Storm forecaster calls Al Gore an alarmist

New American, The, April 30, 2007

In an interview in New Orleans on April 6, Dr. William Gray, the world's top hurricane expert, answered questions about hurricanes and global warming and called A1 Gore a "gross alarmist." Gray, who heads the Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University, was in New Orleans to speak at the National Hurricane Conference.

As part of his presentation, Gray and research associate Phil Klotzbach presented a graph showing the rise in atmospheric C[O.sub.2] concentrations over the last century compared to the number of "U.S. Landfalling Major Hurricanes." Though it has been widely suggested that these major, destructive storms have gotten more frequent and powerful as a result of increased greenhouse warming, Gray and Klotzbach's graph showed that the number of such storms has decreased even as C[O.sub.2] concentrations have climbed. According to Gray and Klotzbach, from 1925 to 1965 there were 39 landfalling storms, while from 1966 to 2006 there were 22.

Based on their study of the oceans' effect on climate, Gray and Klotzbach predicted in their presentation that "the last 30-year global warming trend will come to an end in the next 5-10 years."

Speaking to the Associated Press while at the conference, Gray also critiqued Al Gore's alarmist interpretation of climate science. "He's one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he's doing a great disservice and he doesn't know what he's talking about," Gray said.