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By Natasha Lasky, ODP Contributing Writer The Copernicus Climate Change Service announced that last month was the warmest September on record for the United States and Europe, surpassing the record set a year ago. They also found that Northern Siberia, Western Australia, the Middle East, and parts of South America had hotter-than-average Septembers. According to […]
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This year has seen many bad records broken when it comes to climate-driven severe weather. We are now several letters into the Greek alphabet for storm names having reached this point (23 so far) for only the second time since storm names began.
Why This Matters: The number of storms is not just a fun fact — it is devastating for tens of thousands of people.
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Hurricane Sally finally slammed onshore along the Alabama-Florida border early yesterday morning after more than a day picking up moisture over the Gulf of Mexico.
Why This Matters: Severe storms like hurricanes Sally, Dorian, and Harvey, but even thunderstorms, are becoming wetter, more intense, have longer staying power, and are harder to predict.
Continue Reading 633 wordsHurricane Sally, now a category 2 storm (winds at 110 mph) has slowed and intensified in the last 24 hours, with landfall now shifting to the east (fortunately away from New Orleans), but crawling toward the Eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida Panhandle coastline with its high winds whipping the shore, the storm surge and huge rainfall amounts are expected to last for the next 36 hours.
Why This Matters: As President Trump denies the science, which he literally did today in California, the Gulf Coast gets ready for rainfall totals measured in feet not inches.
Continue Reading 492 wordsThe COVID pandemic makes much more challenging all the issues surrounding the evacuation, response, and rebuilding of the areas of Louisiana and Texas hit hard by Hurricane Laura. As National Public Radio explains, many families are now essentially homeless because their houses were ruined by the storm and they lack running water and electricity.
Why This Matters: 67,000 people have already registered for Federal disaster assistance but it will not get better any time soon for those hit hardest by the storm.
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In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, more than 400 pipelines and 100 drilling platforms were damaged by the storms and 540 separate oil spills were reported in Louisiana waters. As NOLA.com reported, Nine days after the storm, oil could still be seen leaking from toppled storage tanks, broken pipelines and sunken boats between […]
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