Thursday, August 22, 2013

Yipes: Washington Post blogger Jason Samenow: "Gore’s statement about this new breed of hurricanes is patently false...with his penchant for overstatement, Gore will continue to be a divisive and less than credible voice in climate change discourse"

The Category 6 hurricane: Al Gore’s science fiction
Gore’s statement about this new breed of hurricanes is patently false. There’s no new hurricane category in the works.

Just to be sure, I contacted Chris Vaccaro, director of the National Weather Service’s office of public affairs, and asked him whether the National Hurricane Center is about to unveil the doomsday Category 6. In less than 10 minutes, he fired back this response:

No, we’re not pursuing any such change. I’m also not sure who VP Gore means by “they.”
...
Generally, Gore’s characterization of the links between global warming and hurricane intensity is a bit fast and loose.
Whereas Gore tells Klein hurricanes are “stronger now” due to manmade warming, the freshly leaked United Nations climate assessment is much more equivocal. Although the assessment says hurricane activity has become more intense in the Atlantic since 1970, there is “low confidence” of a human contribution.
...
But with his penchant for overstatement, Gore will continue to be a divisive and less than credible voice in climate change discourse.

“Global warming has sure as hell changed the rules,” says one of the characters in the Category 6 film. Too true in the case of our former VP.

1 comment:

Beale said...

I was around in the 50s and 60s, and as far as I can see hurricanes have not become more intense since then, with or without human contribution.