I particularly like this analysis, via a quote by Eric Pooley, senior vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund:

“We can’t say that steroids caused any one home run by Barry Bonds, but steroids sure helped him hit more and hit them farther. Now we have weather on steroids.”

Mother Jones also wrote a strong article on the connection between climate change and extreme weather. You can read it here. The article succinctly says:

This will be perceived as a climate-change-related event by much of the public. Weird, extreme weather makes people worry, makes them think the world is changing. They aren’t wrong about that.

Governor Andrew Cuomo took a stand on the issue as well, saying in a press conference:

There has been a series of extreme weather incidents. That is not a political statement. That is a factual statement. Anyone who says there’s not a dramatic change in weather patterns, I think is denying reality.”

Sadly, if there’s anything that will help deliver more public support for clean technologies, and low carbon energy and transportation infrastructure, it’ll be people experiencing the direct and indirect of extreme weather.

Image courtesy of Brian R. Birke.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Flash analysis: the Fisker debacle and its implications on investing, innovation, and government incentives
• Building energy management systems: overview and forecast
• Cleantech first-quarter 2013 analysis and outlook