“Today Show” gives last year’s news
November 14th, 2008 at 8:00 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog
I had the “Today Show” on Friday morning while I was waiting to do a radio interview with WOOD-AM about my winter forecast and I heard Matt Lauer say, “Next we’ll take a trip to the Arctic, where the ice is melting fast”. What followed some commercials was a story that said: “…the Arctic, where the climate is changing rapidly and not for the better.” The trouble with the above statements is that they’re not true. You can check the extent of Arctic ice at the University of Illinois Cryosphere website: http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/ You’ll find that the Arctic icecap reached a record (and we only have a 29-year record) low in 2007. The icecap has been growing at a fairly rapid rate since, gaining 7% in just the last year to bring it back to 2002 levels. Alaska is having one of their coldest years ever, and the ice is not “melting fast” it’s actually growing fast. Also, the Antarctic icecap reached a record maximum in 2007. The TV story also showed a graph of the loss of Arctic ice from 2005 to 2007. Obviously, the story they wanted to tell was that the ice is “melting rapidly” If they had included 2008, or done a graph from 2002 to 2008, or from 1989 to 2008, it would not have had the same dramatic effect as the graph that was shown. (picture courtesy of the University of Illinois Cryosphere Today)
THUS, I DO NOT watch NBC!
This does NOT Surprise me.
I’d make a political comment here…….but, I will refrain.
Happy Hunting All!
Jeff
Did you contact them and point out their error, Bill? Someone should.
Kinda like the New York Times – “All the news that’s print to fit”
My winter forecast
November 14th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
This will be the winter of the “Great Storm”. Has anyone looked at recent years at the weather pattern for the top 5 blizzards to hit the midwest/michigan. All five were in a neutral to weak la nina pattern with a strong northern jet and frequent powerful subtropical jet. Why do you think Bill put up the winter of 78 pictures up there twice you have to read and click on and look at the websites he put on there. There is more information on there than what he typed. There is a huge corealation to extreme snowstorms and to what type of winter were going into. A big giveaway is the dramatic cool down (hurricanes)in the atlantic the cold air is going to attack the midwest and atlantic strong this year because the artic air will go tend to drain/follow where cooler weather is. Remember hot air rises cool air sinks-thus giving a big warm ridge in the west and more troughiness in the east-which in turns will give more clipper systems and tendency to merge northern/southern jets together which will give you the “Great Storm” of the winter of ‘08/09. My prediction for this winter is more lake effect than last year, marquette will see 170″ this year, and at least two episodes of intense brutal subzero artic air, several mini snowstorms and one great one. And I do agree with a jan thaw as the greenland and pacific highs breakdown for time during winter but don’t be fooled feb/march will remind us of living in michigan. No plans on overseas trips this year, just frequent visits to the southland….thanks its been a very long time since I blogged
I’m shocked to learn inaccurate information has been reported on a network morning gnus show.
What will we tell the children?
Maybe it was a repeat!
SlimJim
Kevin W. Says:
“several mini snowstorms and one great one”
Duh!
What is the definition of “mini snowstorms”?
For some reason, I think we have “several” of these each season.
CYa!
Jeff
Duh, 1-3, 2-5 type clipper storms ones that you need to plow, shovel type duh storms.
It is amazing what kind of lies news people will tell just for a story. If you call them out on it your lucky to get a 5 second retractment. NBC should be ashamed of themselves for trying to scare people like this just for ratings.
So glad you posted this Bill. I actually watched it this morning and realized that what they were saying was not even a fact. I was going to email you about it but looks like you beat me to it.
You go Bill. I heard Matt say that too and I thought he must be living on another planet. Thanks for keeping it real.
The Networks:
NBC – National Barack Company
ABC – All Barack Company
CBS – Complete Barack System.
Get my news from Drudge.
Actually John I always thought CBS stood for “complete bull s**t”
John. You are a moron.
Don’t blame NBC, they are owned by GE, which is owned by our government, so you can see where this is going.. The media more often than not is nothing but propaganda. Swaying the population this way and that.. Yet people still follow…It’s like the media is some kind of cult or something. Anyways enough of that..
Bill, I watched The Weather Channel today, and Jim Cantore also delivered last year’s news, on a PREMIER SHOW. Isn’t that wonderful? They filmed it last year, it’s changed now, yet they still air it without any notes at least saying it’s not like that anymore? They always neglect to mention that the Antarctic had a record high amount.. I have to constantly tell people that, and nobody believes me because I’m not the media, I bet if I got on tv and told any one of you your Mother stayed late after work to be with another man besides your Father you’d question it. Especially if I only showed images that would make you believe so, like coworkers hugging over a loss or something.. Yep, people are so gullible. It disgusts me.
The media is the government’s puppet, always has been, always will be. The stuff we see on tv is only a fraction of the story. If we REALLY knew what was going on? We wouldn’t be in the situation we are now. Do some research folks.
Accepting the major media news as gospel is like accepting political promises as gospel. At some point, you have to pull the curtain back and see what’s behind the curtain. Network newscasters are performers just like other entertainers. They worship at the altar of ratings and will do or say whatever is necessary to get those ratings.
AMEN!!!
[...] November 16, 2008 · No Comments “Today Show” gives last year’s news [...]
Exactly the reason I do not watch the today show! They obviously have an agenda.
Yep, I watched NBC in the morning for years and I just can’t stand watching anymore, bad thing is then I mostly miss the storm team 8 weather but often I will switch it a 7:25 to catch a look at the weather then turn it back to fox news. School closings I get faster with the honeywell allert that’s sent to my cell phone email. To bad that our great people at WOOD TV8 have less viewers due to the NBC network…..
I hope that you at NBC ABC CBS are reading this because Im going to say what everybody eles is thinking your liers
Yeah and FOX news is reporting the truth NOT
(Two Jills in a row!
I’m disappointed in Jim Cantore. I wonder what he really thinks — apart from the Weather Channel.
Send us a little snow every now and then. Winter is boring without it!
It really makes you wonder about what effect does mankind really have on the weather….Is the issue with the ozone hole real or is it just that we finally tested and found it?…you don’t here to much about it any more..thats right… the pole ice caps melting is more interesting bad data to promote…everybody in the cities like polar bears and seals… .sun spots probable control 95% of the weather….why do we always think that mankind has the ability to control everything good or bad? Somethings are just out of our/government control..
I wrote the person who attends to the Cryosphere website mentioned in Bill’s Blog because I didn’t see the information which Bill references. Here is his reply – btw his name is also Bill
I have received several question about the post from your local
meteorologist. I’ll attach my response to the last person who asked
about this. Please let me know if this doesn’t answer your question.
Thanks,
Bill
Joe,
The 2008 summer sea ice did “recover” some from the extreme 2007
summer sea ice minimum, however, it was still the second lowest in the
last 30 years and the second lowest in the last 108 years according to
our long term ice extent data. I certainly wouldn’t call this good
news. The author of the blog is correct that it probably is
misleading to show a three year trend of sea ice as an example of
rapid ice loss (although I didn’t see the story). However, the author
goes on to make an even worse assertion that Arctic sea ice is not
melting by comparing one year to the very next.
Climate change, is just that – a change in the climate – not a change
from one year to the next. There is probably too much attention being
paid (by both sides of the debate) to year-to-year variations in these
variables, and not enough being paid to the long term trends.
Thanks so much for writing and your interest in the cryosphere.
Sincerely,
Bill Chapman
Nice work Joe! I don’t see how we can chastise The Today Show for not reporting on 2008 data when 2008 is not over. I suppose they could have mentioned that 2008 saw the second lowest minimum in the last 30 years — wow that would have really shaken up the consensus on global warming
I’ve grown discouraged with Bill Steffen’s continuous attempts to sway public opinion on AGW by citing anecdotal evidence. To have the source he cited refute his assertions is a clear reminder that his opinions are biased.
That said — I am still a huge Bill Steffen fan, he is a great weather forecaster and a great representative of our community.
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