Places becoming less livable

[sidd]

I feel for the people in Bhubaneshwar. I visited there forawhile in summer two score and more years ago, nice town then, hot enuf, but nowhere near conditions today. Cyclones do hit around there too, I remember being in one near Calcutta in the seventies, which took a severe toll on Bhubaneshwar. Another time i caught the Coromandel express down the coast, nice ride, pretty country at least back then, but apparently better done in winter (ha!) these days.

Sea level rise will hit hard around there.

[Laurent]

They have a problem... we have it too !
I found that misery index, very interesting to visualize the wet bulb.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=misery_index/orthographic=-281.23,22.06,2070/loc=85.318,20.527

[Sigmetnow]

I've driven through many such places, where the narrow valley between two steep mountainsides leaves barely enough width for the road and a small house.  And the driveway is a tiny bridge over a "creek" that runs through the valley.

Why the W.Va. floods were so deadly and destructive

Steep mountains, narrow valleys and a deadly train of storms came together in West Virginia  to cause the horrendous flooding that killed 23 people last week, forced thousands to evacuate and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes and businesses.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2016/06/27/west-virginia-floods-storm-train/86429020/

[oren]

More from the same source:

The vicious line of storms dumped "one-in-1,000-year" amounts on the state last week. This "train track" formed last Thursday along a weather boundary between cooler air to the northeast and moist, warm air to the southeast, said weather service meteorologist Dave Wert of the Blacksburg, Va., office.

Some spots picked up more than a foot of rain in only a few hours. That amount of rain in such a short amount of time is something expected once in 1,000 years, the weather service said.

As if the 100-year events all over the globe aren't enough.

[Sigmetnow]

The July 4 weekend is usually a big beach and boating holiday in the U.S..  But not this year, in parts of Florida.

Video: 
"State of Emergency Declared as Algae Blooms Invade Florida Waterways

The release of millions of gallons of water with blue-green algae is shutting down some of the nation's most beautiful beaches, and spoiling miles and miles of other Florida waterways."
http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/state-of-emergency-declared-as-algae-blooms-invade-florida-waterways-716336195893

More here:
https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,471.msg70727.html#msg70727

[Neven]

Looks like a good destination for the Inhofe family.

[Sigmetnow]

“What do you do if and when the water is up so high you can’t provide services – when do you stop charging taxes?  If your house is underwater, can you stop paying taxes on it?”

Water world: rising tides close in on Trump, the climate change denier

In 30 years, the grounds of Mar-a-Lago could be under at least a foot of water for 210 days a year because of tidal flooding along the intracoastal water way, with the water rising past some of the cottages and bungalows, the analysis by Coastal Risk Consulting found.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/06/donald-trump-climate-change-florida-resort

[Sigmetnow]

Brief article, but don't miss the comments discussing the option of building a sea wall around Florida (and grouting the heck out of the limestone base).  Funny/satirical.

Miami’s plan to deal with climate change: Make developers pay up

According to the Miami New Times, four county commissioners have proposed placing “impact fees” on developers who build in environmentally sensitive areas.

http://grist.org/article/miamis-plan-to-deal-with-climate-change-make-developers-pay-up/

[Sigmetnow]

Climate change: Advisers warn of climate change domino effect

In a 2,000-page report, the Climate Change Committee says flooding will destroy bridges - wrecking electricity, gas and IT connections carried on them.

The committee also warns that poor farming means the most fertile soils will be badly degraded by mid-century.

And heat-related deaths among the elderly will triple to 7,000 a year by the 2050s as summer temperatures rise.

The UK is not prepared, the committee says, for the risks posed by climate change from flooding and changing coasts, heatwaves, water shortages, ecosystem damage and shocks to the global food system.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36765925

[Shared Humanity]

To be fair, it's not just the U.K. Nobody is prepared.

[Sigmetnow]

Entire Town of Arborfield, Saskatchewan, Evacuated After Floodwaters Breach 'Hold Back Road'
https://www.wunderground.com/news/arborfield-saskatchewan-flooding

[Sigmetnow]

See Reply #157 above....

Emails Show Some Florida Building Officials Still in Denial About Climate Change
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/emails-show-some-florida-building-officials-still-in-denial-about-climate-change-8600355

[JimD]

From weatherundedrground.

Very interesting historical placement of the current huge floods in China.  And a comparison to other weather disasters of the last couple of decades.

A historic flood event continues in China, where torrential monsoon rains along the Yangtze River Valley in central and eastern China since early summer have killed 237 people, left 93 people missing, and caused at least $22 billion in damage, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said on Thursday. According to the International Disaster database, EM-DAT, this would make the 2016 floods China's second most expensive weather-related natural disaster in history, and Earth's fifth most expensive non-U.S. weather-related disaster ever recorded. Only China's 1998 floods, with a price tag of $44 billion (2016 dollars), were more damaging than the 2016 floods. ...Some 147,200 houses have been destroyed by this summer's floods in China, and over 21,000 square miles of farmland had been inundated--an area the size of Massachusetts and Vermont combined. An additional $1.3 billion in flood damage from Typhoon Nepartak occurred in China in July...........

....More damaging flooding to come this summer in China
The flooding damage in China is likely to grow this month, as new rounds of torrential monsoon rains hit the nation in the coming weeks. "Although the water levels in middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are slowly dropping, most are still above warning levels," Zhang Jiatuan, a spokesperson for the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, told reporters on Thursday. He said the situation was "still quite critical" as central and eastern parts of China are expected to see a fresh round of heavy rain over the days to come. The latest precipitation forecast from the GFS model predicts a wide swath of 12+" of rain will fall over much of the flood-affected area over through the end of July (Figure 6.)

https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/earths-5th-costliest-nonus-weather-disaster-on-record-chinas-22

[Sigmetnow]

Living Shorelines: A Shield Against Rising Seas

Today, 14 percent of U.S. coastline is rimmed by concrete. The specter of rising seas will prompt the construction of even more expensive and obtrusive manmade barriers, like the embankment planned for Lower Manhattan. In an effort to cut costs and preserve ecosystems, the Army Corps of Engineers is looking to expedite the approval of living shorelines, making it easier to develop natural structures able to fend off storm surges.

https://nexusmedianews.com/living-shorelines-guard-coastal-communities-47ba1f5d169e

[Sigmetnow]

U.S.:  100-Degree Days (37.8°C) Are More Common Than You Think
Geographical location, elevation and humidity are factors that can contribute to triple-digit heat in the U.S.
https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/hot-temperature-100-degree-summer

[Sigmetnow]

Soaring Temperatures Will Make It Too Hot to Work, UN Warns

Searing temperatures caused by climate change may cost global economies more than $2 trillion by 2030, restricting working hours in some of the poorest parts of the world, according to United Nations research.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-19/soaring-temperatures-will-make-it-too-hot-to-work-un-warns

[Sigmetnow]

New kinds of precautions are needed to avoid tragedy in extreme heat.

South Bend, Indiana:
14 dogs die in Roseland when truck's air conditioning fails
Handler had brought golden retrievers for local AKC show
https://www.google.com/amp/www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/dogs-die-in-roseland-when-truck-s-air-conditioning-fails/article_598223e1-b036-5fa8-9091-f723758ad226.amp.html

[Shared Humanity]

New kinds of precautions are needed to avoid tragedy in extreme heat.

South Bend, Indiana:
14 dogs die in Roseland when truck's air conditioning fails
Handler had brought golden retrievers for local AKC show
https://www.google.com/amp/www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/dogs-die-in-roseland-when-truck-s-air-conditioning-fails/article_598223e1-b036-5fa8-9091-f723758ad226.amp.html

A far to vivid example of the "Dog Days".

[JimD]

129F (54C) two days in a row.  That's cooking.

https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/eastern-hemispheres-alltime-temperature-record-kuwait-fries-in-54

[Sigmetnow]

Howard Glaser:  How it feels in NY today: ”
https://twitter.com/hglaser1/status/757267848301608960

[Laurent]

Don't know the place, don't want to live there around 56°c (Misery index) in US...
https://earth.nullschool.net/#2016/07/24/2100Z/wind/surface/level/overlay=misery_index/orthographic=-94.80,36.69,1257/loc=-92.419,36.464

[Tor Bejnar]

close by:

36.44° N, 92.52° W✕
260° @ 3 km/h
57.4 °C (feels like)

image from Google Maps (location may have shifted a spot)

[Sigmetnow]

How did we survive before air conditioning?  Perhaps we were smarter then.

How air-conditioning made America — and how it could break us all

The environmental and social costs of AC

AC comes with a host of problems. It is undoubtedly true that air-conditioning saves lives, especially among vulnerable populations like the elderly, but it also comes at a high price — and not just when it comes to your electric bill.

http://grist.org/food/how-air-conditioning-made-america-and-how-it-could-break-us-all/

[Sigmetnow]

In Alaska's Remote Towns, Climate Change Is Already Leaving Many Hungry

Warmer winters, early springs, a shift in typical storm patterns has hampered the ability of Native Alaskan families like Gologergen’s to harvest the subsistence foods they’ve relied on for more than a millennium. The debate here isn’t over whether or not climate change is happening. For these rural communities, the looming question is whether they can continue to survive there.

It’s a similar story in tiny rural Buckland, Alaska, with a population of nearly 420. Here, worries over walrus harvests are swapped for concerns about declining caribou herds. In April, the state closed caribou hunting there to non-locals.

“Right now, a lot of people are out of caribou meat,” says Percy Ballot Sr. “Caribou used to migrate and winter in our area. Now some of the herd stays where they are, some move to the west and east. We’ve been trying to go out and look for some and haven’t seen any.”

http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-in-alaskas-remote-towns-climate-change-is-already-leaving-many-hungry/

[Sigmetnow]

“We always have estimated flood risk by believing that magnitude and frequency would repeat, meaning that climate and other conditions, such as land use, were relatively stable. But now, with the changes in the climate, that is no longer valid."

People Who Estimate Floods Can’t Assume The Climate Isn’t Changing Anymore
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/07/28/3802705/flooding-impacts/

[Sigmetnow]

Climate Change Is Hell on Alaska's Formerly Frozen Highways
A critical artery is threatened by thawing permafrost.

“It’s the single biggest geotechnical problem we have,” said Jeff Currey, materials engineer for the northern region of Alaska’s Department of Transportation. “The Romans built roads 2,000 years ago that people are still using. On the other hand, we have built roads that within a year or two, without any maintenance, look like a roller coaster because they are built over thaw-unstable permafrost.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-08-02/the-alaskan-highway-is-literally-melting

[Sigmetnow]

New tool shows climate change in the U.S. at the county level.

Got an Extreme Weather Event? NOAA Tool Searches for Climate Link
Searchable database shows whether climate change made weather events more or less likely.

This year has seen a relentless streak of new temperature and climate records, as well as extreme weather events such as the deadly floods in Houston, Baltimore and West Virginia, a "heat dome" over the Midwest and the massive Sand fire blazing near Los Angeles.

Now, a new searchable tool from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows, county by county, whether or how climate change will change the likelihood of these extreme events in the decades to come.

The project is an updated version of NOAA's interactive Climate Explorer, part of the agency's U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. David Herring, the toolkit's program manager, said the site was designed to allow local governments, small business owners and natural resource managers to plan for a future of warming-fueled extreme weather.

The Explorer includes maps and charts on how temperature and precipitation patterns could change on a local level through 2100. It includes historical, observed data from the mid-1900s to the present, as well as projected trends based on climate models. These were created by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and downscaled to provide location-specific information.

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02082016/extreme-weather-event-noaa-tool-climate-change-link-global-warming-wildfires-heatwaves-floods

[Sigmetnow]

Washington, D.C.’s temperature has not fallen below 70 degrees for a record 34 days and counting

For more than a month, D.C.’s temperature has failed to dip into the 60s even once. This is the longest such period in 145 years of record-keeping.

Officially, the mercury has remained at 70 degrees or higher for 34 straight days, two days more than the prior longest streak, ending Aug.15, 1980.

The temperature is not forecast to fall below 70 this entire week (and maybe longer), which means this year’s record-long streak is likely to easily exceed 40 days, separating itself by a great distance from the previous longest periods.

The lack of cooling has practical implications for quality of life.

When the temperature stays this high around the clock, it places more demands on our cooling systems and energy consumption rises.

Our lakes and rivers stay warm, which can lead to harmful algal blooms.

For the homeless and people without air conditioning, the cumulative stress from the lack of cooling can increase the likelihood of heat-related illness.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/08/08/d-c-s-temperature-has-not-fallen-below-70-degrees-for-a-record-34-days-and-counting/

[Sigmetnow]

Humanity Just Ate Through Planet's Annual Resource Budget Faster Than Ever
   ...and it's only August. That's the fastest pace yet

Earth Overshoot Day—the day on which people worldwide have officially used up more natural resources like air, food, and water than the planet can regenerate in a year—has come early.

The 2016 threshold was hit on Monday, making it the fastest pace yet, according to a new report by the Global Footprint Network, which measures the dubious milestone every year.

That's five days earlier than last year, about five weeks earlier than in 2003, and months earlier than it was in 1987, when it fell on December 19. In 1961, the global population didn't even use up 100 percent of the world's natural resources, according to the network. But the next decade propelled the planet into an era of overconsumption, the group said.

"This is possible because we emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than our oceans and forests can absorb, and we deplete fisheries and harvest forests more quickly than they can reproduce and regrow," Global Footprint Network said in a statement.

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/08/08/humanity-just-ate-through-planets-annual-resource-budget-faster-ever

[OrganicSu]

For me Earth Overshoot Day was in the first seconds/minutes of January 1st not on 8th August. I provide a few of my reasons below.
Earth Overshoot Day is a measurement of the Ecological Footprint of all humanity calculated by considering all of the biological materials consumed and all of the carbon dioxide emissions generated.

Oil – 70% of current oil deposits are from the Mesozoic period, 65 million years to 150 million years ago. To replace the oil used until the Overshoot moment we need to sequester enough carbon material and wait circa 100 million years to make that consumed oil. However we are not really sequestering any carbon – most land space is covered by farming and no carbon material is left on the ground. The amount of oil we should use in 1 year to keep the status quo should be 1/100,000,000 of current reserves.

Coal – Takes circa 300 million years to form naturally so we should use only 1/300,000,000 of current coal reserves in a year. As Earth is not really sequestering any carbon material we are not beginning the process of forming new coal.

Iron – Most commonly used metal, circa 2 billion tonnes of raw ore are processed yearly. Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute has suggested iron ore could run out within 64 years based on an extrapolation of 2% growth per year. Iron ore was formed circa 1.8 billion years ago in environmental conditions vastly different to now – i.e. Earth is not making any noticeable quantities of new iron ore. It is not really possible to sustainably consume a finite resource.

CO2 Absorbtion – The Ecological Footprint takes into account CO2 absorption. From what I could find out it assumes the oceans are an endless CO2 sink and rising acidity is not an issue. To calculate how much CO2 can be sustainably emitted we need to look at how much the ocean can absorb without the aciditiy levels rising.  As some other carbon sinks are now intermittently failing (e.g. Amazon) the calculation needs to take into account what levels of CO2 can be emitted without raising airborne CO2 or the acidity of the oceans.

If we were to take a target of 350ppm CO2 (safe level as per Mr. Hansen) in not too many years from now, then the real Overshoot calculation on CO2 should be how much we can emit, while bringing us to 350 CO2ppm in X number of years and allowing the oceans to return to an acidity level comfortable for it's current inhabitants. My finger in the air calculation tells me we overshoot in the first seconds of the year, or maybe we start in overshoot on the first second.

[Sigmetnow]

Hitting the plastic slopes: Climate change pushes ski resorts to 'weatherproof'

Ski and snowboarding resort operators in Canada and around the world are increasingly focused on "weatherproofing" their businesses as climate change threatens their supply of fresh powder. 

"It's become a common topic in many resort destinations, not only here, but in Europe, the United States," said Peter Williams, director of Simon Fraser University's Centre for Tourism Policy and Research.

The term "weatherproofing" refers to efforts by resorts to offer alternative activities to skiing and snowboarding so they don't lose customers as climate change makes winter snowfall less reliable.

The depth of these efforts received renewed attention earlier this year when renowned British Columbia resort Whistler Blackcomb announced a $345-million plan to become "weather independent," but the industry started hearing "early warnings" of serious climate change implications at least a decade ago, Williams said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ski-resorts-weather-proofing-climate-change-1.3715284

[Sigmetnow]

Survey: two-thirds of Great Barrier Reef tourists want to ‘see it before it’s gone’
https://theconversation.com/survey-two-thirds-of-great-barrier-reef-tourists-want-to-see-it-before-its-gone-62103

[bosbas]

Threatened By Rising Seas, Alaska Village Decides To Relocate

"Shishmaref will be underwater within the next three decades, and if we do not do anything, we'll be forced to move to another city like Nome or Kotzebue or Fairbanks or Anchorage, and not many people will move to the same place. So that means our unique community of Shishmaref will soon die out because we have our unique dialect of Inupiat Eskimo language, our unique Eskimo dancing, our unique gospel singing translated in Inupiat. All that will soon die out if we do not move as a community."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/18/490519540/threatened-by-rising-seas-an-alaskan-village-decides-to-relocate

[Sigmetnow]

Maryland:  37 Baltimore County Schools Closed Monday Due To New AC Policy

Thirty-seven Baltimore County schools will be closed Monday due to the the county’s new policy that requires those without air conditioning to cancel classes when it’s too hot.
...
Days off for heat will be eligible for a waiver of three [of the] 180 days school year mandate.

Most but not all Baltimore County schools are expected to have air conditioning by 2017.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2016/08/28/37-baltimore-co-schools-closed-monday-due-to-new-ac-policy/

[Shared Humanity]

Wealthier countries will increasingly migrate to an air conditioned indoors to survive the excess heat. Poorer countries will?

[oren]

Wealthier countries will increasingly migrate to an air conditioned indoors to survive the excess heat. Poorer countries will?

Attempt to migrate to richer countries?

[JimD]

Wealthier countries will increasingly migrate to an air conditioned indoors to survive the excess heat. Poorer countries will?

Attempt to migrate to richer countries?

We will see how that works out for both them and the rich countries over the next 20-40 years.  Somewhat badly for all involved I would anticipate.

[oren]

Wealthier countries will increasingly migrate to an air conditioned indoors to survive the excess heat. Poorer countries will?

Attempt to migrate to richer countries?

We will see how that works out for both them and the rich countries over the next 20-40 years.  Somewhat badly for all involved I would anticipate.

Indeed.

[Sigmetnow]

Well, it seemed like a good idea....

After heat closes schools for a second day, Baltimore County school board to revisit policy
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bs-md-co-heat-closure-policy-20160829-story.html

[JimD]

Flooding and sea level rise.

Here is a snapshot of what is going on right under our noses in the US.  Think what it will be like in a few years.  There is absolutely no way we can find the money and resources to fix this.  Abandonment of such places will be our only option.

https://www.thenation.com/article/low-water-mark/

[TerryM]

JimD


Great article!


The one following it that deals with racial inequality in New Orleans since Katrina was also an eye opener, at least for me.


https://www.thenation.com/article/white-new-orleans-has-recovered-from-hurricane-katrina-black-new-orleans-has-not/

When we demonize or ignore climate victims based on race, it seems particularly harsh. I never knew about all the undamaged "affordable housing" that was demolished after the storm. What kind of insanity was that.

Terry

[greylib]

Flooding and sea level rise.

Here is a snapshot of what is going on right under our noses in the US.  Think what it will be like in a few years.  There is absolutely no way we can find the money and resources to fix this.  Abandonment of such places will be our only option.

https://www.thenation.com/article/low-water-mark/

If you're poor enough, any kind of shelter is better than none. Even in an area that floods every few years: nobody else wants to live there, so it's going to be cheap.

From the article:

In North Troy after Irene, Ted tried to figure out another way. He looked into flood insurance for his trailer, hoping to stay and also to protect himself. He learned that his trailer needed to be bolted down on a cement slab to qualify.

Would it make sense to make the trailers able to float, rather than bolt them down? Tether them to stop them drifting perhaps, but able to rise over the floodwater. You'd need a Big Red Lever of some sort to separate from the utilities, but once you've done that you have a very handy life raft.

[Sigmetnow]

Study:  Stronger hurricanes and SLR will bring Florida a 25-47% increase in storm surge by 2080-2100, "with highly non-linear response of population at risk."

Future hurricane storm surge risk for the U.S. gulf and Florida coasts based on projections of thermodynamic potential intensity
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-016-1728-8

[mati]

If you're poor enough, any kind of shelter is better than none. Even in an area that floods every few years: nobody else wants to live there, so it's going to be cheap.

From the article:

In North Troy after Irene, Ted tried to figure out another way. He looked into flood insurance for his trailer, hoping to stay and also to protect himself. He learned that his trailer needed to be bolted down on a cement slab to qualify.

Would it make sense to make the trailers able to float, rather than bolt them down? Tether them to stop them drifting perhaps, but able to rise over the floodwater. You'd need a Big Red Lever of some sort to separate from the utilities, but once you've done that you have a very handy life raft.

or you can make a house that is floatable yet tethered:

http://www.archdaily.com/259629/make-it-right-house-morphosis-architects

[Sigmetnow]

India Ganges floods 'break previous records'

The monsoon floods in India's Ganges river this year have broken previous records, officials have told the BBC.
They said water levels reached unprecedented levels at four locations in northern India.
The highest record was in Patna, the state capital of Bihar where flood waters reached 50.52m (166ft) on 26 August, up from 50.27m in 1994.
Floods across India this year have killed more than 150 people and displaced thousands.

"We have also recorded unprecedented flood levels at Hathidah and Bhagalpur of Bihar state and Balliya of Uttar Pradesh," chief of India's Central Water Commission GS Jha said.
"In all these four places, the floods crossed the previous highest flood level and they all were unprecedented."
Bihar is one of the worst flood-hit states in India with at least 150 deaths and nearly half a million people evacuated.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37217679

[Sigmetnow]

Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun

NORFOLK, Va. — Huge vertical rulers are sprouting beside low spots in the streets here, so people can judge if the tidal floods that increasingly inundate their roads are too deep to drive through.

Five hundred miles down the Atlantic Coast, the only road to Tybee Island, Ga., is disappearing beneath the sea several times a year, cutting the town off from the mainland.

And another 500 miles on, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., increased tidal flooding is forcing the city to spend millions fixing battered roads and drains — and, at times, to send out giant vacuum trucks to suck saltwater off the streets.

... The inundation of the coast has begun. The sea has crept up to the point that a high tide and a brisk wind are all it takes to send water pouring into streets and homes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/science/flooding-of-coast-caused-by-global-warming-has-already-begun.html

[Sigmetnow]

“They’ve been telling us it was coming for days. Last time, we had eight or 10 hours to get out.”

River continues to rise as Cedar Rapids braces for more flooding

In nearby Cedar Rapids, the residents of about 5,000 homes had been advised to evacuate before the floodwaters hit Monday night. Mayor Ron Corbett said in an interview that he hopes residents will heed the warning, especially after what they saw in 2008.
...
The stakes would be even higher in Cedar Rapids if authorities hadn’t led an effort to buy out the owners of 1,350 homes that flooded in 2008. About 45 acres of green space now line the river where many of those homes once stood. Corbett said that at the time, it was the second-biggest such buyout in U.S. history, after only the New Orleans buyouts after Hurricane Katrina.

Corbett talked on a sidewalk across the street from where construction workers were filling temporary barricades with sand to try to keep floodwater from pouring into a neighborhood near downtown. The area was supposed to be protected by a floodwall by now, but the city’s huge flood-protection project has been held up by a lack of millions of federal dollars.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2016/09/24/iowa-flooding-forces-mandatory-evacuation-palo-cedar-rapids/91022028/

[Sigmetnow]

The mind-boggling New Orleans heat record that no one is talking about

During one of the country’s hottest summers, New Orleans quietly set a mind-blogging record. On 43 nights, the temperature did not drop below 80 degrees in New Orleans, according to the Louisiana state climatologist.

It blows the previous record out of the water — 13 nights in 2010. It’s also incredible considering in an average summer, New Orleans has just 2.1 nights at or above 80 degrees.

This record should be getting much more attention than it has been.

On 43 nights in 2016, the temperature in New Orleans did not drop below 80 degrees. This is a new record by far -- the previous was 13 nights in 2010.

Very warm overnight temperatures are hard on your body, let alone your utility bills. The elderly are particularly at risk during these times, as is the entire homeless population and anyone with an illness. You might be inclined to raise a finger to mention that air conditioning negates these effects, but around 30 percent of New Orleans’s population lives in poverty. If a family is lucky enough to own an air conditioner, they probably cannot afford to use it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/09/26/the-mind-boggling-new-orleans-heat-record-that-no-one-is-talking-about/

[oren]

The mind-boggling New Orleans heat record that no one is talking about

During one of the country’s hottest summers, New Orleans quietly set a mind-blogging record. On 43 nights, the temperature did not drop below 80 degrees in New Orleans, according to the Louisiana state climatologist.

It blows the previous record out of the water — 13 nights in 2010. It’s also incredible considering in an average summer, New Orleans has just 2.1 nights at or above 80 degrees.

This record should be getting much more attention than it has been.

On 43 nights in 2016, the temperature in New Orleans did not drop below 80 degrees. This is a new record by far -- the previous was 13 nights in 2010.

Very warm overnight temperatures are hard on your body, let alone your utility bills. The elderly are particularly at risk during these times, as is the entire homeless population and anyone with an illness. You might be inclined to raise a finger to mention that air conditioning negates these effects, but around 30 percent of New Orleans’s population lives in poverty. If a family is lucky enough to own an air conditioner, they probably cannot afford to use it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/09/26/the-mind-boggling-new-orleans-heat-record-that-no-one-is-talking-about/

Mind-boggling indeed.

[Bruce Steele]

I lived in Gretna Louisiana ( accross the bridge from New Orleans )one summer without an air conditioner. I couldn't sleep on a bed because I would wake up in a pool of sweat. I learned to sleep on the concrete slab floor because it would pull enough heat to allow me to sleep. It's the humidity that is intolerable. I also lived in the Central Valley of Calif. when I was a youngster, a swamp cooler worked there but in Louisiana it was worse than useless.
 I can't imagine conditions getting worse but I quess until you've lived it you have a hard time walking in another mans shoes.