gonna get worse and worse though the years.”
[Boxer] also plugged her own bill, cosponsored with Sen. Bernie Sanders that would put a tax on carbon. “Carbon could cost us the planet,” she said. “The least we could do is put a little charge on it so people move to clean energy.”
And then there’s the shameful rant from US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse yesterday.
Here’s a germane question for these geniuses.
Tell us, what could any tax, law, edict, or protest have done to stop yesterday’s tornado outbreak? And what makes this one somehow different from the F5 Oklahoma city tornado of 1999 that also hit the city of Moore?
What made this somehow AGW enhanced or different from the F5 tornado that destroyed the Oklahoma city of Snyder in 1905, or the 1955 Great Plains tornado outbreak which produced an F5 striking Blackwell, Oklahoma, killing 20, with another F5 from the same storm striking Udall, KS, killing 80?
Tell us you Canutian meteorological geniuses, how could you have changed the outcome yesterday?
For those who live in the real world, reference these from NOAA:
US Strong to Violent Tornadoes (EF3-EF5) – 1950 to 2012;
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) – Click the pic to view at source
are below average. US Inflation Adjusted Annual Tornado Trend and Percentile Ranks;
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – Storm Prediction Center- Click the pic to view at source
are currently below average. US Tornadoes Daily Count and Running Annual Total;
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – Storm Prediction Center- Click the pic to view at source
….are currently well below average.
And when is the hottest part of the year in the USA? July and August of course. When is the peak tornado season? In the spring when it is cooler. Seasonal heat is not aligned with tornadic activity.
![tornadoes_bymonth[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tornadoes_bymonth1.png?quality=75)
Andrew Revkin at NYT Dot Earth has a thoughtful essay on how city planning (or lack of it) likely contributed to this disaster. He closes with:
I’ll add a final thought about the persistent discussion of the role of greenhouse-driven climate change in violent weather in Tornado Alley.
It’s an important research question but, to me, has no bearing at all on the situation in the Midwest and South — whether there’s a tornado outbreak or drought. The forces putting people in harm’s way are demographic, economic, behavioral and architectural. Any influence of climate change on dangerous tornadoes (so far the data point to a moderating influence) is, at best, marginally relevant and, at worst, a distraction.
Read it here: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/a-survival-plan-for-americas-tornado-danger-zone/
UPDATE:
The IPCC says:
“There is low confidence in observed trends in small spatial-scale phenomena such as tornadoes” and on no knowledge on future development of tornadoes: “There is low confidence in projections of small-scale phenomena such as tornadoes because competing physical processes may affect future trends and because climate models do not simulate such phenomena.”
On pages 8 and 113, http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/images/uploads/SREX-All_FINAL.pdf
(h/t to Bjorn Lomborg for IPCC link)
From the Daily Caller:
An often cited 1975 magazine article by long-time Newsweek science editor Peter Gwynne warned of tornadoes as a consequence of “global cooling,” along with other residual effects, including food shortages.
“There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production — with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth,” Gwynne wrote. “The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only ten years from now.”
There was even a specific passage blaming the “global cooling” phenomenon for a 1974 tornado outbreak.
“Last April, in the most devastating outbreak of tornadoes ever recorded, 148 twisters killed more than 300 people and caused half a billion dollars’ worth of damage in thirteen states,” Gwynne wrote.
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Reblogged this on Public Secrets and commented:
“Stunning ignorance” and “Barbara Boxer” are, of course, redundant. She really is dumber than a box of rocks. And what an embarrassment for California… that we keep inflicting on ourselves. :/
Dear Manfred,
I understood you. Keep on posting!
Janice
************************************************************
Okay, you got it!: Mr. Thomas J., Senior Designer, sir! #[:)]
In 1925 the Tri-state tornado clobbered Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. 3.5 hours on the ground, 219 mile long path,over a mile wide at its’ largest, nearly 700 dead. The Weather Channel has it listed in its’ top ten of all time storms. Let’s hope CO2 doesn’t drop to the 1925 level again.
Good grief!
The BBC News (22:09) have just broadcast this in their main news programme.
There is no increase in the number of tornados: just more people living in the areas affected.
Times, they are a changin’
Well, Trenberth was glad to support this crap:
http://news.yahoo.com/role-does-climate-change-play-tornadoes-163100822.html
Can’t say I’m particularly surprised.
[Boxer] also plugged her own bill, cosponsored with Sen. Bernie Sanders that would put a tax on carbon. “Carbon could cost us the planet,” she said. “The least we could do is put a little charge on it so people move to clean energy.”
Sorry Babs but the US already has.
Last year, CO2 emissions in the US fell to an 18-year low, the lowest level since 1994, and C02 emissions from coal fell to a 26-year low, the lowest since 1986. … Compared to the last time that CO2 emissions were at 2012′s levels — back in 1994 — real GDP in 2012 was 55% higher and the US population was 17.5% larger, making the drop in greenhouse gas emissions to an 18-year low in 2012 even more impressive. Adjusted for the population, CO2 emissions per capita last year were the lowest since 1964, almost 50 years ago
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/04/energy-fact-of-the-day-us-co2-emissions-per-capita-in-2012-were-the-lowest-since-1964-main-reason-shale-gas/
All without passing your little tax, but you cannot spend that. The US is not participating in the recent rise to 400 ppm.
Mark Bofill says:
May 21, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Well, Trenberth was glad to support this crap:
http://news.yahoo.com/role-does-climate-change-play-tornadoes-163100822.html
Can’t say I’m particularly surprised.
=====================
That silly old doofus doesn’t know if he’s having a shit or a haircut !!!
Your dumb-ass models say the heat is hiding in the deep ocean Kevin you two-faced prat. Did it sneak out to kill some children just so you could gloat about being right – you A-hole.
What a bunch of clueless ignoramuses. Of course, their anti-science balderdash is not surprising. After all, what does one expect from left-wing statists. They aren’t very smart to begin with.
The global warming alarmists appear more asinine (and desperate) with each passing day. Only a few AGW True Believers take them seriously any more.
I submitted the following related comment to the Tom Nelson site, just a few minutes ago:
These are activists in a political, ideological cause, not a scientific one. They accept the false climate consensus as given, as have all of the supposedly authoritative institutions I hasten to add, and the political war that has been going on increasingly between Left and Right for decades, has effectively driven them insane. They understand the political “debate”; what they cannot begin to understand, it seems, is that two generations of incompetent climate science have failed all of us, and that is what is behind the “conspiracy of denial” they imagine they are seeing now. Put another way, they were effectively kidnapped by bad science many years ago, and made to identify with their kidnappers, and do their bidding. They have made themselves the victims so many of them believe themselves to be, but the force that bedevils them is their own cult, not the “skeptics” and “deniers” of the false science.
“Weather is NOT climate (unless WE say it is … )”
I have lived in Texas most of my 67 years, which I daresay Ms. Boxer has not. Climate change, my patooty. This is what this part of the country looks like. Every year that I can remember, Spring has been marked by the onslaught of violent weather, and it hasn’t changed a bit.
Politicians have to be the stupidest people the world, and the people that believe the crap the ones like Boxer spew, aren’t far behind. They make it sound like we never had weather before global warming!
Chris4692 says:
May 21, 2013 at 1:44 pm
thanks for the response. my main query is whether your insurers are as bad as ours in ‘moving the goalposts’ on policies as soon as a claim comes in! (whether there is any statistical likelihood of a repeat event or not!).
Does this mean that global warming is reducing the frequency and strength of tornadoes by combating global cooling? The chart you have seems to suggest this.
So we already have cap and trade in this dying state we call California, yet this ninny still wants to pass her own carbon tax on top of it? Brilliant.
Well.. if California attacks my bottom line with their left wing weather tax I will attack their bottom line by canceling my TV cable subscription.. Media and the very worst type of politics is the only thing they export.. Starve the media will also starve the politics.. No money, no power..
“how could you have changed the outcome yesterday?”
A tax would take money away from individuals and reduced their ability to prepare for potential disasters which in turn would lead to more injuries/deaths. Meanwhile, more gov’t “friends” could have received funding for non economically viable “green” jobs in politically sensitive jurisdictions. That’s how they could have changed the outcomes
It’s it their red/green propaganda handbook. Don’t let a good climate crisis go to waste!!
Excuse me Ma’am, but did you say snow in the summer? Well that changes everything. Can I get me one of those Obama-snow-blowers?
“Last April, in the most devastating outbreak of tornadoes ever recorded, 148 twisters killed more than 300 people and caused half a billion dollars’ worth of damage in thirteen states,” Gwynne wrote.”
Without putting too fine a point on it, Gwynne may not have been hopelessly wrong. The record of major tornado frequency does seen to indicate more in cooler times. His hysteria was the belief that it was going to continue getting colder, just like the alarmists of today who believed it would get ever warmer. It would be interesting to review the news following 1974 alarm to see how they rationalized the onset of warming and how long they hung onto their fantasies. I suppose the big story here is how stupid people like Boxer (and Obama) are to swallow up the rationalizations, twists and turns of the CAGW set in the face of 17 years of no warming. I think schools need a major retuning of curriculum, retraining of teachers and a policy of excellence. The so-called “dumbing down” of several decades ago is putting its product into the government.
Boycott California, cancel your TV subscription.. They will replace / retire the present crop of idiots with a new bunch faster than you can download a pirate movie :)..
Its their only weakness.. I suggest we exploit it..
Since we are talking about correlation instant of causation, I could make the argument that up stream wind mill farms disturbs the air current enough to cause more tornadoes and is the fault of Progressive Socialist for pushing “clean energy”.
And, I bet, I could back up my claim with a computer model.
The only thing that is true is every western government is flat broke and deeply in debt..
The leftists cant cut and win elections because big government and handouts is how they win elections.. So their political survival absolutely depends on generating new revenue streams..
They may act like idiots but they are not.. Their short term political future depends on getting their hands on what little money you have left after our traditional tax burden.. The entire leftist ecosystem expects to be rewarded with raises, promotions and indexed pensions..
This is why non existent global warming and all of its side show spin offs refuse to die..
Follow the money, right into their pockets..
What else do you think they plan on doing with this stolen money?
Helps prove what I’ve always said: You don’t need any brain cells to be a successful politician.
Eve Stevens says:
May 21, 2013 at 11:15 am
Senator Whitehouse is upset because people will be asking the government for money. News for Senator Whitehouse – It is their money, All the money the government has, has been taken from the people!
——————————————————————–
Well, not quite Eve.
You see all of the money people get from the government will need to be taken from other people. But worse is in today’s economy the money doesn’t come from taxpayers at all, it is borrowed from other countries with interest or our government just prints more dollars and causes more inflation which devalues all currently circulating dollars.
So you see it’s not as you say “their money.” Congress has to borrow it first.
Our government really has no money.
It’s not that the government is broke, it never had the money…..
congress just spends like it does.
cn