Blatant Reality

I find this fairly unbelievable that USA Today has an article in the paper today discussing how we are seeing some of the ‘worst storms on record’ in the United States but doesn’t blame in on Global Warming at all. In fact, they have a quote by Dr. Landsea saying that the evidence of global warming affecting our past hurricane seasons is ‘tiny.’ Instead, they blame the destructiveness of the past couple hurricane seasons on natural variations and the growing populations on the coast. Take a look:

“We’ve had quite an intense increase in hurricane activity,” said Kevin Trenberth, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. “We may be in this cycle for another 20 years.”

 

The increased populations in coastal communities and the loss of wetlands, which serve as a natural buffer against hurricanes, mean the USA is confronting one of the more dangerous and expensive hurricane periods ever, Trenberth said.

 

(…)

 

Some meteorologists say the increased storm activity is caused by a naturally occurring cycle of activity that hatches more storms in the Atlantic.

 

These are likely due to a natural climate fluctuation in the Atlantic,” said Chris Landsea, a scientist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

 

Kerry Emanuel, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied climate effect on hurricanes, says global warming and human-caused climate change is contributing. But Landsea has said evidence that global warming is affecting hurricanes “is pretty darn tiny.”

And I think it’s ‘pretty darn’ amazing that USA Today actually gave the last words about the global warming/hurricane connection to a skeptic.