It will just be a matter of time before Al Gore and other climate change scaremongers declare Hurricane Sandy the direct result of mankind’s use of fossil fuels. Gore has played this absurd card many times before. Take for example in 2008, when he went on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross to blame a catastrophic cyclone (that’s what we call southern hemisphere hurricanes) in Myanmar on global warming:
And as we’re talking today, Terry, the death count in Myanmar from the cyclone that hit there yesterday has been rising from 15,000 to way on up there to much higher numbers now being speculated.” In a tone and cadence that sounded as if the listener was in kindergarten Gore continued, “And last year a catastrophic storm last fall hit Bangladesh. The year before, the strongest cyclone in more than 50 years hit China—and we’re seeing consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continued global warming…the trend toward stronger and more destructive storms appears to be linked to global warming and specifically to the impact of global warming on higher ocean temperatures in the top couple of hundred feet of the ocean, which drives convection energy and moisture into these storms and makes them more powerful.”
Pure bunk.
If you want to observe a branch of meteorology that agrees with me, look no farther than to those who actually study and forecast hurricanes. This community of scientists knows Gore is prancing about au naturel. My dear friend, Dr, William Gray, is one of them.
Unquestionably the world’s foremost hurricane forecaster, Dr. Gray founded the Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University in the 1960s, where he developed the fine art of forecasting hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin, including the Gulf of Mexico. Numerous times Dr. Gray has told my radio audience, “I am of the opinion that global warming is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people.”
Gray’s opinion is not based on a gut feeling—it’s based on the science. And he is not alone.
“All my colleagues that have been around a long time—I think if you go to ask the last four or five directors of the National Hurricane Center—we all don’t think this is human-induced global warming,” says Dr. Gray
Now some some eye-popping, scientifically-based statistics.
To try and pin hurricane frequency and intensity on global warming is folly. Like all kinds of weather, hurricanes simply happen–and must happen–because they are the planet’s most direct source of distributing hot air from the equator to the colder, higher latitudes. On average, close to seven hurricanes every four years (1.8 per year) strike the United States, while about two major hurricanes cross the U.S. coast every threeyears.
Consider some other noteworthy hurricanes, none of which could be linked to human induced rising carbon dioxide levels and global warming:
Deadliest Hurricane: More than 8,000 people perished September 8, 1900, when a Category 4 hurricane barreled into Galveston, Texas. The storm surges exceeded 15 feet and winds howled at 130 mph, destroying more than half of the city’s homes.
Most Intense Hurricane: An unnamed storm slammed into the Florida Keys during Labor Day, 1935. Researchers estimated sustained winds reached 150-200 mph with higher gusts. The storm killed an estimated 408 people.
Greatest Storm Surge: In 1969, Hurricane Camille produced a 25-foot storm surge in Mississippi. Camille, a Category 5 storm, was the strongest storm of any kind to ever strike mainland America. When the eye hit Mississippi, winds gusted up to 200 mph. The hurricane caused the deaths of 143 people along the coast from Alabama into Louisiana and led to another 113 deaths as the weakening storm moved inland.
Earliest and latest hurricanes: The hurricane season is defined as June 1 through November 30. The earliest observed hurricane in the Atlantic was on March 7, 1908, while the latest observed hurricane was on December 31, 1954. The earliest hurricane to strike the United States was Alma, which struck northwest Florida on June 9, 1966. The latest hurricane to strike the United States was on November 30, 1925, near Tampa, Florida.
Hurricanes, one of the favorite storms that global warmers use to try validate their claims, have become earth’s biggest bogeyman. Al Gore can make up whatever he wants, but there is no connection between global warming and hurricanes.
-Brian Sussman