Name the Missing Phrase

Welcome to Corporate Media Jeopardy!

Here's an article from today's Wichita Eagle. For $200, can you name the missing phrase?

'08 Kansas tornadoes triple average

Preliminary statistics from the National Weather Service show that 172 tornadoes have been reported in Kansas this year -- the most in the nation.

Iowa is next at 134, and Missouri is third at 127.

As of Friday, 1,577 tornadoes had been reported in the U.S. this year. Last year saw 1,093.

While final statistics are typically lower because some preliminary reports are multiple views of the same tornadoes, officials say the numbers are still eye-opening.

Kansas' total is triple the state's annual average, for example.

Go read the whole article to make sure you make an educated guess.

If you guessed "global warming", you are correct. (We'd also accept climate change.)

Do we have to have 10 times the usual number of tornadoes before the media start mentioning global warming and climate change? Won't it be too late at that point?

Good Question

wikipedia: Tornado

ClimateProgress: Where is the media on the incredible warming and extreme weather of February?

...[T]his February ripped the tornado record books to shred as if they had been caught in a giant whirlwind whose intensity had been amplifed by global warming. The country suffered through a stunning 232 tornadoes — almost triple the previous record of 1971, which saw a mere 83 tornadoes. (Reliable records go back to 1950.)

More Extreme Weather - Tornadoes in January

wikipedia
The warm weather is headed east, though hopefully the tornadoes will not follow. It was already in the 50s when I took my garbage to the curb this morning. Note that the authors of this AP article, about out-of-season tornadoes reported in six midwest states, and daily temperature records being smashed by 5 and 10 degrees, never mention global warming or climate change. "Unseasonable" is as far as the Weather Service meterologist goes in describing these dramatic events; the AP writers call it "making history". I call it the extremes of global warming.

YahooNews (AP): Rare winter tornadoes rake Midwest

WHEATLAND, Wis. - A freak cluster of tornadoes raked across an unseasonably warm Midwest, demolishing houses, knocking railroad cars off their tracks and even temporarily halting justice in one courthouse.

Record temperatures were reported across much of the country Monday, and storms continued to pummel the nation's midsection as darkness fell. More warmth and storms were in store for Tuesday.

Tornadoes were reported or suspected Monday in southwest Missouri, southeastern Wisconsin, Arkansas, Illinois and Oklahoma. Two people were killed in Missouri.

Eleven houses in Wisconsin's Kenosha County were destroyed, five others had heavy damage and four had moderate damage, authorities said. About 13 people were injured, none seriously.

"I have never seen damage like this in the summertime when we have potential for tornadoes," Sheriff David Beth said. "To see something like this in January is mind-boggling to me. This is just unimaginable to me."

[]

Meteorologists said the unusual weather was the result of warm, moist air moving from the south. It brought temperatures hovering near 70 degrees on Sunday and Monday.

"It's very unseasonable for this time of year," said National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Sipprell. "The atmosphere is just right."

[]

Elsewhere, the heat was making history. By about noon Monday, Chicago's temperature already had hit 64 degrees, breaking a previous record-high of 59 degrees set on Jan. 7, 1907, according to the weather service.

The high in Buffalo, N.Y., of 59 degrees beat the old record for the date by 5 degrees. The high was 66 in Toledo, Ohio, a record that led some University of Toledo students to stroll to class in T-shirts, flip-flops and shorts. In New Jersey, the Atlantic City International Airport recorded a high of 68 degrees, breaking a 10-year-old record by 10 degrees.

Weird Weather Everywhere

Yesterday afternoon there was a tornado watch in Massachusetts. A tornado watch! I've lived here for over 30 years and I don't recall ever hearing a tornado watch issued before. It's all about the global warming, of course. Extremes instead of our old reliable weather patterns.

Boston Globe: Tornado watch issued for parts of Mass., R.I., and Conn.

DailyKos: "Just no normal weather anymore. Anywhere."

Has anyone noticed that our local weather ... has turned truly screwy? We go from one bizarre weather condition to the next with almost no pause in between for "normal" conditions. It's too wet, too dry, too cold, too warm, too windy - nearly all the time. Hmmm? And scientists and average people all over the world, from Japan to Argentina, report similar strangeness. .... There's just no normal weather anymore. Anywhere.

Mike Tidwell Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Chesapeake Climate Action Network: Want to See Climate Change? Look Out Your Front Door. It's here.