disaster – Page 20

Alarming Facts about Hurricane Felix

Chris Mooney makes a list. Last year this fine reporter and blogger sharply criticized Time magazine for overstating reasons why we should be "very worried" about global warming driving more powerful storms and hurricanes: now he seems to have changed his tune. Reckless prediction: He wasn’t the first, and he won’t be the last. Here’sContinue reading “Alarming Facts about Hurricane Felix”

Hurricane Felix Hits Category Five

ZCZC MIATCDAT1 ALLTTAA00 KNHC DDHHMMHURRICANE FELIX SPECIAL DISCUSSION NUMBER 10NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL062007800 PM EDT SUN SEP 02 2007 REPORTS FROM A NOAA HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT FELIXHAS INTENSIFIED AND IS NOW A CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE. THE AIRCRAFTREPORTED PEAK FLIGHT-LEVEL WINDS OF 152 KT…WITH PEAK SFMR WINDSOF 142 KT IN THEContinue reading “Hurricane Felix Hits Category Five”

While Greece Burns…

Greece this summer had as many fires in a month as all of Europe had in the last ten years — up to 200 on one day alone. I think global warming–meaning an existing drought, a record-breaking heat wave in June and July, and high winds–encouraged these fires. But of course, just as a gamblerContinue reading “While Greece Burns…”

Katrina: Still A Disaster for Bush

We’ve discussed this before, but although everyone agrees that the war in Iraq is the albatross around the Prez’s neck, it’s also a fact that the bottom fell out of Bush’s popularity thanks to his administration’s disastrously incompetent handling of Hurricane Katrina, from which he has never recovered. Dan Balz of the Washington Post bringsContinue reading “Katrina: Still A Disaster for Bush”

Fires in Greece Visible from Space

A photograph from August posted on NASA’s Earth Observatory site:

Grief (for Greece)

An extraordinary photograph, already nominated for awards, by Stephmel. Licensed via Creative Commons.

“An Unspeakable Tragedy” — 170 fires burning, 44 dead, government shaken

In contrast to the Zaca fire in Southern California, which has killed nobody and damaged no major structures, the fires in Greece this year have been devastating. Over 170 fires are now burning around the country. Mostly they are wildfires in the hills, but yesterday a fire broke out in Athens itself that required tenContinue reading ““An Unspeakable Tragedy” — 170 fires burning, 44 dead, government shaken”

Burying West Virginia

The Bush administration is giving one last gift to the coal industry: permission to bury much of West Virfginia under a pile of coal tailings, aka "excess spoil." “This is a parting gift to the coal industry from this administration,” said Joe Lovett, executive director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the EnvironmentContinue reading “Burying West Virginia”

Dean Reaches Category 5

000WTNT64 KNHC 210034TCUAT4HURRICANE DEAN TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATENWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL042007835 PM AST MON AUG 20 2007DATA FROM THE AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT CURRENTLYINVESTIGATING HURRICANE DEAN INDICATE THAT MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDSHAVE INCREASED TO 160 MPH…MAKING DEAN A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHICCATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE.$$FORECASTER KNABB (HT: Wunderblog)

China Blames Its Flooding on Global Warming

Song Lianchun, head of China’s metereological forecasting service, said last week of the floods that displaced hundreds of thousands of Chinese and killed about 700: "It should be said that one of the reasons for the weather extremes this year has been unusual atmospheric circulation bought about by global warming," Song told a news conferenceContinue reading “China Blames Its Flooding on Global Warming”