Irene a rainy mess

28 August, 2011 by

Tropical depression?

Irene has disintegrated into a rainy mess of a thing. Eye disappeared long ago, any kind of structure has vanished. Winds are strong, rain is heavy, but a hurricane it ain’t.

Link to live image here.

UPDATE: This in the comments from Klem, cowering under the worst storm in history:

“I live on the east coast and Irene is on top of us right this minute. It is windy and rainy, nothing out of the ordinary. This is an average August storm, we get them every year in August. I was watching CNN this morning and they were trying to make this storm out ot be as scary and damaging as they could, they were trying to keep the story alive as long as they could, especially after telling everyone that this was the most powerful hurricane in recent memory. It was no use, this hurricane has fizzled.

This is not climate change, this is climate normal.”

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Hurricane "Global Warming" Irene

27 August, 2011 by

Just weather?

As we all know, any and all weather events can now be attributed to climate change. What did we do before the AGW scare? If there was a large hurricane it was just the chaotic nature of the planet’s atmosphere at work. Historical records would show that there were hurricanes in the past of similar intensity which would help to reinforce our conclusion – we never believed there was anything sinister at work.

How it has changed. Now we can blame anything and everything on global warming. We don’t need no stinking historical records. So it’s completely unsurprising that Hurricane Irene is naturally a product of an evil (sorry, harmless) trace gas emitted by prosperous and healthy economies:

Irene’s got a middle name, and it’s Global Warming.

As she roars up the Eastern Seaboard, everyone is doing what they should—boarding windows, preparing rescue plans, stocking up on batteries. But a lot of people are also wondering: what’s a “tropical” storm doing heading for the snow belt?

So far, so predictable. But then this:

Category 3 Storms have rarely hit Long Island since the 1800s; one was the great unnamed storm of 1938, which sent 15-foot storm waters surging through what are now multimillion-dollar seaside homes. (source)

Here is a list of some storms that hit New York City in the late 1700s and 1800s:

  • September 23, 1875
  • August 19, 1788
  • October 9, 1804
  • September 16, 1816
  • September 3, 1821
  • October 13, 1846
  • October 6, 1849
  • October 28, 1872 (source)

So what was so special about the 1800’s that meant that there were more storms then? Oh yes, that’s right – it was COOLER. So the mild warming of the 20th century has actually made such storms less frequent, the complete opposite of what is claimed.

As the Mythbusters boys might say: totally busted.

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