A few days ago there was a post regarding Harvey Leonard talking about climate change on air. In tonight’s WHDH weather blog post, Pete Bouchard links the crappy weather pattern we have experienced lately with climate change.
There are many reasons for stalled weather patterns, but I believe the biggest is the lack of sea ice from climate change. An open ocean leaves a lot of heat in the poles. This fosters high pressure (or blocks in the jetstream), and with very little movement to weather patterns at the top and bottom of the globe, we get pinned down in these long periods of heavy precipitation/drought and hot or cold.
The image in his post is worth a minute or two of study. Do click on the link and read the explanation.
Kudos to Bouchard. I don’t know if he mentioned this on-air, but at least it is in the blog. Hopefully, we are seeing the start of a trend where the meteorologists on TV, radio, and the net start tying the larger weather picture with the change in climate.
Between Massachusetts’ support for climate science & clean energy and the obvious impacts we’re getting hit with, there’s no reason for meteorologists to give us anything but the straight truth.
And there’s no excuse for TV stations to be employing deniers. So why does NECN still have Tim Kelley?
Had a chance to talk a little on the sidewalk with Boston Channel 7 WHDH-TV weatherman Pete Bouchard back in September. I asked him about broadcasting the weather and climate change. We had a good, friendly conversation. He is very aware of the issue and very disappointed that a poll shows 70% of US weathermen aren’t very worried about climate change. I asked him about the recent American Meteorological Society’s statement on climate change: “There is unequivocal evidence that Earth’s lower atmosphere, ocean and land surface warming; sea level is rising; and snow cover, mountain glaciers, and Arctic sea ice are shrinking… The dominant cause of the warming since the 1950s is human activities. This scientific finding is based on a large and persuasive body of research.” Bouchard knew the statement well and expressed shock at how many members have left the Society because of it.
for informing his viewers about the new reality we are creating by destabilizing our climate.