Hurricanes less interesting than expected

Posted by William M. Connolley on July 27, 2006
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RP Jr criticises me for not posting about hurricanes whilst on holiday in the peak district. Sorry – the wireless connections on Stanage Edge are poor, and I didn’t take my laptop anyway.

RP likes the story because the main result We are optimistic that continued research will eventually resolve much of the current controversy over the effect of climate change on hurricanes. But the more urgent problem of our lemming-like march to the sea requires immediate and sustained attention. We call upon leaders of government and industry to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of building practices, and insurance, land use, and disaster relief policies that currently serve to promote an ever-increasing vulnerability to hurricanes – is what Roger has been saying for quite a while now. But since I’ve been agreeing with it, Im not totally sure what else Im supposed to say.

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Comments

  1. #1 Matthew C. Nisbet
    2006/07/27

    Over at Framing Science, I have posted an analysis of the impact of the statement and why it is relevant to rethinking how scientists define for journalists what is newsworthy here:

    http://scienceblogs.com/framing-science/2006/07/climate_scientists_create_news.php

  2. #2 Eli Rabett
    2006/07/27

    Seems that the winds have picked up again. However, allow me to again point out that RP Jr. has retreated and is covering his tracks. There are two issues here which appear to have reached consensus except for the Gray zone:

    1. The most important factors in hurricane damage are land use issues

    2. Hurricane intensity has increased due to anthropic global warming

    Note, that the major importance of 2 will be in other related phenomina, incuding agriculture, energy (for example damage to offshore oil rigs designed for less intense storms, etc). Finally, this is another indication that AGW is becoming increasingly strong. You can believe both 1 and 2, but RP Jr. started out by believing that 1 would always mask the effects of 2 if any, and was quite strident about it.