14 Comments

Superb, Roger and Ryan.

This recalls 2005, after Wilma. This was going to be new normal (2005 year). Then what happened?

If I have it right, 11 years + 10 mos consecutive without a cat 3 or higher hitting US coasts out of Atlantic basic as I recall.

If I'm not mistaken, that broke the old record for consecutive years in the basin without a "major", not by a month or a year but by about double (~6 years). Which had existed for around 100 years (since Galveston maybe?).

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While the graphs don't seem to indicate this, I have to ask: is there any trend of increased volatility? As you may remember, last year I hypothesized that because CO2 generated in China or India might not reach the US for a year or so, this might imply greater variability in its effects even if the average stayed virtually the same. The analogy is to a glassmaking furnace in which there is great variability in composition until the tank becomes well-mixed.

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Do climate models incorporate or account for ACE? How is ACE accounted for in global energy balances? Are you aware of on-going research that considers climate modeling from a strict energy balance perspective?

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Jan 18, 2023Liked by Roger Pielke Jr.

Roger, would you be so kind to ruminate on the Biochar issue?

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author

Not a topic I've got any expertise in, but I'll take a look

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Jan 18, 2023Liked by Roger Pielke Jr.

Is there an “accumulated precipitation” metric for TCs? Any opinion on how it would be trending?

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author

There are an increasing number of studies of precipitation from landfalling TCs. They show some mixed results related to trends and are subject to the same sort of challenges with respect to start and end dates, as we see with other TC studies. All such studies should be grounded in a mathematical and theoretical basis for what sorts of trends should be detectable at present, in the context of documented variability. The magnitude of changes projected by various climate models and summarized in the recent WMO assessments would not suggest detection is likely today.

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Jan 18, 2023Liked by Roger Pielke Jr.

The NOAA hurricane records go back to about 1850. If 170 years is not enough data, how many years do we need to see?

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author

A good point. Though the NOAA data is for the US, which is a small subset of global landfalls

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Jan 18, 2023Liked by Roger Pielke Jr.

"In 2022 there were 18 total landfalling tropical cyclones of at least hurricane strength around the world, of which 5 were major hurricanes."

Is this supposed to say 13 rather than 18? That's what is shown in the chart.

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author

The 18 includes the 5. Sorry for the confusion.

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Oh, of course. I should have realized. Thanks.

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Jan 18, 2023Liked by Roger Pielke Jr.

Have you sent a copy of this to Bill Nye, given his misconceptions on the subject?

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author

He'd probably annotate it with a sharpie ;-)

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