A Google News search for the term “climate change” today finds a fact-based article in the Boston Herald, showing there is no evidence the past century’s modest warming has caused in increase in extreme weather events.
The article by Stephen Moore, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, titled, “Climate change alarmism takes another big hit,” points out long-term data indicates climate change is not causing an increase in extreme weather.
“Is there more “oomph” from severe weather events now than in the past? Generally, no,” writes Moore. “The historical evidence shows 1) there are no more severe events than there were 50 years ago or 100 years ago (the period for which we have reliable data) and 2) the percentage of people in the world who die from extreme weather events, such as monsoons, forest fires, high temperatures, frigid winters, hurricanes, and tornadoes, has been consistently falling for at least a century and is lower today than any time in human history.”
Numerous Climate Realism articles and Climate at a Glance summaries provide data from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), demonstrating Moore is correct. Climate at a Glance: Drought, for example, notes, contrary to climate alarmists’ predictions, the IPCC reports with “high confidence” that precipitation has increased over mid-latitude land areas of the Northern Hemisphere (including the United States) during the past 70 years. In addition, the IPCC reports it has “low confidence” about any negative trends globally. Also, NOAA reports the United States is undergoing its longest period in recorded history with fewer than 40 percent of the country experiencing “very dry” conditions. Indeed, America registered its smallest percentage of land area experiencing drought in recorded history, in 2017 and 2019.
Nor, as discussed in Climate at a Glance: Hurricanes, has the IPCC reported any increase in the frequency or severity of hurricanes in recent decades. Data from the United States show hurricane impacts are at an all-time low. The United States recently experienced more than a decade (2005 through 2017) without a major hurricane measuring Category 3 or higher making landfall. This was the longest major-hurricane-free period in recorded history. America also recently experienced the fewest number of hurricane strikes in any eight-year period (2009 through 2017) in recorded history.
IPCC and NOAA data also show the number of extreme cold spells, floods, heat waves, and tornadoes have also declined modestly or remained relatively stable during the modest warming the earth has experienced over the past 150 years.
Just as Climate Realism points out when the mainstream media publishes falsehoods about the dangers of climate change, we also note when the press accurately portrays the state of the climate. The Boston Herald did its job as a news outlet by reporting the fact that “global warming” has not discernably increased the incidences or severity of extreme weather events. Bravo, to the Herald, and to Stephen Moore, for reporting the truth!
