After having fallen hilariously short of their of their preseason prediction of more that 30 named storms for this Atlantic hurricane season (there have been 11 named storms as of this writing, with peak season quickly coming to an end), climate cultists have jumped on Hurricane Helene and the tragic flooding in Asheville, North Carolina, as somehow proving that man-made climate change has “supercharged” such storms.
The Usual Chorus
The Hill reported: “Climate change is making hurricanes like Hurricane Helene more intense, scientific research shows.” Yahoo News breathlessly chimed in:
… there’s plenty [of evidence] to show that warmer oceans and air temperatures are resulting in hurricanes dumping more rain, ramping up quicker into monster storms and becoming more destructive overall.
Predictably, politicians jumped in. Said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor on CNN:
I don’t know that there’s anyone that … can deny the effects of climate change on the sheer power of the storms we’re seeing now.
And according to climate huckster Michael Mann, one of those who parroted the warnings of more than 30 named storms for this year:
Helene is a poster-child for the ways that human-caused climate change is amplifying the coastal threat from intensified hurricanes combined with rising sea levels.
So desperate are the Climatistas to frighten the world into compliance with their net-zero fantasies that they jump on any abnormal weather and cry climate change, hoping we will submit to their authoritarianism without question.
The Climate Realists
Thankfully, there are still a few scientists out there who are informed by data and not the United Nations.
Anthony Watts of Watts Up With That points out:
All of these claims ignore actual data and historical records. They also ignore the unique meteorological (not climatological) circumstances that created the potential for more rainfall and flooding.
At least one reason for the flooding in Asheville is more geographical than climatological.
“The reason you see 14-18 inches of rain … along the slope of the Blue Ridge [Mountains] is because of strong mountain-enhanced orographic lift,” shared meteorology follower Chris Martz on X. He continued:
As moist parcels of air in the bands of Helene rotated counterclockwise through the region, they were then dynamically lifted to supersaturation on sloped terrain causing excess vapor to condense and precipitate out. On the leeward side in Tennessee, there was a bit of a rain shadow effect due to downslope flow, so rainfall totals were lower. This is what happens on the Hawaiian Islands on just about a daily basis.
In other words, the local terrain had a lot to do with the large amount of rainfall. Of course, the climate cult doesn’t feel the need to explain this.
And media reports calling the flooding in Asheville “unprecedented” appear to be erroneous as well. Back in July 1916, newspaper accounts told the story of major flooding in Asheville, with “eight feet of water in Union Station at Asheville” reported. Was that flooding caused by climate change — over a hundred years ago?
But checking on meteorological history or past flooding events is not a high priority for the climate cult. As long as they can get a few fearmongering headlines out of a tragedy, the actual truth doesn’t matter.
