Slashdot Mirror


What's Causing The Hurricanes? (yahoo.com)

An anonymous reader quotes AFP: Hurricane Irma, now taking aim at Florida, has stunned experts with its sheer size and strength, churning across the ocean with sustained Category 5 winds of 183 miles per hour (295 kilometers per hour) for more than 33 hours, making it the longest-lasting, top-intensity cyclone ever recorded. Meanwhile Jose, a Category 4 on the Saffir Simpson scale of 1 to 5, is fast on the heels of Irma, pummeling the Caribbean for the second time in the span of a few days. Many have wondered what is contributing to the power and frequency of these extreme storms. "Atlantic hurricane seasons over the years have been shaped by many complex factors," said Jim Kossin, a NOAA hurricane scientist at the University of Wisconsin. "Those include large scale ocean currents, air pollution -- which tends to cool the ocean down -- and climate change"...

Some think a surge in industrial pollution after World War II may have produced more pollutant particles that blocked the Sun's energy and exerted a cooling effect on the oceans. "The pollution reduced a lot of hurricane activity," said Gabriel Vecchi, professor of geosciences at Princeton University's Environmental Institute. Pollution began to wane in the 1980s due to regulations such as the Clean Air Act, allowing more of the Sun's rays to penetrate the ocean and provide warming fuel for storms. Vecchi said the "big debate" among scientists is over which plays a larger role -- variations in ocean currents or pollution cuts. There is evidence for both, but there isn't enough data to answer a key question...

The burning of fossil fuels, which spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and warm the Earth, can also be linked to a rise in extreme storms in recent years. Warmer ocean temperatures yield more moisture, more rainfall, and greater intensity storms. "It is not a coincidence that we're seeing more devastating hurricanes," climatologist Michael Mann of Penn State University told AFP in an email. "Over the past few years, as global sea surface temperatures have been the warmest on record, we've seen the strongest hurricanes -- as measured by peak sustained winds -- globally, in both Southern and Northern Hemisphere, in both Pacific and now, with Irma, the open Atlantic," he added. "The impacts of climate change are no longer subtle. We're seeing them play out in real time, and the past two weeks have been a sadly vivid example."

240 of 442 comments (clear)

  1. The Russians. by SCVonSteroids · · Score: 4, Funny

    There, I said it.

    --
    I tend to rant.
    1. Re:The Russians. by Mikkeles · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think they're caused by heat and pressure differences.

      --
      Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
    2. Re:The Russians. by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 4, Funny

      The weather has been screwed up ever since they let women in space.

    3. Re:The Russians. by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sure. Heat and pressure differences create Russians.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:The Russians. by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought it was Vodka and furry hats.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    5. Re:The Russians. by umghhh · · Score: 1

      Provide enough sour cucumber and replace oceans water with vodka and they drink it all. Not even Putin would stop them then.

    6. Re:The Russians. by LWATCDR · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Pretty much. One of the worst to hit FL was in the 1920s. If you point to a hurricane and scream climate change you are an idiot. If you point to a bad winter and say look global warming is a fraud your an idiot.
      PS this Post is coming to you from South East Florida, Irma is so annoying. On the West Coast and Keys it is terrible.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    7. Re:The Russians. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Russians pft, they're amateurs. Here is the real deal : Irma is an act of republican loving God.
      He decided to piss on Florida there is nothing more to it. I hope he keeps on pissing until Rubio, Trump choke from the seawater and Mar-a-lago is underwater.
      Dear God, have mercy on the rest of us, but kill those 2 fuckers and destroy Trump's properties. Call it divine retribution.

    8. Re:The Russians. by SCVonSteroids · · Score: 1

      Or that. We can always go with that.

      --
      I tend to rant.
    9. Re: The Russians. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If it was left to men no one would know where the weather had been put.

    10. Re:The Russians. by rholtzjr · · Score: 1
      No, no, no.

      2 oz White rum, 2 oz Dark rum 1 oz lime juice, 1 oz orange juice, 2 oz Passion fruit juice, ½ oz Simple syrup, ½ oz Grenadine. Served after shaken into the signature Hurricane Glass.

    11. Re:The Russians. by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      That is a total lie. I defy you to cite one quotation that shows that somebody thought that famine, drought, war or disease was a new concept and that it never existed prior to their generation.

    12. Re:The Russians. by I75BJC · · Score: 1

      LOL!!! We know the Soviets (in Communist "Russia") claimed to have invented just about everything. So why not the weather.

    13. Re: The Russians. by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 2

      I have yet to hear this or any other hurricane being described as the worst hurricane ever. Whenever one of these record-breaking weather phenomena occurs, it is always said that it was the worst on record. What you have done is reworded how they are described and then complained specifically about the rewording.

    14. Re:The Russians. by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      The 1920 storm was a baby child in relation to Irma, Andrew or Katrina.
      It simply did more(?) damage and costed more lives because of much worse infrastructure and late/no warning.

      Regardless of climate change, you always can have an out of the line event.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    15. Re:The Russians. by hey! · · Score: 1

      They could plausibly be behind some "hurricane trutherism".

      You can't make a hurricane hit your enemy, but you can make a given event more deadly and expensive for them.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    16. Re:The Russians. by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      That should be modded funny, not troll.

      Thanks, its an old joke. Some folks can't handle even that.

    17. Re: The Russians. by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

      wind and water.

    18. Re: The Russians. by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

      i have to add this. not enough crown royal.

    19. Re: The Russians. by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 2

      What part of AGW do you feel is insufficiently well supported? What's your alternate theory?

      (this line of questioning is a trap designed to reveal your ignorance of the empirical evidence; you could save some time by admitting your dishonesty up front)

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    20. Re: The Russians. by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 2

      Kay. So none of that is true, but even if it were, then we would still have this issue of excess atmospheric carbon, n'est-ce pas?

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    21. Re:The Russians. by mcswell · · Score: 1

      Wait, wait! I'm a 67 year old man. How dare you send any 63 year young women away!

    22. Re:The Russians. by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Comparing lives lost and damage done is a fools errand. Populations increase, as does the value of property available to be damaged. The ability to measure them has also changed. Not to mention, storms just don't track the same.

      I'm guessing that you meant the 1926 storm... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... It was estimated to have done $195.5B in 2016 dollars damage. Certainly current construction techniques would have improved that. But clearly, we've got a long way to go...just look at the cranes that were supposed to be able to withstand Cat 4, and 3 of them fell with sub-100mph winds. And now, the vast increase in structures means there's just that much more available to be damaged.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    23. Re:The Russians. by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Jokes are funny, so you're wrong. You old farts can get a room in a log cabin.

      If you didn't find it funny, it's an indication that you've got an axe to grind. Get over yourself, take the chip off your shoulder, and enjoy life.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    24. Re: The Russians. by kenh · · Score: 1

      Have you ever heard a hurricane described as "not as bad as the last one" before it makes landfall?

      --
      Ken
    25. Re:The Russians. by SandWyrm · · Score: 1

      Yeah, must be global warming. It couldn't possibly be a long-term effect of a pollution event as real and measurable as the BP oil spill and the methods used to clean... er... hide it.

      Continuing oil flow anyone?

      Diffused outflow of methane in a several kilometer radius around the "capped" drill site through micro-fractures in the salt dome?

      Nobody really wants to look.

    26. Re: The Russians. by MooseMiester · · Score: 1

      Irma was the strongest in terms of number of days of sustained winds but NOT the strongest in terms of barometric pressure. But don't let those facts trip up the media's desperate need to push an agenda while throwing gasoline on every fire.

      --
      Murphy was an optimist
    27. Re: The Russians. by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      What is my alternative theory? The Sun.

      Show your work, and then discuss why other people haven't noticed solar output increasing, and then discuss why CO2 is not a greenhouse gas despite your being able to confirm that at home.

      That you even bring religion to the table is pure psychological projection. You have no evidence and have never bothered to examine the opposing evidence. Reality is not going to be swayed: you will be imposed upon one way or another.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    28. Re: The Russians. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Irma was the strongest in terms of number of days of sustained winds but NOT the strongest in terms of barometric pressure. But don't let those facts trip up the media's desperate need to push an agenda while throwing gasoline on every fire.

      Rush Limbaugh, is that you? Next time there is a hurricane, you are challenged to set up a chair on the beach and ride it out.

      After all, the whole thing is media hype. And the media's fault, so this is a triple dog dare you. If you won't, you don't have much conviction.

      By the way, the media wasn't let in on the 1900 Galveston Hurricaine, people were not told until the day before it hit. highest point on the island was 9 feet, and the storm surge was way over that. But no media hype your goal and your enemy, allowed 6000 people to die. But you probably think that's fake news, eh? Looking forward to your debunking of the media hype.

      What kind of asshole blames a hurricane on the media anyway?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    29. Re:The Russians. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      The weather has been screwed up ever since they let women in space.

      I heard it was the space shuttle smoke from the boosters.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    30. Re:The Russians. by KingBenny · · Score: 1

      it's the wrath of Goad, maen ... baby jesus cries at six its eyes sore from the smug clouds over Texas et al ... so repent and give your money to Goad, and all will be fine

      --
      Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
    31. Re: The Russians. by MooseMiester · · Score: 1

      Where did I blame the hurricane on the media? Where?

      Do you watch the media, or just read web sites that talk about it? They are bunch of whores. It's no wonder so many people stay behind.

      And how long was it before the Hurricane was politicized? One second? Half a second? How long before it was "Oh here comes Trumps Katrina?" How long before the global warming questions were raised? One quarter of a second?

      A very close family member lost their house in Harvey and barely got out with their lives. Fuck off. You're an internet ass of the worst sort.

      --
      Murphy was an optimist
    32. Re: The Russians. by Ferretman · · Score: 1

      It's *all* basically not very well thought out or documented. I have no need to have an alternative theory, as global **is** the "alternative theory"--and it's not proven.

      There are *some* credible findings that point towards to global warming, and there are just as many that point against it. I simply find nothing **convincing** that shows global warming exists. There's nothing to suggest that the planet warming gradually since the last ice age has accelerated, or gone wonky, or doing anything at all unexpected.

      Perhaps of course you're more easily convinced. That's fair, in a generic way.

      Ferret

      --
      Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    33. Re: The Russians. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Where did I blame the hurricane on the media? Where?

      Seriously? Re-read what you wrote in one of your sentences:

      Do you watch the media, or just read web sites that talk about it? They are bunch of whores. It's no wonder so many people stay behind.

      So what you are telling me is that if people die because they stay behind, it is the media's fault. After all if the media wasn't those bunch of whores, people would believe them. But since they are, people are willing to die for their beliefs.

      Look, I get it. you have need for a hate target, and you do not want at all to hear see or read about anything that does not fit with your world view.

      And just for your other question, I get my news from NPR, BBC, NBC, ABC, RT, MSNBC and Breitbart.

      You see, this is going to sound strange to you, but there is so much "news" in the world that any organization that presents news is going to have a bias, by simply choosing what to report in it's limited time and space to report it. Some of these sites and stations are obviously liberal, some conservative.

      I get my weather from NOAA, Accuweather, and TWC, but mostly NOAA.

      But what do you think about the Governor of Florida Rick Scott, who has been on the television frequently telling people to Get out? https://www.youtube.com/result... Is he a media whore? Or should he stand at a podium in an empty room and exercise his right to free speech, but in your utopia where people get tired of him ( as a whore of the media) they just stay there and die for their hatred of the media?

      And how long was it before the Hurricane was politicized? One second? Half a second?

      I well and truly don't give a damn Scarlett! If someone wants to blame the hurricane on Trump, or if someone wants to claim that gawd is punishing America for legalizing gay marriage, it's all just kooks to me. Trump, or Obama, or even gawd didn't cause the hurricane, it is weather. I do not allow kooks to determine my outlook or reaction unless one is threatening me with bodily harm.

      How long before it was "Oh here comes Trumps Katrina?"

      Once again, I have not a care to give. As noted before, there are kooks in this world. And one skates on terribly thin ice when listening to them. Because when we listen to them, we become kooks ourselves.

      How long before the global warming questions were raised? One quarter of a second?

      Once again, the idea in any sort of disaster is for safety people to keep people safe. It is possible that people might over react. It's also possible that the people who rescue people that are near their death might die themselves. But when you get a big hurricane, there might not be enough people to rescue people who need it. It was a big hurricane, covered the whole state, and you make the almost unbelievably irrational claim that people would stay there and that death as an acceptable outcome - because of "the media".

      A very close family member lost their house in Harvey and barely got out with their lives.

      And my sister who lives near Fort Meyers lost her place. What's your point? She listened to "the media" and bugged out. She's insured, and her and her pets are fine.

      Fuck off. You're an internet ass of the worst sort.

      Oh yes. I know myself. And I'm an asshole. If I might proffer some advice though, you might try not allowing others to dictate you you think and act. I don't. That is a big part of what makes me an asshole in many people's eyes. Once others can activate a core of hatred in a person, they can get you to act in ways that are counterproductive to your best interests. And when you think it is understandable that the media can somehow legitimately cause people to stay and very possibly die because of "the media", which is telling them - along with their governor - to leave, your core of hatred has been well and truly activated, and probably is in an advanced state. And you are being controlled by others. Have a nice weekend.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    34. Re:The Russians. by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      That'd be the youngsters. Shouldn't there be a joke about getting off my cricket pitch here?

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    35. Re: The Russians. by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      It's *all* basically not very well thought out or documented. I have no need to have an alternative theory, as global **is** the "alternative theory"--and it's not proven.

      Are you aware of the gigatons of carbon being dumped into the atmosphere or do you suggest this has no effect? I mean, you've made an ass out of yourself already, I'm just curious how far you'll take it.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    36. Re: The Russians. by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      Of that insignificant portion, anthropogenic gas is an infinitesimally smaller portion

      It used to be, yes. Since we started burning a cubic kilometer of oil per year there's quite a bit more than it used to be. I mean, unless you're arguing that the oil we're burning and the excess carbon are completely unrelated.

      The real question is, home much of the anthropogenic CO2 is absorbed into the mountaintops consisting of limestone?

      Not enough to prevent atmospheric concentrations from rising, clearly.

      You haven't asked all the questions that would be required in a court of law to prosecute a case

      "But if it is flat, will the King's command make it round? And if it is round, will the King's command flatten it?"

      Why don't you convince me, rather than make attempt to make me disprove your religion?

      Well, since you don't dispute Tyndall then the next step would be Arrhenius' 1896 paper on the properties of atmospheric carbonic acid. For a more general study of the science, there's always the IPCC reports. And for a historical perspective I would recommend starting here

      But yes, you are expected to disprove my 'religion'. Either you can point to a contrary observation or you're blowing smoke. "Why don't you convince me," you ask? Because you can look it up in a textbook, the same as you can with plate tectonics. Either you find that explanation convincing or you can damn well say why not, but the onus is firmly yours to discharge.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    37. Re: The Russians. by MooseMiester · · Score: 1

      I wrote two sentences in my first post. Two. Seems to me you have a desperate need to arrogantly assert your talking points, and are incapable of understanding that you've offended someone plus incapable of understanding that fuck off means fuck off and leave me alone.

      --
      Murphy was an optimist
    38. Re: The Russians. by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      Have you ever heard a hurricane described as "not as bad as the last one" before it makes landfall?

      Yes. Hurricane Jose.

    39. Re: The Russians. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I wrote two sentences in my first post. Two. Seems to me you have a desperate need to arrogantly assert your talking points, and are incapable of understanding that you've offended someone plus incapable of understanding that fuck off means fuck off and leave me alone.

      Well, in the first place, I have no issues offending people like you. Not one. You are a really angry person, and believe me, that isn't good for a person. It takes a special kind of anger to be angry at people hwo are trying to help, like the Republican Governor of Florida, or the various weather services and reporters.

      In short, you are not being completely rational, and that's a little disturbing. You are putting sentences together, sure, but when everything is the fault of something you hate, its time to sit back and reflect, because just like Trump can't be the cause of all problems, neither can the media. Or Obama. Or Bush2.

      Its a big internet, and telling people to fuck off and leave you alone is better achieved by taking one's own advice.

      Regardless, it is pretty clear that rather than be of any help, I am just upsetting you further. So good luck and good day sir. Matwhatever salves your hatred based wounds come to pass, and you regain the happiness that the media has robbed you of.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    40. Re: The Russians. by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Explain to everyone what experiment would falsify AGW.

      We'll wait.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    41. Re:The Russians. by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      Not it was not. It had winds so high it blew a steam locomotive off the track.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    42. Re:The Russians. by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Does not tell us anything ...
      How high was the wind speed, for how long?

      The storms I mentioned would have blown a steam locomotive from the track, too. Depending on position and track :D

      Actually our parent was likely wrong anyway and meant the 1926 "great Miami storm". For 1920, there are not many google results.

      And that storm was noting in comparison to the 3 storms that just had hit the US. Next 2 are on they way, btw. So fasten your seat belts and be safe. Don't find the links from this morning ... one is half way over the ocean, one is 1/3rd west of Africa and the third one is brewing in front of the coast of Nigeria right now.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  2. Hawker by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hawker, later known as Hawker-Siddeley. Also responsible for typhoons and tempests.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Hawker by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure Tempest was made by Dave Theurer.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Hawker by fnj · · Score: 1

      I thought The Tempest was created by Shakespeare.

    3. Re:Hawker by dywolf · · Score: 1

      +1 for plane nerd cred

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
  3. Man made climate change.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    for the feeble minded.

  4. One active season and now everything is different? by JoeyRox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We've had very quiet hurricane seasons these past years, which makes this year's normal season seem like some type of outlier. Yes Irma was a very strong storm, the strongest ever in the Atlantic by recorded standards, but it's not the strongest ever hurricane even in just the northern hemisphere. What causes hurricanes is the same as what's always caused hurricanes.

  5. Pollution uh... by cheesybagel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So because the air is cleaner with less particulates it rains less and because it rains less there's more moisture in the air which makes the storms larger. Well time to remove the scrubbers from those coal power plants then. No wait. Like a couple dozen people might die with the hurricane compared to the hundreds of thousands (or millions) who would get a reduced lifespan from the particulate pollution. Great.

    1. Re:Pollution uh... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Pollution is still pollution. I say the solution is to build giant dehumidifiers, the size of which would be used for terraforming.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Pollution uh... by Zocalo · · Score: 1

      Pollution being a major contributory factor seems rather questionable to me, given that there's a fairly obvious source of supporting evidence that should exist but isn't being cited. Widespread colonization of the Eastern seaboard of the Americas by Europeans, complete with written records, was well underway before the "pollution boom" that occurred during the industrial revolution, so those early settlers would have had much cleaner air than we do now. They might not have had the same accuracy of instrumentation, but they would certainly have been capable of documenting the extent of the storm surges that would have resulted from the massive hurricanes that presumably plagued their more-or-less pollution free atmosphere. So, does that evidence (even if it is somewhat circumstantial) exist or not?

      That's not so say that pollution doesn't play a part at all - climate is perhaps the most complex system on the planet after all - only that it's perhaps not as significant as some are making out.

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    3. Re:Pollution uh... by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      Try watching "1492: Conquest of Paradise" sometime. It shows a pretty nasty tropical storm.

    4. Re:Pollution uh... by Zocalo · · Score: 1

      Actually, there's plenty of big storms in the records from the early colonists, but the focus is mostly on ships at sea, understandable since sea captains would have kept logs of such things, or from coastal settlements, again understandable since that where many early colonists settled. What is lacking is much in the way of evidence of either more frequent or more severe hurricane activity beyond a handful of exceptional storms that you'd kind of expect anyway, or reports of storm surges that were large enough to cause damage and flooding to areas further inland. There are a few examples of this, over the centuries, but seem more likely to be once in a life time/perfect storm type freak occurances rather than the kind of higher frequency or levels of destruction that would seem to support the idea that pollution (or lack there of) might be a significant factor in the strength of hurricanes.

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    5. Re:Pollution uh... by hey! · · Score: 1

      No, it's not less rain; it's less evaporation because particulates are shading the ocean.

      Particulate cooling *is* a real effect. In fact, it outpaced CO2 based warming from the 1940s to roughly the mid 80s. The difference is CO2 persists in the atmosphere longer.

      Emitting more particulates per ton of CO2 emitted would be a viable short term geoengineering method for slowing anthropogenic warming, but only short term. As long as you're emitting more CO2 net than you're capturing in some way, CO2 will dominate.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  6. Reversion to the mean by mattwarden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    12 years without a major hurricane landfall. Where were the front page slashdot posts talking about how extreme that was?

    1. Re:Reversion to the mean by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 3, Informative

      Thank you for highlighting the issue.

      without a LANDFALL.

      The number of atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes is increasing very obviously just by eyeballing the charts at this point.

      The crap shoot is whether we have a weak or strong high over the northern atlantic. If it's strong, they land- if it's weak they don't.

      Likewise, it depends on whether El Nino is going- because it weakens hurricanes.

      Trust me , we had plenty of AGW foes posting about every year of the lack of landfalls.

      Tropical storm + hurricane graph (not just landfalls) here.
      http://policlimate.com/tropica...
      The cycle is obvious- but so is the trend. More tropical storms. More severe hurricanes.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    2. Re:Reversion to the mean by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > The cycle is obvious- but so is the trend. More tropical storms. More severe hurricanes.

      WTH are you talking about?

      Your link shows exactly the OPPOSITE!

    3. Re:Reversion to the mean by MangoCats · · Score: 1

      Those who study this in detail have found opposing forces: warmer temperatures do make bigger, stronger storms and a longer season, but there is also some pushback in upper level air current patterns that offsets this somewhat... it's a chaotic system and a simple change of one input can push things like landfalls of major storms in either direction.

      However: more energy (heat) in the system does make more energetic storms. Are we seeing a result of that this year? Too soon to really call it, either way.

    4. Re:Reversion to the mean by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "12 years without a major hurricane landfall. Where were the front page slashdot posts talking about how extreme that was?"

      Here the list of Texas.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      2010–present
      Satellite image of a tropical cyclone well inland. The storm is still very organized and has banding features.
      Tropical Storm Hermine (2010) over Texas

      June 30, 2010 – Hurricane Alex made landfall at Soto la Marina, Tamaulipas in Mexico as a large Category 2 hurricane, bringing heavy rains, wind, and tornadoes to South Texas.[127] The hurricane's remnants also bring heavy rains to portions of the Rio Grande, causing it to exceed record levels.[128]
      July 8, 2010 – Tropical Depression Two makes landfall on South Padre Island, dropping 1 to 3 in (25 to 76 mm) of rain in south Texas, peaking at 8.95 in (227 mm) in Chincorro.[129] However, there are no reports of damage.[130]
      September 7, 2010 – Tropical Storm Hermine makes landfall in northeastern Mexico as a strong tropical storm with 65 mph (105 km/h) winds.[131] As the storm approaches the coast, a storm surge of 3.4 ft (1.0 m) is reported at Port Aransas. In the Rio Grande Valley, an estimated 35,000 homes lose power due to Hermine,[132] while in Bexar County, 100,000 energy customers lose power.[133] Farm crops in the Texas Coastal Bend are damaged by the strong winds and rain.[134] In addition, numerous roads are closed due to overwash. Hermine kills five and causes $240 million in damages in the state.[131]
      June 30, 2011 – Tropical Storm Arlene makes landfall south of Texas near Cabo Rojo.[135] The outer bands of Arlene cause 1 to 4 in (25–102 mm) of rain in southern Texas.[136]
      July 30, 2011 – Tropical Storm Don made landfall near Baffin Bay, Texas before quickly dissipating. The storm produces minimal rainfall in extreme southern Texas, peaking at 2.56 in (65 mm) in Bay City.[137] Cotton farms benefit from the minimal rainfall.[138]
      Early-September 2011 – The outer bands of Tropical Storm Lee caused rain in eastern Texas, peaking at 3.97 in (101 mm) in Nederland.[18] Despite the rainfall, strong winds further inland caused by the storm helped ignite numerous wildfires in the state.[139] One of the fires, the Bastrop County Complex fire, destroys 1,700 homes and businesses, becoming the most destructive wildfire in Texas history, according to the Texas Forest Service.[140]
      August 31, 2012 – Outer rainbands associated with Hurricane Isaac cause slight rainfalls in East Texas, peaking to at least 3 in (7.6 cm) near Galveston Bay.[141] Strong winds associated with Hurricane Isaac's thunderstorms knock down trees in Trinity County, where wind gusts peak at an estimated 65 mph (105 km/h).[142]
      September 29, 2012 – Remnant moisture associated with Hurricane Miriam and Tropical Storm Norman brought rainfall over areas of Texas, slightly alleviating drought conditions. Rainfall in the state measures 1–4 in (25–102 mm). The strong rains cause flash floods. Combined with a surface trough, the moisture generates severe thunderstorms which later coalesce into a squall line, causing strong winds which cause numerous reports of window damage. A weather station near Paducah records a peak wind gust of 96 mph (154 km/h).[143]
      Mid-September 2013 – As Hurricane Ingrid passes to the south, its outer rainbands drop isolated areas of heavy rainfall across South Texas. Rainfall totals from the bands are estimated to have peaked at approximately 3 in (76 mm) near the Texas border with Mexico.[144]
      September 3, 2014 – Despite making landfall near Tampico, Mexico, the outer rainbands of

    5. Re:Reversion to the mean by Yunzil · · Score: 1

      I believe this is the first time three in a row (Harvey, Irma, Jose) reached Category 4.

    6. Re:Reversion to the mean by mattwarden · · Score: 1

      rare events are not evidence of a change in a distribution

  7. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    We've had very quiet hurricane seasons these past years, which makes this year's normal season seem like some type of outlier. Yes Irma was a very strong storm, the strongest ever in the Atlantic by recorded standards, but it's not the strongest ever hurricane even in just the northern hemisphere. What causes hurricanes is the same as what's always caused hurricanes.

    Maybe.

    We haven't had two Cat 4 hurricanes hit for more than a century. The increase in water temp is increasing the power of the storms, and we should expect this to continue. That doesn't mean every storm will be Cat 4/5 or that every season will be worse than the last. Just that the frequency of high-power storms will increase. Again, we haven't had landfall of two Cat 4 storms in 100 years, so Harvey and Irma are definitely unusual.

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/09/hurricane-irma-harvey-season-climate-change-weather/

    Yes, we've had "very quiet" hurricane seasons these past years, because our metric for what counts as a hurricane is arbitrary therefore it looks like we've had a drought.

    http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00185.1

  8. Stolen from twitter by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Funny

    Credit Twitter

    2006: "Hurricanes are going to be worse and more frequent!"
    2007:
    2008:
    2009:
    2010:
    2011:
    2012:
    2013:
    2014:
    2015:
    2016:
    2017: "Told you so!"

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Stolen from twitter by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Okay so... we get a break until 2027, then more hurricanes in 2028?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Stolen from twitter by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 1

      So the real estate developers have until 2028 to build more sketchy housing and infrastructure shit on the coasts?

    3. Re:Stolen from twitter by jetkust · · Score: 2

      Maybe a point could be made here, but ...

      Humberto 2007
      Gustav 2008
      Dolly 2008
      Ike 2008
      Irene 2011
      Sandy 2012
      Author 2014
      Matthew 2016

    4. Re:Stolen from twitter by fnj · · Score: 1, Troll

      Author 2014

      You have a funny way of spelling Arthur.

    5. Re:Stolen from twitter by hey! · · Score: 5, Informative

      Note you're taking a very US-centric view here. Not all hurricanes are Atlantic hurricanes, and not all Atlantic hurricanes hit the US. And your memory of US hurricanes must be spotty, since you don't seem to recall Hurricane Sandy.

      Let me fill in the some of blanks you've left.

      2007: Dean and Felix were both extremely deadly Category 5 Atlantic Hurricanes that hit Mexico instead of the US.

      2008: Gustav was a Category 4 storm in the Carribbean but dropped to Cat 2 by the time it hit Louisiana.

      2009: Gustav is a powerful storm on the high end of category 4, but hits wind shear when it enters the Gulf of Mexico which weaken it to a category 1. Hurricane Paloma, the third strongest Atlantic hurricane on record, develops off Nicuragua and hits the Cayman Islands and Cuba; it weakens by the time it hits the US but it does drop 14 inches of rain.

      2010: a grand total of 12 full-fledged Atlantic hurricanes form, the second highest number on record. As usually happens in bumper-crop years most of the hurricanes were relatively weak, but Earl, Ivan and Julia reached category 4. Both Ivan and Julia turned away from the US, and Earl succumbed to wind shear before striking the US.

      2011: another extremely active year with 19 named tropical storms, most of them modest in intensity. Irene, was a category 3, but like most hurricanes that make landfall north of Cape Hatteras it had slowed to Category 1. Katia was a category 4 but moved up the Eastern Seaboard well offshore; Katia was similar Irene.

      2012: the third super-active Atlantic hurricane season in a row, with twenty named storms, including Hurricane Sandy , aka "Superstorm Sandy". You do remember that one?

      2013: An actual quiet year, with only two hurricanes which did not affect the US.

      2014: Another below average year with only one hurricane.

      2015: Thrid straight below average year -- again for Atlantic hurricanes. The most powerful was the Category 4 Joaquin, which hammered Bermuda and threatened the Eastern Seabord of the US. It turned north instead. It's also important to note that 2015 wa the year of Hurricane Patricia, which formed on the Pacific side of Mexico. Patricia was the second strongest storm ever recorded with peaked sustained winds of two hundred and fifteen miles per hour.

      2016: An active hurricane year with fifteen storms, seven hurricanes, four of them major, including the Category 5 Matthew, the Category 4 Nicole, and the Category 3 Gaston and Otto.

      Now to summarize:
      (1) The Atlantic Basin is not the *world*. Often quiet Atlantic years are not quiet at all elsewhere.

      (2) The US is not the entire Atlantic Basin.

      (3) It takes more than atmospheric energy for a powerful hurricane to hit the US. Think of energy being like gravity, and the hurricane being like a pachinko ball. Most of the time, hurricanes don't fall into one of our slots. Most hurricanes that do hit the US weaken, not for want of energy but because of wind shear; Cape Verde hurricanes ride the tradewinds across the Atlantic but then nearly always weaken substantially if they turn north to the US.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    6. Re:Stolen from twitter by pots · · Score: 1
      Where did this "more frequent" thing come from? The claims that I've seen have always been, "Climate change will probably not make more storms, or not many more, but the storms which we do get will be stronger, on average."

      Just to humor you, and all of the other people here who keep talking about frequency, I went looking for an article from 2006. I didn't find one, but the IPCC did a report in 2007. I figure that's close enough:

      While overall numbers of tropical cyclones worldwide have shown little variation over the past 40 years (Pielke et al., 2005), there is evidence for an increase in the average intensity of tropical cyclones in most basins of tropical cyclone formation since 1970 (Webster et al., 2005) as well as in both the number and intensity of storms in the Atlantic (Emanuel, 2005), the basin with the highest volatility in tropical cyclone numbers (see Trenberth et al., 2007, Sections 3.8.3 and 3.8.3.2).

    7. Re:Stolen from twitter by bongey · · Score: 1

      It is the first time 2 were CAT 4 at landfall that FORMED in the Atlantic.

    8. Re:Stolen from twitter by hey! · · Score: 1

      Formerly, but no longer, e.g. Hurricane Patricia, which started on the Pacific side of Mexico and never entered the Atlantic Basin.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  9. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Mashiki · · Score: 2

    Obviously it's politics causing the storm. Oh and Trump caused it too, and in turn the reason why Mexico had an earthquake is because they're not paying for the wall and illegals are still crossing.

    I think I've got all the crazy shit I've seen in the last week in there.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  10. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by JBMcB · · Score: 2

    People have short memories when it comes to weather, unless it's something really weird. We had a really nasty winter a couple of years ago, and people were freaking out about it. "This is the worst I've ever seen!" I remember winters from 20 years ago that were much worse, but it seems like most other people do not. I think the difference is that I like to ski, and it seems like skiers, being outside more often in the winter, recall the particulars about winter weather more than most.

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  11. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A century isn't a particularly long period of time. So far, Irma has busted two (known) records but data for these have only been collected for a couple of decades.

    The *big* issue is not what the hurricanes are doing, it is what mankind has managed to splop down right in front of said hurricanes - lots of people, lots of expensive infrastructure and a whole bunch of video cameras. Build it and they will come. And expect the federal government (or somebody with more money then they have) to bail them out from some bad investment choices.

    Moral hazard. It's what's for dinner.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  12. Re:The weather by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    But the world is ending! With each passing day, we are one day closer to the end of the world!

    Oh you meant an actual, pretty soon-ish date? No idea about that.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  13. Butterflies by TJexcite · · Score: 1

    A butterfly flapped it wings and it create a hurricane.

    1. Re:Butterflies by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      You're sure it wasn't Emacs? I mean, there's good ol' C-x M-c M-Butterfly, right?

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  14. Lots of heat energy and no El Nino to kill. by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 2

    Lots of energy to fuel them without crosswinds from El Nino to rip the apart.
    Graphs of energy, and totals here.

    The number of tropical storms has increased since 1970.
    The number of major hurricanes has increased since 1970.
    There is a cycle - not every year is up- but the bottoms are higher and the highs are higher. //policlimate.com/tropical/

    Plus population on the coasts has increased tremendously since that's where the jobs are.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  15. Re:Why even bother quoting Michael Mann? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Thoroughly debunked by the distinguished scientists at Mark Steyn Enterprises? We should all be so lucky.

  16. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by elrous0 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You obviously don't know how science works. Here you go:

    1) When you have unusually hot or volatile weather, that's evidence of man-made climate change.
    2) When things are cool or calm then weather is not the same as climate, therefore it doesn't offer evidence against man-made climate change.
    3) If the weather is unusually hot or unusually cold, or anywhere in between, that's clear evidence of man-made climate change.

    Don't listen to critics who say Global Warming has become a religion. Religion is completely irrational and has nothing to do with science. For example, religions believe irrational things like:

    1) If child recovers from a terminal illness, that's a miracle and is evidence of God's divine hand.
    2) If a child doesn't recover from a terminal illness and dies, that's clearly not God's fault. It's just life.
    3) If good or bad things happen to a child, or anything in between, that's all part of God's larger plan.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  17. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by PPH · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Again, we haven't had landfall of two Cat 4 storms in 100 years

    Landfall isn't really the correct metric. What is the frequency of cat 4 or cat 5 hurricanes, regardless of where they happen to go? A hurricane or typhoon that expends itself over the ocean or a relatively unpopulated area just doesn't make big news.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  18. Re:The weather by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 2

    Millennials KNOW that the world is ending.

    They have ARRIVED, and it's time for a CHANGE!

  19. El Nino by Dripdry · · Score: 2, Informative

    Apparently it's actually due to the lack of an El Nino. The formation of the hurricane started 6 months ago and grew be because there wasn't a lot of wind sheer to stop it from forming. Maybe the better question is why wasn't there an El Nino?

    --
    -
    1. Re:El Nino by mikael · · Score: 3, Informative

      Because El Nino / El Nina is a long-term oscillationg due to a build up of heat in the Pacific. A lot of these ocean and air currents operate like air conditioner thermostats. When heat builds up, ocean and air currents start gaining speed. Eventually they start cooling the water faster than it gains heat, then the currents slow down. Then the heat builds up again. This can take a decade to complete one cycle.

      The Sun is delivering 2 kilowatts of energy onto every square meter of the ocean every hour.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    2. Re:El Nino by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Apparently it's actually due to the lack of an El Nino. The formation of the hurricane started 6 months ago and grew be because there wasn't a lot of wind sheer to stop it from forming. Maybe the better question is why wasn't there an El Nino?

      The hurricane did not form six months ago.

    3. Re:El Nino by CrashNBrn · · Score: 1
      We don't get an "El Nino" every year, there is an El Nino (heating) / La Nina (cooling) cycle.

      El Nino events are associated with a warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific, while La Nina events are the reverse, with a sustained cooling of these same areas. These changes in the Pacific Ocean and its overlying atmosphere occur in a cycle known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

      from: What are El Nino and La Nina events?

      Also: El Nino and La Nina Years and Intensities.

    4. Re:El Nino by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      El Ninos and La Ninas last several years. And between them is a "neutral" phase. After the neutral phase it is basically open what is happening next. El Nino and La Ninas are not strictly alternating events.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  20. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by lessthan0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ugh, this is the worst Slashdot clickbait. Future Slashdot headlines:

    You won't believe what MS-DOS looks like now!!

    Tim Cook finds Linux on his laptop and his reaction is priceless!!

    Family warns others to learn from their tragic Android mistake!!

  21. Re:Here we go again by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 1

    And there wasn't as much 'development' on the low-quality land prone to storm damage.

    We need Congress to pass the "You Dumb Fucks No More Disaster Relief Act."

  22. Did you forget Huricane Sandy? by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    in 2012, cause I'm guessing the folks who got hit by it didn't.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Did you forget Huricane Sandy? by gman003 · · Score: 1

      Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the United States as a Category 1 hurricane (technically, a "post-tropical cyclone", not a hurricane, but they use the same scale). A "Major Hurricane" is classified as Category 3 or higher.

    2. Re:Did you forget Huricane Sandy? by cbeaudry · · Score: 1

      No one forgot that it wasn't a hurricane when it made landfall.

    3. Re:Did you forget Huricane Sandy? by MangoCats · · Score: 1

      Sandy hit Manhattan, which is a feat in and of itself remarkable - did major, unprecedented damage. Go all semantic pedantic if you wish, Sandy was unusual by all accounts, regardless of where you draw the boundaries of the discussion.

    4. Re:Did you forget Huricane Sandy? by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      Bah........New Yorkers think they're special, so when a small hurricane hits them, they aren't prepared, then complain about how damaging and unusual the hurricane was. Why? Because it happened to them.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    5. Re:Did you forget Huricane Sandy? by hey! · · Score: 1

      Yes, but that's just a handy shorthand -- it doesn't fully describe reality. Sandy and Harvey both show different shortcomings of the "peak sustained wind" metric as a measure of hurricane power.

      Sandy actually packed more energy than Katrina: 140 Terajoules vs. 116 to be exact. Katrina was more intense in places, but Sandy was geographically enormous. This means they were deadly in different ways. A more intense hurricane destroys more per area affected; a larger hurricane destroys a smaller percentage over a larger area.

      Harvey demonstrates how wind is actually a minor factor in damage and fatalities. What's really destructive and deadly is flooding. Almost nobody was killed by wind in Katrina: 2/3 were killed in the following flood. 1/3 died because of post-flood conditions: disease, lack of medical care, and evacuation-related injuries.

      This explains another reason Sandy was so dangerous: storm surge. Sandy's geographic extent meant it didn't matter precisely where or when it made landfall; it was the worst time from a tide perspective somewhere. Tides in many northeast water bodies have much higher amplitudes than people in Florida or Texas are used to.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  23. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nice cherry pick! Yes, two cat 4s a long time ago until now. And just 12 years ago - 2005 - we have FOUR cat 3s make US landfall... And all FOUR of those cat 3 hurricanes (Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma) packed winds higher than Harvey, the cat 4 that flooded Texas. I'd say that 2005 was LOT worse, and much more unusual - we've been on a downswing since then, even this year is a major downswing from 2005...

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  24. Edit. by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    2006: "Hurricanes are going to be worse and more frequent!"
    2007:
    2008:
    2009:
    2010:
    2011:
    2012: Sandy
    2013:
    2014:
    2015:
    2016:
    2017: "Told you so!"

    There's also a lot of Hurricanes that just aren't making landfall so they're not getting coverage. And yes, we should care about the ones that don't make landfall since eventually one of them will, and if they're worse so are the ones that hit us.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Edit. by cbeaudry · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sandy wasn't a hurricane when it made landfall.

      Also, the only reason for the extensive damage was because it hit one of the most populated areas in the world.

    2. Re:Edit. by Voyager529 · · Score: 2

      Sandy wasn't a hurricane when it made landfall.

      Also, the only reason for the extensive damage was because it hit one of the most populated areas in the world.

      Legally speaking, yes, it was not considered a 'hurricane' at the time, but if the winds are only 73MPH instead of the required 75MPH, we're debating semantics. Additionally, it was the duration of the storm that was similarly a problem; it covered a massive area and thus it spent plenty of time battering the area. Yes, the damage costs were indeed due to the northeast being a population center, but "extensive damage" is still "extensive damage". I very much remember standing in a gas line shortly thereafter.

    3. Re:Edit. by Voyager529 · · Score: 1

      >but if the winds are only 73MPH instead of the required 75MPH, we're debating semantics

      Either a thing is a thing, or it is not. This is not semantics.

      From the stand point of insurance companies (who have different legal obligations for 'hurricanes' than 'tropical depressions'), you are correct. My point was that exposing trees and buildings to sustained 73mph winds is going to do basically the same damage to those trees and buildings as 75mph winds will. It's not like a utility pole is going to check precise wind speeds before determining if it is going to stay standing or not.

  25. cut trees, get hurricanes by elcor · · Score: 1

    hurray

  26. Solar Eclipse? by cdxta · · Score: 1

    I think the solar eclipse last month caused some spinning masses of air that grew in the Atlantic Ocean and are now coming back.

  27. Global warming and Atlantic hurricanes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The problem with linking global warming to Atlantic hurricanes is that hurricane activity isn't necessarily predicted to increase in the Atlantic from global warming. In the north Pacific, sea surface temperatures will warm and vertical wind shear is predicted to weaken. This favors an increase in hurricane activity in the north Pacific. While the water in the north Atlantic basin is predicted to get warmer due to global warming, vertical wind shear is expected to increase. It's not entirely clear which of these opposing factors will have the greater impact, so it's not certain that hurricane activity will increase in the north Atlantic.

    There is a naturally occurring wave called the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) that can either enhance or suppress tropical convection. The phase of the MJO has likely helped to enhance Harvey, Irma, Jose, and perhaps even Katia. La Nina also enhances convection in the north Atlantic basin, generally results in a moister atmosphere, and weakens the vertical wind shear. All of these are favorable for hurricane activity. It's also the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, when the waters are warm and vertical wind shear is still rather weak.

    The main reason Harvey produced so much rain over Texas and Louisiana was that it sat over that area for several days. It's not that the rain rates were souch more extreme, but that it just sat over the same area. While rain rates might be enhanced a little due to global warming, the main reason Harvey was so extreme was because it was almost stationary for days. That is not a consequence of global warming, just an unusual weather event.

    I also tend to view Irma and Jose as another unusual weather event, but not necessarily linked to global warming. It just doesn't match up with the predictions for the north Atlantic, and so I hesitate to blame global warming for those storms. It's possible that when the shear abates due to the weather, warmer water might result in stronger Atlantic hurricanes at those times. However, the overall increased shear will likely limit hurricane activity more at other times. One hypothesis is that global warming might result in fewer Atlantic hurricanes, but the storms that do occur will tend to be stronger. I understand the logic of that, but I'm just not convinced that Irma and Jose are significantly linked to global warming. There just isn't enough scientific evidence to support that link.

    1. Re:Global warming and Atlantic hurricanes by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      The problem with people like you is simple: you/they are super dumb.

      What do you need for a hurricane?
      1) A water area big enough, lets say 100 km in diameter
      2) a water temperature of above 26.5 degrees celsius
      3) lack of interfering mid and high altitude winds that disrupt the forming of a hurricane

      With global warming you get more and bigger spots of 1) and the areas of 2) have a high temperature into a deeper depth. Deeper depth means: more power for the storm. Bigger area means: bigger storm. Bigger extend of the warm water zones mean: more storms.

      A complete no brainer.

      But you prefer to believe in conspiracy theories.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    2. Re: Global warming and Atlantic hurricanes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      How is my post a conspiracy theory? Do tell.

      It's not clear that Atlantic tropical cyclone activity should increase as a result of global warming. That's not a conspiracy theory. It reflects the current state of climate science, based on NOAA research that has been included in recent IPCC assessment reports. In fact, here are some links to information about it:

      https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/ch9s9-5-3-6.html
      https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-21st-century-hurricanes/

      I didn't readily find a link to the IPCC AR5, but the AR4 is still credible science. And the NOAA link has been updated within the past year, so it reflects the current state of the science.

      Climate predictions are done on a regional basis with climate models. They're integrated forward just like weather prediction models, just over much longer periods of time. While it definitely isn't possible to predict the weather on a day to day basis beyond a week or, perhaps at most, three weeks (the theoretical limit), the statistical moments of the climate models (averages and extremes) have merit. The models aren't perfect, but they do a good job, and they're the best tootool we have for making regional climate predictions decades in advance. Here's what the models predict for the tropical north Atlantic: warmer sea surface temperatures, but stronger vertical wind shear and less humidity. The warmer sea surface temperatures would be favorable for increased tropical cyclone activity. However, stronger vertical wind shear and a drier atmosphere will suppress hurricane activity. Climate science isn't able to make a definite prediction about Atlantic hurricane activity because some of the factors would favor increased activity while others would favor a decrease. This isn't a conspiracy. It's the current state of the science.

      Why would you say that stronger Atlantic tropical cyclones be associated with global warming when the current understanding of climate science does not predict that global warming will increase Atlantic tropical cyclone activity? Your position is illogical.

      If you said that stronger typhoons and more typhoons in the northwest Pacific were a sign of global warming, I'd have no problem with that. The models do suggest that tropical cyclone activity will increase in that region, and I believe the science. But that's not what's currently being predicted for the north Atlantic basin.

      I'll go a step further and say that making claims about global warming that aren't supported by the science is irresponsible and undermines the credibility of the scientists. If you're going to make claims about global warming impacts and insult people, make sure your posts are factually correct.

      By the way, there are typically six factors cited as being necessary for tropical cyclone formation, unlike your list:
      1) Warm water temperatures, typically at or above 26 degrees C
      2) Non-zero Coriolis (you don't get hurricanes at the equator; you need to be several degrees north or south)
      3) Weak vertical wind shear
      4) Weak static stability
      5) High low- and mid-level humidity
      6) Low-level convergence (like a tropical wave)

      Those are the six ingredients for tropical cyclone formation. It is predicted that some of those factors will become less favorable for tropical cyclones in the north Atlantic despite the increase in sea surface temperatures.

      My post wasn't a conspiracy theory or denying climate change. It reflects the current state of the science, that it isn't certain whether global warming will increase tropical cyclone activity in the north Atlantic.

  28. If you have to ask ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... then you don't know.

    We know climate change is happening and we know that humans are not helping the situation, but we don't know the percentage of human/nature.

    Humans don't actually give a shit until it's personal.

    By then it's too late.

    The solution is to migrate as needed.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:If you have to ask ... by greythax · · Score: 1

      Or, you know, not spend the multi trillions it would take to relocate 80% of humanity from coast lands, and make a few hundred billion by switching to a green economy instead. Just sayin.

    2. Re:If you have to ask ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      I'm with you, but not.

      I want my stocks to exhibit asymptotic growth in a time frame where the units of measure is nanoseconds.

      If my desire is in sync with what you suggest, it's purely coincidental.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  29. Re: One active season and now everything is differ by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "For more than a century". - so what you are actually saying is that this is not unprecedented at all.

    No. He's saying that a century ago weather satellites didn't exist, instrumentation was more primitive, and we just don't know how big the storms were. The first time aircraft were used to monitor a hurricane before it came ashore was the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane.

  30. Other people's money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Conservatives are so worried about regulations and getting taxed because of the "liberal hoax" of global warming.

    But what they don't think of is that all those mulitmillion dollar homes that were smashed are gonna be covered by the US taxpayer.
    More subsidizing the rich.

    Regardless of one's beliefs, it's coming out of our pockets and our way of life is going to change.

    1. Re:Other people's money by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 1

      Conservatives (and everyone with a brain) has been talking themselves until they're blue in the face over the federal bailout for the rich known as National Flood Insurance. It's just that people who tend to get into hysterics about Evil, Evil, Conservatives!!1!one!! about every issue can't get past the fact that we're saying that something the government does is bad, therefore a good liberal must defend it, no matter what.

  31. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Maybe. We haven't had two Cat 4 hurricanes hit for more than a century."

    Really?? More than a century for 2 cat 4??

    Maybe. How about 4 category 5s in one year?

    And I didn't realize 2005 was more than a century ago.

    Emily - July 2005 - Category 5
    Katrina - August 2005 - Category 5
    Rita - September 2005 - Category 5
    Wilma - October 2005 - Category 5

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Atlantic_hurricane_season

  32. Re: Here we go again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Well, considering that the Trumpies just rolled back all of the revisions to the flood insurance risk assesment maps implemented under the Obama admin, there is now even more incentive to build in high risk areas than there was a year ago.

    Thanks, Obama! Oh, wait....

  33. Streetcars, lozenges and security by jabberw0k · · Score: 2

    Naturally, Hawker-Siddeley was part of UTDC who built Toronto's streetcars and the "lozenge" commuter-rail cars now built by Bombardier, a Canadian corporation, whilst Tempest is/was an NSA computer security specification. Thus we demonstrate: A nefarious plot between Canada and the NSA causes hurricanes.

  34. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Solandri · · Score: 3, Informative

    We haven't had two Cat 4 hurricanes hit for more than a century. The increase in water temp is increasing the power of the storms, and we should expect this to continue. That doesn't mean every storm will be Cat 4/5 or that every season will be worse than the last. Just that the frequency of high-power storms will increase. Again, we haven't had landfall of two Cat 4 storms in 100 years, so Harvey and Irma are definitely unusual.

    The last time two Cat 4+ storms made landfall in the North Atlantic was 2008. Gustav hit Cuba as a Cat 4. And Ike hit Great Inagua Island and Grand Turk Island as a Cat 4. (Paloma hit Cat 4 just south of Cuba, but dropped to a Cat 2 before landfall.)

    If you mean landfall in the U.S., well the U.S. lies at the extreme northern edge of hurricane territory. So you're basically just counting outliers if you're only counting U.S. hurricanes. They're too infrequent and random to draw reliable stats from. With modern satellite coverage and flights into major storms to get precise measurements, there's no reason not to use the entire database of every storm that forms in the North Atlantic.

    And those trying to tie hurricanes in with climate change invariably focus on the North Atlantic because that's the storm basin whose recent history fits their desired narrative. Meanwhile, storm frequency in the East Pacific is flat. The West Pacific is mostly flat with a recent slight downward trend. The South Pacific is down, as is the North Indian Ocean.

  35. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Known+Nutter · · Score: 1

    We will be using the bricks from destroyed Mexican buildings to construct the wall.

    --
    Beware of the Leopard.
  36. Don't cherry pick the data by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    Any hypothesis about hurricane frequency has to account for the last eleven years of very low activity. Now we have an active year, like 2005. What is different his time?

    1. Re:Don't cherry pick the data by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      There was no 11 years of low activity.
      Just because they did not hit Florida or Texas does not mean they were not there.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    2. Re:Don't cherry pick the data by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      The terms the WAPO used here, one year ago, were "hurricane drought" and "terrifying. "
      https://www.washingtonpost.com...

    3. Re:Don't cherry pick the data by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Oh, come one. Don't put your intelligence under your bed.

      http://policlimate.com/tropica...

      What is wrong with intelligent people like you? Ignoring facts? For what? What is your benefit making bollocks post on /. ? None, I'm sure. So why do you do it?

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    4. Re:Don't cherry pick the data by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      Insults mean you lost.

      I'm not even denying climate change or anything like that. The WAPO article just points out that the incidence of hurricanes is really lumpy, and for reasons that we can't yet model.

    5. Re:Don't cherry pick the data by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      You felt insulted?
      By what?

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    6. Re: Don't cherry pick the data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What are you going on about?

      In science, theories generate falsifiable predictions that are then tested through experiments and observations. If the observations are consistent with the predictions, those observations support the theory. If the observations are inconsistent with the predictions, they refute the theory.

      In this case, global warming neither predicts an increase nor a decrease in Atlantic tropical cyclone activity. There is no definite prediction to be made given the current state of the science.

      An unusual amount of tropical cyclones in the north Atlantic or unusually strong tropical cyclones is an interesting observation. However, this observation neither supports nor refutes global warming, because there is no prediction about Atlantic tropical cyclone activity. Scientists don't know if it will increase, decrease, or stay the same. Some factors favor an increase in activity whole other factors favor a decrease.

      I trust the IPCC assessment reports, NOAA scientists, and a significant amount of peer-reviewed research, especially compared to what you have to say about the issue.

  37. The summary/articles are contradicting themselves by guruevi · · Score: 1

    So "air pollution which tends to cool the oceans" and air pollution which causes global warming and warmer ocean temperatures.

    And then you wonder why people don't believe the global warming narrative.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  38. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by umghhh · · Score: 2

    Morons on both sides of the divide caused a lots of damage to our perception of how weather is changing and why. It is the same with politics at some point nobody is believing shit and choosing the team based on on color of their carriages (as it were in Roman empire). For the way small change in the way our civilization impacts nature and its effects on weather just google weather after 9/11. There was measurable change in temperature caused by stop on flying over US back then. This means that the normal operation has a measuerable impact too. In this particular case it the effect of comtrails is cooling. What I wanted to say the effects are plenty and not always consistent with expectation and the local weather being a result of global climate is difficult to predict even few days in advance. Too complex for our silly AIs. We make progress but it is not as good as to show much. We just know that changes are there. Yet one side claims it knows it all and tries to sell us some (hardly working but surely expensive) solutions and the other sells business a usual claiming no change is caused by 7.5b humans.
    I'd say we shall work on some version of Zika as humans all over the globe esp. in Africa and Middle East are not going to give up their procreation habits just because we say so and the biggest effect so far had one protective measure that was not even aimed at climate - one child policy of Chinese commies.
    Alternatively we shall prepare for increasing sea levels as this seems to be really happening. With more and more people living at the sea shores this is bound to cause massive trouble. It is in any case better than discuss things that nobody is believing anymore.
    Another thing pointing to failure of free people to act together - if you look at Haiti and DomRep you will see that protective policies of Papa Doc actually saved lives and still do every time hurricane strikes - more people dies on one side of the island due to mad slides and flooding than on the other. This is not a coincidence.

  39. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by fnj · · Score: 2

    all FOUR of those cat 3 hurricanes ... packed winds higher than Harvey, the cat 4

    That doesn't make sense. Category 3 is 112-129 mph sustained. Category 4 is 130-156 mph. It's in the DEFINITION of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

  40. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Nice straw mans you got there.

    You want to know how real science works? The oceans are warming at an unprecedented rate as well as global average air temperatures. Polar icecaps are melting at an unprecedented rate too. CO2 in the atmosphere is rising at an unprecedented rate.

    Are you too fucking stupid to understand these very simple facts?

  41. Wrath of God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    To punish all those that claim the climate is not changing

  42. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

    Hurricane Dennis was 150 MPH. Katrina was 175 MPH. Rita was 180 MPH. And Wilma was 185 MPH. Yet those were all category 3 - not the category 4 of Harvey at 130 MPH. Irma did reach Wilma-speeds though of 185 - yet Irma is a cat 4 and Wilma was a cat 3... Go figure! It's almost like someone wants to mislead the public...

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  43. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by MangoCats · · Score: 1

    Comparing Atlantic and Pacific storms is a little unfair - much less space for an Atlantic storm to develop in.

    Yes, Irma is just an outlier, and storms like the 1935 labor day storm were probably even worse. Nothing to see in this one particular storm, move along, take your CO2 emissions with you.

    What is certain, however, is that there is a Hurricane season, and it comes when the waters are warmer. So, anyone who is thinking in the back of their mind: "So what if we get global warming, won't that make things better in some places?" Sure, especially if you love extended hurricane seasons, more bigger storms on average, and things like the death of the Great Barrier Reef (yes, basically all of it), then, yeah, go for some more climate change, open the northwest passage - maybe pump up some of that sweet arctic crude and see just how far we can push this warming trend.

    http://www.chasingcoral.com/

  44. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by MangoCats · · Score: 1

    The sample size for hurricane numbers is just too small to win any statistical arguments, either way, both sides can dig in and call "fluke."

  45. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by MangoCats · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You know, for a mere 20% increase in the cost of construction, houses in Florida could be made to withstand these storms... it's what's done in the islands, but that would be bad for the construction industry, so we build with sticks and paper instead.

  46. What? by Dan+East · · Score: 1

    Strongest hurricanes to hit the USA (based on the metric of lowest barometric pressure):

    1) Florida (Keys) 1935, 26.35 inches
    2) Camille (Miss., Louisiana), 1969, 26.84
    3) Katrina (Louisiana, Miss.) 2005, 27.17
    4) Andrew (Florida, Louisiana) 1992, 27.23
    5) Texas (Indianola), 1886, 27.31
    6) Florida (Keys, Texas), 1919, 27.37
    7) Florida (Lake Okeechobee), 1928, 27.43
    8) Donna (Florida, Eastern Coast), 1960 27.46
    9) Florida (Miami, Miss., LA) 1926, 27.46
    10) Carla (Texas) 1961, 27.49

    Only three of those (not counting Irma) happened in the last half century. My opinion: The same mechanisms that have sporadically caused big hurricanes every 15-20 years is still causing big hurricanes every 15-20 years. But then again I don't have an agenda to push, otherwise the "facts" would be quite different.

    --
    Better known as 318230.
    1. Re:What? by Dan+East · · Score: 1

      Some think a surge in industrial pollution after World War II may have produced more pollutant particles that blocked the Sun's energy and exerted a cooling effect on the oceans. "The pollution reduced a lot of hurricane activity," said Gabriel Vecchi, professor of geosciences at Princeton University's Environmental Institute. Pollution began to wane in the 1980s due to regulations such as the Clean Air Act, allowing more of the Sun's rays to penetrate the ocean and provide warming fuel for storms.

      Also note that 5 of 10 of those happened in the few decades prior to WW2. So quite a nice distribution showing that WW2 didn't really affect the biggest hurricanes either way.

      --
      Better known as 318230.
  47. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

    It's not just the houses. It is power / water / sewer / police / fire and now, likely Internet service as one of the core components of civilization. (Boy does that hurt to say.) It is flood control systems. Rebuilding hospitals and nursing homes.

    Yes, you COULD make an area flood proof. But it's going to cost a lot more than 20%.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  48. All about that bass by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The hurricanes are caused by too much butt sex:

    http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/06/...

    http://www.rightwingwatch.org/...

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  49. Coriolis effect by Stoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    No Coriolis effect, no spin, no hurricanes.
    I'm starting a campaign to stop the earth's rotation. Who's with me?

    1. Re:Coriolis effect by bidule · · Score: 1

      Let's all become flat-earthers. If we believe hard enough there won't be any pesky curvature left.

      --
      ID: the nose did not occur naturally, how would we wear glasses otherwise? (apologies to Voltaire)
    2. Re:Coriolis effect by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      Stopping the earth's spin will release 10,000x as much energy as the Chicxulub impact. I guess there aren't as many hurricanes on Venus...

    3. Re:Coriolis effect by antdude · · Score: 1

      I'd say we get Superman to rotate Earth in reversed. :P

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    4. Re:Coriolis effect by Methadras · · Score: 1

      Sure, it's as if 600 years of scientific discovery mean nothing anymore. I am sad to see this kind of discussion taking place. Irrational, shallow thinking drivel interspersed with pseudo-intellectual dialectic and it all adds up to a big fat nothing. Until someone discovers a way to change the wind patterns coming off of the west coast of Africa that birth the winds for hurricanes in the Atlantic, then this is a moot discussion. Also, no one talks about the hurricanes or cyclones in the south pacific or the eastern portion of Asia. It's as if they don't exist unless they are being covered. In fact, I dare say that a 12-year absence of any meaningful hurricane to make landfall in the US is being treated as if hurricanes are brand new phenomena and people are running around like headless chickens. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the indoctrination and inculcation of Giaist dogma have fully rooted and bloomed. A true shame to see any of this. Scientists and pioneers of science no longer with us must be shaking their damned heads at how it's gotten to this point. It's as if we have entered into a period of a new scientific dark age.

  50. I know what it is by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    What is causing such terrible hurricanes?
    Short memories, poor education, and confirmation bias.
    The simple fact is that hurricanes are neither more intense nor more frequent than "usual", the only thing that makes us think there are is that "we"are stupid.
    In fact, the relative dearth of hurricanes in the U.S. Is probably the major cause of this ignorance.

    --
    -Styopa
  51. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by jbengt · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You are conflating Category at landfall and Category at peak.

  52. Re: One active season and now everything is differ by Matt.Battey · · Score: 1

    Priceless! I'd totally click. (No I wouldn't)

  53. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

    Very short historic records except of the ones that made landfall. Shorter than one cycle.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  54. Re:Here we go again by Leuf · · Score: 2

    You are comparing wind speed at landfall this year to maximum wind speed in 2005. For example, Katrina made landfall in AL with winds of 125 mph, not 175 mph. Irma sustained 185 mph wind speeds longer than any of those hurricanes. On the other hand it never reached as low of a pressure as some of those storms. So it really depends on what metric you pick to measure, but you've got to at least compare the SAME metric.

  55. There aren't enough pirates by jgfenix · · Score: 2

    That's all.

  56. Trump and the witches by mi · · Score: 1

    Trump is at fault — blame his recklessly reversing Obama's Executive Order banning hurricanes.

    And then there are the well-meaning witches seeking to end Trump's Presidency ASAP — well-meaning, but clumsy and unprofessional, miscasting their spells...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  57. The Butterfly Effect by Provocateur · · Score: 2

    Except they're Russian butterflies. You know the kind--tattoos and wife-beaters, heavy drinkers and smokers -- the whole lot of 'em!

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  58. Re:The weather by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    But the world is ending! With each passing day, we are one day closer to the end of the world!

    Calm down. Trump just tweeted that everything is fine.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  59. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by whoever57 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think that we have evidence that the higher temperatures, increased atmospheric CO2, etc. are clearly not unprecedented. The issue is that those higher temperatures, then and now, are not so conducive to human life.

    We can be reasonably certain that the rate of increase is unprecedented.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  60. Re: One active season and now everything is differ by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

    No. He's saying that a century ago weather satellites didn't exist, instrumentation was more primitive, and we just don't know how big the storms were

    Given that we've only had weather satellites for about 50 years, that's exactly why it's impossible to make apples-to-apples comparisons over the past 100.

  61. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by whoever57 · · Score: 2

    Perhaps because category at landfall doesn't tell us anything about climate, while category at peak does.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  62. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    For comparison, check that Mexico just had the largest earthquake in a century.
    Weather is not climate, and you can always find patterns and 'signs' in random sequences of events.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  63. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

    We haven't had two Cat 4 hurricanes hit for more than a century.

    Other than being an interesting bit of statistical trivia, what meaningful information does that really give us about whether there has been an overall change in frequency over time? Are you saying that the act of one hurricane making landfall in the U.S. at Cat 4 decreases the odds that any other hurricane that season will reach the U.S. as a Cat 4?

  64. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "[W]e use a diatom record from El Junco Lake, Galápagos, to produce a calibrated, continuous record of sea surface temperature in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean at subdecadal resolution, spanning the past 1,200 years. Our reconstruction reveals that the most recent 50 years are the warmest 50-year period within the record."
    J. L. Conroy, et al., "Unprecedented recent warming of surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean", Nature Geoscience, vol. 2, pp. 46-50, 2009.

    "We provide updated estimates of the change of ocean heat content and the thermosteric component of sea level change of the 0–700 and 0–2000 m layers of the World Ocean for 1955–2010. The heat content of the World Ocean for the 0–2000 m layer increased by 24.0 ± 1.9 × 1022 J (±2S.E.) corresponding to a rate of 0.39 W m2 (per unit area of the World Ocean) and a volume mean warming of 0.09C."
    S. Levitus, et al, "World ocean heat content and thermosteric sea level change (0–2000 m), 1955–2010," Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 39(10), L10603, 2009.

    "We use four of the world's longest calibrated daily time series to show that trends in surface temperatures in the North and Baltic Seas now exceed those at any time since instrumented measurements began in 1861 and 1880. Temperatures in summer since 1985 have increased at nearly triple the global warming rate, which is expected to occur during the 21st century and summer temperatures have risen two to five times faster than those in other seasons."
    B. R. Mackenzie and D. Schiedek, "Daily ocean monitoring since the 1860s shows record warming of northern European seas", Global Change Biology, vol. 13(7), pp. 1335–1347, 2007.

    "Here, we use the TEX86 temperature proxy, the weight per cent of biogenic silica and charcoal abundance from Lake Tanganyika sediment cores to reconstruct lake-surface temperature, productivity and regional wildfire frequency, respectively, for the past 1,500 years. We detect a negative correlation between lake-surface temperature and primary productivity, and our estimates of fire frequency, and hence humidity, preclude decreased nutrient input through runoff as a cause for observed periods of low productivity. We suggest that, throughout the past 1,500 years, rising lake-surface temperatures increased the stratification of the lake water column, preventing nutrient recharge from below and limiting primary productivity. Our records indicate that changes in the temperature of Lake Tanganyika in the past few decades exceed previous natural variability."
    J. E. Tierney, et al., "Late-twentieth-century warming in Lake Tanganyika unprecedented since AD 500", Nature Geoscience, vol. 3, pp. 422-425, 2010.

    These are only a subset of the hundreds of articles through which I've read over the years. All of these studies analyze different data modalities and come to the same conclusions; you could do a meta-analysis to quantitatively show that this is true. Moreover, the period of time in which these studies consider ranges from decades to centuries and even to multiple millennia.

    It's therefore not a stretch to conclude that your claims are wrong: there has been unprecedented warming in the past hundred years when compared to the past several millennia.

  65. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by hey! · · Score: 1

    Actually climate change models are mixed with respect to the intensity and frequency of Atlantic cyclones. Hurricanes are extremely complex entities and models just can't predict how many will end up in Texas or Florida in some future year.

    What's worrying about AGW and hurricanes is the more tractable complicating factors: sea level rise and atmospheric moisture. High winds destroy property, but it's storm surge and flooding that kills people. Yet another predictable factor is development; there are more people moving into the paths of hurricanes in places like coastal Texas and South Florida.

    So while we can't point to Harvey and Irma as (additional) proof that anthropogenic climate change is here, they are a harbinger of things to come.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  66. Water [Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon] by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 5, Informative

    Massive deforestation is not being considered? Seriously.

    indeed. A fascinating image of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere here: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/g...

    The thing to look at is not merely the carbon dioxide being emitted from the northern hemisphere-- it's fascinating to look at the plume of carbon-dioxide depleted air wafting off of the rain forests of south America.

    One unit of burnt coal or gas produces 1 unit of CO2 and one of H2O! Yes, water is a greenhouse gas.

    Indeed, water is a greenhouse gas. But.

    But water precipitates out of the atmosphere very very fast, so the water actually emitted by humans doesn't really contribute for very long. The carbon dioxide, on the other hand, sticks around for an estimated lifetime of about a hundred years. More to the point, the hundred and fifty million square miles of ocean surface evaporates so much water into the atmosphere that the amount emitted by humans really is, in this case, trivial-- the equilibrium water content of the atmosphere is driven by evaporation, not by direct emission.

    For the most part, the humidity in the atmosphere is driven by the temperature, not vice versa.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Water [Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon] by pots · · Score: 1

      Eh, that's not the way my chemistry prof described it: there's so much water in the atmosphere that the spectrum that water absorbs is essentially absorbed completely. Thus, more water doesn't make any difference.

    2. Re:Water [Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon] by scourfish · · Score: 2

      Regardless of whether or not CO2 is the culprit for global warming, this NASA simulation has proven, once and for all, that the earth is, in fact, flat.

    3. Re:Water [Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon] by WoodstockJeff · · Score: 1

      "A fascinating image of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere here:"

      It would have been a better image if they had stopped rotating it and changing elevations to make it harder to track the sources and sinks for CO2. Towards the end, the large amounts of CO2 coming off of Asia just became a red mist covering the arctic. And how the amount of CO2 rose during the winder and fell during the summer in the northern hemisphere, tracking the heating done in cold climates.

      I did notice that the amounts of CO2 didn't climb that much in the southern hemisphere during it's cold seasons. Is that because a smaller portion of the population lives in places that get really cold in the south?

  67. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 5, Informative

    You obviously don't know how science works. Here you go:

    1) When you have unusually hot or volatile weather, that's evidence of man-made climate change.

    No. One hot summer (in one place) or one warm winter (in one place) is not due to climate change. Say this over and over, this is important. Climate change is real, but it is global and it is long term.

    No single event, no single warm summer, is evidence of climate change (nor is a single cool summer evidence against it.)

    A continuous series of record breaking temperature, on the other hand, might be something to point at. But, again, even there, look for global temperatures-- regional temperatures (even regional temperature records) are just weather.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  68. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by hsthompson69 · · Score: 1

    We can be reasonably certain that the rate of increase is unprecedented.

    That's simply not true. Our proxies of the past do not have the resolution nor the certainty required to make that kind of claim.

    Proxies, with lower resolution (orders of magnitude less than our current daily and hourly temperature data, for example), and higher uncertainties, and of course, famously divergent with the modern record, simply cannot be seen as equivalent to direct instrumental observation.

    Trees are not thermometers, and ice cores are not CO2-meters :)

  69. Re:The summary/articles are contradicting themselv by djinn6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As usual, you can't expect the media to get the science right. Particulate matter in the smoke blocks light and cools the world. CO2 in the smoke increases the greenhouse effect and warms it. Both are real effects that cancel each other out.

    The problem is, particulate matter is heavier than air, so quickly precipitating out of the atmosphere. Since we've stopped allowing factories to pump out tons and tons of black smoke (because that was giving everyone lung cancer), there is less and less particulate matter flying around.

    CO2 on the other hand, only leaves when something on the surface absorbs it, whether that's trees or algae or ocean water. That happens much more slowly, over the course of thousands of years. So we're stuck with the warming.

  70. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 2

    Please read this page very carefully:

    https://climate.nasa.gov/evide...

    Also the other tabs.Causes, Effects, Scientific Consensus...

  71. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Or, simply not build in an area, because you can't afford the flood insurance at actual market value. You know, the kind of market value determined by an actuary and not a politician.

  72. I thought it was... by Macdude · · Score: 1

    ...gay people!

    P.S. It's a joke!

    --
    "Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
  73. No single event, hot or cold, is climate change by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    Except this article you're adding comments to is suggesting Hurricane Irma is directly related to climate change (amongst other things).

    The article is wrong. No single extreme event can be attributed to climate change.

    The article should have listened to the real climate scientists, and, more importantly, paid attention to all the qualifying words.

    And in my experience, this happens every single time there's a weather event that matches the climate change narrative.

    Exactly. That's why I am so adamant at repeatedly saying no, it's not. Climate change is long term and global.

    But whenever there's a weather event (or lack thereof) that doesn't match the narrative, people are quick to point out it's a global system and you have to look at it in the aggregate.

    Exactly. A weather event doesn't fit the narrative, whether it's a hot summer or a cold summer.

    You can't have both ways.

    And the correct statement is: No single extreme event-- hot nor cold, hurricane nor lack of hurricanes-- can be attributed to climate change.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  74. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Communication is essential. Telephony was a core component in the past which is why it had its own battery backup systems. Internet access is a *part* of that. You need communication for emergency services, and all the other systems you mentioned use the Internet for their operations. Facebook isn't a core component of civilization, but phone and Internet communication is.

  75. Isn't it gay marriage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    My uncle swears it is...

  76. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by phantomfive · · Score: 2

    True, but sometimes there is a plausible mechanism to explain or even predict the changes.

    That's not enough, it's a classic "correlation is not causation." For example, for years scientists thought that eating saturated fat caused heart disease, because elevated levels of saturated fat in the blood correlates with saturated fat. It turns out that's not true: despite having a reasonable explanation, we now know that eating saturated fat doesn't cause heart disease.

    More specifically in your case, the statistical analysis is woefully incomplete. You haven't even answered basic questions like, "what is the probability of two large hurricanes hitting in a single year?" "What is the mean? What is the standard deviation?" Any article that doesn't answer questions like that is not scientific, it's just spouting propaganda it heard somewhere.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  77. Cyclones by mentil · · Score: 2

    The Cyclones were created by Man. They rebelled.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
  78. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

    I doubt your numbers or the logic behind them.

    For an extra 20% you can provide ~12' stilts for a home, but withstanding the storms also requires extra treatment-- deep protected underground utilities, water storage, backup power, proper windows and shutters, etc. Once you go to ~16-18' stilts you are looking at a 30% premium on construction and can still have other issues. Usually the money is better spent with about 6' of fill plus 12' stilts.

    You can build disaster-proof (/tolerant) homes, but they generally cost about 80-120% more. (If you can't occupy in the rough the disaster then you have only solved a small part of the problem.)

  79. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Burning coal does not produce water.
    The little bit of water that is result from burning natural gas is just a grain of sand in relation to the amount of water vapour that is produced by the sun and raising from the oceans.

    Get a perspective, man ...

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  80. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Bad for the construction industry? How in the world would adding 20% cost to a product you are making be bad for business, assuming it is mandatory and all your competitors have to do it too?

    Industry loves regulation like that. By making it mandatory consumers will all buy something that they otherwise may or may not choose to buy. The real problem is government subsidized flood insurance. If mortgage holders forced home buyers to purchase un-subsidized flood insurance based on location and construction this problem would have been solved decades ago.

  81. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Even if house prices would increase by 100% it still would be 30% cheaper than rebuilding the whole house 2 times (and that does not even include the saved cost for new furniture,TV, computer etc. )

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  82. Errrm .... the weather? by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    ...
    Just a wild guess here.

    Glad I could help.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  83. Just YESTERDAY we had an explanation posted. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1, Troll

    We've had very quiet hurricane seasons these past years, which makes this year's normal season seem like some type of outlier.

    Hear, hear!

    Just YESTERDAY we had a front page story claiming a failed El Nino is the reason for the storms.

    Yet I don't see any mention of that here.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  84. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Coal does not contain hydrogen ...
    You should have figured that by now ...

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  85. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1, Troll

    Per NOAA, Irma was category 3 when it made landfall (120 MPH sustained winds). So I guess we can say that 2017's dual cat 4s really didn't happen, did they?

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  86. Re: Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Whilst coal is mostly carbon, it is not entirely so, hence coal used to be used to create town gas, a.k.a coal gas. Hydrogen is the second most abundant element in coal, after carbon.

  87. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by whitesea · · Score: 1

    We haven't had two Cat 4 hurricanes hit for more than a century.

    Not according to my memory and a few weather places. 2005 - Most Category 5 hurricanes: 4 (Emily, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma). You can check weather.com or https://www.wunderground.com/h... for details.

  88. Re: One active season and now everything is differ by neilo_1701D · · Score: 1

    No. He's saying that a century ago weather satellites didn't exist, instrumentation was more primitive, and we just don't know how big the storms were

    We also didn't know how many storms spun up and died out that never saw land. Today, we count them. Years ago, we couldn't. Take Jose as example: it's central pressure a few days ago was 938 mb, so strong. The winds made it a Cat 4. Newsworthy by any standards - except it hasn't, and may not, come close to shore.

  89. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by sfcat · · Score: 5, Informative

    And those trying to tie hurricanes in with climate change invariably focus on the North Atlantic because that's the storm basin whose recent history fits their desired narrative. Meanwhile, storm frequency in the East Pacific is flat. The West Pacific is mostly flat with a recent slight downward trend. The South Pacific is down, as is the North Indian Ocean.

    It should be noted that most climate change models currently don't predict a significant increase in the number of hurricanes in a season. This was not true in the past but we get better with modeling over time so its not surprising. Most do however predict that the storms will be larger on average. That part seems to be holding worldwide.

    --
    "Those that start by burning books, will end by burning men."
  90. It's all a Chinese hoax! by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 1

    Trump already explained it, it is a Chinese hoax. All this talk about hurricanes is fake news!

  91. Let me guess by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    Mexican Muslims that use them to smuggle drugs and rapists.

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  92. Re:The summary/articles are contradicting themselv by guruevi · · Score: 1

    So if less particulate matter is flying around, then that means the greenhouse effect caused by said particles also decreases, again, cancelling each other out.

    The problem is that we don't yet understand what drives either cooling or warming effects on climate and on a geological scale human effects can't really be quantified. We tend to point blame at something that's immediately visible instead of trying to figure out the cause. I do work in a research department so I am fully aware of the effects publishing papers quickly and immediately digestible by the press has on grant money but climate works, as you said, on geological time scales and trying to fuck around with "solutions" seems counterintuitive.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  93. This is the wrong question to ask by otaku244 · · Score: 1

    Look, I subscribe to the idea that climate change exists and man is a significant contributor to the effects; however, anyone who goes spouting off "moar hurricanes b/c climate change" or "werse hurricanes b/c climate change" undermines the climate conservation movement.
    To make an allusion to the commercial markets, the changes can only appreciably be measured over years and decades. Case in point would be to look at the Accumulated Cyclone Energy tracked by Weather Underground. The trend is certainly up over a 3 decade sample, but small when averaged out over the sample. Compared to the hurricane cost trends, there is something of a mismatch. The line drawn between hurricanes and climate change does not match the when "the big one" swings through the US, but only in media clickbait. Scientist, at the same time have to politely tamp down their advocates because the selling point us unattainable. Namely: Hurricanes have existed long before humans messed with the environment and will continue to exist long after we (hopefully) stop. The cause is tied to the cost of the damage, and the damage is the result of our housing, city planning, and insurance policies that have supported risky investments in coastal areas. The US appears to be the only 1st world country that cannot seem to get its act together in matching planning and policy with the threat and impact of ANY disaster based on my travels through Asia, Canada, and Europe. The won't be a "Dust Bowl" moment for climate change so we need to stop chasing them. While US climate refugees are a small cost today, this will be an ever-increasing cost and we can make the economical argument today without all the other squawking.

    --
    Mod me down, I shall become more off-topic than you could possibly imagine.
  94. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by harvey+the+nerd · · Score: 1

    Grant gamers and computer gamers learn to adjust their models to avoid embarrassment...

  95. Popcorn poppers by istartedi · · Score: 1

    Sorry. I'll try to cut back.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  96. Gaaawwwdah! by TheOuterLinux · · Score: 1

    Sunday: Repent sinners! Just like like Revelations says, there will be a devastating hurricane to hit Gaaawwwds one and only country. Now let as sing "Down By The River" while we pass the offering. Monday-Friday: It's global warming and it's all Trump's fault! Saturday: On Discovery Channel, "According to Nostradamus..." And this cycle of bullshit to milk ratings from people's ignorance and despair will repeat for the next few months.

  97. Re:The summary/articles are contradicting themselv by djinn6 · · Score: 1

    Let's be clear about the facts here, greenhouse effect is caused by CO2, not particulate matter. Particulates only block out sunlight and make it cooler.

  98. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

    No, it's cooling after the Holocene Optimum.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  99. Re:The summary/articles are contradicting themselv by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

    we don't yet understand what drives either cooling or warming effects on climate and on a geological scale human effects can't really be quantified.

    Either you are uninformed or deliberately lying.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  100. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by mcswell · · Score: 1

    "The increase in water temp is increasing the power of the storms...
    Yes, we've had 'very quiet' hurricane seasons these past years, because our metric
    for what counts as a hurricane is arbitrary therefore it looks like we've had a drought."

    I'm missing s.t. in your argument about the metric. You seem to be saying on the one hand that given fifty-odd years of global warming, there should be some stronger hurricanes now (first line above). On the other hand, our metric is arbitrary (second quoted line above)...which means what? Obviously it doesn't mean that we don't count storms that are stronger than hurricanes, because we haven't had any of those, regardless of your metric. So the only other thing it can mean is that we don't count storms that are weaker than "category 1 hurricanes". But that only makes sense if you're claiming that those are increasing in number, which you don't; instead you're saying that storms should be getting stronger, not that there will be more (relatively) weak storms.

  101. Volcanos, or more specifically .... by mnemotronic · · Score: 1

    Lord Xenu of Geekattack - Flaming Butt Volcano Warrior Princess. He of the hydrogen bomb enema.

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  102. OH Puleese by Sqreater · · Score: 1

    We are seeing regression toward the mean, and next year will have few, if any, storms, and those will not be monsters.

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.
  103. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by mcswell · · Score: 1

    Pshaw, what's 20 years. Why when I was a boy in Illinois, we had three feet of snow from December through March, and school was uphill both ways.

    --
    My Other Computer is a CDC 170-750. And you set the boot loader with toggle switches.

  104. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by bongey · · Score: 1

    INCORRECT, first time that 2 FORM from the ATLANTIC. The US gets hurricanes that form in the Gulf of Mexico also. Funny I was talking to my wife about the news trying to slant the news saying some idiot will now say this is the first time two cat 4 hit the US. forgetting the entire "from/ form in the Atlantic" part.

  105. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by bongey · · Score: 1

    The news is hyping it up, this is the first time 2 FORMED in the Atlantic, just everyone seems to miss that part but I partly blame the news for trying to hype it. up.

  106. Ask the experts at NOAA by bongey · · Score: 1

    Note their simulations show a decrease in the numbers hurricanes and storms through the 21st for global warming scenarios, but an increase in the amount of rainfall.

    1. Re:Ask the experts at NOAA by bongey · · Score: 1
  107. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Gussington · · Score: 1

    You know, for a mere 20% increase in the cost of construction, houses in Florida could be made to withstand these storms... it's what's done in the islands, but that would be bad for the construction industry, so we build with sticks and paper instead.

    Indeed. I Iived in Hong Kong for a while where they have regular Typhoons (Asian word for Hurricane) and the place doesn't skip a beat because of the higher building standards created specifically to deal with them.

  108. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Gussington · · Score: 1

    but they generally cost about 80-120% more.

    So let's settle on 100%. You're saying that to construct a building in a place where the building is likely to be wiped away and rebuilt, It's better to build it twice for half the cost than once properly?
    And that's not taking into account the issues of displacement, loss of life, income etc.

  109. If we can figure this out... by zifn4b · · Score: 1

    We'll have more insight into why Jupiter has so many storms and be able to terraform it! Or we could just say the nature of the universe is chaotic which is what the evidence suggests and get over it. I'm reminded of the Bad Religion song "Better off Dead":

    I'm sorry about the sun
    How could I know that you would burn?
    And I'm sorry about the moon
    How could I know that you'd disapprove?

    And I'll never make the same mistake
    The next time I create the universe
    I'll make sure we communicate at length
    Oh yeah

    Anyone who exists is lucky to exist and be aware of it. We are only here for a short time and for that we should be thankful. I'm tired of hearing incessant complaining about life not meeting people's expectations.

    --
    We'll make great pets
  110. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    Coal does not contain hydrogen ...
    You should have figured that by now ...

    Seriously? You couldn't be bothered to at least look it up before making such a stupid statement?

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  111. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Well, if you find coal that contains hydrogene inany meaningfull amount message me.
    Coal is basically pure carbon ... perhaps you want to look that up?

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  112. Cause of all the hurricanes by Geeky+Don · · Score: 1

    Nuclear testing in the atmosphere. We didn't have these storms until we stopped our nuclear tests. Direct evidence of cause and effect.

  113. A question so stupid it actually makes me ashamed by approachingZero+ · · Score: 1

    What makes hurricanes? For the love of God what a pin head question. What has happened to Slashdot?

    --
    'I don't know what it's called. I just know the sound it makes, when it takes a man's life.' ~ Four Leaf Tayback
  114. Re:dipshit propaganda by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    Damn, you just set a new low bar for stupid. Congratulations.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  115. Anecdotal evidence is not evidence. by rickb928 · · Score: 1

    Two storms, One week. This is not yet a trend.

    I've walked 5 times in a softball game, and for my troubles got the shortstop to yell at me 'Don't you ever swing?" My answer was "If your pitcher threw me a strike, I would swing". He did not like that. Despite batting .953 that season, he's convinced. We go to extra innings, they strike out (yes, 2 strikeouts, consecutively, hwo do you do that?), and I stand in, single to right field, the runner sprints home. Our seventh championship in a row.

    Which of these are trends, which are merely events, which indicate normal processes?

    - I don't walk a lot, but I virtually never swing at the first pitch, despite softball being a hitter's game.
    - Some pitchers cannot pitch to lefties. I do not know why.
    - Some players complain about everything. They are sometimes not right even twice a day.
    - If I had not batted in that run, the man behind me in the order would. He batted .996, and hit every ball where he said he would. His bat was illegal, but no one figured it out for 5 or 6 seasons.
    - Blaming the other team for striking out? That's funny.

    - Two Cat 5 hurricanes within days of each other. SO the hurricane nursery out there in the Atlantic was working. I'm looking for the third to appear tomorrow. Past this Friday, anecdotal. Let ti go.
    - Global Warming evidence is under credible assault, despite the believers' insistence otherwise. The numbers are not accurate, so why are we going to blindly follow these questionable studies, rather than force disclosure? Oh, right, err on the side of caution. So long as it's not your money, sure.
    - I seem to recall twice, in 2004 and 2005, Florida got hit with Cat 3 hurricanes, terrible. In 1932, 1933, 1961, 2005, and 2007, Cat 5 hurricanes were spawned, though not all made landfall as Cat 5, and not all hit the US. Powerful storms are not common, but not rare either.
    - September is far aw away the month with the most storm activity in the Atlantic hurricane zone. Multiple storms are more common in September than other months.

    Anecdotal. I'm looking for the third storm.

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  116. I searched realDonaldTrump for tornado jokes. by Dirk+Becher · · Score: 1

    But I couldn't find any. Is he out of shape?

  117. Repent. by Max_W · · Score: 1

    Repent, - this is the solution.

  118. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Mashiki · · Score: 1

    That means there's a glut of high power vacuum cleaners which can't be sold/imported etc. We should ship 'em all over to the gulf and have you all just suck up the next hurricane

    Actually you should ship them to the US. High-power vacuums are absolutely critical for sucking up standing water inside building. Helps keep water borne pests down, reduces the chance of mold starting in buildings too. It's very easy to convert them to wet/dry as well. Lot of houses use lumber resistant to rot, and in areas known to flood repeatedly, houses are designed to be quick-gutted down to the frames. There's a big market there, not even kidding for both FL and TX right now.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  119. Re:The summary/articles are contradicting themselv by guruevi · · Score: 1

    Point me at a set of scientific studies that show sudden warming above previous peaks on the geological time scales.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  120. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

    Exactly this. "ever recorded" is also under 200 years in a planet that has been around for 2 billion.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  121. It's weather by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

    Just look up Hog Island NY. You'll see a hurricane back in 1893 was so bad it removed that island. Nothing new, it's not man. Anyone saying it is doesn't know what they're talking about.

  122. It's Global Warming, stupid by whitroth · · Score: 2

    As a late friend and literal rocket scientist used to say, "it's not like turning up the thermostat, it's pumping more energy into a heat engine."

    I'm old enough to be farther, or grandfather, to most slashdotters, and I have *NEVER* seen three hurricanes, much less Cat 4, in three weeks, or even in a season.

    But as long as you're making money from petrochemicals, you'll deny reality. And if you're not making money... you're a sucker.

  123. It's Human-caused climate change. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 3, Informative

    ..and you know what? I really don't even give a shit anymore. I got enough to worry about day-to-day without continually arguing with morons who INSIST that it couldn't possibly be their SUV and burning coal in power plants that's causing it, among other things. I've only got about another 30 or so years of life left; I'll be long DEAD by the time it's so bad that it can't be stopped, and you can't live with it anymore unless you move to the Arctic or Antarctica, so screw all of you deniers. I'll keep saying that it's our fault this is happening, but YOUR KIDS and GRANDKIDS are the ones who will suffer. Act accordingly. Oh, memo to you Dominionists: Jesus Chirst was just a MAN, there are no GODS of any kind, you're all DELUDED, I know what your plans and agenda are, and I hope you all get shot in the head for your trouble. Humans need to evolve past all this superstitious nonsense like religion and gods and ghosts and other nonsense. Seriously just get over it already.

    /rant

  124. Re:The summary/articles are contradicting themselv by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

    Why don't we instead point you to the experiments of Tyndall regarding the heat properties of atmospheric gases, and those of Keeling showing that the composition of the atmosphere is changing. If you increase the partial pressure of CO2, the atmosphere must retain more heat. This isn't rocket surgery. It's not like there's more than one way for IR to escape to space.

    That said, if there were some sort of non-nonsensical interpretation of your comment then I'm sure I would be happy to find you research. Generally in researching the climatic effects of past volcanic events the work of Terrence Gerlach of the USGS have been pretty valuable, and probably also the most relevant to the topic. A good search term would be 'large igneous provinces' (LIPs) which have been responsible for the largest outgassings in Earth's history. If you would also like information about Milankovitch cycles, solar output, or the climatic effects of the positions of the continents we can find those too. The idea that people have been researching climate for nearly 200 years and are unaware of the major drivers is, again, either the product of total ignorance or a malicious disregard for truth.

    Incidentally, what you'll find in the research is that, modulo the aforementioned other drivers, changes in volcanism have historically been the major driver for different climatic periods of Earth. You will also find that the largest outgassing events correlate well (but not perfectly) with mass extinction events, and that the most extreme example of this released something like three orders of magnitude more CO2 than humanity has to date, and that the Earth has indeed continued to spin since that calamity. You will also note that we are on track to equal that level of emissions in less than a tenth of the time it took for Mother Nature to do her thing, and that our rate of emissions continues to increase. There is a near-zero chance that we will actually reach that goal, but it won't be for lack of trying, and we've definitely beat all previous records for the rate of emissions. Human CO2 output is equivalent to about two Pinatubo-sized eruptions per day, or one or more Yellowstone-supervolcano-sized events per year. Now ask yourself honestly, what sort of effect do you think that is likely to have?

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  125. The Arrhenius relation [Re:Water] by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    Eh, that's not the way my chemistry prof described it: there's so much water in the atmosphere that the spectrum that water absorbs is essentially absorbed completely. Thus, more water doesn't make any difference.

    The effect turns out to be logarithmic. So, the more you add, indeed, the less effect each additional increment has. But the effect is still not zero.

    But, to a large extent your point has merit: Since there is more water vapor IR absorption to start with, adding more has less effect than if you'd been starting from a dry atmosphere.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  126. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by nephilimsd · · Score: 1

    I've seen several news reports that islands in the Caribbean are facing up to a 90% destruction of buildings and infrastructure, so I'm not sure the added 20% cost is providing the value you claim.

  127. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

    As someone who actually lived in Florida for nearly a decade (1990-1999) and weathered a number of hurricanes (e.g. Andrew), what makes you think they're not already spending that money?

    For instance, contrary to your claims that they're building with "sticks and paper", all of the homes around where we lived (along the Atlantic Coast in south Florida, pretty much in the path of every storm) were required to be cinderblock construction with steel reinforcement, rather than the wood frame construction that's common in the rest of the country. The roofs on the homes were designed with reduced eaves, few gables, steel ties to the framing, and low slopes in order to prevent hurricanes from getting a grip that'd let them rip the roof off. To reduce the risk of high winds knocking over walls, they'd break up the geometry of exterior walls so that no one surface would receive excessive force. Where there were tall walls or gables, codes required them to be structurally reinforced (e.g. our home had a reinforced chimney). Homes were built with an interior room, typically a bathroom or closet under the stairs, that was reinforced with plumbing or other structural elements to act as a shelter in case the rest of the home fell apart. As we were leaving, I believe that windows were being required to use the glass that can take a direct hit from a 2x4 at hurricane speeds.

    To put it bluntly, all new homes were built like bunkers.

    But therein lies the crux: all new homes. Much of Florida was built before those codes were in place, so it's only after a big storm clears a path that new homes go up or old homes are brought up to code. Once that occurs, these sorts of problems tend to stop happening.

    Ask yourself: if they decided to run with your idea starting today, would things actually look any different in 20 years? 40 years? Or would we instead still be seeing occasional reports of old homes being destroyed when a major storm hits an area that tends not to get hit often, just like we see today?

    All of which is to say, unless you're suggesting that we should forcibly evict people so we can tear down and rebuild their old homes (which I don't think your "mere 20%" estimate took into account), you're not saying anything new. Quite the opposite, in fact, since Florida officials beat you to the punch by several decades and put the codes in place way back then to ensure that people would build things appropriately.

  128. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

    You really need to put a Poe's Law warning on your post, since I nearly mistook it for the real deal.

  129. A better question would be... by MooseMiester · · Score: 1

    What national event has occurred in the last twenty years that the left has not politicized?

    really. Name ONE... News Flash Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

    --
    Murphy was an optimist
  130. Global Warming is the Cause for Hurricanes by devslash · · Score: 1

    Global Warming is the Cause for Hurricanes http://facebook.com/1665784546...

  131. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by tbannist · · Score: 1

    How much is meaningful? For the highest quality coal it's about 4.5-5.5% hydrogen and it's generally a higher percentage for lower quality coal.

    --
    Fanatically anti-fanatical
  132. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    You mean water.
    Or do you really mean hydrogen?
    From what should hydrogen get into coal? Hu?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Coal is 99% carbon and the rest is the dirt it was formed in.
    Perhaps you should read and try to comprehend the link you gave.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  133. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by MercTech · · Score: 1

    "Massive deforestation is not being considered? Seriously.
    One unit of burnt coal or gas produces 1 unit of CO2 and one of H2O! Yes, water is a greenhouse gas. What we see is rainfall and storms moving north/south"

    Considering that the U.S. is more is forested today than in 1900, not much of an issue there. There is an issue with warped weather due to micro climate issues caused by excessive urban areas causing monstrous heat thermals. But, overall, forestation is not an issue in the country. Once you get away from the urban blight it's all copacetic.

    And, if you can believe the Greenpeace study of the Amazon Rain Forest; the higher CO2 percentage in the atmosphere has increased the growth rate of the canopy by 7% (2010 measurements compared to a baseline check in the late 1970s)

    A higher CO2 percentage causes an increase in green plant growth.

    --
    NRRPT/RCT
  134. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by tbannist · · Score: 1

    You mean water. Or do you really mean hydrogen? From what should hydrogen get into coal? Hu? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Coal is 99% carbon and the rest is the dirt it was formed in. Perhaps you should read and try to comprehend the link you gave.

    From the link I gave:

    The composition of a bituminous coal by percentage is roughly: carbon [C], 75–90; hydrogen [H], 4.5–5.5; nitrogen [N], 1–1.5; sulfur [S], 1–2; oxygen[O], 5–20; ash, 2–10; and moisture, 1–10

    I'm sorry that I have overestimated your intelligence, yet again.

    --
    Fanatically anti-fanatical
  135. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    bituminous coal
    You know what that is?

    That is not the coal the is burned in power plants.

    And which part of "regardless how many hydrogen coal contains: it is completely irrelevant for water vapour creation" did you not get?

    If you would look at the numbers you quote: you would realize they make no real sense anyway ... up to you.

    If there is hydrogen in the coal it is already bound to something, probably the oxygen, hence the moisture, rofl.

    I'm sorry that I have overestimated your intelligence, yet again.
    No problem. I try hard not to underestimate the stupidity of other people, but I fail still so often.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  136. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    Coal does not contain hydrogen ... You should have figured that by now ...

    Ohhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal Dude! you're going to get pilloried of that. I'll be nice and let you look at the link.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  137. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    You mean water. Or do you really mean hydrogen? From what should hydrogen get into coal? Hu? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Coal is 99% carbon and the rest is the dirt it was formed in. Perhaps you should read and try to comprehend the link you gave.

    Have the grace to at least admit when you are plain completely wrong. When you say it doesn't contain Hydrogen, to wit:

    "Coal does not contain hydrogen ... You should have figured that by now."

    We all make mistakes. Adults admit it when they do.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  138. Re: One active season and now everything is differ by whit3 · · Score: 1

    ...a century ago weather satellites didn't exist, instrumentation was more primitive, and we just don't know how big the storms were.

    Given that we've only had weather satellites for about 50 years, that's exactly why it's impossible to make apples-to-apples comparisons over the past 100.

    Impossible? No, just hard. Even with the technology of marks on sticks, you can measure some things (storm surge) at shore locations, and barometric pressure/windspeed/wind direction can map out a storm path adequately. It isn't three-color motion picture information, but it's enough to rate a significant number of landfall-of-a-hurricane events.

    Nowdays, we observe a lot more storms, in some detail, and the frequency of named-and-measured storms went up markedly with satellites. Since 'Jose' is the tenth this year, it's safe to say that hundreds of storms have had the satellite treatment. We know of landfall storms going back a century or two (dozens, at least). That's enough data to make comparisons.

    Sticks aren't just good measuring tools for storms, they're GREAT.

  139. Carbon dioxide correlates with Temperature by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    Bullshit. Water is the major greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

    Correct. And water goes into the atmosphere in the form of evaporation, and leaves the atmosphere in the form of precipitation. This is known as "weather". It's the major factor accounted for in climate science.

    CO2 makes up only 4% or greenhouse gasses, and of that 4%, only 4% is attributed to man.

    Basically: wrong. Here's the graph of measured change in carbon dioxide since 1958: https://climate.nasa.gov/syste...

    The rise is a lot more than "4%".

    It's not a mystery why CO2 and temperatures have shown no correlation.

    Again: wrong. Here's a graph of carbon dioxide and temperature over the last fifty years: https://www.e-education.psu.ed...

    And here's a graph of carbon dioxide and temperature over the last four hundred thousand years: http://www.dokimiscience.com/u...

    Your claim "no correlation" is silly. Get some facts before posting, Mr. Coward.

    But it's not politically expedient to point out the obvious.

    But it does seem to be politically correct to post false facts if you're an anonymous coward.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  140. Data shows plenty of warming by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    Global and Long Term -- Got it.

    Can we take into account the last 19 years that show no warming?

    We could... if the last 19 years had shown no warming. But the last 19 years show lots of warming. 2016 was the warmest year on record, beating the previous record of global temperature set in 2015, which had beat the previous record set in 2014.

    Here's the graph:

    https://3c1703fe8d.site.intern...

    Get some facts before posting, Mr. Coward.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  141. Re:Deforrestation of the Amazon and more by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I don't get your aggressive nitpicking.

    Which part of "coal is 99% carbon" and the rest is the dirt it is buried in, don't you get? That lignite is only 50% carbon and 50% dirt?

    Coal as in "coal" as we name "coal" and not "bitumen" which is super hard OIL does NOT contain hydrogen.

    Regardless what you believe. Sorry to bold some words.

    But perhaps americans have a strange definition of coal, just to find ways to argue with Europeans?

    Anthrazit, hard coal, lignite and the various stages between them: don't contain hydrogen. And regardless of yours and the parents believes: it would not matter at all if they had 5% hydrogen regarding cloud building or moisture in the atmosphere.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  142. Re:One active season and now everything is differe by PPH · · Score: 1

    except of the ones that made landfall

    Ships' logs. Not as detailed as records from on land. But a few hundred years worth.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  143. aliens by aod7br7932 · · Score: 1

    They fire their beams down here for fun, its easier to make hurricanes near the equador, but they have fun everywhere, its theirs f* airsoft. They used them on 911 too!