Al Roker has spent the weekend in water-logged purgatory, reporting on the massive hurricane that devastated Louisiana from the disaster site. He’s been pummeled by strong winds, battered by unforgiving rains, and been forced to put some young punks who worried he might be too old for it all in their place. So if you thought he wouldn’t also educate the public on the very real connection between Hurricane Ida and the consequences of climate change, well, you don’t know Al.
Roker made headlines over the weekend when he appeared on Meet The Press to give Chuck Todd updates on Hurricane Ida’s predicted landfall and the expected destruction she would leave in her wake. The rough conditions and Roker’s on-air metaphors — a 15-mile wide F3 tornado is a hell of a way to describe something — had Roker trending on social media, but now that the storm has rolled through and we can take stock of just how terrible it was, Roker wants to remind us all of something else: climate change is real, and it’s going to give us more natural disasters like this one.
Roker appeared on MSNBC’s morning show, standing in front of a heap of rubble and debris left by Hurricane Ida to update viewers on the situation in New Orleans, and he made sure to include a very important disclaimer towards the end of his segment.
“We are looking at the results of climate change,” Roker said somberly. “Those Gulf waters were about three to five degrees above average and that is purely climate change. That’s what created this monster storm.”
Good on Al Roker for explaining the connection between climate change and Hurricane Ida, something that's been largely ignored in most reporting
"We are looking at the results of climate change … that's what created this monster storm"
h/t @iTweetyNerd pic.twitter.com/K0M4iU9HUc
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) August 30, 2021
Roker went on to explain how the warmer waters aided a rapid intensification of the storm with winds increasing by 60 miles per hour in less than 24 hours, an almost unheard of number. Currently, millions are without power in Louisiana as officials are still trying to measure the damage on the ground. Roker’s been an outspoken advocate for increasing awareness about the effects of climate change, but maybe watching our favorite NBC anchor get absolutely thrashed by Mother Nature is what it takes to convince people how serious this situation is?