The already changed climate is making itself felt. In New Jersey and New York, the seas that have risen about 11 inches inundated areas previous thought to be well outside flood areas. Insurance costs are rising. Homes once outside flood zones are now in them, as the new Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps of New York City doubled the number of residential and commercial buildings in flood areas, and the latest maps don't even include all areas flooded by Sandy.
In Texas, record heat and drought (climate models years ago predicted increased drought in Texas) are taking a toll. For example, the New York Times reports that a beef processing plant will close, because the drought makes it impossible to keep an adequate regional cattle herd.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/us/drought-fells-a-texas-towns-biggest-employer.html?_r=0.
The plant had operated for "generations," and its closing will kill a $55 million annual payroll and 2,300 jobs.
In New Jersey, an electric utility is investing $3.9 billion to harden the grid from extreme storms and rising seas, concluding that stronger storms are the new normal. Paying $3.9 billion for a harden grid is expensive but a better option than sitting in the dark and cold for days, weeks, and months.
From Texas to New Jersey, the already changed climate is making itself felt.
Ah! Now I get it! Hadn't seen this post before. The "already changed climate"! Alarum! Good grief, sir, have you not read of the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, nor of the Dust Bowl of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas in the 1930's?
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm tired of "ideological junk."
Is climate science ideological junk? Atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is up from 275 ppm to 396 ppm in 200 years. Carbon dioxide traps heat. No surprise then that temperatures are up nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit; seas are up 8 to 11 inches; and frost season is down.
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