Wednesday, March 30, 2016

A change in the weather people


A few years ago, it was somewhat problematic that many TV weather forecasters didn't understand climate change, or worse, didn't believe it was happening, and didn't want to take a stand on the basics of how humans are contributing to it.   So this lack of understanding and comprehension on their part could lead them have influenced their watchers with a lack of certainty on the actuality of, and the causes of, climate change.

That appears to be changing itself.

As reported at ThinkProgress:

Climate Skepticism Has Lost Major Ground Among Weather Experts
"Some 99 percent of U.S. weathercasters — those who communicate weather forecasts on TV or radio, but who aren’t always trained meteorologists — accept the fact that climate change is happening, according to preliminary findings from a George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication study released Thursday.

Sounds good, right?  Well, there's still a bloc that thinks most or all of the observed change is natural.
"However, skepticism persists even among AMS members, a group that tends to have more trained weather scientists. In fact, about 18 percent of AMS members attribute climate change mostly — or entirely — to natural events. For weathercasters, that figure is slightly higher — 24 percent, according to the survey. Maibach said that’s natural."
Progress is good. A few more El Niño winters like this one, and there will be even less who think it's all natural.


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