Global warming makes predicting catastrophic storms a roll of the dice In recent years, the U.S. mainland has experienced more storms. In recent years, the U.S. has experienced storms that are deadlier and more disastrous. The extreme flooding and winds have hardly been limited to hurricanes. In short, the warming oceans and warming atmosphere, caused […]
Top government officials at loss to explain away climate-change-strengthened storms Imagine you’re the current governor of Florida. You’ve gone on record many times stating that climate change (global warming) is fake. (Notice that the more recent crop of politicians labels anything they don’t like “fake.” Fake news, fake global warming, etc.) Now, the strongest hurricane […]
Florida governor, media push “blameless catastrophe” narrative With Hurricane Irma churning like a demonic beast only a few hundred miles away, I find myself looking for the antonym for “mass hysteria.” The best I’ve come up with so far is “mass false contentment.” Let me say right away that I’m in no way referring to […]
As Eastern Seaboard braces for tropical storms, rest of continental U.S. must prep, too Here in Florida, we well know what June 1st means: the first day of Atlantic hurricane season. It used to be that when we saw our “neighbors to the north” dealing with dozens of storms in the summer, we were talking […]
Government opportunists: “The world is dangerous! Do what we say, and we’ll help you.” The master-of-disaster governors of the U.S. states love nothing more than a photo op—except perhaps a sales-tax holiday. “Help people shop, and voters will beat a path to your door,” is their cynical motto. Of course, the pomp and circumstance requires […]
A recap of stubborn, difficult-to-predict Hurricane Matthew’s tormenting of Florida ORLANDO, FL – On Tuesday, I posted my personal journal on Hurricane Matthew’s advance towards Florida, where I live. My last entry here was from the evening of Monday, October 3rd, and in it I mentioned that, though the storm was expected to move on […]
Here’s my play-by-play as Hurricane Matthew approaches Florida ORLANDO, FL— 3:09 PM Saturday, October 1, 2016- As of this morning, Hurricane Matthew weakened a bit, from a ferocious Category 5 (sustained winds of 157+ mph) to a still-extremely-dangerous Category 4 (sustained winds 130-156 mph). It’s taking its time before accosting Jamaica and Haiti, on a forecast […]
News of cold freshwater flowing from melting glaciers in southern Greenland into the North Atlantic, thus disrupting ages-old ocean currents; reports of record droughts in California and record floods in Texas, Kansas, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Louisiana; announcements of the birth of yet another “Super El Niño” in the Pacific, bringing more extreme weather […]
As we enter National Disaster Preparedness Month, a look at hard-hit U.S. areas Friday evening, Tropical Storm Hermine crept into the Carolinas, where its winds lashed at red oaks and birches, homes, and infrastructure throughout the Appalachian piedmont. As a Category 1 hurricane, Hermine entered Florida Friday morning through Apalachee Bay, along the bend of […]
In catastrophes, it’s crucial to differentiate between human behavior myths and research Many people, for many reasons, make assumptions about how most others will behave during and after a major disaster. As we’ve discussed before here in my ULTIMATE ERROR blog, those assumptions are formed mainly through Hollywood movie tropes and news media – the […]