Harrabin’s Climate Spin…or is that ‘Vortex’

 

 

Look at this headline from January 2013:

US 2012 heat record ‘partly due to climate change’

 

And this from 2012:

The last year in the continental US has been the country’s hottest since modern record-keeping began in 1895, say government scientists.

One of the agency’s weather experts suggested climate change was playing a role in the hot temperatures.

 

However the BBC had to qualify the claim with this spoiler:

However, it was still only the 14th hottest June on record – the hottest being June 1933, during the Dust Bowl period.

 

So…em…what caused that record heat then in 1933?

 

But now look at this report:

N America weather: Polar vortex brings record temperatures

Not a single mention of climate change as the whole of North America is engulfed in icy ‘weather’….that’s ‘weather’…not ‘climate change’:

 

Weather map showing how the polar vortex is bringing freezing weather to the US

 

Harrabin gets the hump with Bishop Hill on Twitter as he questions Harrabin’s curious lack of interest in the EXTREME cold weather in the US:

 

 

Yep…it seems that the massive record cold temperatures are just weather and can be ignored as irrelevant to the ‘debate’ on climate change….surely, logically, if a burning hot 2012 meant the planet is about to fry us all then a similarly extreme cold period must mean we’re in for an ice age…no?

 

Harrabin of course still trying to push the new ‘extreme weather’ narrative.  Shame even the ‘experts’ don’t agree with him that the present weather is caused by climate change:

detection of this projected anthropogenic influence on hurricanes should not be expected for a number of decades.

 

So extreme weather isn’t caused by climate change…not indeed for quite a time into the future..and then only to a minor degree….by the end of the century….

This from believers in the science and the cause of global warming as man’s activities:

Anthropogenic warming by the end of the 21st century will likely cause hurricanes globally to be more intense on average (by 2 to 11% according to model projections for an IPCC A1B scenario).

It is premature to conclude that human activities–and particularly greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming–have already had a detectable impact on Atlantic hurricane activity.

In short, the historical Atlantic hurricane record does not provide compelling evidence for a substantial greenhouse warming induced long-term increase.

Our regional model projects that Atlantic hurricane and tropical storms are substantially reduced in number, for the average 21st century climate change projected by current models, but have higher rainfall rates, particularly near the storm center.

there is little evidence from current dynamical models that 21st century climate warming will lead to large (~300%) increases in tropical storm numbers, hurricane numbers, or PDI in the Atlantic.

 

 

Roger Harrabin….as a BBC, impartial, balanced journalist, he’s a bit of a fraud isn’t he?

I have spent much of the last two decades of my journalistic life warning about the potential dangers of climate change.

 

 

and this is interesting from 2007:

• Observations since 1961 show the ocean has been absorbing more than 80% of the heat added to the climate system. Such warming causes seawater to expand, contributing to sea level rise.

 

So…the oceans have been absorbing heat since 1961….how then can Harrabin use the excuse of the oceans absorbing heat as the explanation for the pause, or ‘slowdown’ as the BBC prefer, in global warming since 1998?

Why no ‘slowdown’ since 1961 then?

 

Bookmark the permalink.

15 Responses to Harrabin’s Climate Spin…or is that ‘Vortex’

  1. David Preiser (USA) says:

    It’s a religion. Deeply religious people see God (or the gods or the spirits, or energy or whatever you want to call it, depending on your beliefs) all around them, see God’s work every day.

       21 likes

  2. OldBloke says:

    The thing is, there are other climate scientists who you never hear of on the BBC:
    http://notrickszone.com/2013/04/05/russian-scientist-warns-global-temperatures-to-fall-1-5c-by-2050-and-global-cooling-refuges/

       13 likes

  3. OldBloke says:

    Like I say, not every scientist is convinced about the current time period of supposed Global Warming:
    http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/comment/story.html?id=bdc24964-7f82-4f7a-863c-f0ff43010278

       11 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Harrabin and his BBC colleagues will simply assume that Kukla’s in the pay of Big Oil. That was Richard Black’s standard retort, and Harrabin’s no different.

      Of course, you’ll never hear any BBC journalist question Chris Turney’s scientific integrity on the basis that he stands to earn money from his carbon indulgence business, for he is on the side of the angels (or whatever they’re called in the Gaia pantheon).

         18 likes

  4. OldBloke says:

    And not let us forget to inform Mr Harrabin of the record LOW temperatures that he seems not to have told us about:
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/30/bitter-cold-records-broken-in-alaska-all-time-coldest-record-nearly-broken-but-murphys-law-intervenes/

       16 likes

  5. OldBloke says:

    And then all of a sudden:

    [Written by D.Fauvell this page looks in more details at some of the most severe UK winters in history, including of course the much talk about winter’s of 1947 and 1963.

    Daily meteorological records commenced in the 17th century, since then, there have been a number of severe winters, some exceptionally severe…

    During the winter 1739/40, between November 1739 and May 1740, London had 39 snowy days, a quite exceptional figure when considering the usual 90’s figure. But January and February 1740 where surpassed numerous times, in regards to temperatures, some years being much colder.

    England and Wales where made to wait for another ‘1740’…made to wait another 223 years…until 1963.

    In fact 1740, had 2 months of mean temperatures below 0c in the Midlands and Southern England, the only other known instances of this happening coming in December 1878, and January 1879.

    Serious snowfall events happen rarely, but when they come, the UK normally isn’t prepared!
    Winter 1947 Courtesy O.Bullock
    1947
    One such winter was 1947. From January 22nd to March 17th, snow fell every day, somewhere in the UK! The snow accumulated quickly, causing real problems. The temperatures rarely rose more than a degree or 2 above 0! Several of these snowfalls where of 60cm or more, and depths of level snow amazingly reached 1.5m (150cm) in Upper Teesdale and the Denbighshire Hills. Across the UK drifts of more than 5 metres in depth blocked roads, and affected traffic. The armed services were brought in, to drop supplies to people in danger, trapped in their homes due to blocked roads and railways.

    The strangest thing about 1947, was the first part of the winter was very mild, with only 2 failed cold spells…The weather in fact, turned unseasonably mild for a time. On the 15th January, the temperature in Leeming, North Yorkshire, didn’t fall below 11.7c, and rose to 14c the next day in parts of Norfolk, Herefordshire, and Flintshire. This soon changed.

    An area of High Pressure transferred north, from France, on January 18th. Two days later, the anticyclone was centred over North -West Norway. It then drifted South -East to Southern Scandinavia, and dominated the UK weather for the rest of the month. The first frost came on the 20th, and the first snowfall on the 23rd, where heavy snow was recorded in the South West of England, even the Scilly Isles. Many villages became cut off and isolated. ]

    There is a saying about History has a history of repeating itself. the above description of the weather pattern before the Big Freeze, is exactly the same as where we are today.
    Scandinavia can expect temperatures of -30 at the end of next week which might include Denmark! The Jetstream is about to loose much of its energy, look east my friends, look east.

       16 likes

  6. OldBloke says:

    Funny how all these recorded high temperatures and assumed Global Warming have come about since the global unification of temperature measurement using digital recording devices.

       12 likes

  7. Arthur Penney says:

    I remember many years ago (early 1979?) when there was a belt of heavy rain across the North of England (caused by a front coming up from the south – like so many in recent weeks) and the weathergirl reported “The risk of flooding is receding as it is turning to snow on the hills” – the front hit an area of cold air coming down from Scotland.

    Six weeks later there was still copious snow on the hills – it was the worst winter since 1963.

       6 likes

  8. OldBloke says:

    Of course, one must assume that all those recording stations that give Mr Harrabin his data have been correctly calibrated? Or does he choose to look the other way when those automatic weather reporting stations get a sick little battery?

    Click to access EURAMET_cg-11__v_2.0_Temperature_Indicators_01.pdf

       9 likes

  9. Country bumpkin says:

    Warble gloaming

       6 likes

  10. Country bumpkin says:

    Did anyone hear that dreadful thing on R4 this evening with Monty Don about Eco-this and enviro-that with Oxfam rep and loads of Swampies on? Load of tosh

       13 likes

  11. ember2013 says:

    I wonder how many boxes of tissue the BBC editorial staff got through when they heard the new weather term: “Polar Vortex”?

    To them, it’s a new phrase and will be new to viewers – therefore something to scare the masses with.

       4 likes