• Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
Climate Change Dispatch
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Who We Are
  • Facts Vs. Fearmongering
    • Real science vs Junk Science
      • 1100-plus Peer-Reviewed Studies
      • 97% – Myth of the Climate Change Consensus
      • Michael Crichton: Aliens Cause Global Warming
      • Climate change and its causes
      • Climate Science Primer
      • CO2 is not pollution
      • Deceptive Surface Temperature Records
      • Editorial: Great Global Warming Hoax
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 1
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 2
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 3
      • Why CO2 Is A Minor Player In Global Climate
      • Why Politicized Science Is So Dangerous
    • Facts Not Fear
      • A Simple Question For Climate Alarmists
      • Climate Change – The Facts
      • Climate Change Fears Are Empirically Baseless
      • Global Warming 101
      • Global Warming Q&A
      • Understanding The Medieval Warm Period
      • Ocean Cycles and Climate
      • Overview of Plate Climatology Theory
      • Precautionary Principle
      • Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide?
      • The Skeptics Handbook
      • Weather Versus Climate
      • Why I’m a GW skeptic
      • Winning the climate debate with facts
      • Why Aliens Cause Global Warming
    • Greenhouse FAQs
      • CO2, Plants, & Industry
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • Is global warming real?
      • Measuring temperature
      • Swimming in CO2?
      • Scientists urge caution?
      • Today’s warming trend
      • Variations in temperature
    • Gore’s Greatest Goofs
      • Deconstructing the Truth
      • Fact-Checking Al Gore’s Latest Predictions
      • How Gore Created The Global Warming Hoax
    • Inside Real Climate
      • Closer look at the 97% Consensus
      • GW’s Amazing Story
      • IPCC gets failing grade
      • Real Climate Exposed!
      • Truth about Real Climate
      • We’ve Been Conned
      • What is there a 97% consensus about?
    • Behind the IPCC
      • 1,000 Scientists Dissent
      • Climategate: Caught Green-Handed!
      • Climategate Inquiries
      • Climategate Inquiries 2
      • NIPCC Report Now Available
      • Understanding the Climategate Inquiries
  • Submissions
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Who We Are
  • Facts Vs. Fearmongering
    • Real science vs Junk Science
      • 1100-plus Peer-Reviewed Studies
      • 97% – Myth of the Climate Change Consensus
      • Michael Crichton: Aliens Cause Global Warming
      • Climate change and its causes
      • Climate Science Primer
      • CO2 is not pollution
      • Deceptive Surface Temperature Records
      • Editorial: Great Global Warming Hoax
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 1
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 2
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 3
      • Why CO2 Is A Minor Player In Global Climate
      • Why Politicized Science Is So Dangerous
    • Facts Not Fear
      • A Simple Question For Climate Alarmists
      • Climate Change – The Facts
      • Climate Change Fears Are Empirically Baseless
      • Global Warming 101
      • Global Warming Q&A
      • Understanding The Medieval Warm Period
      • Ocean Cycles and Climate
      • Overview of Plate Climatology Theory
      • Precautionary Principle
      • Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide?
      • The Skeptics Handbook
      • Weather Versus Climate
      • Why I’m a GW skeptic
      • Winning the climate debate with facts
      • Why Aliens Cause Global Warming
    • Greenhouse FAQs
      • CO2, Plants, & Industry
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • Is global warming real?
      • Measuring temperature
      • Swimming in CO2?
      • Scientists urge caution?
      • Today’s warming trend
      • Variations in temperature
    • Gore’s Greatest Goofs
      • Deconstructing the Truth
      • Fact-Checking Al Gore’s Latest Predictions
      • How Gore Created The Global Warming Hoax
    • Inside Real Climate
      • Closer look at the 97% Consensus
      • GW’s Amazing Story
      • IPCC gets failing grade
      • Real Climate Exposed!
      • Truth about Real Climate
      • We’ve Been Conned
      • What is there a 97% consensus about?
    • Behind the IPCC
      • 1,000 Scientists Dissent
      • Climategate: Caught Green-Handed!
      • Climategate Inquiries
      • Climategate Inquiries 2
      • NIPCC Report Now Available
      • Understanding the Climategate Inquiries
  • Submissions
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Climate Change Dispatch
No Result
View All Result

Debunking The Weather Attribution Theater Playbook

How unreviewed climate claims, media panic, and scientific silence distort the truth about flooding.

by Dr. Matthew Wielicki
May 15, 2025, 8:58 AM
in Extreme Weather, Media, News and Opinion, Science
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
2

mississippi flooding
This spring, heavy rains drenched the Central Mississippi River Valley, sparking headlines like CBS News’ alarmist claim: “Climate change is making floods worse.” [emphasis, links added]

Mainstream media leaned heavily on a sensationalized, non-peer-reviewed attribution report from World Weather Attribution (WWA).

However, peer-reviewed science directly contradicts these claims.

In a robust analysis published in the Journal of Hydrometeorology (Wiel et al., 2018), researchers clearly stated: “There is no statistically significant projected trend in the occurrence of 100-year floods…” for the lower Mississippi River Valley.

While Wiel et al. do project increased heavy rainfall events, this crucial distinction between rainfall and actual flooding is conveniently overlooked by sensationalist headlines.

Source

Just as I’ve shown in previous articles, whether debunking exaggerated mortality claims from heatwaves or sensationalized hurricane reporting, the media’s fear-driven narrative distorts reality, misleads the public, and pushes policy agendas that are costly, ineffective, and ultimately irrational.

Media’s Latest Climate Panic: The Flood Narrative

CBS News claims this latest WWA report demonstrates unequivocally that climate change is intensifying flooding across the Midwest and South.

Headlines scream urgency, framing each rainfall as evidence of impending doom. Yet, as usual, context and rigorous scientific scrutiny are glaringly absent.

Source

These media outlets thrive on cherry-picked statistics, exaggerated claims, and dramatic visuals, fueling public anxiety while ignoring historical flooding data and significant scientific uncertainties detailed within the actual WWA study.

Selective Science: What the Media Won’t Tell You

Just like in my earlier critique of the Science Advances mortality study, the media deliberately omits critical context from the WWA report.

The study itself acknowledges substantial discrepancies among climate models used to attribute recent flooding events to human-induced climate change. In fact, it explicitly states:

“These estimates are smaller than observed trends due to large discrepancies between the climate model results. While some models show increases similar to or larger than the observed trends, others show weaker or even decreasing trends.“

Why don’t these crucial caveats make headlines?

The Forgotten Floods: Historical Context Matters

Historical records demonstrate that severe floods have frequently occurred in the Mississippi River Valley, long before current atmospheric CO2 levels.

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, for example, displaced hundreds of thousands and inundated millions of acres.

Source

More recently, floods in 1993 and 2019 devastated large swathes of the Midwest. Neither event can reasonably be attributed to modern climate change.

Yet the media conveniently disregards these historic floods to reinforce their alarmist claims. This isn’t science… It’s selective storytelling to build a narrative.

Behind the Curtain: The WWA’s Pseudoscientific Methodology

I’ve previously detailed the World Weather Attribution initiative’s flawed methodology in my article, “A Critical Examination of the World Weather Attribution (WWA) Initiative.”

Their reliance on oversimplified climate models, inadequate handling of natural variability, and admitted uncertainties render their definitive claims about human influence highly speculative.


Irrational Fear is written by climatologist Dr. Matthew Wielicki and is reader-supported. If you value what you have read here, please consider subscribing and supporting the work that goes into it.

Read rest at Irrational Fear

  • Truth
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Gettr
  • Threads
  • gab-logo Gab
  • Mastodon
  • Buffer
  • Telegram
  • Email
  • Copy Link
  • Share Using More Networks…

Popular Posts

News

Scientific Bombshell Undermines The Climate Doom Narrative

Oct 23, 2024
Electric Vehicles (EVs)

The ‘Green’ Scam Of The Century: How ‘Renewables’ Increase Fossil Fuel Demands

Oct 23, 2024
News and Opinion

Antarctica Is Colder, Icier Today Than At Any Time In 5,000 Years

Apr 15, 2024

Comments 2

  1. Spurwing Plover says:
    6 months ago

    See B.S. News once again spews Leftists Propaganda and Not Real News

    • Ddwieland says:
      6 months ago

      Once again we’re hit with the nonsensical claim by climate alarmists that climate change has caused some dire event. The astonishing lack of reasoning avoids realizing that a change of any kind is a result, not a cause.

Stay Connected On Social Media

gab-logo

Donate Today

Beating back the alarmist narrative takes time and money. Please donate today to help!

Recent Posts

  • cnn harry eatonCNN Data Analyst Admits Most Voters Simply Don’t Care About Climate Change
    Oct 29, 2025
    Most Americans remain unconcerned about climate change despite decades of alarmism, CNN’s Harry Enten admits. […]
  • COP30 BrazilAs COP30 Looms, Trump Challenges Unhinged ‘Climate Crisis’ Narrative
    Oct 29, 2025
    Trump slams the climate hoax, questions the green new scam and so-called climate crisis, and defends U.S. fossil fuels ahead of COP30. […]
  • Bill GatesBill Gates Retreats From Climate Doom, Tells Activists To Focus On Urgent ‘Social Issues’
    Oct 29, 2025
    Bill Gates, once a climate alarmist, softens his doomsday stance and urges activists to focus on more immediate issues like welfare and poverty. […]
  • Trump signs an executive action to support the coal industry as Lee Zeldin looks on.China Files Comments Urging EPA To Keep Biden-Era Power Plant Rules
    Oct 29, 2025
    China’s Federal Register comments backing Biden-era EPA rules highlight Beijing’s interest in shaping U.S. energy policy, Zeldin says. […]
  • Exxon gas stationExxonMobil Sues California Over Forced Speech, Climate Reporting Laws
    Oct 28, 2025
    ExxonMobil says California’s disclosure and reporting laws violate its free speech by forcing the company to accept the state’s view on climate change. […]
  • cop30‘UN COP FLOP’: Most Countries Will Miss Climate Targets Ahead Of Major Summit
    Oct 28, 2025
    Most countries are set to miss their climate pledges as the UN COP30 summit nears, highlighting global inaction despite international commitments. […]
  • mosquitoes swarmingMeteorologist: Iceland’s Mosquitoes A Byproduct Of Global Shipping, Not Global Warming
    Oct 28, 2025
    NPR blames climate change for mosquitoes in Iceland, but a meteorologist shows how they arrived by global shipping, not warming. […]
  • clouds sun earthNew Study Finds Recent Global Warming Mostly Driven By Natural Forces—Not CO2
    Oct 27, 2025
    Recent warming is largely due to natural climate factors, with only one-third linked to rising greenhouse gases, new study shows. […]
  • Poverty in IndiaHow Climate Dogma Is Keeping The World’s Poor In The Dark
    Oct 27, 2025
    Western climate policies keep billions in poverty by denying developing nations access to affordable energy, all in the name of climate change. […]
  • EU's Ursula Von Der Leyen and TrumpUS Pressures Europe To Roll Back Climate Mandates, Targets Net Zero Policies
    Oct 27, 2025
    The Trump administration urges EU to weaken rules on emissions and sustainability, citing risks to trade and energy reliability. […]

Get Instant Email Notifications

Subscribe to receive a digest of daily stories, or get emailed once they're published. Check your Junk/Spam folder for a verification email.

Submit a tip

Please enter your email, so we know you're human.

Books You May Like

exposing great lie

Have a suggestion? Let us know! We swap out books based on your input. We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. See here.

  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

© Portions copyright Climate Change Dispatch

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Who We Are
  • Facts Vs. Fearmongering
    • Real science vs Junk Science
      • 1100-plus Peer-Reviewed Studies
      • 97% – Myth of the Climate Change Consensus
      • Michael Crichton: Aliens Cause Global Warming
      • Climate change and its causes
      • Climate Science Primer
      • CO2 is not pollution
      • Deceptive Surface Temperature Records
      • Editorial: Great Global Warming Hoax
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 1
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 2
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 3
      • Why CO2 Is A Minor Player In Global Climate
      • Why Politicized Science Is So Dangerous
    • Facts Not Fear
      • A Simple Question For Climate Alarmists
      • Climate Change – The Facts
      • Climate Change Fears Are Empirically Baseless
      • Global Warming 101
      • Global Warming Q&A
      • Understanding The Medieval Warm Period
      • Ocean Cycles and Climate
      • Overview of Plate Climatology Theory
      • Precautionary Principle
      • Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide?
      • The Skeptics Handbook
      • Weather Versus Climate
      • Why I’m a GW skeptic
      • Winning the climate debate with facts
      • Why Aliens Cause Global Warming
    • Greenhouse FAQs
      • CO2, Plants, & Industry
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • Is global warming real?
      • Measuring temperature
      • Swimming in CO2?
      • Scientists urge caution?
      • Today’s warming trend
      • Variations in temperature
    • Gore’s Greatest Goofs
      • Deconstructing the Truth
      • Fact-Checking Al Gore’s Latest Predictions
      • How Gore Created The Global Warming Hoax
    • Inside Real Climate
      • Closer look at the 97% Consensus
      • GW’s Amazing Story
      • IPCC gets failing grade
      • Real Climate Exposed!
      • Truth about Real Climate
      • We’ve Been Conned
      • What is there a 97% consensus about?
    • Behind the IPCC
      • 1,000 Scientists Dissent
      • Climategate: Caught Green-Handed!
      • Climategate Inquiries
      • Climategate Inquiries 2
      • NIPCC Report Now Available
      • Understanding the Climategate Inquiries
  • Submissions
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Climate Change Dispatch

 
Share via
  • Facebook
  • Like
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Digg
  • Tumblr
  • VKontakte
  • Print
  • Email
  • Reddit
  • Buffer
  • Love This
  • Weibo
  • Pocket
  • Xing
  • Odnoklassniki
  • WhatsApp
  • Meneame
  • Blogger
  • Amazon
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Gmail
  • AOL
  • Newsvine
  • HackerNews
  • Evernote
  • MySpace
  • Mail.ru
  • Viadeo
  • Line
  • Flipboard
  • Comments
  • SMS
  • Viber
  • Telegram
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook Messenger
  • Kakao
  • LiveJournal
  • Yammer
  • Edgar
  • Fintel
  • Mix
  • Instapaper
  • Copy Link
  • Truth
  • gab-logo Gab
  • Gettr
  • Baidu
  • Mastodon
  • Threads
  • Bluesky
Share via
  • Digg
  • Tumblr
  • VKontakte
  • Print
  • Email
  • Reddit
  • Buffer
  • Love This
  • Weibo
  • Pocket
  • Xing
  • Odnoklassniki
  • WhatsApp
  • Meneame
  • Blogger
  • Amazon
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Gmail
  • AOL
  • Newsvine
  • HackerNews
  • Evernote
  • MySpace
  • Mail.ru
  • Viadeo
  • Line
  • Flipboard
  • Comments
  • SMS
  • Viber
  • Telegram
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook Messenger
  • Kakao
  • LiveJournal
  • Yammer
  • Edgar
  • Fintel
  • Mix
  • Instapaper
  • Copy Link
  • Truth
  • gab-logo Gab
  • Gettr
  • Baidu
  • Mastodon
  • Threads
  • Bluesky