The end of denial

Sarah Severn.

At the time of writing this there are 71 large uncontained wildfires in the US, and over 8 million acres have burned. The fire in the Columbia River Gorge has displaced hundreds of residents, shut down Interstate 84 and burned 52 square miles (134 square kilometers).

On the East Coast Hurricanes Harvey & Irma could together cost the US 290bn according to Joel Myers of Accuweather and, as reported in US news, he cites “business disruptions, higher unemployment and transportation and infrastructure damage, along with crop loss and elevated gas prices that are expected to impact people across the country.”  Lt General Russel L Honore , author of Leadership in the New Normal, stated in an interview with CNN that, “40% of small businesses fail after disasters like Irma.” His point was that they do not have the financial resiliency to deal with this level of business disruption.

Read the story by the Strategic Advisor to Washington Business for Climate Action, Sarah Severn - “The end of denial.”

Even Fox News is admitting that climate change helped make Irma super strong

Hurricane Irma struck the Caribbean last night (Sept. 6), killing at least ten people and causing thousands of dollars in infrastructure damage on affected islands. It’s the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, and it comes just a week after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the southeastern US. On its tail are two newly-minted hurricanes, Jose and Katia.

Catastrophic destruction. 

The waning summer months in the Northern Hemisphere are peak hurricane season because the tropical ocean waters close to the equator become warmer with the summer. The warm, humid air rises, then condenses and cools and dumps rain below. Air pressure gradients between the warm and cool air keep the cycle going.

These wind patterns can lead to tropical storms, but not all tropical storms grow into hurricanes. This is because the same gusts of wind end up disturbing the top layer of warm water too much, and bring up colder waters from below. The cold water starves the system for energy, and the storm fizzles out.

Read the Quartz story by Katherine Ellen Foley - “Even Fox News is admitting that climate change helped make Irma super strong.”