Global Warming In The News

By Celina Avila

EL PASO -- Results of a new study suggest global warming may have been responsible for Storm 2006. Some experts believe that and some do not.

A new "Environment Texas" report examined trends of large rain and snow events in the past 60 years. But that data is open to interpretation. There are many El Pasoans still recovering from Storm 2006 more than a year after it happened.

A new report by Environment Texas finds that storms with heavy rainfall occur with a 61% higher frequency in El Paso than they were 60 years ago.

"This number for El Paso specifically is among the highest in the state and these numbers are particularly relevant given the wet summer we saw in 2006," said J.J. Karabais Environment Texas.

He said the report should send a clear message. "At the rate we're going what was once the downpour of the decade will soon become just another storm if we continue to not address the impacts of global warming."

But ABC-7 meteorologist Amber Sullins reviewed the data from the report and doesn't quite agree with its findings.

"Our local national weather service has crunched the numbers and of all the extreme precipitation cases since 1948, 65% of them have had full or partial El Nino forcings, including Storm 2006, which would dominate any carbon forcings that these global warming activists are claiming."

Karabais still disagreed. "The scientific evidence is clear, regardless of what many in the industry is saying, global warming is having an effect in many different ways and it's impacting people's lives like we see here in El Paso."

In a statement, Shapleigh is calling for the strengthening of global warming legislation and supports the report, although he was not at Tuesday's news conference.