Wet Winter/ Dry Summer in the West

[Guest happ]

Courtesy: John Abatzoglou

 

[wx_statman]

Courtesy: John Abatzoglou

 

Familiar name. I attended a presentation he gave @ PSU last fall about wildfires and climate change in the PNW.

[Guest happ]

Familiar name. I attended a presentation he gave @ PSU last fall about wildfires and climate change in the PNW.

 

I follow Dr. Abatzoglou [idaho State] on twitter

[wx_statman]

I'm sure that was filled with a ton of hard, non-sensationalistic science.

 

Not sure what you mean?

[luminen]

Not sure what you mean?

 

Sarcasm yo.

[wx_statman]

Sarcasm yo.

 

I want him to answer.

[Jesse]

Not sure what you mean?

I've noticed lectures of this sort sometimes will play up disaster type scenarios. My apologies if this one didn't fit that description.

[wx_statman]

I've noticed lectures of this sort sometimes will play up disaster type scenarios. My apologies if this one didn't fit that description.

 

Maybe public lectures with a political flavor? I can definitely see that. This was a lecture for PSU students though, specifically for those in Geography or the School of the Environment. It wouldn't serve the presenter nor the audience to be sensationalistic. People who study this stuff would see right through that. He basically went over some of his research and the conclusions he's drawn. The takeaway was that it's currently not possible to predict fire activity in a changing climate, and that carte blanche predictions of hotter weather = more fire are not grounded in evidence. It's just conjecture.

 

Basically the opposite of what you might think at first glance. 

[Jesse]

Maybe public lectures with a political flavor? I can definitely see that. This was a lecture for PSU students though, specifically for those in Geography or the School of the Environment. It wouldn't serve the presenter nor the audience to be sensationalistic. People who study this stuff would see right through that. He basically went over some of his research and the conclusions he's drawn. The takeaway was that it's currently not possible to predict fire activity in a changing climate, and that carte blanche predictions of hotter weather = more fire are not grounded in evidence. It's just conjecture.

 

Basically the opposite of what you might think at first glance.

I'm actually really glad to hear that. Sorry, I tend I be a little jaded about that stuff at times. So much of climate science has become ridiculously politicized.

[Guest happ]

Maybe public lectures with a political flavor? I can definitely see that. This was a lecture for PSU students though, specifically for those in Geography or the School of the Environment. It wouldn't serve the presenter nor the audience to be sensationalistic. People who study this stuff would see right through that. He basically went over some of his research and the conclusions he's drawn. The takeaway was that it's currently not possible to predict fire activity in a changing climate, and that carte blanche predictions of hotter weather = more fire are not grounded in evidence. It's just conjecture.

 

Basically the opposite of what you might think at first glance. 

 

Jesse tends toward impulsivity before reading the literature. That happened in a California study by the American Meteorological Society that he ripped into a few years ago.

[wx_statman]

I'm actually really glad to hear that. Sorry, I tend I be a little jaded about that stuff at times. So much of climate science has become ridiculously politicized.

 

I get that. But the end result was that you basically insulted PSU, its students, Dr. Abatzoglou, the University of Idaho, and the PSU faculty who invited him to do the talk - all in one sentence. 

[Jesse]

Jesse tends toward impulsivity before reading the literature. That happened in a California study by the American Meteorological Society that he ripped into a few years ago.

There was no literature to even read. Settle down.

[Jesse]

I get that. But the end result was that you basically insulted PSU, its students, Dr. Abatzoglou, the University of Idaho, and the PSU faculty who invited him to do the talk - all in one sentence.

I like to be efficient.

[Phil]

Maybe public lectures with a political flavor? I can definitely see that. This was a lecture for PSU students though, specifically for those in Geography or the School of the Environment. It wouldn't serve the presenter nor the audience to be sensationalistic. People who study this stuff would see right through that. He basically went over some of his research and the conclusions he's drawn. The takeaway was that it's currently not possible to predict fire activity in a changing climate, and that carte blanche predictions of hotter weather = more fire are not grounded in evidence. It's just conjecture.

 

Basically the opposite of what you might think at first glance.

I'm glad to hear this. I've certainly seen my fair share of alarmist hyperbole in presentation settings, both in the public and academic realms.