It’s great to see the Union of Concerned Scientists offering nonpartisan criticism of elected officials for distorting — in both directions — what’s known about the role of human-driven global warming on several fronts, from tornado ferocity to hurricane losses.

Here’s the statement the group circulated to reporters this morning:

We recently noticed a small flurry of policymaker statements on climate change that struck us as inaccurate or misleading. At the same time, we’ve received several inquiries about extreme weather, particularly in the wake of the Oklahoma tornado strike. Below, we’ve compiled some of the statements as well as blog posts and other resources that point to what the science says. Please let us know if you have any questions and if we can help identify other scientific resources.

When it comes to extreme weather, we always take the opportunity to point back to the last definitive international scientific report on extreme weather and climate change, which found strong historic links for heat waves, coastal flooding and changes in precipitation along with weaker links for tornadoes and hurricanes.

On Monday, Gov. Christie was asked for the second time in recent months if Superstorm Sandy was linked to climate change. The governor correctly said that Sandy was not “caused” by climate change, but he failed to acknowledge how sea-level rise, which is caused by climate change, increased the size of Sandy’s devastating storm surge. As the state rebuilds, it’s not clear if the governor is integrating future sea-level rise into his plans. Meanwhile, Rutgers University researchers estimate that the state can expect 1.3 feet of sea-level rise by 2050 and 3.1 feet by 2100.

Also on Monday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) included tornadoes inhis discussion of extreme weather and climate change. At the time, his office says, he did not know tornadoes were hitting Oklahoma. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) also linked a number of extreme weather phenomena to climate change in a floor speech, including tornadoes. UCS climate scientist Brenda Ekwurzel writes that because the historical tornado record is spotty, scientists don’t yet have enough evidence to determine how climate change is affecting tornadoes.

Finally, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Science Committee, used a Washington Post op-ed to spread increasingly common misinformation about recent surface temperature trends. In another blog post, Ekwurzel explains how natural variability and human-induced climate change are increasing global temperatures in a step-wise pattern.