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Yes, yes, it’s unsophisticated to blame any given storm on climate change. Men and women in white lab coats tell us—and they’re right—that many factors contribute to each severe weather episode. Climate deniers exploit scientific complexity to avoid any discussion at all.

Clarity, however, is not beyond reach. Hurricane Sandy demands it: At least 40 U.S. deaths. Economic losses expected to climb as high as $50 billion. Eight million homes without power. Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated. More than 15,000 flights grounded. Factories, stores, and hospitals shut. Lower Manhattan dark, silent, and underwater.

An unscientific survey of the social networking literature on Sandy reveals an illuminating tweet (you read that correctly) from Jonathan Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. On Oct. 29, Foley thumbed thusly: “Would this kind of storm happen without climate change? Yes. Fueled by many factors. Is storm stronger because of climate change? Yes.” Eric Pooley, senior vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund (and former deputy editor of Bloomberg Businessweek), offers a baseball analogy: “We can’t say that steroids caused any one home run by Barry Bonds, but steroids sure helped him hit more and hit them farther. Now we have weather on steroids.”

....

(muttpacker @ Nov. 01 2012, 2:16 pm)

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I was only interested in reading this thread because it was posted by someone that I KNOW doesn't believe that singular events are directly attributable to a trend.  That being said, I think what governor Christie has had to say regarding the President's handling of the disaster, it's entirely likely that people (whoever the hell they are) that haven't decided yet will be moved in the direction of voting for Obama.  If they aren't, they could hardly be called "undecided."  For Christie to speak so glowingly of someone he had been so critical of, specifically his leadership skills, says a great deal about both men.  Christie is willing to change direction given a new set of facts, and Obama is the leader Christie had assumed he was incapable of being.

As for N2, congratulations on being the 1 billionth Christian to identify their era as the beginning of the end times.  There's a toaster oven in the mail for you.

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I was more interested in the political ramifications of this.

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"shoving the climate change agenda down people's throats"

Good grief you're dense.  You make a living out of it.

(bill g @ Nov. 01 2012, 4:12 pm)

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I find the whole discussion on climate change to be amusing. Of course climate changes. Whether you look at the billions of years of history of the planet or just want to fixate on a smaller fraction, you'll always see some variation.

Hiking the Grand Canyon you go back about 2 billion years and a couple hundred thousand years are missing at the Great Uncomformity. Colorado was once flat amd underwater.

A little rain in NY and it's an epidemic!!! Get real. The earth experienced numerous catastrophic events long before man arrived and it will continue long after we're gone.  Believe what you want...I believe I'll have another beer.

(Panhandler @ Nov. 01 2012, 2:20 pm)

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"A little rain". Check. Gotcha.

(Gabby @ Nov. 01 2012, 3:18 pm)

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For you guys, this is the most important quote from that article, and it's right there in the first paragraph:
"Climate deniers exploit scientific complexity to avoid any discussion at all."

(GoBlueHiker @ Nov. 01 2012, 4:06 pm)

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You ignored the point of the article, and instead decided it was just about this particular storm.  Didja read it?

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Unprecedented late October storm track from Hurricane Sandy this week
Only the 2nd Hurricane to ever hit New Jersey
"Blocking pattern" steered Sandy in unusual NW direction into Jersey Shore
Warmer arctic linked to more frequent jet stream blocking patterns
Record Arctic Sea Ice loss in 2012 may have enhanced blocking pattern this fall
Warmer waters caused Sandy's "intensity flare" just before landfall

We've just witnessed a massive hurricane that did something no other tropical system has done in the past - Make a sharp left turn in the Atlantic and plow headfirst into New Jersey & New York in late October.

Here's why Sandy's track was unprecedented for a hurricane this late in the tropical season.

-Late October jet streams are usually well established far enough south that any northward moving Atlantic hurricanes are pushed eastward into the Atlantic by fast moving jet stream winds before they reach the East Coast.

-According to Jeff Masters of WxUndeground, Sandy is just the 2nd hurricane to ever hit the relatively protected (recessed) Jersey Coast. The only other hurricane to hit New Jersey was the "Vagabond Hurricane" in 1903, and that one hit in September when the jet stream is usually further north.

For nearly 2 weeks now I've talked and written about the unusual jet stream pattern that "sucked" sandy back to the NW and into the Jersey Shore.

In weather geek speak we call these highly amplified jet stream patterns "blocking patterns" because they force the jet stream to meander into big north-south kinks and loops...instead of flowing more rapidly from west to east.

Blocking patterns have always formed in certain seasons, but tend to become less common in fall...only about 2% of the time vs. 6% in winter & spring.

There is a growing body of evidence that blocking patterns may be increasing as the Arctic warms. The blocking pattern this week over Greenland, combined with a "negatively tilted" (backwards leaning) low pressure trough over the eastern USA sucked Sandy back to the NW at the last minute into New Jersey, instead of shoving her out to sea.
...<and more that I suspect most won't read if I don't post it>