The Inconvenience of Ernesto

Ernesto is no Katrina.

From The Palm Beach Post:

Despite a weakening Tropical Storm Ernesto, whose sustained winds range from 25 to 30 mph, forecasters warned that gusts as high as 51 mph and downpours likely will snap limbs, reduce visibility and endanger drivers and pedestrians. At the Lake Worth Pier, a 45 mile per hour gust was recorded at 7:17 a.m.; the National Hurricane Center meteorologists also received an unofficial report of a 51 mph gust in Boca Raton at 8:20 a.m.. Palm Beach International Airport recorded a 40 mph gust at 9:51 a.m.

Those wind gusts don't even make "severe thunderstorm" status.

"It hasn't been a totally quiet storm," said National Weather Service meteorologist Rob Molleda. He noted that as of 10 a.m., Florida Power and Light had 7,652 customers without power. Crews will work to restore power as long as Ernesto's winds remain below a sustained 35 mph.

It's horrible to be without power. I'm not diminishing the hardships that causes. However, a squirrel gnawing a wire on a sunny day can cause more power outages than Ernesto did in Florida.

Ernesto also contributed to at least one traffic fatality, due to wet road conditions, Molleda said.

Sadly, traffic fatalities occur daily, even in the best driving conditions.

...The weak and relatively dry storm caused no damage or flooding in Palm Beach County, Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento said this morning.

"It just died out," Bonvento said. "Fortunately, I guess, it just never materialized. It just started breaking up a lot quicker then they anticipated when it hit the land mass, which is good for us. We'll just use this opportunity as another learning exercise."

..."Wind-wise, it's a non-event for Palm Beach County," said meteorologist Eric Swartz. "Don't look for sustained tropical force winds pretty much anywhere," he said.

But localized rainfall of 3-4 inches in some low-lying areas of the county could still cause flooding, Swartz said.

...The heaviest rainfall documented so far was along southwest Florida, with most falling off shore. According to SFWMD estimates, about 2 inches had fallen in the Everglades National Park in a 24-hour period ending at 6:30 a.m., making it the hardest hit area by Wednesday morning. Areas of Miami-Dade saw a half inch to one-and-a-half inches in the same period.

Thankfully, Ernesto really fizzled out.

It's not good news for Al Gores's An Inconvenient Truth. A hurricane season packed with monster storms would help advance the agenda of the global warming "sky is falling" alarmists, not to mention interest in his movie.

I'm reminded of environmentalist wacko Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s intitial response to Katrina.

From one year ago--
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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. displayed a disturbing lack of judgment when he chose to blame Hurricane Katrina on President Bush and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. He marginalizes himself by making such ridiculous accusations.

Being the radical environmental extremist that he is, Kennedy doesn't hesitate to attack his political foes, even as the extent of the devastation from Katrina is still being calculated.

He didn't have the decency to wait for the dead to be counted.

He writes:

On March 13, Bush reversed his previous position, announcing he would not back a CO2 restriction using the language and rationale provided by Barbour. Echoing Barbour’s memo, Bush said he opposed mandatory CO2 caps, due to “the incomplete state of scientific knowledge” about global climate change.

Well, the science is clear. This month, a study published in the journal Nature by a renowned MIT climatologist linked the increasing prevalence of destructive hurricanes to human-induced global warming.

The science is NOT clear, AT ALL.

I would like him to explain the connection between human-induced global warming and monster storms of the past. If the global warming he blames on Bush and Barbour caused Katrina, what caused monster Hurricane Camille?

Camille hit thirty-six years ago.

Strongest hurricanes that struck the United States, measured by central pressure readings

1. Florida Keys, 1935, 892 millibars, 26.35 inches

2. Camille, 1969, 909 millibars, 26.84 inches

3. Andrew, 1992, 922 millibars, 27.23 inches

4. Florida Keys and Texas, 1919, 927 millibars, 27.37 inches

5. Lake Okeechobee, 1928, 929 millibars, 27.43 inches

6. Donna, 1960, 930 millibars, 27.46 inches

7. Galveston, 1900, 931 millibars, 27.49 inches

7. Grand Isle, 1909, 931 millibars, 27.49 inches

7. New Orleans, 1915, 931 millibars, 27.49 inches

7. Carla, 1961, 931 millibars, 27.49 inches

A quick glance at the strongest hurricanes to hit the U.S. debunks Kennedy's theory. The science supporting a relationship between human-induced global warming and destructive hurricanes is murky at best.

For example:

1997 was an unusually quiet year in the tropics, one that crossed up forecasters and was a welcome relief from the ferocious 1995 and 1996 seasons.

The year's meager totals -- seven named storms, three hurricanes, one major hurricane with winds of more than 110 mph -- fell well below the seasonal average of 10 storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

Only one storm made landfall in the United States this year. For the first time since 1961, no storms formed in August. And only one storm developed during August and September, the traditional peak of hurricane activity. The last time that happened was 1929.

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Forecasters were wrong about 1997. They predicted a rough hurricane season, but it didn't happen. It's still early, but so far, 2006 hasn't lived up to the dire warnings of forecasters either.

Kennedy concluded his 2005 rant with this:

Now we are all learning what it’s like to reap the whirlwind of fossil fuel dependence which Barbour and his cronies have encouraged. Our destructive addiction has given us a catastrophic war in the Middle East and--now--Katrina is giving our nation a glimpse of the climate chaos we are bequeathing our children.

How dramatic and WRONG!

In sum, it was a thoroughly classless move for Kennedy to blame President Bush and Governor Barbour for Katrina.

It was a thoroughly clueless move for Kennedy to equate "climate chaos" with "our destructive addiction" to oil.