Hansen predicted Manhattan flooded by 2000

[marchesarosa]

If you Google keywords Bob Reiss, Jim Hansen and Hudson River you will find links that take you to an account of an 1988 interview with the then Washington Post reporter where Hansen predicts the Hudson River Highway will be under water by 2000. Hansen re-affirmed his extremist views in 2001 to the same writer. Hansen’s NASA GISS office at 2880 Broadway in NYC,  has a view of the Hudson River.

Bob Reiss described his own interview with Hansen to Suzy Hansen (no relative) in 2001 while publicizing his upcoming book “Stormy Weather”. Here's a transcript of the intervew.

Extreme weather means more terrifying hurricanes and
tornadoes and fires than we usually see. But what can we expect such conditions to do to our daily life?

While doing research 12 or 13 years ago, I met Jim Hansen, the scientist who in 1988 predicted the greenhouse effect before Congress. I went over to the window with him and looked out on Broadway in New York City and said, “If what you’re saying about the greenhouse effect is true, is anything going to look different down there in 20 years?” He looked for a while and was quiet and didn’t say anything for a couple seconds. Then he said, “Well, there will be more traffic.” I, of course, didn’t think he heard the question right. Then he explained, “The West Side Highway [which runs along the Hudson River] will be under water. And there will be tape across the windows across the street because of high winds. And the same birds won’t be there. The trees in the median strip will change.” Then he said, “There will be more police cars.” Why? “Well, you know what happens to crime when the heat goes up.”
And so far, over the last 10 years, we’ve had 10 of the hottest years on record.

Didn’t he also say that restaurants would have signs in their windows that read, “Water by request only.”

Under the greenhouse effect, extreme weather increases. Depending on where you are in terms of the hydrological cycle, you get more of whatever you’re prone to get. New York can get droughts, the droughts can get more severe and you’ll have signs in restaurants saying “Water by request only.”

When did he say this will happen?

Within 20 or 30 years. And remember we had this conversation in 1988 or 1989.

Does he still believe these things?

Yes, he still believes everything. I talked to him a few months ago and he said he wouldn’t change anything that he said then.



So not only did Dr. Hansen make the claims in the late 1980′s, he reaffirmed his predictions again in 2001. Suzy Hansen recorded the interview with Reiss and included it in a review of Bob Reiss's book "The Coming Storm: Extreme Weather and Our Terrifying Future," that you can see here dir.salon.com/books/int/2001/10/23/weather/index.html

Here is Hansen’s office view down to the Hudson River.
wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/hansen_giss_los_from_hudson.jpg
Needless to say the West Side Highway is NOT under water more than two decades after Hansen made that silly prediction

Hansen is a raving lunatic. So is lazarus if he gives any credence to what he says and the falsified global dataset he produces at NASA/GISS.


Brought to you courtesy of WUWT
wattsupwiththat.com/2009/10/22/a-little-known-but-failed-20-year-old-climate-change-prediction-by-dr-james-hansen/

[havelock]

I'm sorry if I missed it (not had my third cup of coffee yet this morning) but could you please point to the part in your post that shows what Hansen said (not just what somebody else said that Hansen said whilst publicizing his own book)?

Thanks

[marchesarosa]

Bob Reiss described the conversation in order to puff his own scare-mongering piece of science fiction "Stormy Weather" in 2001.

Why should he lie? He was a Washington Post reporter at the time he talked to Hansen. He believed Hansen. He probably still does.

Hansen uttered an equivalent egregious statement to camera in the same year, 1988. When he refers to "this century" he is, of course referring to the 20th century. So you can appreciate how far wide of the mark his silly statements were and still are.






You really are a plant from the GWPF, aren't you Havelock? what was your name on the BBC ScienceBoard, by the way?



www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9KzeQJZUEw

[lazarus]

I went over to the window with him and looked out on Broadway in New York City and said, “If what you’re saying about the greenhouse effect is true, is anything going to look different down there in 20 years?” He looked for a while and was quiet and didn’t say anything for a couple seconds. Then he said, “Well, there will be more traffic.” I, of course, didn’t think he heard the question right. Then he explained, “The West Side Highway [which runs along the Hudson River] will be under water.

Well it's good to know that you just didn't make all this up yourself but sad to see how gullible you are in accepting anything you think supports your beliefs.

And he allegedly said this in 1988? Did he? Really? Interesting, seeing as how...

The original elevated West Side Highway completed demolition in 1986 after it collapsed on December 16th, 1973.

A temporary highway ran along West Street and 12th Avenue until....

Approval for a new West Side Highway wasn't given until 1993, construction started in 1996 and was not completed until 2001.

So tell us how come James Hansen was saying the West Side Highway would be underwater when it didn't even exist at the time?
Tell us how reliable Bob Reiss, who is promoting his upcoming book “Stormy Weather”, could really be when he is attributing quotes to someone who could not have possibly said them?

Is Hansen a seer?

No doubt this little meme of 'Hansens prediction' that is supported only by the comments of someone with a clear agenda and no proof will spread to all science deniers alike. Quite shameful.

[marchesarosa]

All your statements demonstrate is that coastal and riverside infrastructure is regularly renewed just as all other urban infrastructures are regularly renewed. There is no need at all to fear the imperceptible sea-level rise that Hansen predicted would be "eighty feet by the end of the 20th century"!

I see the denial engine has got into gear. How silly your denialism is when you consider Hansen actually said exactly the same thing to camera in 1988 as he said to Bob Reiss in person. James Hansen has well-recorded form for these wild statements, Havelock!



He was predicting in 1988 a temperature rise of "several degrees Fahrenheit" by 2000, plus half a billion people impacted by rising sea-levels of 80 feet.

The man's barmy. And so are you for trying to defend him, Havelock.

[abacus9900]

Mary, why are you telling us the opinions of an obvious crank ?

[marchesarosa]

Because this obvious crank is in charge of NASA/GISS the global mean temperature database, whose anomaly maps consistently show a "red" arctic when everyone knows the Arctic has had its coldest summer melt season since before records began in 1958 (DMI).

He is continually adjusting the temperature record past and present to show an ever escalating staircase to climate apocalypse. He is dishonest as well as a crank.

This man is one of those who got the IPCC under way back in 1988. If you think someone of his opinions is fit for purpose in controlling the output of the GISS global temperature database I wonder at YOUR critical powers, too, abacus.

[rsmith7]

Mary, why are you telling us the opinions of an obvious crank ?

Ha haaa! This "crank" is one of the most influencial climate "scientists" on the planet.

I'll go and wipe the coffee off my monitor now.

[marchesarosa]

"Mary, why are you telling us the opinions of an obvious crank ?"

Are you REALLY ignorant of Hansen's status in the AGW/IPCC "community", abacus?

If so, you are deeply uniformed and should not really be posting on threads about AGW or anything else about so-called "climate change".

[marchesarosa]

Incidentally, I looked at google maps, as you should have done, lazarus, before issuing your spurious "rebuttal" of Hansen's crazy prediction about the Westside Highway being under water.

You claimed, no doubt having referred to some AGW propaganda site, that the Westside Highway did not exist in 1988 and you referred to the elevated section along West Street/12th Avenue as having "collapsed" and been rebuilt..

The West St/12th Avenue section of the Westside highway is nowhere near the stretch that Hansen can see from his office. Your purported "rebuttal" concerned an "elevated" stretch of highway closer to the southern end of the island.

The highway visible from Hansen GISS office (on the corner of West 112th Street and Broadway) runs along the Hudson river's edge by the riverside park as you can clearly see from this google image of mid-town Mangattan. It did in 1988 and it still does today, unaltered.

wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/hansen_giss_los_from_hudson.jpg

Hansen is a fantasist. You should not try to defend him, lazarus. It makes you look bad, too.

[lazarus]

Mary the no Westside Highway, that Hansen is alleged to have talked about existed in 1988. It did even get approval until given until 1993, construction started in 1996 and was not completed until 2001.

The road it replaced was known as the Joe DiMaggio Highway but that was shut down in 1973.

This is not from any 'AGW propaganda site' it is a matter of record.

All you have is your bloggers word, who is hawking a book. No evidence that Hansen could see the future at all.

[marchesarosa]

"No evidence that Hansen could see the future at all."

Absolutely agree! And only a crazy man could predict 80 ft sea level rise by the end of the 20th century, too!

[marchesarosa]

West St/12th Avenue section of the Westside Highway (aka Joe diMaggio Highway)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Highway

The re-building you referred to, lazarus, was nowhere near the waterlevel stretch of the Westside Highway (properly called the Henry Hudson Parkway north of 72nd Street) that Hansen can see from his office on West 112th Street today, as he did back in 1988.

[havelock]

As somebody who has no idea if the road referred to existed or not at the time, can anyone point me to an independant source so that I can check myself?

So far, there seem to be two posters with opposing views but I'd like to get to the source if I can as either of these could be mistaken.

If the road didn't exist then the conversation is clearly fictional
If the road did exist, it's still not proof that the conversation isn't fictional.

Can anyone point me to where Hansen himself said that this road would be under water?

[marchesarosa]

Why don't you email Bob Reiss, havelock, and get it straight from the horse's mouth?

www.bobreiss.com/

He is the origin of the story. He is a warmist propagandist like yourself. Ask him.

Bob can be reached at bobreiss at hotmail.com

Let us know what he says!