Did Michael Mann Just Predict the Death of Wind Power?

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

It is predictable that climate alarmists like Michael Mann are quick to see anthropogenic influence in high profile extreme weather events, like Hurricane Harvey. But Mann’s message about Harvey has interesting implications for the Texan wind power industry.

It’s a fact: climate change made Hurricane Harvey more deadly

Michael E Mann

Tuesday 29 August 2017 00.07 AEST

What can we say about the role of climate change in the unprecedented disaster that is unfolding in Houston with Hurricane Harvey? There are certain climate change-related factors that we can, with great confidence, say worsened the flooding.

What we know so far about tropical storm Harvey

Sea level rise attributable to climate change – some of which is due to coastal subsidence caused by human disturbance such as oil drilling – is more than half a foot (15cm) over the past few decades (see here for a decent discussion). That means the storm surge was half a foot higher than it would have been just decades ago, meaning far more flooding and destruction.

Finally, the more tenuous but potentially relevant climate factors: part of what has made Harvey such a devastating storm is the way it has stalled near the coast. It continues to pummel Houston and surrounding regions with a seemingly endless deluge, which will likely top out at nearly 4ft (1.22m) of rainfall over a days-long period before it is done.

The stalling is due to very weak prevailing winds, which are failing to steer the storm off to sea, allowing it to spin around and wobble back and forth. This pattern, in turn, is associated with a greatly expanded subtropical high pressure system over much of the US at the moment, with the jet stream pushed well to the north. This pattern of subtropical expansion is predicted in model simulations of human-caused climate change.

More tenuous, but possibly relevant still, is the fact that very persistent, nearly “stationary” summer weather patterns of this sort, where weather anomalies (both high-pressure dry hot regions and low-pressure stormy/rainy regions) stay locked in place for many days at a time, appears to be favoured by human-caused climate change. We recently published a paper in the academic journal Scientific Reports on this phenomenon.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/28/climate-change-hurricane-harvey-more-deadly

Back in 2011, climate scientists were predicting global warming would lead to stronger winds.

If Mann is right, if large scale stationary weather patterns are to become more frequent – days, maybe weeks of low wind speeds, potentially coupled with cloudy conditions which prevent solar systems from working, in my opinion the renewable energy business model in regions affected by this phenomenon is well and truly broken.

No plausible backup power regime other than fossil fuels or nuclear power could cope with such prolonged outages.

Original article h/t Willie Soon

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BallBounces
August 29, 2017 8:04 am

We need to install a gazillion wind turbines immediately to offset CO2 effects before the wind stops blowing entirely.

Reply to  BallBounces
August 29, 2017 9:21 am

…. or even better, power those gazillions of wind turbines from the grid, turning generators into motors and blow the horrid hurricanes back to where they came from.

ossqss
Reply to  vukcevic
August 29, 2017 9:35 am

A good mitigation techique that could be powered by solar, no? 😉

george e. smith
Reply to  vukcevic
August 29, 2017 10:51 am

Um ! Please sir; but isn’t it a bad time to be trying to collect solar energy during a hurricane ??
I mean it is way too cloudy for solar PV panels, and it is so windy, they will get blown off the roof, and because of the hurricane wind speeds you have to lock down the wind turbines. What good are wind turbines if you have to lock them down when the win blows ??
It’s a classic lose lose lose situation !!
G

john harmsworth
Reply to  vukcevic
August 29, 2017 2:18 pm

George! That is 200 level wind tech info there. Top secret!

Greg
Reply to  vukcevic
August 29, 2017 2:33 pm

Oh dear, Mickey Mann’s obsession with linking everything to human CO2 emissions is only surpassed by Eric Worral’s obsession of turning everything that happens into an anti-wind rant.

Sheri
Reply to  vukcevic
August 29, 2017 3:53 pm

The only proper response to wind plants is a rant.

Reply to  vukcevic
August 29, 2017 3:57 pm

Love it!

MarkW
Reply to  vukcevic
August 29, 2017 4:55 pm

Surpassed by Greg’s desperate need to declare that any criticism of sacred wind, is a rant.

ferdberple
Reply to  BallBounces
August 29, 2017 4:31 pm

large scale stationary weather patterns are to become more frequent
==========
Large numbers of wind turbines in Texas sucked the energy out of the wind, so that Harvey stalled off Houston.

Tim Groves
Reply to  ferdberple
August 30, 2017 2:06 am

Sounds like a massive class action suit against Big Wind is in order, with Dr. Mann as an expert witness.

Reply to  ferdberple
August 30, 2017 8:36 am

Lol! For quite some time now I’ve been taunting wind turbine advocates by accusing them of creating climate change (tongue in cheek). My argument was that since the energy derived from windmills was the energy in the atmosphere that drove weather systems, weather fronts would slow down or stall. They have yet to suggest why that would not be the case.
Clearly, the situation is worse than I thought!

August 29, 2017 8:05 am

This pattern of subtropical expansion is predicted in model simulations of human-caused climate change.

Proof by assertion. Mickey Mann, I really don’t think it is you know.
More Porkies make pants burn and nose grow.

John
Reply to  Leo Smith
August 29, 2017 8:15 am

Dont suppose it was anything to do with mjo phase 2? Hehe. Climate “scientists” should leave meteorology to the guys who need to get it right to stay in a job.

J Mac
Reply to  John
August 29, 2017 10:18 am

+10! Exactly right…

Reply to  John
August 30, 2017 8:41 am

Joe Bastardi indicates that no meteorologist could look at the temperatures associated with the US weather system and call it sub-tropical. See his FB page.

oeman50
Reply to  Leo Smith
August 29, 2017 8:45 am

I’m with you, Leo. Given the large size of the individual cells in the models, I do not think the models had the resolution to predict anything this specific.

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Leo Smith
August 29, 2017 10:44 am

Leo,
Related is the question whether “…human-caused climate change” is solely capable of causing “subtropical expansion,” or if any warming would potentially cause it and thereby be indistinguishable from anthropogenic influences. Yes, he is making unsupportable claims backed up by unstated assumptions.

Richard Keen
Reply to  Clyde Spencer
August 29, 2017 12:35 pm

“Subtropical expansion” is more reliably attributed to global, or hemispheric, warming due to certain orbital parameters such as inclination of the polar axis.
It’s called Summer.
It has been successfully modeled and predicted since being postulated by George Hadley in 1735.

TA
Reply to  Clyde Spencer
August 30, 2017 4:59 am

” Yes, he is making unsupportable claims backed up by unstated assumptions.”
“Par for the course” for CAGW promoters.

Bryan A
Reply to  Leo Smith
August 29, 2017 10:50 am

It is also indicated in naturally warming world models where CO2 is eliminated as a contributing factor to the modeled environment warming

Bryan A
Reply to  Bryan A
August 29, 2017 11:04 am

It is far past time for our species to begin mitigation measures for storms like these
Like
Strengthening infrastructure
…Hardening and raising Levees
…Building taller more resilient sea walls
Creating better water retention and drainage strategies
Rebuilding damaged structures in a more hardened fashion to withstand the next storm
…Hurricane Proof
…Tornado Proof
…Water tight capable
……and/or
…Living areas raised above flood water levels
Replacing aging pumps and power lines along levees for low lying areas
Increasing water storage facilities

Reply to  Bryan A
August 29, 2017 11:19 am

Bryan you left out “Not building major urban centers in a swamp” I think.
“We built the first castle. It sank into the swamp. We built the second castle …”
– Apologies to Monty Python.

john harmsworth
Reply to  Bryan A
August 29, 2017 2:37 pm

All excellent points, Bryan. I would add that I have read on this site that some parts of the flooded area are approximately 12 feet below previous elevation due to ground water removal. We need to at least consider what we are doing that makes problems much worse.

Bryan A
Reply to  Bryan A
August 29, 2017 3:10 pm

Well, now they have another opportunity to do something about the probable future occurrences of similar size storms, once the water recedes and the area dries out a bit.

TA
Reply to  Bryan A
August 30, 2017 5:01 am

“It is far past time for our species to begin mitigation measures for storms like these
Like”
Not building in flood-prone areas.

Reply to  Bryan A
August 30, 2017 8:54 am

Bartleby strikes at a truth that few realize. Most people think dry, dusty, and hot, when Texas is mentioned. If you look at the western outskirts of Houston, though, you will see an area called, “Riceland.” It’s an outer suburb of the city, filled with nice neighborhood and modestly expensive homes. How did it get its name? Because before the housing developments there were huge rice farms, aka, rice paddies, covering the area. Now if you know anything about the cultivation of rice, you understand the original nature of the land.

Reply to  Jtom
August 30, 2017 10:17 am

Exactly Jtom.

Reply to  Leo Smith
August 29, 2017 11:16 am

I think more importantly Leo is there’s nothing the climate models haven’t predicted. Mann makes a true statement here I’d suppose, the problem is identifying the “right” model to believe.

Reply to  Leo Smith
August 29, 2017 11:17 am

But…but…I thought climate scientists said they don’t do predictions?

David A
Reply to  Leo Smith
August 29, 2017 12:18 pm

…yes like this one… ” Sea level rise attributable to climate change – some of which is due to coastal subsidence caused by human disturbance such as oil drilling – is more than half a foot (15cm) over the past few decades .”
What a loon. Absolute SL rise on the past 30 years is, at the most 60 mm. about one third of magic Mike’s statement. The amount attributed to CAGW; very very little.

Asp
Reply to  David A
August 29, 2017 8:31 pm

‘Coastal subsidence due to oil drilling’ is a new one. The resultant rise in relative sea level was of course balanced by the sea floor subsidence caused by oil and gas extraction in the Gulf of Mexico, which would have cause the sea level decrease. You can make a story out of anything if you put your mind to it.

TA
Reply to  David A
August 30, 2017 5:07 am

“The amount attributed to CAGW; very very little.”
Should be “none”. Well, on second glance, there is no doubt that sea level rise is attributed to CAGW by the CAGW alarmists, so I should rephrase the statment to take that into account:
Revised: “The amount “that can be legitimately “attributed to CAGW; very very little.”
And then I can say it should be “none”.

Thin Air
Reply to  Leo Smith
August 29, 2017 12:19 pm

Well, at least it is good to know that Mickey believes it is only the result of “human-caused climate change”. That means, once again, it is “humans” that will be causing these awful and serious problems, in this case, making conditions where wind power will be not economically viable.
Because, soon the Greens will need that excuse.

Auto
Reply to  Leo Smith
August 29, 2017 2:28 pm

Well, now, the Great Mann: –
Nobble Laureate – sort-of;
Olympic medallist in all sorts of dodgy endeavours – trap shooting, maybe?;
Multiply awarded humanitarian [sorry – Humannitarian] endeavours, such as making sure you have to exercise [walk] to get to work – as you can’t afford the power otherwise;
Probably also has Scrabble shields!
And Medals for Multiplying [Maths, I hope!]
Plainly a Mann to be applauded [if he leaves the room, I suppose].
And exceedingly kind to children and animals, I do not doubt.
The ultimate go-to academic for unbiased opinion.
On any subject.
Auto
Mods – beware of /Sarc – it can be found here.

john harmsworth
Reply to  Auto
August 29, 2017 2:39 pm

Olympic cherry-picker.
Olympic hide and seek (data)
Olympic dissembler

higley7
Reply to  Leo Smith
August 30, 2017 4:46 am

Perhaps the static situation with the jet stream and no wind in Texas is from atmospheric blocking, which occurs mostly with a cooling planet, as it did in the 19602.

TA
Reply to  higley7
August 30, 2017 5:19 am

The jet steam is not static. It, or should I say, they, are constantly moving and changing and are unpredictable to a very large extent.
Mann claiming to be able to predict the intricate movements of the jet stream is a joke. What’s the configuration of the jet stream going to look like next month, Michael? Anybody?
The truth is noone knows. Not even Michael Mann.

chadb
August 29, 2017 8:14 am

I’m sorry, are you suggesting that business investment decisions be based on climate models?

george e. smith
Reply to  chadb
August 29, 2017 10:53 am

Hell yes, if you are in the insurance business !!
g

Reply to  chadb
August 29, 2017 11:26 am

no, no, no,
Govt policy/regs are to be based on climate models;
business decisions are based on govt regs/policy 😉

Paul Penrose
August 29, 2017 8:16 am

Unprecedented. I don’t think that word means what they think it does.

Reply to  Paul Penrose
August 29, 2017 10:06 am

HGaven’t heard “unprecedented” for a while. I think that “historic” had taken over. As to Harvey being unprecedented, I seem to remember that there was a hurricane in the distant past that pretty well wiped out Galveston. And, of course, there were Katrina and Rita. Not in the Houston area, but very nasty storms.

PiperPaul
Reply to  Retired_Engineer_Jim
August 29, 2017 11:04 am

Haven’t heard “unprecedented” for a while.
When did you cancel CNN?

August 29, 2017 8:17 am

Damn versatile thing climate change==>causes more wind, less wind, more rain, less rain, higher temperatures. . .

Reply to  Tom Halla
August 29, 2017 11:21 am

What’s not to like about it Tom?

Steve Oregon
August 29, 2017 8:18 am

Hinged and collapsible wind turbines must be mounted on rail cars to deliver them to where the wind blows on any given day.
They can plug into the grid just about anywhere.
Just pull up to the station, crank the turbines vertical and plug them in.

Reply to  Steve Oregon
August 29, 2017 8:44 am

Wait a second Steve….you may have solved it!!
Let’s put turbines on all of the rail cars!! They move fast enough to generate “wind” for the turbines and we just connect them to batteries IN the rail cars, and then deliver the batteries to wherever the trains go. (We won’t bring up that the rail cars are fossil fueled themselves…who needs Inconvenient Truths?)
Or little propeller hats for EVERYONE!

Rhoda R
Reply to  Aphan
August 29, 2017 8:38 pm

Use the propeller hats to power your cell phone.

Chad Irby
Reply to  Steve Oregon
August 29, 2017 8:44 am

Rail cars? Are you insane?
No, they have to be on sustainably-sourced wooden carts, and moved from place to place by hand.
It’s eco-logical, don’t you know…

Rocketscientist
Reply to  Steve Oregon
August 29, 2017 9:28 am

I will charitably assume you are being sarcastic. Just how stable do you believe a rail car is?

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 10:47 am

About as stable as a rocket without fins or gimbal-mounted thruster.

Old44
Reply to  Rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 10:57 pm

I think his sarcasm is a given, reminds me of the old cartoons with a bathtub with a sail on wheels and a fan to propel it.

Alan Robertson
Reply to  Steve Oregon
August 29, 2017 10:42 am

tom s
August 29, 2017 8:19 am

I literally get sick looking at this bastards mug.

drednicolson
Reply to  tom s
August 29, 2017 9:25 am

His visage is most eminently punchable.

G. Karst
Reply to  drednicolson
August 29, 2017 9:37 am

The word you are looking for is:
Backpfeifengesicht – a face in need of a slap GK

PiperPaul
Reply to  drednicolson
August 29, 2017 11:06 am

“A face on which you could wear out multiple pairs of shoes.”

Andy pattullo
August 29, 2017 8:20 am

I hope he wiped thoroughly after pulling this lump of academic excrement out. How exactly does oil drilling up to 3 km down cause surface subsidence? The rest is just retrospective reinterpretation of his magical thinking on climate change.

rocketscientist
Reply to  Andy pattullo
August 29, 2017 9:30 am

It has been reported that the subsidence is caused by ground water extraction, which is far more shallow.
I do not recall the magnitude reported.

Reply to  rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 10:07 am

And the ground water extraction was, partly, in aid of oil drilling.

Andy pattullo
Reply to  rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 10:15 am

I agree that water extracted from shallow reservoirs is partly used for drilling and fracking, but without quantifying that, how is it reasonable to selectively blame oil and gas exploration and not all the other uses of water which are unrelated? This is very selective reasoning.

Bryan A
Reply to  rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 11:17 am

So, if raising water levels by 15cm (6″) it Dr Mann’s best argument (only stated reason for human cause) what would 6″ less water look like…
https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJjYJhBytAU
All of these intersections have around 6-8 finches of water so they would obviously obviously now be undamaged
Here is another street that would be drag nd undamaged

(Wait…streets aren’t really damaged by standing water…perhaps the subdivision builder should have imported a little more topsoil prior to construction. At least the houses are high and dry)
6″ less water here… not a bit of difference

The only places where 6″ less water would make a real difference is where there was 5″ or less water

Reply to  rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 11:27 am

I was looking for “6-8 finches” and couldn’t find them. I like the unit though; a “finch” of water connotes a certain poetic “smallness”. 🙂

Bryan A
Reply to  rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 12:38 pm

Dorked by autocorrect again

South River Independent
Reply to  rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 5:10 pm

Bryan A – I have friends in Cypress who had water part way up their drive way. Sun is shining now and just a little water left in the street. They say the flooding they get is from backflow through the storm drains.

Reply to  rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 5:12 pm

Bryan,
Technically Mann said that the “storm surge” was 6 inches higher…not the flood waters. But here’s the details on Harvey’s storm surge:
http://wxshift.com/news/blog/heres-what-to-know-about-harveys-storm-surge-and-widespread-flood-threat
Nice little chart shown demonstrating that Harvey isn’t the highest storm surge, and that it’s a lot lower than the “big ones”, and then this:
“Time series of storm tide (surge plus tide) levels at Port Lavaca above mean sea level from 1900-2017. Hurricane Harvey likely generated a storm tide of 10-12 feet near Port Lavaca, although the highest observed level reported was 7 feet above mean sea level.”
Credit: Hal Needham
“Harvey has generated the highest storm surge at Port Lavaca since Hurricane Carla (1961). However, Harvey’s storm surge level in this area is not as rare as we might believe, and it may come in fifth place for all surges since 1919. What’s exceptionally rare about Harvey is that this storm surge will combine with a stalling storm and tremendous rainfall, which will generate catastrophic flooding.”
So….Mickey Mann….5th place (after all that global warming) and let’s subtract your 6 inches of water….10-12 feet becomes 9.5-11.5 feet (likely) or 6.5 feet “observed”. Yeah, that’s a whole lot less Mann. (dork) Also, sea level has little to nothing to do with the height of a storm surge. It’s all dependent on where the “tide” is at, and the amount of vertical pressure plus the strength of the winds that are literally “piling” up water on top of the ocean and forcing it into the coast.
Every time he speaks, a kitten or a puppy somewhere in the world falls down dead. What an evil and completely misinformed Mann.

TA
Reply to  rocketscientist
August 30, 2017 5:31 am

“So….Mickey Mann….5th place (after all that global warming)”
LOL! Good one, Aphan! 🙂

Gandhi
August 29, 2017 8:20 am

Mann’s statement that “stationary summer weather patterns of this sort…appears to be favoured by human-caused climate change” is not even logical. Mann personifies “climate change” as if it has a thinking mind and can “favour” a certain weather pattern. There is no way a model can predict an unpredictable scenario such as future climate. Michael Mann should climb under a rock and stay there until his retirement.

Brett Keane
Reply to  Gandhi
August 29, 2017 11:33 am

Joe Bastardi, who actually got it right in May, notes today that Harvey is controlled by cold continental low pressure. The ‘spreading tropical high’ is another bit of wrong-headedness from Mann.
Joe’s worst fears may be coming true, but who listened?

PaulH
Reply to  Brett Keane
August 29, 2017 2:10 pm

Joe Bastardi has a post over at JunkScience.com about Mann’s assertion:
http://junkscience.com/2017/08/bastardi-no-michael-mann-climate-change-did-not-cause-hurricane-harvey/
I like this part: “This is why climatologists should be forced to forecast for a year, so they can get an appreciation of what the weather does, not what they think it does based on their “research.””

TA
Reply to  Brett Keane
August 30, 2017 5:40 am

“Joe’s worst fears may be coming true, but who listened?”
They all ought to be listening in the future because Joe nailed the forecast.
I imagine in the future there will be a great emphasis on whether a hurricane is going to stall or not. People now understand what stalling entails. I’m not sure they did before Hurricane Harvey. That knowledge will give them another reason to evacuate.
Joe Bastardi emphasized over and over again that this storm could stall and drop enormous amounts of rain.
Yeah, they will be paying attention to Joe in the future if they know what’s good for them.

john harmsworth
Reply to  Gandhi
August 29, 2017 3:07 pm

Michael Mann has peculiar powers. He sees things in tree rings that others can’t see. “Special” tree rings!

arthur4563
August 29, 2017 8:21 am

You don’t need any future changes in wind patterns to invalidate the usefulness of wind power. Typically a large high pressure area settles in during the summer months, which kills winds at the very time when power demands (A/C) are the highest. I remember one statistic that during such a period in Texas, the wind turbines were operating at a capacity below 5%. Recently I saw figures tht indicate that the production of offshore wind farms in Britain was roughly half of what it had been the previous year. Can you imagine that? A grid whose capacity varies by 100%

John B
August 29, 2017 8:21 am

Maybe it was caused by ‘climate change’ but that is not evidence that Mankind caused the ‘climate change’, nor that we can do anything about it whatever the cause.
It’s the speed of the hand that deceives the eye…
‘…sea level rise attributable to climate change – some of which is due to coastal subsidence caused by human disturbance such as oil drilling…’
Yes but Mikey the whole point is how much of the ‘some’ is attributable to climate change and how much of the ‘some’ attributable to the ‘human distrubances’ and apart from the oil drilling what are the other ‘disturbances’ – a rather important thing we need to know because if we don’t know the causes, ‘stopping’ just one, like climate change, will be futile.
Of course I realise actual evidentiary detail is not his strong point.

August 29, 2017 8:38 am

truth = climate changes had ZERO impact on hurricane harvey…….the climate is NOT a force it has no power and exerts ZERO control over any weather event

Reply to  Bill Taylor
August 29, 2017 10:49 am

Bill, I noticed this too. “Climate change” is just another way of saying “what’s been different about the weather over the last few decades”. That’s an observation, a statistical aggregation, and not a force. I suspect what those climastrologists actually mean when they say “climate change causes more hurricanes” or “climate change makes forest fires more likely” is along the lines of “anthropogenic CO2 emissions cause more hurricanes”, etc, but I suspect they don’t write it like that because then they’d get laughed at. (Even more.) By adding a level of statistical obfuscation, they can sound more scientifical to laypeople. That’s very important when you’re trying to grub up more grant money.

arthur4563
August 29, 2017 8:39 am

I see no plausible argument that Harvey’s rain was occasioned by global warming. I remember when hurricane experts were asked about the effects of, I believe, 1 or 2 degrees warming in the Atlantic on the strength and frequency of hurricanes. The consensus was that water temps are not particularly relevant to the conditions that spawn hurricanes and they also estimated that the top wind speeds of a major hurricane would be increased by a few miles per hour – not enough to make a difference. Katrina blew up from a nothing, tropical storm to a hurricane in a matter of a few days sheerly by chance – it tracked a warm Gulf current originating in the Carribean for many hours. Those currents it tracked are repeated over and over, circulating from the Carribean to the Gulf.
And, as one poster pointed out, global warming has been ongoing , with a few stops and starts (Little Ice Age) since the last Ice age. At this point we not only have no definitive knowledge of the amount of warming, we also have no definitive knowledge of its causes. Mann has a habit of making statements as if they are not open to debate. This from the jerk who wrote in a private email that all computer models lacked the ability ot predict anything, followed by his public statements that
momentous decisions should be on the basis of those same computer climate modelling programs. Maybe if Man would provide answers to those unknowns, he would have better luck convincing people. As of now, Michael Mann is nothing more than a bald headed bag of wind,
spouting nonsense, which even he doesn’t seem to believe.

Reply to  arthur4563
August 29, 2017 9:39 am

Warmer conditions mean more water vapor. If the Gulf in recent Augusts has been .4-.5 degree C warmer than in preindustrial times, that means about 4% more water vapor, which means 4% more rain if the wind is unchanged.

john harmsworth
Reply to  Donald L. Klipstein
August 29, 2017 4:53 pm

What do mean by pre-industrial times? What was the Gulf temp ( as if it could be defined by a single temperature) in 1900? 1800? 1700?
Was the Gulf temperature warmer than usual at this time? What was the temperature during previous hurricanes?
I believe this hurricane coincided with a high tide. Is the convergence of hurricanes and high tides predicted by global warming? No? So, the hurricane happening at high tide was just double bad luck! Enough years go by and a hurricane will occur at a high tide condition, regardless of climatic conditions. The hurricane and high tide are coincident with a blocking high on land apparently. Has this happened more frequently lately? If AGW predicts it but it hasn’t happened before, isn’t that indicative of yet another failed prediction of the AGW hypothesis? Isn’t Michael Mann already proven conclusively to be utterly full of B.S.?
I would argue that the dearth of hurricanes and severe weather in recent years has SPARED the U.S. coast from ANY predicted level of damages.

Reply to  arthur4563
August 29, 2017 11:35 am

“As of now, Michael Mann is nothing more than a bald headed bag of wind”
That’s “fat, smelly, bald headed bag of wind” to you Sir!

HotScot
Reply to  arthur4563
August 29, 2017 2:10 pm

arthur4563
“As of now, Michael Mann is nothing more than a bald headed bag of wind,”
I seriously resemble that remark!

August 29, 2017 8:41 am

Does anyone seriously still listen to pronouncements from Mann and his goon show? Everyone knows that had this storm been moving at aircraft speed then these mountebanks would have claimed that it was due to more severe weather patterns caused by global warming – just as they predicted. With each passing day they look more like shabby-overcoated old men on street corners hollering about the rapture.

john harmsworth
Reply to  cephus0
August 29, 2017 4:55 pm

That is a pretty spot on identification!

Latitude
August 29, 2017 8:42 am

Just so I’m clear on the concept….
He’s saying in a ‘normal’ world…Harvey would have been pushed back out to sea….where it would restrengthen again…..and hit somewhere else bigger and bader

John
Reply to  Latitude
August 29, 2017 8:55 am

Or move inland and be more widely disbursed. The thing is, these setups can happen with mjo phase 2. It was just bad luck.
Ultimately, if people keep predicting every possible scenario, they can eventually keep pointing to claims for EVERY weather event. No way to be wrong. Magic co2 can do anything and everything, even opposites.

Latitude
Reply to  John
August 29, 2017 8:59 am

Mann > “The stalling is due to very weak prevailing winds, which are failing to steer the storm off to sea,”

Myron Mesecke
Reply to  John
August 29, 2017 10:02 am

To paraphrase Andromeda Strain:
“When alarmist’s go off there’ll be a thousand mutations. Claims will spread everywhere. They’ll never be rid of it.”

Leonard Weinstein
August 29, 2017 8:49 am

Water (not oil or gas) removal from the ground does cause dropping of local level. Without this ground water removal, much of Texas would not have enough water supply for needs, so this a long term problem.

Reply to  Leonard Weinstein
August 29, 2017 8:52 am

I’m thinking that at least southern Texas has solved it’s “ground water” problem for a while.

drednicolson
Reply to  Aphan
August 29, 2017 9:42 am

The crowning insult to injury–due to all the sea salts, backed up sewage, fuel leakage from inundated cars, decomposing remains of drowning victims, and other generally nasty stuff–is that floodwaters are extremely unsafe to drink.

Samuel C Cogar
Reply to  Aphan
August 29, 2017 1:22 pm

is that floodwaters are extremely unsafe to drink
Those nasty unsafe, non-potable floodwaters become safe for drinking and cooking after they percolate down through 20 to 100+ feet of soil, sand, gravel, etc., to become part of the “ground water” situate in the “water table”.

richard
August 29, 2017 8:49 am

Hmm – 12 hurricanes in 1886 – two cat 4s, and climate change getting worse?

August 29, 2017 8:51 am

Here’s another DUH for Mickey Mann….if these storms are only going to get worse and more frequent, isn’t putting up vast wind farms OFFSHORE also a very stupid idea? Not only no power during and after such storms, but then they have to rebuild the damn wind farms too!!
I was watching some kids the other day tap on the glass of a fish tank and they were told not to do that because the vibrations are magnified inside the tank and are harmful to the fish….and then my mind went….”Wind Turbines…” if the HUM of those suckers on land is enough to drive humans and other animals bug nuts….what do you suppose that hum will do once it’s magnified under ocean water???
These people are the most illogical, unscientific, unbelievable idiots on the planet these days. Every word out of their mouths is just pure ignorance. No wonder the public’s trust in climate science ranks right down there with the public’s trust in news media and congress!! Wake up and smell the wood chips Mickey. No one believes you anymore.

D. J. Hawkins
Reply to  Aphan
August 29, 2017 9:08 am

@Aphan

isn’t putting up vast wind farms OFFSHORE also a very stupid idea?

Of course not! Their strength is as the strength of ten, because their electrons are pure. /sarc

Reply to  D. J. Hawkins
August 29, 2017 5:25 pm

I muse on crap that will not cease,
The stupid has no end it seems,
And none bring silence; sweet relief
His odours haunt my dreams.
(With apologies to good Lord Tennyson)

rocketscientist
Reply to  Aphan
August 29, 2017 9:39 am

The cost of merely maintaining an off shore farm has been reported to be 3X the cost of on shore wind farms. I assume that is for benign conditions as well. Ocean salt fog environments are not kind to electrical components.

Auto
Reply to  rocketscientist
August 29, 2017 2:53 pm

Not kind to mechanical units, either.
I know these are – we are told – sealed units.
But I have seen failed ‘sealed lubrication’ units at sea – more than enough!
And even the transfer from the service boat to the tower structure is pretty hairy in all but very benign conditions.
Auto
Respect the sea, and it may not harm you.
Abuse the sea – and ensure you have a gold ear-ring.
[So your drowned body will have a Christian burial when it washes ashore]

August 29, 2017 8:58 am

Nothing about global warming and expect more to come (x3 the force)
Refer to my g+

knr
August 29, 2017 8:59 am

Anything Mann says always sets off the highest readies on the BS meters , the only straight thing about him is the handle on his worthless ‘stick ‘
So when you playing ‘heads you lose , tails I win ‘ like a good climate ‘scientists’ of course you can claim to be right and run enough models to give yourself every possible result then you can ‘prove’ how right you are from these models. Shame you cannot use them worth a dam to make actually accurate predictions , but who needs facts when you have ‘faith ‘
The day the rest of them through him under the bus to save themselves, and it his approach toward his fellow believers that make a certainty, could not come soon enough .
May he live a long time , so he can see his life’s work held up as the joke it is , by the very community he consider he leads .

Reply to  knr
August 29, 2017 11:43 am

“the only straight thing about him is the handle on his worthless ‘stick ‘”
I’m not sure onanism qualifies as “straight”? Maybe they need to add an “O” to the LGBTQ… alphabet?

Reply to  Bartleby
August 29, 2017 11:45 am

You know, if this goes on much longer we’ll need a larger alphabet…

Bruce Cobb
August 29, 2017 9:00 am

Speaking of Mikey’s pants, I believe his are made from this material:

August 29, 2017 9:01 am

Pure Climate Bollocks from The Master.

D. J. Hawkins
Reply to  Jimmy Haigh
August 29, 2017 9:10 am

He certainly seems intent on wreaking as much chaos and destruction as Dr. Who’s nemesis.

rbabcock
August 29, 2017 9:01 am

If we didn’t have in Texas Amelia (48″ 1978) Claudette (45″ 1979) and a host of other very wet storms in the GOM, then I would definitely be worried. But we did have them and it will happen again. It just gets down to why do we build in areas that are prone to flooding like it will never happen?
100 yr floods, 500 yr floods, 1000 yr floods actually mean they are possible and will happen.

J Mac
Reply to  rbabcock
August 29, 2017 10:31 am

Add hurricane Allison (41″ 2001) and an unnamed tropical storm (30″ 1960) to your list. These high rainfall amounts are not ‘unprecedented’. They should be expected, in the coastal plains of SE Texas and along the Gulf coast. This is what nature does…..

jclarke341
Reply to  J Mac
August 29, 2017 1:45 pm

Exactly. Harvey has many similar predecessors in the record books, and probably thousands of predecessors in the unrecorded history of the land we call Southeast Texas. The only thing that is truly unprecedented with Harvey, is that this is very first time there has been a metropolitan area with 6.5 million people there.

paul courtney
August 29, 2017 9:04 am

“…more tenuous but potentially relevant….” “More tenuous but possibly relevant still…” The language of a robust science. Looks like he spent more time formulating sciency-sounding weasel words than he spent considering whether these tenuous possibilities were not relevant at all. Infinitely more time.

michael hart
Reply to  paul courtney
August 29, 2017 11:18 am

I spotted that too.
When even he says something is “more tenuous” then you know you are heading up into LSD country. From tree rings to the recent position and influence of the jet streams and the fake streams, there is clearly no end to this Mann’s hallucinated talents.

john harmsworth
Reply to  michael hart
August 29, 2017 5:00 pm

It means it’s beyond his ability to fake data and statistics to make it work, But he’s got a team working on it!

tom0mason
August 29, 2017 9:09 am

Now weather is climate and climate is now weather (but only if the weather impacts badly on humans).
And yes, unfortunately, we can expect more of this in the future. Especially if anyone holds a microphone near M. Mann.

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