CNN’s Don Lemon repeatedly tried to get the National Hurricane Center’s new acting director on Tuesday night to link Hurricane Ian to climate change, and he was not expecting the response that he received.
Lemon’s segment with Jamie Rohme comes as Hurricane Ian, a category 4 hurricane, made landfall on southern Florida Tuesday evening.
“Can you tell us what this is and what effect the climate change has on this phenomenon?” Lemon asked.
“Well, we can come back and talk about climate change at a later time,” Rohme said. “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 refused to give up on the issue and claimed that Rohme wanted to talk about climate change, even though that’s not what Rohme said.
“So listen, I just, I’m just trying to get the, you said you want to talk about climate change,” Lemon said. “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,” Rohme responded. “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,” Lemon snapped back. “Something is causing them to intensify.”
WATCH:
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.
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