California Free Press

Off the Top of My Head

The World Needs the Cooperation of Russia to Forestall Global Warming

by John Lawrence

Ultimately, geography will determine which countries win and which countries lose as global warming and sea level rise progress. Landlocked countries with little or no exposure to the oceans will win as countries with large shoreline exposures and major coastal cities go underwater. Russia has no major cities that are exposed to sea level rise. Its only ocean exposure is in the far north to the Arctic ocean and a little bit to the northern Pacific ocean. In addition Russia has an abundance of fossil fuels which it is eager to sell to the rest of the world. It has an incentive to increase global warming rather than to mitigate it.

As the Arctic region warms, Russia profits from its northernmost regions becoming more inhabitable. In addition sea routes in the Arctic become more navigable. So Russia is in a position to profit from global warming and to profit financially from hastening global warming by selling fossil fuels. Russia has no disincentive to curtail the sale of fossil fuels which are its major natural resource and source of income. It can undercut and undersell renewables if it wants to. Sanctions have had little or no effect on Russia's internal economy. The departure of Starbucks and McDonald's accomplished nothing. Russia reopened these chains under Russian control with the profits staying in Russia instead of returning to the US. Starbucks became Starubles and McDonald's became Inanov's presumably.

On the other hand consider the world's major cities that are located right on the oceans and are subject to being submerged by global warming. Such cities as New York City, Miami, London, Amsterdam, New Orleans, Venice, Savannah, GA, Tokyo, Shanghai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Osaka, Dhaka, San Francisco, Sydney, Boston, Lisbon, Vancouver, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, Dublin, Honolulu, Lagos, Charleston, Long Beach, Key West and many others in China, Africa, Vietnam, Bangladesh and east Asia. The US and its partners in Europe have major exposure to oceans for many major cities. Billions of dollars in real estate are at stake, not to mention that major trading routes will be disrupted and infrastructure destroyed. Particularly, the US east coast is exposed not only to sea level rise, but to increasingly virulent hurricanes and tornadoes.

So considering the fact that the US has relatively the most to lose from global warming and Russia has relatively the most to win, does it make any sense to make a pariah out of Russia? Regardless of the war in Ukraine, worsening relations with Russia only hasten the day when geography will determine the outcome of the war on climate change. China also has a long shoreline and plenty of major cities that are exposed to the ocean. It would be in China's interest to partner with the US to combat global warming. Yet the US is in the business of making a pariah out of Russia and starting a Cold War with China. So even if  the US wins its wars with Russia and China, it can still lose the war with respect to global warming. In the final analysis Russia and Mother Nature will win. It's all about geography.

Off the Top of My Head

Elon's Folly Contributing to Rocket Fuel Greenhouse Gas Emissions

by John Lawrence

The Starship that exploded soon after launch recently had a methane based fuel. Methane is 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Whatever methane remained in the Starship after launch was fully released into the atmosphere after it exploded. Space tourism will cause even more greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere. At a time when we should have all hands on deck to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, NASA is going full steam ahead with its space exploration program. The astronauts should be repurposed to fight greenhouse gas emissions not to ramp them up. In an article by Mark Piesing for the BBC, titled The pollution caused by rocket launches we find:

In television, and film, spaceflight is usually represented as having little or no impact on the environment. Yet it should be obvious that rocket engines spew out pollution into the atmosphere, like any form of combustion-driven propulsion.

Perhaps the black carbon, or soot, and other emissions didn't matter when only around 70 commercial rocket launches a year took place. Now that number has doubled; it is expected to increase significantly more over the next two decades due to the growth in demand for services like satellite internet services and space tourism.

At least three scientific research papers have already been published this year [2022] on the impact of rocket emissions on the atmosphere, temperatures, and the ozone layer.

So at a time when planet earth is in peril of remaining a habitable planet for the human species, why are we continuing a quest to fire off rocket ships so we can some day put humans on Mars, an uninhabitable planet? It seems like pure folly. By the time they get humans on Mars, the earth will have become an uninhabitable planet also at the rate we're going. The US government should not be contributing to global warming with its space program at a time when it is professing to be curtailing global warming. If we are to save this planet, much more needs to be done than simply making all cars electric by 2050. Many more power plants will have to be built by then to generate the electricity to power all those electric cars. What kind of fuel will they use for all these new power plants? If they don't have enough renewables by then, it will have to be fossil fuels so what has been gained? Nothing.

People have totally compartmentalized the global warming syndrome. On the one hand they are for eliminating fossil fuels. On the other they go ahead with all sorts of activities that increase their use because alternative green forms of energy are not yet available. I guess it's OK to sacrifice a few neighborhoods to tornadoes here and there as long as we can keep the economy humming. We must not sacrifice the American way of life. Too many people might get upset and vote for the other party. Similarly, we can't restrict assault rifles because too many people would get upset and vote for the other party. So Joe Biden is the perfect President for our times. He understands that he can rub his belly and whistle Dixie at the same time. However, the pace of change in energy creation is much too slow even to counteract the population increases. More people on the planet means more demand for energy, and the fossil fuel industry is only too happy to provide it until renewables can totally take over some time in the future, some time that will be too late for a desperate human species.

Off the Top of My Head

While Earthlings Argue Over Abortion, Planet Earth Is in the Process of Aborting the Whole Human Race

by John Lawrence

While we spend major amounts of energy going back and forth over abortion, books in libraries and who can use which bathrooms, the planet is warming beyond what humans as a species can endure. Floridians carefully labeled the recent flood in Fort Lauderdale a "1000 year flood" instead of a "global warming flood". People talk about rebuilding instead of getting the hell out of low lying regions. Disaster areas are declared right and left with the Federal government expected to send them billions of dollars. How stupid we earthlings are or put another way what tangled webs we weave. The Arctic permafrost is melting with the result that methane, a more potent greenouse gas than carbon dioxide, is bubbling up and going into the atmosphere. As the Arctic warms, methane that has been locked in permafrost for thousands of years escapes and can explode. Released methane that finds its way to the surface contributes to the greenhouse effect of climate change with even more heat retention capacity than carbon dioxide. Even igniting it doesn’t solve the problem, since that produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct. Tulare Lake reforms in California turning what once was productive farmland into a massive lake which will only get much bigger as snow in the Sierras melts. The Washington Post reports:

California’s historic snowpack has started to melt following its warmest days of the year so far, with the communities and valleys below the mountains bracing for the impact of any flooding as all that water makes its way downhill. The severity of any floods will depend on how quickly the snow melts, but as officials share the latest outlook, it’s clear the highest risk stems from the record snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada.

An enormous volume of water is expected to flow into rivers and streams through the spring and summer. The epicenter of flood concerns lies in the San Joaquin Valley and the Tulare Basin to the west of the southern Sierra, as well as the valleys to the east of the mountain range.

Two rivers in the Tulare Lake region — the Tule and the Kern — are forecast to exceed 400 percent of their average runoff between April and July. The majority of the watersheds are forecast to reach peak water flow in May, though they’ll reach their highest flows at different times. A few rivers, including the San Joaquin River, will see sustained high flows through at least June because of prolonged snowmelt — much later than typical peak-flow timing of April or May for southern watersheds.

So, California, get ready for historic flooding as the snowpack in the Sierras exceeds 200% above normal. Just last year it was zip. People were praying for more snowpack in the Sierras which, if melting gradually, could fill California reservoirs and provide much needed water throughout the year. However, if it melts too fast, the result will be not more water for drinking and agriculture but historic flooding, and that's the more likely result as higher than normal temperatures start the snowpack melting sooner and faster. The year 2022 was the sixth warmest year since global records began in 1880 at 0.86°C (1.55°F) above the 20th century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F). This value is 0.13°C (0.23°F) less than the record set in 2016 and it is only 0.02°C (0.04°F) higher than the last year's (2021) value, which now ranks as the seventh highest. The 10 warmest years in the 143-year record have all occurred since 2010, with the last nine years (2014–2022) ranking as the nine warmest years on record. Of note, the year 2005, which was the first year to set a new global temperature record in the 21st century, currently ties with 2013 as the 11th-warmest year on record. The year 2010, which had surpassed 2005 at the time, now ranks as the 10th-warmest year on record.

So while Americans turn democracy into a travesty of itself with district judges setting national policies, and billionaires pollute the atmosphere with their mega yachts and private jets, the real problems affecting planet earth and human civilization are largely ignored at least partly in the pursuit of profits and a reluctance to give up any perceived privileges that have been established. Despite the large investments in climate change that the Biden administration was lucky enough to get through - not without a lot of resistance by certain segments, I might add - it is just not enough. Airplanes both civilian and military are adding immense quantities of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, as are container ships, without a solution in sight, and, rather than working on a solution, we are pursuing a world war contained within one country at least for now. The human race can not get along even in the face of certain destruction unless an all out effort is made by all nations to get rid of those processes which are releasing gigatons of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

Off the Top of My Head

The Government Should Buy Out Parts of Florida Rather Than providing Money to Rebuild

by John Lawrence

Owners of real estate on Florida's barrier islands should be bought out. Climate change will continue to provide hurricanes that will wipe out homes and businesses in these vulnerable areas. It doesn't make sense to rebuild there. Rebuilding there represents throwing good money after bad. If owners' investments in real estate can be made whole, then they can rebuild or buy in some other area which isn't prone to climate change induced disasters. 7 News reported:

"SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — When Hurricane Ian struck Florida’s Gulf Coast, it washed out the bottom level of David Muench’s home on the barrier island of Sanibel along with several cars, a Harley-Davidson and a boat.

His parents’ house was among those destroyed by the storm that killed at least two people there, and the lone bridge to the crescent-shaped island collapsed, cutting off access by car to the mainland for its 6,300 residents.

Hurricane Ian underscores the vulnerability of the nation’s barrier islands and the increasing costs of people living on the thin strips of land that parallel the coast. As hurricanes become more destructive, experts question whether such exposed communities can keep rebuilding in the face of climate change.

“This is a Hurricane Katrina-scale event, where you’re having to rebuild everything, including the infrastructure,” said Jesse M. Keenan, a real estate professor at Tulane University’s School of Architecture. “We can’t build back everything to what it was — we can’t afford that.”"

Actually, it would be cheaper to buy out this real estate rather than to rebuild it along with all the associated infrastructure. Buying or rebuilding in safer areas where the infrastructure is already present eliminates the costs of debris removal and infrastructure rebuilding. Insurance companies will either go bankrupt or be devastated along with the other natural devastation. FEMA's budget will be used up trying to compensate for all the billion dollar weather disasters that are surely coming. These are no "500 year storms." That is pure fiction. These are once or more a year storms.Much of Florida will be underwater eventually as oceans continue to rise. The only thing that makes sense is to move away from the coasts in the most expeditious and least costly manner. Government can expedite this process so that home and business owners aren't forced back onto vulnerable properties and will have somewhere else to go to without losing their real estate investments.

Off the Top of My Head

Republicans Hate Socialism ... Except When They Need Help Themselves

by John Lawrence

When Superstorm Sandy hit, then Congressman DeSantis voted against giving help to New York state. Now after the Hurricane Ian disaster, Governor DeSantis is asking the Federal government for every dollar he can possibly get. This is typical Republican behavior. After all socialism is about helping people. Republicans want every ounce of help they can get for themselves while denying it to others. All of a sudden DeSantis is Joe Biden's best friend. Joe wants to help people, but he should think twice about helping DeSantis. First of all a hard look should be given to rebuilding on hurricane prone barrier islands. DeSantis, of course, wants the increased economic activity that rebuilding will entail for construction companies especially if the Federal government pays for it. Building Back Better in hurricane prone areas is not good economic sense. And it will cost a fortune in an inflationary era while only adding to inflation as the Federal government injects more money into the economy.

Robert Reich wrote in a recent email:

"No Republican governor has been more vocal in his opposition to what he describes as “socialism” than Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis. “I stand against socialism,” DeSantis thundered in Florida’s 2018 gubernatorial election. “Socialist policies have failed time and time again.” In June, DeSantis signed an education bill directing Florida’s Department of Education to develop a curriculum educating students on the evils of socialism (as well as communism)."

But now, when his state needs the money, DeSantis is either a full on socialist or a full on opportunist who, once he gets his, will be against anyone else getting theirs. In 2013 DeSantis said: "I sympathize with the victims of Hurricane Sandy and believe that those who purchased flood insurance should have their claims paid. At the same time, allowing the program to increase its debt by another $9.7 billion with no plan to offset the spending with cuts elsewhere is not fiscally responsible." So now after Hurricane Ian, which will run into the tens of billions, is giving the state of Florida the money DeSantis is requesting from the Federal government "fiscally responsible"? Reich poses the question: "So, would DeSantis call any form of government assistance to those in need “socialism?” Obviously, not when it's his ox that's being gored. DeSantis' hypocrisy is immense here, but it will probably work for him. He will take credit for "getting Florida and Floridians back to normal" as he enters the 2024 Presidential contest. Before Biden gives DeSantis all the money he wants, DeSantis should do a mea culpa, stating that he was wrong to vote against disaster relief for New York state after Superstorm Sandy.

DeSantis website headlines: "Governor Ron DeSantis Requests President Biden Approve Major Disaster Declaration and 100 Percent Federal Cost Share for 60 Days for Hurricane Ian" This isn't the first time that DeSantis has used Federal cash to tout his own agenda. Just prior to the fatal hurricane, DeSantis held a press conference in Jacksonville where he gave $1,000 checks to individual firefighters and law-enforcement officers that were being made available through this year’s state budget. Of course he didn't mention that this was cash the state of Florida got from the American Rescue Plan, Federal money which provided more than $8.8 billion to the state of Florida.DeSantis will likely continue to bash President Joe Biden and the Democrats for pushing policies that he says have caused inflation — which includes the massive spending included in the American Rescue Plan. I've got news for Gov. DeSantis: if he cared about inflation, he would take the money to recover from Hurricane Ian out of state taxes instead of letting the American taxpayer foot the bill while all the time giving Joe Biden no credit. He will take all that for himself.

 

Off the Top of My Head

A 500 Year Event, Gov. DeSantis, or a Once a Year Occurrence?

by John Lawrence

Gov. DeSantis has said repeatedly, "This is a 500 year event" as if once we get the damage cleaned up from Hurricane Ian, we can relax because this kind of devastation won't happen again for another 500 years. I've got news for you, Gov. Desantis. An event like Ian will probably happen again within 5 years, and it will be even worse as the Caribbean warms more making hurricanes even more ferocious. Floridians experienced the deadly, devastating consequences of back-to-back major hurricanes—Irma in 2017 and Michael in 2018—along with near-misses by Matthew in 2016 and Dorian in 2019. They don't sound like 500 year events to me. Let's be honest with each other, Gov. DeSantis. The wreckage from Ian won't even be fully cleaned up before the next major hurricane hits Florida. Thank God, DeSantis is not a climate change denier. However, he is not given high marks for taking action to mitigate the effects of climate change. “I am not in the pews of the church of the global warming leftists,” DeSantis told reporters at one 2018 campaign stop. “I am not a global warming person. I don’t want that label on me.” Forget about labels, Gov. DeSantis, you have a major problem on your hands. You better get down on your knees and start worshiping at the church of climate change.

Inside Climate News reports:

"Florida’s climate challenges are among the biggest in the country. Beyond those related to hurricanes intensified by climate change, they include sea level rise, extreme heat, drought and increasing health threats from mosquito-borne diseases. Florida is the most hurricane-prone state, and hurricanes are not only getting more powerful, they are bringing much more rainfall. 

Sunny day flooding is a regular occurrence in some communities because of sea level rise. Some face several feet of sea level rise by the end of the century. 

By its own numbers, the DeSantis administration predicts that with sea level rise, $26 billion in residential property statewide will be at risk of chronic flooding by 2045."

OK, Ian will probably result in more than $26 billion to clean up, and that's not "by 2045". That's this year - 2022. As insurance companies refuse to insure Florida residential property, Florida residents better hope that the Federal government takes up the slack. By the way that's the Federal government that this Republican state tells to stay out of its business. It's always about states' rights until there's some disaster. Then they come running to the Federal government for help. Private flood insurance will soon be a thing of the past. Nearly 80,000 Florida homeowners will have to find new insurance, after Southern Fidelity declared bankruptcy. The Tallahassee based company is the fourth insurer to declare insolvency recently.

The hardest hit by Ian, of course, were retirees and poor people living in mobile homes. Mobile homes should be outlawed in most parts of Florida. They cannot withstand the powerful hurricanes that are only going to get more powerful as climate change accelerates. Even structurally sound homes will still suffer from water damage and the loss of services like power, water, cell phone towers and more. There will be more water damage from storm surges and fresh water flooding as major storms drop 24 inches or more of water on neighborhoods. All utilities need to be undergrounded, or they will be on the ground more than they will be functional. It will be a full time job just getting water, power, sewer and communications back online, not to mention getting roads cleared of debris and rebuilding bridges and washed out roads. Massive climate disasters are only going to get worse, and we're still putting about 34 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. There's no way that we can survive without a full on effort by all countries of the world to get off fossil fuels ASAP. Yet countries of the world continue to fight, bicker and compete with each other instead of COOPERATING.

Off the Top of My Head

The Problem With Climate and Gun Disasters: They're One Offs

by John Lawrence

Instead of attributing a climate disaster to global warming, victims will say, "I've never seen anything like this, and I've lived here all my life. Gun disaster victims will say, "I didn't think it could ever happen here." If they said instead, when interviewed, "I think guns should be gotten off the streets" or "Climate change destroyed my house and we're not doing enough to deal with it", then maybe there would be a general awareness growing among the population. There is not enough of a groundswell among the public to change anything because most of the public is not affected by any particular incident. If a particular climate or gun disaster raised the price of gas, then maybe something would be done of a preventative measure. The latest gun legislation is a total joke. It will do nothing to prevent mass shootings. One off climate disasters will do nothing to raise the national consciousness especially among conservatives who don't even believe in global warming. Instead they will call a flood a 500 year event, one that will only occur every 500 years. But then it occurs again tomorrow. Floods and fires are an almost daily occurrence somewhere in the world. If they happen outside the country, no attention at all is paid to the event although climate change is a problem for the whole world not just for any particular nation. It is not just restricted to national borders. Gun violence, on the other hand, is just restricted pretty much to the US. Every other country has sane gun laws.

Politicians, especially Republicans, are in it for the money and not necessarily to do any good for the general public which can't pay for lobbyists to bombard them with their point of view backed up with generous campaign contributions. The more a country is run by politicians profiting by virtue of their positions, the less democratic it is because they are representing their own interests which often means catering to the interests of lobbyists and not catering to the interests of the general public, not to mention the interests of nature or the environment. Many politicians, especially the Republican party as it's constituted today, are guided only by self interest in the same way as corporations are required by law to maximize profits for their shareholders singlemindedly without any other considerations like taking into account what is equitable ao far as society is concerned. The only way to defeat this pernicious aspect of democracy is to take the money out of politics and provide incentives in such a way that a politician finds it in his best interests to represent the interests of his or her constituents and not the interests of the entity which is lobbying him or her. Perhaps an advocate for the people should be paid for out of tax money.

Obviously, it's not in the interests of the victims of gum violence to have the proliferation of guns especially assault rifles on the streets. However, since those that have not been affected by gun violence don't see it as a problem, nothing major is being done. As far as they're concerned, it's a problem that only happens to other people. Unless they identify strongly with the victims of gun violence or start to think that it is something that very likely might happen to them, nothing will be done since it only affects a minority of people and democracies supposedly are run by the majority of the people. Since empathy is a relatively weak emotion compared to self-interest, especially in the US where people have been groomed to seek their self-interest regardless of the effect it has on others, seriously restricting the use and proliferation of guns goes out the window.

What is happening to the human race as a result of climate change is happening at such a slow pace that most people would rather maximize their profits now rather than setting aside some of them because they might benefit people in the future when they might not even be an inhabitant of the planet at that time. Again the manifestation of climate change so far has been one offs only affecting a small group in any one incidence of a natural disaster. When climate change gets to the point where sea level rise is affecting a large number of major cities in the world simultaneously, then something might be done only it will be too late. At that point the only thing will be to react defensively rather than having taken action in the past that would have forestalled the present event. People would rather eat their cake right now rather than saving it for the future when they might not even be around to eat it.

Off the Top of My Head

Sea Levels to Rise by 200 Feet if Poles Melt

by John Lawrence

Based on 410 ppm which is the concentration of carbon dioxide right now in the atmosphere, the ice on the poles will go completely away albeit at a glacial pace. Concentrations of carbon dioxide have varied between 100 ppm and 300 ppm for hundreds of millions of years, and earth has gone through hot periods in which there was no polar ice and at least one period where the entire earth was encased in ice. Reliable predictions by scientists show that 410 ppm will guarantee the disappearance of ice from the poles and a 200 foot sea level rise which will wipe out most of the east coast including a total disappearance of the state of Florida. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is continuing to increase. It will continue to increase way above the current 410 ppm. Humans are still pouring billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere year after year. There has been no diminution of this trend. In fact it is accelerating. The world emits about 43 billion tons of CO2 a year. So already there is enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to guarantee that the poles will melt, and the earth will become very hot. And we're still making it worse year after year.

As the oceans warm and the polar ice melts, we are seeing more extreme weather events due to increased water evaporation from the oceans. That increased amount of water in the atmosphere is released in the form of torrential downpours which cause flooding and weather events such as hurricanes. Higher temperatures are also causing droughts and forest fires. Although these events are tragedies for those directly affected, geological history has shown that life can adapt. One of the first major catastrophes the human race will be faced with is the loss of major cities situated close to oceans such as New York, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Miami and New Orleans. However, humans can adapt to this by just moving further back from the shore lines as sea levels rise wiping out most low lying areas. Of course this will increase anti-immigrant sentiment due to the the number or refugees in the world as humans crowd onto remaining habitable areas. At this stage we will still be better off than Venus which has a runaway greenhouse gas effect and a surface air temperature of 800 degrees F. Its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide.

The lesson here is that it is to the advantage of the human race to stop putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as quickly as possible. This means major changes to our civilization which human beings are reluctant to make especially in democracies which are governed by the will of the people. While most will give lip service to preserving the planet for future generations, in fact they don't want to do anything that will change their lifestyles or inconvenience themselves in any way. Only when war and pestilence force humans to diminish their numbers on the planet will the human footprint get down to a certain size which, along with the adoption of renewable energy systems, will allow the planet to sustain enough habitable land mass for the furtherance of human life at least for some people. How fast we proceed with changing the human ecosystem in terms of greenhouse gas reduction will determine what kind of a planet future generations will be forced to live on. At the very least it will resemble a hot house earth, similar to conditions which existed millennia ago in which the polar regions were tropical swamps.

Off the Top of My Head

What Mass Shootings and Global Warming Have in Common

by John Lawrence

Even if sales of AK-15s were banned today, there would still be enough AK-15s on the streets for mass shootings to continue for decades. Even if no more carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere starting today, there is enough already there to provide weather disasters for decades. Meanwhile, gun sales and carbon dioxide generation are continuing apace. There will be no diminution of gun violence nor will there be any diminution of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere. If there were zero gun sales tomorrow and zero carbon dioxide generation tomorrow, there might be a chance for recovery from both travesties, but, no, those travesties will continue along predictable lines. There will be even more mass shootings and assorted other gun violence while gas powered vehicles and power generating plants will continue to pump out carbon dioxide using the atmosphere as a waste dump. Plastic will continue to pollute the oceans. Chemical fertilizer and pest control chemicals will continue to pollute waterways. People pursuing the American Dream will continue consuming products to the point of commercial gluttony and beyond.

The production of steel and cement produces large amounts of carbon dioxide that goes directly into the atmosphere. It's a matter of sheer chemistry. Steelmaking is one of the most carbon emission intensive industries in the world. As of 2020, steelmaking is estimated to be responsible for 7 to 9 per cent of all direct fossil fuel greenhouse gas emissions. In order to mitigate global warming, the industry will need to find reductions in emissions. In 2020, McKinsey identified a number of technologies for decarbonization including hydrogen usage, carbon capture and reuse, and maximizing use of electric arc furnaces powered by clean energy. A Swedish company has developed a way of making carbon dioxide emission free steel. The Guardian reported:

The world’s first customer delivery of “green steel” produced without using coal is taking place in Sweden, according to its manufacturer.

The Swedish venture Hybrit said it was delivering the steel to truck-maker Volvo AB as a trial run before full commercial production in 2026. Volvo has said it will start production in 2021 of prototype vehicles and components from the green steel.

Steel production using coal accounts for around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Hybrit started test operations at its pilot plant for green steel in Lulea, northern Sweden, a year ago. It aims to replace coking coal, traditionally needed for ore-based steel making, with renewable electricity and hydrogen. Hydrogen is a key part of the EU’s plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

So the chemistry is being changed so that water H₂O is produced as a by product instead of carbon dioxide, CO².

CNBC reported:

Cars and electricity get a lot of attention in conversations about decarbonization, and they should. But building materials like cement and steel also need to be scrutinized.

The production of cement is responsible for about 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions and 5.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

On [April 28, 2022], Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Bill Gates’ climate finance firm, and DCVC, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, announced they led a $55 million funding round in Brimstone Energy, a start-up aiming to commercialize carbon-negative cement.

“We need to recognize that cement is a massive problem for climate and that nobody has figured out how to address it at scale without dramatically increasing costs or moving away from the regulated materials that the construction industry knows and loves,” Breakthrough partner Carmichael Roberts told CNBC.

So it is not enough to get gas guzzlers off the roads. Gas prices going up is a good thing. It will guarantee that more new car purchases will be hybrid or all electric vehicles. But the world is not changing over to non-polluting forms of energy quick enough. Major climate related disasters are already occurring and will continue to occur. Since we are still adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, these disasters will only get worse as time goes by. Meanwhile, all kinds of other ecological disasters are taking place including the insane and greedy pursuit of insatiable profits in the gun production industry and the buildup of military hardware. In 2019, a report released by Durham and Lancaster University found the US military to be “one of the largest climate polluters in history, consuming more liquid fuels and emitting more CO2e (carbon-dioxide equivalent) than most countries”. In addition to climate pollution the military is responsible for the development of assault rifles like the AR-15 which was first developed for combat operations. Very conveniently, it is now a profit center for US gun corporations, and in addition to killing combatants on the field of battle, it has brought war time slaughter into children's schools, people's super markets and night clubs. We've come full circle. And in addition the production of steel weapons results in increased carbon emissions.

Off the Top of My Head

If the Planet Goes Down, It Will Be Irrelevant Whether a Woman Has the Right to Choose or Not

by John Lawrence

Democrats will fail at codifying Roe vs Wade, but Republicans will succeed in codifying anti-abortion rights if a Republican President is elected in 2024. But that's the least important thing that will happen. If Republicans take over the House and Senate in 2022, and a Republican President is elected in 2024, forget the US and the world doing anything about climate change. It will be full steam ahead for fossil fuels, and full steam ahead for the death of the planet. We don't have that much time any more to prevent irreversible change due to global warming. All the deadlines here have past or soon will be past. The relevant headline is Greenhouse Gases Must Begin to Fall by 2025, Says U.N. Climate Report. We are continually being bombarded with political and cultural trivia when the giant in the room is climate change. The prevailing attitude is we'll get around to that eventually, but eventually is almost here, folks. If not much is happening before 2025, we might as well forget it and spend our few remaining years enjoying the human past times of war and trivial pursuits. Eos reported:

"The first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report on climate mitigation since the Paris Agreement was released today. This is likely the IPCC’s last word before the window of opportunity to stop warming at 1.5°C disappears, after which scientists said life-threatening climate consequences and feedbacks will intensify.

"Led by hundreds of scientists convened by the United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Meteorological Organization, the summary of the report was approved by 195 governments after 16 days of discussions and one 40-hour marathon session that stretched into Sunday night.

"The report gives the world a failing grade. International policies implemented by the end of 2020 will miss the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming well below 2°C. Current trends suggest that by 2100, the world will warm 3.2°C compared to preindustrial average temperature, with a spread of 2.2°C to 3.5°C possible.

"“Reaching 3.2°C will be nightmarish,” said Andrea Simonelli, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University who was not involved in the report. “The threshold for habitable is already being pushed to the limit in many places.”"

Despite these dire warnings the human species is still on a binge of colossal pettiness. This means that wars and in particular resource wars will become more severe and common. Already the whole world is in a food crisis due to drought and lack of water for crop irrigation. War also plays a part. Russia and Ukraine together supply more than a quarter of the world’s wheat, and coming disruptions could fuel higher food prices and social unrest. When people start fighting over food, wars will take on proportions that will make the war in Ukraine seem like a minor aberration. Russia and Ukraine together export more than a quarter of the world’s wheat, feeding billions of people in the form of bread, pasta and packaged foods. The countries are also key suppliers of barley, sunflower seed oil and corn, among other products. Food prices have already risen globally as a result of pandemic-related shipping disruptions, rising costs for farmers and adverse weather, and wheat is no exception. Between April 2020 and December 2021, the price of wheat increased 80 percent, according to data from the International Monetary Fund. That was on a par with rising costs for corn and higher than increases for soybeans or coffee.

Now we're talking some serious stuff, not just the future of NATO. The brunt of the food crisis just like the brunt of climate change in general will be felt most by the poorer nations. As a consequence, whatever immigration crisis that is being felt today will be magnified 1000 times at least as starving people seek to come across borders not only in the US but all over the world where prosperous nations border on poverty stricken ones. So crises based on real world problems, rather than on national borders between Russia and Ukraine, will become more severe. Already in California, the water supply for crop irrigation is likely to be turned off by 2025 as Lake Mead and Lake Powell go dry. California supplies about a quarter of the US' fruits and vegetables so the American diet is shortly to be seriously affected and not just by supply chain issues. Recently, a fire in Laguna Niguel destroyed 20 multi-million dollar homes on a day that was not particularly windy or hot. One 10,000 square foot mansion recently was on the market for almost $10 million.

They say that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Now the human species is fiddling while the whole damn planet is about to go up in smoke. Oh well, it was a nice planet while it lasted. Scientists assure us that there are trillions of other habitable planets out there, but they're so far away.

Off the Top of My Head

According to Biden's BBB Plan, Buyers of Electric Vehicles Would Receive up to $12,500 in Tax Credits

by John Lawrence

So where is this incentive to buy electric vehicles now that gas (in CA) is about $6 a gallon? Now is the time when we need this subsidy, but, alas, the Democrats couldn't even stick together to pass this and other incentives and measures to get off fossil fuels. How about this as an incentive: preventing daily tornadoes in the heartland of the US? As extreme weather gets more extreme, Congress can't even pass programs to combat global warming and the consequent damage that's being done to people's lives and the economy in general. Not to mention the fact that major portions of the population will not be able to get property insurance which is happening right now and will only get worse. If you have a lot of brush around your house, you're an insurance liability. If you live in a flood plain, you're an insurance liability. We are told by people who know that we only have a few years to do something before we can expect catastrophic consequences from climate change and global warming. Yet we are taking our time getting off fossil fuels. There is even regret that we didn't go ahead with the Keystone pipeline.

The New York Times reported:

"In the coming decades, as global temperatures continue to rise, hundreds of millions of people could struggle against floods, deadly heat waves and water scarcity from severe drought, the report said. Mosquitoes carrying diseases like dengue and malaria will spread to new parts of the globe. Crop failures could become more widespread, putting families in places like Africa and Asia at far greater risk of hunger and malnutrition. People unable to adapt to the enormous environmental shifts will end up suffering unavoidable loss or fleeing their homes, creating dislocation on a global scale,[according to a recent UN report]."

We do know the things we need to be doing. It's just that we're not doing them or doing them at such a slow pace that we will still experience the worst effects of climate change. If you think the refugee problem is bad now, climate change will exacerbate and accelerate the refugee problem. People will be fleeing their homes and homelands when it becomes apparent that they can't make a living there. They will be coming to parts of the world where countries are wealthy enough to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. Basically, that means that people will flee poor countries and attempt at all costs to enter rich countries. That's why the US, as the richest country in the world, should be going full speed ahead to transition away from fossil fuels and into a new era that consists of renewable energy production and more environment friendly lifestyles. Instead, Americans are determined to lead lifestyles of maximum consumption right up to the hilt of their financial resources and beyond in a last gasp of over consumption.

Common Dreams reported:

In the wake of a United Nations report that activists said showed the "bleak and brutal truth" about the climate emergency, a leading economist on Friday highlighted a step that supporters argue could be incredibly effective at combating the global crisis: nationalizing the U.S. fossil fuel industry.

Writing for The American Prospect, Robert Pollin, an economics professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, noted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and high gas prices exacerbated by Russia's war on Ukraine.

"If we are finally going to start taking the IPCC's findings seriously," Pollin wrote, "it follows that we must begin advancing far more aggressive climate stabilization solutions than anything that has been undertaken thus far, both within the U.S. and globally. Within the U.S., such measures should include at least putting on the table the idea of nationalizing the U.S. fossil fuel industry."

Asserting that "at least in the U.S., the private oil companies stand as the single greatest obstacle to successfully implementing" a viable climate stabilization program, Pollin made the case that fossil fuel giants should not make any more money from wrecking the planet, nationalization would not be an unprecedented move in the United States, and doing so could help build clean energy infrastructure at the pace that scientists warn is necessary.

The expert proposed starting with "the federal government purchasing controlling ownership of at least the three dominant U.S. oil and gas corporations: ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips."

"They are far larger and more powerful than all the U.S. coal companies combined, as well as all of the smaller U.S. oil and gas companies," he wrote. "The cost to the government to purchase majority ownership of these three oil giants would be about $420 billion at current stock market prices."

So for roughly half of the defense budget, the US taxpayers could own the oil industry and phase it out at the speed required to save the planet from the worst effects of global warming. Instead we're treated to the Big Oil CEO's defiance that they are not price gouging because prices are set by the world market. Does anyone question why prices have to be set by the world market? No. Obviously, the world market exists to serve the interests of the oil producers, not oil consumers. Maybe the US should get off the world market because we produce enough oil to meet all current consumer demands. So why do we even need the world market? The world market exists to serve the interests of the OPEC nations who won't even open their spigots in a time of crisis, and it exists to serve the interests of the western Big Oil corporations like ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell.

Americans would like to have one more blast of consumption rather than buckle down and do what's necessary to combat climate change, an effort that would be at least as great as the effort and sacrifice put forth to fight World War II. Billionaire's would rather blast off into space than use their money to fight climate change. Their lifestyles are major contributors to the emission of greenhouse gasses. They don't want to be told that they can't overconsume with numerous 27,000 square foot mansions and a fleet of luxury cars. That's the American Dream, or is it. It's soon going to turn into the American Nightmare but probably not for them. They have the resources to escape the worst effects of global warming. Instead the nightmare will be mostly visited on the least among us as well as randomly due to tornadoes, floods and fires.

Off the Top of My Head

Almost as Many Have Died During the Covid Pandemic as in All American Wars

by John Lawrence

Maybe we should have invested more in public health than we have in the military. Compared to the trillions spent on the military, only a pittance has been spent on public health, let alone on promoting peace in the world. 1.1 million have died in all American wars since the founding of the republic. About 927,000 and counting have died from the current pandemic even though a revolutionary mRNA vaccine is available. 675,000 died during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 sans vaccine. So many more people have died from pandemics in the US than have been killed in wars. Yet war and the preparations for war are pursued relentlessly while efforts for peace languish. This is not only dumb; it's sick. It goes to show that homo sapiens is one of the stupidest and least empathetic species that has ever evolved. Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but the human race is right on course fiddling while the earth burns due to climate change. We will continue to fiddle and equivocate playing one upsmanship with each other as the earth deteriorates into an uninhabitable planet. No wonder the billionaires are making plans to get off.

Of course the power structure doesn't really care what happens on planet earth after they die. They will miss by virtue of their own natural deaths the worst of it. They will have lived the American Dream while bequeathing to their grandchildren the American Nightmare. As we continue to pour billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we are more concerned about the economy that we are about human survival and what sacrifices that will mean. In November, researchers at the Global Carbon Project estimated that global carbon-dioxide emissions from energy and industry rose 4.9 percent in 2021, after a 5.4 percent decline in 2020. China, India and the European Union all had major increases, suggesting that any climate effect from the pandemic was fleeting. So not even a worldwide pandemic can significantly alter the relentless pursuit of economic growth which produces mega tons of carbon dioxide. Residents of planet earth refuse to change their lifestyles and their aspirations for what they conceive to be a "better life."

In the US consumerism is force fed through advertising just like in France ducks are forced fed to produce foie gras. Facebook makes billions of dollars not selling a product but selling advertising. Amazon at least provides products and the service of delivering those products. The advertising industry is the equivalent of the forced feeding of ducks only the ducks are American consumers who would rather not change their lifestyles of accumulation even if it means that their grandchildren will die a miserable death on a burned out planet. Meanwhile, nations exacerbate tensions among each other and foment wars, the preparations for which cost trillions of dollars which, therefore, are not spent on climate mitigation.

Lifestyles not only of the rich but of the middle class would have to change if the earth is to survive climate change. The production of steel and concrete by current methods produce tons of carbon dioxide. The generation of electricity by coal and gas produces tons of carbon dioxide. Agriculture, mainly cow farts, produces tons of methane. As the earth warms sea levels rise, the Arctic thaws and even more methane is released. It's so anthropogenic! We would be better off going back to the horse and buggy days. The American fetish for progress has produced an ecological disaster. The American lifestyle is an environmental disaster. Meanwhile, the power structure in the US and elsewhere seems bound and determined to accelerate the process of environmental destruction while extreme weather events are passed off as "seen nothing like it but vowing to rebuild." That's the American can-do spirit!

Off the Top of My Head

Why Coal is So Hard to Get Rid Of

by John Lawrence

To forestall climate change we must get rid of coal yet coal is the cheapest and most abundant source of energy for power generating plants worldwide. China is building coal fired generating plants in India as India develops into a middle class country. As COP26 aims to banish coal. Asia is building hundreds of power plants to burn it. Millions of tons of coal each year will be imported to fuel a giant power plant that will burn the fuel for at least 30 years to generate power for the more than 70 million people that live in India's Tamil Nadu state. This plant is one of nearly 200 coal-fired power stations under construction in Asia, including 95 in China, 28 in India and 23 in Indonesia, according to data from U.S. nonprofit Global Energy Monitor (GEM). While the US is primarily responsible for the billions of tons of carbon dioxide already present in the atmosphere, developing countries don't want to hinder their emerging development since they aren't the ones that contributed most of the CO₂ so far. Asia is home to 60% of the world's population and about half of global manufacturing, and coal's use is growing rather than shrinking as rapidly developing countries seek to meet booming demand for power.

Reuters reported:

"In 2020, more than 35% of the world's power came from coal, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. Roughly 25% came from natural gas, 16% from hydro dams, 10% from nuclear and 12% from renewables like solar and wind. This year, coal demand is set for a new record, driving prices to all-time highs and contributing to a worldwide scramble for fuel.

"Record coal demand is contributing to a rapid rise in emissions in 2021 after a fall last year, when restrictions on movement for billions of people to slow the pandemic caused fuel use to plummet. While some of the new coal plants under construction will replace older, more polluting stations, together they will add to total emissions. "The completion of the capacity that is already under construction in these countries will drive up coal demand and emissions," said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clear Air.

"The carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the new plants alone will be close to 28 billion tonnes over their 30-year lifespans, according to GEM."

While India will continue to pollute with coal, their emissions will be dwarfed by China, the top global coal miner, consumer and emitter, whose leader, President Xi Jinping, is not expected to attend COP26. More than 1,000 coal plants are in operation, almost 240 planned or already under construction. Together, coal plants in the world's second-largest economy will emit 170 billion tons of carbon in their lifetime - more than all global CO₂ emissions between 2016 and 2020.

The solution is that the advanced countries like the US have to spend the money to rapidly convert Asia's fossil fuel energy plants to non polluters. Wind and solar are not enough to fill the bill. In order to get off fossil fuels quickly, nuclear power is the only feasible solution, and these plants must be funded and constructed in Asia by the US and the European Union. Bill Gates had plans to build an advanced digital nuclear test plant in China which were nixed by the Trump administration which was a global warming denier. What the rest of the developed world worries about is whether or not Trumpism will come back in the next election. If the earth is not to burn up from global warming, cooperation between the US and China is paramount. Yet the Pentagon continues to advocate for a Cold War with China, and even Biden's administration is ready to cast doubts warily on China. Yet there is no other way. We need to take resources away from the US military establishment which wants to keep itself in business by creating the pretext for war with China while turning China and Russia into pariahs and enemies of the western world. This is a huge mistake if we want our grandchildren to live on a habitable and sustainable planet.

US Breaks Summer Heat Record Set During Dust Bowl in 1936: NOAA

The United States in June, July, and August was the hottest since records began, including the Dust Bowl summer of 1936. The combination of high temperatures with drought in some regions and high precipitation in others, led to a summer of weather extremes all closely tied to global warming and the climate emergency. (Photo: iStock/Getty)

 

"I wondered if I would live to see one of America's most iconic weather records fall—the record for hottest summer, set in the great Dust Bowl of 1936," said one meteorologist. "Finally, in 2021, the record has fallen."

 

Jon Queally

September 10, 2021

The United States just experienced the hottest summer ever, breaking the record set in 1936 when the Dust Bowl Era took hold amid extreme heat, drought, crop failures that upended the country.

According to data and new analysis released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

During meteorological summer (June-August), the average temperature for the Lower 48 was 74.0°F, 2.6°F above average, nominally eclipsing the extreme heat of the Dust Bowl in 1936 by nearly 0.01°F and essentially tying 1936 for the warmest summer on record. A record 18.4 percent of the contiguous U.S. experienced record-warm temperatures for this season. For August, the contiguous U.S. average temperature was also 74.0°F, 1.9°F above the 20th-century average and ranked as the 14th-warmest August on record. For the year to date, the contiguous U.S. temperature was 55.6°F, 1.8°F above the 20th-century average, ranking 13th warmest in the January-August record.

With temperatures extreme in the U.S. in June, July, and August, precipitation was also high. The NOAA data revealed that the total rainfall across the lower 48 states "was 9.48 inches, 1.16 inches above average, ranking eighth wettest in the historical record. The August precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 3.09 inches, 0.47 inch above average, ranking 14th wettest in the 127-year period of record."

The combination of high temperatures with drought in some regions and high precipitation in others led to a summer of weather extremes all closely tied to global warming and the climate emergency. As the agency's report notes:

Devastating flash flooding and fatalities resulted from multiple events during August including Tropical Storm Fred in western North Carolina, convective flooding from a complex of storms across middle Tennessee, Hurricane Ida across Louisiana and portions of the Northeast in early September and from Tropical Storm Henri, also across parts of the Northeast. With 35 fatalities accounted for during August*, it was the deadliest month for flooding across the U.S. since Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Wildfires continued to spread across the western U.S. during August as the Dixie Fire in north-central California became the second-largest fire in the state’s history. The Caldor Fire also in California grew rapidly during August, threatening South Lake Tahoe communities. Air quality remained a concern across the U.S. as ash and fine particulates from the many wildfires obscured the skies.

Meteorologist and climate expert Jeff Masters expressed awe at the record-setting heat documented in NOAA's latest findings.

"When I began my career as a meteorologist 40 years ago," Masters tweeted Thursday, "I wondered if I would live to see one of America's most iconic weather records fall—the record for hottest summer, set in the great Dust Bowl of 1936. Finally, in 2021, the record has fallen."

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Off the Top of My Head

Good on President Biden for Using His Visit to the Flood Zones to Give a Tutorial on Climate Change

by John Lawrence

Previously, after a natural disaster no one mentioned climate change. There was much bemoaning and commiserating, but Biden took a different tack. He lectured the American people about climate change and how it contributed to the disasters that had befallen the unfortunate. What's more he said they would continue and get worse unless we undertake to do something about it. No more attributing the disasters to one in 500 year events. That language is totally out the window. No more statements like "I've never seen anything like this my entire life." Get used to it. People are going to see a lot more of these climate disasters from now on. As President Biden said, we can't prevent these disasters from happening on a regular basis, but we can do something about them getting a lot worse. Meanwhile the fossil fuel industry is running ads on TV about how wonderful the oil and gas industry is, and they are lobbying their evil little hearts out to get politicians on their side.

“The nation and the world are in peril,” President Biden said after touring storm damage in New York and Jersey. “And that’s not hyperbole. That is a fact.”

"Folks — and we have to take some bold action now to tackle the accelerating effects of climate. If we don’t act — now I’m going to be heading, as Chuck knows, as the senator knows, I’m going to be heading from here to Glasgow, Scotland, for the COP meeting [United Nations Climate Change Conference], which is all the nations of the world getting together to decide what we are going to do about climate change. And John Kerry, the former secretary of state, is leading our effort, putting it together.

"We are determined, we are determined that we are going to deal with climate change and have zero emissions, net emissions by 2050. By 2020 [sic] (he meant 2030), make sure all our electricity is zero emissions. We’re going to be able to do these things. But we’ve got to move. We’ve got to move. And we’ve got to move the rest of the world. It’s not just the United States of America.

"And so, folks, this summer alone, communities with over 100 million Americans — 100 million Americans call home — have been struck by extreme weather. One in every three Americans has been victimized by severe weather. The hurricanes along the Gulf, the East Coast, up through this community. And I saw the human and physical cost firsthand, as I said, in Louisiana.

"And, folks, the evidence is clear. Climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, to our economy, and the threat is here, it’s not going to get any better. The question: Can it get worse? We can stop it from getting worse.

"And when I talk about building back better — and Chuck is fighting for my program, for our program on the Hill — when I talk about building back better, I mean you can’t build to what it was before this last storm. You got to build better so that if the storm occurred again, there would be no damage. There would be.

"But that’s not going to stop us, though, because if we just do that, it’s just going to get worse and worse and worse. Because the storms are going to get worse and worse and worse. And so, folks, we’ve got to listen to the scientists and the economists and the national security experts. They all tell us this is code red.

"The nation and the world are in peril. And that’s not hyperbole. That is a fact. They’ve been warning us the extreme weather would get more extreme over the decade, and we’re living in it real time now."

Biden is telling it like it is. The American people are in for a lot more of these climate disasters, and we can't stop them immediately. It's going to take decades to get this problem under control, and that's only if we go full steam ahead by taking measures to get it under control. Meanwhile, there are measures which can be taken to mitigate the costs both human and financial from these climate disasters. People must move out of flood plains and areas prone to forest fires. We must underground utilities so that the power doesn't go out during hurricanes and wildfires. That goes for cell phones and cable TV too. People have to have secure means of communication even during a climate disaster. Building codes need to be upgraded. Water management needs to improve so that torrential rains do not just become runoff that turns into floods. That water is precious and needs to be transported to parts of the country that are in more or less perpetual drought. The power grid needs to be hardened. Transportation needs to be electrified. Power generation needs to use renewable sources, and advanced nuclear needs to be developed. Ways of making steel and concrete need to be developed that don't use fossil fuels and the methods of doing so need to be scaled up and spread throughout the whole world. Agriculture needs to be made organic and factory farms eliminated. It's not enough for the US and the developed world to do the right things. Green infrastructure must be developed and spread to the whole world. We must partner with China in a Green Belt and Road Initiative. They are very advanced in building infrastructure throughout the world. While the US has been fighting needless wars, China has been building infrastructure albeit not green infrastructure. From now on coal fired power plants in India and China need to be eliminated and replaced with renewable energy and advanced nuclear power generation.

Severe Drought Threatens Hoover Dam Reservoir – And Water for US West

The wellspring of Lake Mead created by the dam’s blocking of the Colorado River has plummeted to an historic low as states in the west face hefty cuts in their water supplies

by Oliver Milman at Hoover dam

from the Guardian

 

Had the formidable white arc of the Hoover dam never held back the Colorado River, the US west would probably have no Los Angeles or Las Vegas as we know them today. No sprawling food bowl of wheat, alfalfa and corn. No dreams of relocating to live in a tamed desert. The river, and dam, made the west; now the climate crisis threatens to break it.

The situation here is emblematic of a planet slowly, inexorably overheating. And the catastrophic consequences of the extreme weather this brings.

Hoover dam is the height of a 60-story building and is 45ft thick at the top and 660ft at the bottom. Its construction, in the teeth of the Great Depression, was a source of such national pride that thousands of people journeyed through the hostile desert to witness the arrival of what has become an enduring monument to collective effort for the public good.

The engineering might of Hoover dam undoubtably reshaped America’s story, harnessing a raucous river to help carve huge cities and vast fields of crops into unforgiving terrain. But the wellspring of Lake Mead, created by the dam’s blocking of the Colorado River and with the capacity to hold enough water to cover the entire state of Connecticut 10ft deep, has now plummeted to an historic low. The states of the west, primarily Arizona and Nevada, now face hefty cuts in their water supplies amid a two-decade drought fiercer than anything seen in a millennium.

“We bent nature to suit our own needs,” said Brad Udall, a climate and water expert at Colorado State University. “And now nature is going to bend us.”

Surveying the dam’s sloping face from its curved parapet, Michael Bernardo, river operations manager at the US Bureau of Reclamation, admits the scarcity of water is out of bounds with historical norms. While there is no “average” year on the Colorado River, Bernardo and his colleagues were always able to estimate its flow within a certain range.

But since 2000, scientists say the river’s flow has dwindled by 20% compared to the previous century’s average. This year is the second driest on record, with the flow into Lake Mead just a quarter of what would be considered normal.

“These are scenarios that aren’t necessarily where we expect to be in our models,” said Bernardo, whose work helps deliver a reliable level of water to thirsty western states. Nearly 40 million people, including dozens of tribes, depend on the river’s water. “We’re getting those years that are at the extreme ends of the bell curve. We’ve seen extremes we haven’t seen before, we now have scenarios that are very, very dry.”

In June, the level of Lake Mead plunged below 1,075ft, a point that will trigger, for the first time, federally mandated cuts in water allocations next year. The Bureau of Reclamation (the government agency originally tasked with “reclaiming” this arid place for a new utopia of farmland and a booming western population), expects this historic low to spiral further, dropping to about 1,048ft by the end of 2022, a shallowness unprecedented since Lake Mead started filling up in the 1930s following Hoover dam’s completion. This will provoke a second, harsher, round of cuts.

“We’ve known this point will arrive because we’ve continued to use more water than the river provides for years,” said Kathryn Sorensen, a water policy expert at Arizona State University. “Things look pretty grim. Humans have always been good at moving water around but right now everyone will need to do what it takes to prevent the system from crashing.”

Seven states – California, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Nevada – and Mexico are bound by agreements that parcel out the river’s water but those considered “junior” partners in this arrangement will be hit first.

Should second tier cuts occur, Arizona will lose nearly a fifth of the water it gets from the Colorado River. Nevada’s first-round cut of 21,000 acre-ft (an acre-ft is an acre of water, one foot deep) is smaller, but its share is already diminutive due to an archaic allotment drawn up a century ago when the state was sparsely populated.

The latest era of cooperation between states that rely upon the Colorado River has now entered the “realm of lose-lose”, according to Colby Pellegrino, deputy general manager of resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “Everyone’s going to have to do more with less, and that’s really going to be challenging for people,” she said. “‘Drought’ suggests to a lot of people something temporary we have to respond to, but this could permanently be the type of flows we see.”

The decline of Lake Mead is apparent even at a cursory glance. The US’s largest reservoir is now barely a third full, the dark basalt rock of its canyon walls blanched by a distinctive white calcium ring where the water level once was. This level has plunged by about 130ft in the past 20 years and is currently receding by about a foot a week as farms hit their peak irrigation period.

Guardian graphic | Source: Elevation data from Bureau of Reclamation Records for Lower Colorado River Operations.

The pace of change has been jarring to the millions of people who regularly boat, fish and swim on the lake, with the National Park Service recently laying down new steel platforms to extend launch ramps that no longer reach the water. Some marinas have been wrenched from their moorings and moved because they have been left marooned in baking sediment.

Seen from above in time lapse over the years, Lake Mead looks like a spindly puddle withering away in the Mojave Desert, as nearby Las Vegas, which gets almost all of its water from the lake and went a record 240 days last year without rain, balloons in size. The west’s ambitions have crunched into the searing reality of the Anthropocene.

The Colorado River rises in the lofty Rocky Mountains, before tumbling through 1,450 miles of mountains, canyons and deserts until it reaches the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. Seasonally melting snow has traditionally replenished the river but snowpack on mountaintops in the west has declined by an average of 19% since the 1950s, while soaring temperatures have dried out soils and caused more water to evaporate.

This morphing climate, plus the rampant extraction of water for everything from golf courses in Phoenix to vegetables growing in California to gardens in Denver, means the Colorado fizzles out in dry riverbed before it even reaches its Mexican delta.

Only 1.8% of the west is not in some level of drought, with California, Arizona and New Mexico all experiencing their lowest rainfalls on record over the previous 12 months. Lakes in Arizona are now so low they can’t be used to fight the fires themselves spurred by drought, while the retreat of Lake Folsom in California uncovered the wreckage of a plane that crashed 56 years ago. The governor of Utah has resorted to asking people to pray for rain.

The heat has been otherworldly, with Phoenix recently enduring a record six straight days above 115F (46.1C). A “heat dome” that settled over the usually mild Pacific north-west pushed temperatures to reach a record 108F (42.2C) in Seattle and caused power lines to melt and roads to buckle in Portland. A few hundred miles north, a fast-moving wildfire incinerated the town of Lytton in British Columbia the day after it set a Canadian temperature record of 121F (49.4C). Barely into summer, hundreds of people have already died from the heat along the west coast.

The west has gone through periods like this “megadrought” , with only occasional respite, for the past two decades. But scientists have made clear the current conditions would be virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, pointing to a longer-term “aridification” of the region. All of the water conservation efforts that have kept shortages at bay until now risk being surpassed by the rising heat.

“The amount of water now available across the US west is well below that of any time in modern civilization,” said Park Williams, a hydroclimatologist at Columbia University. Research by Williams and colleagues last year analyzed tree rings to discover the current dry period is rivaled only by a spell in the late 1500s in a history of drought that reaches back to around 800, with the climate crisis doubling the severity of the modern-day drought.

“As the globe warms up, the west will dry out,” said Williams. “The past two years have been shocking to me, I never thought I would see downtown LA reach 111F as it’s so close to the ocean, but we have some of the driest conditions in 1,200 years so the dice are loaded for more heatwaves and fires. This could be the tip of the iceberg, we may well see much longer, tougher droughts.”

In the guts of the Hoover dam, down bronze-clad elevators and through terrazzo corridors, a line of enormous turbines help funnel water out downstream, creating hydro-power electricity for more than 1m households in the process. Five of the 17 turbines, each weighing the same as seven blue whales, have been replaced in recent years with new fittings more suited to operating in lower lake levels.

Even with these adaptions, however, the decline of Lake Mead has caused the amount of hydro power generated by the dam to drop by around 25%. The drought is expected to cause the hydro facility at Lake Oroville, California, to completely shut down, prompting a warning from the United States Energy Association that a “megadrought-induced electricity shortage could be catastrophic, affecting everything from food production to industrial manufacturing”. The association added that such a scenario could even force people to move east, in what it called a “reverse Dust Bowl exodus”.

Bernardo said a similar shutdown of the Hoover dam would require more than 100ft in further water level retreat, which is not anticipated, although he finds himself constantly hoping for the rains that would ease the tightening shortages.

“We all want the nice weather but we need those good storms to build everything back up,” he said.

“We’d need three or four above average years, back to back, to restore the lake. Your guess is as good as mine whether we’ll get that. I’ll continue to watch the weather, every day.”

Off the Top of My Head

Why Joe Manchin is Crucial to Biden's Climate Plan

by John Lawrence, January27, 2021

Joe Manchin is a conservative Democrat from West Virginia, probably the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. So why would Joe, who has already signaled his opposition to getting rid of the filibuster, and represents a coal mining state, go along with Biden's climate plan? The answer is that Biden's plan for converting to renewable energy will create a helluva lot of jobs in West Virginia transitioning all those coal related jobs to renewable energy jobs. Make no mistake. Joe Manchin will become a team player after these assurances of massive job creation in West Virginia. Similarly, Biden will target other fossil fuel generating states and communities with massive renewable energy projects so that workers in the fossil fuel industry will be placated and mollified. They will become his biggest fans as millions of good paying, union jobs are created for them. The oil industry's attempts to push back will be futile. They can save money by not lobbying because it won't get them anywhere. Joe Biden holds all the cards.

The genius of going all out for climate change is that Biden is making it an issue of job creation. Not that climate change in and of itself is not the main issue of paramount importance. It's just that reframing it as a jobs issue will take the air out of the oil industry profiteers who are making millions off of the status quo. They like things just the way they are despite the global warming catastrophe that awaits us if we don't act post haste. Joe Biden: "When I think of climate change, I think of jobs." Making John Kerry a Climate Change Envoy to the rest of the world is important because climate change cannot be forestalled within the borders of the US alone. There must be a coordinated, cooperative effort, and, in particular, China, Russia and India must be brought into the deal. What, you mean we can't afford to have any more enemies? We must make friends out of enemies using diplomacy rather than the bullying tactics of the Trump administration if we and the rest of the planet are to survive. Yes and it will nullify the ratinale of the bloated military-industrial complex. Instead of defunding the police, we should defund or reduce the funding of it to help pay for the Green New Deal.

So how are we going to pay for it? That seems to be the outstanding question. Thankfully, we have a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve as Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellin. She knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak, at the Fed. She knows that taxes do not have to be raised to pay or it, at least taxes on the poor and middle class. Taxes on the rich need to be raised, but more to reduce inequality than to pay for the response to climate change. Modern Monetary Theory has demonstrated that the US can never run out of money because it is a sovereign currency issuer. The Fed, as Janet Yellin well knows, can just create the money with a few keystrokes on a computer. This power, however, cannot be used irresponsibly. Inflation must be dealt with, and there are a number of arrows in the Fed's quiver to do this as was done during the build-up to WW II. As Stephanie Kelton has pointed out in her book The Deficit Myth, deficits don't matter. They are simply an accounting entry on the Fed's balance sheet. An unlimited amount of money was available when the banking crisis that caused the Great Recession in 2008 occurred. The Fed doesn't need tax receipts in order to create money which can then be transferred to the Treasury's account at the Fed. However, such transfers do have to be authorized by congress whereas the bank bail-outs did not require such authorization since the Fed is the loaner of last resort to the banks. The Fed can provide liquidity to the banking system whenever it thinks that that is prudent.

In the How to Pay for the Green New Deal the authors write: "Further, in what follows we do not assume that we need to raise taxes simply because government spending rises. The position we take is that taxes should be raised to fight inflation that would result from excess demands on resources. We would not raise taxes merely to balance spending with tax revenue. If more spending does not generate inflationary pressure, we do not need to raise taxes. In any event, we argue below that tax hikes are not necessarily the best way to counteract inflationary pressures should they arise." So tax increases are not necessary to fund a Green New Deal except possibly if the increased government spending would cause increased inflation, but there are other tools available to deal with inflation. Tax increases on the rich, however, are necessary in order that inequality doesn't get even worse than it is now. A recent report showed: "At $4.1 trillion, the total wealth of America’s 660 billionaires is two-thirds higher than the $2.4 trillion in total wealth held by the bottom half of the population, 165 million Americans." Creating new jobs to fight global warming ill help to mitigate both the climate crisis and the inequality crisis, but taxes on the rich will both decrease the need for money creation by the Fed and help to fund a Green New Deal.

Off the Top of My Head

Democrats: Don't Let Republican Narratives Define You

by John Lawrence, November 9, 2020

Labels and sloganeering are not important. Global warming is not a question of Left and Right. It's a question of Smart and Dumb. If science shows that we have to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2035, then we have to do whatever it takes to get there. It's not enough to compromise to get half way there. Half way is not good enough. Half way means that the destruction of the earth is a certainty. This is not a political football. It's something that needs to be done post haste. That's why it's important to force the appropriate legislation through Congress based on the power to do so. If Democrats win the 2 Senate runoff races in Georgia, they will have the power to do so. If not Republicans will still control Congress, and all bets are off.

Republicans are adept at defining people and issues with labels, and then getting us to fight over the labels even defining the labels as too far left or too far right or meeting in the middle. How is a Green New Deal too far left if it saves the planet from global warming? It is not constructive to fight over this label. We just have to do what needs to be done. Already we are seeing the destructive power of nature caused by global warming with intense and widespread wild fires all over the world and relentless, destructive hurricanes and flooding in the Gulf states and elsewhere. This year alone several powerful hurricanes have hit the Gulf states, and they are still coming. They are coming so frequently that people have not recovered from ones 3 hurricanes ago. We have to go full steam ahead on attacking global warming not half speed ahead. Call it a Green New Deal or a Biden Green Deal or whatever you want to call it. The label is unimportant. The action taken is.

What put Trump over the top in 2016 was his appeal to working class voters. Trump's support of the fossil fuel industry appealed to all the workers in that industry especially in Pennsylvania and Texas. Let's be clear. Workers in this industry are not wedded to that industry; they are wedded to their jobs. They don't want their jobs to go away. If Joe Biden and the Democrats guarantee fossil fuel workers jobs in the renewable energy industry at higher wages, they will abandon whatever allegiance they had to fossil fuels in a heartbeat. This needs to be the message. And with it will come a flip of Texas from red to blue. Pennsylvania will stay squarely in the Democratic column. Republicans know this so they will do whatever they can to obfuscate, confuse, demonize and obstruct a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. That's why it's so important for Democrats to control the Senate. Otherwise, Mitch McConnell will block any progressive legislation including legislation designed to get us to net zero carbon emissions by 2035.

Republicans obviously don't care about the issue of global warming. Their tactic is to demonize the label: "Green New Deal." That's how they operate. They have money at stake in fossil fuels. They could care less about the workers. They care about the investors and the financial class that's invested in fossil fuels. The Democratic strategy should be to care about the workers by guaranteeing them jobs in the renewable energy field and let the investing class fend for themselves. Once they see the profits to be made in renewable energy they also will flip in a minute and abandon fossil fuels investments. Already many of them are divesting. When humans discovered the efficacy of metals they left the stone age and left the remaining stones in the ground. We need to do the same thing with fossil fuels: leave them in the ground.

Joe Biden has been very careful about the slogan: Defund the Police. Republicans are trying to hang that label around the Democrats' necks also. Nobody in his right mind wants to defund the police. Allocate more funds to social workers who may be better able to deescalate mental health situations? Of course. So nuance is important, but Republicans don't deal in nuance; they deal in labels and in particular the use of labels to demonize the other side. Joe Biden has threaded the needle very agilely. Also Republicans have not demonized Joe like they did Hillary for 25 years or more. That's why Joe is considered "more likable." In the final analysis labels are not important. The label - socialism - is not important. What is important is to make contructive - I will not even say progressive - change in this country, first to save the earth from global warming, and, secondly, to put the US on a more constructive track with regard to a host of other issues. Let Smart win over Dumb!

Off the Top of My Head

All Cars Sold in CA after 2035 Must Be Zero Emission Vehicles

by John Lawrence, September 25, 2020

California's Governor Newsom has issued an executive order mandating that all new car sales by 2035 will be zero emission vehicles. That is they will either be all electric or hydrogen cells. A mandate is one thing. However, the implementation is quite another. He has given this job to the California Air Resources Board. The devil is in the details. The best implementation would be a state ordered straight line reduction starting in 2021 and ending in 2035 which would decrease gas powered car sales in accordance with that line year after year. Otherwise, the whole thing wouldn't amount to much especially if there was no government ordered mandate to reduce cars systematically year over year. More than 1.63 million new cars and trucks are expected to be sold in the state in 2020, according to the California New Car Dealers Association. This makes California one of the world's largest car markets.

The Governor also called on the legislature to ban fracking. Fracking contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as much as oil products since the natural gas the wells produce is 90% methane. Methane is a 40 times more powerful GHG than carbon dioxide. Fracking is only marginally profitable, and many fracking operations go bankrupt with the consequence that the fracking wells are abandoned without proper stoppage. Methane continues to leak from them. The reduction of regulations by the Trump administration has only accelerated this practice so that the fracking operations are not accountable for leakage from their wells. In New Mexico the San Juan Basin was considered a plentiful resource for fracking. But the boom and bust economy has contributed to the fact that many wells are being abandoned. Capital and Main reported:

Right now, there are over 30,000 wells in the San Juan Basin, but only about 20,000 remain active.

“You’re in danger of orphaned and abandoned wells at every level: Your first concern is the small producer who just ducks out, that goes off and abandons their well or takes bankruptcy,” Schreiber said. The BLM and the state of New Mexico require companies to secure bonds to guarantee they’ll comply with regulations, including safely plugging wells once they’re no longer producing.

But Schreiber said the bonds are “wholly inadequate.” They represent just a fraction of what it costs to properly plug and abandon a well, which includes rehabilitating the well site, the road and any pipelines or other infrastructure.

Adrienne Sandoval, director of New Mexico’s Oil Conservation Division, agreed that the downturn comes with certain risks. “Companies on the margins of going out of business may be forced to make decisions that put compliance on the backburner,” she said. “We need to be as diligent as possible to make sure our regulations are being followed and we’re protecting human health and the environment.”

In the age of Trump, deregulation is the watchword and many companies don't do the right thing. The consequence is methane leaking from abandoned wells and contributing to global warming as GHGs build up in the atmosphere. The further consequence is destructive wildfires all over the world from California to Australia to Siberia which experienced 100 degree temperatures above the Arctic circle this year!

"In the next 15 years we will eliminate in the state of California the sales of internal combustion engines," Newsom said at a news conference in Sacramento before signing the order. "If you want to reduce asthma, if you want to mitigate the rise of sea level, if you want to mitigate the loss of ice sheets around the globe, then this is a policy for other states to follow." Newsom's executive order calls ending the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035 a "goal," but it also orders the Air Resources Board to immediately begin drafting regulations to achieve it by that year.

Now it is up to the California legislature to put some teeth in Governor Newsom's "mandate." It's got to be full steam ahead for eliminating GHGs on a systematic basis, and everybody has to get on board this train. So far since the Paris accords in 2015 more, not less, GHGs have gone into the atmosphere every year. It will be interesting to see if 2020 will be any different due to the coronavirus pandemic. If the nations of the world don't put aside their petty grievances and get on the same page to drastically reduce GHGs, we can expect more and more destructive wildfires as well as sea level rise leading to destructive floods and hurricanes.

You know it's not just about making America great again, it's about making the world great. It's about making the world great by creating a sustainable and inhabitable planet powered by renewable energy. It's about doing something about the 80 million refugees in the world that America helped create. It's about doing something about the 40% of the world's population that does not even have clean water or adequate sanitation systems. Americans need to not be so self centered, get off their carcasses and make the earth great again.

Off the Top of My Head

The Relationship Between Poverty and Pandemic

by John Lawrence, July 20, 2020

Some people think these are 2 independent phenomena that have nothing to do with each other. In fact they're interrelated. The viruses spill over from animal host reservoirs into human beings when humans are in close contact with animals. As farms, villages, agricultural and mining operations encroach on animal habitat, spillover is not far behind. Many poor people get their only protein from 'bush meat', that is wild animals of all sorts. Especially in China but elsewhere as well people eat all kinds of exotic species. This makes it more likely that there will be a transfer of animal viruses to humans. The virus probably originated from a bat in Wutan's so-called 'wet market' where they sell all kinds of animals both wild caught and farm raised.

Sanitation in many parts of the world leaves a lot to be desired. Diseases of all kinds are rampant. Some of these are confined to local areas, but some like COVID-19 can spread to the rest of the world and cause a pandemic. An estimated 2.5 billion people, more than 35% of the world’s population, lack access to adequate sanitation. Disease started in these areas can spread to the rest of the world in a pandemic so the more the developed world can do to improve these conditions in poor areas of the world, the more the developed world is protecting itself from potential future pandemics. Unsafe drinking water, inadequate availability of water for hygiene, and lack of access to sanitation together contribute to about 88% of deaths from diarrheal diseases.

Water, sanitation and hygiene has the potential to prevent at least 9.1% of the global disease burden and 6.3% of all deaths. The impact of clean water technologies on public health in the U.S. is estimated to have had a rate of return of 23 to 1 for investments in water filtration and chlorination during the first half of the 20th century. Over half of the global population or 4.2 billion people lack safely managed sanitation services. (WHO/UNICEF 2019).

Furthermore, the strain on the world's potable water supply is being exacerbated by climate change. Glaciers store about 70% of the world's fresh water. They release this water gradually during summer months as the glaciers melt. Since the climate is getting warmer, glaciers are releasing water earlier in the year and much of it is just running off never to be productively used. Then when water is really needed later on, the glaciers are spent for the year. Glaciers are receding because of climate warming so that they are containing less and less fresh water each year in the first place. The cold season in which glaciers add more ice to the glaciers is getting shorter each year so there is less ice to begin with. More than 1.4 billion people depend on water from the rivers of the Himalaya. The main rivers are the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Ganges and the Yellow River. The first 3 drain through India, the last through China.

As earth's population increases there are not only more mouths to feed, there is a greater need for fresh water the supply of which is diminishing. This leads to less crop production, starvation and even worse sanitation and personal hygiene. There is more pressure to trap and eat bush meat which can contain deadly viruses which can spread to the rest of the world as the current pandemic did. Therefore, if we want to live in a safe, habitable world we need to start thinking about sustainable water and food supplies for everyone on the planet and better hygiene and sanitation for all the world's people, not just the few in developed countries. It is more important to spread the knowledge of safe water and sanitation systems as well as sustainable agricultural practices. Population control in one form or other is also necessary because the planet can only support a limited number of people especially if they are all living middle class lifestyles. We need to rethink what a sustainable lifestyle is and not consume a disproportionate percentage of earth's resources.

The Solutions to the Climate Crisis No One is Talking About

by Robert Reich

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Both our economy and the environment are in crisis. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few while the majority of Americans struggle to get by. The climate crisis is worsening inequality, as those who are most economically vulnerable bear the brunt of flooding, fires, and disruptions of supplies of food, water, and power.

At the same time, environmental degradation and climate change are themselves byproducts of widening inequality. The political power of wealthy fossil fuel corporations has stymied action on climate change for decades. Focused only on maximizing their short-term interests, those corporations are becoming even richer and more powerful — while sidelining workers, limiting green innovation, preventing sustainable development, and blocking direct action on our dire climate crisis.

Make no mistake: the simultaneous crisis of inequality and climate is no fluke. Both are the result of decades of deliberate choices made, and policies enacted, by ultra-wealthy and powerful corporations.

We can address both crises by doing four things:

First, create green jobs. Investing in renewable energy could create millions of family sustaining, union jobs and build the infrastructure we need for marginalized communities to access clean water and air. The transition to a renewable energy-powered economy can add 550,000 jobs each year while saving the US economy $78 billion through 2050. In other words, a Green New Deal could turn the climate crisis into an opportunity - one that both addresses the climate emergency and creates a fairer and more equitable society.

Second, stop dirty energy. A massive investment in renewable energy jobs isn’t enough to combat the climate crisis. If we are going to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we must tackle the problem at its source: Stop digging up and burning more oil, gas, and coal.

The potential carbon emissions from these fossil fuels in the world’s currently developed fields and mines would take us well beyond the 1.5°C increased warming that Nobel Prize winning global scientists tell us the planet can afford. Given this, it’s absurd to allow fossil fuel corporations to start new dirty energy projects.

Even as fossil fuel companies claim to be pivoting toward clean energy, they are planning to invest trillions of dollars in new oil and gas projects that are inconsistent with global commitments to limit climate change. And over half of the industry’s expansion is projected to happen in the United States. Allowing these projects means locking ourselves into carbon emissions we can’t afford now, let alone in the decades to come.

Even if the U.S. were to transition to 100 percent renewable energy today, continuing to dig fossil fuels out of the ground will lead us further into climate crisis. If the U.S. doesn’t stop now, whatever we extract will simply be exported and burned overseas. We will all be affected, but the poorest and most vulnerable among us will bear the brunt of the devastating impacts of climate change.

Third, kick fossil fuel companies out of our politics. For decades, companies like Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and BP have been polluting our democracy by pouring billions of dollars into our politics and bankrolling elected officials to enact policies that protect their profits. The oil and gas industry spent over $103 million on the 2016 federal elections alone. And that’s just what they were required to report: that number doesn’t include the untold amounts of “dark money” they’ve been using to buy-off politicians and corrupt our democracy. The most conservative estimates still put their spending at 10 times that of environmental groups and the renewable energy industry.

As a result, American taxpayers are shelling out $20 billion a year to bankroll oil and gas projects – a huge transfer of wealth to the top. And that doesn’t even include hundreds of billions of dollars of indirect subsidies that cost every United States citizen roughly $2,000 a year. This has to stop.

And we’ve got to stop giving away public lands for oil and gas drilling. In 2018, under Trump, the Interior Department made $1.1 billion selling public land leases to oil and gas companies, an all-time record – triple the previous 2008 record, totaling more than 1.5 million acres for drilling alone, threatening multiple cultural sites and countless wildlife. As recently as last September, the Trump administration opened 1.56 million acres of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, threatening Indigenous cultural heritage and hundreds of species that call it home.

That’s not all. The ban on exporting crude oil should be reintroduced and extended to other fossil fuels. The ban, in place for 40 years, was lifted in 2015, just days after the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement. After years of campaigning by oil executives, industry heads, and their army of lobbyists, the fossil fuel industry finally got its way.

We can’t wait for these changes to be introduced in 5 or 10 years time — we need them now.

Fourth, require the fossil fuel companies that have profited from environmental injustice compensate the communities they’ve harmed.

As if buying-off our democracy wasn’t enough, these corporations have also deliberately misled the public for years on the amount of damage their products have been causing. 

For instance, as early as 1977, Exxon’s own scientists were warning managers that fossil fuel use would warm the planet and cause irreparable damage. In the 1980s, Exxon shut down its internal climate research program and shifted to funding a network of advocacy groups, lobbying arms, and think tanks whose sole purpose was to cloud public discourse and block action on the climate crisis. The five largest oil companies now spend about $197 million a year on ad campaigns claiming they care about the climate — all the while massively increasing their spending on oil and gas extraction.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans, especially poor, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, already have to fight to drink clean water and breathe clean air as their communities are devastated by climate-fueled hurricanes, floods, and fires. As of 2015, nearly 21 million people relied on community water systems that violated health-based quality standards. 

Going by population, that’s essentially 200 Flint, Michigans, happening all at once. If we continue on our current path, many more communities run the risk of becoming “sacrifice zones,” where citizens are left to survive the toxic aftermath of industrial activity with little, if any, help from the entities responsible for creating it.

Climate denial and rampant pollution are not victimless crimes. Fossil fuel corporations must be held accountable, and be forced to pay for the damage they’ve wrought.

If these solutions sound drastic to you, it’s because they are. They have to be if we have any hope of keeping our planet habitable. The climate crisis is not a far-off apocalyptic nightmare — it is our present day.

Australia’s bushfires wiped out a billion animals, California’s fire season wreaks more havoc every year, and record-setting storms are tearing through our communities like never before. 

Scientists tell us we have 10 years left to dramatically reduce emissions. We have no room for meek half-measures wrapped up inside giant handouts to the fossil fuel industry. 

We deserve a world without fossil fuels. A world in which workers and communities thrive and our shared climate comes before industry profits. Working together, I know we can make it happen. We have no time to waste.

As Climate Crisis-Fueled Fires Rage, Fears Grow of an 'Uninhabitable' California

Published on

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

by

Common Dreams

As activist Bill McKibben put it, "We've simply got to slow down the climate crisis."

by

Jon Queally, staff writer, Jessica Corbett, staff writer

 0 Comments

Fire is seen near Getty Center in Los Angeles, the United States, Oct. 28, 2019. Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate their homes after a fast-moving wildfire erupted early Monday morning near the famous Getty Center in Los Angeles in the western U.S. state of California. (Photo: Qian Weizhong/Xinhua via Getty)

With wildfires raging across California on Wednesday—and with portions of the state living under an unprecedented "Extreme Red Flag Warning" issued by the National Weather Service due to the severe conditions—some climate experts are openly wondering if this kind of harrowing "new normal" brought on by the climate crisis could make vast regions of the country entirely unihabitable.

Lack of rain coupled with powerful Santa Ana winds in the state, some gusting with hurricane-level force, have left officials warning residents in many communities that the worst is yet to come even as firefighters already report being stretched to the max.

In an ominous new warning, the National Weather Service issued a rare “extreme red flag warning” for Southern California through Thursday evening, saying winds could top 80 mph and be the strongest in more than a decade https://t.co/LQt1VjzQdE

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) October 29, 2019

Reflecting on the current and recent devastating fires in California, climate activist Bill McKibben wrote in an op-ed for The Guardian Tuesday that what the state has been experiencing "starts to feel like the new, and impossible, normal" for both residents and victims as well as those witnessing the destruction from afar.

Citing an article in the San Francisco Chronicle published Tuesday—which described how the fires had "intensified fears that parts of California had become almost too dangerous to inhabit"—McKibben wrote: "Read that again: the local paper is on record stating that part of the state is now so risky that its citizens might have to leave."

Writing for The Atlantic, journalist Annie Lowery detailed the dynamics leading increasing numbers of people to believe the state has become "unlivable":

Wildfires and lack of affordable housing—these are two of the most visible and urgent crises facing California, raising the question of whether the country’s dreamiest, most optimistic state is fast becoming unlivable. Climate change is turning it into a tinderbox; the soaring cost of living is forcing even wealthy families into financial precarity. And, in some ways, the two crises are one: The housing crunch in urban centers has pushed construction to cheaper, more peripheral areas, where wildfire risk is greater.

The state's "housing crisis has exacerbated its wildfire crisis, and its wildfire crisis has exacerbated its housing crisis," explained Lowery, and that "vicious cycle is nowhere near ending."

 

For many critics, the state's largest utility PG&E remains a chief corporate culprit in the mess. As Common Dreams has reported, the company's failure to adequately respond to the increased fire dangers—choosing to reward investors and seek profits instead of making the kind of changes and safety investments that communities and experts have demanded.

Meanwhile, as the following Now This video details, the scenes created by the California wildfires in recent weeks depict a hellscape fueled by the climate crisis—the scale and destruction of which fulfill some of the dire warnings scientists have been making for years:

The devastating California wildfires are exactly what climate scientists warned us about pic.twitter.com/NZqWSRydbC

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) October 30, 2019

In response to the video, climate activist group Friends of the Earth declared: "Thanks to the climate crisis, this is the new normal in California. To save lives, communities and wildlife, we must #ActOnClimate."

After a new fire broke out in Simi Valley on Wednesday, fire crews spent the day protecting—among other homes and structures—the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

"The progress is so extraordinary. This is why they called it an extreme fire danger."

.@mattgutmanABC reports on the California wildfires near the Reagan Presidential Library and is forced to flee the scene as conditions worsen. https://t.co/BN4CDfQHyD pic.twitter.com/tHSl20ANuo

— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) October 30, 2019

Speaking to Democracy Now! on Tuesday, Leah Stokes, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara criticized the corporate media for ignoring the role of the climate crisis in the fires and explained that the scientific research about what's happening in California is crystal clear.

"There is research that says that fires have gotten 500% more risky as a result of climate change and that two times more area has burned because of climate change," Stokes explained. "We know that the drought that California has recently come out of was also caused by climate change. And yet some of these deeper stories about what is happening in California, what is happening across the United States with climate change, are not told by the media."

In California, the threat to residents and wildlife as well as the loss of property has been devastating. As The New York Times reported Tuesday:

California's catastrophic wildfires have not discriminated between rich and poor. In recent years tens of thousands of people lost their homes, from trailer parks to mansions. But the aftermath of the fires has produced a spectrum of misery and recovery, ranging from the wealthy, who with insurance money rebuilt houses sometimes worth more than the ones that burned, to those who lost everything and years later still have nothing.

Like access to quality education and clean water, natural disasters are another prism through which California's vast income inequalities can be viewed.

A lawyerly knowledge of the peculiarities of the insurance industry, a pool of savings to fall back on, and the time and grit to deal with the state's labyrinthine regulations have helped some in California bounce back from the infernos. Others have not been so lucky.

For example,  44-year-old Gina Wheeler, "lost her uninsured trailer that she rented on family land" in the Camp Fire that devastated Paradise, California and the surrounding area late last year.

"Every place I've ever set foot in has been touched by fire," Wheeler told the Times. "I don't think anybody that's not gone through this will ever, ever understand what it's like to lose your entire community."

"I can't even describe the empty feeling that we have," she said. "I talk friends and family members out of suicide, and they talk me out of it."

Jenn Wilcox, who worked at residential care facility in Paradise and lost the uninsured cabin where she lived, has also struggled in the year since the fire. "I'm a refugee," she said. "I'm broke."

This week, PBS aired its one-hour documentary, titled "Fire in Paradise," which details what happened on November 8 of last year as the flames ripped through the California town. While the community was not unfamiliar with the threat of wildfires—and having done more than most, local officials claimed, to prepare for such an emergency—the episode details just how quickly the strength of the fire overwhelmed detailed evacuation plans and made fighting the flames an impossible task.

Watch the trailer:

At the conclusion of the film, Capt. Matt McKenzie, a member of California Fire Station 36, offers an ominous warning in the context of what the people of Paradise suffered that day and what scientists say are conditions across the country that will make wildfires more frequent and more ferocious in the decades ahead.

"Everything was perfect that day for a massive, destructive incident to do what it did and it's in place everywhere—everywhere in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington Oregon," McKenzie says. "And you don't even wanna think about what's next. Can it be worse than that? And the answer is: Yes."

In his his op-ed, McKibben said the idea that California may one day be a place where fewer and fewer people can live should come "as no real surprise" to anyone who has been paying attention to global trends and the warnings of scientists.

"My most recent book, Falter, centered on the notion that the climate crisis was making large swaths of the world increasingly off-limits to humans," McKibben wrote. "Cities in Asia and the Middle East where the temperature now reaches the upper 120s—levels so high that the human body can't really cool itself; island nations (and Florida beaches) where each high tide washes through the living room or the streets; Arctic villages relocating because, with sea ice vanished, the ocean erodes the shore."

Speaking with USA Today, Beth Fulton, a resident of Sebastopol who was evacuated this week from her town as the Kincade Fire approached, said more and more people are decided to leave the area and never come back.

"People are naturally resilient, but to deal with this year after year can be traumatizing," Fulton said. She explained that several people who lost their homes in previous fires moved off to New Mexico and Oregon.

"This seems like it'll be a yearly thing," she said, "and some people say, 'I've had enough.'"

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Bill Gates's Experimental Nuclear Power Plant Halts Construction in China

from Popular Mechanics

By David Grossman
Jan 2, 2019

Gates cites the Trump Administration's aggressive stance for having to pull out

At least for now, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates is pulling back on nuclear power. He hasn't changed his mind on the science—he puts his blame on the Trump Administration's bitter relationship with China.

Gates invested in TerraPower in 2011 with the hope of helping to prove the company's core concept: a so-called traveling-wave reactor (TWR) which would run on depleted uranium, as opposed to the enriched uranium commonly used in nuclear plants. The concept is appealing on several levels—not only would its small design lower the currently rising price of nuclear energy, it would actually consume the trash pumped out by today's modern reactors.

In 2015, the company signed a deal with the Chinese government to be a small demonstration plant to be constructed by 2022. Since then, it has remained relatively low-profile. In 2017, Gates gave a speech at Peking University saying he was developing nuclear energy that was "dramatically safer and substantially cheaper" than what the world has previously known.

From trade to security to environmentalism, the Trump administration has taken an aggressive stance toward the Chinese government. In October 2018, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said that the United States "cannot ignore the national security implications of China’s efforts to obtain nuclear technology outside of established processes of U.S.–China civil nuclear cooperation.”

The Department of Energy then announced it would deny any new licenses from U.S. companies wishing to work with the Chinese government, and current licenses would not be given extensions. The department cited the indictment of the Chinese state-owned nuclear corporation in 2017 alongside Taiwanese-American Allen Ho, who was eventually jailed for assisting the Chinese state on nuclear issues.

In his year-end letter for 2018, Gates notes that "we had hoped to build a pilot project in China, but recent policy changes here in the U.S. have made that unlikely."

Pulling out of the project leaves TerraPower's future uncertain. According to company CEO Chris Levesque, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the price of a demonstration reactor is around $1 billion. Having to cancel a project worth such an extraordinary amount would likely be the death knell for most new players in any field. Most new players, however, aren't funded by Bill Gates—still valued by Forbes to have a fortune north of $93 billion.

In his letter, Gates notes that the company "may be able to build ... in the United States" under certain funding and regulatory conditions. He also announced that he would be taking up the mantle of nuclear energy in a more public way this year in actions unaffiliated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Nuclear is ideal for dealing with climate change," Gates says in his letter, "because it is the only carbon-free, scalable energy source that’s available 24 hours a day." He adds that "problems with today’s reactors, such as the risk of accidents, can be solved through innovation."

For now, though, TerraPower's technology looks like it may have to start from scratch.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Death, blackouts, melting asphalt: ways the climate crisis will change how we live

from the Guardian

by Pam Radtke Russell

From power cuts to infrastructure failure, the impact of climate change on US cities will be huge – but many are already innovating to adapt

Between record heat and rain, this summer’s weather patterns have indicated, once again, that the climate is changing.

US cities, where more than 80% of the nation’s population lives, are disproportionately hit by these changes, not only because of their huge populations but because of their existing – often inadequate – infrastructure.

In urban areas, heatwaves are exacerbated by vehicles, industrial processes and the presence of heat-retaining concrete and asphalt. And it is in cities – especially in low-lying poorer areas – where record rainfall often accumulates.

“People are coming into urban areas and they cannot be stopped,” says Chandana Mitra, an associate professor of geosciences at Auburn University, who studies the impact of heat on cities. Mitra has experienced the impact of climate change in her hometown of Kolkata, India, and is now observing it in Auburn, Alabama, and nearby Birmingham. “Everyone aspires to be in an urban area and there is chaos.”

While the impacts of climate change are fundamentally local, experts say heat is one of the most concerning, especially in cities.

“From a disaster perspective, [heat] is invisible,” says Kurt Shickman, executive director of the Global Cool Cities Alliance. Mitra likens the problem to having a finger in a pan of water while someone gradually turns up the heat. “Maybe in 50 or 60 years, living in some cities will be unbearable. There could be a tipping point of no return.”

A study by the University of Maryland published this year predicts that by 2080, Denver will be as hot and wet as Borger, Texas, about 50 miles (80km) north of Amarillo; Philadelphia will feel warmer and drier – more like Memphis, Tennessee, and New York City will be up to 9F (5C) warmer, with a climate similar to Jonesboro, Arkansas. The study, which accompanies a tool that allows US users to find what their city will be like by 2080, shows that if emissions continue at the current pace residents in cities around the nation will:

• Experience an average temperature increase of 8.2F (4.5C)

• Live in climates similar to the current climates of cities 528 miles (850kms) south of their hometowns

Increasing heat, either now or in the future, is an issue cities are beginning to understand better, says Shickman who started the Global Cool Cities Alliance in 2011. Since that time, there’s been a huge increase in awareness of heat and urban heat islands, he says. “The issue now is, ‘OK, this is a uniquely challenging problem, and how do we develop policy and implement solutions’.”

How the climate crisis will impact US cities

 

With a string of subsequent record hot years and increasing flooding, cities are already dealing with the impacts of a changing climate:

Deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of 658 people die every year from heat-related causes. From 1999 to 2010, 8,081 heat-related deaths were reported in the United States and occurred more commonly among older, younger and poorer populations. Urban heat islands retain heat overnight, preventing people from sleeping well and leading to even more health problems, says Lucy Hutyra, an associate professor of earth and environment at Boston University. Air pollution is often worst on hot days, and when people leaven windows open for air flow, the quality of the air can cause respiratory problems. Warmer, moister conditions also mean that heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding is on the rise; so far this year 78 people have died as a result, according to the National Weather Service.

Power outages. As experienced by New Yorkers this year, excessive heat in conjunction with excess demand for electricity for air conditioning can cause the grid – or portions of it – to fail. “Energy demand is going to go up,” says Shickman. “It’s a substantial and nonlinear reaction. Our grid is going to be taxed in ways I don’t think we are prepared for.” Shickman says that going from an 80F day to a 90F day would require an additional 20-25% power. Going to 95F requires almost 40% more power. Excess heat can also evaporate water needed to cool power plants, forcing some out of commission.

Infrastructure failures. In addition to electricity grid problems, asphalt can melt in excess temperatures; rail tracks expand; and can even affect airports – currently some airplanes can’t take off from Phoenix airport, for example, when the temperature exceeds 118F because the air is too thin. Heat is a problem for all areas of city governance, said Shickman. “If you ask any sort of department head what is your biggest challenge, heat is probably not number one, but I guarantee you it’s somewhere between number two and number five.” But, he says, unfortunately there are no “heat czars” to manage the issue. Flooding, too, can wreak havoc on a city’s infrastructure, from blowing out bridges and roads to inundating water treatment plants.

Economic Impact. According to a 2018 study by Texas A&M University: “The growing number of extreme rainfall events that produce intense precipitation are resulting in –and will continue to result in – increased urban flooding unless steps are taken to mitigate their impacts.” The 2017 National Climate Assessment concluded: “Heavy downpours are increasing nationally, especially over the last three to five decades …[and that] … increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events are projected for all U.S. regions.” Between 2007 and 2011 alone, urban flooding in Cook County, Illinois, resulted in over 176,000 claims or flood losses at a cost of $660m (£545m).

How US cities are trying to respond

Becoming aware of the threat of heat and other climate changes is one thing. But doing something about it is difficult with limited budgets and multiple priorities, and “there is no one solution,” says Shickman. With that in mind, here are some of the ways cities are addressing heat and extreme precipitation.

Communication. In New York City, home health aides are being trained to recognize the signs of heat stress with their clients. In Auburn and Birmingham, Mitra talks to churches, service groups and individuals about urban heat islands, individual carbon footprints and solutions. One of her students is developing an app around the issue, while another group is working on an Alabama specific YouTube channel to communicate about climate breakdown-related problems and solutions. “Many people in Alabama have yet to realize the rate at which things have been changing,” Mitra says. The Texas A&M study recommends better communication and coordination between federal, state and local agencies to address the problem of urban flooding.

Trees, plants and green infrastructure. Trees not only offer shade, but they cool the air by evaporating water. Adding more plants and trees, like New York City has done with its million tree program, can reduce the temperature of a city as well as soak up excess stormwater. Hutyra says such an approach won’t work everywhere – Los Angeles had numerous problems with its one million tree program in part, because of the city’s water scarcity. But areas of the northeast with plenty of water can fill empty tree wells and better develop parks and greenways to mitigate the heat. One of Mitra’s favorite solutions is urban gardens. She points to Atlanta, which is working to develop a seven acre food forest that will also help reduce carbon footprint. Restoring or widening waterways, as is being done with Houston’s Brays Bayou, can provide cooler greenspaces, as well as capacity for excess stormwater.

Cool roofs and pavement. “At a minimum all roofs should be white with the exception of solar and green roofs,” says Shickman, whose Global Cool Cities Alliance has launched the One Million Cool Roofs Challenge. White or light colored roofs reflect heat and can lower the overall temperature in a city as well as making individual buildings and homes cooler. According to one study, significant lightening of roofs and pavements could reduce temperatures in Chicago by 2.7F (1.5C). After Louisville, Kentucky, was identified as one of the fastest heating cities, local government began offering rebates for cool roofs in low income communities. San Antonio offers help for low-income residents to replace older roofs with lighter colored shingles and a thermal barrier, providing up to $1,000 per household a year in energy savings, Shickman says. He adds that in terms of infrastructure changes, Los Angeles is leading efforts on cool pavements, testing reflective coating on 17 blocks of the city and helping to refine pavement products.

How US cities are scrambling to protect people from extreme heat

Air conditioning.

While the least optimal solution, air conditioning is the most realistic one to beat the heat, says Hutyra. Air conditioning can raise the temperatures within cities through its waste heat and, when powered by fossil fuels, can contribute to the problem of climate change. But Hutyra says a more distributed electricity grid with energy from renewable sources could help alleviate some of those concerns.

Cities in the future, Hutyra says, won’t be unliveable, “They just will be different. I think how we play and live and move in cities today isn’t how we did 20 years ago. I think in the face of these large changes in climate coming our way ... I think it will reshape what our cities look like and how we live in them.”

Pam Radtke Russell is a senior editor at Engineering News-Record, in New Orleans and a specialist on climate adaptation

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Off the Top of My Head

Most of US' Major Rivers Drain Through Nation's Midsection: That's a Problem

by John Lawrence, May 31, 2019

Is it any wonder that global warming produces major flooding in the nation's midsection? The Arkansas, the Missouri, the Ohio - all drain into the Mississippi and from there into the Gulf of Mexico. The east coast and west coast have fewer and shorter rivers like the Hudson, the Connecticut, the Columbia, the Sacramento. These rivers are relatively benign. One of the phenomena of global warming is that more water evaporates from the oceans into the atmosphere. That water eventually falls back to earth. When huge amounts of water evaporate, huge amounts fall back to earth producing severe flooding like we've seen over the last few weeks. Tornados are sort of a sideshow, an added bonus for the news department which profits from the spectaculasr. Flooding is too slow moving for the news to get excited about. However, the major and most widespread damage is due to flooding. While tornado strikes are spectacular, they are not as widespread as flooding which ruins and degrades much more real estate.

The news media just plays up the spectacular like tornado strikes. They rarely if ever mention the reality that all the damage is due to global warming and that the situation will only get worse in coming years. That's because despite some people running around with their hair on fire yelling Paul Revere's equivalent of "The British are coming," more greenhouse gasses than ever are still being pumped into the atmosphere. But the media is only interested in comments like. "Well,sir, I've lived here for 70 years and I ain't never seen anything like this." They won't interview someone who would say, "We better do something about global warming." That's a taboo subject.

Welcome to the new normal! More and more powerful storms, tornados and hurricanes. Hurricane season is just starting. And it's not just the US that is experiencing severe weather. All over the world flooding and extreme heat is ruining crops and producing more and more climate refugees. Honduran coffee farmers are giving up and heading to the US. The New York Tines reported:

But farmers, agricultural scientists and industry officials say a new threat has been ruining harvests, upending lives and adding to the surge of families migrating to the United States: climate change.

And their worries are increasingly shared by climate scientists as well.

Gradually rising temperatures, more extreme weather events and increasingly unpredictable patterns — like rain not falling when it should, or pouring when it shouldn’t — have disrupted growing cycles and promoted the relentless spread of pests.

The obstacles have cut crop production or wiped out entire harvests, leaving already poor families destitute.

Central America is among the regions most vulnerable to climate change, scientists say. And because agriculture employs much of the labor force — about 28 percent in Honduras alone, according to the World Bank — the livelihoods of millions of people are at stake.

Last year, the bank reported that climate change could lead at least 1.4 million people to flee their homes in Mexico and Central America and migrate during the next three decades.

But you have to hand it to the Republicans. They know how to divert the nation's attention away from subjects that really matter and get us all concerned with Trump's latest ridiculous tweet or some personal insult hurled by one politician at another. Their latest brilliant stroke is to get us all marching over abortion, a subject that was settled by the Supreme Court many years ago. What's next - revisiting Brown vs Board of Education? We should be discussing global warming and what we're going to do about it, the nation's crumbling infrastructure, the fact that a handful of billionaires have more wealth than half the nation's people, a humane health care system with affordably priced pharmaceuticals, reducing the nation's insanely high military and military-industrial complex budget - stuff like that. Instead, we discuss the trivial and the frivolous.

It's, all about what we spend our time and energy on. Will we be concerned about the real issues the US and the world faces or will we be distracted by the superficial, the petty, the inane? Will we, like Nero, fiddle while not just Rome but the whole earth burns?

California wildfires: Camp fire becomes state's deadliest with 42 people killed

 From the Guardian:

 

As more than 8,000 fire crews battle the Camp and Woolsey fires and hotels fill in Chico, residents find refuge in unofficial shelters

Play Video

0:55

 California wildfires: rescuers search for victims as winds fuel flames – video

 The Camp fire has become the most destructive wildfire in California history, incinerating the town of Paradise in the northern part of the state. It is also among the deadliest, with at least 29 killed, and it has displaced more than 50,000 people.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on Monday the fire had grown by three sq miles to 177 sq miles and was 25% contained.

Two people have also died in the Woolsey fire, a major blaze around Los Angeles, bringing total deaths in the state to 31. On Monday officials said that fire had burned 91,572 acres and destroyed 370 structures. It was 20% contained. On Sunday evening, some neighborhoods allowed evacuees back in and the US 101 highway west of LA was reopened.

Statewide, 150,000 people have been displaced and more than 8,000 fire crews are deployed. Authorities have said 228 people are unaccounted for. High winds and dry conditions threaten more areas through the rest of the week, fire officials warned.

Around Paradise, about 1,300 people have found refuge at evacuation shelters, according to a Cal Fire spokesman, Steve Kaufman, a total which includes several shelters in Butte county and some in Sutter, Glenn and Plumas counties. But that’s only a fraction of the total displaced from Paradise, Magalia, Concow and other towns in the Sierra foothills.

Many converged on Chico, a city of about 90,000 just 20 minutes from Paradise. Hotels in Chico are at capacity with fire evacuees and some, but not all, shelters are full. Others stayed with friends and family or even in their cars, eager to remain close enough to return home at a moment’s notice, even though that could be months away.

A Walmart in Chico has become an unofficial refugee camp for those displaced by the blaze. On Sunday, more than a dozen tents lined an empty field next to the store, while the parking lot was filled day and night with trailers and cars stuffed with belongings – toys, pillows and family photos.

Though without some of the comforts of a traditional shelter, the fire refugees in the parking lot were not forgotten. Local food truck owners were there to provide free food and church groups from around the state cooked and distributed meals. Chico residents provided clothes, toys and gear, free of charge.

Evacuees said they couldn’t find space at a nearby shelter, didn’t want to part from their animals or didn’t feel comfortable at a shelter.

At this unofficial evacuation center, tales of generosity by those most affected emerged. Tammy Mezera and her friend Daryl Merritt spent three nights sleeping in a tent outside the store after the fire forced them to run for their lives. When they found out a neighbor, Matthew Flanagan, had slept under a taco truck, they gave him the extra space in their tent.

“It’s like an instant family,” Mezera said, petting her dog. “We’re all taking care of each other.”

The three made friends with strangers like Andrew Duran, who sleeps just outside their tent in a sleeping bag. And despite the darkness and loss, they showed endless generosity toward one another. Eating breakfast together on Sunday morning, they shared a few laughs, dancing to Bill Withers’ Lean on Me.

It’s the kind of coming together the community will need, Mezera said, after more than 6,400 homes were lost.

Meanwhile, as firefighters and law enforcement seek to protect the town and its citizens from the deadly blaze, they faced the loss of their own homes. The fire destroyed the homes of 17 Paradise police officers, Chief Eric Reinbold said. None of the officers missed a day of work since the fire began, he added.

At least 38 firefighters battling the blaze lost their homes, said Tim Aboudara, the International Association of Fire Fighters state service representative. That number was expected to grow.

The association was working with the CDF Firefighters Benevolent Foundation and the California Professional Firefighters and to assist those firefighters and their families. Several had already been placed into temporary housing, Aboudara said.

Along with the loss of their own homes, many firefighters are devastated they were unable to stop the rapid spread of the fire before it overtook the town of Paradise, Aboudara said.

“Our job is to put the fire out and we couldn’t stop that,” Aboudara said. “There was nothing we could do.”

No long-term plans to house evacuees, who may not be allowed to return home for months, have been announced, but Congressman Doug LaMalfa said on Sunday he expects a federal disaster declaration from the White House within the coming days, the subject of appeals by the governor, Jerry Brown.

“This is truly a tragedy that all Californians can understand and respond to,” Brown told reporters on Sunday. “It’s a time to pull together and work through these tragedies.”

Once federal aid is approved, Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) will come to the area to begin working with local residents and business owners on recovery.

Fires Destroy Lives and Property in Tony California Neighborhoods

Devastation in Paradise A fast-moving wildfire ravaged Paradise, a Northern California community of 27,000 people. Officials said at least nine people died and more than 6,700 homes and commercial buildings were lost — making it the most destructive fire to property in state history. Los Angeles Times

Watch out: this is the destruction global warming causes. It will only get worse until the world leaders start taking it seriously and doing something about it.

California's Destructive Summer Brings Blunt Talk About Climate Change

From the LA Times:

by RONG-GONG LIN II and JAVIER PANZAR, AUG 05, 2018

Facing temperatures in the 90s, Guillermo Salazar of Reseda takes a break from mountain biking at San Vicente Mountain Park in Los Angeles last month. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

At Scripps Pier in San Diego, the surface water reached the highest temperature in 102 years of records, 78.8 degrees.

Palm Springs had its warmest July on record, with an average of 97.4 degrees. Death Valley experienced its hottest month on record, with the average temperature hitting 108.1. Park rangers said the heat was too much for some typically hardy birds that died in the broiling conditions.

Across California, the nighttime brought little relief, recording the highest minimum temperature statewide of any month since 1895, rising to 64.9.

California has been getting hotter for some time, but July was in a league of its own. The intense heat fueled fires across the state, from San Diego County to Redding, that have burned more than 1,000 homes and killed eight. It brought heat waves that overwhelmed electrical systems, leaving swaths of Los Angeles without power for days.

Moreover, the extreme conditions — capping years of trends heading in this direction — have caused scientists and policymakers to speak more openly and emphatically about what is causing this dramatic shift.

A decade ago, some scientists would warn against making broad conclusions linking an extraordinary heat wave to global warming. But the pace of heat records being broken in California in recent years is leading more scientists here to assertively link climate change to unrelenting heat that is only expected to worsen as humans continue putting greenhouse gases in the air.

“In the past, it would just be kind of once in a while — the odd year where you be really warm,” state climatologist Michael Anderson said.

But the last five years have been among the hottest in 124 years of record keeping, Anderson said.

“That’s definitely an indication that the world is warming, and things are starting to change,” said Anderson, who manages the California Department of Water Resources’ state climate program. “We’re starting to see things where it’s different. It’s setting the narrative of climate change.”

California Fires Directly Linked to Climate Change

From the LA Times:

Where There’s Heat, There’s Fire
In the past, scientists have been reluctant to cite climate change as a major factor in California’s worsening wildfires. Not anymore. Experts in the field say the connection between rising temperatures in California and tinder-dry vegetation is becoming impossible to ignore. “The temperatures have just been almost inexorably warmer all the time,” says UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, and fires “burn more intensely if the fuels are extremely dry.” The death and destruction this month has only added to California’s worst wildfire year on record, which has left dozens dead since October and more than 10,000 structures lost. Here is the latest.

 

Devastating Weather Events Demonstrate Reality of Climate Change

Friends of the Earth is the U.S. voice of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, with member groups in 77 countries. Since 1969, Friends of the Earth has fought to create a more healthy, just world.

July 24, 2018

WASHINGTON - Simultaneous climate disasters taking place around the world, as this summer's heatwave continues:

- Wildfires in Greece killed at least 60 people
- Hundreds dead or missing after flash floods in Laos collapse dam
- Japan declares its heatwave a natural disaster, after 65 deaths in a week.
- Forest fires in Sweden are burning inside the Arctic Circle.

Record breaking temperatures have been recorded across the world over the last month, including Ottawa, Canada; Southern California; Ouargla, Algeria; Tibilisi, Georgia; Tokyo, Japan; Sydney, Australia.

Scotland has been impacted with the highest ever temperature recorded in Glasgow earlier this month, and private water supplies drying up in Moray.

Commenting on the crises, Friends of the Earth Scotland Climate Campaigner Caroline Rance said:

“There is no doubt that the prolonged extreme temperatures and floods we are witnessing around the world right now are a result of climate change. Temperature records are being broken across the UK and globally, exactly as climate science has long warned, and with devastating consequences.

“We can no longer ignore the impacts of our changing climate, as wildfires rage in the Arctic circle and kill dozens in Greece, flash floods displace thousands in Laos, and Japan suffers from an extended heatwave. Increased global warming means that events like these will become much more powerful and more frequent in future, and nowhere, including Scotland, will be immune from the impacts.

“Both these headline-grabbing events and the slow motion disasters, such as droughts leading to crop failures, show that we have no time to waste in cutting climate emissions. We cannot afford to delay or pretend that ‘business as usual’ is still an option, decisions must be made today to significantly cut our emissions within the next decade.

“The Scottish Government’s recent proposals for a new climate law do almost nothing to increase action within the next ten years, despite this being the most crucial time for climate action. MSPs from across the Parliament must strengthen the new law, and take action now for a rapid and just transition to a zero carbon economy."

###

Morning Report: The Lilac Fire's Terrible — and Terribly Random — Destruction

Lisa Halverstadt

December 9, 2017,  From Voice of San Diego

0

 

A San Diego Fire Department helicopter drops water to contain the Lilac Fire near the Rancho Monserate Country Club. / Photo by Adriana Heldiz

The Lilac Fire surrounded skateboarder Tony Hawk’s former hillside property on all four sides, burned a tree in the driveway, singed a potted plant by the backdoor, but spared the house and outbuildings.

“It’s unbelievable, it really is a miracle,” said Angela Murphy, who now lives in house along Highway 76 with her husband, Sean.

But two houses just up the hill and another house below burned to the ground.

Such was the terrible and terribly random nature of the Lilac Fire, which began Thursday morning in Bonsall, burned 4,100 acres and 85 structures, and injured six people, including two firefighters.

By Friday morning, firefighters from across the state – aided by a jet airplane dropping fire retardant and a swarm of helicopters dropping water – had halted the fire’s spread. By Friday evening, Cal Fire began lifting the evacuation orders that had displaced thousands in North County.

During the day, firefighters roamed Highway 76, putting out hot spots along the road and marching up hills to create firebreaks.

Amateur firefighters did their part, too.

One of them was Barry Farley, who worked to protect the home of his friend, artist Judy Dy’ans. Her house, just down the hill from the Murphys, was also spared, though the fire burned some of the steps on her walkway. But a home next door burned to the ground.

With smoke everywhere and small bits of flame occasionally shooting up from the ground, Farley shoveled dirt to smother the fire. Because the power was out, the pump to get water from a well didn’t work, so he also poured water from a jug onto the ground, before he got a bucket he could refill in the Murphys’ pool. Then a fire crew showed up to help.

“It’s like everybody has to work together to make this fire protection a reality,” Farley said. “Because these are just about some of the worst fire conditions.”

– Ry Rivard

• VOSD’s Adriana Heldiz captured several amazing images from one neighborhood near Fallbrook ravaged by the Lilac Fire.
• President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in Southern California on Friday, allowing federal assistance to flow in.
• NBC 7 is regularly updating this page with information on evacuations and closures tied to the fires.
• The Union-Tribune reports that at least 25 horses were killed as the Lilac Fire spread on Thursday.
• A second, much smaller blaze dubbed the Sweetwater Fire broke out Friday morning near Descanso, Times of San Diego reported.
• The Union-Tribune reported Friday afternoon that SDG&E was continuing to try to restore power for the thousands who’d had it shut off amid the wildfire conditions – and County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, one of the SDG&E’s biggest local critics, shared her latest beefs with the utility at a Friday press conference.

At 98 degrees, heat in Los Angeles breaks a 131-year-old record

From the LA Times:

by Andrea Castillo

Los Angeles hit a record high of 98 degrees Saturday, as a wildfire in northern Santa Barbara County continued to burn out of control and the region suffered through the third day of a blistering heat wave.

Downtown Los Angeles’ record high temperature beat out the 131-year-old record of 95 degrees set in 1886, according to the National Weather Service.

Record high temperatures were also recorded in Long Beach, 96 degrees, and Burbank, 105, whilePalmdale tied its record of 110. Woodland Hills also reported a temperature of 110.

The San Fernando Valley was especially hard hit by triple-digit temperatures. By 3 p.m., the mercury registered 107 degrees at Lake Balboa, near Encino.

Extreme Weather Watch: Devastating Heat and the Rise in Earth's Temperature

by John Lawrence

Hottest Temps Ever Recorded

Two Middle Eastern locations hit 129 degrees F, the hottest temperatures ever recorded in earth's history. The temperature in Mitribah, Kuwait, surged Thursday, July 21 to a blistering 129.2 degrees (54 Celsius). And on Friday in Basra, Iraq, the mercury soared to 129.0 degrees (53.9 Celsius).  At the same time a heat dome in the US sent temperatures soaring to over 100º in much of the country. A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change last October cautioned that by the end of the century temperatures may become too hot for human survival due to climate change.

Last year was the hottest year ever globally — or it was until 2016 got off to a sweltering start. NASA announced that the first six months of this year have been the hottest since 1880, which is when people started keeping reliable records. In June 2016 the average earth temperature was 1.62 degrees hotter than the average June temperature for the 20th century.

The Arctic has seen sky high temperatures this year with the result of record low sea ice levels. The Alaskan town of Deadhorse just 50 miles from the Arctic coast set a record temperature of 85º F.

Farmers Losing Their Farms Due to Heat

Excessive heat is contributing to more heat related deaths as well as farmers losing their farms. One year after India experienced the fifth-deadliest heat wave ever recorded, temperatures were again soaring to deadly extremes. Local governments are scrambling to address rising death tolls and dwindling water supplies.

The drought and blistering heat, some 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, have made it impossible for farmers to tend their crops. Towns on India’s eastern side have been hit with record-setting temperatures — 119.3 degrees in the town of Titlagarh, Orissa, which is the highest temperature ever recorded in that state during April.

India’s subsistence farmers are incredibly vulnerable to the heat. They’re faced with a dire choice: stay inside and let the crops go to waste or work the land and risk heat stroke. Abandoning the choice altogether, thousands of farmers have migrated to cities in search of jobs often leaving elderly and young relatives behind in parched villages.

Here at home the Santa Clarita Sand fire filled the skies of Los Angeles with smoke and ash, destroyed at least 18 structures and consumed an area equal to 10,000 football fields a day. It forced the evacuation of 20,000 people and sent nearly 770 animals to shelters.

A separate fire in the Big Sur area, on the central coast, had spread to nearly 15,000 acres by Monday, July 26. Up to 1,650 structures were threatened.

2016 Will Be Hottest Year on Record

2016 is on track to becoming the hottest year on record surpassing even 2015 which has been the hottest recorded so far. The record temperatures are mostly the result of the excessive heat that has built up in the earth's atmosphere due to accumulating greenhouse gasses. That heat is raising sea levels and causing more extreme weather events.

Every month this year has set a record for high temperatures. According to both NASA and NOAA, several months this year have already recorded temperatures 1º C above average. All six months of the year so far have exceeded that benchmark when compared to preindustrial temperatures. There have been an unprecedented record breaking 14 record hot consecutive months.

The year-to-date record temperatures are 1.89º F or 1.06º C above the 20th century average according to NOAA. According to NASA, they are 1.96º F or 1.09º C above the 1951-1980 average. Of the 15 warmest years on record, 14 of them have occurred in the 21st century.

At the Paris summit on climate change held in December 2015, it was agreed upon by the nations of earth that they would set a goal of limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. It was also decided that the parties would also "pursue efforts to" limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.  According to NASA and NOAA average earth temperatures are already at 2.4º F (1.34º C) above average. And this only seven months after the COP21 conference!

It was estimated by some scientists that the 1.5°C goal would require zero emissions sometime between 2030 and 2050. We are already practically at the 1.5º C limit and are nowhere near zero emissions. The 2030 time limit to achieve zero emissions is still 14 years away! Meanwhile, we will probably surge past the 1.5º C goal in a year or two. The nations have hardly gotten started on their efforts to limit climate change and we will probably blast through the 2º C goal in a few years.

COP 21 Conference Could Turn Out to be Exercise in Futility

The nations of the earth can agree all they want to limit greenhouse gasses. If they were to reach their goals, all burning of fossil fuels would have to be terminated immediately. That will never happen so the COP21 conference will turn out to be an exercise in futility, and earth's temperatures will continue to rise which will lead to more record temperatures well above 127º F.

Deadly heat is forecast in the Persian Gulf by 2100 according to a study in the journal, Nature Climate Change. Areas of the Persian Gulf could be hit by waves of heat and humidity so severe that simply being outside for several hours could threaten human life. Because of climate change, some population centers in the Middle East are likely to experience temperature levels that are intolerable to humans.

The monthly numbers from NASA and NOAA put the planet on track to surpass 2015 as the hottest year on record. "2016 has really blown that out of the water," Gavin Schmidt, director of Goddard's Institute for Space Studies, said.

Extreme Weather Watch: May 2016 - Canada Burns, India's Extreme Heat Record, US Tornadoes

By John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

Too Hot to Go Outside

A city in western India set an all time heat record of 123.8 degrees F in May. Authorities issued a severe heat wave alert which means that people can expect temperatures of 117 degrees F or more. In addition drought is affecting much of the country. The heat will probably not let up until the monsoon rains come some time in June. The prolonged heat wave has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops in more than 13 states. Hundreds of small farmers have reportedly killed themselves, and tens of thousands have been forced to abandon their lands and live in squalor in urban slums in order to eke out a living.

Rivers, lakes and dams have dried up in many parts of the western states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat, and groundwater supplies are severely depleted. The government has sent in water by train for emergency relief. Dr. Bhani Ram Paliwal, the principal medical officer at a government hospital in Phalodi, could not remember days like this in 15 years of working there. Roughly 500 patients, almost double the average number, visited his outpatient department, many complaining of diarrhea and fever. “It was like heat waves were coming out of a clay oven,” he said. Scientists say that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at a high pace, average global temperatures could rise by more than six degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century.

Last year more than 2,400 people died from heat-related illness in India, according to India’s National Disaster Management Authority. Many of those who died were laborers and farmhands who work outside, even in peak temperatures. The heat makes going outside virtually unthinkable, and staying indoors is a critical safety measure. “If you go outside you can’t survive in this heat wave,” Dr. Paliwal said.

Canada Burns Up

This gigantic fire in Canada's Alberta province started out at Fort McMurray on May 1. It is still burning and stretches 370 miles long. 88,000 people have been evacuated from Fort McMurray. It has consumed more than 544,000 acres. So far 2400 homes and buildings have burned.

Fuelled by tinder and helped along by unseasonably warm weather and low humidity, the fire released massive amounts of energy as it moved, creating its own weather, including lightning which produced new fire starts. High winds make these kinds of fires uncontrollable. Shorter winters produced by global warming contribute to the drying out of burnable vegetation. More than 500 firefighters continue to fight the blaze. In Alberta 15 wildfires are still burning.

The fires are occurring in the heart of Canada's oil fields and oil producers are warning of production shortfalls. So far the tar sands themselves have not caught fire, but, if they did, Canada would have an even huger problem on its hands. The problem is that winds have become more ferocious all over the world due to global warming. This has produced more monstrous wildfires as well as more monstrous tornadoes.

US Tornadoes

Tornadoes tore through the nation's midsection from Texas to Indiana flattening homes, uprooting trees, snarling traffic both on the ground and in the air. Softball sized hail was unleashed denting thousands of cars. One of the most damaging tornadoes touched down in Grayson County in north Texas. The storm shredded roofs, flipped over semi-trucks and sent at least five people to the hospital. A woman was killed when a tree landed on her mobile home. There have been 468 tornadoes reported in the United States in 2016.

A significant tornado outbreak occurred across an area extending from Colorado to Kentucky beginning with a large multiple-vortex EF2 tornado that tossed several RVs and injured two people near Wiggins, Colorado on May 7. A high-end EF2 tornado also caused considerable damage near Wray Colorado as well. Tornado activity was less intense on May 8, though a significant tornado event caused major damage across parts of Oklahoma on May 9. This included multiple EF3 tornadoes and the first EF4 of the year, a large stovepipe tornado that caused severe damage and one death near Katie, Oklahoma. Significant tornado activity continued on May 10, including an EF3 that struck the town of Mayfield, Kentucky. Overall, this outbreak killed two people and produced 43 tornadoes.

As the month of May ended, there were more torrential rains and tornadoes in Texas leading to several dead and missing and extensive property damage.

Torrential rains in France and Germany produced massive flooding with the Louvre Museum in Paris shut down to prevent damage to the paintings.

Global Warming

Global warming is making hot days hotter, rainfall and flooding heavier, hurricanes stronger and droughts more severe. This intensification of weather and climate extremes will be the most visible impact of global warming in our everyday lives. It is also causing dangerous changes to the landscape of our world, adding stress to wildlife species and their habitat. It is causing more power outages, more hail produced damage to cars and structures, crop damage and outright loss, more human migration into already overburdened urban areas and more political unrest.

Sea level rises are threatening high price real estate in coastal areas prompting the building of expensive sea walls which will only hold back the tides temporarily. More allergies and viruses such as the Zika virus will affect larger and larger areas as disease carrying mosquitoes migrate northwards. The first decade of this century (2001–2010) was the hottest decade recorded since reliable records began in the late 1800s. The first antibiotic resistant bacteria has been unleashed on the world.

Flooding is becoming more common as clouds release torrential rains due to more moisture being trapped in the atmosphere. A pattern of intense rain and snow storms and periods of drought is becoming the new normal in our everyday weather as levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere continue to rise.

Extreme weather because of global warning could become the new climate normal, increasing the risk of world instability, the World Bank warns in a new report.

Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal analyzes the impact of warming of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius (3.6 and 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels on crops and coastlines.

“Today’s report confirms what scientists have been saying – past emissions have set an unavoidable course to warming over the next two decades, which will affect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people the most,” said Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group.  “We’re already seeing record-breaking temperatures occurring more frequently, rainfall increasing in intensity in some places, and drought-prone regions like the Mediterranean becoming drier."

Extreme heat is the biggest problem, the report found, because it can reduce crop yields, negatively impacting food security and future economic growth as well as economic development, social stability and well-being.

“These changes make it more difficult to reduce poverty and put in jeopardy the livelihoods of millions of people,” Kim said. “They also have serious consequences for development budgets, and for institutions like the World Bank Group, where our investments, support and advice must now also build resilience and help affected populations adapt.”

Extreme Weather Watch: December 2015 - Tornados, Floods Kill Hundreds

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

Christmas 2015 Notable for Extreme Weather Throughout the US

Record high temperatures on Christmas day, as much as 30 degrees F above normal, were experienced up and down the eastern portion of the US. At the same time tornadoes destroyed homes and lives in the nation's midsection and south. December 2015 saw more than 2,600 record high temperatures; major metropolitan areas in the Northeast saw some of the warmest Christmas Eves and Days on record.

On Christmas Eve temperatures were 10 to 15 degrees higher than previous records. It was 71 F in New York City, and the same in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.

From 82 degrees in Savannah, Georgia, to 79 in Norfolk, Virginia, to 68 in Philadelphia, to 62 in Portland, Maine, cities up and down the East Coast tied or smashed record high temperatures for Christmas Day. Not only have the daytime temperatures been warm, but the nighttime lows in many locations have been running 10 degrees above the normal daily low temperature. Not only did the United States see record temperatures last month, but much of Europe is warm as well. It was nearly 50 degrees F in Moscow Christmas week, with puddles, not ice, surrounding the Kremlin.

Tornadoes, Flooding Kill At Least 43 in Southern US

While the East Coast enjoyed unseasonably warm weather, people in the south were suffering. In the Southeast there were torrential rains and tornadoes. As of Christmas night, 15 deaths in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas had been linked to this severe weather, in addition to scores of injuries. The Mississippi Governor declared a State of Emergency. At least 11 people died and dozens were injured in strong tornadoes that swept through the Dallas area. Vehicles were mangled, power lines fell and trees were toppled. As many as 1450 homes were damaged or destroyed

The Governor of Alabama declared a State of Emergency as an EF-2 tornado swept through Birmingham with 130 mph winds. Flooding rains turned Alabama roads into rivers. 200 roads were closed. Two dozen tornadoes were recorded in three states in the south killing at least 18 people.

Christmas weekend at least 11 tornadoes swept through Dallas suburbs. Cars were swept off I-30. Dozens were injured. 29 people died from tornadoes in 5 states, triple the number of tornado related deaths all year.

In Houston my friend, Gary Kane, reported a record total rainfall for the year of 84.43 inches, just beating 84.32 inches in 1979, which included a tropical storm named Claudett, which dumped 17 inches over night. The state of Texas, except for about 6%,  is now considered out of any drought condition.  In the 44 years that Gary has been measuring temps and rainfall, the average rainfall has been 52.73 inches. So last year's rainfall (2015) was almost 32 inches above average. This was just for Gary's house though, not the official tally.

In New Mexico snow was coupled with hurricane force wind gusts. A State of Emergency was declared. More than 200 car accidents in New Mexico injured more than 60 people. At the same time a 1200 acre wildfire sparked by a downed power line was being fought in Ventura, CA.

Snowfall records, rainfall records and severe weather records were happening simultaneously in the same state of Texas.

On Christmas day flash flood watches were in effect for parts of 16 states, from Texas in the West to Indiana and Ohio in the north to Virginia in the East.

EF-3 and EF-4 tornadoes were reported. The city of Garland, Texas was declared a disaster area. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made disaster declarations for four counties — Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and Ellis. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency after blizzard conditions, ice storms and flooding caused by as much as 9 inches of rain were suffered there.

While St. Louis itself stayed mostly dry thanks to a floodwall, its suburbs were water-logged. The biggest problems came from the Meramec River — a tributary of the Mississippi — which at points topped the 1993 record flood level by 4 feet. Hundreds of homes and business were evacuated in Pacific, Eureka, Valley Park and Arnold, Missouri. Eleven levees failed. I-44 and I-55 were closed. Traffic was at a standstill. The flooding problems started after more than 10 inches of rain fell in an area spanning Illinois to Missouri. 22 people have died mostly in cars that were swept away. Wastewater plants were flooded out with the result that raw sewage washed into rivers.

In St. Louis the Mississippi floods at 30 feet. On December 30 it was brimming at 41.5. It was expected to go to 43, 13 feet above flood stage, the highest mark since 1993 when 100,000 homes were destroyed. Interstates were shut down. Sewage was being spewed into a fast moving river. Communities were being evacuated. Jay Nixon, Governor of Missouri called in the National Guard and declared a State of Emergency. 14 million Americans faced flood watches. In St. Louis it's been the wettest year and wettest December on record.

Twelve Illinois counties have been declared disaster areas, and Gov. Bruce Rauner ordered Illinois National Guard troops into flooded areas in the southern part of the state to mitigate flood damage and help with evacuation efforts.

Midwest and plains states experienced snow, blizzards, gale force winds torrential rain and tornadoes all mixed in together in a melange of bad weather that put 75 million people in the path of danger. Travelers were left stranded as thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed.

As the month ended, flood waters continued to rise on the Mississippi. The water in Saint Louis was 12 feet above flood stage. The Meramec, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers were all brimming threatening to overtop levees. Later the Meramec River crested shattering 18 records. More than 100,000 have been stranded on the road. States downstream were getting ready to absorb the huge amounts of water that flooded upstream states.

Weather girls Dylan Dreyer and Karen Wetter were kept busy explaining why this El Niño has been so devastating and will only get worse. Anchor girl Kate Snow observed that her name presaged more of that in the east.

82 Die in Floods Across Europe

Torrential rains across central Europe have led to the worst flooding in decades, claiming the lives of 82 people. At least 58 died in the Black Sea area, where thousands of Russian tourists were caught out by floodwaters that swept cars and tents out to sea.

Thousands of British tourists are being forced to cancel holidays amid the chaos. One of the worst-hit cities is Prague, where more than 50,000 people, including foreign visitors, were evacuated as the most devastating floods for more than a century threatened to engulf the Czech capital.

Soldiers and hundreds of volunteers worked building sandbag barriers. But as torrential rain continued to fall, a state of emergency was declared.

Parts of Mala Strana, the medieval area of the city center, were almost certain to be flood-damaged as the deluge forced dams on the river Vltava to open their gates. Prague has not seen the river as high since 1890 with estimates putting the water flow at 20 times the average for the time of year.

In Austria, Salzburg has been declared a disaster zone and Vienna is under threat. The Danube has been closed to all shipping as the river has swollen to a near 100-year high. Three people have been killed in towns near Salzburg. In the city itself 1,000 buildings were partially or totally submerged, and the sightseeing-boat Amadeus sank. An emergency services spokesman in Upper Austria, where over three-quarters of the region is affected by flooding, said 8,000 workers and volunteers were ready to help evacuate residents.

Meanwhile in England

It was the warmest December on record and the wettest on record in Scotland and Wales. An army company has helped build temporary flood defenses in Cumbria in the northwest of England as residents struggled with the winter storms and heavy rains. That part of the country was still reeling from Storm Desmond earlier in December.

Environment Minister Rory Stewart called the rainfall in the flooded areas unprecedented. The Met Office, according to the Environment Agency, "confirmed this is the wettest December on record for Cumbria since records began in 1910." More than 7,300 homes were flooded across the north of England as river levels reached record highs.

December has been a record-breaking month for rainfall other in parts of the United Kingdom as well. A Christmas weekend storm brought up to 8 inches of additional rainfall on saturated soil. The Met Office listed just a small portion of the December rainfall records that were set Christmas weekend, in some cases blowing away the previous December records by 10 inches.

However, there is already clear evidence that what has happened over the past month or so in terms of temperature and rainfall has fallen outside the range of the natural variability of the notoriously fickle British weather, according to a growing number of climate experts.

“There is no doubt in my mind that climate change is partly responsible for the flooding across the North of England. This December is around 5 C warmer than normal and physics tells us that 24-hour extreme rainfall increases by 7 per cent per degree,” said Piers Forster, professor of climate science at Leeds University.

South America Floods

More than 150,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes in areas of Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina after floods due to heavy summer rains caused by El Niño, authorities said. In Paraguay, which was the hardest-hit, more than 130,000 people were evacuated. In Alberdi city, residents fled as walls holding back water appeared on the verge of collapse, authorities said. Argentina had 20,000 evacuees, half of them from Concordia city.

The floods, caused by overflowing rivers and torrential rains blamed on the El Niño phenomenon, have been responsible for at least eight deaths: six in Paraguay and two in Uruguay. The Paraguay River in that nation is within inches of topping its banks, and the Uruguay River in Argentina is 46 feet above normal, according to a BBC News report.

Authorities are preparing to cope with the possibility of diseases spreading - heightened by the fact that mosquitos and snakes thrive in swamp-like conditions. Overflowing sewers have also caused homes to have dirty running water.

Fires in Australia at Christmas

At the same time when many were enjoying a warm Christmas on the East coast and many others were suffering from tornadoes in the south, on the other side of the world in Australia, 116 homes were burning in Victoria. It's fire season in Australia at Christmas time.

The Insurance Council of Australia declared the bushfires a catastrophe, estimating initial insurance losses of $25 million. Some relief was forthcoming from the state's coffers. Victorian Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett said the relief grants would help locals get back on their feet as fast as possible. "It has been devastating for these communities at Christmas time, which is why we are making sure people have the support they need," she said.

The Wrap-up for 2015

2015 was the hottest year on record. There were more extreme weather incidents than any other year. While El Niño has been getting a lot of press, the El Niño was made much more severe by global warming.

Extreme heat killed more than 1200 people in Pakistan and 2500 in India. Many died because the power and air conditioning went off at peak heat periods when it was needed most. Heat waves also affected Iraq and Iran. Typhoons rocked the Phillipines. High temperatures in Alaska made for the hottest May on record. Myanmar and Ghana experienced record flooding. Droughts in California, South Africa, Ethiopia and Brazil set records. Temperatures at the North Pole were 50 degrees F above normal in December surging above the freezing point of 32 degrees.

Scientists at Oxford University have started work on a scientific model they hope will enable them to establish or rule out links between climate change and extreme weather more quickly. “We want to clear up the huge amounts of confusion around how climate change is influencing the weather, in both directions,” Dr Friederike Otto, of Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, said.

Extreme Weather Watch: October 2015 - South Carolina, Texas Inundated by Torrential Rains

by John Lawrence

In early October torrential rain flooded almost the entire state of South Carolina. At least 17 people died. The cost of the flooding could top $1 billion, Senator Lindsey Graham said. Interstate 95 was closed for 70 miles. At least 11 dams failed. Another 35 dams were at risk. The rain event set records all over the state, flooding entire towns. For some locations, this historic rainfall qualifies as a 1,000-year rain event, meaning in a given year there is a 1 in 1,000 chance of observing rainfall totals of this magnitude.

They would like to think that floods of this magnitude won't happen again for another 1000 years. However, the truth is that with global warming and climate change floods like these are becoming a much more common occurrence, not unprecedented and historical as some have described them.

President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration, ordering federal aid to help recovery efforts in South Carolina. The president's action  made federal funding available to people in Charleston, Dorchester, Georgetown, Horry, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland and Williamsburg counties. Forms of assistance are grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans for uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover.

Gov. Nikki Haley said about 550 roads and bridges were closed in the state, the results of 2 feet of rain in two days. There was looting and power outages. Haley said there had been 175 water rescues in South Carolina, and more than 800 people were temporarily housed in shelters at one period.

More than 400,000 state residents were under a "boil water advisory" affecting about 16 water systems. In the region surrounding Columbia, as many as 40,000 homes lacked drinking water. Mayor Steve Benjamin said 375,000 water customers will likely have to boil their water for "quite some time." In another image of the storm's otherworldly toll, state officials said caskets had popped out of the ground in 11 instances in six counties. Nine deaths came about from people trying to drive in flooded areas.

4 Feet of Rain in the Phillipines

Typhoon Koppu barreled down on the island of Luzon in the Philippines where it landed as a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds. Koppu drenched the country's main northern island of Luzon with as much as 43 inches of rain during its slow, meandering journey across the country. At least 48 were dead, and thousands of people were displaced. Thousands were evacuated.

There was nearly 100 percent damage to infrastructure in Casiguran, where the typhoon came ashore. Philippines news website Rappler reported that  “Electricity and phone signals remain cut off in the area, making it difficult to get supplies and aid to at least 27,000 affected people.” In Baguio City, home to over 318,000 people, nearly 3 feet of rain were recorded. Over 6 inches of that fell in just three hours.

Power outages were reported province-wide during the height of the storm in Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Apayao, and Kalinga, according to the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. The outages affected an estimated 9 million people, or nearly one-tenth of the entire population of the Philippines.

Because it is one of the most cyclone prone coastlines on Earth, settlement along the east coast of northern Luzon is quite sparse. A large part of the coastline is virtually uninhabited, but Koppu crossed the coast south of the most desolate zone and instead hit Aurora, a province of about 200,000 people that hugs the eastern coastline of Luzon northeast of Manila.

Koppu, the second strongest storm to hit the disaster-plagued Southeast Asian archipelago this year, had forced more than 60,000 people from their homes according to authorities. Residents of flooded farming villages in the Philippines were trapped on their rooftops and animals floated down fast-rising rivers.

Storm in California Leaves Massive Mudslides

The storm that slammed into the high desert and mountains of Southern California in October was one for the record books. Intense rain sent massive mudflows onto highways, picking up cars and pushing them into one another. Hundreds of vehicles were trapped in mud up to 20 feet deep. Some motorists were stranded overnight.

In one spot in the Antelope Valley, the storm dumped 1.81 inches of rain in 30 minutes, in what the National Weather Service described as a 1,000-year rain event. Another 1000 year event? Give me a break. More like a 1 year event, thanks to global warming.

"It's absolutely incredible," said Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. One person was pulled from her car dead. Preview of El Nino?

The warm ocean temperatures — about 75 degrees, at least 5 degrees above normal — produced more water evaporation and higher humidity levels. The storm system combined with the high humidity to create enough instability in the atmosphere to trigger the intense thunderstorms and torrential rainfall.

The storm shut Interstate 5 through the Grapevine and sent a sea of mud sweeping through country roads. One of the most dramatic scenes played out on Highway 58 east of Tehachapi. There, mudslides trapped 200 vehicles including dozens of tractor-trailers and at least two tour buses filled with passengers.

In all, the storm left an estimated 300,000 cubic yards of mud and debris on major roadways, officials said.

Especially hard hit was Death Valley which received another 1000 year weather event. Really? The powerful weather system dropped 3 inches of rain in 5 hours, battering historic structures, chewing through roadways and covering the rugged landscape with layers of mud and rocks. It was the wettest October on record in the region which normally receives only 4 inches of rain for the entire year.

Hurricane Patricia in Mexico

The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere hit Mexico’s southwest coast, transforming hotels full of tourists into makeshift shelters, shuttering schools, closing airports and sending inhabitants racing to bus stations to flee inland.

Patricia developed into a Category 5 hurricane with wind speeds up to 250 mph practically overnight. Sustained winds were 165 mph. It was not only the largest hurricane in history, but its intensification was the quickest ever seen. This was attributed to the fact that the Pacific Ocean is 6 degrees warmer than what is normal for this time of year. The warmth of the Pacific Ocean is what is responsible for the extreme typhoons lashing the Phillipines and for the El Nino effect that is supposed to bring torrential rain to southern California this winter.

In the final analysis Patricia did not do major damage in Mexico, miraculously. However, Texas got torrential rain and flooding during this same time period from the remnants of Patricia. Some areas got over 20 inches of rain. There was major flooding and over 70 water rescues.

Texas Inundated

Torrential rains and massive flooding hit Texas in October. As the month ended several million Americans were under flash flood warnings. Six people are known to have died from the storms. Several tornadoes were reported. The state was still recovering from an earlier battering of severe weather, when the remains of Hurricane Patricia swept across the region. The ground was still saturated when the latest storms hit.

Nearly 15 inches of rain fell in Austin on October 30 setting an all time one day record. The Austin airport was battered by almost 14 inches in 6 hours. That's more rain than the city received the entire month of May which was already the second wettest month on record! An inch per hour is catastrophic, but over 2 inches per hour? That's ridiculous. That led to flooding, power outages and cancelled flights.

Flash flooding caused a freight train to derail south of Dallas. Drivers were trapped in their cars. Tropical storm force winds coupled with tornadoes and rapidly rising flood waters damaged vehicles, homes and businesses.

In a square mile one inch of rain is equivalent to 17 million gallons of water. Flash flood warnings covered 75,000 square miles. That equates to 1.27 trillion gallons of water enough to fill 192,000 Olympic swimming pools.

The rain on the last two days of the month delivered as much as one third inch per hour, which fell onto water logged ground, leading to widespread flooding. The Houston Fire Department said it had made more than 130 water rescues on Saturday (Halloween), and some public light-rail and bus routes had to be suspended. The roads were filled with pumpkins carried away by the storm.

Power lines were down. People were evacuated from flood prone regions. 15 million people were on high alert. Interstates were closed down. People were trapped in their cars. First responders couldn't keep up with calls for help.

This will be the wettest October on record for Texas. Only a couple weeks before there was drought and wildfires. Extreme weather is an acknowledged effect of climate change, but it is little acknowledged as such by TV weathermen and ladies. Their job is to get eyeballs glued to the tube for commercial purposes. Mentioning climate change might cause their viewers to actually think, and that would be bad for business which wants passive consumers. Disastrous weather events lately have rivaled murder and mayhem in attracting viewers. That's good for business.

Extreme Weather Watch: September 2015 - Fires Devastate Homes in California

by John Lawrence

2000 Homes and 200 Square Miles Up in Flames

On September 13 California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Lake and Napa counties. He also had issued a state of emergency in Calaveras and Amador counties. Four firefighters were injured in the fire called the Valley fire. Thousands fled as mandatory evacuations were ordered for the communities of Cobb, Middletown, Harbin Hot Springs and Big Canyon Road.

More than 1,300 people fled Middletown, north of San Francisco, as their homes were consumed by the flames. Main Street in Middletown burned up. 600 homes gone. More than 5,000 were without power. The Valley fire burned 40,000 acres in just 17 hours. On Sept. 13 it was reported that 1000 homes gone. As of October 5, the Valley fire was 99% contained. 1,958 structures were destroyed, 93 structures damaged.

A separate blaze — called the Valley Fire — in Lake County, about 170 miles to the northwest, has killed three people, destroyed nearly 600 homes and burned hundreds of other structures.

As of the middle of September, the Butte Fire in Amador and Calaveras counties, about 70 miles east of Sacramento, had grown to 100 square miles. It had destroyed at least 85 residences and 50 outbuildings and threatens 6,150 homes. As of Sunday the 13th fire officials said a blaze that had destroyed more than 100 homes north of San Francisco had grown to 78 square miles.

The Butte fire claimed two deaths. The two killed by the Butte fire — 66-year-old Mark McCloud and 82-year-old Owen Goldsmith — died after rejecting orders from authorities to evacuate, Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynnette Round said. As of October 1, 475 residences, 343 outbuildings, 45 structures were burned or damaged in the Butte fire. It was 100% contained as of October 1.

Totals for California for the month of September 2015: 3914 homes and structures burned or damaged. Tens of thousands were forced to evacuate their homes.

Japan Floods

Sept 13: Japan advised almost 3 million people to evacuate after heavy flooding killed seven people and left at least 15 missing in the eastern region of the country.

Seven people are now confirmed dead and 15 remain missing in the wake of torrential rains associated with former Tropical Storm Etau that dumped unprecedented rainfall on parts of eastern and northern Japan

At least 27 people have been injured across 10 prefectures since floods inundated parts of eastern Japan after a tropical storm, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

Up to 26 inches of rain fell in eastern Japan Sunday through Friday due to Tropical Storm Etau.

In Tochigi, more than 19 inches of rain fell in 24 hours in places, double the amount that normally falls there throughout the whole of September, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

The city of Joso, north of the capital, Tokyo, was hit by a wall of water after the Kinugawa River burst its banks. Helicopter rescue teams have been plucking people from rooftops. More than 100,000 were ordered to leave their homes.

Floods and landslides resulted in 8 dead, 46 injured.

The heavy rain caused additional leaks of radioactive water at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said rain had overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps, sending hundreds of tons of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean.

Workers at the Fukushima plant have had to store huge quantities of contaminated water used to cool melted fuel in three badly damaged reactors in thousands of steel tanks.

Flash Floods in Utah and Arizona Sept. 15

Zion National Park in Utah: Hours after they entered Keyhole Canyon, dark skies unleashed fierce rains that sent water surging through the chasm, sweeping seven people to their deaths. Rangers received a report of a group of seven individuals canyoneering in Keyhole Canyon shortly before the flooding began. Their unoccupied vehicles were located on Monday evening and a search began the morning of Tuesday, September 15, 2015 when it was determined that these individuals had not exited the canyon.

Twenty miles away, in the polygamous community of Hildale, an SUV and van carrying 16 women and children were swept away by one of the biggest flash floods locals had ever seen. Flash floods along the Utah-Arizona border engulfed the two vehicles and swept them into a waterway that is normally dry. Three victims survived, and one was transported to a hospital.

Flash flooding near the Utah-Arizona border claimed a death toll of 20 from the violent rainstorm.

Extreme Weather Has Killed Thousands in 2015

Poorer nations suffering from extreme weather disasters, so much so that their citizens are seeking refuge in safer terrains outside their borders, want rich nations like the United States to pay for reparations and to relocate populations.

Preparatory talks ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change to be held in Paris in December has representatives from developing nations asking for more than an already agreed upon $100 billion per year for climate change mitigation measures. They want additional compensation for weather-related disasters as well as a "displacement coordination facility" for refugees. And they want all this to be legally binding as part of the larger anticipated Paris accord.

The U.S. and wealthier nations in the European Union are balking.

Governor Brown Signs Climate Change Bill to Spur Renewable Energy

This just in from the LA Times October 7:

The legislation, SB 350 by Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), was amended to remove a third component that would have required reduced gasoline use on California roads. The battle over the controversial proposal dominated the closing weeks of the legislative session last month.

Despite ceding some ground in a tug-of-war with oil companies, Brown and De León have touted the remaining parts of the legislation as significant steps in California’s fight against climate change. ...

The bill will require California to generate 50% of its electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2030, up from the current target of 33% by 2020.

Extreme Weather Watch: August 2015 - The Western US Burns Up

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

Wildfires swept through the states of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and northern California in a record setting conflagration. Thousands of firefighters from all over the world tried to protect houses, but, nevertheless, hundreds burned. A call went out for volunteers and thousands have responded.

Thousands have been evacuated. The cost is soaring past what state and Federal budgets can afford. The choice is to let the West burn up or bankrupt state and national budgets. The Forest Service is spending $10 million a day to fight wildfires.

In 1995 16% of the Forest Service's budget went to fight forest fires. Today it's 52% with 70% predicted in the next decade if present trends continue. US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, "No one wants our Forest Service to become one large fire department," but that is exactly what is happening. Vilsack said the federal government has spent more than $1 billion fighting this year’s deadly wildfires

Wildfires across the U.S. have burned a massive 8 million acres so far this year, an area larger than the state of Maryland. It's the largest total for the same period over the last decade, but more than 5 million of those acres have been in rural Alaska. This year a total of 3,382 fires have burned in Oregon and Washington with 93 categorized as large fires. Four new wildfires sparked to life near the end of August, bringing the total acreage scorched this year in Washington and Oregon alone to just over 1 million acres, according to the national Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

According to the Washington Post, there are only six other years that have seen more than 8 million acres burned — 2012, 2011, 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2004 — based on National Interagency Fire Center records that date back to 1960. It is hard not to notice that all of these years came since the year 2000. The United States remains at wildfire preparedness level 5 — the highest level — where it has been since Aug. 13.

Fires weren't the only the disruption of normal life that was of concern. Almost the entire state of Idaho was under an air quality alert as ash and particles from fires blew downwind, creating health hazards for those outdoors. Large swaths of eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and western Montana were under similar warnings. People with asthma and other breathing problems were at high risk.

Air sensors in some portions of central Idaho around the Nez Perce tribal reservation showed the air quality index reaching “hazardous” levels — the highest possible designation — with values higher than 300 on the scale, the worst in the state. That's the level at which officials urge residents not to do any physical activity outdoors.

A 400 square mile group of wildfires was called the largest in Washington State's history by officials. This was the Okanogan Complex which killed three firefighters, injured four and burned 200 homes. This fire began with a lightning strike on August 15. More than 1,200 firefighters and support personnel were battling the Okanogan Complex fire. Firefighters battled 17 major blazes burning across more than 400,000 acres in Washington. Residents in the popular recreation centers in Twisp and Winthrop in the scenic Methow River Valley were forced to evacuate.

The Chelan complex fire in Washington state covers about 100,000 acres. To date it is only 65% contained. 21 residences have burned. The cost so far is $13.9 million. There have been 9 injuries. Crews secured the fireline around Hungry Mountain. The fire spotted over the line in a few places on its northwest tip, and crews worked to contain those spot fires.

A hotshot crew assessed the area northwest of Rainy Creek, looking for opportunities to directly suppress the fire. However, the difficult-to-traverse terrain makes the area too dangerous for firefighters. They continue to use aircraft to hold the fire within established lines as they develop a sound strategy for the area. Structure-protection crews continue to defend structures. 9 crews, 48 engines, 6 dozers, 22 water tenders and 4 helicopters battled the fires which continue to burn.

Tens of thousands of firefighters battled to get the upper hand against dozens of large blazes across the West and Northwest. In California, the Summit fire in the San Bernardino Mountains near the resort community of Big Bear Lake burned 100 acres, threatened hundreds of homes and caused most area schools to be closed.

Inciweb, an aggregating website for U.S. wildfires, reported 40 active fires in California alone. The largest to date is the Happy Camp Complex Fire which scorched over 134,000 acres and is currently listed as being 100% contained, but there are scores of other fires in California that are burning 30, 40, and 50 thousand acres at a time.  There are 11,000 firefighters on the front lines in California alone. A good portion of the state is currently on fire.

As of August 24 Oregon had 19 ongoing active wildfires. The largest reported is the Cornet-Windy Ridge Fire which had grown to 103,887 acres. This fire began on August 10 with a lightning strike and is currently 80% contained. The immediate danger with all wildfires, even those seemingly contained, is the shift in winds or the change in weather. Bad weather with lightning, little rain, followed by hot, dry conditions contributes to fires that, once considered under control, spark to life again.

Lightning strikes are the most common way that fires begin. This could be the reason why the Northwest and not the Southwest has seen the largest conflagrations this year. In southern California lightning strikes are relatively more rare.The ones not started by lightning are usually started by arsonists.

And as August ended most fires were still only 50% contained. Southern California still hasn't entered its usual Santa Ana wind driven fire season which usually comes later in the year.

Huge wildfires are being driven by climate change according to recent studies:

The risk of so-called “very large wildfires” could increase as much as six times in the U.S. by mid-century as a result of man-made global warming, researchers concluded in a study announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Very large fires” are defined as the top 10% of fires based on acreage. Such blazes account for the majority of burned acres across the U.S. each year. There are currently 66 large fires burning, a step down from “very large.”

Climate change is expected to both intensify fire-friendly weather conditions – such as heat and drought -- and lengthen the season during which these fires tend to spread, according to the study, which was published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire.

Huge sections of the western U.S. would see the risk of very large fires increase by as much as 200% to 500%. The highest risk area includes the Great Basin and Northern Rockies, as well as the Sierra Nevada and Northern California.

Meanwhile in Iran the heat index reached a staggering 162 degrees F forcing Iran to call a public holiday. No one could be expected to work in that heat.

Extreme Weather Watch: July 2015 - Huge Number of Wildfires in CA Force Evacuations

by John Lawrence

As July drew to a close 8000 firefighters were battling 18 large fires in the state of California. A lot of people are being forced to evacuate their homes. In fact evacuations are becoming a way of life. Triple digit temperatures, bone dry vegetation and gusty winds are spreading fires everywhere.

A fast-spreading wildfire north of San Francisco has torched homes and is threatening more than 450 structures. At least 650 residents have been evacuated from their homes as the blaze raged in hills covered in dense brush and oak trees and dotted with ranch homes. 23 square miles near Lower Lake, south of Clear Lake, have been charred.

A separate fire near the small town of Isleton in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta burned six or seven mobile homes. Residents of 200 homes in the central California community of Cascadel Woods were ordered to evacuate last Thursday.

Crews battling a fire east of Napa Valley were making progress last Friday, more than a week after it started. The blaze has charred more than 12 square miles in Solano County. The fire is about 45 miles east of Napa's wine county, and vineyards are not threatened.

Crews continue to battle a fast-spreading wildfire in Lake County, which has grown to 18,000 acres and forced additional evacuations last week. The Lake County Sheriff's Office issued a mandatory evacuation order for the Jerusalem Valley area, east of Soda Creek.

Governor Brown has declared a state of emergency for California's fires. "California's severe drought and extreme weather have turned much of the state into a tinderbox," Brown said.

Record Heat on Three Continents

The month of July had barely started when all kinds of weather related records began to fall. Brutally hot conditions fried portions of three continents during the first three days of July, and four nations have already set all-time July national heat records this month: the Netherlands, the U.K., Thailand, and Colombia. The temperature in Maastricht, the Netherlands, hit 100.8°F on July 2, setting an all-time July heat record for the nation. According to data from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, only two other hotter temperatures have been recorded in the nation: 101.5°F, on August 23, 1944 at Warnsveld, and 101.1°F, on June 27, 1947 at Maastricht.

On July 3, the mercury hit 106°F at Kamalasai, Thailand, setting a mark for the hottest July temperature ever recorded in that nation. On July 1, Urumitia, Colombia beat that nation's all-time July national heat record, with a 108°F reading. Urumitia also set Colombia's all-time June heat with a 107.6°F mark. In Europe, the hottest temperatures were over Central France, where Clermont Ferrand hit 104°F.

Record Rain Storm Drops an Inch of Rain on San Diego

Here at home an unusual rain storm which recorded over an inch of rain hit San Diego on July 18. San Diego rarely gets more than a trace of rain in July. By 5 PM San Diego's Lindbergh Field had recorded 1.03 inches of rain, which is more precipitation than the city had received during the entire month of July dating back to 1902.

The storm left trees down on houses in Tierra Santa, one of which was rendered uninhabitable. The trees toppled while a couple and two young children were inside one house, but they got out safely. Power outages impacted neighborhoods in Logan Heights, Mountain View and Lincoln Park, with approximately 3,918 residents without power.

In parts of Ocean Beach, Midway District and Lindbergh Field, nearly 2,100 customers were without power. In Coronado, power was knocked out for about 1,700 residents.

In San Diego County, the hardest-hit area was in rural Ramona east of Escondido, where streets flooded, several cars were half-submerged, and some homes were flooded.

The unstable air generated more than 500 lightning strikes, one of which started a small brush fire in Del Mar's Crest Canyon. Another lightning strike at the same time caused a small grass fire at Marion Bear Memorial Park in Clairemont. Fire crews had to back off for a short time when lightning struck four more times nearby and power lines were downed, a San Diego fire dispatcher said.

Elsewhere in Southern California a washed-out bridge on Interstate 10 cut off a vital shipping route with Arizona. There were mudslides in Moreno Valley and freeway traffic was snarled from heavy weekend rain on July 18-19. The weekend storm that washed over the region was not only remarkable for its timing - July rain storms are rare events in Southern California - but for its strength, the National Weather Service said.

The threat of lightning strikes forced authorities to close 70 miles of Los Angeles County beaches as well as the popular Santa Monica Pier on Saturday afternoon. An LA Angels baseball game was canceled because of rain for the first time in 20 years.

Wildfire Torches Vehicles on Freeway Between LA and Las Vegas

On July 18 a wildfire spread over the I-15 freeway in California's Cajon Pass torching some 20 vehicles. 60 to 70 cars were abandoned on the road. The fire quickly grew to 3,500 acres and shut down the freeway in both directions. The fire destroyed 44 vehicles and seven homes, and bore down on mountain communities. At least 50 homes were threatened, officials said.

Cars, trucks and even a boat went up in flames on the freeway. Heavy winds mixed with dry chaparral and grass created a dangerous combination. Shortly before the fast-moving blaze jumped the freeway and the cars caught fire, officials had to halt water drops because of a recreational drone flying nearby. There were 5 drones in all, and they delayed the firefighters for a crucial 26 minutes before the skies could be cleared.

A Northern California wildfire raced through more than six square miles of drought-stricken timber on July 25, threatening at least 150 rural homes in the Sierra Nevada, authorities said. The blaze erupted at around 2:30 p.m. and forced evacuations of some communities in and near Nevada County, about 45 miles northeast of Sacramento.

In Montana, a wildfire is still burning in Glacier National Park. The Reynolds Creek Fire is up to 3,166 acres and is 10 percent contained, the U.S. Forest Service said. In addition to heat waves, flash flooding, tornadoes and wildfires, this year has been the deadliest season in years for lightning strikes There were 732 strikes in 15 minutes in North Carolina around the beginning of July.

So far this year 5.6 million acres have burned in the US, an area bigger than the state of Massachusetts. Its the worst wildfire season in 25 years. Even in Alaska 4.7 million acres have been scorched. The sad part is that one in five fires are started by an arsonist.

Wait, There's More - Torrential Rain and Flash Flooding in Ky

Around the middle of the month there was torrential rain and flash flooding in Kentucky. Four were dead and several others were missing. 60 homes were damaged or destroyed. There were 373 reports of wind damage, 37 reports of hail damage and 5 tornado reports. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in western Illinois. Thousands were left without power.

Extreme Weather Watch: June 2015 - Deadly Heat Wave in Pakistan

by John Lawrence

Pakistan's heat wave took a toll of more than 1200 dead, the deadliest heat wave on record. Power outages added to the misery, leaving many without fans, water or light at the beginning of Ramadan, when many Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours. More than 14,000 people were hospitalized in Karachi, the nation's largest city. The heat wave came just weeks after torrid temperatures caused nearly 2,200 deaths in neighboring India. This devastating weather is being seen as the effects of human-caused climate change. The Pakistan heat wave will join the heat wave in India as one of the 10 deadliest in world history.

Observant Muslims, who make up the majority of Karachi's 20 million residents, were abstaining from food and water during long summer days. A single sip of water invalidates the fast, but Muslims are discouraged from fasting if they are sick or if doing so would cause physical harm. "The deadly heat wave that has killed several hundred people in Karachi, Pakistan, is clearly a harbinger of things to come with the changing climate," said Saleemul Huq, director of the International Center for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh and a prominent climate scientist.

Powerful Storms Inundate Midwest and East Coast

On June 24 powerful rain storms wreaked havoc on the midwest and east coast. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were without power in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Multiple tornadoes hit Illinois and Michigan. Power was knocked out to thousands of people. More than 50 homes as well as churches were damaged in Portland, Michigan. In Sublette, Illinois 5 people were hurt and one hospitalized with serious injuries when a tornado with winds of 135 mph hit a campground.

More than 90,000 homes remained without power in Michigan four days later. To the south, more than 30,000 were without power in the Fort Wayne area alone, and crews said it could be days before the lights come back on for everyone.

In Ohio, there were reports that a nursing home had to be evacuated on Sunday, June 28th in Deshler as the floodwaters rose.

"An unusual storm for late June began to crank up in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes late Friday, before sweeping into the Northeast by Sunday," said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. "The storm brought a swath of heavy rainfall that resulted in flooding across parts of Indiana and Ohio late Friday into early Saturday. The area of low pressure associated with the storm also caused strong winds in the eastern Great Lakes. In Detroit, winds gusted over 30 mph much of Saturday, peaking at 40 mph."

Wind gusts topping 60 mph blew down scores of trees in and around Fort Wayne, contributing to power outages for about a fifth of Indiana Michigan Power Co. customers in Allen County. The utility company said it had more than 600 separate outages in the Fort Wayne area and that it could take several days for complete restoration.

Northwest Sets Heat Records

A torrid heat wave has broken June record highs in at least 10 cities in the Northwest. Additional June or even all-time high-temperature records were in jeopardy across parts of the Great Basin and Northwest. Furthermore, the extreme heat was predicted to last well into early July and may end up breaking records for longevity as well. Walla Walla, Washington, hit 113 degrees. Boise, Idaho, topped out at 110 degrees. Boise also tied its all-time record streak of 100-degree-plus highs on July 4, a string of nine straight days. Spokane, Washington hit 105 degrees. Seattle is likely to shatter its record streak of 90-degree-plus highs - five straight days in 1981 and 1941 - early this week.

In the case of this heat wave, nearly every major weather observation site in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, northern Nevada and the Sierra Nevada (California) set a daily record high on June 27, and many of them set records on several other days in late June. A slew of Northwest cities set new records for the entire month of June. Some cities broke their previous June records two or even three days in a row.

On June 26 residents of two California towns were under mandatory evacuation orders for wildfires. The fire in the San Bernadino mountains was among scores of wildfires raging along the West Coast from Alaska to California. Nearly 1000 residents were ordered from their homes in Santa Clarita as a wildfire spread across 350 acres in a couple hours.

Pope Says Earth Becoming a "Pile of Filth"

Pope Francis has said that what we've done to the Earth is to create a "pile of filth." He's called for radical change in our political and economic systems in order to keep the Earth habitable for future generations. Hopefully, the world's other major religions will take a page out of the Pope's book and come forward demanding radical change as well. How about it Protestants and Jews?

Celebrating his 80th birthday, the Dalai Lama has followed in the Pope's footsteps calling for action to mitigate global warming and climate change.

We'd be better off walking and biking instead of driving automobiles. This is from an article by Linda Rudolph and Tracy Delaney, Climate Change a Threat to Health:

Shifting from automobile use to walking, biking and public transit will not only reduce carbon and air pollution, but the accompanying physical activity will also yield huge reductions in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers – not to mention improvements in mental health and well being. We need swift and robust investments in infrastructure to make active transportation in our communities easy, affordable and safe.

To ensure that our cities are prepared for more frequent and severe heat events, especially in low-income areas surrounded by concrete and asphalt, we need to create more green spaces, such as parks and trees. These spaces cool down city temperatures in “urban heat islands,” and they also improve mental health, reduce air pollution and storm water runoff, and improve the capture of precious rainwater in our groundwater aquifers.

Extreme Weather Watch: May 2016 - Torrential Rain, Floods in Texas, Oklahoma

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

It's Either Global Warming or a Flood of Biblical Proportions

The Blanco River overran its banks sweeping houses and people in its course. At least 41 people have died in the severe weather over the past several days, from either tornadoes or flooding brought on by epic rainfall. Those deaths include 29 in Texas and Oklahoma. Eleven people have been missing for a week. In Mexico at least 13 people died in a tornado that hit the border city of Ciudad Acuna, Mexico. At least 200 homes were destroyed.

I'll bet you one thing: no one in the media will mention the words: GLOBAL WARMING. But what else can you say when 11 inches of rain fall in six hours? With that much rain in such a short time, any river is subject to flash flooding.

It was the first time in recent memory that a major city, Houston, the fourth largest city in the country, was hit by a weather related disaster. Some 1,400 structures in Houston suffered severe damage. At least 2,500 abandoned vehicles were scattered across Houston roadways after drivers sought higher ground. About 530 water-related calls were handled by Houston emergency crews. The flooding in Houston affected virtually every part of the city.

On the last day of May heavy rain caused minor flooding inside Minute Maid Park as the Houston Astros hosted the Chicago White Sox. Thunderstorms have been battering areas of rain-weary Houston with heavy downpours and small hail. The city's primary electric provider, CenterPoint Energy, reported more than 18,000 customers without power as the late afternoon storms moved through. Outages primarily have been immediately to the west of downtown Houston and in the far north and northeast sections of the city.

A dam ruptured in Bastrop, Texas, sending an unrelenting wave of water downstream, flooding roads and forcing water rescues to be conducted. A tornado struck a drilling rig in Canadian causing several injuries. At least three people were taken to a local hospital.

Hays County and the town of Wimberley were especially hard hit. The Blanco River rose 28 feet in an hour and a half. It's still rising and expected to crest at more than 50 feet. A house with eight people inside floated down the river. In Parker County, Texas, west of Fort Worth, authorities issued a voluntary evacuation order for 250 homes along the Brazos River. The Colorado River crested at 42.5 feet Saturday at Wharton, 3.5 feet above flood stage.

In Oklahoma City the month of May set a record for the wettest on record with over 17 inches or precipitation. The National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, had issued 70 flash flood warnings so far this year, a total higher than the last four years combined. Several highways were closed.

This is from EcoWatch:

With at least a dozen people dead and the raging high waters described as having “tsunami-type power” in Texas over the Memorial Day weekend, the latest example of extreme weather in the U.S. is being tied to a global pattern of increasingly volatile events that are claiming lives and costing billions of dollars in damage each year. [...]

“So far in 2015—as in preceding years—weather-related disasters have destroyed or disrupted millions of lives and livelihoods,” said WMO [World Meteorological Organization] Secretary-General Michel Jarraud ahead of the meeting. Citing devastating events like Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu, major droughts in India, California, and Brazil, and the kind of flooding that recently struck Chile and now being seen in Texas, Jarraud said the “list of extreme events is long and there is growing scientific evidence that at least some of them would have been unlikely without human-induced climate change.”

With the next round of UN climate talks slated for later this year in Paris, Jarraud affirmed that the WMO’s efforts will be aimed at addressing the threat of increasingly extreme weather caused by global warming. “It is a pivotal year for action on behalf of future generations,” he said. “We have more than a responsibility. We have a moral duty to take action to limit climate change. If we don’t do it we will be judged by our children and our grandchildren.”

A large portion of a highway in Dallas will be closed for a week due to flooding and rain. Morning rush hour was brought to a halt. More than seven inches of rain slammed the area. More than 200 people needed emergency rescues after flash flooding submerged cars.

The National Weather Service said Friday that 16.07 inches of rain fell across the Dallas area in May. That easily eclipsed a 1982 record of 13.66. Austin similarly beat its May record for rainfall with 17.59 inches, besting a high of 14.10 inches that had stood since 1895.

A state of disaster has been declared in 70 counties in Texas. Meteorologist Dennis Cain in Dallas says other areas have set all-time recorded highs, such as Gainesville, near the Oklahoma border, and Corpus Christi, along the Gulf of Mexico. Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle is in its second-wettest month on record.

Hundreds Dead from Heat Wave in India

118 degree F heat caused over 2200 deaths mainly from heat stroke. Heatwave conditions have prevailed since April. Most of the deaths occurred in older people or people working outdoors. Temperatures reached 113 degrees in New Delhi. Commuters can't drive because the roads are melting. Climate change is a likely factor, according to Benjamin Cook, a research scientist with the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

About two-thirds of India's 1.2 billion people have access to electricity. That would mean that in India alone about 400 million people do not have reliable access to air conditioning and refrigeration.

This is from Common Dreams:

According to officials quoted in the Hindustan Times, most of the victims have been construction workers, the elderly or the homeless. In regions across the subcontinent this week, temperatures have sweltered populations with thermometers pushing towards 50°C (or 122°F) and high levels of humidity stifling air quality. In response, India's Meteorological Department has issued what are called "red box" warnings for various states where the maximum temperatures are expected to remain above 45°C.

"This year, the heatwave condition is unprecedented and there has been a large number of deaths. The Health Ministry is likely to come up with an advisory soon for all the states and common people," a senior health Ministry official told the Press Trust of India (PTI).

...

As with ongoing flooding in Texas and Oklahoma in the United States this week, the extreme heat in India has been attributed to the convergence of seasonal weather patterns beset by the El Nino in the Pacific Ocean and the overall impact of increased global temperatures due to human-caused climate change. According to the International Business Times:

Experts say an El Nino, which leads to a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, triggers scorching weather across Asia.

However, even without an El Nino the global warming in the last few decades has potential for damage.

"On account of 0.8 degree warming during the past hundred years, one must expect more heat waves even without an El Nino. El Nino will increase the atmospheric temperature and hence add to the problems created by global warming," J Srinivasan, chairman, Divecha Centre for Climate Change at Indian Institute of Science told IB Times UK.

Additionally, as the Times of India reported earlier this week, a recent study by the Germany-based Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research warned that specific areas [in] India, including highly-populated urban enclaves like Hyderabad, can expect more hot days in the future thanks to the global warming.

If you think the heat wave this year is the worst, prepare for tougher times ahead. Hyderabad is likely to get hotter in the next few years, with the average number of severe heatwave days increasing.

Generally the city suffers a maximum of five heatwave days' in a year. According to experts, this number will go up to as many as 40 days per year in the future. [...]

A heat wave' day is when the temperature is five degrees Celsius or more than the average temperature recorded on that particular day over the last three decades. For example, the temperature recorded on Saturday was 43.6 degrees Celsius against a normal maximum temperature of 39.5 degrees Celsius recorded on the same day in the last few years. According to the Met officials, this is five degrees Celsius more than the normal temperature.

Are Texas Floods a Consequence of Global Warming?

Texas has been hit with almost continuous storms for the past two weeks. The wettest area has been from Dallas-Fort Worth to the Red River, where some places have gotten more than 20 inches of rain in May. More than 35 trillion gallons of rain have fallen in Texas in May setting a record for rainiest month ever. That's enough to cover all of Texas in eight inches of water. President Obama signed a disaster declaration for Texas. More rain fell during the last weekend in May. May set records for wettest month in both Texas and Oklahoma.

Nobody in Texas will even admit that this recent extreme weather might be due to Global Warming. You will never see a TV interview with one of the victims in which global warming is ever mentioned. Major media organizations have managed so far to keep it out of the news altogether. They will cover only the disasters because they are spectacles and people like to gawk. It's the same with murders and riots. However, rational inquiry into the cause of the disasters doesn't sell and doesn't attract viewers; therefore, they don't do it.

Extreme Weather Watch: April 2015 - Tornadoes, Floods Devastate the South.

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

April Showers Turn Violent

As April drew to a close, drenching rain expanded across the Southeast states, bringing the threat of flooding and travel delays. Strong thunderstorms were also a concern for Florida. April has been a particularly wet month across the Southeast due to several slow-moving storms that soaked the region over the past several weeks. Mobile, Alabama, has been one of the wettest cities in the entire country last month from a series of storms - recording over 13 inches of rain. This is nearly three times higher than their normal rainfall for the month. Their ground is saturated leading to the possibility of flooding if any more rain occurs. According to the National Weather Service, there are still dozens of river gauges across the Southeast that are in either minor flood stage or near flood stage.

April started with a bang. Hail as big as baseballs pelted 8 southern states breaking car windshields and causing assorted other damage. There were more than 130 reports of hail. 60 mph winds caused more damage. In April tornadoes were recorded almost every day of the month.

On April 2, the worst rainfall and flooding in Chile's history wiped entire towns off the map and killed 24 with dozens missing. It will cost at least $1.5 billion to rebuild.

April 3 brought a huge flood emergency with millions on high alert for tornadoes in the US. A mother and child in their car were swept away in Kentucky and are still missing. A massive industrial fire in Louisville may have been sparked by lightning. There were more than 160 water rescues. Near Lexington one woman was killed in a campground after a large tree fell on her tent. A tornado touched down in Kansas in a region also pummeled by hail. Wind gusts were up about 60 mph with 2 inch in diameter hail.

April 7: A fast moving storm dumped 3 and a half inches of rain in 40 minutes in the Saint Louis area flooding streets. Hail the size of golf balls saturated some areas. There were mudslides. 5 inches of snow blanketed Michigan. A funnel cloud was seen near Sacramento, CA. Hail near Lodi, CA.

April 8-9: A two-day severe weather episode affected parts of the Great Plains and Midwest. Several EF0 tornadoes occurred on April 8 in the south central part of Kansas, including some to the northwest of Wichita. An EF1 tornado caused moderate damage as it struck the town of Potosi, Missouri that evening as well. Several tornadoes were also reported from Texas to Illinois on April 9. A multiple-vortex EF1 tornado struck the towns of Clinton, Iowa and Fulton, Illinois, and an EF2 tornado near Mount Selman, Texas snapped and uprooted numerous trees, damaged outbuildings, and removed the roof and collapsed a few exterior walls at a frame home.

The most significant event of the outbreak was a violent, long-tracked, very high-end EF4 wedge tornado that moved along a 30.2 mile-long path across several counties in northern Illinois, killing two people and injuring another 22. Hail the size of grapefruits was reported in Kansas and Missouri. 95 million Americans were in the threat zone stretching from the Great Lakes to Texas. Winds up to 70 mph were reported.

April 10: A deadly outbreak of tornadoes. A tornado killed 2 people and left the town of Fairdale, Illinois totally destroyed. There were frantic efforts to save those trapped underground. Buildings were ripped from their foundations and vehicles sailed through the air. The tornado plowed a 50 mile path of destruction a half a mile wide with 200 mph winds. Rochelle, IL also was hit by EF-4 tornado.

April 16: Tornado and severe thunderstorm watch in Texas. Large hail expected. Snow in Denver. Accidents and pile-ups on I-70.

April 17: 10 tornadoes touched down in Texas overnight. I-70 in Denver shut down after 2 semis, a motorhome and 2 busses overturned. At least a dozen people hurt. Another pile-up on I-80 in Wyoming involving more than 40 vehicles including a tanker carrying hazardous material that erupted in flames.

April 18: Several inches of rain in Houston led to flooding. Severe thunderstorms in Wichita and Oklahoma City caused to flash floods.

April 19: Raging wildfire near Los Angeles. Millions in south under threat of severe storms. High winds derailed a freight train in Alabama. Tornado and severe thunderstorm watches throughout the south. Winds up to 60 mph with flash flooding.

April 20: Major east coast cities under tornado watch cross 9 states. Philadelphia, Washington DC and Baltimore among them. 70 mph wind gusts up and down east coast.

April 22: Violent weather threat including tornadoes all the way from Texas to Connecticut. 22 million people at risk.

April 25: A multi-day outbreak of extreme storms blew 18 wheelers on their sides in Louisiana. Tornado warnings and watches were in effect across several southern states. 32 million were at risk for severe storms. Reports of damaging winds, torrential rains, flash flooding and large hail.

April 26: A mile-wide tornado touched down in north-central Texas as a storm system swept through with large hail and damaging winds, the National Weather Service said. The storm knocked out power to more than 60,000 people in Texas, according to online reports compiled from local power companies. Numerous trees were either snapped or uprooted causing downed power lines. Minor damage to barns and outbuildings was recorded. In Johnson County near Dallas at least 50 homes were destroyed. Torrential rain, heavy winds and softball sized hail pummeled the area.

April 27: More than a dozen tornadoes tore through the south over the weekend. Storms pounded the Dallas area tearing apart homes. At least three were killed in a sailboating regatta off the Alabama coast. Three are still missing. 10 boats capsized. 40 people had to be rescued. Thunderstorm winds blew several railroad cars off the Huey P. Long Bridge in Metairie, Louisiana. Major flooding shut down highways and roads. Power was also knocked out at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Wind gusts of up to 71 mph were measured at the airport during the storm.

On April 29 severe storms pummeled parts of eastern Texas with softball-sized hail, damaging winds and tornadoes. A tornado struck Rio Vista, Texas, about 40 miles south of Fort Worth. Local emergency management reported overturned trucks and various building damage, including the local high school. After surveying the area on Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service reported the damaged aligned with an EF0 tornado. Earlier that night, additional tornadoes touched down near Stephenville and Glen Rose, Texas.

On April 30 damaging storms swept through southern Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. Over 60 million people were under threat as high, near hurricane force winds and heavy rain permeated the Gulf Coast. Storms with drenching rain also reached the western part of the Florida panhandle. Elsewhere, the roofs of several homes were damaged in Thibodaux, Louisiana. A tornado was spotted in the area by law enforcement. More than 150,000 Entergy Louisiana customers were without power during the midday hours.

The Thunder Down Under

In Australia four were killed as severe storms lashed New South Wales. An 86-year-old woman was killed in the Central Hunter region when her car was swept into flood waters, police said. Two men and a woman were found dead in Dungog north of Sydney, one of the worst affected areas, where homes have been washed away by flooding. Dungog was among 12 communities declared a natural disaster area by emergency services. Residents in the capital Sydney have been urged to evacuate after days of heavy rain have put more than 200 homes in the south-west of the city under threat from rising river levels.

200,000 homes in the state were left without power. Parts of the region experienced more than one foot of rainfall, wind gusts of more than 60 mph and waves reaching record heights of 50 ft. Mike Baird, the premier of New South Wales said, "To give you a sense of the size and scope - in Dungog ... there's more rain that has come down in the last 24 hours than they have seen in a 24-hour period for the past century."

It's That Old Devil Global Warming Again

Man-made global warming is responsible for about 75% of all hot-temperature extremes worldwide in the past 100 years, according to a study published Monday in the British journal Nature Climate Change. It is also responsible for about 18% of heavy rainfall, the study said. Even worse, climate change will cause higher percentages of extreme weather in future decades. For example, by the middle of this century, if temperatures continue to increase, about 95% of all heat waves — and about 40% of precipitation extremes — will be due to human influence.

Man-made climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil, which release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, warming the globe to levels that cannot be explained by natural variability. The study's scientists used 25 climate computer models to test their theories. Lead author Erich Fischer, a climate scientist at ETH Zurich, a Swiss university, said the models "agree remarkably well on the change in heavy rainfall and hot extremes at the global scale."

"The idea that almost half of heavy rainfall events would not have occurred were it not for climate change is a sobering thought for policymakers seeking to mitigate and adapt to climate change," wrote Peter Stott of the United Kingdom's Hadley Centre in a commentary that accompanied the study.

Governor Brown Toughens California Greenhouse Gas Emission Targets

In an executive order, Brown called for the most aggressive cuts to carbon emissions in North America. The order establishes that California "must cut the pollutants to 40% below 1990 levels by the year 2030, more than a decade after he leaves office," the Los Angeles Times reported.

“California is taking the most aggressive steps to deal with pollution and the effects of climate change,” he told a roaring crowd at a climate-change conference in California.

As Bloomberg notes, in order to achieve this new target, the state will have to "require utilities to get more electricity from low-pollution sources, compel industries to cut smokestack emissions further and encourage greater numbers of cleaner cars on roads." One likely upshot is that California's efforts are going to impact businesses and utilities in other states, making the Golden State's policy a meaningful factor elsewhere in the country.

With alarming reports about water shortages and the state's warmest-ever winter, Brown has successfully folded the issue of the drought into a broader slate of ambitious environmental reforms. But even as he puts together billion-dollar relief packages and labels climate-change opposition "immoral," he does so without explicitly linking the drought to global warming.

Even though reports from agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have refrained from laying the historic drought at the foot of global warming, Brown has used the general sense of crisis to move ahead on climate-change issues. Brown's efforts are not only affecting California, but the rest of the country as well.

Extreme Weather Watch: March 2015

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

Vanuatu is a small island in the Pacific that was effectively wiped out by a Category 5 cyclone. It is emblematic of the plight of small islands at the mercy of global warming. On March 17, Cyclone Pam swept through the Pacific island nation, an archipelago of over 200 islands located in the South Pacific and home to approximately 270,000 people. Packing winds of up to 155 miles per hour, the cyclone caused widespread devastation.

Around 75,000 people were left in need of emergency shelter, and 96 per cent of food crops were destroyed. Since most of Vanuatu's food comes from subsistence farming, there is a disastrous food shortage in the wake of the storm. 95% of homes were destroyed. Tens of thousands of people were left homeless. There is little or no drinking water and people are drinking sea water to stay alive.

There was very little loss of life considering the magnitude of the destruction. That was because buildings there are made of natural materials and not construction grade masonry. Chunks of falling masonry are what actually kills people.

The IPCC 4th assessment report identifies small island states as being the most vulnerable countries of the world to the adverse impacts of climate change. Low-lying coral islands are particularly at risk. Climate change is already affecting Pacific Islands with dramatic revenue loss across sectors such as agriculture, water resources, forestry and tourism.

Boston Sets Record

Boston set a winter record for snowfall with more than 108.6 inches, the snowiest season ever. The previous record was set in the 1995-1996 season. Global warming causes more moisture to be held in the atmosphere from where it can fall to earth in any form of precipitation including snow and hail. Just because it's snow is no indication that there is no global warming going on. Despite the cold and severe winter in the American northeast, data shows that overall the winter of 2014-15 was the warmist on record for planet Earth as a whole.

On March 25, 2015, a round of severe thunderstorms struck portions of the Southern Plains and Ozark Mountains after a surprisingly tornado-free first 24 days of the month. Tornado activity is revving up just after one of the most severe winters on record. There is no rest for the weary.

The storms spawned at least eight tornados – three in northwestern Arkansas, three in northeastern Oklahoma near Tulsa, and at least two in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore – along with at least 178 reports of large hail and 52 reports of strong, damaging winds. Moore, Oklahoma is where an EF5 tornado struck in 2013 killing 24 people and causing $2 billion in property damage.

California Introduces Mandatory Water Restrictions

Gov. Jerry Brown imposed mandatory water restrictions for the first time in California history on residents and businesses but not farming, ordering cities and towns in the drought-ravaged state to reduce usage by 25%.

"We're in a new era," Brown told reporters. "The idea of your nice little green grass getting lots of water every day, that's going to be a thing of the past."

The 25% cut in usage amounts to roughly 1.5 million acre-feet of water (an acre foot of water equals about 325,000 gallons) over the next nine months, state officials said.

"This historic drought demands unprecedented action," Brown told reporters, standing on a patch of dry, brown grass in the Sierra Nevada mountains that is usually blanketed by up to 5 feet of snow.

The traditional snow season ended April 1 with what appears to be the most dismal Sierra Nevada mountain snowpack on record, cementing 2015's status as the fourth drought year in a row and setting the stage for a difficult summer in California and nearby states.

Elsewhere in the World

On March 5 Capracotta, Italy got 100.8 inches of snow. That's over 5 inches per hour for 18 straight hours. This may be a world record for most snow accumulation in a 24 hour period. It's not officially a record yet though because establishing it as a record requires much paperwork and bureaucratese.

From Huffington Post:

"[There is a lot] of discussion and paperwork associated with creating these international evaluation teams (e.g., what countries must be represented, what representatives they recommend, what experts must we have on such a committee and so forth)," Cerveny, the WMO's chief "rapporteur" of weather and climate extremes, told HuffPost in an email. "So, unfortunately, we won't have any decision one way or other for quite sometime."

Flash floods killed at least 38 people inTanzania on March 5 after strong winds and hail battered villages. The floods also destroyed food crops. Several parts of Tanzania have been hit by flash floods at the start of the long rainy season that runs from March to May.

On March 27 the heaviest rainfall in 80 years caused massive flooding in the Atacama region of northern Chile and devastating landslides in Peru. The death toll in Chile currently stands at seven, with 19 others unaccounted for as the military rushed to rescue stranded villagers. Rivers have burst their banks, flooding towns, making roads impassable and forcing miners in Chile, the world's top copper exporter, to suspend operations.

March 6: Fires have been raging in the thousands of years old forests of southern Argentina in Patagonia. The Patagonia forest fires have been called the worst fires in the country’s history.

March 14: A forest fire in Chile threatened the port cities of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, and a state of emergency was declared. Authorities said that more than 4,500 people were evacuated and a further 10,000 may need to be moved. They estimate that about 740 acres of land were affected.

In Australia Cyclone Nathan formed on March 9 in the Coral Sea. Nathan hung around for two weeks dumping huge amounts of water. Torrential downpours brought 4.3 inches to Maningrida and 6 inches to Milingimbi in 24 hours. Accumulations of around 4 to 6 inches were reported across the remote areas of Arnhem Land.

From ThinkProgress:

We may be witnessing the start of the long-awaited jump in global temperatures. There is “a vast and growing body of research,” as Climate Central explained in February. “Humanity is about to experience a historically unprecedented spike in temperatures.”

A March study, “Near-term acceleration in the rate of temperature change,” makes clear that an actual acceleration in the rate of global warming is imminent — with Arctic warming rising a stunning 1°F per decade by the 2020s.

Scientists note that some 90 percent of global heating goes into the oceans — and ocean warming has accelerated in recent years.

Extreme Weather Watch: 2014 Hottest Year on Record

by John Lawrence

It's official: NOAA and NASA have confirmed that 2014 was the hottest year on record. Despite the fact of Arctic cold winters on the US east coast, the average earth surface temperature was the hottest on record. Those cold temperatures were more than made up for elsewhere. The fact that the three hottest years on record are 2014, 2010 and 2005 points in the direction that climate change is indeed a reality, a reality that is only getting worse as time goes on.

The 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1997, a reflection of the relentless planetary warming that scientists say is a consequence of human activity. Climate change deniers have pointed to 1998 as the year they say the earth stopped warming. Despite the fact that 1998 was the hottest year on record up to that point, that record has since been broken ... many times!

Oceans were unusually warm everywhere except Antarctica fueling extreme Pacific ocean storms. Since the year 2000 there have been seven major typhoons in the Phillipines, the country most exposed to deadly storms in the world. These storms have cost between $193 million and $2.86 billion in damages and clean-up each.

The remarkable thing about 2014 is that the heat record did not occur during an El Nino year which is the type of weather system that usually produces heat records. The next time there is an El Nino, records will probably be blown away.

According to the New York Times:

[Scientists] expect the heat to get much worse over coming decades, but already it is killing forests around the world, driving plants and animals to extinction, melting land ice and causing the seas to rise at an accelerating pace.

“It is exceptionally unlikely that we would be witnessing a record year of warmth, during a record-warm decade, during a several decades-long period of warmth that appears to be unrivaled for more than a thousand years, were it not for the rising levels of planet-warming gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels,” Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist at the Pennsylvania State University, said in an email.

As heat records continue to pile up, climate change deniers will have an increasingly tough time explaining their position. Berkely Earth has shown that the rise in average world land temperatures is approximately 1.5 degrees C in the past 250 years, and about 0.9 degrees in the past 50 years.

As a result of recent calculations, many scientists now say that sea levels are likely to rise perhaps three feet by 2100 — an increase that, should it come to pass, would pose a threat to coastal regions the world over. A rise of three feet would inundate low-lying lands in many countries rendering some areas uninhabitable. It would cause coastal flooding of the sort that now happens once or twice a century to occur every few years. It would cause much faster erosion of beaches, barrier islands and marshes. It would contaminate fresh water supplies with salt.

Coastal cities like New York, Miami, London, Cairo, Bangkok, Venice and Shanghai could be inundated. Many areas of the US east coast would be subject to punishing storm surges on a yearly basis. Melting ice in Greenland seems to be accelerating which is an ominous sign because, if Greenland's ice disappears, that alone could raise sea levels worldwide by 20 feet. The fact that 2014 saw seven straight months of record high ocean temperatures from May to November bodes ill for polar glaciers.

Sea levels have varied by hundreds of feet in the past but that was before humans evolved.

With the waxing and waning of ice ages, driven by wobbles in the earth’s orbit, sea level has varied by hundreds of feet, with shorelines moving many miles in either direction. “We’re used to the shoreline being fixed, and it’s not,” said Robin E. Bell, a scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.       

But at all times in the past, when the shoreline migrated, humans either had not evolved yet or consisted of primitive bands of hunter-gatherers who could readily move. By the middle of this century, a projected nine billion people will inhabit the planet, with many millions of them living within a few feet of sea level.

Melting glaciers will also affect the world's fresh water supply.The Himalayas supply water to 1.5 billion of the earth's people through three major rivers: the Indus, the Ganges and the Yangtze. Glaciers in the Andes Mountains supply the Amazon River, and glaciers in the Alps provide the water for the Rhine, the Rhone and the Danube. Shipping across Europe wouldn't be possible without adequate water flows in these rivers.

The drought in California is the worst in over 1200 years. Record wildfires were experienced in Washington State including the largest wildfire in the state's history with 400 square miles of land burned and 300 structures lost. Major floods and hurricanes occurred throughout the world. 2015 promises more of the same.

Will Republicans provide the funds to deal with emergencies that extreme weather events will cause in the next two years while they are controlling Congress and to a large extent the fate of the nation? I don't think so. Adaptation and mitigation will be ignored. The red states stand to lose the most as tornadoes wreak havoc in Tornado Alley. People there may be left to their own devices as Republicans in Congress, climate change deniers all, will also not be very charitable in putting up funds to assist those who have experienced weather related extreme events.

 

Extreme Weather Watch: October 2014 - Drought in Australia and Brazil

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

Australia experienced its second warmest October on record. A number of records were set during the month in particular for the warmest October day on record for Australia as a whole. Nationally-averaged rainfall during October was 59% below the long-term mean which made October 2014 Australia's seventh-driest October on record.

Large parts of Australia continue to be affected by drought. Drier than normal conditions from October to December are forecast for broad areas of Eastern, Central and Northern Coastal areas of Australia. Temperatures over 50C or 120F are forecast as Australia heads into its summer.

Australian farmers are feeling less confident as prices for wool, grains, dairy products and beef go down. A quarter of farmers expect conditions to deteriorate, around 20% expect the performance of their farm business to worsen and 25% expect their farm income to fall.

Bloomberg reports that cotton exports for the world's third largest exporter were cut by 29% as dry conditions lowered yields. The harvest is predicted to total 580,000 metric tons in 2014-2015, compared with a total of 890,000 for last year. That would be the smallest harvest in five years.

A total of 38 shires in Queensland have now been declared as drought zones, the most widespread the state has ever experienced according to Queensland Agriculture Minister John McVeigh. Farmers in drought declared shires are eligible for Queensland's Drought Relief Assistance Scheme, including fodder and water assistance.

In Victoria, farmers affected by drought who have been farming for a minimum of five years can now apply for loans through the Farm Finance Scheme which offers farmers up to $650,000 to refinance their debt.

A farmer from Queensland reported that her family has left their farm after 25 years. "We have no property now, due to drought. We had to walk away from 25 years of farming, taking only our clothes and furniture. Leaving behind all our beautiful cows, farm machinery and a beautiful grazing and cropping property, to be sold up by the bank for best price they could get, at a fire sale. They are still chasing us for an outstanding balance and will bankrupt us at their own leisure."

Extreme Hail and Drought in Brazil

An extreme hail storm hit Lages, Brazil on October 20. A state of emergency was decreed after this intense and rare hailstorm. According to officials, more than 60% of the city was affected. Many people were injured. The large hail - the size of golf balls - destroyed roofs, windows, cars and trees.

The Amazon rainforest has degraded to the point where it is losing its ability to  regulate weather systems, according to a stark new warning from one of Brazil’s leading scientists.

In a new report, Antonio Nobre, researcher in the government’s space institute, Earth System Science Centre, says the logging and burning of the world’s greatest forest might be connected to worsening droughts – such as the one currently plaguing Sao Paulo – and is likely to lead eventually to more extreme weather events.

There is extreme drought in southeastern Brazil. Sao Paulo has had water rationed after usually abundant supplies run dry. Brazil has 12% of the world's freshwater and less than 3% of the world population. Apart from the arid northeastern Cerrado, its cities are normally more likely to be plagued with floods than droughts. With big rivers like the Amazon and Paraná, the country generally meets 80% of energy needs with hydropower.

But this year, the rain fronts that are normally carried south from the humid Amazon have largely failed to materialise and temperatures have been higher than usual, prompting the authorities to scrabble to tap new sources and reduce demand.

Tensions have emerged between cities, and between those who want water for energy and those who need it for drinking, food and sanitation. Sao Paulo has tussled with Rio de Janeiro over the use of the Rio Jaguari, a river that runs across state borders and is used by the latter for hydropower plants and to dilute sewage in the absence of adequate treatment plants. Sao Paulo, which is downstream, has tapped this river to partially recuperate the Paraiba reservoir system despite the protests of its neighbour and admonitions from the federal government.

Global Warming Causing Harsh Winters in Europe and Asia

The risk of severe winters in Europe and northern Asia has been doubled by global warming, according to new research. The counter-intuitive finding is the result of climate change melting the Arctic ice cap and causing new wind patterns that push freezing air and snow southwards.

Severe winters over the last decade have been associated with those years in which the melting of Arctic sea ice was greatest. But the new work is the most comprehensive computer modelling study to date and indicates the frozen winters are being caused by climate change, not simply by natural variations in weather.

“The origin of frequent Eurasian severe winters is global warming,” said Prof Masato Mori, at the University of Tokyo, who led the new research. Climate change is heating the Arctic much faster than lower regions, and the impacts of this are not just a future threat but are happening now. Melting Arctic ice has also been implicated in recent wet summers in the UK.

The new research, published in Nature Geoscience, shows that the increased risk of icy winters will persist for the next few decades. But beyond that continued global warming overwhelms the colder winter weather. The Arctic is expected to be ice-free in late summer by the 2030s, halting the changes to wind patterns, while climate change will continue to increase average temperatures.

Hurricane Gonzalo Makes Direct Hit on Bermuda

The storm made landfall with rain and 110 mph winds. Only minor injuries were reported in what was the strongest storm to hit the island in a decade. It was the second storm in a week to hit the island. Gonzalo caused power outages to 31,200 homes. The hurricane also caused flooding, felled trees and damaged buildings.

Super Typhoon Vongfong

The strongest tropical cyclone of the year, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane affected Japan and one of the U.S. military’s largest concentrations of manpower and firepower on the islands of Kadena and Okinawa. The cyclone had maximum winds of 165 mph.

“It’s safe to say Vongfong is the strongest storm on earth since Haiyan last year,” said Michael Lowry, a storm specialist for The Weather Channel, referring to the super typhoon that killed more than 6,000 people in the Philippines last November. Kadena Air Base — home to 24,000 U.S. and Japanese military personnel and contractors — and the cluster of U.S. bases on Okinawa stocked up on food, water supplies and fuel, the Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said, reporting that ocean waves were as high as 50 feet.

Vongfong was classified as a super typhoon as it moved through an area of low wind shear and very warm ocean temperatures. The tropical system had reached the equivalent strength of a Category 5 hurricane, featuring wind speeds greater than 160 mph.

"Vongfong became the strongest tropical cyclone we've had all year anywhere on Earth," AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Jim Andrews said.

The strength of Vongfong earlier surpassed that of Super Typhoon Genevieve which, at its most powerful, had sustained winds of 160 mph in the West Pacific.

The Associated Press reported that at least 75 people were injured and one killed in Japan as the cyclone brought torrential rain and locally damaging winds to the region.

As the storm moved across Japan, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) took precautions to prevent problems at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

 

Extreme Weather Watch: September 2014 - Fires in CA, Cabo San Lucas Destroyed by Hurricane

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

As many as 6000 firefighters battled blazes in northern California during the month of September. The King Fire, which was deliberately set, devoured nearly 120 square miles of timber and vegetation about 60 miles east of Sacramento. The blaze in steep terrain forced the evacuation of 2800 people and burned multiple structures in the White Meadows area of Pollock Pines. Firefighters dropped record amounts of retardants - more than 203,000 gallons in a single day.

Altogether more than a half-million gallons of retardant were used. The retardant called red slurry is composed of a mixture of water, fertilizer and red dye. Firefighters have used retardant since the 1950s to slow the advance of wildfires, but the practice is controversial because of its potential effect on wildlife. The Forest Service recently adjusted its retardant rules after two lawsuits that alleged the drops were killing fish, damaging watersheds and harming endangered species.

The King fire exploded in a matter of hours into the second-largest in California this year, forcing the closure of California 50 and moving north toward Tahoe National Forest. Officials said it cost $5 million a day to fight the fire. It is the latest in a series of major blazes to roar out of control in vegetation left tinder-dry by California's three-year drought. The fire prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for Eldorado County. The Federal Emergency Management Agency granted a corresponding request for aid that can cover up to 75% of the state's costs to fight the fire.

Around the middle of the month, 150 structures were lost in the logging town of Weed, just west of Mt. Shasta, when a wildfire swept through. 45 mph winds whipped the flames. Tens of millions of dollars will be required to clean up and rebuild. A fire also destroyed 30 homes in Madera County.

Caught in a withering drought, California is also shattering a 120-year-old heat record. For the first half of 2014, the state has been an average of 4.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal, and 1 degree warmer than the previous record set in 1934, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

As of September 18, more than 6600 firefighters were battling 13 major fires in California, and resources have been stretched across the state in an effort to contain more than 200 smaller fires a week and prevent outbreaks like the King fire. The largest fire recorded in the state this year, the 125,788-acre Happy Camp Complex fire near the Oregon state line, has been burning since August 11. 

Starting pay for a firefighter is $11. an hour, a paltry sum for men and women who risk their lives to save millions of dollars of real estate working in temperatures over 100 degrees.

As of September 21, there were 17 fires burning in 5 western states. In the Eldorado National Forest 82,000 acres were burning. 3000 had fled their homes. 30 structures had burned including 10 homes. Fires near Yosemite forced 1000 people to leave their homes.

Hurrican Odile Destroys Cabo San Lucas

Hurricane Odile hit the Baja peninsula with 125 mph winds. The resort town of Cabo San Lucas was destroyed leaving thousands of tourists stranded without electricity, water or food. The category 3 hurricane made the record books as the strongest tropical cyclone on record in Mexico's Baja California peninsula. Room windows at the Westin hotal were blown out; mud and rock blocked the entrance to the Club Regina and workers said the Hilton was seriously damaged.

The newspaper Tribuna de los Cabos reported people being injured by flying glass. Power lines and traffic signals were down throughout the city. Looters ransacked convenience stores, and foreign tourists were left without a way out as Los Cabos International Airport was heavily damaged and roads were rendered impassable by the storm.

Phoenix and Tucson which had been hit earlier in the month by Hurricane Norbert were attacked again by the remnants of Odile. Norbert hit around September 8 and claimed two lives due to flash floods and torrential rains. More than 3 inches of rain fell in one day in Phoenix, far surpassing the previous record set in 1939. Weather officials said Tucson also set a single-day record with 1.26 inches of rain dumped at Tucson International Airport. That broke the record of 0.94 of an inch from 1919.

September 28 brought more torrential rains to Phoenix with 75 mph winds. An inch and a half of rain fell in 30 minutes. In September alone Phoenix received over 5 inches of rain, 10 times the normal average. The rain fell so fast that it did little good for the drought but caused flash floods instead.

Norbert also caused a lot of damage near Las Vegas. Flooding caused about $1.1 million in damage to roads in Nevada's Clark County. The floods also seriously damaged 139 homes in the area.

Then came Odile a week later. Texas was inundated. The Austin area received 5 to 7 inches of rain on September 18. Austin Energy reported about 1,100 customers without power.

Heavy rain also caused flooding in far West Texas, where a portion of Interstate 10 remained closed for several hours and fire crews responded to more than 100 weather-related calls. Forecasters issued a flash flood watch for the El Paso area, where two people were rescued from a swamped vehicle. Some areas of east El Paso received up to 3 inches of rain in an hour.

Severe Flooding in Asia

In the aftermath of the powerful floods that hit Kashmir in early September, the area is in the midst of a health crisis. Much of the region depends on the premier hospitals in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir State, but most were badly damaged by the water. In the aftermath of the floods, people are living in neighborhoods choked by putrid, infectious and in some spots impassable water. Hundreds have died.

September 18 saw massive flooding in Asia due to Typhoon Kalmaegi. Hundreds of students and their teachers were trapped inside a school building in China’s southwestern Yunnan province due to flooding.

On September 19, torrential monsoon rains pelted Manila in the Philippines flooding the capital, leaving at least three people dead and displacing tens of thousands just days after the region was drenched by another typhoon. Authorities said more than 470,000 residents of Metro Manila and other provinces were affected in severely inundated communities. At least 37,000 people in the capital were displaced in one of the worst floods in the sprawling metropolis of 12 million in recent years. 10.5 inches of rain fell on the capital within a 24-hour period.

Also on September 19 the Jhelum River in Kashmir flooded a pediatric hospital leaving newborns without oxygen. Six infants died within 24 hours, said an orderly at the hospital who handed the children’s bodies, wrapped in blankets, to army rescuers through the second-story window. He then handed them 10 more newborns whose skin had turned blue from lack of oxygen. At least five of them later died.

Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the major cause of global warming, increased at their fastest rate in 30 years in 2013, despite warnings from the world’s scientists of the need to cut emissions to halt temperature rises. If the earth is to remain habitable for human beings, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere need to decrease; yet the opposite is happening. Extreme weather is increasing in intensity with every passing month. Right now the US is averaging one billion dollar weather event per month. When the US experiences one such event per week, then maybe the collective consciousness will get serious about doing something about it. That means leaving oil, coal and natural gas in the ground and going to renewable forms of energy as rapidly as solar panels and wind turbines can be manufactured and installed.

Extreme Weather Watch: April 2014 - Tornadoes, Flash Floods Pound US

159 Tornadoes, 35 Deaths as Torrential Rain and Flash Floods Pound East, South and Midwest

by John Lawrence

The last week in April saw extreme weather over as much as half the nation. Over 20 states were affected. In some places a month's worth of rain fell in a day. In New York City there was close to 5 inches of rain in one day. In Pensacola, FL there was over 20 inches of rain in 24 hours, 6 inches in one hour alone, more rain than Los Angeles saw all last year. More rain fell in Pensacola than during Hurricane Ivan. There were nearly 6000 lightning strikes in fifteen minutes. First responders rescued people in boats. Roads and bridges collapsed.

Two trillion gallons of water fell on the south and the east coast in just one day. Flooding was worse than after some hurricanes. Heavy rain led to the collapse of a retaining wall in a Baltimore neighborhood sending cars tumbling 75 feet down an embankment onto railroad tracks. These cars were not covered by insurance as the collapsing embankment was considered an "act of God."  The Schuylkill River in Philadelphia crested higher than after Hurricane Irene and Super Storm Sandy. Philadelphia received more rain in a day than it usually gets in a month. Golf ball sized hail pummeled the country.

Small towns in some states were wiped off the map. A violent high-end EF-4 tornado with winds of 180 - 190 mph tore through Vilonia and Mayflower, AK on April 27, killing 15 people. A whole neighborhood in Vilonia, which was hit by a tornado just 3 years ago, was wiped out. A brand new school costing $14 million was reduced to a pile of rubble.  This tornado was also the widest (3/4 mile) and longest lived (60 minutes) twister of the outbreak. It was on the ground for almost 100 miles.

In Tupelo, MS an EF-3 tornado destroyed an entire business district and sent trees crashing into houses. Peak estimated wind speeds were 150 mph and the path length was at least 24 miles. The tornado lasted over 26 minutes. In Louisville, MS a tornado rated EF-4 with peak estimated wind speeds of 190 mph, a maximum width of 0.75 mile and a path length of 35.5 miles over 56 minutes left 9 dead and a hospital heavily damaged.

But this was not the only extreme weather event in April. On April 4 the National Weather Service reported a number of twisters across several states. More than two feet of rain caused flooding problems for Gulf Coast communities just days after a severe weather outbreak brought multiple tornadoes to Alabama. There were at least 30 water rescues in the Mobile area alone.

Emergency managers say at least 240 homes were damaged or destroyed by the tornadoes and strong storms that swept through Alabama in early April. An update from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency said that damage was reported in 31 of Alabama's 67 counties.

St. Louis, MO residents awoke April 3 to tornado sirens as a cluster of heavy thunderstorms began moving through. A tornado was spotted around 8:16 PM on the ground in St. Louis County near Glendale. About an hour earlier, the agency reported a "damaging" twister with quarter-size hail about 50 miles west near Washington. And a tornado was earlier reported in the Osage County community of Rich Fountain. The weather service confirmed a tornado touched down about an hour before sunrise in the St. Louis suburb of University City, gouging a half-mile-by-100-yard path. The weather service gave the tornado, packing top winds of 112 miles per hour, an initial rating of EF-1.

In the west there were wildfires as Santa Ana winds topped 100 mph in some places including San Diego County and temperatures approached 100 degrees F. There have already been 1000 wildfires in California this year and fire season has barely gotten underway. More than 1600 homes were evacuated in Rancho Cucamonga as a fire charred 2000 acres.

It's not necessary to have actual tornadoes in order to inflict massive damage as high winds, torrential rains and golf ball sized hail, which is increasingly common during thunderstorms, can cause downed tree limbs, roof and gutter damage and busted windows. A forthcoming National Climate Assessment report shows that the top 1% rain events have increased in all regions of the continental US in the past five decades due to climate change.

There have already been three weather disasters this year which will cost over $1 billion:

1) The January 5 - 8 "Polar Vortex" winter weather outbreak, which is estimated to cost $3 billion in damage.

2) The California drought, with $3.6 billion in agricultural damages so far, as estimated by the California Farm Water Coalition.

3) Severe weather outbreak of April 27 - 30, which is estimated to cost over $1 billion in damage.

The return of tornado season with a vengeance has people asking again about a possible link to climate change. At the same time, tantalizing new preliminary research finds “some evidence to suggest that tornadoes are, in fact, getting stronger.”

Tom Karl, the director of the National Climatic Data Center, explained in a 2011 email:

What we can say with confidence is that heavy and extreme precipitation events often associated with thunderstorms and convection are increasing and have been linked to human-induced changes in atmospheric composition.

Extreme Weather Watch: June 2014 - Torrential Rains, Baseball Sized Hail, Massive Midwest Flooding

by John Lawrence

Another Month, Another Couple of Towns Wiped Out by Tornadoes

June 2014 was one of the worst months on record for extreme weather. Tuesday June 3 saw baseball size hail, 100 mph wind gusts and 11 tornadoes in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. In Omaha and Des Moines there were hundreds of reports of hail. Trees toppled on autos. Wind damage was mostly from derecchio winds. Derecchio winds are straight line winds which can be as damaging as tornadoes.

In Blair, Nebraska, officials said nearly every home, as well as any car that was parked outdoors, was damaged. The courthouse alone sustained more than $1.2 million in damage because, after hail shattered windows and skylights, rain penetrated inside. The insurance price tag in Nebraska and western Iowa will soar into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Although a handful of tornadoes were reported, baseball-sized hail and flooding rains left the biggest mark.

Blair resident, Donna Jones, said she saw widespread damage when she went to work Wednesday morning. "Everybody is in a daze," Jones said. "There's not a house that isn't touched." The Woodhouse Auto Family, which owns car dealerships in both Iowa and Nebraska, said on Facebook that about 4,500 vehicles were damaged across their properties. Hoods were dented and windshields were shattered. Company officials Wednesday estimated damages at $162 million. Hail smashed house windows and damaged siding. Police in Blair said 20 people were taken to the hospital with injuries. In several other cities, streets were flooded and trees were knocked down. Power was out.

By Thursday June 5th power outages remained across portions of Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee following strong winds associated with the storms Wednesday night and Thursday morning. More than 6.8 inches of rain fell in two hours early Thursday morning at Centerville, Tennessee, as a flash flood warning was posted for the area.

Omaha, Nebraska, had its wettest June day in history on Tuesday, breaking a 139-year-old record with 5.30 inches of rain and single-handedly wiping out its rainfall deficit for 2014.

By Thursday roof damage was reported in Lindsborg, Kansas, where 90-mph winds were estimated behind an area of decaying thunderstorms. Baseball-size hail was reported in at least two locations in Kansas. The storms then tore across the Ozarks before reintensifying over northeast Arkansas, where at least one building was destroyed by straight-line derecchio winds.

On June 16 tornadoes in Nebraska killed at least one person. 16 others were taken to hospital in critrical condition. At least 2 tornadoes touched down, one a mile wide.

Also on that day there were wildfires near Bakersfield, CA. Gusty winds were not helping. Three and a half square miles burned. Five hundred homes were evacuated.

The Tiny Town Too Tough to Die

On June 18 twin tornadoes ripped through Pilger, Nebraska.There were two EF-4 tornadoes with 200 mph wind speeds. The total devastation belied the town's motto, "The tiny town too tough to die." The rare twin tornadoes wiped out the town's business district, obliterated its fire station and ground 40 or 50 homes into rubble, Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger said. The City Hall, Public Library, Fire Department and Midwest Bank were gone. As much as three quarters of the town of 350 is gone. Two people died during the storm including a five year old girl.

On the same day that Pilger was destroyed, a tornado damaged more than 40 houses and dozens of businesses in Wessington Springs, South Dakota. The same system that brought devastating tornadoes to Pilger, Nebraska and Wessington Springs, South Dakota doused parts of South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Illinois leading to historic flooding in some areas. After a week of heavy rains and rising waters, the floods that have developed in the Midwest had become deadly.

Also on June 18 California banned open burning on 31 million acres. There have been more than 2000 wildfires this year in California, 70% more than average. At the same time temperatures around 100 degrees F were recorded in Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Fire on a Navajo reservation burned 19 square miles on the Arizona and New Mexico border.

In Minnesota a state of emergency was declared in 35 counties on June 19 after days of heavy rain led to widespread flooding. Minneapolis set a record for the wettest June since record keeping began 140 years ago. Homes in over half the counties in the state of Minnesota have been impacted by flooding. In just 8 hours 6 inchs of rain fell in the St Paul/Minneapolis area. More than 25 inches of rain have fallen so far this June in the twin cities area. In Saint Paul the Mississippi River is at 20 feet - 6 feet above flood stage. Rivers will be at flood stage till after the 4th of July and beyond if rain continues to fall. Farm losses in Minnesota are at $7 Million so far. Mudslides threatened a hospital in Saint Paul.

Farm fields are under water, roads have been washed out, dams have failed and water has infiltrated homes from the far north to the far south of Minnesota. Four state parks have been fully or partially closed because of high water. "The damage is really unprecedented and very widespread," Gov. Mark Dayton said before boarding a plane to southern Minnesota along with U.S. Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar.

Damage assessments already total in the millions even before surveying can start in many places soaked by downpours over the past week. Some lakes and rivers swelled to record levels, with others not expected to crest for days, if not weeks.

Record Rainfall, Record Floods, States of Emergency Declared

Gov. Daugaard declared a state of emergency for South Dakota on Tuesday. Daugaard also ordered the opening of the State Emergency Operations Center to monitor the effects of the torrential rains and coordinate the state's response. The Red Cross also opened an emergency shelter to help people who have been evacuated or can't reach their homes because of the flooding. 

Sioux Falls, South Dakota obliterated its previous wettest month on record, 9.42 inches in May 1898, taking only half the month to do it. Through June 21, 13.39 inches of rain had soaked Sioux Falls, which is over half the average yearly precipitation of 26.38 inches. Sioux City, Iowa, broke its wettest month on record Friday, and by Sunday, Sioux City's total had reached 13.25 inches, well above the old single-month record of 11.78 inches in May 1903.

Along the South Dakota-Iowa border, the town of Canton, South Dakota, was hit hard by flooding earlier in the week, and many homes were destroyed.

"I have nothing left. It's all gone," said Canton resident Dale Larson.

Within a 24-hour time span between Monday morning and Tuesday morning (June 22), 8.43 inches of rain was measured in Canton, about 20 miles southeast of Sioux Falls. According to the National Weather Service, this was the third highest 24-hour precipitation total in state history, narrowly missing the all-time record of 8.74 inches on May 6, 2007 in Groton. 

The flooding stretched over the border into western Iowa, where Rock Rapids and Rock Valley have been partially evacuated. In Rock Rapids, about 60 homes have had water waist deep or higher, Mayor Jason Chase said, and many have shifted from their foundations or have damaged basement walls.

"This is the worst I've seen and I've been here since 1997," he said. Several families remain in a Red Cross shelter, Chase said.

Gov. Terry Branstad and Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department Director Mark Schouten surveyed damage in Rock Rapids and Rock Valley on Wednesday.

Rock Valley, about 20 miles southwest of Rock Rapids, requested pumps and sandbagging materials from the state after a levee broke on Tuesday night. The river is receding, but a local shelter still is available for residents needing to leave their homes.

The Big Sioux River set record flood levels at Hawarden and Akron where it peaked Tuesday. A levee also was breached in Akron, causing several residents to be evacuated late Tuesday night and early Wednesday. The city pumped out floodwaters to protect City Hall and other buildings.

Downstream, the Omaha Public Power District said it will reduce power as it prepares for rising water on the Missouri River. The district's Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant sits about 20 miles north of Omaha, and was surrounded by water during flooding three years ago.

In southern Wisconsin, a line of thunderstorms that spawned twisters rolled through late Monday and early Tuesday. The town of Madison was hit hard. Mayor Paul Soglin said about 25 homes were damaged by the storm, which caused about $10 million in damages.

The National Weather Service said it appeared a tornado touched down and lifted several times in the Mineral Point and Verona areas. At least 19 homes in Verona, near Madison, were damaged so badly they were uninhabitable. The weather service said two tornadoes touched down in Plateville.

Some parts of the Midwest — including parts of Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Nebraska — received 5 to 10 inches of rain over the course of a week, an amount that’s the equivalent of two months of rainfall in the region. In Minnesota, the rain caused mudslides and forced evacuations.

“Right now what we’re seeing is a statewide disaster, really,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said Sunday. “From International Falls on the Canadian border down to Luverne on the Iowa border, it really covered the whole state.”

The rain has damaged corn and soybean crops, according to local reports, with water slow to drain from farmers’ fields. If farmers can get the water off their crops over the next few days, the crops could survive, and soybeans can be replanted this late in the season. The rains also elevated river levels, which could temporarily halt grain shipments in the region.

As rains soak the Midwest, California is parched, with 100 percent of the state in the most severe stages of drought. California Gov. Jerry Brown linked the state’s epic drought and ramped-up wildfire season to climate change last month, saying that the severe weather patterns prove that “humanity is on a collision course with nature.”

Science has shown that climate change will exacerbate — and likely already is exacerbating — heavy rainfall and drought conditions throughout the U.S. These events are sometimes sequential: long periods of drought can be followed by torrential downpours, making it difficult for the parched soil to absorb the rain and leading to flooding.

As the month ended, the midwest was continuing to experience more torrential rain, flooding, damaging winds, tornadoes and hail. The worst was not over.

 

Extreme Weather Watch: August 2014 - Southwest US May Face Megadrought

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

Three new studies do not bode well for the future of the American southwest. California is in the midst of the worst drought in recorded history. However, this may be just the beginning. There have been megadroughts before. And scientists are now 99.99% certain that climactic changes responsible for this extreme weather condition are caused by human activity which spews greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

And as the drought continues in California, record amounts of groundwater are being pumped by corporations which are bottling and selling it in other states. Due to crippling drought in California, there’s been a crackdown on watering lawns and washing cars. Yet Nestle has continued its bottling operations, adding to the national debate over corporate right and common good.

Farmers in the Central Valley are also pumping record amounts to make up for the lack of water from above ground sources. Recently a bill was passed which Governor Jerry Brown is expected to pass regulating groundwater for the first time.

California's groundwater provides approximately 30 to 46 percent of the State's total water supply, depending on wet or dry years, and serves as a critical buffer against drought and climate change.  Some communities in California are 100 percent reliant upon groundwater for urban and agricultural use. So much water is being pumped from the ground in parched California that the land is sinking, according to scientists.

From Science Daily:

Due to global warming, scientists say, the chances of the southwestern United States experiencing a decade long drought is at least 50 percent, and the chances of a “megadrought” – one that lasts over 30 years – ranges from 20 to 50 percent over the next century.

The study by Cornell University, University of Arizona and U.S. Geological Survey researchers will be published in a forthcoming issue of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate.

“For the southwestern U.S., I’m not optimistic about avoiding real megadroughts,” said Toby Ault, Cornell assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and lead author of the paper. “As we add greenhouse gases into the atmosphere – and we haven’t put the brakes on stopping this – we are weighting the dice for megadrought conditions.”

As of mid-August, most of California sits in a D4 “exceptional drought,” which is in the most severe category. Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas also loiter between moderate and exceptional drought. Ault says climatologists don’t know whether the severe western and southwestern drought will continue, but he said, “With ongoing climate change, this is a glimpse of things to come. It’s a preview of our future.”

Ault said that the West and Southwest must look for mitigation strategies to cope with looming long-drought scenarios. “This will be worse than anything seen during the last 2,000 years and would pose unprecedented challenges to water resources in the region,” he said.

In computer models, while California, Arizona and New Mexico will likely face drought, the researchers show the chances for drought in parts of Washington, Montana and Idaho may decrease.

Beyond the United States, southern Africa, Australia and the Amazon basin are also vulnerable to the possibility of a megadrought. With increases in temperatures, drought severity will likely worsen, “implying that our results should be viewed as conservative,” the study reports.

“These results help us take the long view of future drought risk in the Southwest – and the picture is not pretty. We hope this opens up new discussions about how to best use and conserve the precious water that we have,” said Julia Cole, UA professor of geosciences and of atmospheric sciences.

The study, “Assessing the Risk of Persistent Drought Using Climate Model Simulations and Paleoclimate Data,” was also co-authored by Julia E. Cole, David M. Meko and Jonathan T. Overpeck of University of Arizona; and Gregory T. Pederson of the U.S. Geological Survey.

From the University of Arizona:

A new study has revealed a previously unknown multi-decade drought period in the second century A.D. The findings give evidence that extended periods of aridity have occurred at intervals throughout our past. Almost 900 years ago, in the mid-12th century, the southwestern U.S. was in the middle of a multi-decade megadrought. It was the most recent extended period of severe drought known for this region. But it was not the first. The second century A.D. saw an extended dry period of more than 100 years characterized by a multi-decade drought lasting nearly 50 years, according to the study.

And from Daily Kos:

A new study has calculated that the chances that  humans are causing global warming is 99.999%.

New study finds 99.999 percent certainty humans are causing global warming

By Philip Kokic, Mark Howden, and Steven Crimp

There is less than 1 chance in 100,000 that global average temperature over the past 60 years would have been as high without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, our new research shows.

Published in the journal Climate Risk Management today, our research is the first to quantify the probability of historical changes in global temperatures and examines the links to greenhouse gas emissions using rigorous statistical techniques.

Our new CSIRO work provides an objective assessment linking global temperature increases to human activity, which points to a close to certain probability exceeding 99.999%.

Also check out ThinkProgress: Global Warming Boosts Chances of Civilization-Threatening Megadroughts Here And Abroad

Extreme Weather Watch: July 2014 - Record Flames, Record Drought

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

On the last day of July in California, Exceptional Drought - the highest category of drought - which covered 36% of the state the previous week, covered 58% of the state as August began. With water reserves being at all time lows, a water main broke in LA spewing 20 million gallons of water into the UCLA campus, submerging 400 cars in an underground parking structure and flooding Pauley Pavillion so bad that a new floor has to be put in. How ironic such a massive waste of water happened right in the middle of a colossal drought. But it goes to show how America's infrastructure problems are related to climate change. If the hundred year old pipes had been replaced on a timely basis, this waste of water would not have happened much less the financial losses due to the flooding of cars and campus.

Negligence of infrastructure repair combined with exceptional lack of water led to a scenario where precious water resources were not only wasted, but did millions of dollars of damages in the process of being wasted. But do you suppose any lesson has been learned from this? Are they going to start replacing hundred year old water mains? I doubt it. They're begging the question of even more water wasting as the situation gets even more dire. And Homeowner's Associations are fining people who are not keeping their grass green enough, another major waste of water. California's major reservoirs are now below 50% capacity. People are continuing to waste water in California. In fact water usage is up 1% despite Governor Jerry Brown's call for water conservation.

The last week of July saw a huge wildfire in Yosemite Park, one of over 200 fires in California alone. On July 27 the Sand fire destroyed 13 homes and 51 other structures and forced hundreds of evacuations in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Fire fighting is now a year round event. It costs a ton of money probably more than $1 billion this year. A DC-10 dropping one load of retardent costs $60,000. This year California's drought will cost the state $2.2 billion from lost sales of agricultural products among other things.

Dry snowpack is not the state's only worry. California has suffered from a lack of rain, with many areas ending 2013 with the lowest rainfall amounts on record. According to the Department of Water Resources, Gasquet Ranger Station in Del Norte County—which is normally one of California's wettest spots with an average annual rainfall of nearly 100 inches—only received 43.46 inches last year.  Sacramento ended the year with 5.74 inches of rain, vastly lower than the normal 18 inches the region usually receives.  Downtown Los Angeles set an all-time low with just 3.4 inches of rainfall.  The city’s average is 14.74 and the previous record low was 4.08 set in 1953.

Nationwide this year there have been more than 32,000 wildfires. 1.6 million acres have burned mainly in the west. Fire fighters call this the front lines of climate change. As water resources dwindle, more water is needed to fight fires because the state is a virtual tinderbox.

As of July 20 a complex of fires in north-central Washington had burned about 467 square miles — more than four times the size of Seattle — making it the largest wildfire in the state since record-keeping started. The fire was started by lightning. The Carlton Complex fires destroyed about 300 homes. Officials were concerned that lightning could spark new fires in the parched region, and that the precipitation could lead to flash floods because so much ground vegetation has been lost. Evacuees were told they would be without water and power for at least a month. The community of Alta Lake lost 52 homes while the town of Pateros lost 30 homes.

Two other major fires  burned in north-central Washington. The Chiwaukum Complex near Leavenworth burned 12,225 acres and had 1,000 firefighters on the scene. The Mills Canyon fire burned 22,571 acres. Altogether there were over ten additional wildfires.

President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Washington state because of the fires. The declaration authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to coordinate disaster relief and help state and local agencies with equipment and resources. "These additional resources will significantly help our efforts to restore power to thousands of people affected by these fires," Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee said. "I appreciate his prompt response and partnership in helping our state." Inslee declared a state of emergency on July 15 in the 20 counties of eastern Washington as a result of wildfires.

The governor also requested additional federal resources, including assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help with assessment, planning and installation of emergency power generators to restore power to facilities critical to the well-being of fire-damaged communities.  These include water and wastewater treatment systems and other municipal facilities.

In Oregon lightning was the suspected cause of the fires that popped up after a thunderstorm with abundant lightning passed through Central Oregon near the end of July. Lightning sparked dozens of major wildfires across Central Oregon. As many as 3000 lightning strikes started several dozen fires. Thousands of firefighters struggle against 11 major wildfires in the state.

On July 19 a powerful typhoon left 60 people dead in the Phillipines and millions without power. Typhoon Rammasun caused more than 530,000 people to take refuge in evacuation centres. Many of those who died were killed while outdoors by falling trees and flying debris.

Two were killed by lightning in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and two dozen injured. Nationwide in an hour's time on July 13th there were 22,000 lightning strikes. Since 2006 there have been 270 deaths from lightning strikes.

In the northeast damaging winds, hail, thunderstorms and torrential downpours averaging one inch an hour in some places affected some 37 million people around the middle of the month. It took three hours to get over the George Washington Bridge into New York City.

Late in the month 100 million people were in the track of a storm from Illinois to Massachusetts involving huge hail, thunderstorms, lightning strikes and damaging winds. Multiple states were under tornado watches. A tornado touched down in central Connecticut. Trees and power lines were down. There was flash flooding in Worcester, Massachusetts. People in 18 states were bracing for the threat of dangerous storms.

An EF-1 tornado with 100 mph winds tore through the Cherrystone campground in Virginia. It was one of the deadliest tornadoes in Virgina history killing two people. 35 others were injured, some critically, including children. The first tornado ever recorded in Revere, Massachusettts near Boston touched down on July 28. An EF-3 tornado destroyed 10 homes in Tennesee with winds reaching 140 mph.

Elsewhere, a person was killed by a lightning strike on Venice Beach, CA which rarely if ever has happened. It was southern California's first lightning fatality in 5 years. In the US 16 people have died from lightning strikes so far this year. The weather is getting freakier and freakier.