The Last Frost

So Called "Myth" #8: Global warming will cause more storms and other weather extremes.

Their Argument In It's Entirety: "There is no scientific or statistical evidence whatsoever that supports such claims on a global scale.  Regional variations may occur. Growing insurance and infrastructure repair costs, particularly in coastal areas, are sometimes claimed to be the result of increasing frequency and severity of storms, whereas in reality they are a function of increasing population density, escalating development value, and ever more media reporting." [Link to their original argument]

The Truth: There is limited scientific evidence and thank goodness there is no statistical evidence yet. This is a difficult myth to bust because they make some good points. They still left me some wiggle room though.

First off it's true that the damage from storms is increasing because of an increase in population density, value of property and things like that. Since it affects more people, it gets more media coverage. So I'll give these guys that.

As for the whole no evidence or statistics line, it's consistent with every other argument that they have made that wasn't a flat out lie. They only tell half the truth.

Weather itself is primarily caused by one thing, the unequal heating of the Earth by the Sun. So will global warming alone cause more severe weather? It's hard to say, if the Earth is heated more unevenly then sure, you could probably safely assume that that could lead to more severe weather. If it warms in a mostly uniform manner, then perhaps there won't be much of a change. 

There is one thing that we do know for sure though. Hurricanes develop from tropical storms when the ocean surface temperature reaches 80 degrees. The hotter the water and the air above, the more moisture and heat energy a storm can pull from.

If our Earth warms so wil the ocean surface temperature, this could lead directly to more frequent and more powerful hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons on a global scale. Was Katrina and the whole 2005 hurricane season evidence of this already occurring? The Friend's of Science say hell no, anyone with a brain would say, it's certainly possible and a plausible threat.

Let's just hope the Friends of Science folks are right on this one. I'll still fight my way toward sustainable living just in case they're wrong. 

Common misconceptions about global warming – [Friends of Science]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 4th, 2007 at 12:53 am and is filed under Bullshit, Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Rants, Science, Weather. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.