A video montage posted by the Danville Register & Bee (DRB) claims climate change is making storms more powerful and damaging. This is false. Data consistently show that as the earth has modestly warmed, the number of powerful cyclones have declined, wind speeds are not outside the norm, and increasing damages and costs are due to larger populations and more infrastructure now existing in areas historically prone to powerful storms than in the past.
In its video story, “Storms Like Ciarán Are Becoming ‘More Damaging’ Due to Climate Change,” the DRB uses the admittedly anomalous, but not unprecedented bomb cyclone Ciaran, which struck Europe recently, to claim it signifies a trend in cyclones and extreme storms.
“On November 1, Ciaran battered the United Kingdom, becoming one of the strongest storms ever recorded in Europe,” says the DRB’s video montage.
This may be true but it does not signify a trend. Indeed, as discussed in Climate at a Glance: Hurricanes and Climate at a Glance: Global Tropical Cyclones data show no increase in the number or intensity of tropical cyclones since 1972 as the planet has modestly warmed, and, if anything, the intensity of tropical storms has declined.
Also, to the extent that the damage done by and costs from tropical storms have increased over the past century, as discussed in dozens of Climate Realism posts, this is due to more people living in storm prone areas than in the past, and constructing more infrastructure in those areas. In fact, as a percentage of GDP, the damage from tropical storms as declined over the past century, and the number of lives lost to extreme weather events, including major storms, has fallen by more than 98 percent.
Citing the U.K. Met Office, the DRB itself notes that the record for mean sea level pressure, an indicator of possible storm strength, for England and Wales was recorded in 1916, more than 100 years of global warming ago. The DRB also points out that a powerful Atlantic Ocean jet stream boosted Ciaran’s strength. Jet streams are natural occurrences, not indicators of climate change.
To conclude, storm trend data refute claims by the so-called experts cited by DRB and The Independent, which DRB references, that extreme weather events have become “more damaging.”
Here’s a lesson for DRB and The Independent going forward to improve the accuracy of their reporting, when experts claim one thing, and data show something different, following the science means believing the data, not expert opinion.
Yeah it’s all climate change all the time! Nightly Network News has regular segments now reporting extreme weather just so they can use climate change claims! It’s a propaganda campaign not based on fact or reality! People are easily swayed by the constant bombshells that are blown out of
proportion! Making false claims and expanding every weather event into a false narrative is not newsworthy it’s manipulative opinionated nonsense!