Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
As to instruments, are you truly of the belief that a barometer from
1885 is the equal of, say, a barometer of 1985 vintage?

Sure, why wouldn't it? It's a very simple instrument, just
two columns of non-volatile fluid to compare ambient air
pressure to a vacuum.

Modern instruments are more sophisticated, sure. You can
accurately measure all kinds of other things that an 1885
meteorologist would barely be able to guess. Anemometers
back then were a bit kludgy, for example.




I believe, and I may not be correct here, that accurate records,
albeit limited in scope, didn't start on a regular basis until 1890 in
the US.


Sounds right to me.

.... You can't expect a report using the scale of 1838 to be as
accurate as the scale of 1938 - it could be off be a surprising
factor.

Or it could be pretty close. When you go back a bit further,
you have much wider variation in instruments and much fewer
recorded data anyway. If you go past the 1790s there is
pretty much nothing... so it ramps up and more recent is
better. On that, I'm not disagreeing. I'm just trying to
point out that they weren't cavemen back then.




Allow me to rephrase.

To wit: So to just patently say that storm severity and frequency is
increasing and THAT global warming IS THE SOLE cause is not only short
sighted but lousy science

Better now?


Yes, much, thanks... in fact I'd go a step further and say
that it isn't science at all.

The only problem I have with your statement above is that
it's a straw man. Nobody (AFAIK) is saying that hurricanes
ARE absolutely increasing in frequency & severity; and this
is caused SOLELY by global warming. It has been suggested
that the two are linked.




I'm a lousy multi-tasker. :)


Me too.



For another thing, I'd be very surprised if any scientists
really said that. 250 years after Newton they are still
calling gravity just a theory.


Isn't it? Seriously - isn't it still just a theory? :)


Actually, gravity has been disproven. Ain't no such thing!


What with all the quantum nonsense they've been doing lately, it
wouldn't surprise me in the least that the only thing keeping us on
the face of the planet was really teeny tiny itsy bitsy blue and green
caterpillars.


No, what holds us all to the ground is the invisible,
undetectable, and un-knowable residue of the slime-god of
boogers who sneezed on the shell of the primordial turtle
Bfikkly-Tog on whose back we ride across the inky sky.

Science doesn't know or care why. Science only measures and
predicts.




I don't disagree that there is impact from greenhouse gases - I don't
think I've ever actually disagreed that global warming has some effect
on the environment.


My mistake, I thought you had said in the past that global
warming wasn't happening.

However, I actually refuse to believe that global warming is the sole
cause of environmental change in terms of supposedly increased
severity and frequency of storms.

I don't believe that either.


I don't believe that one can just categorically state that global
warming is the sole cause - there are lots of different factors that
enter into the equation and we're not anywhere near being able to
model it accurately.


Wait a minute, I thought we were arguing about something
else... dammit where' my prgram... can't tell the players
without a program...

DSK