New York Times: Will Climate (Change) Get Some Respect Now?

New York Times ^ | October 31, 2012 | Nicholas D. Kristof

[Zakeet]

President Obama and Mitt Romney seemed determined not to discuss climate change in this campaign. So thanks to Hurricane Sandy for forcing the issue: Isn’t it time to talk not only about weather, but also about climate?

It’s true, of course, that no single storm or drought can be attributed to climate change. Atlantic hurricanes in the Northeast go way back, as the catastrophic “snow hurricane” of 1804 attests. But many scientists believe that rising carbon emissions could make extreme weather — like Sandy — more likely.

“You can’t say any one single event is reflective of climate change,” William Solecki, the co-chairman of the New York City Panel on Climate Change, told me. “But it’s illustrative of the conditions and events and scenarios that we expect with climate change.”

In that sense, whatever its causes, Sandy offers a window into the way ahead.

[Snip]

I was schooled in the far-reaching changes under way several years ago by Eskimos in Alaska, who told me of their amazement at seeing changes in their Arctic village — from melting permafrost to robins (for which their Inupiat language has no word), and even a (shivering) porcupine. If we can’t see that something extraordinary is going on in the world around us, we’re in trouble.

[Snip]

“For the extreme hot weather of the recent past, there is virtually no explanation other than climate change,” James E. Hansen, a NASA climate scientist, recently wrote in The Washington Post.

Politicians have dropped the ball, but so have those of us in the news business. The number of articles about climate change fell by 41 percent from 2009 to 2011, according to DailyClimate.org.

[NRA1995]

Yes, the climate changed; it changed from sunny fall weather to a big storm. Storms happen.

[MosesKnows]

Will Climate (Change) Get Some Respect Now?

I think global climate change should get the respect it deserves but not the respect it wants. Sincere respect does need to be solicited.

[JaguarXKE]

But many scientists believe that rising carbon emissions could make extreme weather — like Sandy — more likely.

The problem is, they have been saying that for 20 years. A couple of years ago, I went and got the data from the National Hurricane center and found that there has been no increase in the number and/or intensity of hurricane activity in recent decades The data went back a hundred and fifty years.

[MeOnTheBeach]

Climate change is real! People wake up!

You watch... it’s going to keep getting colder probably for the next three months or so... it will be so cold in some areas of the US that the rain will literally freeze before it hits the ground! Mark my words!

Then... it’s going to start heating up! In some places it will get to over 100 degrees!! And then you’ll know the meaning of global warming buddy! It’ll be so hot!...seereeuss!

[count-your-change]

Top experts say: The climate like stock prices will vary.

[PigRigger]

Geezz....these people at the NY Times...get a clue

Reasons why this storm was so impactful (had nothing to do with climate change):

1 - Came into the coast from west to east...allowed for maximum tidal surge
2 - Tropical cyclone phased with Tropical jet stream
3 - During the lows transformation to extra tropcal, it merged with a low level low riding up a cold front, allowing for the low to phase with the polar jet stream
4 - As the low became extra tropical, it's wind fields spread out....and the low became larger...

The storm stretched from Greenland to Illinois to the Caribbean....almost 20% of the lower 48 was covered....simply incredible.....phases (connected with) both the tropical and polar jet streams (notice the northern clouds stretching from Greenland and wrapping into the storm and the to the south, the clouds wrapping in from Florida and points south )....the jet streams are the conveyors of energy from the northern and southern latitudes....when they collide all hell breaks loose.....the main reason for Sandy being so large and powerful.....

[dagogo redux]

Great summary of a bizarre and wretched phenomenon.

[PigRigger]

whoops....that would be “came into the coast from east to west”

[hal ogen]

I’ll give “climate change” the respect it deserves: NONE!

[gura]

AP IMPACT: CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low

[NormsRevenge]

Idiots abound

.. the NYT is a breeder farm for ‘em.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Every hurricane is terrible to the people that it hits. Hurricane Sandy was no different from any other hurricane in that respect.

By historical standards, Hurricane Sandy was a relatively minor hurricane (Category 1 when it made landfall). What made it so damaging was where it made landfall - a very high population area with a high density of oceanfront development.

It has been over seven years since a Category 3 or greater hurricane has made landfall in the U.S. This is the longest period of no major hurricanes since we began measuring them.

We are constantly told that the past 10 years of mild summers and hard winters is not evidence against Global Warming. We are also told that the seven year stretch with no major hurricanes is also not evidence against Global Warming. The fact that every Global Warming model ten years ago predicted annual increases in warming and annual increases in the rate and intensity of hurricanes is irrelevant.

And yet, every time there is a hurricane or any other extreme weather event (which we naturally have all the time somewhere in the world) it is immediately proclaimed as yet more proof of Global Warming.

It is almost certain that the next seven years will have more severe hurricanes than the last seven. It is simply the law of averages. It is also certain that every hurricane will be proclaimed as proof of Global Warming. It is simply the law of Global Warming politics.

[GSWarrior]

This is an attempt to change the narrative away from reality.

It assumes that those who aren't on the climate change bandwagon are in denial that weather happens.

[Oztrich Boy]

I SO believe in climate change. Yesterday I didn’t have to wear a coat; today I did. Freaky.

You know what's really freaky? The exact same conditions ocurred in the Southern Hemisphere. How likely is that?

[this_ol_patriot]

Yes, climate change exists, about 20,000 years ago most of the area hit by Sandy was under ice including Manhattan, you can even see glaciation grooves on rocks in Central Park.

I think the anthropomorphic global warmists today are doing the same as the ancients did, creating myths and fables to explain natural events they don't understand.

[TurboZamboni]

I can’t wait for that old Ozone Hole to make a comeback.

[Alberta's Child]

It has been over seven years since a Category 3 or greater hurricane has made landfall in the U.S. This is the longest period of no major hurricanes since we began measuring them.

Let's take this one step further. This storm demonstrates the idiocy of people who are facing a major catastrophic event and somehow assume that: (1) nobody has ever dealt with this sort of thing before; and (2) it must be an ominous sign of doom, and a portent of things to come.

I have not been able to confirm this, but my research indicates that this was the first hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey since 1903. Every other hurricane that has affected this state since 1903 either made landfall elsewhere, or weakened to a tropical storm before making landfall.

A lot of people just aren't capable of figuring out that it really is this simple. It's the first hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey in almost 110 years, there are a lot more people living here than ever before, and since we rely so heavily on electrical power, any disruption the storm causes will be magnified by the loss of power.

[CommieCutter]

I remember when Gore gave that speech. That was hilarious.

I see. Thanks for the input.