Rain, Rain Go Away

We're expecting rain--heavy, drenching rain--all day today and into tomorrow, as a result of Tropical Storm Fay, the sixth named storm of the season. Reportedly, this is the earliest we've ever had a sixth named storm in the nearly 70 years of that tradition. It's certainly the earliest I can recall such a storm reaching the mid-Atlantic region--usually the waters of our coast are too cold to sustain a tropical system this early in the summer.

Respected scientists tell us that this phenomenon is the result of climate change...that now and in the future tropical storm/hurricane season will begin earlier and end later and that the storms will tend to be stronger and more violent. Deniers will pooh-pooh this, with anecdotal stories along the lines of "Why, I remember the devastating storm of ...." well, whatever year they choose to pick. Of course, there have been strong storms in the past, but usually they come one to a season (and there were seasons without any unusually strong storms) and late in the season, after months of warming air and water.

But now we're seeing storms like this every season, and over the past decade or so, multiple storms like this. No one can deny something's changed...so why deny the explanation the experts give us?