One of the favorite tricks of climate alarmists is to use increasing disaster costs as an indication of a “worsening climate.” This 2007 NOAA document explains why the metric is useless and misleading.
Continued coastal growth and inflation will almost certainly result in every future major landfalling hurricane (and even weaker hurricanes and tropical storms) replacing one of the
current costliest hurricanes.web.archive.org/web/20070704105347/http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-TPC-5.pdf
There have been 12 cyclones with death counts greater than 100,000 in recorded history. Almost half of them occurred during the 19th century. The two deadliest cyclones of the 20th century occurred during the 1970’s, and were blamed by climatologists on global cooling at the time.
US hurricane strikes also peaked during the 19th century
HURDAT Re-analysis Chronological List of All Hurricanes
People who claim that hurricanes are getting worse – have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SII-jhEd-a0]
Barrier Miner Monday 18 February 1952
Polar Ice Caps Melt
New York, Sunday Polar Icecaps were melting at an astonishing rate, Dr. W. S Carlson said. The water from them threatened to swamp seaports by raising ocean levels, he added. Dr. Carlson, president of the University of Vermont, is an expert on the Arctic. …..
“The glaciers of Norway and Alaska are only half the size they were 50 years ago” he added.
“The temperature around Spitsbergen has been so modified that the time the sea is free of ice has lengthened from three to eight months of the year.”
The beach is much wider now than it was in the 1950’s, and there is no indication of any sea level rise over the last 60 years at Miami Beach.
1950’s
Claims that Florida is drowning are complete nonsense, spread by snake oil salesmen.
Satellites show that sea level is rising very slowly around Florida, about 1 mm/year, or four inches per century.
Index of /pub/data/ghcn/daily/hcn/
There are 863 US HCN stations which have been continuously active since at least 1930. The six hottest years (measured by number of all-time daily records at those stations) all came during the 1930’s.
Note that 2012 looks like it was a hot year, but that was primarily due to a lot mild springtime temperatures – rather than summer heat.
15 Oct 1935 – FLOODS IN CHINA THOUSANDS OF LIVES LOST REFUGEES…
12 Apr 1935 – DUST BLAST AGAIN SWEEPS MID-WEST U.S.A. Last Hop…
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2392462?
17 Jan 1935 – COLD IN INDIA. UNPRECEDENTED CONDITIONS. Hundred…
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/29178681?
04 Jan 1935 – WINTER HEAT WAVE IN BRITAIN (Special to “The Min…
The Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday 2 July 1935
HEAT-WAVE IN FRANCE.
LONDON, July 1.
A heat wave in France, particularly in the south, caused hundreds of cases of sunstroke. The shade temperature at Toulon was 104 degrees and at Montpellier 108 degrees. A number of bathers were drowned.
02 Jul 1935 – HEAT-WAVE IN FRANCE. LONDON, July 1.
29 Mar 1935 – CAUGHT IN DROUGHT CLUTCHES. Mountainous Columns …
1936 was the most extreme weather year in US history.
20 Mar 1936 – ALL EASTERN AMERICA UNDER FLOOD WATERS Terrible…
This came right after the coldest February on record, and right before the hottest summer on record in the US.
