Tags
Arctic Ice Melt, Boulder Colorado, Climate Change, Collapse of Industrial Civilization, Colorado Floods, Eco-Apocalypse, Environmental Collapse, Extinction of Man, Increased Hydrological Cycle, Mangled Jet Stream, Mass Die Off, Munich Re, Polar Amplification, Runaway Climate Change, Weather Damage to the Electric Grid
While the attention of everyone is turned towards the latest gun violence in America, the unprecedented flooding in Colorado speaks of a future of fire and flood which will cause untold damage and death as industrial civilization continues to employ its vast army of CO2-belching fossil fuel slaves. There’s no escaping climate chaos, whether you live on the coast or high atop a mountain in the middle of the country. The latest Colorado floods have reportedly damaged or destroyed 19,000 homes with 8 people confirmed dead so far and well over 1,000 persons unaccounted for as of today. Fracking wells are also leaking into the flooded waters.
You may be asking yourself how the Southwest is experiencing such floods when it has been in a mega-drought for the last quarter century. As the planet heats up from mankind’s greenhouse gases, evaporation increases. Higher temperatures effectively pump more energy into the atmosphere and intensify the hydrologic cycle of the planet. The moisture holding capacity of the atmosphere also increases with higher temperatures. Extremes of drought and flood are the end result, although it is believed by the end of the century that the effects of higher temperatures on evaporation are expected to outweigh precipitation, leading to drought becoming the more common climate condition. A hotter planet(milder winters and longer summers) also diminishes snowpack leading to less soil moisture and drier conditions which are at greater risk of drought, heat waves, and wild fires.
In Colorado, the recent floods were made worse by that state’s mega-fires which destroyed the plant life on the ground. The suppression of fires by man over the last century has also disrupted natural cycles, causing forests to become overgrown and dense. Drought-stressed trees have succumbed to bark beetle infestation and early snowmelt has fed the growth of underbrush to produce a tinderbox of fuel for monster infernos. A scorched landscape with no trees, bushes, and vegetation to hold in moisture allows the rainwater to simply flow unimpeded down the mountain slopes, quickly eroding the soil. The unparalleled amount of rainfall also overwhelms the Earth’s ability to absorb it. The graph below illustrates how remarkable the current flooding is. This graph is from one particular weather station in Boulder that has recorded daily precipitation over the last 120 years. Each red cross represents the amount of rainfall in a day and it is plotted according to how often that amount occurs over a given expanse of time from 1 to 10,000 years. Only a few measurements fall past the 10 year occurrence rate, while the amount of rain that fell one day this past week (120 millimeters or 4.8 inches) at this particular station is seen way above and beyond anything else recorded since 1893. Note that yesterday(Monday) Boulder Colorado hit 30.14 inches of annual rainfall which breaks the previous single year record set in 1995 of 29.93 inches. And the year is not yet over.
NOAA satellite image from the evening of September 11, 2013 showing the devastating storm system bearing down on Colorado:
What caused this massive weather pattern pictured above that brought such a deluge to Colorado? It’s another storm system produced by a mangled jet stream as a result of a melting Arctic.
From Quartz:
A blocking pattern has set up over the western United States, drawing a conveyor belt of tropical moisture north from coastal Mexico. Blocking patterns form when the jet stream slows to a crawl, and weather patterns get stuck in place. When all that warm, wet air hit the Rocky Mountains, it had nowhere to go but up, pushed further skyward by the mountains themselves. By some measurements, the atmosphere at the time of the heaviest rains was among the most soaked it has ever been in Colorado…
…Why it will keep happening: Blocking patterns are fertile ground for extreme weather. A blocking pattern near Greenland was also to blame for steering Superstorm Sandy toward the east coast of the United States last fall. Persistent high pressure this year in the western United States has led to what is (so far) California’s driest year on record. That, in turn, fueled last month’s massive Rim Fire in Yosemite National Park, which grew to a size larger than New York City.
Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado Before (top) and After (bottom):
This sort of extreme weather is on the rise:
Historic, “unbelievable” rainfall in New Mexico on Thursday caused flooding in areas that typically have little to no flow at this time of year. An area in the Guadalupe Mountains received 11 inches in a 24-hour period. The state has been grappling with intense drought in 2013, and riverbeds that are usually dry have become treacherous. Carlsbad Caverns National Park closed on Thursday because of the flooding…
…Extreme rainfall events have become more frequent across the U.S. during the past several decades in part due to manmade global warming. Increasing air and ocean temperatures mean that the air is generally carrying more water vapor than it used to, and this moisture can be tapped by storm systems to yield rain or snow extremes. Trends in extreme precipitation events vary by region, though, and in general the biggest increases have taken place in the Midwest and Northeast. However, most parts of the U.S. have seen an increase in extreme precipitation events, according to the draft National Climate Assessment report that was released this past January. The report goes on to note that in the future, “increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events are projected for most U.S. areas.
And we can see what damage this extreme weather is causing to the electric grid:
The global picture of weather disasters shows an upward trend according to Munich RE, one of the largest reinsurers in the world:
With all the evidence of climate chaos piling up daily, I’m having a hard time taking seriously a species that calls itself wise, yet worries more about things like erectile dysfunction and breast implants rather than the quickly fading habitability of planet Earth. We are blind to our own self-destruction.
Pingback: A Future of Flood and Drought
xraymike79 said:
LikeLike
xraymike79 said:
LikeLike
Kevin Moore said:
All this mayhem is happening at the ‘safe’ level of 400ppm CO2 and a rise in average temperature of just 0.8oC.
So we must wonder what the ‘safe’ level of 450ppm* CO2 and the ‘safe’ level of temperature rise of 2oC will bring, bearing in mind that they are the arbitrary targets that governments are supposedly aiming for worldwide.
* Of course there is no reason whatsoever to believe atmospheric CO2 can be stabilised at 450ppm, bearing in mind that the global economic model demands continued use of fossil fuels and in most places in the world nothing whatsoever is being done to limit population growth or consumerism. Additionally, self-reinforcing and mutually-reinforcing feedbacks appear to have been triggered.
Presumably the ‘master plan’ requires continued repairing of damage and continued conversion of fossil fuels into CO2 (paid for using money created pout of thin air, I might add) until such actions are no longer possible. Sadly, the ‘no longer possible point’ is a long way off.
The intergenerational criminality of our so-called leaders and all their lackeys exceeds anything Hitler or Stalin ever managed.
.
LikeLike
xraymike79 said:
You never hear about this sort of thing – humans giving up their homes for wildlife.
Just thought I’d share it:
LikeLike
F.Tnioli said:
Future has alot of floods in store, indeed. But, more than that, there is alot of flooding already – i mean _now_. There are other large floods, killing and injuring people, forcing MILLIONS (in total) humans to evacuate or become refugees right as we speak.
Here are just some of currently developing, receding, or recently receded (with most damage still not repaired) large-scale floods:
– Russia’s far east and northern China: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_China%E2%80%93Russia_floods ;
– Japan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Pacific_typhoon_season#Severe_Tropical_Storm_Man-yi
– India: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Bihar_Flood
– Central Europe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_European_floods
– Pakistand and Afganistan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Pakistan%E2%80%93Afghanistan_floods
– Sudan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Sudan_floods
All these killed people, forced lots of people to flee, and destroyed infrastructures and homes on a billion-$ scale. There were more of same scale floods in other places during 1st half of this year, too (not mentioned above), both northern and southern hemisphere.
And basically, we don’t know where and when such a flood would hit next. Perhaps, dear reader, it’ll be YOUR neighborhood?
LikeLike
jcl64 said:
Yes, I have noticed that a lot of the deniers have been again been very active in saying there is nothing unusual about the Colorado floods. I generally ask if they have already forgotten all the other floods in the world this year. No doubt we are in for a heck of a climate-ride in the coming decades. Hopefully it will change the minds of more people so that we can actually do something about the problem. There you go again, hope. 🙂
LikeLike
F.Tnioli said:
False hope, though. I can clearly see that majority of humans can change their mind about it not before the large part of world’s densely populated areas (some 30% or more) will be directly affected by floods, droughts and such on an _annual_ basis. Not before that; possibly even a while after. However, when some 30% or more of densely populated areas will be hit by disastrous climate/weather events, – the primary task will certainly be survival “here and now”. For both those affected (who lost much or all but their lives), – and for those who were not (“defending” their still relatively habitable lands from masses of climate refugees, and dealing with a combination of some or all of the following: massive shortages domestically, breaks in – globalized – chains of production, large failues in import and/or export of goods, chaos in finances, etc).
The problem is here, it will worsen, and mankind won’t be able to get rid of it – for centuries. This is my bet. Quite few people – some of us here hopefully – can only prepare for it, try to adapt to it best we can, learn how to live with it – in advance. This, can be done. But, again, only by quite few. Some 98% or more of world population will end up hit by it in a state of “oh DAM, this ruins my life much (or completely) – i have no idea what to do now… HELP!”
LikeLike
pfgetty2013 said:
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Our black future
By Michael T Klare
“What sort of fabulous new energy systems will the world possess in 2040? Which fuels will supply the bulk of our energy needs? And how will that change the global energy equation, international politics, and the planet’s health? If the experts at the US Department of Energy are right, the startling “new” fuels of 2040 will be oil, coal, and natural gas – and we will find ourselves on a baking, painfully uncomfortable planet. ”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/GECON-02-170913.html
LikeLike
pfgetty2013 said:
Now add that to this, from Climate Progress:
James Hansen, the country’s most prescient climatologist, is out with another must-read paper, “Climate sensitivity, sea level and atmospheric carbon dioxide.” The paper, co-authored by a number of Hansen’s former colleagues at NASA, is an antidote to the rosy scenarios the mainstream media have recently been pushing.
The key findings are
The Earth’s actual sensitivity to a doubling of CO2 levels from preindustrial levels (to 550 ppm) — including slow feedbacks — is likely to be larger than 3–4°C (5.4-7.2°F).
Given that we are headed towards a tripling (820 ppm) or quadrupling (1100 ppm) of atmospheric CO2 levels, inaction is untenable.
“Burning all fossil fuels” would warm land areas on average about 20°C (36°F) and warm the poles a stunning 30°C (54°F). This “would make most of the planet uninhabitable by humans, thus calling into question strategies that emphasize adaptation to climate change.”
LikeLike
Kevin Moore said:
‘Given that we are headed towards a tripling (820 ppm) or quadrupling (1100 ppm) of atmospheric CO2 levels, inaction is untenable;’
Given that the economic-political system requires inaction on environmental matters, inaction is what we will get (just as has been the case for past 40 years).
LikeLike
pfgetty2013 said:
Exxon is America’s most important corporation. It is run by sociopaths, doing what is necessary for profits. Normal people who rise to the top of corporations must be sociopaths to survive there.
They are killing the planet.
Read this article.
Excerpt:
“But what about long-term national interests? Stockholder short-term profits always win! Bloomberg News says even though Tillerson now admits climate change is real, the public will have to “adapt to a sea-level rise.” He doesn’t trust “climate models to predict the magnitude of the impact,” reports Associated Press. Humans “have spent our entire existence adapting. We’ll adapt.” Climate change is “an engineering problem and there will be an engineering solution.”
And in a recent BusinessWeek interview when Charlie Rose asked: “Is your philosophy, drill, baby, drill?” Tillerson answered: “My philosophy is to make money. If I can drill and make money, then that’s what I want to do” to make “quality investments for our shareholders.” Proof: Exxon Mobil is spending $37 billion a year drilling for new oil and gas reserves. That’s how aggressive capitalists compete in today’s arena.
No wonder America’s top environmental activist Bill McKibben says “there’s not a more reckless man on the planet than Tillerson.” For him, Exxon climate change is just a short-term “risk management” problem solvable by engineers. But if McKibben’s Foreign Policy warning is true — that “it may already be too late” to stop the climate change ticking time bomb — then Tillerson’s making a colossal blunder for Exxon investors.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/big-oils-big-psychological-problems-2013-09-18?pagenumber=2
LikeLike
Donald Campbell said:
If the principal polluting nations do not implement all pollution controls now, we will probably get what we deserve, and It will not be a happy scene, thanks to the deniers and non-believers.
LikeLike
pfgetty2013 said:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/19-3
LikeLike
Kevin Moore said:
It was around 2004 that Sir David King (scientific advisor to the UK government) said that Antarctica would literally be the only inhabitable land mass if the matter of CO2 emissions was not addressed.
A decade later the elite’s plan is to increase emissions.
For the moment it is mostly poor people and brown people who are suffering, and that will probably be the case for quite a while.
Markets reach new highs on the back of continuing stimulus: Ponzi schemes forever
..
LikeLike
TimA said:
Wise..indeed, really we are just too clever for our own good and a deep attachment to material and sensual gratification being the underlying factor.
Being fortunate myself to live in Australia, where we are years behind the US in corporate corruption and selfish politics, we are however spiralling into the vortex of madness. A new prime minister has just been elected and one of his first radical actions (amoungst others) was to disband the publicly funded, totally independent climate commission…complete madness. My thoughts are with u all as you battle many fronts. T
LikeLike
xraymike79 said:
Excellent interview…. climate change catastrophe becomes morbidly perverse form of entertainment fed to the masses.
LikeLike
Aptitude Design said:
We are getting Blocking Patterns in Australia, too. Spring has been, this week, a season of Fire & Ice, with high winds.
LikeLike