Al Gore highlights link between floods, global warming in 'climate crisis'

Al Gore is highlighting a recent news report that casts devastating floods in Australia and Brazil as signs of climate change.

In a Tuesday Twitter message flagging the broadcast, he called the ABC News story an “important link.” He also addressed the issue on his website.

“As the earth warms, scientists tell us that we will see more and more extreme weather conditions. Each of these occurrences further underscore why we need to take immediate action to solve the climate crisis,” Gore wrote on his website Tuesday.

The ABC News report includes comments by Dr. Richard Somerville of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego.

“This is no longer something that’s theory or conjecture or just something that comes out of computer models. We’re observing the climate changing. It’s happening. It’s real. It’s a scientific fact,” he said on the Jan. 13 report, calling extreme weather events “hints” of events that “will become stronger.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported last week that 2010 was tied with 2005 for the hottest on record worldwide.

The 10 warmest average global temperatures since 1880 have all occurred in the last 13 years, according to NOAA, which also reported that 2010 was the wettest on record, in terms of global average precipitation.

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