Repeat Offenses    
   Part 2 of 4

   Climate change activists use hurricanes as leverage to warn of disaster if the U.S. and the world don't spend gazillions to combat possible effects. (UN Climate Change Summit, this week.) 

Some facts:  
   Before Harvey, Irma and Maria raked Puerto Rico and the U.S., severe storms damaged those same areas...long before man-made climate change could have been the culprit. 

   Neil Frank, retired meteorologist, points to the year 1886 (when Grover Cleveland was president). That was the most active hurricane season on record in the U.S., according to NOAA. Seven hurricanes made landfall, one of them wiping out Indianola, Texas. 

   In 1893 a hurricane killed some 2,000 in Louisiana. In 1900, a Cat 4 killed at least 6,000 in Galveston, Texas. 

   In 1935, a Cat 5 along the Florida Keys knocked a train off its tracks. Another storm that year caused massive flooding in Houston - sound familiar? - closing the ports for eight months. 

   Mr. Frank doesn't think data shows that global warming is making hurricanes more frequent (or fierce). These storms hit before major emissions of carbon dioxide. 

   Tropical storm Claudette flooded Houston again in 1979, dumping about 43 inches of rain in 24 hours, much like Harvey. 

Bitter cups?
   After Katrina and Rita in 2005, former vice president Al Gore predicted a "bitter cup" that we would drink year after year because of global warming. 

   Twelve years went by before "bitter cup" Harvey made landfall as a Cat 4. 

Tomorrow: Can man even affect climate?