Saturday, October 13, 2007 - Page updated at 02:02 AM
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
Close-up
Nature, not man, is to blame, Gore critic insists
McClatchy Newspapers
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One of the world's foremost meteorologists Friday called the theory that helped Al Gore win a share of the Nobel Prize "ridiculous" and the product of "people who don't understand how the atmosphere works."
William Gray, a pioneer in the science of seasonal hurricane forecasts, spoke to a packed lecture hall at UNC Charlotte and said humans are not responsible for the warming of the Earth.
His visit, arranged through the meteorology program at the university, came on the same day that Gore was honored for his work in support of the link between humans and global warming.
"We're brainwashing our children," said Gray, 78, a professor at Colorado State University. "They're going to the Gore movie ('An Inconvenient Truth') and being fed all this. It's ridiculous."
Gray, whose annual forecasts of the number of tropical storms and hurricanes are widely publicized, said instead that a natural cycle of ocean water temperatures — related to the amount of salt in ocean water — is responsible for the global warming that he acknowledges has taken place.
However, he said, that same cycle means a period of global cooling will begin soon and last for several years.
"We'll look back on all of this in 10 or 15 years and realize how foolish it was," Gray said.
He cited statistics, showing there were 101 hurricanes from 1900-1949, in a period of cooler global temperatures, compared to 83 from 1957-2006, when the Earth warmed.
"The human impact on the atmosphere is simply too small to have a major effect on global temperatures," Gray said.
"It bothers me that my fellow scientists are not speaking out against something they know is wrong," he said. "But they also know that they'd never get any grants if they spoke out. I don't care about grants."
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

Post a free online vehicle listing
Sell your vehicle on NWautos. Free listings run for 13 weeks and include up to 5 photos.
Find cheap gas in the Seattle area
Find low gas prices in Seattle, Bellevue, Everett and more at NWautos.
More from NWautos:
Most fuel-efficient cars for 2008
Hybrid car listings
Gas-saving tips
McCain urges country: "Stand up and fight"
Storm claims spot in WNBA playoffs
Abramoff given 4 years in prison for corruption
Bhutto's widower to lead Pakistan
Bob Katz just moved in, you say? Uh, not quite
- Man who lured wife to noose gets 12-year prison sentence
- Palin slams Obama, D.C. insiders
- Old 520 tollbooth now in second career
- Man found dead in Renton parking lot
- Woman filling gas tank burned after another car hits pump
- Machinists at Boeing reject contract; strike on hold for 48 hours as mediator steps in
- Authorities piece together details of deadly rampage
- Reward offered for information about suspect who stole truck
- BYU enters UW territory on quest for perfection
- Changes forthcoming for the Seahawks' backfield
- Hiking the "American Alps" just outside North Cascades National Park
- A woman is a woman is a woman — and an insult is an insult is an insult | Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist
- Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention
- Reflections on Palin from a Christian in Wasilla | Guest columnist
- Bellevue teachers strike is wrong | Editorial
- Palin's earmark requests: more per person than any other state
- Hockey mom, governor, juggler? | Nicole Brodeur
- Machinists at Boeing reject contract; strike on hold for 48 hours as mediator steps in
- Man who lured wife to noose gets 12-year prison sentence
- Palin embraced earmarks as small-town mayor, Alaska governor