Excellent rant on Pacific Northwest Weather

Dr. Clifford F. Mass is a meteorologist and professor in the University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences so he knows what he is talking about.

Here is an Editorial he wrote a few days ago for the Seattle Times:

Weather response must be grounded in science
The past several weeks remind us of this region's vulnerability to environmental disasters, as well as deficiencies in our preparations. It is clearly time for a careful assessment of Northwest environment hazards, a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of mitigation approaches, and a vigorous action plan to lessen the impacts of recurring natural events.

As an environmental scientist, I am frustrated by the poor information distributed by public officials, the media and others regarding the current and predicted frequency of extreme weather events. It is time for the scientific community to set the record straight.

With heavy precipitation and steep slopes, major flooding and landslides visit the region nearly every year, with billion-dollar floods occurring roughly once a decade. Powerful windstorms, such as the Columbus Day or Hanukkah-Eve events, can bring winds exceeding 100 miles per hour, with falling trees acting as "force multipliers." The greatest annual snowfalls on the planet hit our mountains, avalanches often close major highways, and lowland snow can cripple our hilly urban regions. Major earthquakes, although infrequent, have the potential to destroy buildings, bridges and other key structures, volcanic eruptions can spread choking layers of ash and dust, and tsunamis threaten the Pacific Coast.

Recent snow storms and floods revealed many weaknesses in our ability to deal with recurring natural threats. In Seattle, snow crippled the city for nearly two weeks, preventing thousands of people from working, shopping and other normal activities, while hundreds of auto accidents and a near catastrophic bus accident above Interstate 5 put the lives of hundreds at risk.

During such events communications among key agencies (such as Metro and Seattle's Department of Transportation) and between local governments and the public are critical, and throughout the snow period the system failed. Major bus routes were unplowed, citizens waited for buses that never came, Metro's Web servers failed under the load, and Seattle officials claimed effective snow removal for roads that were impassable.

Some city officials attempted to deflect blame by noting the infrequency of major snow events, but they missed an essential point. The question is not how often a dangerous event occurs, but rather whether a reasonable public investment will provide a net savings for society or reduce a serious risk to life and safety.

Catastrophic earthquakes occur once a generation or century, yet we are willing to spend billions of dollars to mitigate their effects. One suspects that a realistic estimate of the loss of income, productivity and sales, as well as the damage to vehicles and public property, due to the recent snows would exceed tens of millions of dollars; certainly, such losses outweighed the costs of additional snowplows and salt. And the risks to the lives of Seattle citizens were unacceptable.

Excellent comparison between the Earthquakes and Climate and the monies spent on each. He continues to address flooding and climate change due to Global Warming and has this to say:

How many times have you heard that severe windstorms and heavy rains will increase in the Northwest under global climate change? The truth is, there is no strong evidence for these claims and the whole matter is being actively researched. Some portions of the Northwest have had more rain and wind during the past decades, some less. And initial simulations of future Northwest climate do not suggest heavier rain events.

What he said...

October 2022

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
            1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31          

Environment and Climate
AccuWeather
Cliff Mass Weather Blog
Climate Depot
Ice Age Now
ICECAP
Jennifer Marohasy
Solar Cycle 24
Space Weather
Watts Up With That?


Science and Medicine
Junk Science
Life in the Fast Lane
Luboš Motl
Medgadget
Next Big Future
PhysOrg.com


Geek Stuff
Ars Technica
Boing Boing
Don Lancaster's Guru's Lair
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
FAIL Blog
Hack a Day
Kevin Kelly - Cool Tools
Neatorama
Slashdot: News for nerds
The Register
The Daily WTF


Comics
Achewood
The Argyle Sweater
Chip Bok
Broadside Cartoons
Day by Day
Dilbert
Medium Large
Michael Ramirez
Prickly City
Tundra
User Friendly
Vexarr
What The Duck
Wondermark
xkcd


NO WAI! WTF?¿?¿
Awkward Family Photos
Cake Wrecks
Not Always Right
Sober in a Nightclub
You Drive What?


Business and Economics
The Austrian Economists
Carpe Diem
Coyote Blog


Photography and Art
Digital Photography Review
DIYPhotography
James Gurney
Joe McNally's Blog
PetaPixel
photo.net
Shorpy
Strobist
The Online Photographer


Blogrolling
A Western Heart
AMCGLTD.COM
American Digest
The AnarchAngel
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Babalu Blog
Belmont Club
Bayou Renaissance Man
Classical Values
Cobb
Cold Fury
David Limbaugh
Defense Technology
Doug Ross @ Journal
Grouchy Old Cripple
Instapundit
iowahawk
Irons in the Fire
James Lileks
Lowering the Bar
Maggie's Farm
Marginal Revolution
Michael J. Totten
Mostly Cajun
Neanderpundit
neo-neocon
Power Line
ProfessorBainbridge.com
Questions and Observations
Rachel Lucas
Roger L. Simon
Samizdata.net
Sense of Events
Sound Politics
The Strata-Sphere
The Smallest Minority
The Volokh Conspiracy
Tim Blair
Velociworld
Weasel Zippers
WILLisms.com
Wizbang


Gone but not Forgotten...
A Coyote at the Dog Show
Bad Eagle
Steven DenBeste
democrats give conservatives indigestion
Allah
BigPictureSmallOffice
Cox and Forkum
The Diplomad
Priorities & Frivolities
Gut Rumbles
Mean Mr. Mustard 2.0
MegaPundit
Masamune
Neptunus Lex
Other Side of Kim
Publicola
Ramblings' Journal
Sgt. Stryker
shining full plate and a good broadsword
A Physicist's Perspective
The Daily Demarche
Wayne's Online Newsletter

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by DaveH published on January 16, 2009 1:29 PM.

Cartoons about Global Warming was the previous entry in this blog.

A modest proposal for February Second is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Monthly Archives

Pages

OpenID accepted here Learn more about OpenID
Powered by Movable Type 5.2.9