HLRGazette Archives

Relive some of our best stories.

  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

Global warming:

E-mail Print PDF
Mark Scirto, the well-known weatherman at KLTV in Tyler, was the guest speaker at the March meeting of the Republican Women of Wood County.
Scirto, the winner of many awards in his profession, offered a brief biography, and said by the time he was in high school, he had become aware that he was drawn to the study of meteorology and he chose his college, St. Thomas, on this basis.
Scirto also discussed the global warming controversy. He is a confirmed skeptic. He does not believe the planet is warming. With regard to the IPCC study which the U.N. has touted, he said, "If you have enough money, you can prove anything."
He said the polar ice caps are actually thickening - that is - they are grower taller. Scirto said there is a basic water cycle. Ice melts, moisture evaporates, creating clouds and the rain cools the atmosphere.
He noted that it had been discovered that the way some temperature data supporting global warming had been collected was suspect. Some readings came from thermometers placed near exhaust vents, or tarred driveways and roofs, which skewed the readings. "It's just a bunch of (deleted)!" he said.
He added that hundreds of scientists are suing to have their names removed from various reports supporting the global warming theory.
He noted, with some amusement, that we produce carbon dioxide as we breathe and he scoffed at the reports about flatulence from livestock.
Scirto noted that the nation as a whole agrees that reducing pollution is desirable and we have made progress toward that end. The EPA has made it difficult to start new manufacturing industries, "so we went to work to reduce pollution and leave a nicer planet for our kids."
Some climate change promoters said global warming was causing more hurricanes. Scirto attributed the absence of major hurricanes last season to the effects of El Nino, a change in Pacific currents that occurs every five to eight years. "When El Nino fades, the hurricanes will come back", unrelated to any global warming.
He recalled the stories in the 1970s about a hole in the earth's ozone later. He said there may never have been a hole in the ozone - there was some thinning in the layer over the Southern Hemisphere. He noted that every time lightening strikes, those strikes actually produce ozone.
Scirto said substantial progress has been made and our oceans are now six times more capable of turning carbon dioxide into oxygen.