Tag Archives: meteorology

Once An Idiot, Always An Idiot

Posted on by under Political commentary, Social commentary

Rush Limbaugh earned his Idiot of the Week award more than a year ago on August 12th, 2016.  It was one of the most well-deserved awards, and this week he has proven my theory that idiots do not ever outgrow or overcome their idiocy.

Mr. Limbaugh does not deal in facts, and mocks those of us who do, hence his disdain for the mainstream media, scientists, and just about anybody who bases decisions upon research and hard data.  I always find these people a bit humorous, though annoying and pompous.  But you almost have to laugh when a man who dropped out of college after two semesters, has no degree in anything, let alone science in any form, says …

“…   when it comes to a hurricane bearing down on south Florida, I’m the go-to guy.”

laughing

Mr. Limbaugh, with his lack of formal education, the ‘go-to guy’, has determined through some process of imagination, that Hurricane Irma, which is expected to make landfall in south Florida this weekend, is faux news.  Oh he believes there is a hurricane, but … well, I will let him tell you in his own words …

“Now, in the official meteorological circles, you have an abundance of people who believe that man-made climate change is real. And they believe that AL Gore is correct when he has written — and he couldn’t be more wrong — that climate change is creating more hurricanes and stronger hurricanes. And, of course, when Harvey hit, it was the first hurricane that had hit in 12 years1. There haven’t been more hurricanes and no more dangerous than any others in previous years.

So there is a desire to advance this climate change agenda, and hurricanes are one of the fastest and best ways to do it. You can accomplish a lot just by creating fear and panic. You don’t need a hurricane to hit anywhere. All you need is to create the fear and panic accompanied by talk that climate change is causing hurricanes to become more frequent and bigger and more dangerous, and you create the panic, and it’s mission accomplished, agenda advanced.”

At this point, it is interesting to note that Mr. Limbaugh lives in Palm Beach, Florida … south Florida!

He then goes on to expound on the ways in which this is also a plot by the media and retailers to get people’s money …

“TV stations begin reporting this and the panic begins to increase. And then people end up going to various stores to stock up on water and whatever they might need for home repairs and batteries and all this that they’re advised to get, and a vicious circle is created. You have these various retail outlets who spend a lot of advertising dollars with the local media.

The local media, in turn, reports in such a way as to create the panic way far out, which sends people into these stores to fill up with water and to fill up with batteries, and it becomes a never-ending repeated cycle. And the two coexist. So the media benefits with the panic with increased eyeballs, and the retailers benefit from the panic with increased sales, and the TV companies benefit because they’re getting advertising dollars from the businesses that are seeing all this attention from customers.”

And then Mr. Limbaugh shares his vast knowledge of meteorology with us …

“Cloud top temperature is what those colors mean. Bright red means coldest temperatures at the top of the clouds. It has nothing to do with precip. But people don’t know this, and they look at these giant graphics of these hurricanes, it’s moving up, it looks bigger than Cuba. When in fact the eye of the storm, any hurricane on average the real damage occurs in the 20- to 30-mile radius, circle around the eye. That’s where when you hear Category 5, that’s where the Category 5 winds are. They’re not throughout the whole thing. They’re not throughout the giant, big blog.

Another thing I’ve found, folks, these storms, once they actually hit, are never as strong as they’re reported. If you look at graphics, the data you can find from sea buoys and on the ground in spots in the Caribbean where hurricanes hit before they get here, it’s amazing that the actual wind speeds are never or very rarely as high as what they would be if it’s genuinely Category 4, Category 5.”

There is more, if you care to read the transcript or watch the program.  Be forewarned if you decide to watch, stay arms-length from your computer, lest you be tempted to punch him in the nose and break your screen.

Mr. Limbaugh would be laughable but for the fact that his ignorance is dangerous to people watching his program who might actually believe his ‘theories’ and fail to take adequate precautions.  He is encouraging listeners who might be in Irma’s path not to take seriously the official guidance disseminated through the media.

Alex Jones of InfoWars fame, (remember Pizzagate?) has for years promoted the notion that the U.S. government possesses the power to conjure and control weather events. Just last week, as Hurricane Harvey battered Texas, Jones devoted part of his show to questioning why the government didn’t “use the technologies to kill [the storm] out in the gulf.”

C’mon guys … leave the weather forecasting and climatology to the scientists … men with an education and the common sense to know how to use it!

I have to wonder … when he is being rescued by some good Samaritan in a boat, and he sees the water up to the roof of his $35 million home, if he will still think Hurricane Irma was a conspiracy by scientists, retailers, liberals and the mainstream media?

1 Harvey was by no means the first hurricane to hit in 12 years.  Has he forgotten Katrina?  And Rita, Wilma, Charley and Ivan to name a few.

Winter Storm Warning!!!

Posted on by under Humour, Social commentary

Earlier this week, a winter storm moved through the eastern half of the U.S. … yes, another one … sigh. Now, I know this may come as a shock to some, but it is winter and that means that those of us who are not fortunate enough to live in Southern California or Florida will likely be treated to snow, sleet, freezing rain and cold temperatures when a winter storm comes. A century ago, people read the Old Farmer’s Almanac and tried to predict when a storm would likely hit, but today we have this marvelous thing called Doppler radar and meteorologists to interpret what the Doppler images might mean for various parts of the country. These meteorologists and their minions then proceed to warn us all via television, radio, and the internet of the impending storm, even to the point of telling us exactly when it will start, what will happen, when it will end, and how much snow or ice we can expect once it is ended. Now, I have two points I want to make on this subject

Point one is that meteorology as a science is yet imperfect and in reality, though it may appear that a given storm will take a certain path, Mother Nature has a really sick sense of humour and is just as likely as not to blow it a bit to the south, a bit to the north, or fizzle it out altogether. So, while it is wonderful to have the technology we have, one must always understand that what the meteorologist sees at noon may vary vastly from what he sees five hours later, all of which may have no connection to the reality of tomorrow. Additionally, the meteorologist you see on your television is not a pure science guy and is being paid big bucks for being the most popular “weather guy” in the neighborhood and thus earning ratings for his/her station. What this means is that he may find it necessary or desirable to … shall we say stretch the truth just a bit or expound on the effect of the coming weather, turning a forecast into a major drama, an entertainment event, causing people across the nation to write millions of Facebook posts along the lines of “did you hear that we are going to get two feet of snow?”. Then, of course, every man, woman and child in the area heads to the nearest Kroger to “lay in supplies” ample for at least two weeks of being snowed under. More often than not, the snow is a few inches or never shows up at all, but every household has a full pantry and overflowing refrigerator. Ever wonder why winter lends itself to obesity? Wonder no more. The whole point being that television ratings trump science and, while it is always a good idea to be prepared, if one believes everything he/she sees on Channel 9 or The Weather Channel, one will need psychotherapy by the time spring finally arrives.

My second point is that, while some are stocking up at the grocery store, the other half of the population seems to not heed the warning at all and goes on about their merry business-as-usual. Yesterday morning hundreds, perhaps thousands of motorists were stranded on I-65 south of Louisville, Kentucky, for nearly 20 hours when the highway was shut down due to snow accumulations, ice and jackknifed tractor-trailers. The highway crews, of course, were unable to clear the highway because they could not get around all the cars and trucks that were using the highway as a parking lot. One woman who was interviewed had a young child with her and had been stranded for ten hours. Where were these people when the aforementioned meteorologists were spreading their message of gloom and doom throughout the area? I certainly feel empathy for anyone who is stuck in a snowstorm on the highway for hour after hour, but I must ask why, having heard the forecast at least a hundred times during the 24-hour period before it hit, were these people traveling to begin with? Why weren’t they at home foundering on the potato chips and candy bars they bought at Kroger? Furthermore, my own opinion is that to travel in this weather with a small child in tow amounts to nothing less than neglect and irresponsible parenting, but I won’t delve into that here.

In the words of the immortal Mark Twain, “everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it”. We will probably never be able to alter the weather, nor should we, as there would likely be catastrophic consequences if mankind were given the opportunity to further decimate the earth’s climate. We do, however, have tools at our disposal that should make it possible for everyone to prepare in a rational way and stay safe during the worst winter storm. The key word here is “rational”. A trip to the store is rational, but except in the most rural areas, it probably isn’t necessary to buy every pack of disposable diapers and every stalk of broccoli. And planning ahead, whether it’s cancelling non-essential appointments, preparing to spend the night at the office, renting a motel room, or bringing extra work home, will enable most to stay off the highways so that road crews can do their job and restore some semblance of normalcy as quickly as possible. Winter happens every year and yet every year people seem to be caught off-guard. I don’t get it … I just don’t get it.