7 replies to this topic

[Felix]

I wonder where all these hurricanes come from, all of a sudden? Any suggestions?

[HaloNoble6]

"All of a sudden?" I think you're just suffering from information overload. While there has been no steady nor sudden increase in the average number of huricanes per year (I'll get you a source at some point), there has been a steady and sudden increase in the extent of media coverage of huricanes over the years.

[tommyedison]

I wonder where all these hurricanes come from, all of a sudden? Any suggestions?

Most likely part of the periodic cycle of 30 years. Though this year it has been particularly intense even by historical standards - 12 hurricanes with 3 Cat 5s, the most ever in recorded history of hurricane measurement.

there as been a steady and sudden increase in the extent of media coverage of huricanes over the years.

And in the number and intensity of hurricanes this year too.

[Unconquered]

This site has a graph, and a bit of discussion, on the connection between solar output and the earth getting warmer. In short they are closely related. Who would have thought that a hotter sun meant a hotter earth?

[rob.sfo]

Here are some references for you.

The best line of all of them is, "I mean, there's almost an equation you can write the degree to which you believe global warming is causing major hurricanes to increase is inversely proportional to your knowledge about these storms."


Global Warming and Hurricanes: Still No Connection by Dr. Patrick Michaels (September 24, 2005)
While the impacts of the currently active hurricane period are being felt especially hard in the United States, there remains no scientific proof that human contributions to an enhanced greenhouse effect are the root cause.

Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Dr. Roy Spencer by James K. Glassman (September 14, 2005)
Was hurricane Katrina in any way manmade?

Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Dr. James J. O'Brien by James K. Glassman (September 13, 2005)
Does global warming have an affect on the intensity of hurricanes?

Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Meteorologist Dr. William Gray by James K. Glassman (September 12, 2005)
"I mean, there's almost an equation you can write the degree to which you believe global warming is causing major hurricanes to increase is inversely proportional to your knowledge about these storms."

Hurricane Katrina and Global Warming by James K. Glassman (September 3, 2005)
Katrina has nothing to do with global warming.

Global Warming is More Scare than Science by Alan Caruba (June 23, 2005)
The enormous financial power of environmental organizations, funded by leftist foundations, permits them to continue telling "global warming" lies. Meanwhile, scientists struggle to tell the true story about this hoax.

[Nate T.]

rob.sfo,

Thanks for posting these references! They make for interesting reading. I thought that the following in the interview with Dr. Gray was especially interesting:

Now there’s a few modelers around who know something about storms, but they would like to have the possibility open that global warming will make for more and intense storms because there’s a lot of money to be made on this. You know, when governments step in and are saying this – particularly when the Clinton administration was in – and our Vice President Gore was involved with things there, they were pushing this a lot. You know, most of meteorological research is funded by the federal government. And boy, if you want to get federal funding, you better not come out and say human-induced global warming is a hoax because you stand the chance of not getting funded.

Now I'm not claiming that the existence of a global warming "establishment" is evidence that global warming does not exist. However, Rand was right-- scientists will go where the money is, and if the government is allowed to fund science, they'll fund any politically fashionable areas like global warming. It certainly casts a suspicious light on the whole movement.

[rob.sfo]

Unconquered's link was so enlightening that I have to highlight this:

Graph of solar activity versus climate

From Friis-Christensen, E., and K. Lassen, "Length of the solar cycle: An indicator of solar activity closely associated with climate," Science, 254, 698-700, 1991.

"70-90 years oscillations in global mean temperature are correlated with corresponding oscillations in solar activity. Whereas the solar influence is obvious in the data from the last four centuries, signatures of human activity are not yet distinguishable in the observations."

[mweiss]

I hope the forum doesn't mind a bit of humour in my reply, but the other day my wife and I were discussing the apparent increase in hurricanes reported in the news and I said to her that the reason is very simple:

In America, the people pray in church only once a week.
In the middle east, the Muslims pray five times a day.

Now, if you are God, whose prayers are you more likely to pay attention to?

I'd say the Muslims with their 'death to America' prayers were getting fulfilled in the form of these hurricanes.

Just kidding, of course.

All joking aside, the concept of increased solar radiation and that graph are somewhat alarming news. The trend is rising. We might soon be cooked if the sun doesn't return to normal output.