Heat Wave Grips the Northeast, CBS Blames Global Warming

On Tuesday’s "The Early Show" on CBS, substitute co-host and regular weatherman Dave Price alluded to global warming as the cause of the heat wave that has moved into the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions:

Dave Price: "Temperatures are hotter and they're longer-lasting and farther reaching. Experts are saying it's historic and global warming may be to blame."

Price cited Jay Gulledge of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change as someone who believes Global warming is to blame:

"According to Gulledge, global warming is the most likely culprit but he says whatever's causing it, the prognosis isn't good."

A sound bite from Mr. Gulledge even linked the increase in hurricane activity to global warming:

"We can expect more frequent, longer, hotter heat waves and we can apparently expect more tropical storms in the future as well that lead to hurricanes."

There arise two problems from this story. First, that while most scientists agree the earth’s climate is getting warmer, they disagree on the cause. Statements on the Pew Center for Global Climate Change’s website, make it clear that the organization supports the notion that global warming is a man made phenomenon, a position held by many left wing environmental groups, yet not universally accepted by scientists. And second, for Mr. Gulledge to link the rise in violent hurricanes to global warming is preposterous as many scientists believe the frequency and intensity of hurricanes is cyclical.

At the end of his segment, however, Price does show a clip of a meteorologist, Christopher Landsea, from the National Hurricane Center briefing President Bush on the upcoming hurricane season, and Mr. Price notes that Landsea isn’t convinced global warming is the cause.