There is No Such Thing as a "Stable" Climate

It must be because of the climate meeting now going on in Brazil that odd climate claims are on full display this week. From Time magazine:

The fire was caused by arson and below is the person who is being held in prison for it.

Arson has nothing to do with climate change! 

This morning, a meteorologist I respect wrote about the catastrophic July 4 Texas flash floods and included this unfortunate sentence:

That, of course, also assumes that we are living in a stable climate — which we are not.

Below is a yearly plot of earth's ocean/land temperature (HADCrut5) which is generally accepted as a valid measure of temperature by the climate community. As "climate" is defined by the UN's IPCC as a minimum 30 year period, do you see a period where the temperatures are "stable" (flat) for 30 or more years? Of course not. 

The following are facts. The worst storms in history (by intensity, not loss of life) in the contiguous United States were about 100 years ago with one exception:

• Worst flood: 1927
• Worst tornado: 1925
• Worst drought: 1930's
• Worst hurricane: 1935
• Worst wildfire: 1825

Now consider....

Given the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season is over, unless there is some unexpected event between now and January 1 (major earthquake, tsunami, etc.), 2025 worldwide will have the smallest number of natural disaster deaths in human history!!  This is a tremendous accomplishment. Meteorologists and related scientists should be shouting from the rooftops and celebrating!!!

In the U.S., we didn't have an especially good year: neglect of the Helene victims in North Carolina and far east Tennessee, in St. Louis during and after the tornado, and -- of course -- the Texas July 4 flash floods. We know how to do better and we need to fix these issues!

But blaming every unfortunate condition on global warming is pure politics and bad science. It needs to stop. Let's celebrate the end of 2025 with a toast to weather science for all it has accomplished across the world.