Will TV Forecasters Acknowledge Climate's Contribution to Crazy January Weather?

The media is afraid... (4.00 / 1)

...to focus on the cause of anything anymore.  They describe the phenomenon and then maybe interview two different "sides" of the issue but are just terrified of proclaiming anything to be the truth, even if it's been confirmed through thousands of independent studies.

I'd love to see what they'd do if the Tea party declared that gravity is a "hoax"...

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by: kindler @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 12:21:00 PM UTC

Partly true. (0.00 / 0)

Yes, the media's afraid, but I'd also posit that they're utterly - and willfully - ignorant. They're also superficial, frivolous, idiotic, etc. Still, they DO claim to identify the "cause" of phenomena, they're just wildly off course. For instance, I've seen TV news stories dozens of times in recent months where they mentioned a freakish weather situation, then immediately discussed "the cause" of it. The problem is, their "cause" is always something short-term, transitory, and often just plain laughable/frivolous/idiotic. Thus, every weather phenomenon seems to be related to: el Nino/la Nina, the "Arctic oscillation;" a warmer-than-normal Gulf of Mexico; or some other passing aberration that really has nothing to do with anything when it comes to climate, as opposed to weather. But god forbid they ever mention the words "global warming," when that's the 800-pound gorilla/elephant in the room, the Occam's Razor explanation, the obvious cause for month after month, year after year of climatological and weather abnormalities (e.g., higher than normal temperatures, melting ice caps, an under-ice river in Antarctica, shifting zones for gardeners, and a gazillion other indicators of global warming). So yeah, it's fear. It's stupidity. It's willful ignorance. It's wild irresponsibility. It's the need for corporate advertising dollars and the desire not to piss off those corporations (Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Carbon in general). In sum, it's utterly corrupt, pretty much beyond repair at this point, and wildly misleading to anyone watching or listening to this crap.  

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by: lowkell @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 13:34:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Media and Advertising (4.00 / 2)

In television, the content has always been secondary to advertising revenue. One way to avoid losing some corporate client's ads is to avoid anything that smacks of controversy, even if it involves truth discovered by science. Since corporations tend to be conservative (that's an understatement), so does the content on television.

Television news degenerated into the fluffy mess it is today after Roone Arledge, who was head of sports broadcasting at ABC, came up with the idea that news could be a big moneymaker, rather than an objective source of information for the American people presented by broadcast networks as a public service. His "magic" spread like a plague throughout televised news.

"One of the reasons why when Elvis dies or the Son of Sam is captured ABC News' ratings go up is because people who don't normally watch news are watching then. The question is, do you want to attract people who don't watch network news or fight over the people who do?" -  Roone Arledge Obviously, TV decided to go after the people most interested in Elvis to the near exclusion of more important information. News became entertainment, as the ridiculous series of Republican "debates" has shown.

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by: Elaine in Roanoke @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 13:31:22 PM UTC

Meh (0.00 / 0)

I feel like we do this every January.

A 60 degree day in one place does not imply global climate change. We're supposed to have them. It's called weather. A warmer-than-average winter isn't a concern either - the last few were cold. That's OK too.

What we need to worry about is that this warm snap is 61 degrees instead of 60, on average, or that we're having 4 warm snaps instead of 3. That's the concern.

You can't use local weather, or a single data point, to justify anything. That's why the weathermen don't hem and haw. Now I know some weathermen are stupid or climate science deniers - have at them. But just because people aren't making a stink over a single warm day in a single place in January, give me a break. Be scientific - this is, after all, solid science we're talking about so let's treat it as such.

Also, just to avoid the obvious responses, I was a scientist in a past life, and of course anthropogenic global climate change is happening. This is just my yearly call for rational, scientific treatment of a scientific subject.

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by: Dave @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 18:16:20 PM UTC

I'm honestly unclear what part of my post you're disagreeing with (0.00 / 0)

"What we need to worry about is that this warm snap is 61 degrees instead of 60, on average, or that we're having 4 warm snaps instead of 3" is exactly my point. Loading the dice for extreme weather. What are you arguing?

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by: TheGreenMiles @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 18:55:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The thing is, it's month after month, year after year (0.00 / 0)

all around the world, "warmest xxx on record," etc. At this point, it's indisputable what's happening, as you say the dice are totally loaded for extreme weather (although I agree with the specific point that we can't take one heat wave as evidence of global warming, just as right wingnuts shouldn't use one cold snap or blizzard to "prove" there is "no global warming").

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by: lowkell @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 19:06:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thank you Lowell (0.00 / 0)

That's all I'm saying - exactly what you said.

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by: Dave @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 21:56:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm arguing your main statement (0.00 / 0)

"The DC area's forecast for Friday calls for temperatures near 60 degrees with thunderstorms. In January. But you won't catch our television weather presenters attributing the bizarre forecast to global warming loading the dice for extreme weather!"

You won't catch them saying that because it's not true. You can't point to any one day in one place and say "that's global warming." In fact to do so is just as irresponsible as denying climate change.

It's a scientific phenomenon, and we have to talk about it in scientific terms. If you sensationalize your side of it, you're no better then the other side. Because the whole point of this whole thing is that it's not a debate - it's just science and data - provable.

But when you frame it as "OMG! It's warm outside in January!" you do the science a disservice. And I believe that was Jason Samenow's main point.

There's one weather pattern I now know to count on: every January we'll have a warm day (heaven forbid), and that same day, a sensationalist "OMG it's warm" post will appear on BV. Now that's a predictable pattern :)

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by: Dave @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 21:44:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ah, sorry (0.00 / 0)

I made the mistake of consulting a climate scientist on this post instead of consulting you. Next time I'll be more careful.

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by: TheGreenMiles @ Sat Jan 28, 2012 at 00:23:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

thanks... (0.00 / 0)

For flippantly dismissing my point! Lesson learned. Attempt discussion with Miles or Lowell, get shot down as unqualified to comment.

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by: Dave @ Sat Jan 28, 2012 at 01:44:20 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Tell that to my daffodil who are already (0.00 / 0)

Six inches high...tell that to the buds on my dogwood trees...look over here no global warming...it is not normal to have drastic swing in weather,,,record breaking snow one season then record breaking warmth the next.  I feel sorry fr your children and grandchildren.    

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by: totallynext @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 21:02:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Really? (0.00 / 0)

You should post a picture of the daffodils (or email them to me - address on my profile - and I'll post)

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by: TheGreenMiles @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 21:25:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Knew it (0.00 / 0)

You didn't actually read what I wrote and then said "I feel sorry fr your children and grandchildren." That's what always happens here in the "echo chamber" that is BV.

You're right - drastic swings aren't normal. Now there's something tangible. But that's not what this post said at all. It's 60 out - 15 degrees above normal. We always have a warm snap mid-January. Always - go back and look at the records.

The bigger patterns are troubling. Your daffodil blooming is troubling. But today, by itself, is meaningless.

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by: Dave @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 21:49:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]