By James P. Economos, DDS, Opinion Contributor
As you know, Hurricane Ian leveled the Fort Myers, Florida area on Wednesday, Sept 28, 2022. It was a very strong system — a Category 4 hurricane that caused significant damage and a lot of destruction.
The leftist Marxists like to use “climate change” as a form of fear porn to convince people that fossil fuels and other environmental factors are responsible for severe storms and hurricanes.
And it’s an effective strategy. Or so they think. But it’s important to dismantle this argument by the leftists by simply observing the seismic activity that took place in the days leading up to Hurricane Ian.
Many people are not aware of the multiple earthquakes which occurred a few days before Hurricane Ian had even formed. It’s useful to connect the dots given the frequency of the earthquakes which happened in such a short time compared to normal activity which is quite rare. And this may have helped fuel the ferocity of the water surge making Ian stronger due to the ocean currents fueled by the earthquakes.
And this activity occurred on both sides of the countries of Honduras and Guatemala.
To provide some context, in the northern parts of Central America is where the Caribbean Sea opens up north into Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico, forming a large open bowl where the ocean currents can flow around in a contained area.
There are pictures from the US Geological Survey (USGS) website documenting the activity around Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. And what the pictures show is earthquake activity around Honduras and Guatemala – and when the ocean floors start to shake, the surge of the currents head towards the Gulf of Mexico and the Cuban coast – triggering tsunami warnings.
Another way to look at it is when launching a pachinko ball, how many places will it bounce around before coming to rest?
Ocean currents move around all of the time – so when earthquakes become active, they too can launch intense currents. And in this case, it may have contributed to Ian forcing strong currents to slam into Florida with greater force than what may have formed under a more normal circumstance.
But it’s important to not allow climate change alarmists to use Hurricane Ian as a political weapon to spread lies about this tragic occurrence.
Educating people about a combination of hurricanes and earthquakes contributing to Ian’s intensity is the best way to address leftist attacks about climate change.