Media Pushes Bogus ‘Hydroclimate Whiplash’ with Suspicious Timing
By
Guest Contributor
January 22, 2025
EDITORS NOTE: This past week a number of media outlets cited a recent science study to claim something called “hydroclimate volatility” is responsible for the Los Angeles fires. It appears that this is an entirely new term by the climate science community that has no current official definition in climate science or in meteorology.
A recent paper, supposedly fully peer reviewed, was apparently rushed to publication even as the Los Angeles fires were still burning. The authors claimed they discovered the new “hydroclimate volatility” process. Predictably, the media not only uncritically lapped it up, but they morphed “hydroclimate volatility” into “hydroclimate whiplash” for a better headline effect. It demonstrates not only that the media has no real understanding of science, it also demonstrates they have no shame.In the guest post below, Charles Rotter explores the claims made in the paper and the media coverage promoting the newly minted climate scare, referencing work on the same topic by research meteorologist Ryan Maue and professor Roger Pielke, Jr.
Guest essay by Charles Rotter, originally published at WUWT
The Nature Reviews Earth & Environment paper on hydroclimate volatility represents yet another example of speculative science dressed up as crisis-level evidence. Its central claim is that so-called “hydroclimate whiplash”—sharp transitions between wet and dry conditions—will become far more frequent and intense as the planet warms. The authors predict that subseasonal whiplash events (three-month shifts) will increase by 113% under 3°C warming, while interannual whiplash events (year-long shifts) will rise by 52%. These figures, dramatic as they may sound, are derived from models riddled with uncertainties and based on poorly defined baselines, making their real-world implications highly suspect.
https://climaterealism.com/2025/01/media-pushes-bogus-hydroclimate-whiplash-with-suspicious-timing/
