The idea that it has been a “light season” is false, even if storms have not been as frequent as predicted. On July 8, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas, and knocked out power to 2.5 million homes. Beryl was the earliest forming Category 5 hurricane on record. The storm completely devastated the Caribbean islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique and killed 42 people in Texas alone, and more across the Yucatán Peninsula and the Caribbean. Hurricane Debby, which Shapiro dismissed, affected Florida and other eastern states in early August, and killed at least 8 people. Louisiana is currently bracing for Hurricane Francine to make landfall on the coast. According to Forbes, the 2024 season has so far been typical, not “light.”
Both Walsh and Shapiro used the false claim to insist that the theory of climate change must not be sound or settled science. In reality, scientists are in agreement that the warming climate has been driving more severe hurricanes, particularly because of increasingly dangerous flooding.
“If you walk down the street and trip over your shoelace and get a concussion, global warming,” Walsh said. “There’s nothing that can disprove it. There’s nothing that can contradict the theory. All events prove the theory, which tells you that there’s a problem with the theory.”
Ben Shario falsely claimed that “we have no idea to what extent” humans are driving climate change, and later accused scientists of “shaping the data to fit the outcome” and creating a “scientifically unfalsifiable matrix” when researchers and scientists tried to speculate about why there seemed to be a lull.
The Washington Post story cited by Walsh and Shapiro discusses how despite the storms that have already occurred, this Atlantic hurricane season appears to be quieter than predicted by meteorologists so far. The Post’s Scott Dance interviewed researcher Phil Klotzbach, who is “the author of one of the most trusted and longest-running hurricane season outlooks.” Klotzbach is reportedly concerned that if the hurricane season isn’t as severe as predicted, it could erode public trust in meteorologists. Dance concluded that “many who warned the public to prepare for a dangerous summer and fall are now caught in the awkward position of almost rooting for storms, lest they end up eating crow,” although none of the interviewees expressed that they were “rooting for” extreme weather.
In response, Walsh suggested that those warning Americans to take precautions are “rooting for deadly storms to devastate your community. They are rooting for your house to wash away. … How many times do we have to prove here that climate alarmists are just anti-human? They are fundamentally anti-human.”
Importantly, peak season has just begun, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs through the end of November. Hurricane Ian, which was the third costliest storm on record, occurred at the end of September in 2022, dissipating on October 1.
Weather and climate expert Dr. Marshall Shepherd wrote for Forbes, “Are we behind the projections for a hyperactive 2024 season? Yes. Is current activity less than a typical season? No.”
“Hurricanes are destructive and change lives. I am always pulling for the lower end of these projections,” wrote Shepherd.
Hurricane Katrina taught us that making sure communities are well prepared for natural disasters, even if they don’t end up happening, is far from anti-human.
