Is this weather we're having man's fault?

[skipdup]

Was just wondering...

I figure it won't be long before the politicians start screaming about global warming.

So, what do you think...

Is this just a natural cycle of weather we're experiencing (i.e. El Nino scare part deux)?

Or, are we seeing the result of our long term abuse of the environment?

- Skip

[red-beard]

Global warming? Act of God? Nope, says one Idaho weatherman — Hurricane Katrina was part of a man-made plot against America.

Scott Stevens, a meteorologist who for nine years has been forecasting the weather on KPVI-TV (search) in Pocatello, says the Yakuza — the Japanese mafia — is using a Russian-made electromagnetic generator to launch terrific storms against the U.S. mainland.

The devastation of New Orleans was in revenge for the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Stevens explains on his Web site. He says it will soon be used again against another major American city.

"A battle in the skies is waged daily. Some battles are won and others lost. We yet know not which," Stevens writes on the front page of his site. "For years this massive global project has been under way, but only now is it making it to the forefront of the consciousness of those with curious minds."

Rumors have long circulated of a secret Soviet weather weapon, but Stevens told the Idaho Falls Post Register he became convinced it existed after noticing strange patterns in a Montana cold front in 2004.

"I just got sick to my stomach because these clouds were unnatural and that meant they had [the machine] on all the time," Stevens told the newspaper. "I was left trying to forecast the intent of some organization, rather than the weather of this planet."

Nor is it a coincidence that both Katrina and Ivan — the huge hurricane that hit Florida a year ago — are Russian names, Stevens says.

At least one other scientist, however, thinks it's all a bunch of hooey.

"I have been doing hurricane research for the better part of 20 years now, and there was nothing unusual to me about any of the satellite imagery of Katrina," Robert S. Young, an associate professor of geology at Western Carolina University (search) in Cullowhee, N.C., told the newspaper. "It's laughable to think it could have been man-made."

Other hurricane experts explain that the spate of severe North Atlantic storms in recent years is part of a natural 25- to 30-year cycle. There was a wave of damaging hurricanes between 1935 and 1965, then a lull before the number of bad storms increased again around 1995.

The U.S. government has apparently tried to influence hurricanes, but its Project Stormfury, which from 1962 to 1983 sought to weaken cyclones by seeding the storms' eyewalls with silver iodide, was a failure.

Stevens is unperturbed by those who scoff at his findings.

"I fully expect one more 'event' this year to impact the United States," he writes. "My gut feeling is that it will be an earthquake/volcanic event with intensity of at least 7.5 in magnitude resulting in insured losses to exceed $25 billion."

His bosses at KPVI-TV don't mind his views, as long as he keeps them off the air.

"He doesn't talk about it on his weathercast," General Manager Bill Fouch told the newspaper. "He's very knowledgeable about weather, and he's very popular."

[island911]

Massive solar storms . .. . All because Bush hate Kyoto treaties.

So of course it's all our faults.

[red-beard]

Well, if it _is_ a giant Russian machine, maybe we can nuke it and kill Rita...

[bryanthompson]

I heard there was Global Warming (tm) on mars.

Does Bush hate mars?

[928ram]

Bush hates Uranus

[dafischer]

Actually, it's a coordinated conservative conspiracy to get rid of society's undesireables and drive the price of oil up. I hear that Exxon's latest project is how to make gasoline out of homeless people.

[red-beard]

Originally posted by dafischer
I hear that Exxon's latest project is how to make gasoline out of homeless people.

[Gooch1971]

Story taken from the Fox News website today.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170064,00.html

==============================================

Global warming? Act of God? Nope, says one Idaho weatherman — Hurricane Katrina was part of a man-made plot against America.

Scott Stevens, a meteorologist who for nine years has been forecasting the weather on KPVI-TV (search) in Pocatello, says the Yakuza — the Japanese mafia — is using a Russian-made electromagnetic generator to launch terrific storms against the U.S. mainland.

The devastation of New Orleans was in revenge for the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Stevens explains on his Web site. He says it will soon be used again against another major American city.

"A battle in the skies is waged daily. Some battles are won and others lost. We yet know not which," Stevens writes on the front page of his site. "For years this massive global project has been under way, but only now is it making it to the forefront of the consciousness of those with curious minds."

Rumors have long circulated of a secret Soviet weather weapon, but Stevens told the Idaho Falls Post Register he became convinced it existed after noticing strange patterns in a Montana cold front in 2004.

"I just got sick to my stomach because these clouds were unnatural and that meant they had [the machine] on all the time," Stevens told the newspaper. "I was left trying to forecast the intent of some organization, rather than the weather of this planet."

Nor is it a coincidence that both Katrina and Ivan — the huge hurricane that hit Florida a year ago — are Russian names, Stevens says.

At least one other scientist, however, thinks it's all a bunch of hooey.

"I have been doing hurricane research for the better part of 20 years now, and there was nothing unusual to me about any of the satellite imagery of Katrina," Robert S. Young, an associate professor of geology at Western Carolina University (search) in Cullowhee, N.C., told the newspaper. "It's laughable to think it could have been man-made."

Other hurricane experts explain that the spate of severe North Atlantic storms in recent years is part of a natural 25- to 30-year cycle. There was a wave of damaging hurricanes between 1935 and 1965, then a lull before the number of bad storms increased again around 1995.

The U.S. government has apparently tried to influence hurricanes, but its Project Stormfury, which from 1962 to 1983 sought to weaken cyclones by seeding the storms' eyewalls with silver iodide, was a failure.

Stevens is unperturbed by those who scoff at his findings.

"I fully expect one more 'event' this year to impact the United States," he writes. "My gut feeling is that it will be an earthquake/volcanic event with intensity of at least 7.5 in magnitude resulting in insured losses to exceed $25 billion."

His bosses at KPVI-TV don't mind his views, as long as he keeps them off the air.

"He doesn't talk about it on his weathercast," General Manager Bill Fouch told the newspaper. "He's very knowledgeable about weather, and he's very popular."

==============================================


It's good to know that you can be a complete wacko and yet keep your day job as long as you are popular with viewers.

[on-ramp]

it's quite arrogant to believe that man can **** up a planet in 100 years, a planet that's existed for BILLIONS of years.

this is so laughable.

you have to seriously consider the motives of the people/organizations making these ridiculous claims.

by the way, it is Bush's fault.

[on-ramp]

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
Man could blow up this planet in half a day.

not really

you can launch all the nuclear weapons that exist on Earth, millions of people will die, but the planet will be just fine..

[skipdup]

and everything would eventually grow back...

[bryanthompson]

Originally posted by on-ramp
it's quite arrogant to believe that man can **** up a planet in 100 years, a planet that's existed for BILLIONS of years.

this is so laughable.

you have to seriously consider the motives of the people/organizations making these ridiculous claims.

by the way, it is Bush's fault.

exactly. I have no proof of this... But I would bet the pollution (carbon dioxide, pollutants, etc) from one major volcanic eruption (and we know there have been many of them) dwarfs the entire conglomeration of all pollution human beings have ever been responsible for.

[CamB]

Well, yeah, they do. There is also evidence they caused all sorts of undesirable things like raised sea levels (way way back).

And that's the (potential) problem, if we are contributing to global warming.

I don't know that the particularly effective hurricane season is influenced by man though.

[IROC]

The truth is that the Earth has undergone all sorts of cyclic global changes over the millenia. There is a lot of evidence that we are simply in a "warming cycle" right now and there are reasons beyond man's interference to explain the current cycle.

There is evidence that the Earth is warming (from various sources), but to make the claim that it's all man's fault is premature, IMHO. Can man have an effect. Maybe. I would have to imagine it would be small, though.

Two things to keep in mind - we are now able to much more accurately measure global temps than we used to and so comparing today's global temps to temps 40 years ago is sort of apples and oranges. Plus, even the most sophisticated global climate models still suck, so I wouldn't get too alarmed at any dire predictions that come out of them.

One thing that I think bears paying attention to, though, is the reduction in ice in the arctic. This might turn into a problem.

Mike

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by on-ramp
it's quite arrogant to believe that man can **** up a planet in 100 years, a planet that's existed for BILLIONS of years.

I thought it was something like 6000 years. No?

These storms are Gods way of telling us a bedtime story. In this case, it's "The Ant and the Grasshopper," a classic.

[IROC]

Originally posted by Shaun 84 Targa
I thought it was something like 6000 years. No?

These storms are Gods way of telling us a bedtime story. In this case, it's "The Ant and the Grasshopper," a classic.

I am actually predicting that the "End of Times" folks are going to come out of the woodwork as a result of the Katrina/Rita double whammy. I've had two visits in the past week from local religious organizations with the same "repent or go to hell because god predicted this" message.

Mike

[skipdup]

Originally posted by IROC
I am actually predicting that the "End of Times" folks are going to come out of the woodwork as a result of the Katrina/Rita double whammy. I've had two visits in the past week from local religious organizations with the same "repent or go to hell because god predicted this" message.

Mike

Mike- People tell you to go to hell more than anyone I've ever heard of. Sure you're not doing something to cause this?

- Skip

[IROC]

Originally posted by skipdup
Mike- People tell you to go to hell more than anyone I've ever heard of. Sure you're not doing something to cause this?

- Skip

Yeah, I don't believe what they believe. That's all it takes, evidently. :>)

Mike

[1967 R50/2]

1. I do believe in global warming. Think for a second. Millions of years of forest extracting CO2 from the atmosphere and trapping that gas in oil and coal.

Then we come along and release a bunch of that gas in a little more than 100 years. SOMETHING is going to happen.

2. But I don't think that there is a direct connection between that and Cat 5 hurricanes. Weather is a very complex phenomenon. I use to lift weights with a meteorologist. He attended a meteorologist conventions once in 2003 and the topic of conversation was how much COLDER it was at the poles and how much MORE snowfall there had been.

Strangely, this too could be a result of "global warming": More trapped heat means more water vapor evaporated from the ocean means more percipitation in certain climactic zones.

So what am I saying? I am saying that there is "Global Warming" but:
1. some of the effects are probably not what you might expect and...
2. Weather is too complex a phenomena to ascribe a specific event to "global warming."