NBC Nightly News Blames Halloween Snowstorm on Global Warming

By Noel Sheppard | November 03, 2011 | 11:12

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You knew some major news outlet was going to blame this weekend's east coast snowstorm on global warming.

On Tuesday, the folks on the NBC Nightly News did precisely that (video follows with transcript and commentary):

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: Everybody out East said the same thing about this freak snowstorm, `This kind of thing didn't used to happen. This never happened before.' And while that is true, it may also be true that we'll all have to start getting used to this kind of thing over the long haul. That story tonight from our chief environmental affairs correspondent, Anne Thompson.

ANNE THOMPSON reporting: Around the world, it seems like the weather is going to extremes, not just the Halloween snowstorm in the Northeast, but record-breaking flooding in Thailand, 1400 new highs hit in the US just in the month of July, Moscow reaching 101 degrees in the summer of 2010, heat and wildfires consuming southern Australia in 2009.

Dr. GERRY MEEHL: This is the future and we're already experiencing climate change.

THOMPSON: Dr. Gerry Meehl is the senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. He says our warming planet makes extreme weather events more likely as greenhouse gases created by burning fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal, alter the climate.

Dr. MEEHL: Just as steroids make the baseball player stronger and increase his chances of hitting home runs, the greenhouse gases are the steroids of the climate system. They increase the chances of record-breaking heat to occur compared to record-breaking cold.

THOMPSON: If the climate weren't changing, the ratio would be one record hot day to one record cold day. Meehl says we saw two record hot days for every record cold day in the last decade, and this year we are on a three-to-one pace.

Heat and little rainfall have parched Texas for the last year, making it, in the words of state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, the worst one-year drought in Texas history.

Mr. JOHN NIELSEN-GAMMON (Texas State Climatologist): This is really the first time when climate change--the impact of climate change has manifested itself in a tangible way within the state of Texas.

THOMPSON: Adding to all this, a new study that finds global warming is real and that the science behind it is not impacted by bias, bad data or cities that act as heat islands.

Professor RICHARD MULLER (University of California-Berkeley): The existence of global warming, I think, is pretty much beyond dispute now. I think we have closed the last remaining questions on that.

THOMPSON: Muller's study is getting a lot of attention because it was funded in part by a foundation backed by Charles and David Koch. They are oil billionaires and climate change deniers. Today no one can deny that extreme weather is here to stay. Brian:

WILLIAMS: All I know is this didn't happen when we were kids. Anne Thompson on the change in our weather. Thanks.

All I know is this didn't happen when we were kids.

And that somehow makes it historic.

After all, snow records in this region only go back to 1869. That of course is extremely convenient for the global warming enthusiasts as the rise in temperatures according to this climactic theory begins in 1850.

Funny how that works.

Yet October snows in the northeast though infrequent do occur. As Accuweather reported Monday:

The last time that Central Park recorded measurable snow was on Oct. 21, 1952 when 0.5 of an inch fell. Prior to that, 0.8 of an inch fell on Oct. 30, 1925. [...]

A record snowfall of 6.0 inches was set at Bangor, Maine, on Sunday. This broke the old record of 5.0 inches set back in 1963.

The point being that it does snow in this region in October. I actually have firsthand knowledge of this.

On October 4, 1987, I was scheduled to be married in, ironically, Williamstown, Massachusetts, when an historic snowstorm hit cancelling the nuptials until the following day:

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

With this in mind, despite what Williams does and does not remember, October snowstorms do happen in the northeast, and we don't have to go back that far to prove it.

One can only imagine what kind of storms hit this region during the Little Ice Age of the 16th through 19th centuries. But since Williams and Thompson weren't alive, and snowfall records began in 1869, weather events earlier than that seem unimportant.

This of course is common for climate alarmists, so we shouldn't be the slightest bit surprised.

In their view, whatever is happening today couldn't possibly have happened before records starting being kept, and therefore all weather events outside "the norm" are considered extreme and therefore proof of climate change.

Quite confirms Bernie Goldberg's point this week about nightshift employees at 7-Eleven having more introspection than today's journalists.

*****Update: Wouldn't it be nice if a news outlet the size of NBC actually looked at the climate history in this region to see when blizzards like this happened in the past? Like in 1925 AND 1930?

Additionally, you know how hysterical NBC was being when one of the leading climate alarmists in the country thought they did a great job!

About the Author

Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Click here to follow Noel Sheppard on Twitter.

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happened in 2003 (or 04) here in Maine

Submitted by dmacleo on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:19am.

about the same amount too, 8-12 inches like I had last week.
cannot remember if was 03 or 04, remember flying out of snow in bangor to oppressive heat in dallas.

dmacleo http://www.theconservativevoices.com

Where is the head banging on

Submitted by MaximusBraveheart on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:24am.

Where is the head banging on wall GIF? All MSM propagating lies needs to be fired so that we may consider watching such shows again. Not until then!

-- Maximusbraveheart -- Is TRUTH knowable? Moral Relativism is the abandonment of Truth. Truth is knowable. Truth conforms to Reality. Reality is observable by evidence & witness in this day & from history. Relativism is Sesame Street play land.

Brian Williams is pushing hard...

Submitted by KyWriter on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:26am.

...to become the new Ted Baxter. (But Ted's shoes are too big for Brian to fill.)

"This kind of thing didn't used to happen"??

Submitted by MightyMouth on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:33am.

Really? Liberal memories are about as short as their... well you know what I mean...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, unless my friend is more evil than my enemy."

Sea oh Two.... what a crock.

Submitted by upcountrywater on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:33am.

One of the oldest thermometers on the planet./co-2

Hello it was a SNOWSTORM not a RAINSTORM ....

You Didn't Build That.

Just once!

Submitted by jon_torlin on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:33am.

Just once, I pray, just once,can't they just not blame the weather on anything so phony and just appreciate the fact that we can adapt to just about any adverse weather conditions?

Of course, I say "we can" but because of the felonius balonius bravo sierra that comes from the likes of the Sierra Club and many other wackos, we're not allowed to adapt by way of technology which lead us to less electricity being produced or easier means to keep us warm. Hell, they get mad if you even try to build a fire to keep warm!

It would be so easy to find ways to adapt to changing conditions, but instead, they just pursue ways to blame people for things out of their control.

-Jon

Finally,

Submitted by fastfood on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 1:24pm.

Finally, a voice of reason in this crazy world. Why won’t the global warming nut cases realize that the planet is going to continue evolving with or with out us, regardless how much we try to screw things up? And that we're supposed to learn to adapt to nature, not the other way around. Like the late, great George Carlin said, leave nature alone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw&nofeather=True

If it ain't broke, why screw it up.

dead horse refrigeration costs

Submitted by spepper on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:34am.

How much is there in the NBC budget to pay for refrigeration costs for dead horses, such as the one they keep dragging out like clockwork, whenver they want to blame something on "manmade global warming"?

Apparently, a lot.....

They're just making this

Submitted by Ed Gregory on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:35am.

They're just making this shiite up as they go. Anything to fit the narrative. Whenever you hear the words "record" or "freak" in relation to a weather event, "climate change" and "global warming" won't be far behind.

And with this report, Brian Williams has officially made my personal list of people who I'd love to sock in the teeth if I ever met them. There's only so much lying, slander and insult my way of life and beliefs can take. If the occupiers wanna get nuts, so do I.

By definition

Submitted by pockets64 on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:40am.

By definition, 2nd Amendment supporters are better equipped to handle violent confrontation.

If the union thugs and these protesters want to bring their mess to my neighborhood, go ahead. But be warned: If you step on my lawn I will interpret it as an attempt to cause my family or me harm. I am equipped to respond appropriately.

Could. Not. Agree. More.

Submitted by Ed Gregory on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:45am.

Could. Not. Agree. More.

"...respond appropriately."

Submitted by Rackie on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:07pm.

yes, by all means keep your cell phone handy 'cause when seconds count LE will be there in minutes. //

Union leader says take over the bridges over if OWS fails

Submitted by MaximusBraveheart on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 2:05pm.

Thugs & Robin Hoods in their own mind. Problem is Robin Hood was stopping a corrupt government that was stealing more than its "fair share" from the working citizens.

Here the unions WANT to steal from the citizens with government force. Their understanding of the story of Robin Hood is turned 180 degrees backwards.

You gotta love the global warming theory!

Submitted by pockets64 on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:36am.

Blizzards prove the theory. No snow and melting ice and glaciers prove the theory. Droughts prove the theory. Floods prove the theory.

And this one is a new one for me: Any weather we don't personally recall from our childhoods proves the theory.

So, with some of us recalling this stuff from our childhoods and others not, does this mean that global warming is happening only for some of us?

Of course it is. Global warming is happening

Submitted by Lipton on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:45am.

for liberals and the rest of us understand that weather systems are dynamic.

I'd like to see the liberals just come out with exactly what they think the weather should be every day of the year. I mean pick a plan stick to it. If it means we don't have to go to work on some days to try and reach the desired temperature by the weekend. Let's go all in and pretend that we actually control the weather. I am all for it!

I'd like to thank Hollywood for renewing my interest in reading.

Ya know what I remember from

Submitted by ant on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 8:59pm.

Ya know what I remember from childhood? Constant scenes of violence in the Middle East on the news, perpetrated by the 'Religion of peace', and yet, when it comes to that subject, the MSM are in serious denial. Climate change, they'll accept.

Brian Williams, you are the benchmark!!

Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:50am.

I'm pretty sure from my observations that increased CO2 in the atmosphere causes an increase in stupidity in certain homo sapiens.

Americans keeping their own earnings is a Civil Right! Demand your Civil Rights!

No. This is one for the record books folks.

Submitted by The Vet on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:32pm.

Brian Williams: Everybody out East said the same thing about this freak snowstorm, `This kind of thing didn't used to happen. This never happened before.'

Too bad "everybody" does not have access to the internet and 15 seconds of google time.

Earliest snowfall in Washington DC -

Oct 5, 1892 - Trace
Oct 10, 1979 - .03"

All I know is people weren't this stupid when we were kids

Submitted by dbo on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:07pm.

Why didn't any of these great churnalists ask Dr. Meehl why the climate experts that predicted lower snowfall amounts have been so wrong. From the very first IPCC/Greenpeace/WWF assessment report 21 years ago in 1990:

Consistent with the surface and tropospheric temperature measurements is the rapid decrease in snow cover extent around 1980 (Figure 7.19). This decrease is largest during the transition seasons. Robinson and Dewey (1990) note that the reduction in snow cover extent during the 1980s is largest in Eurasia where they calculate decreases during autumn and spring of about 13% and 9% respectively relative to the 1970s.

I think October classifies as autumn and a transitional season, don't you? Incidentally, the lead author of this chapter in 1990 was Tom Karl, current head of NOAA. Contributing authors were the likes of Phil Jones and Kevin Trenberth.

So let's get this straight

Submitted by Walker01049 on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:14pm.

If it gets colder and the glaciers in the arctic get bigger it was caused by global warming. Makes sense to me.

When WE were kids ...

Submitted by metaphorsbwithu on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:17pm.

All I know is, when Arctic sea ice reached the bottom level in Summer of 2007, the experts said open seas would absorb more heat and less and less ice would form in the winter months, more and more ice would melt in summer months until, some said, ice would totally disappear from the Arctic in a few short years (about now).

Summer ice, while lower than the 1979-2000 "average" they love to use as the benchmark, has never dropped below that and winter ice formation since has increased dramatically and the winters have been longer and harder.

And Antarctic ice, which comprises 93% of global ice is STILL growing - a curious fact they NEVER mention and curious since they are now playing this "so many days hot against so many days cold" game.

All I know is, we never heard so much "opinion" and "propaganda" from the network news when WE were kids.

metaphorsbwithu

Williams

Submitted by grammajane on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:25pm.

is so pathetic. His "news" is meaningless.The protesters should protest him and all his millions he earns trying to come across as a news specialist. He makes millions reading a teleprompter. Probably makes more then most bankers.

Please explain

Submitted by creekrat on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:35pm.

When any one of these warming believers can explain past glaciers, tree stumps appearing from under the ice ect, maybe then I'll start listening. But they can never covince me that we are the cause !!

All I know is we had no Brontosauruses when I was a kid.

Submitted by SickofLibs on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:40pm.

Good morning SoL

Submitted by cocodrie on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:46pm.

We had 'em when I was a kid but that damn global warming killed 'em. I'm praying that this global cooling will bring 'em back.

Jesus Loves You so much He died for you

It has warmed since the 1850's

Submitted by taznar on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:44pm.

"That of course is extremely convenient for the global warming enthusiasts as the rise in temperatures according to this climactic theory begins in 1850."

Its also convenient in that the mid 1800's also ended a period referred to as the Little Ice Age. So one would expect warming (in general) following a very cold period. I sometimes wonder if the whole AGW scare could have been averted if we hadn't started measuring temperatures at the end of a cold climate period. Its like getting a thermometer in February and starting to record temperatures every day. By the time July comes to an end, you're going to be convinced the rivers and oceans will be boiling by the end of the year -That is, if you were unaware of the natural cycles.

I wonder....

Submitted by fastfood on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 1:42pm.

I wonder what ever happened to the coming ice age of the 1970's.

If it ain't broke, why screw it up.

That ice age

Submitted by jon_torlin on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 1:47pm.

It was canceled due to warm weather with a slight chance for rain.

-Jon

Brian Williams - Hack, Liar, Idiot, Propagandist, Stooge, Doofus

Submitted by Phryj1 on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:46pm.

Or, NBC "News" employee for short.

Progressives seem to be completely averse to facts and logic. Apparently, reality has a conservative bias.

"Climate Change" the gift that keeps on giving

Submitted by JayVee on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:49pm.

Neat thing about the Global Warming (now climate change) alarmists theory is that EVERYTHING fits.
Too hot? Global warming!
Too cold? Global warming!
Too dry? Global warming!
Too wet? Global warming!
No snow? Global warming!
Too much snow? Global warming!
Al Gore running off at the mouth? Now THAT'S global warming!!!

Oct 4th snow storm . .

Submitted by Gary Hall on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 1:03pm.

A simple observation for Brian Williams. Noel's (Mr. Weather Maker) freakish Oct 4th storm is almost a full month before this year's Halloween storm.

Williams: This kind of thing didn't used to happen. This never happened before.

Also important to note on the 2011 Texas heat/drought year, is that all Williams needs to do is run over to NOAA 's Temp - US Statewide Analysis - site and pull up the 110 year temperature chart for Texas - where, he'd quickly see that there is no increasing temperature trend for Texas in the official weather history. In fact, the temperature trend for Texas, 1895-2011 is a minus 0.1 degree F. per decade. This year was an anomaly as was the hectic tornado season earlier, and the early winter weather in the north this year. They are all connected - and have nothing to do with man-made climate change.

Hey Noel. From watching Muller's interview the other day, I have a sneaking suspicion that he'd like to have Williams remove his rather out of context statement [excerpted] from this spot. Muller suggested that Al Gore was a dangerous quack, for making such wild unscientific statements/presentations - as Brian Williams is doing here.

(;~/ gary

To the point on Global Money Grab

Submitted by hbnolikeee on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 1:07pm.

Check out this question:

Gimme your money

hbnolikeee

Thanks, Noel

Submitted by MCLIJazz on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 1:08pm.

I updated my post-snowstorm/Nor'easter blog post with a link to your post here: http://mikechimeriblog.com/2011/10/30/snowtober-in-wantagh/

Little Ice Age of the 16th through 19th centuries

Submitted by Conservator on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 1:41pm.

Bravo Noel; the Little Ice Age (LIA) is never mentioned when those who Worship at the Altar of Anthropogenic Global Warming. The reason is simple, temperatures dropped globally from the 16th through 19th centuries because of the LIA. This is the only means they have to demonstrate a sharp increase in temperatures - you know, like the infamous Mann "Hockey Stick Model" that has been widely discredited based on Climategate.

BTW, wasn't it Professor Muller of Berkeley University in California who published a new climate study and wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last month claiming he was a global warming skeptic? But NOW based on the results of his study, he states "Global warming is real." This allowed leftist MSM gurus like Eugene Robinson at The Post to author the following article:

The scientific finding that settles the climate-change debate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-scientific-finding-that-settl...

If you Google "The scientific finding that settles the climate-change debate," you will have 6,940,000 hits and thousands of articles on this NON PEER REVIEWED STUDY. Unfortunately, "Prof. Judith Curry, who chairs the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at America’s prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology, said that Prof. Muller’s claim that he has proven global warming skeptics wrong was also a ‘huge mistake’, with no scientific basis" (see below):

Scientist who said climate change sceptics had been proved wrong accused of hiding truth by colleague
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2055191/Scientists-said-c...

The Earth's history is one where climate change has existed since the first atmosphere formed. There are many reasons why the Earth's climate changes that have nothing to do with carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, the Global Warmers seem not to care - why muddy the waters with real science?

Now, all they need...

Submitted by Dave the mailman on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 1:49pm.

....is to purge the history books of ANY record or even mention of the ICE AGE.

What has happened to the NBC

Submitted by jessieH on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 2:57pm.

What has happened to the NBC news? Don't they realize that global warming is caused by the sun rising, every morning?

Muller's study is getting a lot of attention because it

Submitted by Blorg on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 4:02pm.

isn't published yet and he's been banging the drum for it nonstop.

The Ice Age Is as Soon As Al Gore Gives Satellite Address

Submitted by Avitar on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 5:26pm.

Twenty thousand years ago the Shore of Connecticut was under three thousand feet of Ice. The last three million years have been the coldes years in the last five ahd a half billion yeas since the Snowball earth Ice Ages.

It could be that the earth might slide back into another Snowball Earth condition. Those who call for fighting Global Warming should be required to prove that this is not the condition. The earth has been much warmer than it is now, maybe 50 degrees celcius but six degrees celcius cooler is all it would take to put the world back into a Snowball earth and the only life that survived that lived around the black smokers on the ocean bottom ore on the bottom of the ice sheet which completely covered the oceans except where volcanos were erupting.

The Congress should hold heating on how to halt global cooling becatuse that will kill everything.

Brian Williams

Submitted by lukey on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 5:44pm.

Uh, Brian, I remember the massive Midwest blizzard in mid-April sometime in the 70's, so it DID happen when we were kids you moron! Not that it means much, scientifically speaking.

about the weather in Oz around 2009

Submitted by surfergirl54 on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 5:58pm.

As an Aussie, I note with derision, the the claim that the fires and weather conditions that we had end 2009-2010 were in any way freak. The highest temperatures in February 2010 were not new. They were experienced in 1959 and again in 1939, and in fact those years were hotter.

Bushfires in Australia are nothing new. During my lifetime I have experienced many of them in both NSW and Victoria. I was fortunate enough not to be in the ACT when they had the big bushfire more than 10 years ago.

Does "global warming" cause bushfires? In about 1% of bushfires there is spontaneous combustion. The majority of bushfires are deliberately lit, and sometimes, not deliberately lit, but caused by human carelessness on a total fire ban day.

Yes, here in Oz, we have so many bushfires that when the weather indicates there could be extremes we are not allowed to have fires in the open. Yet you cannot stop idiots from butting their cigarettes out of a car window, and sparking a fire.

The conditions in the February 2010 when we had one of the worst ever bushfires in Victoria were indeed extreme, and no one really saw the firestorm coming. However, that bushfire was preventable. The issue is not man-made global warming but Greenie stupidity. In one of the areas that was worst hit, and with the worst loss of life, including the death of the newsman Brian Naylor and his wife, the local council was run by the Green (aka Watermelon) Party. They put in place a range of stupid laws that prevents property owners from being able to clear trees that are close to their houses. Guess which houses were burnt down!! On top of their stupid laws, there was also the fact that they failed to clear the undergrowth and do the necessary backburning that would have provided a firebreak.

Yearly bushfires in Australia are simply a part of the landscape. I grew up in Victoria and every summer there were severe bushfires. I still remember some from the 1960s in the Dandenong Mountains that were severe. I was alive in 1959 when we experienced extreme temperatures during late January. One of my sisters was fighting for her life in hospital at the time, after we had a near-fatal car crash. Of course I was too young to remember much of the details related to the weather, but I do recall those hot nights where, ever summer we used to set up the TV set at the doorway of our home and then sit and watch outside.

proud to be amongst those who are anti-global warming and anti climate change. The Australian heatwave and Victorian bushfires were not the result of climate change.

Interesting read.

Submitted by Quasi-socialist on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 6:16pm.

Thanks.

It's getting attention because of the Koch industries!

Submitted by Denny Crane on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 2:26am.

Funny how that is important but not a word about the co-author saying Muller is LYING.

As far as not seeing snow storms as a kid? HAHAHAHA

I survived the blizzard of 82!

Be on the lookout for random acts of journalism from the MSM~h/t Rush

We Are The 53%

Just imagine ..

Submitted by 4Deuce on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 7:48am.

If the Cubs ever win a World Series, there will be 50% of the maddog warmists who say its because of Global Warming. Because they live life with blinders on, it is all they can see as an answer to any quesiton.