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Resilience System


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Climate Change - TX

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This working group is focused on discussions about climate change.

The mission of this working group is to focus on discussions about climate change.

Members

Kathy Gilbeaux mdmcdonald MDMcDonald_me_com

Email address for group

climate-change-tx@m.resiliencesystem.org

Hurricanes Are Strengthening Faster Than They Did 30 Years Ago

                   

A new study found that hurricanes intensify more quickly now than they did 30 years ago. Hurricanes from 2017 like Irma (center), and Jose (right) are examples of these types of hurricanes. Hurricane Katia is seen on the left.  (Photo: NOAA)

usatoday.com - by Doyle Rice - May 10, 2018

With the start of hurricane season just three weeks away — and memory of last year's disastrous storms still fresh — scientists reported that powerful hurricanes are strengthening faster than they did 30 years ago.

Four of the monster hurricanes last year (Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria) all intensified rapidly — when the maximum wind speed increases at least 29 mph within 24 hours . . .

 . . . According to a study out this week, the main cause appears to be a natural climate phenomenon that warms the seawater where hurricanes typically intensify in the Atlantic.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Earth's Carbon Dioxide Levels Continue to Soar, at Highest Point in 800,000 Years

                   

(Photo: Getty Images)

CLICK HERE - Scripps Institute of Oceanography - CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE ATMOSPHERE HITS RECORD HIGH MONTHLY AVERAGE

usatoday.com - by Doyle Rice - May 4, 2018

Carbon dioxide — the gas scientists say is most responsible for global warming — reached its highest level in recorded history last month, at 410 parts per million.

This amount is highest in at least the past 800,000 years, according to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Prior to the onset of the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels had fluctuated over the millennia but had never exceeded 300 parts per million.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

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Are We Ready for the Deadly Heat Waves of the Future?

           

HEAT ISLANDS  Heat claims more lives than floods, hurricanes and other weather-related disasters. How will cities cope as temperatures rise?  ULTRAFORMA/ISTOCKPHOTO

When days and nights get too hot, city dwellers are the first to run into trouble

sciencenews.org - by AIMEE CUNNINGHAM - April 3, 2018

Since 1986, the first year the National Weather Service reported data on heat-related deaths, more people in the United States have died from heat (3,979) than from any other weather-related disaster — more than floods (2,599), tornadoes (2,116) or hurricanes (1,391). Heat’s victim counts would be even higher, but unless the deceased are found with a fatal body temperature or in a hot room, the fact that heat might have been the cause is often left off of the death certificate, says Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

As greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, heat’s toll is expected to rise. Temperatures will probably keep smashing records as carbon dioxide, methane and other gases continue warming the planet. Heat waves (unusually hot weather lasting two or more days) will probably be longer, hotter and more frequent in the future.

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Drought Returns to Texas Just Months After Hurricane Harvey Floods State

           

Note: Maps depict drought conditions during the final week of every month. January's map is current as of Jan. 16. - Source: United States Drought Monitor - Credit: Annie Daniel

Just five months after the monster storm gave Texas its wettest month in history, much of the state is now in a drought — including areas that saw historic flooding.

texastribune.org - by Paul Cobler - January 24, 2018

 . . . More than 40 percent of Texas is now in a moderate to severe drought, according to the latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. That's compared to 4 percent on Aug. 29, a few days after Harvey slammed into the South Texas coast.

And dry conditions are expected to worsen over the coming months.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - United States Drought Monitor

 

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Hurricane Center: Harvey’s ‘Overwhelming’ Rains Were Likely Nation’s Most Extreme ‘Ever’

CLICK HERE - NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER - TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT - HURRICANE HARVEY - 17 AUGUST - 1 SEPTEMBER 2017 (76 page .PDF report)

washingtonpost.com - by Jason Samenow - January 25, 2017

Hurricane Harvey unleashed a tropical deluge probably unsurpassed in U.S. history. The National Hurricane Center released its in-depth meteorological review of the storm Thursday and said it was unable to identify any past storm that unloaded so much rain over such a large area.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - NHC: Harvey caused $125 billion in damage; 68 deaths in Texas

ALSO SEE: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE - Major Hurricane Harvey - August 25-29, 2017

 

 

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Hurricane Center: Harvey’s ‘Overwhelming’ Rains Were Likely Nation’s Most Extreme ‘Ever’

CLICK HERE - NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER - TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT - HURRICANE HARVEY - 17 AUGUST - 1 SEPTEMBER 2017 (76 page .PDF report)

washingtonpost.com - by Jason Samenow - January 25, 2017

Hurricane Harvey unleashed a tropical deluge probably unsurpassed in U.S. history. The National Hurricane Center released its in-depth meteorological review of the storm Thursday and said it was unable to identify any past storm that unloaded so much rain over such a large area.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - NHC: Harvey caused $125 billion in damage; 68 deaths in Texas

ALSO SEE: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE - Major Hurricane Harvey - August 25-29, 2017

 

 

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Hurricane Center: Harvey’s ‘Overwhelming’ Rains Were Likely Nation’s Most Extreme ‘Ever’

CLICK HERE - NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER - TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT - HURRICANE HARVEY - 17 AUGUST - 1 SEPTEMBER 2017 (76 page .PDF report)

washingtonpost.com - by Jason Samenow - January 25, 2017

Hurricane Harvey unleashed a tropical deluge probably unsurpassed in U.S. history. The National Hurricane Center released its in-depth meteorological review of the storm Thursday and said it was unable to identify any past storm that unloaded so much rain over such a large area.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - NHC: Harvey caused $125 billion in damage; 68 deaths in Texas

ALSO SEE: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE - Major Hurricane Harvey - August 25-29, 2017

 

 

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Hurricane Center: Harvey’s ‘Overwhelming’ Rains Were Likely Nation’s Most Extreme ‘Ever’

CLICK HERE - NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER - TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT - HURRICANE HARVEY - 17 AUGUST - 1 SEPTEMBER 2017 (76 page .PDF report)

washingtonpost.com - by Jason Samenow - January 25, 2017

Hurricane Harvey unleashed a tropical deluge probably unsurpassed in U.S. history. The National Hurricane Center released its in-depth meteorological review of the storm Thursday and said it was unable to identify any past storm that unloaded so much rain over such a large area.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - NHC: Harvey caused $125 billion in damage; 68 deaths in Texas

ALSO SEE: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE - Major Hurricane Harvey - August 25-29, 2017

 

 

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2017 U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters: a historic year in context

           

This map depicts the general location of the sixteen weather and climate disasters assessed to cause at least one billion dollars in direct damages during 2017.

climate.gov - by Adam B. Smith - January 8, 2018

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) tracks U.S. weather and climate events that have great economic and societal impacts (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions). Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 219 weather and climate disasters where the overall damage costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index, as of December 2017). The cumulative costs for these 219 events exceed $1.5 trillion.

During 2017, the U.S. experienced a historic year of weather and climate disasters.  In total, the U.S. was impacted by 16 separate billion-dollar disaster events including: three tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two inland floods, a crop freeze, drought and wildfire.

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Humidity May Prove Breaking Point for Some Areas as Temperatures Rise, Says Study

           

Large swaths of the tropics and beyond may see crushing combinations of heat and humidity in coming decades, according to a new study.  Credit: Ethan Coffel

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Temperature and humidity based projections of a rapid rise in global heat stress exposure during the 21st century

sciencedaily.com - Source: The Earth Institute at Columbia University - December 22, 2017

Summary: Climate scientists say that killer heat waves will become increasingly prevalent in many regions as climate warms. However, most projections leave out a major factor that could worsen things: humidity, which can greatly magnify the effects of heat alone. Now, a new global study projects that in coming decades the effects of high humidity in many areas will dramatically increase.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

 

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