Seems new terms keep showing up that actually have been around for decades. We all saw the vast destruction caused by a large area of T-Storms that roared out of the Upper Midwest and raced down into the SE over the weekend. The term used to describe these storms is "Derecho" defined as a widespread convectively induced straight-line windstorm. Dr. Ted Fijuta, the late tornado expect, began describing these events as "bow echos" back in the late 70s. That was replaced by Derecho in a 1987 paper by Johns & Hirt and has been used to describe these events for the past 25 years. They are not new and are not caused by AGW. Which reminds me to salute The Weather Channel for not blaming AGW for the recent 106 all time record breaking heat in Atlanta. They correctly point out that many of the records that were broken during this recent heat way were set back in the 30s,40s & 50s when cities like St. Louis, Indianapolis and yes, Atlanta were 40-50% of their current size & population. Research has shown these population centers produce UHI (Urban Heat Island) effects making them several degrees warmer than surrounding countrysides. So is man causing the current heat wave to be even hotter? The answer is Yes, but it has nothing to do with CO2. It's the UHI.
The tropics have gone quiet as expected and may stay that way for the rest of July. Stay tuned!
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