Al Roker Should Join the Rest of His Colleagues on Climate Change

Nicolas Loris / May 26, 2011

As we mourn the human toll taken by the tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, some are using the disaster as an opportunity to warn about the dangers of climate change.

Al Roker recently suggested that climate change is bringing tornadoes from the country to the city. Environmentalist Bill McKibben, the same guy who blamed the Washington, D.C., snowstorms on global warming, penned a snarky op-ed in The Washington Post saying that those who ignore these weather events are ignoring a much bigger problem in climate change.

Despite these claims, what has been most surprising is the accurate media coverage of the relationships between the tornado and climate change. The AFP reports that “the United States is experiencing the deadliest year for tornadoes in nearly six decades, but top US weather experts said Monday there is no link between the violent twisters and climate change.” A preliminary assessment from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could not attribute climate change to the events in Joplin. (more…)