By Climatologist Dr. Judith Curry
Harvey in context
I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear people blaming Harvey on global warming. How unusual was Harvey? Well, it will definitely be in the record books for ending the 12 year drought of major hurricanes striking the U.S.
Phil Klotzbach has prepared this list off Cat 4-5 U.S. landfalling hurricanes:
This list reminds us how awful things were. Apart from the horrendous 2004/2005 years, we have been pretty lucky in recent decades.
Anyone blaming Harvey on global warming doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Harvey will be in the record books for almost unbelievable amounts of rainfall (the final tally is not in yet; unfortunately it will still be raining in TX for several more days, with potential doubling of the amount that has already fallen). While there was a large amount of water vapor ingested into Harvey, the huge amounts of rain are associated with Harvey’s stalled movement, while still close enough to the Gulf to continue to suck in moisture.
