Sorry, WQAD, Data Shows Climate Change Doesn’t Make Hurricanes Worse – Do You Float With That?
Are from climateism
WQAD ran a story that reported climate models predicting how climate change will make different types of weather phenomena worse, titled “Climate change is happening with increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather.” The story is misleading in a few ways. First, while the title suggests that climate change has been making extreme weather worse, the story itself focuses on predictions for the future based on climate models, Not the current trend. Indeed, the data do not support the claim that climate change has increased the frequency or intensity of tornadoes, thunderstorms, thunder, or blizzards. Second, climate models predicting that the weather will become more extreme, is seriously flawed. They do not accurately reflect past or present temperatures, so their predictions about future climate will not be reliable.
“Severe weather in the Midwest can cause dangerous systems to develop rapidly,” the WQAD report said. “Climate change means there’s a chance that tornadoes, thunderstorms, Derechos and blizzards will be even stronger than before.”
While the first statement is absolutely correct. The second statement is pure speculation. History and data suggest that climate change could mean fewer, less intense storms in the region.
WQAD statements regarding tornadoes are prudent and rightfully so. In the most recent scientific report, Assessment Report 6 (AR6) published in July, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that it found no worse cyclones during the moderate warming period and could not attribute any any change in the frequency or strength of man-made tornadoes caused by climate change. Indeed, even as the number of reported tornadoes has increased due to better reporting over the past 50 years, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that the number of powerful tornadoes has increased. decrease during the warming period. (See picture below)
In relation to thunderstorms, events as well as unannounced. As with tornadoes, IPCC AR6 reports no evidence that thunderstorms are becoming more extreme, nor that any change in thunderstorm frequency is caused by humans. people. One concern that arises from extreme thunderstorms is the threat of flooding. Related to that, the IPCC reports that climate change has the potential to reduce flooding because it has made floods more common. In addition, on page 99 of the 2018 National Climate Assessment published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Human-induced warming has not been formally identified as a contributing factor.” increased riparian flooding and the timing of any detectable future occurrence of anthropogenic change is unclear.”
Regarding Derechos, as explained above Watts Up with thatThese sporadic events are caused by a confluence of relatively rare weather conditions, and there is no evidence that climate change is capable of causing such conditions to arise and coincide frequently. more frequently in the future.
The IPCC also reports that there is no evidence that winter storms are becoming more intense, bringing stronger winds or greater snowfall. The IPCC report is confirmed by satellite data recorded by NASA. As discussed in Climate at a glance: Snowpack, the average extent of North American ice cover has remained largely unchanged in recent years compared with the late 1960s, when satellite measurements began. After a brief decrease in snow and ice in the mid-1980s, the average amount of snow in North America increased. As shown in the figure below, what is true about snowfall in the United States is also true for most of the Northern Hemisphere.
Note that North America, represented by the blue dots, has barely changed in recent times
years compared with the late 1960s, when satellite measurements first began. Source: Global Snow
Lab, “Monthly Snowfall Abnormalities for 12 Months November 1966 to October 2021,”
Rutgers University Climate Lab, accessed February 2022, https://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_anom.php?ui_set=0&ui_region=nhland&ui_month=2
One final thing that WQAD should consider before publishing the climate hype that causes an increase in extreme weather is the fact that the forecasts it references for worse weather are generated using using climate model simulation. However, as discovered in Climate Realism, this, thisand thisfor example, and in Climate Change Weekly, this and this, the general circulation models referenced by the IPCC are flawed and produce unfortunately inaccurate results. Models that have overstated warming and for more than 30 years have consistently predicted an increase in extreme weather have failed to materialize.
Ultimately, climate models are not scientific evidence, just as theories are not facts, and evidence exists that extreme weather events are not increasing. WQAD would do a great service for its audience, if it informed them about it. It could alleviate any climate alarms that have plagued viewers of their reports over the years that have grown after years of watching unverified climate change stories on the channel. .
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D. is managing editor of Environment & Climate News and a research fellow in environmental and energy policy at the Heartland Institute. Burnett has worked at the National Center for Policy Analysis for 18 years, most recently as a senior fellow in charge of the NCPA’s environmental policy program. He has held various positions in public and professional policy organizations, including serving as a member of the Environmental and Natural Resources Task Force on the Texas e-Texas committee. Comptroller.
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