Hurricane Hysteria, Hype, and Histrionics

American Thinker ^ | 10 Oct, 2022 | Brian C. Joondeph

[MtnClimber]

Common sense logic is lost on the left. Media cranks apparently never learned science or critical thinking during journalism school.

Hurricane season is upon Southeastern America and that means hair-on-fire hysteria from the media and the political left. After Hurricane Ian ravaged southwest coastal Florida, we have heard nothing but hype from the corporate media, eager to connect every hurricane to catastrophic global warming, climate change, or whatever excuse they are currently using to usher in the Green New Deal and tyrannical top-down control of all aspects of our lives.

Hurricanes are not new and are a staple of southern coastal regions since long before Ron DeSantis was governor, Donald Trump owned Mar-a-Lago, or Americans burned fossil fuels to move them from place to place or heat and cool their homes. Yet judging from media histrionics, severe hurricanes are only a recent phenomenon, ignoring hundreds or thousands of years ago when Florida was nothing but a swamp.

Hurricane harpies in the media, practicing one of the Democrats’ favorite strategies of never letting a crisis go to waste, were quick to pounce on tragedy for political gain. Look at some of the headlines, all singing in perfect harmony.

From the Washington Post, “How climate change is rapidly fueling super hurricanes.” NPR proclaimed, “Climate change makes storms like Ian more common.” CBS News lamented, “How climate change is making storms like Hurricane Ian stronger more quickly.” Axios and President Biden say the science is settled, “Biden says events like Hurricane Ian end climate change debate.”

[MtnClimber]

See also mt post on 23 Sep, 2022:

Are We Just One Big Storm Away Climate Lockdowns?

[adorno]

We on the right keep getting this thing wrong.

The left-wing media and the left-wing politicians, are not doing what they do about climate-change because of hysteria or lack of scientific knowledge.

The left (progressives, liberal, socialists, communists, etc) are all about their agenda to control the narrative and the actual control of the economy and education and everything, including people. They know the same science as the people on the right, but, they’re not going to admit that the science does not support their narrative. The science does not support their agenda, but, they will lie to get their way, and science does not enter into what they want. Science takes a back-seat with the democrats agenda.

[sauropod]

bkmk

[Ouch]

In that picture of Miami, the water doesn’t appear to have risen at all in 100 years.

[knarf]

I was SO flamed here for expressing these same Ho Hum thoughts three or four days before it hit.

There's no difference between the loss of one or a hundred lives, so no . . . I didn't ho hum that possibility, but Florida was uber prepared AND warned aforehand.

[oldtech]

Even If sea water level hasn’t risen in 100 years, that doesn’t mean the Democrats won’t come up with new & more creative ways to make you think it has.

[MtnClimber]

The oceans have changed over long periods of time as long as there have been oceans on Earth. Carbon dioxide levels have changed too:

Oxygen isotope record of global ice volume and sea level for the past 200,000 years showing the major glacial and interglacial episodes (data from Martinson et al.,1987). Dashed lines above the curve indicate highstand deposits in the Mid-Atlantic region associated with the global periods of reduced ice volume.

Lower panel: Ice core record of atmospheric CO2 over the past 400,000 years (Petit et al., 1999) together with historical trends of CO2 (Keeling curve) and sea level change (inset). Upper panel: Geological record of sea level highstands (Hearty and Kaufman, 2000), showing broad correspondence with ice core CO2 record over the same interval. Red circles identify two past warm interglacials that reveal geological evidence of rapid ice sheet melting or collapse.

Source

[Da Coyote]

” Media cranks apparently never learned science or critical thinking during journalism school. “
Such subjects are far beyond the capabilities of those clowns.

[sten]

Over the last 5+ yrs, storm wind speeds have not aligned with buoy data (surface wind speeds we’d actually experience).

I’ve had numerous PhD types, NOAA officials, and meteorologists admist the wind speeds are MOSTLY being measured using RADAR at ALTITUDE.

Any winds above 2000 ft are irrelevant to us on the ground... but they make for amazing weather reporting. They aren’t exactly lying .. they just forget to mention the ALTITUDE at which those winds are measured.

The result is ‘another’ large storm (CAT-4 or CAT-5), loads of video showing surge damage, and the endless stream of people saying we’re all lucky to be alive... and no one questions the 65moh max reported winds at landfall... just keep echoing the big numbers... hoping to get federal relief money

[crusty old prospector]

Bingo. Also, the Hurricane Hunter aircraft fly at 10,000’ for safety. There is no friction up there so wind speeds are higher.

[faucetman]

SHARK WEEK!

HURRICANE SEASON!

[SamAdams76]

Winds are much higher above the ground. In fact, commercial airliners like to use those higher altitude winds to save considerable time and fuel costs, especially flying west to east.

A true category 4 or 5 hurricane with those wind speeds at ground level would obliterate just about everything in its path.

In fact, here is the official description of a CAT 5 hurricane from the National Weather Service:

Catastrophic damage will occur: A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.

I read that same description as a boy in grade school, way before "global warming" was ever a term. In fact, at that time, the alarmists were more concerned about the next ice age.

Hurricanes were just as powerful a hundred years ago as they are today but the difference was that not many people lived in hurricane prone areas. Just about the entire state of Florida was considered an uninhabitable swamp until the advent of air conditioning, landfill technology, and real estate developers in loud sports jackets.

So up to that time, those most heavily affected by these powerful Florida hurricanes were alligators and palm trees. Nowadays, Florida is teeming with tens of millions of people, most of them crammed up against the coastline, the most vulnerable spots for these hurricanes.

Those who live there often speak of hurricanes as "the cost of living in paradise." And that's fine, so long as they are willing to carry their own insurance for that or carry the risks themselves. For in Florida, it's not a matter of if, but when you will get a big hurricane.