Meteorologists vs. climatologists

There is little doubt among climatologists that the world is getting warmer and that human activity is the primary cause.  The World’s governments have accepted this concept, although at the just ended UN conference in Poland they have not reached much agreement on how to slow these climatic changes.  But it seems word has not seeped into the TV studios of local weatherpeople.

The Plain Dealer has an interesting article on how our local meteorologists, and many around the country, do not think human activities contribute to global warming and that the extent of upcoming changes is overhyped.

 

Dick Goddard

Bernier and Dick Goddard — the patriarch of Cleveland weather forecasters — predict the weather at WJW Channel 8.Both cite natural fluctuations in the Earth’s climate and dismiss the industrialization of the 20th century and the subsequent spike in atmospheric carbon dioxide as the cause for warming. 

Goddard compared the current anxiety over warming with the global cooling concerns of the 1970s, which have since dissipated. He and Bernier both point to solar cycles as the key ingredient in climate change.

Bernier also said he believes the climate is no longer warming — but, rather, cooling again.

“I have a hunch that in 10 years we’re all going to be longing for global warming because it will be so cold,” Bernier said. His Web site, andrebernier.com, links to a Canadian documentary that suggests the same.

It is not just the air in Cleveland.  This is apparently a common view within the meteorological community across the country.  

The most notable example of dissent among meteorologists has been the Weather Channel’s founder, John Coleman, now a TV forecaster in San Diego.

Coleman — whom Seitter quickly points out remained with the Weather Channel for only a year in the early 1980s — has said human-induced warming is “the greatest scam in history.”

There have been others, from the longtime director of the National Hurricane Center to Accu-Weather.com’s long-range forecaster, who told The Plain Dealer that “global warming is being forced down the throats of the public.”

So what gives?  Where are these “hunches” coming from?  

Jay Hobgood, head of the Atmospheric Sciences Department at Ohio State University, agreed. He said the university teaches the IPCC findings on global warming, but allows for debate.

“The day-to-day meteorologists are seeing anecdotal evidence, but not the research that goes back thousands of years,” he said. “The two disciplines are very related, but the time span being looked at is very different.

“Looking at the daily weather doesn’t necessarily tell you the climate is changing.”