Seattle meteorologist Cliff Mass sparks controversy by diving into heat wave climate science
Aug. 3, 2021 at 6:00 am
Hal Bernton By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
On Thursday, June 24, as the Northwest’s record-shattering heat wave approached, Cliff Mass posted a forecast he found hard to believe. By Monday, temperatures near the western Cascades foothills would exceed 108 degrees and they would reach 104 degrees and higher around Puget Sound.
“The event being predicted is so extreme and so beyond expectations that my natural inclination is to dismiss it,” Mass wrote. “But I can’t.”
His blog succinctly captured the historic event about to unfold in the kind of post that has helped make Mass, a professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, one of the region’s most influential meteorologists.
After the heat wave, he quickly assumed a far more controversial role as an outspoken critic of scientists who say climate change plays a big role in extreme weather events.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-meteorologist-cliff-mass-sparks-controversy-by-diving-into-heat-wave-climate-science/
