Oh wow. This was published in the October 28 issue of NYMag.

Sometime tomorrow, a storm surge from Hurricane Sandy is expected to race through New York Harbor, flooding streets, low-lying areas, and likely the subway tunnels. One 2011 state report suggests that a coastal storm flooding large swathes of the subway system in less than an hour could cost up to $58 billion in economic damages (and lost revenue) and — more disturbingly for the general population —  leave New York public transit system out of commission for up to a month. The man who wrote that section of the report is Dr. Klaus H. Jacob, a climate scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. He told Daily Intel that such a scenario may be just around the corner. “If [Sandy] arrives at the high tide, then what we will have Monday late evening will come close to the scenario that is described in that report,” he said. (A full moon is expected at 7:49 p.m. tomorrow, meaning high high tides.) “If it is off by a few hours, then I think we will see some subway flooding but not the full scenario.”

It is about time.

Coverage of climate change from television news outlets has dropped precipitously since 2009. And during the lead-up and arrival of Superstorm Sandy, the climate connection to extreme weather was conspicuously absent.

But as broadcast journalists transition from tracking Superstorm Sandy to covering its aftermath, some television outlets are starting to explore the role of climate change in more detail. Starting yesterday afternoon, there was an increase in climate-related stories, with extensive segments appearing on Al Jazeera, Current TV, MSNBC, and NBC. (via Watch: Television News Starts Covering The Link Between Climate Change And Superstorm Sandy | ThinkProgress)

It’s one of those “long slow soaking rain” mornings here, which makes me think of this post from last year. I’m also mindful of folks in the Midwest, experiencing a drought.

A “super derecho” of violent thunderstorms left a more than 700-mile trail of destruction across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic on Friday, cutting power to millions and killing eleven people. More than 450 damaging wind reports were received by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) as the derecho took roughly 12 hours to race from northern Indiana to the southern mid-Atlantic coast. A derecho is defined as a widespread and long-lived wind storm that accompanies rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. The most severe derechos are given the adjective “super.” (via Intense Storms Called a “Derecho” Slam 700 Miles of the US)

When are people going to accept the evidence for climate change?

inothernews:

Yesterday, no fewer than 95 tornadoes across nine states were reported to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which tracks storms across the U.S.  To put that in context, consider this from the New York Times: “The storm systems stretched from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes and were so wide that an estimated 34 million people were at risk for severe weather… At one point, the storms were coming so fast that as many as four million people were within 25 miles of a tornado.”

icancstructures: