Pirate's Cove

Especially that winter storm in the Southwest

Weather events cost the US $145bn in 2021 as climate change took hold

Global temperatures in 2021 were the sixth-warmest on record while the US experienced its fourth-warmest year and suffered 20 severe natural disasters that inflicted damage costing more than $145bn, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Even though 2021 temperatures were slightly cooler than the previous two years, the western US was still devastated by a number of wildfires that caused damage costing more than $10bn.

Every single one of those wildfires were caused by people being stupid and starting the fires, intentionally or unintentionally.

Other severe weather events included the Texas winter storm in February, inflicting $24bn in damages, and Hurricane Ida in late August, that caused destruction costing $75bn.

“Unfortunately, we expect to see more of these extremes in a warmer world,” said Russell Vose, head of climate monitoring for NOAA. “And some of these events were made much worse by global warming, such as the heatwave in the Pacific Northwest.”

See? Harsh winter storms are caused by you driving a fossil fueled vehicle and releasing greenhouse gases. Here’s where it gets really interesting

Two factors contributed to make 2021 slightly cooler than the previous two years: the La Niña weather pattern across the Pacific as well as the resumption of economic activity that causes aerosols in the atmosphere.

Aerosols, which are small particles suspended in the atmosphere, can have a cooling effect as they reflect back some sunlight.

“In 2020, we estimated that lockdowns had increased the temperature of the planet slightly, due to the clearing out of nitrates and other aerosols,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “So 2021 would have been a relatively cool year, even without La Niña.”

So, if La Nina was a big driver, why can’t nature be the primary driver, rather than “carbon pollution”? Further, there are other things that do drive localized temperatures from mankind. Certainly, in rural areas you don’t have this problem, but, in big cities you will. Urban heat island effect/land use from mankind has a localized effect. You should have had more radiative cooling with fewer particulates in the air. And those particulates are at lower levels than the greenhouse gases.

A similar study from Nasa, also released this week, found that 2021 was tied with 2018 for sixth-warmest year globally, due to a different baseline and methodology.

Why are we using different baselines and methodologies? Sounds like the climate cult is trying to get the outcome they want, rather than letting the science, data, and facts determine the outcome.