tagged w/ Climate Alarmism
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New York broke an all-time record for a one-day rainfall Sunday as up to 8 inches of water soaked the city, snarling trains and flooding roadways.
By 9 p.m., 7.7 inches of rain had fallen at Kennedy Airport.
It was the most recorded there in a single day since the National Weather Service began keeping records 116 years ago.
The heavy tropical rain is expected to continue Monday, and a flash flood warning is in effect until 9 p.m.
The normal rainfall for all of August in New York is 4 inches - which means the city was socked with two months worth of rain in a single day.
"This is what you would expect in a major hurricane," said Steve Wistar, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.
Kennedy Airport's old one-day rainfall record, 6.3 inches, set on June 30, 1984, fell by noon.
Central Park, where the city's official rainfall total is recorded, saw 5.8 inches by 10:45 p.m., making it the fifth-wettest day of all time there.
The heavy rain caused scattered power outages and transit disruptions. Cars got caught in flash floods, and the Long Island Rail Road reported localized flooding and trees on the tracks, delaying several dozen trains and closing the Far Rockaway and Long Beach branches.
In the subways, water flooded into tunnels, knocking out parts of seven lines in the morning. By evening, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said, things were under control.
On Staten Island, firefighters rescued two construction workers who got trapped in a stalled elevator rapidly filling with water.
"We thought we were dead," said one of the rescued men, Ed Tyler, 26, of Milltown, N.J. "I literally thought I was going to die."
More at the linkNew York broke an all-time record for a one-day rainfall Sunday as up to 8 inches of... more
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Al made an appearance at the Aspen Institute this past Thursday and did what we should all be doing; calling BS on liars, polluters and their minions, truthfully and forcefully. All I can say in response to his words is that I love him so much more today. Al, you are the one voice out here informing people of what scientists have been trying to tell us about for decades. There is absolutely no reason why we all shouldn't be calling what deniers are selling what it is: BULLSHIT.
However, that isn't all he said and this entry isn't just about the words Al used. Leave that to the complicit corporate owned media to twist or sites like Huffington Post that is now the mini FOX news, or a plethora of other sites where paid shills make their living trashing and diverting. This entry is about the essence of what he was talking about. A concerted deliberate effort by these special interests and polluters to cover up the truth for profit which has now brought us to facing that tipping point.
And in the course of his words he mentioned the book, Merchants of Doubt-How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. This is a comprehensive book that explains the entire metamorphosis of the denial movement based on the roots of the same movement in regards to tobacco. This video which is led by one of the authors of the book, Dr. Naomi Oreskes outlines exactly the truly diabolical methods employed to safeguard ideology, political standing and profits at any cost, even our planet and our civilization. Weighing these two variables is it any wonder those of us who understand what is at stake would not become upset by their treachery?
For far too long these evil entities that care for nothing regarding this planet and our ability to live on it have been getting away with their BULLSHIT. It is way beyond time to stand up to it for the future of our civilization. Anyone with two eyes and a brain cell can surmise the patterns currently making themselves known globally. I have been reading the reports but more importantly have been observing the changes in our Earth's systems, particularly the hydrologic cycle in relation to GHG emissions and temperature. The facts cannot be denied. Anthropogenic climate change is forcing the boundaries of our natural systems and taking them to a place they have not been before. And we are seeing this playing out on every continent.
Take a look at this link from Current.com ( see post below) and the climate events taking shape globally simultaneously now. Those who continue to deny this corrolation only do so out of political bias, ideology or because their bank accounts tell them to. They are not people who are credible and in my eyes are actually accomplices in the deaths of thousands who now suffer from the effects of prolonged severe droughts, floods, glacier melt, more intense wildfires and stronger storms which are being called the "new normal." Just researching damage to agriculture globally from these events alone gives you a pretty stark picture of what we are up against in the future.
So the usual hacks can try to divert the meaning of his words by focusing on only those they wish to use for their own purposes. But again, the Reality is clear and we as a species probably do not deserve this planet if our allegiances continue to fall with what is convenient and easy as opposed to what is real.
So hell yes, volcanoes? BULLSHIT! Sunspots? BULLSHIT! It isn't warming? BULLSHIT!
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Oh and moderators, please allow me some creative license with this.
Thanks.Al made an appearance at the Aspen Institute this past Thursday and did what we should... more
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Devastating rains move the government to plan for a harsh, wet new reality
In recent weeks South Korea has been battered by torrential rains that have caused serious flooding, landslides and widespread property damage, killing 62 people. Stunning images of Seoul’s normally busy downtown streets filled with neck-deep water circulated around the world.
There are heavy rains every summer in South Korea, but this was something else. The storms are being regarded as evidence that the climate is changing and that the country must adjust to a hotter, wetter, more volatile reality. The South Korean government is quietly making plans to improve disaster preparedness and recovery capacity.
The events of July have all but confirmed what South Koreans have anecdotally thought to be true for some time: summers are longer than ever before with higher temperatures and heavier rainfall. A recent study by the Korea Meteorological Administration shows that the number of days with rainfall of more than 30 millimeters per hour has doubled in the last three decades. During this year’s midsummer rainy season, the rainfall in the central and southern regions was two to three times the average of previous years.
South Korea’s National Science and Technology Council has significantly increased funds for weather prediction in next year’s budget, from 3.1 billion KRW ($290,000) to W10.0 billion ($920,000). Seoul plans to install 82.9 kilometers of pipes in 26 places in the city by 2014, but only 5 km have been completed. President Lee Myung-bak has called for the creation of a new task force to revise the country’s disaster response systems to better deal with severe weather.
South Korea has the benefit of a vocal citizenry that keeps government on its toes. When something goes wrong in this country, people tend to get angry and demand better from their elected leaders. As this is a functioning democracy, leaders need to respond to their constituents for their own survival. Similar to how being caught unprepared for North Korea’s November 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island has led to expansions in military capability, the poor preparation for July’s flooding has given way to improvements in the infrastructure for dealing with extreme weather.
The Seoul government has faced criticism after flooding led to deaths and paralyzed the city. The mayor has been criticized for neglecting the city’s lack of flood control infrastructure. He has since pledged W5 trillion over the next 10 years to install more effective drainage systems and reinforce homes in low-lying areas.
This signals a shift in the Seoul government’s priorities, as it had previously spent much of its time and money on projects to beautify the city, such as its World Design Capital and Han River improvement campaigns. It is likely that climate change will spur more policy realignments of this nature: away from the pursuit of the beautiful, towards the maintenance of basic functionality.
South Korea has long been active in responding to and preparing for the effects of climate change. In 2009, the South Korean government announced its “Low Carbon, Green Growth” plan, a broadly-based mandate of green growth initiatives that aimed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent through 2020 from 2007 levels. Under the plan, the government expanded use of solar and wind energy, smart grid, as well as carbon capture and storage technology.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has stopped short of publicly attributing July’s weather to climate change. In explaining the to-be-formed taskforce, he said "The Prime Minister's Office needs to form a task force with related government offices and experts to discuss how to re-establish the country's anti-disaster guidelines because we may undergo unexpected disaster next year, too," Lee was quoted by his spokesman as saying in a Cabinet meeting. This was a curious choice of words, as if there is flooding and landslides again next year, it won’t be unexpected.
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It’s a fairly safe bet that sooner or later all governments will need to change policies to deal with the new, more challenging circumstances. The South Korean case could be instructive, as it is being hit especially hard by new weather patterns and responding with something other than denial.
More at the link.Devastating rains move the government to plan for a harsh, wet new reality
In... more
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The rapidly rising Souris River poured over flood defenses in Minot, North Dakota on Wednesday, overwhelming efforts to delay the deluge and forcing the immediate evacuation of thousands of homes.
City officials had ordered residents to vacate about a quarter of North Dakota's fourth-largest city, but the massive water flows from heavy rains in Canada hastened the evacuation by about five hours as defenses began to fail.
Up to 12,000 residents live in areas expected to be swamped by floodwaters projected to smash a 130-year-old record by up to 5 feet. Emergency sirens sounded about 1 p.m. indicating that water was flowing over levees in flood-threatened areas.
"You hate to admit defeat at any time, but as far as our permanent dike, it can't handle the kind of water that we are going to see," Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman told reporters at an evening news conference.
Zimbelman said the evacuation has been orderly, no injuries have been reported and no more evacuations are anticipated.
The Souris River surpassed on Wednesday its peak level from a historic 1969 flood that local residents had used as a benchmark. It is projected to beat that mark by about 7 feet,
Officials had warned residents of the possible earlier evacuation and had urged them to map out a direct route to higher ground if the warning sirens sounded.
Heavy rains over the past six weeks have swelled Canadian reservoirs in the Souris River basin, forcing unprecedented water releases. In turn, U.S. officials must release water from the Lake Darling Dam above Minot at a rate more than double what the recently fortified protections can bear.
"We have raised them three or four times, but there is just not enough time to raise them any higher," Shannon Bauer, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview. "Also, they are saturated. If you add more material to them they won't last."
As many as 5,000 buildings in Minot are threatened by the flooding that could keep the area inundated for two weeks or more, officials said.
A dozen National Guard teams were going house-to-house to make sure people have evacuated and will provide security for the area, National Guard General David Sprynczynatyk said.
A National Weather Service flash flood warning Wednesday extended from Burlington, through Minot and Logan and Sawyer.
The massive flooding on the Souris River, which flows into the Red River basin, was the latest problem as flooding threatens communities from Montana through Missouri.
The swelling Missouri River threatens the North Dakota capital of Bismarck, the South Dakota capital of Pierre and other communities for hundreds of miles downstream.
'DRAMATIC' SURGE COMING
City, state and federal officials scanned the Minot area by helicopter Wednesday, finding four or five neighborhoods where water was slowly rolling over levees, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple told reporters.
The rolling water begins to erode flood protections slowly at first and then accelerates, a process that will speed up as higher water releases reach Minot, officials said.
Officials were timing the sharpest increases in release rates so the water reaches Minot during the daylight and the biggest surge was expected within days.
"It will be dramatic and I think some people will actually no doubt feel alarmed at the speed with which the water comes up in Minot," Dalrymple said. "In two days time it will be a very, very rapid rise."
The Corps has increased and accelerated planned water releases from the Lake Darling Dam. It was releasing 12,000 cubic feet per second Wednesday afternoon and expects to increase that to 18,000 on Thursday and 22,000 on Friday.
The peak flows at the Broadway Bridge in Minot would reach 24,000 cubic feet per second on Sunday, making water levels there some 5 feet above the record set in 1881. Flood defenses were rated to about 9,500 cubic feet per second.
The Corps expects peak releases to hold for up to six days before a gradual reduction of releases over possibly two weeks, but cannot predict how quickly water will recede from flooded areas, Lieutenant Colonel Kendall Bergmann told reporters.
Amtrak suspended Empire Builder service Tuesday in part of Minnesota, North Dakota and eastern Montana due to flooding.
Heavy rains added to woes across the Missouri River basin from Montana through Missouri earlier this week and forced federal officials to adjust planned water release rates from some of its six reservoirs on the Upper Missouri River.
Rates already are roughly double the previous records and the Corps plans to increase the expected maximum at the key Gavins Point Dam on the South Dakota-Nebraska border.
The Missouri River runs freely from Gavins Point for more than 800 miles to the Mississippi River near St. Louis, making the releases from the dam a focus for downstream residents.
Gavins Point water releases are scheduled to reach 160,000 cubic feet per second on Thursday. It plans to hold peak releases from the dams at least through mid-August.
Levee failures have forced mandatory evacuations of several towns near the Missouri River and the heavy rains and increased releases added to local concerns.
More at the link.The rapidly rising Souris River poured over flood defenses in Minot, North Dakota on... more
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The rate of sea level rise along the U.S. Atlantic coast is greater now than at any time in the past 2,000 years--and has shown a consistent link between changes in global mean surface temperature and sea level.
The findings are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The research, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), was conducted by Andrew Kemp, Yale University; Benjamin Horton, University of Pennsylvania; Jeffrey Donnelly, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Michael Mann, Pennsylvania State University; Martin Vermeer, Aalto University School of Engineering, Finland; and Stefan Rahmstorf, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany.
"Having a detailed picture of rates of sea level change over the past two millennia provides an important context for understanding current and potential future changes," says Paul Cutler, program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.
"It's especially valuable for anticipating the evolution of coastal systems," he says, "in which more than half the world's population now lives."
Adds Kemp, "Scenarios of future rise are dependent on understanding the response of sea level to climate changes. Accurate estimates of past sea-level variability provide a context for such projections."
Kemp and colleagues developed the first continuous sea-level reconstruction for the past 2,000 years, and compared variations in global temperature to changes in sea level over that time period.
The team found that sea level was relatively stable from 200 BC to 1,000 AD.
Then in the 11th century, sea level rose by about half a millimeter each year for 400 years, linked with a warm climate period known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly.
Then there was a second period of stable sea level during a cooler period called the Little Ice Age. It persisted until the late 19th century.
Since the late 19th century, sea level has risen by more than 2 millimeters per year on average, the steepest rate for more than 2,100 years.
"Sea-level rise is a potentially disastrous outcome of climate change," says Horton, "as rising temperatures melt land-based ice, and warm ocean waters."
To reconstruct sea level, the scientists used microfossils called foraminifera preserved in sediment cores extracted from coastal salt marshes in North Carolina. The age of the cores was estimated using radiocarbon dating and other techniques.
To test the validity of their approach, the team compared its reconstructions with tide-gauge measurements from North Carolina for the past 80 years, and global tide-gauge records for the past 300 years.
A second reconstruction from Massachusetts confirmed their findings.
more at the link.
__________The rate of sea level rise along the U.S. Atlantic coast is greater now than at any... more
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Feeling frustrated that the government isn't paying attention to climate change? One 16-year-old had an interesting solution. He decided to sue the US government for failing to provide a safe and healthy planet for future generations.
"Our parents' and grandparents' generation have created a problem. They've developed a society that depends on burning fossil fuels, like coal and oil, to survive. They never realized that there were any huge consequences to running our lives with fossil fuels. But now, we do."
Starting on Mother's Day weekend, he is calling for youth to rise up and show support by marching in a series of marches.Feeling frustrated that the government isn't paying attention to climate change?... more
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