A typical year in the United States features three or four
weather disasters costing more than $1 billion. In 2009 there
were nine. Last year brought a dozen, at a cost of $52 billion,
making it the most extreme year for weather since accurate
record keeping began in the 19th century.How many times does it
have to be explained that you should not use economic damage as
a proxy for climate patterns? Apparently very many! Regular
readers will know that I think that the print media overall has
done a pretty good job on covering the science of climate
change, if not always getting the politics right. They will also
know what I think about the "debate" over climate change and
extreme events (above). But every once in a while I see a story
that is so breathtakingly bad that it is worth commenting on.
Today's installment comes from Justin Gillis at the New York
Times and was published on Christmas Eve. The article is so bad
that it might just be the worst piece of reporting I've ever
seen in the Times on climate cha