Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Guardian Reporter Ed Pilkington has been running around Marco Island Florida, desperately trying to find someone who thinks climate change is a problem.
Floridians battered by Irma maintain climate change is no ‘big deal’
On Marco Island, widespread destruction in Irma’s wake is not enough to make believers out of some climate change skeptics
They sat through hours of pummelling by Hurricane Irma, with winds pounding them at up to 115mph and rain driving in a solid white sheet as bright as a snow blizzard. Then on Monday, Floridians woke up to survey the damage, begin the cleanup and get back to carrying on regardless.
By noon, the jet skiers were back on the water, buzzing around the west coast waterways under a blue sky where only hours before Irma had shaken the trees and put fear in people’s hearts.
The catastrophe that had been forewarned over countless hours of rolling cable television appeared to have been avoided. But only narrowly.
For its lucky escape, the US has Cuba to thank, given that the northern coast of the island soaked up an important part of Irma’s energy before the storm reached Florida. Not that the debt of gratitude will be repaid by the current incumbent of the White House.
…
Chris Roche, 52, a real estate lawyer, was taking a long hard look at the damage to his home. Three trees were down in the yard, some tiles had come off the roof and there were signs of grey mud on the road – Irma’s calling card, dredged up from the seabed and deposited right outside his door.
…
This was the fifth or sixth hurricane he had sat through since he moved on to the island in 1979, he said with the nonchalance of someone discussing trips to the theater. He was more than a little skeptical of the warnings to evacuate which he had heard and duly ignored.
“They always tell us we will have a storm surge,” he said. “I know they are doing it for safety reasons, but I’ve never seen it happen.”
As for climate change? “I don’t think climate change is such a big deal.”
…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/11/hurricane-irma-florida-climate-change
Hurricanes kill, but so do blizzards. Every place has its weather hazards. Hurricanes are not getting worse. Building wind turbines will do nothing to reduce the hazards of bad weather.
Only climate fanatics see anything unnatural about this year’s hurricane season.
Hyping up every storm is probably doing more to destroy the credibility of the green movement than anything climate skeptics write.
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I for one am finally convinced by Harvey and Irma that natural disasters have become more intense. Both those hurricanes had strong winds, heavy rain, and were followed by a ferocious blast of hot air on social media and news outlets….
Expected geomagnetic activity.
http://pics.tinypic.pl/i/00932/e0qgog1l9y70.png
Soon turned out I had a heart of glass [radio version]
Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass [album version]
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20170405141923/http://www.topbritishinnovations.org/pastinnovations/developmentoffloatglass
It’s like asking someone who just survived an attack by a suicide bomber if they now, finally, believed in the existence of the bomber’s god?
No-one denies that climate change is happening, much less climate scientists like myself. So the lying msm should stop their lies labelling those who reject man made climate change as deniers. there is no scientific evidence that climate change is due to humans. there is however plenty of scientific evidence that the changing climate is due to the changing sun. Ask any UK university physics department from Northumberland to Southampton. Mr Ward you are not a scientist so please give it a rest.. thanks!.
Another hurricane is being created in the Atlantic. You can see how important is the circulation in the eastern Pacific (El Niño).
http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/mtpw2/product.php?color_type=tpw_nrl_colors&prod=samer1×pan=24hrs&anim=html5
I have been through so many hurricanes here in Florida, I think of myself as the general of that Ugly Army about to take city in the last book of the Lord of the Rings. A catapult tosses a chunk of the city at him. He watches and watches as it hits, smashes his troops, he steps aside as it rolls by. He spits on it.
At the White House this week, one of the press secretaries was getting hammered by a Man Made Climate correspondent. The words to the affect by the secretary, ‘Climate is Cyclic, Get over it.” Whoa, The Next Great Awakening. Don’t expect much.
I worked a fossil and rock shop in the Wall, SD each summer for a few years. I had replicas and casts of Dinosaurs and an actual Neanderthal Man’s skull to include the skull cast of Susie, the T-REX. I had a small assortment of books on the subjects.
One day, I thought this young man that came in wanted answers on the casts. No, Instead, he accused me of creating the casts, the little fossils hardly a quarter inch in size, the T-REX, the Mosasauras, the T-Rex of the ocean. I asked him to leave before he did any damage.
My buddy and his wife invited a German home for dinner in Frankfurt who hosted us on the Wine Strasse, in Frankfurt. It was a time the Germans were watching the series of the Holocaust and dealing with what happened. He became very upset and yelled that we, the Americans, made it all up.
You should stay objective and open minded. Continue to read and research. And, as I let go of someone off FB, Mister, this is my work. No one had anything and it is all original. This is mine and you can’t have it nor destroy it. Believe you can, but don’t bet on converting these Plato Fools.
“You should stay objective and open minded.”
The examples you mention are perfect C.Paul.
My experience has been largely the same ie they just howl you down.
Had a bit of a different experience this last weekend attending the 50th Anniversary of the class of ’67. The subject came up because of Harvey and Irma and I would say that a reasonable discussion was had – mostly on the side of climate variability. Why do the angry left think that howling people down works on a long term level in western democracies?? I just know we can and will correct this and get back to reasonable discussion but I feel we are 20+ years behind the movement. We have a long way to go.
If we don’t start repelling the mass Islamic invasion – and very soon – there isn’t going to BE a West.
nankerphelge,
“Why do the angry left think that howling people down works on a long term level in western democracies??”
Because it did work, in very many ways, it seems most logical to me. A whole lot of effort and tenacity (and a boatload of ruined reputations/careers) has gone into dethroning the great mass media oracles, and I am quite sure there’s still a whole lot of fakery “we” were successfully sold, that has yet to be revealed/upended.
Can you please stop posting links to the grunt … This, given that they can’t sell hard copy, is their new business model … Click bait.
Monster storm to smash Australia – bringing damaging winds, snow, thunderstorms and the coldest weather of the year
Australia’s east coast will be hit with a monster storm bringing wild weather
It will hit New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania
Heavy snowfall forced officers to rescue a mother and her son on Monday
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4849902/Australia-weather-monster-storm-damaging-winds-snow-cold.html#ixzz4sSJ9zQ1O
Forecast.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#2017/09/14/0000Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/overlay=temp/orthographic=-225.12,-34.32,1807
Well, let’s see what their insurance companies say…
And prospective purchasers of their property in years to come.
Climate science predicted the increased intensity of storms like Harvey and Irma – and predicts that there will be more to come.
I wonder if the local economy can take one of these every 5 years or so?
Your steadfast belief in the manmade climate myth is truly remarkable. Do you get paid for such idiocy?
No, I don’t. I’m not even a member of any green group or political party, etc.
I am trained in evaluating conflicting source material.
I’m sure he’s compensated in some way, if not paid directly, and probably affiliated – based on the stock rhetoric he produces.
“Do you get paid for such idiocy?”
Of course he does!
Why else would he regurgitate the very same debunked lies over and over and over again, making a total t!t of himself to a large audience?
Yet that increase didn’t happen; instead a 12-year lull, and then back to normal. Floridians are used to what just happened. Hasn’t stopped people from moving there either, has it?
An unprecedented lull, I might add…
And this – based on the evidence, climate scientists are pretty worthless prognosticators.
Insurance companies have long been high on the suspect list of those driving or backing this global warming scare scam. It’s a great excuse to raise the premiums. What they should be doing is pushing for better building standards and withholding insurance renewal until every building and property is certified compliant with those standards.
Year after year (for decades in fact) we have been seeing news pictures coming out of the USA of wooden houses that have been turned into matchwood by a storm. The storm always seems to get the blame, not the lousy standard of building. It seems that these properties get rebuilt in much the same way as the ones that were destroyed – only to be turned into matchwood again when the next big storm strikes.
Griff, insurance companies bet on NOT paying out! Ordinary people buy insurance with the expectation insurance WILL pay out! Tell me which side of that equation is working out for ordinary people?
Exactly. They won’t be paying out.
Insurance companies have bought the science and are not going to be covering people living in homes near coasts etc or homes without resilience/hurricane proofing.
Seems you don’t have much of a grasp on how the insurance industry actually functions. They have folks known as ‘actuaries’ who are highly trained in analysis of risk. They may be the most data driven researchers anywhere. They do not rely on speculation, press reports, or political correctness. They effectively determine what premiums need to be to both cover their insured’s losses and remain competitive. Set premiums too low and risk bankruptcy, too high and lose customers to competitors. To succeed they must base their work an accurate verifiable facts. They do use computer models – but only after they are validated. Maybe someone should conduct a survey of actuaries to get their take on the risks of CAGW. It might provide a whole new concept of ‘consensus’.
Griffter , I’m waiting for the MSM to show EV’s in Florida that are know just boat anchors.
. . . now just boat
…not happening with any more frequency then in the past are they Griff?
BTW, Harvey and Irma, the weakest two Cat 4s in US history; based on ground based readings and wind damage. (prove me wrong, I am listening)
Griff, how many major Hurricanes hit Florida in the last 20 years.
Snicker……………………………
“Climate science predicted the increased intensity of storms like Harvey and Irma – and predicts that there will be more to come”
Yes they have predicted 13 out of the last 2 bad hurricane seasons!
The problem with Climate Science is that they claim to explain everything but predict nothing.
How many hurricanes are going to arrive next year when global temperatures increase by another 0.01C?
How many in the next 5 years?
In what way was Harvey and/or Irma more intense than earlier hurricanes?
“I wonder if the local economy can take one of these every 5 years or so”
On average the US economy has had to take about 8.5 hurricanes every five years for the last century and a half.
I’m with you Griff, I hope their insurance rates skyrocket, I hope their property values will plummet, and I hope Florida’s economy will take enormous hits in the near future.
We’re the good guys Griff. Keep up the fight….
Apologised to Dr, Crockford yet, Skanky?
Something that comes to mind for those countries who plan 100% electric vehicles – what happens when you have power outage such as we have here and with many other disasters? Maybe Fred Flintstone tow trucks would help?
I would like to add that my thoughts are with all those afflicted by this huricane.
Well the gas began to run out during the evacuation…
but Tesla owners did OK.
and I don’t suppose its any easier to ship gas into the ruins than it is to reconnect the power
Ok, so Teslas do not run on gas. In fact they run mostly on coal.
Griff how do you know Tesla owners did okay, do you have any actual facts. It would be interesting to actually have details of how the Tesla units behave in a grid down situation? I am actually interested in how they behaved but I am into hard sciences I don’t buy your word, bring facts please.
“https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/climate/florida-power-outages.html?mcubz=0&_r=0”
Actually, as around 15 million Floridans lost power and some won’t get it back for some time, the many of the Tesla owners didn’t do very well at all
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/climate/florida-power-outages.html?mcubz=0&_r=0
“and I don’t suppose its any easier to ship gas into the ruins than it is to reconnect the power”
Well then you supposed wrong, didn’t you?
All those who could just tip a can of fuel into the tank did OK, of course.
Tell us, why do you keep making up such easily disproved lies, do you have some sort of problem, and have you considered seeking professional assistance?
What waste material journalists are.
Poor journalism majors. Weren’t athletic enough to be jocks, weren’t bright enough to be nerds, weren’t weird enough to be arties. They found a refuge in the school newspaper, where they wrote articles nobody read and took pictures of all the students who were more interesting than them. Then college came and they realized they could use media to blame all the people they couldn’t be for all that’s wrong with the world.
“up to 15ft above ground level” – what does that mean? Level of what ground? At the water’s normal edge? Two miles inland? For airplanes,
altitude in hundreds, thousands of feet AGL is reasonable, but for a storm surge (that turned out to be 5′) ?
Guardian readers are mostly quite a bit dumber than Floridians. Do the former think that last weekend would have been bright and sunny throughout Florida if it had not been for man-made CO2?
Anyone know how Disney and Universal coped..? Not seen any news coverage, even on CNN….
We in the UK need to know – and look forward to some cheap flight/accommodation deals to lure us back….!
How much spinning do you have to do to claim
President Trump caused the hurricane
Mother Gaia is punishing unbelievers
Cuba was not damaged because Communism
Cuba saved evil Trump and he should be grateful??
If media spin could turn turbines, our energy needs would be satisfied indefinitely.
It seems obvious to me.
How many hurricanes did we have under President Obama, the Gaia-loving peaceful democrat? NONE!
And the minute Trump, the evil environment-hating Big Oil supporter gets elected? Three come along at once.
I don’t think you need any more evidence than that. It’s scientifically proven that unless Americans elect Democrats the very Earth will fight against them ….
At some point the climate media buzzards will interfere with recovery efforts.
Hurricanes cause cooling.
Sea surface temperatures along the path of Irma were within 1/2 degree Celsius of normal. What is making this a bad year for hurricanes in the Gulf and Caribbean is the lack of wind shear. This is because of the combination of 1) cool high pressure over the Great Lakes and Northeast, and 2) the Mid-Atlantic ridge, have resulted in light upper level easterly winds along hurricane alley. It’s not global warming, but short term regional cooling that’s to blame.
+1
I heard a “News” journalist summing up the lack of damage from Hurricane Irma as, “… not the storm we’d hoped for… ”
I kid you not! These media ghouls are unbelievable.
Per Jeff L.: “What is being lost in the reporting is that this was truly an epic catastrophy (sic) in the American & British Virgin Islands.”
Contra, per Trebla: “If you choose to inhabit an area that is right in the bullseye of hurricane alley, make sure you build a structure that can withstand the attendant winds and storm surges.”
My thought: “Catastrophic”: We now know that a “Category 4” hurricane landfalling on a U.S. coast isn’t and won’t be. Centuries of knowledge that hurricanes exist; multiple preparatory decades of science and engineering; years of real-world planning and plan execution; and respect for victims of actual catastrophes should end the use of the term for weather events.
September 11, 2001 was a catastrophe for thousands of innocents. No warning. No opportunity to prepare for a secretly planned attack. No shelter. No personal decision-making could alter the outcome for the victims. From 8:46 AM to 10:03 AM events of inconceivable magnitude and horror enveloped thousands of innocents in a death-dealing maelstrom. Catastrophe.
Harvey and Irma: Inconveniences.
+1000
911 Attacks Were an Outside and Inside Job — Crossing the Rubicon
http://www.nukepro.net/2017/09/911-attacks-were-ouside-and-inside-job.html
Crossing the Rubicon — Internalizing the Knowledge that 911 Attacks were carried out by factions of the US government is a tough one for many to wrap their heads around. It is almost the magnitude of being to horrible to believe. Once you make this mental jump, crossing the Rubicon so to speak, it is sure hard to go back to your old comfortable ways of thinking you knew enough about how the world really worked.
You really need to get your tin foil hat seen to, sunshine.
In fact, try upgrading to total coverage with 10 SWG builders’ lead flashing, ensuring that you get it hermitically sealed around your neck.
That should fix your conspiranoid fantasies on a permanent basis.
I’m waiting for the MSM to show EV’s in Florida that are know just boat anchors.
We don’t run around screaming ice age every time there’s a blizzard.
It’s sad to say but at this point the debate IS over…utilities are abandoning traditional 24/7 generation in favor of intermittent with storage, at 3 times the price. For a generation schools that are paid for by taxpayers have brainwashed children starting in Pre-K with the likes of Billy McKibben into believing that the Arctic and the polar bears and the penguins and the whales are all doomed because we have entered “The 6th Mass Extinction”. Automakers are trumpeting with great pride and chest-thumping how rapidly they are phasing out the internal combustion engine in favor of enclosed golf carts that will increase the country’s electrical demands by 30 % with no plan on how or when the grid will be up graded to handle the load. …And Government subsidies for all.