As sea levels rise and storms become more volatile, some areas are actually reducing their standards for building codes. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety released their 2018 report. The analysis assesses the progress of 18 hurricane-prone coastal states along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast in strengthening their residential building […]
Category Archives: Environment
Buyer Beware: Flood and Storm Damage
Floridians: You’re At Risk of Flooding
If you purchase real estate in a flood plain and obtain a mortgage, you will be required to purchase flood insurance. Roy Wright oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program. In a presentation to the Insurance-& Risk-Linked Securities Conference, Wright said to forget about checking the flood plain maps and check […]
San Francisco Bay’s Double Whammy
by Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee Coastal communities are being forced to adapt to rising sea levels; however, San Francisco has an even bigger problem — sinking land. In a report published in Science Advances (07 Mar 2018: Vol. 4, no. 3, eaap9234 / DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aap9234), the Bay Area has to face both rising sea […]
Climate Denial and Climate Change Change
The North Pole saw record high temperatures for February during 2018. Reuters reported: Temperatures may have soared as high as 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) at the pole, according to the U.S. Global Forecast System model. While there are no direct measurements of temperature there, Zack Labe, a climate scientist working on his PhD […]
Underwater: Sea Level Rise
In a recent study by Matthias Mengel, Alexander Nauels, Joeri Rogelj & Carl-Friedrich Schleussner entitled “Committed sea-level rise under the Paris Agreement and the legacy of delayed mitigation action” published in the Journal Nature, the authors contend — sea levels will rise between 0.7 and 1.2 meters (27-47 inches) in the next two centuries even […]
Climate Science Special Report: Human Induced
The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), Volume I has determined that climate change is being unduly accelerated by human activities. The report is an authoritative assessment of the science of climate change, with a focus on the United States. It represents the first of two volumes of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, mandated by the […]
New York City Sues Oil Companies Over Climate Change
The most likely force to cause a change in climate change is money. New York City is filing a law suit against five major oil companies (BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell), claiming they have contributed to global warming. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city will seek billions of dollars in […]
Climate Disasters Made for Costliest Year
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports: 2017 will be remembered as a year of extremes for the U.S. as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, drought, fires and freezes claimed hundreds of lives and visited economic hardship upon the nation. Recovery from the ravages of three major Atlantic hurricanes making landfall in the U.S. and an […]
2017 3rd Warmest Year
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports: The average U.S. temperature in 2017 was 54.6 degrees F (2.6 degrees F above average), making 2017 third warmest year in 123 years of record-keeping, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. In fact, the five warmest years on record for the U.S. all […]
Bomb Cyclone: Extreme Weather Events
“‘Bomb cyclone’ blasting East Coast before polar vortex uncorks tremendous cold late this week. The most severe winter weather yet will assault the area late this week.” — washingtonpost.com (January 3, 2018) The bomb cyclone blizzard was a 1,000 mile wide Nor’easter classified as a “bomb cyclone” because of its sharp drop in atmospheric pressure. […]