Hurricane Dorian "Sharpie Gate" Alarmed Meteorologists And You Should Be Scared Too

The infamous Hurricane Dorian forecast map, doctored with a Sharpie, that
falsely indicated the storm threatened Alabama, when in fact
it did not.  

Remember Sharpiegate?

That was when President Donald Trump last year went to great lengths to insist that scary Hurricane Dorian had Alabama as a target.  Which of course was false, It seems like ancient history already, but it's still incredibly important, for reasons I will get to soon in this post.

Forecasters knew, at the time Trump said this, that Hurricane Dorian would miss Alabama and everything would be A-Ok there.

When it was pointed out that Hurricane Dorian would miss Alabamaa, Trump and his administration doubled down, saying forecasts indicated the storm would hit Alabama.   Trump even produced a map from the National Hurricane Center, crudely and falsley augmented with a Sharpie, showing that Dorian maybe would hit Alabama.

In the past month, news outlets, most notably the Washington Post and Buzzfeed News reported on a trove of documents, obtained under the  Freedom of Information Act, showing how alarmed and appalled scientiest like National Weather Service meteorologists were by Trump's Sharpie stunt.

According to Buzzfeed:

"President Donald Trump's fake hurricane map triggered panic, outrage and an internal revolt among top officials at the National Weather Service and NOAA. That's according to a trove of more than 1,000 emails realease Friday night...."

As Buzzfeed reports:

"Officials and scientists, both inside and outside the government, were horrified, the newly released emails show.

'For an agency founded upon and recognized for determining scientific truths, trusted by the public and responsible in law to put forward important science information, I find it unconscionable that any anonymous voice inside of NOAA would be found to castigate a dutiful, correct and loyal NWS Forecasters who spoke the truth,' Craig McLean, then the agency's assistant administrator, wrote in a Sept. 7 email to other top government officials."

Buzzfeed News continues: "Trump's fake map and the administration's insistence on defending it despite evidence to the contrary - dubbed #SharpieGate on Twitter - shows how the administration has prioritized politics over science even during a fast-moving, life-threatening situation."

It got to the point that NWS meteorologists feared retribution if they issued forecasts that were accurate, but contradicted Trump's opinion on things.

And there's the rub. The autocratic, oligarchical Trump administration will stop at nothing to erode public trust, mow over reality, all with the aim of preserving their ill-gotten power.

This is really important because the public counts on the National Weather Service to provide timely, life-saving information. When the NWS issues a hurricane, tornado or whatever bad weather warning, people understand that means business.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service, and meteorologists in gemeral, take justifiable pride in warning the public when there is a weather emergency.   If the trust in the National Weather Service is broken,   lives will be lost. But I know Trump and his minions really don't give a crap about lives, when they're busy trying to create a Putinesque autocracy. And massage snowflake Trump's fragile ego.

I've seen firsthand how accurate, trusted National Weather Service products have saved the day

One that really comes to mind is the extreme floods with Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. That storm was roughly on par with the Vermont Great Flood of 1927.  In 1927, at least 84 Vermonters died in the flooding. In 2011's Irene, six Vermonters lost their lives.

Now, six fatalities is six too many. But the extremely accurate and timely warnings from the National Weather Service no doubt saved many lives.  A few days before the event, NWS/South Burlington basically started hitting the panic button. The risk is real, they said.

So, in the days leading up to Irene, tourists abandoned creekside camp sites, people prepared to leave for higher ground. People also knew to stock up on supplies in case roads were cut off, and new to sit tight through the storm if they were in a safe place.

I went off on this Irene Vermont tangent to help explain why Donald Trump's unprecedented self ego massaging Hurricane Dorian nonsense is so dangerous.

In Vermont during Irene, and in countless other weather emergencies, we relied on the National Weather Service to give us the information they needed to literally save their own lives.

Imagine if that trust disappeared. What if the National Weather Service wasn't regarded as trustworthy, prompting people to ignore their warnings? How many lives would be lost?

There are many reasons to be appalled by Trump's numerous shenanigans. This is one of the most dangerous.  The political appointees at the National Weather Service better understand they need to back off, and let the scientists do science.

Exxon Saw Global Warming Coming, Shrugged

Did Exxon put profits and PR before science?
A damning report from Inside Climate News
suggests this was the case.  

The buzz in the past week has been on Inside Climate News' expose of Exxon and its early research into global warming, and then the fateful choice it made.

The Pulitzer-winning publication cited the work of James F. Black, who was an Exxon scientist back in the 1970s and 1980s.

As early as 1977, Black gave Exxon a blunt assessment that carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere could change the climate, with potentially dangerous results.  He said there could be extremes of heat, drought and floods.

This is a good 11 years before the concept of global warming really blasted onto the public stage, when NASA scientist James Hansen testified before Congress that this was a looming issue. Black's warning was basically in line with what we now understand about global warming. Even after all kinds of new data and studies have come in about the subject.

However, sometime in the middle 1980s, Exxon changed course, according to reporting from Inside Climate News:

"Then, toward the end of the 1980a, Exxon curtailed its carbon dioxide research. In the decades that followed, Exxon worked instead at the forefront of climate denial. It put its muscle behind efforts to manufacture doubt about the reality of global warming its own scientists had once confirmed. It lobbied to block federal and international action to control greenhouse gas emission. It helped ot erect a vast edifice of misinformation that stands to this day."

Critics say Exxon could have benefitted the world had they continued to study, and change their business model to accommodate climate change. Instead, say wags, they decided to make money instead.

For its part, Exxon disputes Inside Climate News' account. Exxon isn't talking to Inside Climate News, saying their reporting is wildly inaccurate. Inside Climate News stands by its reporting.

On Sunday, though,  Exxon spokesman Robert Kiel appeared on the NPR/WYNC radio show "On The Media." Co-host Bob Garfield went after the guy pretty aggressively, but the Exxon dude stuck to his talking points.

Kiel said that Exxon has continued global research uninterrupted since the 1970s. Kiel didn't dispute that Exxon was behind the campaign to sow doubt about climate change and muddy the science for the public, but said it is not doing so now.

Still, Exxon seemed to know early on something was seriously dangerous about too much CO2 emissions. It would have been great had they pursued the science, and maybe revamped the company into an alternative fuel powerhouse or something like that.

But, often its easier and more profitable to keep doing what you're doing. Hey, you gotta keep the shareholders and executives happy, right? Even if it hurts other people. Go figure.







Then, toward the end of the 1980s, Exxon curtailed its carbon dioxide research. In the decades that followed, Exxon worked instead at the forefront of climate denial. It put its muscle behind efforts to manufacture doubt about the reality of global warming its own scientists had once confirmed. It lobbied to block federal and international action to control greenhouse gas emissions. It helped to erect a vast edifice of misinformation that stands to this day.