Climate Change — Is There Anything it Can’t Do?

Climate change is behind increasing flight turbulence, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says — cnbc.com

There’s no “asserted without evidence” caveat of the kind you see whenever Donald Trump says anything.

Climate change is the default explanation for everything. “Climate change,” Buttigieg says and everyone just nods in agreement.

I remember reading a news story several years ago saying that climate change was reducing the amount of fog in the Bay Area of California:

The sight of Golden Gate Bridge towering above the fog will become increasing rare as climate change warms San Francisco bay, scientists have found.

But a a news story from the previous summer stated that climate change was increasing the amount of Bay Area fog:

The Bay Area just had its foggiest May in 50 years. And thanks to global warming, it’s about to get even foggier.

Less fog? Climate change. More fog? Climate change. What if the amount of fog stays exactly the same?

More turbulence? Climate change.

No one asks Buttigieg — who’s not a climate scientist, not an aeronautical engineer — to provide a clear cause-and-effect between climate change and clear-air turbulence. I’m almost certain that he couldn’t do it.

I’m not even sure that there’s more turbulence now that at any time in the past. What is that assertion based on?

There was an unfortunate Singapore Airlines flight last week that encountered unexpected turbulence in which, in addition to several injuries, one passenger actually died, although he was 73 years old and was reported to have likely died of a heart attack and not from being bashed about the aircraft.

I don’t see that one incident as proof of anything about turbulence or climate change.