.01" rain fell at STC Airport yesterday.
60 F. high temperature in St. Cloud on Tuesday.
71 F. average high on May 23.
78 F. high on May 23, 2016.
May 24, 1925: After seeing a high of 99 degrees two days earlier, the Twin Cities picks up a tenth (.10) of an inch of snow.
May 24, 1908: Tornadoes hit the counties of Martin and Blue Earth.
Always Err On The Side of Caution: Rent the TentA
friend asked me about the forecast for June 3, when 80 friends and
family will gather in his yard for a bat mitzvah celebration. I told
Adam the Twins would beat the Angels 6 to 4. The NASDAQ will have just
closed 14 points higher. And June 3 will be warm & steamy with heavy
T-storms nearby. Uh huh.
Confidence levels are low this far out,
but my advice for anyone planning a grad party or outdoor wedding hasn't
changed. Rent. The. Tent. If you don't you're DARING Mother Nature to
rain on your parade.
Remember, the weather owes us no favors.
The
emerging pattern leads me to believe this will NOT be a stinking-hot
summer. If anything I see a wet bias with temperatures at or below
average. We'll see.
The sun returns today, but a nagging
atmospheric holding pattern keeps a T-shower risk going over the holiday
weekend. Right now the best outdoor days look like Friday and Saturday,
with some sun and highs in the low 70s. Afternoon instability showers
blossom Sunday & Memorial Day with highs in the 60s as a cold storm
in the upper atmosphere keeps our skies unsettled.
Not disastrous but hardly postcard-perfect either. It's a holiday, keep your expectations low.
Forecasters Agree: This Summer to be "Substantially Cooler" Than Last Summer in D.C.
My hunch: temperatures at or slightly below average during
meteorological summer for Minnesota and Wisconsin, based on how the
pattern seems to be shaping up. Here's an excerpt from
Capital Weather Gang: "...
Comparing
forecasts for this summer versus last summer, it’s substantially
cooler,” said Stephen Baxter, lead author of the National Weather
Service’s summer outlook. But, even if it not as hot as last summer,
it’s still predicted to be plenty toasty — which is the emerging new
normal. If it weren’t for climate change, the National Weather Service
might be predicting a cooler than normal summer in Washington. Baxter
said its prediction for a somewhat warmer than normal summer was made
largely on the basis that summer temperatures are trending hotter in
recent decades. “It’s a fairly overwhelming signal,” he said. The rising
temperatures serve as “the backdrop” for the Weather Service’s warm
summer forecast not just in Washington but for much of the East
Coast, the South and the West..."
Map credit:
"National Weather Service summer temperature outlook." (Climate.gov).
May 8 Denver Hailstorm Was Colorado's Costliest On Record. The Denver Post has details on the very costly hailstorm earlier this month: "...At
$1.4 billion, the storm will surpass the $1.1 billion in damage claims,
adjusted for inflation, that a storm on July 11, 1990, generated and
the $845.5 million in claims tied to a storm on July 20, 2009. It will
also be three times more expensive than the state’s most damaging
wildfire, which destroyed 346 homes in the Waldo Canyon area of Colorado
Springs in June 2012 and generated $453.7 million in payouts at the
time. “The enormous size of the hail hitting densely populated areas of
the Denver metro (area) during rush hour has contributed to the
magnitude of damage caused by this storm,” Walker said..."
Sloppy Swirl.
Models push heavy showers and T-storms across the Ohio Valley and
Carolinas into the Mid Atlantic later today, reaching New England by
Thursday - skies may clear by the weekend. The central USA dries out and
the west remain relatively quiet and seasonably warm. No more
snowstorms brewing for Colorado, for a chance. NAM Future Radar: NOAA
and Tropicaltidbits.com.
Heaviest Rains East of the Mississippi.
Here's a look out 84 hours (NAM model) showing 1-2" rains predicted for
much of Florida and parts of the Midwest and Ohio Valley. Chicago,
Louisville and Jacksonville may all see enough rain for (minor) flooding
issues.
Trending Milder.
Friday still appears to be the mildest day in sight (mid-70s if the sun
is out for any length of time). Temperatures start to cool off slightly
Sunday as a northwest wind kicks in, and we probably won't climb out of
the 60s on Memorial Day, according to ECMWF guidance. Source:
WeatherBell.
Creeping Into Summer.
With the exception of the Pacific Northwest much of the USA is forecast
to be seasonably warm (hot for the southern and eastern states) within 2
weeks. I'm looking forward to people complaining about the heat, not
the unusual late-season chill (and slush).
Thunderstorm Asthma Presents New Risks. I honestly don't remember hearing about this 5, 10, 20 years ago. Not sure why it seems to be getting worse now, but
WGAL-TV has details on this baffling phenomenon: "
A
phenomenon caused by thunderstorms has killed people in several
countries, and it has nothing to do with lightning. Thunderstorm asthma
is caused by dynamic airflow during strong storms, experts say. Violent
winds sweep up allergens, such as pollen, creating tinier particles.
While larger pollen grains are usually filtered by hairs in the nose,
the smaller pollen fragments can pass through and enter the lungs,
triggering asthma attacks, sometimes in people who have never suffered
from asthma before. Thunderstorm asthma typically happens when a storm
hits while pollen levels are excessively high, experts say..."
Tornado Test: Meet TWIRL and the Tools of Tornado Research.
Why do some supercells go on to spawn EF-4 killers, while nearly
identical thunderstorms do not? That goes to the heart of "TWIRL"
research, as described by KHQA.com: "...The
US sees hundreds of rotating storms called supercells every year. It’s
these storms that can lead to tornadoes. But a strong storm does not
always cause a strong tornado. “We need to understand why the most
threatening looking supercells don’t make tornadoes, and why even more
of those threatening looking supercells make weak tornadoes,
insignificant tornadoes," said meteorologist and tornado researcher
Joshua Wurman, who is president of CSWR. "A lot of tornadoes really
aren’t damaging or life threatening. But a few of these supercells do
have that potential to make damaging, large tornadoes that can destroy
homes and can hurt and kill people...”
Image credit: "
The
Doppler on Wheels (DOW) scans a severe thunderstorm in eastern Colorado
while a Scout vehicle equipped with tornado pods waits instruction."
Can Tornadoes Hit Downtowns? Yes. Tornadoes
feed on warm moist air and twisting winds within a 10-20 mile radius. A
few high rise buildings and some concrete won't deter them from
forming. Twisters have touched down in major cities from Chicago and
Dallas to Salt Lake City. Oklahoma City has been hit over
140 times
since 1890. On May 22, 2011 a powerful tornado with winds up to 110 mph
tracked 14 miles into North Minneapolis; the funnel nearly half a mile
wide at one point.
Thumbnails above courtesy of the Twin Cities National Weather Service, which has more information on the May 22, 2011 North Minneapolis tornado
here.
List of Cities Striking Downtown Areas of Large Cities.
Wikiwand.com has a long list of cities that have been struck: "...
It is a common myth
that tornadoes do not strike downtown areas. The odds are much lower
due to the small areas covered, but paths can go anywhere, including
over downtown areas. St. Louis, Missouri has taken a direct hit four times in less than a century.[1]
Many of the tornadoes listed were extremely destructive or caused
numerous casualties, and the occurrence of a catastrophic event
somewhere is inevitable.[2]
This list is not exhaustive (listing every single tornado that has
struck a downtown area or central business district of any city), as it
may never be known if a tornado struck a downtown area, or if it was
just a microburst (powerful downward and outward gush of wind, which cause damage from straight-line winds), particularly for older events or from areas with limited information. Downbursts
often accompany intense tornadoes, extending damage across a wider area
than the tornado path. When a tornado strikes a city, it is
occasionally very difficult to determine whether it was a tornadic event
at all or if the affected area was indeed the "downtown", "city
centre", or "central business district" consisting of very high
population density and mid to high-rises, as opposed to other heavily urbanized/built-up parts of the city or suburbs..."
Joplin's Recovery By The Numbers.
In the movie "Twister" there is a reference to an F-5 tornado being
"the finger of God". Exhibit A: Joplin, Missouri. Here's an excerpt
from
Missourian: "
Six
years after an EF5 tornado caused $2.8 billion worth of damage, the
city of Joplin continues its steady recovery. The costliest tornado in
U.S. history killed 161 people and injured more than one thousand on May
22, 2011. Much has changed since that day, which forced the city to
restart. One of the significant impacts tornadoes have is on the the
people of the cities it destroys. Joplin was no different, and its
population suffered a dramatic drop because of the tornado. While it’s
difficult to estimate exactly how many residents left the city in the
immediate aftermath of the storm, the city underwent a dramatic
downsize. Between 2011 and 2012, the city’s population fell 1.8 percent
to 50,244, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau..."
Photo credit: Kristan Lieb - Missourian File Photo. "
An
area of the city of Joplin lies in shambles on May 24, 2011, after an
EF5 tornado flattened a mile-long swath of Joplin and killed 161 people
two days earlier."
Remembering Joplin.
The wedge tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011 was a
reminder of the limitations of technology. Here are a few of the
take-aways from
NOAA: "...
This
was the single deadliest tornado in U.S. history since modern
record-keeping began in 1950. Rated EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale,
this mile-wide tornado was the largest and most powerful type, and it
traveled 22 miles on the ground. The report includes a number of key
recommendations:
- Improve warning communications to
convey a sense of urgency for extreme events. This will compel people to
take immediate life-saving action;
- Collaborate with
partners who communicate weather warnings to develop GPS-based warning
communications, including the use of text messaging, smart phone apps,
mobile communications technologies, in addition to upgrades to the
Emergency Alert System and NOAA Weather Radio;
- Collaborate
more throughout the weather enterprise to ensure that weather warning
messages sent via television, radio, NOAA Weather Radio, local warning
systems such as sirens – are consistent to reduce confusion and stress
the seriousness of the threat; and
- Continue to increase community preparedness..."
Photo credit: "Image showing damage from the tornado that hit Joplin, Mo., on May 22, 2011." NOAA.
The May 22, 2011 Joplin, Missouri EF-5 Tornado.
U.S. Tornadoes has a good recap of an extraordinary tornado: "..
.St.
John’s Hospital was severely damaged — 200 to 300 pound parking stops
were lifted and tossed 30 to 60 yards. Large steel reinforced concrete
steps outside of a medical art building were shifted a few inches and
cracked. Concrete walls toppled and steel support beams from some
buildings were curved and twisted. EF-3 to low end EF-5 damage continued
to just east of Rangeline Road as the tornado approached the Dusquesne
area. At full strength, the tornado crushed homes and swept them from
their foundations. Steel reinforced concrete porches and driveways were
lifted and tossed. Vehicles were tossed into other homes or in some
cases rolled up and crushed completely. This type of damage was found
the along the rest of the track to just east of Rangeline Road. Along
the track, boards, limbs and twigs were embedded into wood and stucco
walls and wooded framed homes were completely disintegrated..."
Image credit: "
Radar
image showing the tornado as it exits Joplin. A debris ball is present
in the top left corner image in pink. Radar image was taken around 7pm
ET."
Did Someone Predict the Recent Wisconsin Tornado?
Meteorologists can tell when atmospheric conditions are ripe for
tornadic storms, but we still can't pin down where individual
thunderstorms will spin up funnels more than 20-30 minutes in advance.
Here's an excerpt from
Madison.com: "
We
cannot yet forecast tornado occurrence with any accuracy. One problem
is the small size of a tornado, which is a narrow column of strong winds
that rotate around a center of low pressure. Over the last 60 years,
forecasts of the development of large-scale low-pressure systems, which
often organize the ingredients needed to form a tornado, have steadily
improved. Because of these advances, meteorologists are better able to
predict those conditions a few days in advance, enabling forecasters to
identify counties where there is a threat of severe weather sometimes as
many as three days in advance. Two days in advance of the recent EF-2
tornado that hit southeastern Polk County, the National Weather
Service’s Storm Prediction Center’s convective outlook issued a
slight-risk for the area..."
Navy is Preparing for Hurricane Season with 2-Week Storm Simulation. Yes, the Navy pays very close attention to tropical systems, for good reason, according to
Military.com: "...
With
thousands of personnel and billions of dollars in aircraft, ships and
infrastructure scattered along the East Coast, including here, the Navy
relies on real-time weather information to keep its sailors and
resources safe. Though Brady wasn't real, hurricane season is, and it
starts June 1. To prepare, Navy commands throughout the mid-Atlantic and
Southeast are in the midst of a two-week annual simulation in which one
storm strikes the Gulf of Mexico and another hits the East Coast. "It's
out there to exercise all of the emergency action plans that we have at
the different bases to make sure that the actions that we do take are
the correct ones for the safety of our people and our resources," said
Lt. Cynthia Williamson, the Fleet Weather Center's tropical operations
officer..."
Photo credit: "
Naval Air Station
Pensacola Air Ops personnel remove cargo straps on one of several
pallets of belongings to Hurricane Matthew evacuees from Guantanamo Bay,
Oct. 2, 2016." (U.S. Navy photo/Cathy Whitney)
The Day a Geomagnetic Storm Almost Started World War III. Dr. Marshall Shepherd explains how the world dodged a bullet in a piece at
Forbes: "...
NORAD’s
Solar Forecast Center in Colorado Springs issued a warning, that a
significant worldwide geomagnetic storm would occur within the next
36-48 hour. It seems that this alert was passed to the highest levels of
government, but not to local commands. May 23, the geostorm disrupted
the radars at all three stations of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning
System, located in Cape Cod Air Force Station (Massachusetts), Beale
Air Force Base (California) and Clear Air Force Station (Alaska). Local
commanders of the airfields, considering a possible Soviet attack,
ordered nuclear weapons ready to launch. As all stations were being
jammed at the same time and during daylight, researchers at NORAD
realized that not Soviets, but the sun was interfering with the radar
stations. Information made it to commanders in time to stop the
airplanes, but the military realized, even more, the importance to
monitor space weather..."
Graphic credit: "
Artist's rendition of Earth's magnetosphere." Source
Wikipedia, image in public domain.
Get Ready for Peak Oil Demand. A story at
The Wall Street Journal
captured my attention: "The world’s largest oil companies are girding
for the biggest shift in energy consumption since the Industrial
Revolution: After decades of growth, global demand for oil is poised to
peak and fall in the coming years. New technologies that improve fuel
efficiency are starting to push down the amount of gasoline and diesel
that’s needed for transportation, and a consensus is growing that fuel
demand for passenger cars could fall as carbon rules go into effect,
electric vehicles gain traction and the internal combustion engine gets
re-engineered to be dramatically more efficient. Western countries’
growth used to move in lockstep with their energy consumption, but that
phenomenon is starting to decouple in advanced economies..."
Photo credit: "
Some
oil companies are talking publicly about peak oil demand and preparing
for it by overhauling their long-term investment plans." Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg News.
Ford Replacing CEO Mark Fields Doesn't Clarify Its Hazy Future.
The auto industry is in the midst of significant disruption, a move
from fossil fuels to electric, ride-sharing and autonomous vehicles that
drive themselves. Who will the new winners and losers be in this brave
new world? Here's an excerpt from WIRED.com: "...But
almost 10 years after the financial collapse that hobbled Detroit’s Big
Three, Ford and other automotive giants face another potential crisis
moment. The market is undergoing a radical shift away from selling
private, gas-powered cars at dealerships, and toward more shared
services and newer technology. For manufacturers accustomed to taking up
to eight years to plan, design, build, and market a product, it’s an
unnerving transition. In response, Ford’s crosstown rival General Motors has teamed up with Lyft, and Fiat-Chrysler is providing vehicles
for Google’s Waymo, as automakers desperately try to lock in the right
partner and the right technology for ridesharing, autonomous cars, and
other mobility services they assume will be a part of the future
transportation landscape..."
Photo credit: "
Bill Ford Jr., right, executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, introduces Jim Hackett as CEO on Monday, May 22, 2017." Paul Sancya/AP.
How to Sell Solar Power To Your Neighbors. NexusMedia has details on a new renewable energy-sharing program spinning up in Brooklyn: "...Admittedly,
from the grid’s point of view, this is bad for business. LO3 is
allowing customers to circumvent the grid and buy electricity directly
from each other. But Kessler said the grid can use the digital meter to
their advantage. For example, in the middle of the day, when demand for
power peaks, grid operators typically turn to small, expensive and
heavily polluting gas-fired power plants. Using the TransActive Grid
meter, the grid could instead pay homeowners to shut off their lights,
TVs or their appliances. Or, the grid could buy back electricity
generated by rooftop solar panels or stored in electric cars. This would
reduce transmission costs..."
Image credit: "Typically,
consumers by electricity from a centralized utility. LO3 Energy is
making it possible for them to buy power directly from their neighbors." Source: Nexus Media/Freepik.
Large or Small, Cities' 100% Renewable Energy Pledges Are More Than Symbolic.
Why are people going green? Concern over climate change may be part of
the incentive but in the end it's about saving money and become more
independent and self-reliant. Here's an excerpt from
Southeast Energy News: "
It
goes without saying that Atlanta, Georgia and Abita Springs, Louisiana
are dramatically different places. As of this month, however, the two
have something in common: they are some of the first Southeastern cities
to commit to 100 percent renewable energy. Atlanta has a Democratic
mayor and a fairly progressive city council; Abita Springs leans older
and more conservative with a Republican mayor. But for both places, the
decision was more about economic development than climate change. And in
order for these goals to be more than symbolic, utilities and cities
must change how they run – especially in a place as large as Atlanta..."
Photo credit: Abita Springs, Louisiana.
First Drive: 2018 Karma Revero. A worthy competitor to Tesla? Here's an excerpt of a review at Automobile Magazine: "...The
Revero retains the Karma’s original powertrain, a combination of twin
electric motors mated to a 2.0-liter turbo-four that can serve as a
parallel power source or range extender. Outputs are the same as well: a
combined 403 hp and 981 lb-ft for the motors and 235 hp for the engine
(Karma did not specify an engine torque figure). Battery-only range
remains at around 50 miles, and charging still takes about 10 hours at
16 amps and six hours at 32 amps, but the car now comes with support for
DC quick-charging as well. This can get the batteries back up to 80
percent (40 miles) in 24 minutes. Additionally, the solar roof also now
charges the battery, though it can only provide around three miles of
extra range over the course of day..."
How AI Is Changing Your Job Hunt. Here's a snippet of an interesting story at
Fortune: "...
It
isn’t just startups using such software; corporate behemoths are
implementing it too. Artificial intelligence has come to
hiring.Predictive algorithms and machine learning are fast emerging as
tools to identify the best candidates. Companies are using AI to assess
human qualities, drawing on research to analyze everything from word
choice and microgestures to psycho-emotional traits and the tone of
social media posts. The software tends to be used in the earlier part of
the process, when companies are narrowing a pool of applicants, rather
than in the later stages, when employers place a premium on face-to-face
interaction and human judgment..."
Photo credit: Ian Allen.
Supersize My Hamburger Please. The world's largest (commercially available) hamburger? Atlas Obscura explains where to track it down. Bring some friends: "...This
massive meaty creation, aptly named the “Absolutely Ridiculous Burger,”
holds the Guinness record for the world’s largest commercially sold
hamburger, and it can be all yours for just $399. The typical Absolutely
Ridiculous Burger weighs in at 150 pounds, with the official
record-setter massing in at an even more whopping 338.6 pounds, double
the weight of an average-sized human. The burger is so big that it takes
22 hours to make, three people to flip it over, and 100 pounds of
excess grease to perfect. It’s so colossal that on an episode of Man Vs.
Food, a team of 41 people couldn’t conquer the thing in a whole two
hours of time..."
Image credit:
Guinness World Records.
“Success is something you attract by the person you become.” — Jim Rohn
TODAY: Partly sunny, a nicer day. Winds: NE 7-12. High: 64
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear and cool. Low: 48
THURSDAY: Sunny start, late-day shower possible. Winds: SE 7-12. High: 71
FRIDAY: Decent lake day. Intervals of sun. Winds: W 8-13. Wake-up: 56. High: 75
SATURDAY: Lukewarm sun, late-day T-shower risk. Winds: NW 10-15. Wake-up: 58. High: 73
SUNDAY: More clouds, more numerous showers PM hours. Winds: NW 10-15. Wake-up: 53. High: 68
MEMORIAL DAY: AM sun, risk of a PM shower or two. Winds: NW 10-15. Wake-up: 55. High: 69
TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy, still cooler than average. Winds: NW 8-13. Wake-up: 51. High: 67
Climate Stories...
Scientists Planting 400 Acres of Minnesota Pines to Survive Climate Change. Will
our grandchildren and great grandchildren have the same up north
experience with pine trees, loons and eagles? The jury is still out, but
I wouldn't take anything for granted.
Star Tribune reports: "...
This
summer they’re embarking on a project to plant 400 acres with
cold-loving evergreens like jack pine and tamarack in carefully selected
“conifer strongholds” — places that they predict will stay cooler or
wetter or have better soil, increasing the chances that a few of each
species will survive for the next generation as Minnesota grows warmer.
“We are trying to get us in better shape for the centuries to come,”
said Meredith Cornett, a forest scientist with the Nature Conservancy in
Minnesota who is heading up the project. The aim is to preserve
northern forest species — not just the trees but also the mosaic of
plants and animals that rely on them — to maintain biodiversity. Both
will be exceedingly difficult thanks to a double whammy of the region’s
past and it’s future..."
Photo credit: Brian Peterson, Star Tribune. "
The forest north of Park Rapids, Minnesota, is a mix of aspen, birch and conifers."
Significant Global Climate Events in April. Here's an excerpt from
NOAA: "
For
the third consecutive month, the monthly temperature and year to date
ranked second warmest in the 138-year record. At the poles, sea ice
extents were at or near record low levels. The average global
temperature for April 2017 was 1.62 degrees F above the 20th-century
average of 56.7 degrees, according to the analysis by scientists from
NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. This was the
second highest for April in the 1880-2017 record, behind last year by
0.31 degrees..."
See the Fortune 500 Companies Doing the Most to Stop Climate Change. An article at
Fortune caught my eye: "
President Trump has made it clear that boosting business is his priority, not combating climate change. In March Trump signed an executive order to undo Obama’s Clean Power Plan, and he’s vowed to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.
But the biggest companies in the U.S. continue to embrace clean energy
policies. So says a new report by Calvert Research, CDP, Ceres, and
World Wildlife Fund called “Power Forward 3.0.” The study found that 240
companies in the 2016 Fortune 500 had climate-related goals, up from 215 a few years ago. Here, the 2015 CO2-equivalent savings of the 56 companies in the Fortune 100 that reported results in 2016..."
Graphic credit: Nicolas Rapp.
"Put Up or Shut Up". WRAL's Greg Fishel Goes Off on Climate Change Deniers. Greg
is Chief Meteorologist at WRAL, and my oldest friend (we were resident
weather-nerds in our high school and went on to attend Penn State at
roughly the same time). Greg is brilliant and a terrific communicator,
and he doesn't suffer fools gladly. Here's an excerpt from
News & Observer: "
Popular local weatherman Greg Fishel had strong words for climate change deniers on his Facebook page
on Sunday. Fishel, chief meteorologist at WRAL, went off on people who
question the science behind climate change, telling them to “put up or
shut up.” The post had earned more than 3,500 reactions by Monday
afternoon. “You know everybody reaches their breaking point and quite
frankly I have reached mine with the folks who post all over the
internet about the scientific fallacies of man induced climate change,”
Fishel wrote. “All of them are guest bloggers or essayists. None of this
stuff has ever been published in a peer reviewed atmospheric science or
climate journal. But we live in an age today where higher education and
research are no longer respected. Heck, think of all the money my
parents wasted on my education when I could have waited for the age of
twitter and Facebook and declared myself as an expert in the field of my
choice...”
NATO Lawmakers Warn Climate Change May Worsen Middle East Security Risks. Reuters has the story: "
Climate
change will worsen food and water shortages in the Middle East and
north Africa, and risk triggering more conflict and mass migration, with
serious implications for the wider world, lawmakers from NATO's
Parliamentary Assembly said Monday.
"The long-term prospects for food and water security in the MENA region
are dire," said Osman Askin Bak, a member of the Turkish Parliament who
will present the draft report on Saturday at the Parliamentary Assembly
- a gathering of senior parliamentarians from the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's 28 member states. "Climate change will worsen the region's outlook," he added..." (File image: NASA MODIS).
Why Scientific Consensus is Worth Taking Seriously. Here's a clip from Bloomberg View: "Following
the pack is not part of the scientific method. The point is to follow
the evidence. And that leaves room for ambiguity in interpreting the
survey results showing that 97 percent of climate scientists agree
that global warming is real and that human-generated greenhouse gases
are a major cause. The National Academy of Sciences, American Physical
Society, American Chemical Society and other relevant scientific organizations all
agree, too. For some, this consensus proves that climate change is real
and that humans must take immediate action against it. But others,
citing history, say the consensus view has been wrong before. Why should
we believe it now? For example, scientists once believe the earth
was headed into an ice age. So why should we trust them when they say
the globe is warming?..."
How Inaction on Climate Change Puts America's Economy at Risk. Here's an excerpt at TheHill: "...History
suggests we are making a big mistake. A White House budget report under
the Obama administration provided evidence that among all types of
regulations benefits exceeded cost by the largest margin for
environmental initiatives. The recently enacted Mercury and Air Toxics
Standards was estimated to cost $8.1 billion annually, but benefits came
in at $28 billion to $77 billion. The same regulation was estimated to
have modest net positive impact on employment, precisely because of the
new jobs in the pollution abatement and control industry. Clean energy
has the potential to be much larger. Policy, for instance in the form of
a price on carbon dioxide, would prompt a reorganization of economic
activity towards cleaner sources of energy. Once policy sends a clear
signal, if past is prologue, American businesses will rise to the
challenge and, in doing so, prepare to lead in a future low carbon
world."
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/weather/article152016942.html#storylink=cpy
Scientists Say the Pace of Sea Level Rise Has Nearly Tripled Since 1990. Chris Mooney reports for The Washington Post: "A new scientific analysis
finds that the Earth’s oceans are rising nearly three times as rapidly
as they were throughout most of the 20th century, one of the strongest
indications yet that a much feared trend of not just sea level rise, but
its acceleration, is now underway. “We have a much stronger
acceleration in sea level rise than formerly thought,” said Sönke
Dangendorf, a researcher with the University of Siegen in Germany who
led the study along with scientists at institutions in Spain, France,
Norway and the Netherlands. Their paper, just out in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences, isn’t the first to find that the rate of rising seas is itself increasing
— but it finds a bigger rate of increase than in past studies. The new
paper concludes that before 1990, oceans were rising at about 1.1
millimeters per year, or just 0.43 inches per decade. From 1993 through
2012, though, it finds that they rose at 3.1 millimeters per year, or
1.22 inches per decade..."
File photo: Skeptical Science.
How the GOP is Slowly Going Green. I may be in a minority, but I happen to agree.
Axios has a hopeful story; here's a snippet: "...
Since 2010, climate change has been an issue unilaterally pushed by the Democratic Party, but for any climate and energy policy to pass Congress, it must also get support from within the GOP ranks. The
changes among Republicans are small, but represent a sea change from a
few years ago when under pressure from conservative interest groups and
tea-party activism, most Republicans denied the scientific consensus
that human activity is driving up the Earth's temperature. "Tectonic
plates beneath the Republican party are not stable," said Jerry Taylor,
who in 2014 founded the Niskanen Center, a conservative group that
supports a carbon tax to address climate change. "That's not obvious to
anyone who is not engaging with Republicans on climate, but it's fairly
obvious to us..."
A Conservative Answer on Climate Change. Here's an excerpt of an Op-Ed at
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "...
Our
conservative plan would attack pollution the way that Milton Friedman, a
captain of modern conservatism, told us to attack it years ago: Tax it.
A carbon tax would attach the cost of pollution to products so that the
marketplace could see and rightly judge all of the costs of those
products — the costs that the producer’s marketing department would let
us see and the costs that they’d rather secretly slough off to the
suckers who have to breathe their soot. If those costs were internalized
on a level playing field, unsubsidized clean energy would beat
unsubsidized dirty energy. Under this plan, all the carbon tax money
would go back to taxpayers through offsetting, dollar-for-dollar cuts to
existing taxes or through dividend checks. There would be no growth of
government..." (File image: Star Tribune).
Churches Mobilize to Protect the Environment. Here's an excerpt from
USA TODAY: "...
Whether
it’s installing solar panels at their churches, taking part in an Earth
Day walk or eschewing disposable dining ware, many religious
people — from Catholics to Presbyterians to Buddhists — are getting
involved. “From our point of view as a faith community, we certainly see
that care for the earth is important equally to care for human beings
— that there’s an integral ecology,” said the Rev. Bill Hammer, pastor
of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church. Pope Francis brought heightened
awareness to the issue of climate change when he issued an encyclical letter in 2015,
referring to climate change as “one of the principal challenges facing
humanity in our day.” The pope also opined, “Never have we so hurt and
mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years. Yet
we are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet
might be what he desired when he created it and correspond with his plan
for peace, beauty and fullness...”
Arctic Security Poses Icy Chess Game with Russia, China. Here's an excerpt from
TheHill: "...
The promise of resource exploitation has already motivated Russia
and, in some instances other countries, to assert greater territorial
rights, enhance Arctic military capabilities and make investments to
facilitate commercial activity. Unfortunately, the United States has
remained a relative bystander to this expanding Arctic activity. With
the disappearance of the snow and ice, the region is at risk of veering
from its history of cooperation. A Department of Defense report issued
in December 2016 predicted that “competition for economic advantage and a
desire to exert influence over an area of increasing geostrategic
importance could lead to increased tension.” In what may be a prelude,
the region is already witnessing increased shows of Russian military
might..."
File photo credit: US Army National Guard, Staff Sgt Balinda O 'Neal Dresel.
Climate Change and Farming: Growing Seasons Getting Longer. KTVB.com in Boise, Idaho has the story: "...
Williamson
points out he's been watching when the bud breaks on the vine in the
spring. "It's been coming earlier and the harvest has been able to be
stretched later." In fact, according to research by Southern Oregon
University, the growing season, the time between the last frost in the
spring and the first in the fall, is 13 days longer than it was in the
early 20th century. That gives grapes more time to mature and has made
Williamson's move to wine less of a financial risk. "I think we are able
to ripen and get that high quality more frequently," he says. So
further expansion is part of his plan and he's even considering planting
grapes that typically are only grown in Mediterranean climates..."
Photo credit: "
Warmer temperatures don't always mean doom and gloom when it comes to farming in the Treasure Valley." (Photo: Mike di Donato/KTVB).
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