Bill Nye’s videos are classics in being well-produced, entertaining, and educational. He’s pretty much a staple of my childhood.
But judging by a recent interview, Bill should probably just stay there.
Nye said climate change has to be considered after a catastrophic weather event like the devastating tornado in Oklahoma. He also claimed 10 of the last 12 years are the “warmest years recorded.”
However, according to the BBC:
Since 1998, there has been an unexplained ‘standstill’ in the heating of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Also, it’s May, which is right in the middle of tornado season, in Oklahoma, right in the middle of Tornado Alley. This is equivalent to blaming changing leaf colors in fall on global warming or climate change.
Nye continued on Twitter:
Oklahoma City was hit hard again. Has anyone asked Oklahoma Senator Inhofe about the three large storms in the 14 years?
Nye refers to Oklahoma Senator Inhofe, who has been a long-standing opponent of the global warming/climate change lobby.
Weather forecaster Joe Bastardi responded:
Its called Oklahoma. Look at facts will you. Major tornados on decrease, 2x people there than in 50s
Bastardi included an infographic showing a significant downturn in F3+ tornadoes, showing them at their lowest level on average since 1954.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BKzRlEdCcAEmTzJ.jpg
In fact, there are less than 20% as many violent tornadoes this year than there were in the worst year in the past 60 years for tornadoes, 1974. So while we apparently live in the throes of ‘global warming’ or ‘climate change’, the worst years we’ve had were long before these.
Every time there’s a destructive storm, whether it’s Hurricane Sandy or Katrina, or a tornado, or a freeze—there are more humans living in that area than at any point in human history, exposing more people to the storms native to that area. Take the 1938 New England hurricane, one of the worst in US history. It killed around 700 people, causing around $306 million in damage, as a Category 3 hurricane at landfall. If that hit today, it would probably kill in the tens of thousands, and cause in the billions of damage. The same would happen if the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 hit today. There are millions more people in the direct path of storm-susceptible areas now. Big storms aren’t increasing—they’re on the downswing—but there will be more large tragedies just by virtue of where people live.
