• Ocean

Sea Walls Are No Match For Severe Storms Made Worse By Climate Change

• #HurricaneIsaias
• climate change
• jettie
• mangroves
• natural defenses
• salt marshes
• sea level rise
• sea wall
• severe storms

Hurricane Isaias, while only a category 1 (low strength) storm, caused great damage along the coast of the Carolinas and inland up the I-95 corridor, with several people killed, leaving nearly 3 million people without power, and causing widespread flooding necessitating water rescues up the Eastern seaboard all the way from Myrtle Beach, SC to Philadelphia, CNN reported last night. 

Why This Matters:  Sea level rise and coastal flooding are some of today’s toughest climate challenges.  While the gut instinct may be to “build that wall,” in the case of the ocean, walls and other “hardened” structures only make matters worse.

• Weather

NOAA Announces Plan to Significantly Upgrade Supercomputing Capacity for Weather Modeling

• climate change
• models
• severe storms
• supercomputers
• superstorm Sandy
• weather forecasting

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced late last week that it will triple its operational weather and climate supercomputing capacity, and double its storage and interconnect speed, thanks to the installation of a pair of new Cray systems in Manassas, Virginia and Phoenix, Arizona in the next two years.

Why This Matters:  The National Weather Service’s dedicated forecasters and NOAA’s weather satellites provide a great service to the country in terms of reliable daily and weekly forecasts at bargain-basement prices.

• Weather

Hurricane Force Winds Batter the U.K. and Europe, Planes Set Speed Records From U.S. to U.K.

• air travel
• bomb cyclone
• climate change
• severe storms
• weather

Storm Ciara battered the U.K. and northern Europe with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains Sunday, grounding thousands of flights and canceling trains across the continent, and producing heaving seas that closed down ports — even the English Premier League had to cancel games as authorities urged millions of people to avoid the outdoors due to falling trees and downed power lines.

Why This Matters:  Severe travel disruptions, power outages, coastal flooding and weather damage to cars and property, and yes, even soccer (or football as they say there) games had to be canceled.

• Weather

One Safety Thing: Heed the Warnings of Strong Storms

• extreme weather
• severe storms
• tornados
• warnings

Our favorite local National Weather Service forecast office tweeted out this important message on Saturday when a strong line of storms ripped through central Alabama.  With extreme and severe weather becoming the new normal, the National Weather Service and local emergency managers’ warnings are more important than ever.  Lives are at stake.  This forecast office […]

• Weather

Hurricane Forecast Update: More Hurricanes Likely

• Climate Prediction Center
• El Nino
• hurricane
• National Hurricane Center
• NOAA
• severe storms
• storm surge

The Associated Press reported that as the “peak” of hurricane season begins they are now expecting 10 to 17 named storms, with five to nine hurricanes and two to four major ones, up from their May forecast of one or two fewer named storms and hurricanes.

• Weather

Hurricane Season Begins With Disturbance In Gulf of Mexico

• Climate Prediction Center
• damage
• Flooding
• forecast
• hurricane
• NOAA
• outlook
• rain
• severe storms

Hurricane Season in the Atlantic officially began last Saturday, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting a “near normal” year with nine to fifteen named storms, of which four to eight may strengthen to become hurricanes. Of those, two to four could be major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.  The Pacific hurricane forecast is calling for an above-normal season for both the eastern and central Pacific regions.