Global Warming Not to Blame for Gustav

Hurricane GustavThese days, everything under the sun is caused by global warming. If it’s hot, it’s because of global warming. If it’s cold, it’s because of global warming. If it’s dry, it’s because of global warming, and if it’s rainy, it’s because of global warming. Naturally, if a hurricane develops and makes landfall, that’s because of global warming, too.

“The big picture is that global warming is putting hurricanes on steroids,” says Dr. Amanda Staudt of the National Wildlife Federation.

It was predictable that global warming alarmists would use the latest hurricane as an example of the devastation wrought by out of control man-made global warming. Never mind that hurricanes and tropical storms have dashed apart ships that were powered by wind hundreds of years ago. This is different. These are new global warming hurricanes, “on steroids.” Scary.

Regardless of the alarmist global warming hype Americans have been deluged with as coverage of Hurricane Gustav unfolded, new studies and scientific perspectives are calling into question the global warming – hurricane link.

A study in the March 2008 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society suggests that global warming should reduce the frequency and intensity of hurricanes. There seem to be some mixed signals going on in global warming research.

Kerry Emanuel, an MIT professor of atmospheric science published a trumpeted paper in 2005 claiming that hurricane strengths would double as a result of global warming. Unfortunately, the latest computer models show no significant increase in hurricane frequency or intensity when they turn up the computer’s thermostat. The AMS study, which Emanuel co-authored contradicts his famous paper from three years ago.

“One gets used to being mistaken, and we follow the evidence and sometimes the evidence is contradictory and then we have to sort it out,” Emanuel said of the new findings. He’s uncertain whether the recent output is correct or the result of faulty models. “There is a real conundrum here,” he said.

Climate computer modeling scientists don’t even trust their own work and this is the sort of data legislators are using to make monumental decisions to attempt controlling the Earth’s climate system. The scientific position on hurricanes at present appears to be that global warming will and won’t intensify hurricane force and frequency.

11 Responses to Global Warming Not to Blame for Gustav

  1. Neil F. September 2, 2008 at 8:54 pm #

    Global warming is real, and it’s making hurricanes bigger and meaner, like on steroids, and they’re caused by us rotten humans, and we deserve to be punished because we’re ruining Mother Earth, and………. Wait……. What?………………………………. DOH!!!!!!!

  2. Rob N. Hood September 4, 2008 at 8:53 am #

    TORONTO – A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada’s northern Arctic, another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier, scientists said Wednesday.

    Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, told The Associated Press that the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated in early August and the 19-square-mile shelf is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.

    “The Markham Ice Shelf was a big surprise because it suddenly disappeared. We went under cloud for a bit during our research and when the weather cleared up, all of a sudden there was no more ice shelf. It was a shocking event that underscores the rapidity of changes taking place in the Arctic,” said Mueller.

    Something 4,500 years old has changed dramatically. Something is different… is it not? Nobody is saying humans are “rotten.” We are just saying we need to take care of the planet we live on…Duh! And the Canandian Prime Minister is happy about the ice shelf breaking up… why? wait for it….. so they can explore for OIL ! Isn’t that nice how that works out? All you oil lovers are probably jumping with joy and elation, or should be. Happy days are here again !

  3. Dan McGrath September 4, 2008 at 11:06 pm #

    And what was there 4,500 years ago? Where did the ice come from? Why isn’t it billions of years old? The temperature is never supposed to change, right? Doesn’t ice last forever?

    Meanwhile, as 19 square miles of ice breaks away, arctic ice has expanded by an area equal to twice the size of Germany.

    Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has indicated a dramatic increase in sea ice extent in the Arctic regions. The growth over the past year covers an area of 700,000 square kilometers: an amount twice the size the nation of Germany.

    With the Arctic melting season over for 2008, ice cover will continue to increase until melting begins anew next spring.

    The data is for August 2008 and indicates a total sea ice area of six million square kilometers. Ice extent for the same month in 2007 covered 5.3 million square kilometers, a historic low. Earlier this year, media accounts were rife with predictions that this year would again see a new record. Instead, the Arctic has seen a gain of about thirteen percent.

    William Chapman, a researcher with the Arctic Climate Research Center at the University of Illinois, tells DailyTech that this year the Arctic was “definitely colder” than 2007. Chapman also says part of the reason for the large ice loss in 2007 was strong winds from Siberia, which affect both ice formation and drift, forcing ice into warmer waters where it melts.”

    Lost 19 square miles of ice and gained 275,694 square miles. I think the Arctic is doing OK.

    Read about it at Daily Tech.

  4. Rob N. Hood September 5, 2008 at 11:40 am #

    Whew! Thanks Dan. For a minute there I got a little worried!

  5. Neil F. September 5, 2008 at 11:07 pm #

    Rob N. Hood: Ok, so nobody is “saying” humans are rotten, but do you think there are those who believe humans are the problem? http://environmentalism.suite101.com/article.cfm/why_control_the_population
    And as far as oil lovers go, I’ll bet that you did’n’t even know that you’re one too! http://www.priweb.org/ed/pgws/uses/uses_home.html Or did you think that the only thing made from oil is fuel?

  6. Rob N. Hood September 10, 2008 at 10:06 am #

    Uh… duh, I realize that oil is used to make many many things. That’s kind the point isn’t it? Why waste it on old technology (combustion engines- 100 years and counting!!) and use it for the things we really need it for. Thus why not use alternatives in place of the things we can create out of new technoloby and use oil for things that don’t have easily replaceable alternatives. An oil lover I am NOT, just because I am forced to buy things made out of plastic because the things aren’t avaiable in any other form. So not so much a lover as a slave to corporations. I don’t like being a slave, do you? And I have an electirc lawn mower, chain saw, and weed eater… all made out of plastic, which is light weight and durable! And yes, us enviros are always being blamed for saying humans are rotten… don’t white wash your own propaganda.

  7. Dan McGrath September 12, 2008 at 10:35 am #

    Right. Internal combustion engines are old technology. Let’s build more trains.

  8. Conry Fan September 13, 2008 at 4:31 am #

    Well, hey… It’s how the west was won.

  9. Rob N. Hood September 21, 2008 at 5:35 pm #

    That’s it Dan? That’s all ya got? Gee, let’s see, what would happen if we started to use more alternatives for oil when possible, but continued to use oil for certain things that helps make life better and easier?… Umm would the price of oil drop, like a lot? Would that be a bad thing? Maybe only for those that have oil stocks. I’m sure Dan doesn’t own any of that… right Dan? I don’t see a down side, I really don’t. But Dan will set me straight I’m sure.

  10. Dan McGrath September 22, 2008 at 9:53 am #

    I’m all for developent of new energy sources that actually work – through the private sector. Government mandates for ineffecient, expensive and unproven or even as yet undeveloped technology do us no good and are more likely to do harm to the masses while enriching a few. No. I don’t own any oil stocks. There goes the “in the pocket of big oil” meme. I don’t actually own ANY stocks. I’m too poor.

    Meanwhile, as companies further the development of hydrogen power, and other potential energies, we still need oil, and we need a robust economy to prevent the middle class slipping into poverty. We must increase our supply of oil.

    This notion of setting us up for destruction should we fail to develop these theoretical alternatives is far too risky. This idea that we don’t get what we need, so we’ll be “encouraged” to find a viable alternative is equavalent to a dieter wearing a belt rigged to explosives that would detonate if the belt gets too tight.

  11. geoff December 29, 2009 at 1:26 pm #

    ok so planet is warming up but its being doing it since the last ice age 10,000 years ago.its all to do ith the earths tilt towards the sun as it tilts over 21.4 degrees the suns rays heat up the ice sheets longer as there is more surface tilted towards sun.the earth also wobbles on its axis which also puts the arctic further and nearer the sun again.there is also the pull of 2 other planets which causes the earth to move its orbit as it goes around the sun.all these 3 things combined create the warming and cooling of the earth.

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