Nature goes nuts: Are greenhouse gases to blame for deadly hurricane?
Oct 7, 2016, 6:05 AM | Updated: 11:30 am
Hurricane Matthew reportedly has two eyes and it is 120 miles across. KIRO Radio's Dave Ross wonders if we are to blame. (AP)
(AP)
Here it is again, another giant storm.
Hurricane Matthew reportedly has two eyes and it is 120 miles across.
“This hurricane is unlike any hurricane we’ve ever seen,” the Daytona Beach police chief explained.
And you’ve probably wondered whether perhaps greenhouse gases could be to blame for nature’s latest attempt to wipe us off the face of the earth.
Related: Comparing hurricane wind speeds to Seattle’s strongest storms
And what I’m noticing is that if the strength of these storms is because of greenhouse gases, we’re screwed. I say that because more and more studies are finding that greenhouse gases are not just released by cars and power plants.
Methane for example. It’s coming from decaying vegetation in reservoirs. It’s coming from the Arctic — where the melting permafrost causes forests to sink and decay underwater — and the result is so much methane that you can light the ice on fire, as students from the University of Alaska did.
Methane is also increasing due to swamp gas, rice fields, and cow burps.
The idea that all these forms of flatulence could be causing what we’re seeing in Florida seems absurd, but then so is the idea of a storm 120 miles across. With two eyes!
Below, NOAA flies into Hurricane Matthew
Very turbulent flight today into the eye of powerful Cat 4 #HurricaneMatthew on WP-3D Orion #NOAA43. Credit: CAPT Tim Gallagher/NOAA pic.twitter.com/8VJpKzs3mn
— NOAAHurricaneHunters (@NOAA_HurrHunter) October 7, 2016
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
