Note Updated Information in Comments Pertaining to Question "D." The blogosphere has lit up today over the interviews published by the BBC with Dr. Phil Jones whose emails are central to Climategate and who, next to Dr. Jim Hansen of NASA, was probably the strongest scientist-advocate of 'global warming.' As a result of the Climategate emails, he is suspended from his position at the UK Climate Research Unit. Because there has been so much reporting and opining about the interview today, I have decided to post the interview so readers can read his words for themselves.  The questions are in bold, Dr. Jones' responses in regular type, and my comments in red.  I have not altered the text in any way except to delete some non-pertinent questions. The entire interview is here . Because of the length, I am posting in three parts. Phil Jones is director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA), which has been at the centre of the ...

Dana Milbank of The Washington Post  has a reasonable column today regarding 'global warming.' You may have heard all the nonsense (unfortunately repeated here in GW = greater moisture = more snow ... which isn't true) about all of the recent snow "proving" 'global warming.' Milbank says, Still, there's some rough justice in the conservatives' cheap shots. In Washington's blizzards, the greens were hoist by their own petard. For years, climate-change activists have argued by anecdote to make their case. Gore, in his famous slide shows, ties human-caused global warming to increasing hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought and the spread of mosquitoes, pine beetles and disease. It's not that Gore is wrong about these things. The problem is that his storm stories have conditioned people to expect an endless worldwide heat wave, when in fact the changes so far are subtle. Other environmentalists have undermined the cause with  claims...

We learned this past week of the passing of Frank Magid, one of the most influential people in the history of television news. Frank was the founder and CEO of Frank Magid Associates , a television news consultant hired by local stations to improve the ratings and quality of their news programs, a service that started in the 1970's and continues to this day. Magid created "Action News" which emphasized jazzy graphics, catchy musical openings, consumer reporting, and, yes, enhanced TV weather coverage. To see the legacy of Mr. Magid's work, Google "Action News" and look at all of the markets that use it as their moniker.  And, yes, Eyewitness News  was created by a Magid competitor, etc. In Warnings, I talk about what happened after our revolutionary coverage of the June 8, 1974, tornado outbreak in Oklahoma. We were visited by a consultant to learn about how we did what we did saving so many lives that day. The consultant was Frank Magid and one of his ...

Today's Kansas City Sta r   has an article about television meteorologists (and, in this case, all are degreed meteorologists) who do not agree with the American Meteorological Society's position on global warming. I am briefly mentioned in the article after spending about 45 minutes on the phone with reporter Rick Montgomery and exchanging a number of emails. I do not envy a reporter trying to sort through all of this and Rick did a reasonably good job. There are some comments I want to make regarding the article: It is important to know that meteorologists are not climatologists. In context, the article make this sound like a handicap in understanding the atmosphere. I believe the reverse is true and that is why so many meteorologists are skeptical of the IPCC's 'global warming' hypothesis. Consider this:  Probably the single most important scientist in the IPCC is Dr. James Hansen of NASA.  I have his vitae which can be downloaded here. If you look at his...

Sorry for the lack of blogging since Friday evening. We have been in celebration mode with the book finished and Valentine's Day.  I'll have some fresh posts up today.

I have just been officially notified Warnings  is "at press."  I started writing in October, 2005, so I guess that makes it 40 months.  Long time to be "pregnant."  Can't wait for the birth on May 1!

Meteorologists often talk about "power flashes." These bluish "apparent explosions (when viewed from a distance) occur when power lines are disconnected or create short circuits with electrical transformers.   KXAS TV in Ft. Worth has video.  The snow weighted down tree limbs which sagged onto the lines and created the flashes. Power flashes also occur in ice storms, high winds, and tornadoes.  Flashes are one of the surest ways of confirming a tornado at night.