More Anti-Science From The Trib (Colin McNickle, Specifically)

From the Tribune-Review yesterday:

Global warming has become such a serious problem that Jeff Masters, chief meteorologist for Weather Underground ( wunderground.com) tells Reuters that we are in the longest term “without a major hurricane hitting the U.S. since the Civil War era.” One of the reasons cited is cooler seas. So much for the theory that our seas have been acting as heat sinks. Thus, the truly serious problem is for climate alarmists. [Bolding in Original]

Aw, Colin.  Did you think I wasn't going to check your work?

Here's the Reuters piece and here's how it begins:

A combination of cooler seas and a quiet West African monsoon season made for a less active Atlantic hurricane season, giving the South and East Coast one of their lengthiest reprieves in history from a major hurricane, forecasters said Monday.

“This is the longest without a major hurricane hitting the U.S. since the Civil War era,” said Jeff Masters, chief meteorologist for Weather Underground.

The Atlantic Basin, which includes the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, had only eight named storms, including six hurricanes, two of which reached major Category 3 status, during the season that began June 1 and closes Nov. 30, according to an end of season summary by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Right there, we're confusing weather and climate just a tad too much, aren't we Colin?  Are we really going to use part (the Atlantic Hurricane season) to comment on the whole?  I mean what about this part of the same Reuters piece?

Among factors that tamped down storm formation were below-average temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and an active Pacific storm season that had more than 20 named storms in its most active season since 1992.

“It's a seesaw effect; often when the Atlantic is more active, the Pacific will be suppressed,” [Gerry Bell, NOAA's lead seasonal hurricane forecaster] said.

Here's NOAA's "End of the Season" report if you want to check my work.

“A combination of atmospheric conditions acted to suppress the Atlantic hurricane season, including very strong vertical wind shear, combined with increased atmospheric stability, stronger sinking motion and drier air across the tropical Atlantic,” said Gerry Bell, Ph.D., lead hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “Also, the West African monsoon was near- to below average, making it more difficult for African easterly waves to develop.”

Meanwhile, the eastern North Pacific hurricane season met or exceeded expectations with 20 named storms – the busiest since 1992. Of those, 14 became hurricanes and eight were major hurricanes. NOAA’s seasonal hurricane outlook called for 14 to 20 named storms, including seven to 11 hurricanes, of which three to six were expected to become major hurricanes. Two hurricanes (Odile and Simon) brought much-needed moisture to the parts of the southwestern U.S., with very heavy rain from Simon causing flooding in some areas.

So, Colin.  Did you just miss that part of the Reuters piece (you know, the one you quoted) that talked about a "seesaw effect" regarding a relatively calm Atlantic hurricane season linked to a more active Pacific hurricane season?  Or did you. in fact, see it but just chose to omit it in order to mislead your readers?

Which is it?  Incompetence or dishonesty?