severe weather

John McQuaid explains the lessons we should have learned from Hurricane Katrina

In an new series in Mother Jones, John McQuaid reports on what we should have learned from Hurricane Katrina. McQuaid knows what he’s talking about — three years before the storm, he coauthored an award-winning series predicting all-too-accurately what would happen to New Orleans if it were hit by a big-time hurricane, and he’s since […]

Mooney on hurricanes and climate change

Chris Mooney has a piece in the L.A. Times about the current hurricane season and the connection between hurricanes and climate change. It echoes the sensible line taken in Chris’ book. This is the crucial bit: When it comes to the hurricane-global warming relationship, neither outright alarmism nor dismissive skepticism are warranted. Rather, taking the […]

Drought predicted to spread across Australia and the United States

The story of Australia's worst dry spell in a thousand years continues to astound. Last year we learned, "One farmer takes his life every four days." This year over half of Australia's agricultural land is in a declared drought.

How bad is it? One Australian newspaper is reporting:

Drought will become a redundant term as Australia plans for a permanently drier future, according to the nation's urban water industries chief ...

"The urban water industry has decided the inflows of the past will never return," Water Services Association of Australia executive director Ross Young said. "We are trying to avoid the term 'drought' and saying this is the new reality."

Climate change is increasing the frequency of Category 5 storms

Global warming has long been predicted to make hurricanes more intense. Well, now we are seeing more intense hurricanes. Chris Mooney has a great post on the recent storm surge of Category 5 hurricanes, now that Felix has joined that once-elite club. He notes:

• There have now been 8 Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes in the past 5 years (Isabel, Ivan, Emily, Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Dean, Felix).
• There have been two Atlantic Category 5s so far this year; only three other seasons have had more than one (1960, 1961, 2005).
• There have been 8 Atlantic Category 5 hurricanes so far in the 2000s; no other decade has had so many. The closest runner up is the 1960s with 6 (Donna, Ethel, Carla, Hattie, Beulah, Camille).

Some people, especially the Deniers, think this is all a coincidence, or the result of incomplete data from earlier years. Here's why I don't:

For mitigation over adaptation: the argument from cynicism

The second anniversary of Katrina has passed, marked by me only with craven silence. There are three Katrina tidbits I wanted to pass along, though, as they are germane to the argument over whether humanity can or should adapt to ongoing climate change. The first is from a year ago. Jim Rusch, who was then […]

Global warming will spawn severe storms and tornados, reports NASA

We have known for a while that global warming is making our weather more extreme, especially extreme heat, drought, heavy rainfall, and flooding. Now we have more predictions:

NASA scientists have developed a new climate model that indicates that the most violent severe storms and tornadoes may become more common as Earth's climate warms.

Perhaps that is why we have been setting records for tornados lately. This is especially bad news for this country because, as the study notes: "The central/east U.S. experiences the most severe thunderstorms and tornadoes on Earth."

A good analysis of the fateful hurricane’s political aftermath

There are lots of Katrina retrospectives floating around today, on the 2nd anniversary. If I were a better man, maybe I’d write one, but thinking back on those events makes me feel sick, helpless rage all over again, and I’m about to head to a picnic with my two boys, so I’m gonna choose to […]

When it comes to climate change, prevention is more important than adaptation

G. Gordon Liddy's daughter repeated a standard Denier line in our debate: Humans are very adaptable -- we've adapted to climate changes in the past and will do so in the future.

I think Hurricane Katrina gives the lie to that myth. No, I'm not saying humans are not adaptable. Nor am I saying global warming caused Hurricane Katrina, although warming probably did make it more intense. But on the two-year anniversary of Katrina, I'm saying Katrina showed the limitations of adaptation as a response to climate change, for several reasons.

In Greece, 170 fires burning, 37 dead, and government shaken

Over 170 fires are now burning in Greece. Mostly they are wildfires in the hills, but yesterday a fire broke out in Athens itself that required ten engines to quell. Thirty-seven have been killed, including several firefighters.

The prime minister has called the disaster "an unspeakable tragedy."

Temps reached 42 degrees Celsius, or about 108 degrees Fahrenheit, in Athens, according to the Associated Press.

The fires have been burning for weeks, and the conservative government has been bitterly criticized for its weak effort against them, reports the BBC. The death toll jumped from 28 to 37 overnight.

(photo: foivosloxias, licensed under Creative Commons)

Firefighters, too, have died, including the two in this plane, which slammed into a mountain after dropping a load of retardants on a wildfire in Evia.