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Could Hurricane Sandy put climate change back on the radar?

Ryan Teague Beckwith and Jason Fields

Posted: 10/30/2012 05:07:50 AM PDT

This NOAA satellite image taken Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 at 1:45 a.m. EDT shows Sandy over much of the eastern United States extending from North Carolina to Illinois into the Northeast with areas of rain. Snow is seen over the Central Appalachians and back into Ohio and Michigan. ((AP Photo/Weather Underground))

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View the story "Could Hurricane Sandy put climate change back on the radar?" on StorifyCould Hurricane Sandy put climate change back on the radar?The debate over global warming has often turned at key points after major weather events. After a presidential campaign in which neither candidate said much on the issue, could Hurricane Sandy put it back in the spotlight?Storified by Digital First Media · Tue, Oct 30 2012 05:02:44The debate over global warming has often turned at key points after major weather events. After a presidential campaign in which neither candidate said much on the issue, could Hurricane Sandy put it back in the spotlight?

2005: Hurricane Katrina puts a face on climate change

RiausOne of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, Hurricane Katrina raised concerns among the public that climate change was causing more severe storms. A guest editorial in the Boston Globe argued the storm's "real name" was "global warming." The following year, the poster for Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" showed smoke from a smokestack curling into the shape of a hurricane. Still, some meteorologists and scientists argued that Gore made too much of the link between that storm and climate change.

2010: D.C. snowstorms become a talking point

Denverpost(Facebook/Sen. Jim Inhofe)When two major winter storms hit the Northeast in 2010, the debate over climate change returned. Meteorologist Jeff Masters argued that changes in global temperature could "load the dice" in favor of storms that used to be rare. But skeptics in Congress used the storm as a talking point, with Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) even posting photos of an igloo marked "Al Gore's new home!" on his Facebook page. Although a cap-and-trade bill was already unlikely to pass the Senate, many believe the snowstorm helped stall the legislation.

2011: Storms stir public, but not pols

AmazonawsA destroyed helicopter lies on its side in the parking lot of the Joplin Regional Medical Center. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
After a summer of strong storms across the Midwest in - Joplin, Mo., being the hardest hit with 161 dead - a record drought in Texas and Hurricane Irene raking the East Coast and doing serious damage in Vermont, in 2011 people were talking about climate change and wondering whether or not it was playing a serious part in the extreme weather. Environmentalists argued the link was obvious. But politicians such as President Obama did not.

2012: Hurricane Sandy makes headlines

Denverpost(AP Photo/John Minchillo)Climate change was decidedly not a question in the 2012 elections. For the first time since 1988, the topic did not come up in any of the presidential or vice presidential debates. (An MTV interviewer did ask Obama, however.) Commentators drew a line between the "Frankenstorm" and climate change. So did some politicians. But it remains to be seen whether the storm will drive more interest in legislation addressing the issue.

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