No, The California Fires Were NOT Caused By Global Warming
I wish all weather and climate scientists were as honest and on the level as Dr. Cliff Mass of the University of Washington. While he calls global warming a "profoundly serious threat to mankind," he agrees with me and others that it certainly did not cause or significantly worsen Northern California's Camp Fire which has caused 79 confirmed deaths (worst in the history of the state).
Dr. Mass says,
And beyond the heart-wrenching losses noted above, it is doubly tragic that this disaster was both foreseeable and avoidable, resulting from a series of errors, poor judgment, lack of use of available technology, and poor urban planning.
It is more than unfortunate that some politicians, environmental advocacy groups, and activist scientists are attempting to use this tragedy as a tool for their own agenda, make the claim that the Camp Fire was result of global warming.
As I will discuss below, this claim has little grounding in fact or science. Global warming is a profoundly serious threat to mankind, but it has little impact the Camp Fire and many of the coastal California fires of the past few years (e.g., the Wine Country Fires of October 2017). And blaming global warming takes attention away from the actions needed to prevent such tragedies from happening again.
As with the "end of the world" paper from earlier this week, these nonsensical invocations of global warming as the cause of every ill in the world not only miss the point, it takes the focus off ideas that could actually be constructive. I encourage you to read Cliff's entire piece at the red link above.
ADDITION: Here is what the official U.S. Climate Assessment says on the subject of extreme weather and global warming.
ADDITION: 7am PST. Rain is now occurring near Paradise and scattered throughout Northern California. The rains will increase during the day causing addition problems for this hard-hit area.
And beyond the heart-wrenching losses noted above, it is doubly tragic that this disaster was both foreseeable and avoidable, resulting from a series of errors, poor judgment, lack of use of available technology, and poor urban planning.
It is more than unfortunate that some politicians, environmental advocacy groups, and activist scientists are attempting to use this tragedy as a tool for their own agenda, make the claim that the Camp Fire was result of global warming.
As I will discuss below, this claim has little grounding in fact or science. Global warming is a profoundly serious threat to mankind, but it has little impact the Camp Fire and many of the coastal California fires of the past few years (e.g., the Wine Country Fires of October 2017). And blaming global warming takes attention away from the actions needed to prevent such tragedies from happening again.
As with the "end of the world" paper from earlier this week, these nonsensical invocations of global warming as the cause of every ill in the world not only miss the point, it takes the focus off ideas that could actually be constructive. I encourage you to read Cliff's entire piece at the red link above.
ADDITION: Here is what the official U.S. Climate Assessment says on the subject of extreme weather and global warming.
ADDITION: 7am PST. Rain is now occurring near Paradise and scattered throughout Northern California. The rains will increase during the day causing addition problems for this hard-hit area.
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