8 votes

Major broadcast TV networks mentioned climate change just once during two weeks of heat-wave coverage

4 comments

  1. Diet_Coke
    Link

    Over a two-week period from late June to early July, ABC, CBS, and NBC aired a combined 127 segments or weathercasts that discussed the heat wave, but only one segment, on CBS This Morning, mentioned climate change.

    The heat wave brought record-breaking temperatures -- during its first week, 227 U.S. records were broken for highest temperature for particular days, and during the second week, at least six locations in southern California alone saw record-breaking highs. The heat wave killed at least five people in the U.S. and up to 70 people in Quebec, Canada.

    Neither ABC nor NBC mentioned that climate change influences heat waves. There were 32 segments or weathercasts on ABC and 59 segments or weathercasts on NBC that discussed the heat wave. None of them mentioned the link between climate change and extremely high temperatures.

    Out of 36 CBS segments that mentioned the heat wave, just one mentioned climate change. The July 3 episode of CBS This Morning featured a discussion with Lonnie Quinn, chief weathercaster for WCBS-TV in New York City, who stated that there is a “really good, strong understanding that there’s a correlation between climate change and extreme hot and extreme cold” and noted the significant increase since 1970 in the number of days above 100 degrees in Miami, FL, and Austin, TX.

    4 votes
  2. [3]
    rodya
    Link
    Good, heat waves fall into weather not climate, conflating the two is the exact same mistake people make when they see snow and claim it disproves that global temperatures are increasing. And...

    Good, heat waves fall into weather not climate, conflating the two is the exact same mistake people make when they see snow and claim it disproves that global temperatures are increasing. And while the climate is so sensitive that even a small change in temperature can lead to more extreme variations in weather, the actual global temperature increase is unnoticeable to a person–it's only a few degrees. Only if there's a continuing and worsening pattern of heat waves would it be justified to attribute it to climate change imo.

    4 votes
    1. [2]
      Diet_Coke
      Link Parent
      It's only a few degrees at the equator but because of physics, that change gets more extreme as you get closer to the poles. A 2 degree Celsius change at the equator is about 12 degrees at the poles.

      There is overwhelming scientific evidence that human-induced climate change is exacerbating both the frequency and intensity of heat waves. Heat domes like the one that caused this recent heat wave are becoming more intense and more common, scientists have found. UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, who has studied extreme weather patterns in California, said recent heat in California was unusual. “The overall trend over decades to more intense and more frequent heat waves is definitely a signal of global warming,” he told The New York Times. And according to Jeff Masters, director of meteorology for Weather Underground, this recent heat wave was “the kind of thing you expect to see on a warming planet,” making it “easier to set a heat record.”


      the actual global temperature increase is unnoticeable to a person–it's only a few degrees.

      It's only a few degrees at the equator but because of physics, that change gets more extreme as you get closer to the poles. A 2 degree Celsius change at the equator is about 12 degrees at the poles.

      8 votes
      1. rodya
        Link Parent
        Well, egg on my face for only skimming the article I guess.

        Well, egg on my face for only skimming the article I guess.

        5 votes