Explaining Climate Change, and NFL Football, to Rush Limbaugh

RUSH LIMBAUGH, who can always be counted on to inspire a laugh, or a roll of the eyes, is at it again, stating the opposite of the truth. In the latest inane episode, Rush pointed out that the recent huge hurricane which hit Mexico proved far less catastrophic than predicted, proving, according to Rush, that global warming is a hoax. How, said El Rushbo, can scientists possibly predict climate change in general when they can't even get a single storm right? Well, the answer is this. A single hurricane is a singular, specific event, like an NFL football game. Global warming is a general, comprehensive process, like an entire NFL season. Before each football season, predictions are made. You can predict that there will be some good teams, some bad teams, and some mediocre teams. You can even predict with reasonable accuracy which teams they will be. You can predict that New England and Green Bay, for instance, will be quite good, and will win many games, while teams like the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears will have losing records. Chances are you will be roughly correct, just by comparing schedules and team rosters and previous season's outcomes and even pre season game results. You cannot, however, predict exactly what those records will be. New England may win anywhere from ten to fourteen games, as may Green Bay. But for the most part, they will have winning records. However, if Detroit and Chicago are scheduled to play this weekend, there is no way to predict the game's final score, much less the winner. The same is true if and when Green Bay and New England play each other during the regular season. Either team could win. A single game, between any two NFL teams, is unpredictable, just like the future course and destructive impact of a single storm. But we know for sure that if you put billions of tons of carbon into Earth's atmosphere, and leave it there, it will absorb extra heat, and keep absorbing it, day after day. You just can't be sure what the temperature will be exactly at any one time and place, tomorrow or the next day, much less the far future. Nor can you predict when the next major storm will be, and where it will hit, and what precise impact it will have. The more specific the event being predicted, the less chance of precise accuracy. The more general the event being predicted, the more likely a general accuracy will be achieved. It would be nice if someone could perhaps explain this to Rush Limbaugh, who is a fan of the NFL. Problem is, it would most likely be beyond his comprehension.