I tried for years to say what a climate expert at The Weather Channel has just said.

My message may have been hard to hear or understand because I had a muzzle on (by NOAA NWS) for many years.

I hope that Dr. Heidi Cullen of The Weather Channel succeeds where I had failed. I think her Dec. 21, 2006 article titled "Junk Controversy NOT Junk Science..." at The Weather Channel blog is nicely done.

Excerpt:

... " If a meteorologist has an AMS Seal of Approval, which is used to confer legitimacy to TV meteorologists, then meteorologists have a responsibility to truly educate themselves on the science of global warming. (One good resource if you don't have a lot of time is the Pew Center's Climate Change 101.)

Meteorologists are among the few people trained in the sciences who are permitted regular access to our living rooms. And in that sense, they owe it to their audience to distinguish between solid, peer-reviewed science and junk political controversy. If a meteorologist can't speak to the fundamental science of climate change, then maybe the AMS shouldn't give them a Seal of Approval. Clearly, the AMS doesn't agree that global warming can be blamed on cyclical weather patterns. It's like allowing a meteorologist to go on-air and say that hurricanes rotate clockwise and tsunamis are caused by the weather. It's not a political statement...it's just an incorrect statement.

I agree with every meteorologist who says the topic of global warming has gotten too political. But that's why talking about the science is so important!"

See the whole article for the complete picture.