National Geographic: More Mega-Snowstorms Coming -- Global Warming to Blame?

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/02/100213-snowstorms-global-warming-climate-change-snowpocalypse/

More Mega-Snowstorms Coming -- Global Warming to Blame?

Get used to heavy U.S. snowstorms, scientists say. The cause, though, is a subject of hot debate.

Willie Drye
for National Geographic News

Published February 12, 2010

As snowstorm-ravaged states on the U.S. East Coast dig out, scientists say the past week's "Snowpocalypse" could be a taste of harsh winters to come—and that, strangely enough, global warming may be to blame. Others aren't so sure.

(See http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080318-winter-warming.html">"Freak Snowstorms: Fluke or Fuel in Global Warming Debate?")

Meteorologist Joe Bastardi says the recent snowstorms may be the start of a trend of cold, snowy winters similar to those of the 1960s and 1970s.

Bastardi, of the AccuWeather forecasting service in State College, Pennsylvania, believes the February record snowfalls, though, are due more to an El Niño that formed last year than to climate change.

An El Niño occurs when Pacific waters off the northwest coast of South America become unusually warm. The event is erratic and unpredictable, but it occurs roughly every three to seven years.

...

[kestrel91316]

1. AccuWeather is RW all the way. Denialism is their stock in trade.

GW theory predicts worse extremes in weather, which fits with how temperature and precipitation records are falling like dominos in recent years.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. I don't think they're "(Right Wing) all the way."

For example, they maintain their own "Global Warming" page, which among other things points to articles that explain that larger snow falls are consistent with "Global Warming."
http://global-warming.accuweather.com/

...

Climate change doubters have reason to be energized. Just in the past few months, we have had 'climategate', a disappointing global summit in Copenhagen, apologies from the IPCC and now snowmaggedon, or if you prefer snowpocalypse.

To make things worse, those who believe that man is greatly responsible for warming the planet and want more policy change in the U.S, snowmaggedon could not have picked a worse place to target.......Washington D.C., the home of our lawmakers.

Yes, it is just the weather, but things like this can make people think twice about global warming, including politicians. The last thing anyone wants to hear about right now across the Middle Atlantic states is the threat of global warming as they dig out and freeze their you know what off.

Anyway, I saw these two pretty good articles about global warming and snowmaggedon/pocalypse from The New Republic and the Los Angeles Times. Check them out.........

The New Republic.....http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-vine/what-the-snowpocalypse-says-about-global-warming">'What The Snowpocalypse Tells Us about Global Warming'

The Los Angeles Times......http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/02/snowmaggedon-in-washington-spurs-climate-change-doubters.html">'Snowmaggedon in Washington Spurs Climate Change Doubters'

...

The biggest problem we face is that there is a tendency for (some) to point at Katrina (or some other storm) as proof of "climate change."

It isn't of course. By the same token, a large blizzard neither proves nor disproves "climate change."

[kestrel91316]

4. They have improved since I last looked at their website YEARS AGO.

They used to scoff at the very idea of GW over there.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Like the fundie that died, woke up in the underworld, and said:

This is not Hell, and it is not hot.

Just keep floating on the Nile.

[yellowcanine]

5. Saying it is because of El Nino doesn't mean it has nothing to do with climate change.

In fact, some climate scientists believe that El Nino and La Nina events are more frequent and more intense as a result of climate change. If Joe Bastardi were intellectually honest he would note that.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Funny, but Bastardi is a denialist

In his private weather blog, he has railed against the Liberals, "Algore", and the "Warmingistas".

I'll give him this, he's an excellent meteorologist, but a climatologist he's not.

--d!