This past Tuesday evening, Don Lemon with CNN tried multiple times, to get the National Hurricane Center’s new acting director to tie the existence of Hurricane Ian to climate change, but ended up getting an answer that shocked him.
A segment in which Lemon spoke with Jamie Rohme, took place just as Hurricane Ian, a massive category 4 hurricane, slammed into southern Florida late Tuesday night.
“Can you tell us what this is and what effect the climate change has on this phenomenon?” questioned Lemon.
“Well, we can come back and talk about climate change at a later time,” stated Rohme. “I want to focus on the here-and-now. We think the rapid intensification is probably almost done, there could be a little bit more intensification as it still is over the warm waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but I don’t think we’re gonna get any more rapid intensification. If you look here, you can actually see, pretty interesting for your viewers, you can actually see a second eyewall forming around the inner eyewall, and that’s basically the second eyewall has overtaken the original eyewall and that should arrest development.”
Lemon outright refused to give up on the issue and made the claim that Rohme wanted to speak about climate change, despite the fact that going directly against what Rohme actually said.
“So listen, I just, I’m just trying to get the, you said you want to talk about climate change,” stated Lemon. “But what effect does climate change to have on this phenomenon that is happening now? Because it seems these storms are intensifying. That’s the question.”
“I don’t think you can link climate change to any one event,” expressed Rohme. “On the whole, on the cumulative, climate change may be making storms worse, but to link it to any one event, I would caution against that.”
“Okay, well, listen, I grew up there and these storms are intensifying,” fired back Lemon. “Something is causing them to intensify.”
This is amazing. Don Lemon tries to blame Hurricane Ian on climate change. NOAA's hurricane director shuts him down. pic.twitter.com/svTjHtE8hl
— Alex Pfeiffer (@__Pfeiffer) September 28, 2022
TRANSCRIPT:
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Can you tell us what this is and what effect the climate change has on this phenomenon?
JAMIE ROHME, NOAA DIRECTOR: Well, we can come back and talk about climate change at a later time. I want to focus on the here-and-now. We think the rapid intensification is probably almost done, there could be a little bit more intensification as it still is over the warm waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but I don’t think we’re gonna get any more rapid intensification. If you look here, you can actually see, pretty interesting for your viewers, you can actually see a second eyewall forming around the inner eyewall, and that’s basically the second eyewall has overtaken the original eyewall and that should arrest development.
LEMON: So listen, I just, I’m just trying to get the, you said you want to talk about climate change. But what effect does climate change to have on this phenomenon that is happening now? Because it seems these storms are intensifying. That’s the question.
ROHME: I don’t think you can link climate change to any one event. On the whole, on the cumulative, climate change may be making storms worse, but to link it to any one event, I would caution against that.
LEMON: Okay, well, listen, I grew up there and these storms are intensifying. Something is causing them to intensify.
