Why So Many Twisters This Year? - CBS News

Why So Many Twisters This Year? - CBS News:

Dan McCarthy, a warning coordination meteorologist for the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith that tornadoes so far this year are as violent though no more violent than in the past, 'but there are more of them. We may have set a record in March. We've had 228 reports of tornadoes in March. And of course, now, with the number of reports that we've had this week, we're already looking at 450 for the year.'

Last year, the U.S. had 54 reported twisters in March, and 43 the year before. What's more, June is always the most active month, with 281 tornadoes last year alone.

Four times the number of tornadoes for the month of March from last year, and five times the number two years ago. Could this be more effects from global warming?

"I think we did not see the cold fronts we've seen the last couple of years move across the Gulf in February and March," he said. "So, I think the skin temperature of the water down in the Gulf is abnormally warm, or as normal as it could be, and that brings dew points up in the air, which helps fuel the thunderstorms."

"...abnormally warm, or as normal as it could be." Huh? Is this guy tripping over his own tongue trying to explain the unexplainable or just trying to cover his ass?

McCarthy stressed that "there's really no link" between the number of twisters and last year's unusually active and violent hurricane season.

Yah! And global warming is just a concept. Right!

What's so hard to understand about this? More heat=more water vapor; more water vapor=more numerous and more violent storms (of all kinds!). The only thing left to debate is how bad will it get how fast, and all the more recent evidence is that it's happening a lot faster than anyone anticipated. Meanwhile, we keep burning fossil fuel like it was going out of style. Oh, right, it IS!