Hurricane Hoopla

[bigunreal]

I have several questions in the wake of the latest national weather disaster, Hurricane Ike:

- When did hurricanes become big news, with nonstop saturation coverage by all the networks?

- Why didn't any of these hurricanes wreak the kind of havoc in the past that they seem to now? I experienced a few hurricanes in my area during my lifetime, and they certainly didn't represent a national crisis.

- Why do all the television networks insist on having a reporter in the eye of the storm, hair blowing, on the verge of being swept away by the wind? It was all I could do to stop myself from wishing Geraldo would be taken out by a huge wave during his typically bombastic reporting last night on Fox.

- How do these weather disasters impact the price of gas? If there actually is an honest connection, why didn't such weather disasters have an impact on gas prices in the past?

Seriously, whether it's attributable to global warming or a lack of media coverage in the past, there is no question that these national weather disasters have become much more commonplace than ever. Not only do humans in the areas affected have to deal with massive tragedy inflicted by mother nature, the rest of us have to deal with the economic ramifications that are the alleged byproducts of these disasters.

Maybe I'm just being typically paranoid, or perhaps I'm just sick of seeing this 24-7 hurricane news coverage on every t.v. station.

 

[C Darwin]

I think it's a great fear tool.

Oh FEMA, please help me!!

 

[guest301]

Seriously, whether it's attributable to global warming or a lack of media coverage in the past, there is no question that these national weather disasters have become much more commonplace than ever.

I tried to let this one go by with no comment from me but I can't help it. I think it's attributable to the latter days we are living in and just one more sign of the return of Jesus Christ. It certainly is not attributable to the fraudulent religion called global warming although I do think you have a point about the relentless media coverage. Cable TV loves this stuff, it such easy filler programming for them and good ratings to boot. Like you bigunreal, I also caught myself wishing Geraldo would be swept out into the Gulf of Mexico.



Edited by: guest301

 

[White Shogun]

Well, the more that people pack themselves into cities, and build more expensive civilizations, the greater the destruction in both human life, and in cost, natural disasters will be.

Think about it: How many hurricanes have to ravage New Orleans before people decide, 'Hey, you know, maybe we ought not rebuild?' How many mudslides and earthquakes have to occur before people stop stacking their houses on top of fault lines?

Not every hurricane impacts the price of oil - only those that strike areas packed with refineries, oil rigs, and sea ports. It isn't unreasonable, in my opinion, to see an increase in gas prices because of damage to refineries and so on, but you'd expect this would occur AFTER the hurricane strikes. Prices go up before hand because of greed and speculation on how difficult it will be replace current reserves. Just my opinion though, I'm no economics expert.

Why are reports of natural disasters broadcast 24/7? I'd say for the same reason people stop and rubber neck at a car accident. Edited by: White Shogun

 

[bigunreal]

Shogun,

You're probably right about the motivation behind the 24/7 coverage. The people that watch this stuff nonstop have to be waiting to see some massive destruction, or else what would be the point of being glued to the coverage?

Guest301,

I should have included the "end times" belief along with the global warming theory. I would love to see some in depth analysis of hurricane activity, over the past hundred years (or however long they've kept accurate records), to see if there have been any significant changes in the weather pattern in recent years.

A few years back, when the unfathomable tragedy of the tsunami occurred, I felt pretty stupid. I was vaguely aware of the word tsunami, but connected it in my mind with either Japanese anime or pokemon. How often have tsunamis occurred in the past? I had never heard of them, and I haven't spent my life holed up in Siberia. Can they be that rare, that someone like me could go 50 years without having heard of them? Maybe I'm just not that well educated....

 

[Bart]

Shogun,

How often have tsunamis occurred in the past? I had never heard of them, and I haven't spent my life holed up in Siberia. Can they be that rare, that someone like me could go 50 years without having heard of them?

Haven't researched, but aren't tsunamis what we used to call tidal waves?

 

[White Shogun]

Experts predict increased hurricane activity based on natural weather cycles, from an article in 2005.

Global warming not linked to increased hurricane activity.

From the FAQ at PewClimate.org:

Is the frequency of hurricanes increasing?

Globally (not just in the North Atlantic), there is an average of about 90 tropical storms every year. This average changes very little over time and there has been no detectable change over the 20th century overall, although we do not have good historical data for all regions where hurricanes occur.

In the North Atlantic, for which we have the best records, there has been a clear increase in the number and intensity of tropical storms and major hurricanes. From 1850-1990, the overall average number of tropical storms was about 10, including about 5 hurricanes. Since 1995, the 10-year average has risen dramatically, with the 1997-2006 average at about 14 tropical storms, including about 8 hurricanes. This increase in frequency correlates strongly with the rise in North Atlantic sea surface temperature, and recent peer-reviewed scientific studies link this temperature increase to global warming.

There is an ongoing scientific debate about the link between increased North Atlantic hurricane activity and global warming. The 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change rates the probability of such a link as "more likely than not." View a figure of the frequency of tropical storms in the North Atlantic.

There has been a significant increase in tropical storms in the North Atlantic [click link for graph].

Shogun speaking: My cursory search of articles on the web for information on hurricanes and global warming reveal that, like every other topic related to global warming, there is no consensus among scientists or meteoroligists about whether global warming is causing the formation of more tropical storms.

However, we can see by the graph in the last link that there has been a marked increase in tropical storms in the Atlantic since the 1990's, greater than is implied in the article that states this is a cyclical weather phenomena.

What's interesting about this is that storms have definite attributes which identify them as storms of varying levels. It isn't an arbitrary designation that can be made up on the fly by a politician to prove a point - storms are rated based on wind speed, precipitation, and storm surge, among other things.

 

[guest301]

Shogun,

You're probably right about the motivation behind the 24/7 coverage. The people that watch this stuff nonstop have to be waiting to see some massive destruction, or else what would be the point of being glued to the coverage?

Guest301,

I should have included the "end times" belief along with the global warming theory. I would love to see some in depth analysis of hurricane activity, over the past hundred years (or however long they've kept accurate records), to see if there have been any significant changes in the weather pattern in recent years.

A few years back, when the unfathomable tragedy of the tsunami occurred, I felt pretty stupid. I was vaguely aware of the word tsunami, but connected it in my mind with either Japanese anime or pokemon. How often have tsunamis occurred in the past? I had never heard of them, and I haven't spent my life holed up in Siberia. Can they be that rare, that someone like me could go 50 years without having heard of them? Maybe I'm just not that well educated....

Bigunreal...Take heart, I didn't understand what a actual tsunami was until a few years ago either. All this stuff gets fairly scary to watch sometimes and I just wanted to get out of the house and get away from all the news coverage of this last night and so I went to that new Deniro/Pacino movie with a friend. But it was raining on the drive to the movie theatre and all I could think of was the last report I heard about this being the largest hurricane in 50 years to hit Texas and how 90,000 people refused to evacuate from Galveston and that the NWS said they faced "certain death" if they didn't leave. Obviously this morning it didn't turn out so bad in regards to loss of life(as of now) but these are some scary times we are living in whether ones sees prophetic signifigance in these things or not.Edited by: guest301

 

[Don Wassall]

Like you bigunreal, I also caught myself wishing Geraldo would be swept out into the Gulf of Mexico.

We'll never be that lucky. I expect Rivera to still be "reporting" when he's 90, sort of like old Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes.

 

[jaxvid]

If the last big hurrican hit Galveston 60 years ago then I guess global warming has nothing to do with it.

How can you tell a God inspired hurrican from a devil inspired hurricane? Is it OK to pray for a God inspired hurrican to hit somplace like San Francisco? And BTW if God was throwing thunderbolts then that shoud be the first place he hits!!

 

[white is right]

Hurricane's became big news when cable tv took off. Before CNN could anybody have seen the usual shot of cars being tossed and reporters being blown while they talk, did anybody care too much? Now there is always that scene or some yuppi losing their 7 figure beach house that is swept away...

Edited by: white is right

 

[jaxvid]

Now there is always that scene or some yuppi losing their 7 figure beach house that is swept away...

That is good entertainment!

 

[Tired old White]

Fifty years ago there were no rich Northern retirees who owned beach Mansions. There was no manufacturing to speak of and when hurricanes came people on the coast had the good sense to visit their relatives further in land. So now their are people who matter to the network who might be injured or have substantial property damage. Thus you have wall to wall coverage.