North Carolina and Hurricane Florence

Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, September 14th, 2018 - 42 comments
Categories: climate change, disaster, Environment, global warming, science, us politics, water, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags:

North Carolina is currently battening down getting ready for Hurricane Florence to strike. The Hurricane is not huge, there is a larger hurricane approaching the Philippines right now. But hurricanes do not normally go so far north.

And North Carolina is particularly poorly placed to handle the effects of change. Because the local Republican Party has been very resistant to making the most basic decisions that would allow the area to cope withthe worst effects of climate change. And passed a law six years ago that prevented planners from using climate change science in their development planning for the coast.

How crazy are they?

In 2014 All four Republican candidates for the North Carolina Senate seat stated publicly they did not believe in climate change.

America faces an almost biblical future. Fires in the west and hurricanes in the east. The rampant spread of pests and the extinction of species.

The comedians get it.

It is hard to understand why the Republicans don’t.

But we are clearly now at the stage where we have to cut greenhouse gasses to prevent further damage to our environment. It is already happening.

Climate change is here. Time to batten down.

42 comments on “North Carolina and Hurricane Florence ”

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  1. dV 1
    14 September 2018 at 10:54 am

    BUT BUT BUT Trump says they are very well prepared
    Y a rekkon

  2. Anne 2
    14 September 2018 at 10:58 am

    Well, it looks like they’re going to reap what they sow mickeysavage. It’s as simple as that. Hard to have any sympathy for them whatsoever.

    • RedLogix 2.1
      14 September 2018 at 11:16 am

      Ordinary Americans have been played by actors determined to keep them ignorant and confused.

      • Anne 2.1.1
        14 September 2018 at 11:29 am

        Agreed Redlogix, but NZ is a reasonable example of ‘ordinary people’ who are able to differentiate between the “actors” and reality. We have our deniers of course but nothing like on the level in America.

        My father used to say as long ago as the 1960s that America’s education system was being deliberately dumbed down in order to keep the inhabitants ignorant. We are now seeing the inevitable outcome in it’s full lack of glory.

  3. RedLogix 3
    14 September 2018 at 11:13 am

    Good post mickey. I’ve been following some personal blogs of people actually on the ground, and the uncertainty is probably the most difficult aspect for them at the moment. Torn between wishing it won’t strike at its worst where they are, yet hoping for all those who inevitably will be hit.

    The media also tend to play these events for clickbait as well; tending to over-hype the possibilities, while assiduously avoiding any mention of the phrase ‘climate change’. That only adds to the confusion; especially when the direst predictions get scaled back.

    Yes there have been many big storms like this in the past; but big Cat 5’s and 4’s where typically a once or twice in a generation thing. Now we’re seeing them every season.

    • Imodium 3.1
      14 September 2018 at 11:27 am

      There is no documented evidence that hurricane frequency or intensity is increasing .

      • humma 3.1.1
        14 September 2018 at 11:35 am

        Well said. If anything the incidence is slightly decreasing if you look over the last 40 odd years.

      • Anne 3.1.2
        14 September 2018 at 11:38 am

        Bullshit you ignoramus! No. I’m not going to link. You can do it yourself. Every day there is reference in the media and elsewhere to the increase in violent storms and other extreme events across the planet, and the rapidly increasing frequency they are now occurring.

        Idiot numbskulls like yourself should be incarcerated on a desert island somewhere where you can’t cause any more damage to the future of this planet – preferably without food or water. 😡

        • Imodium 3.1.2.1
          14 September 2018 at 11:49 am

          Anne there is no need for the abuse.
          The only frequency incresing is the frequency of reporting.
          Please check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_hurricanes
          This indicates no discerning increase .

          [lprent: *sigh* another illiterate moron who can’t read. There is every reason to abuse a dimwit who is too lazy to deal with the point raised.

          Perhaps you should read the article yourself. Then try to read for RL’s point (probably for the first time) about the frequencies of intense storms. Even just relying on my eye, you will find that you have presented evidence that contradicts your own preposition in just the recent decades.

          But if you need this explained for a simpleton, then try https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2017/09/11/hurricanes-in-america-have-become-less-frequent

          And please don’t do the usual moron thing and just look at the title – that would really indicate you are too stupid to be worth engaging with. ]

          • RedLogix 3.1.2.1.1
            14 September 2018 at 12:00 pm

            At least try and address the point I was making … the frequency of the most dangerous Cat 4 & 5 hurricanes.

            • Imodium 3.1.2.1.1.1
              14 September 2018 at 12:09 pm

              …..”where typically a once or twice in a generation thing. Now we’re seeing them every season”. I’m not sure where you are getting your facts from??

            • jcuknz 3.1.2.1.1.2
              14 September 2018 at 4:06 pm

              But Red … florence at last reports is only a Cat 2. Sorry to point out your error.
              Having spent some time at Myrtle Beach I am glad the hotel owner decided to move out1

              • Dukeofurl …
                14 September 2018 at 5:40 pm

                yes. Us sitting in our comfortable chairs dont really have understanding of how bad all these categories are.
                Yanks dont care as Federal Flood Insurance is expected to pay for damage. Congress prevents new zones of ‘no insurance’ to be drawn based on previous storms.

              • Macro …
                14 September 2018 at 7:42 pm

                Actually it’s not the wind speed so much that will do the damage but the rainfall and the storm surge. The waves are still predicted to be around 4m when they reach shore (they don’t diminish just because the wind has dropped) and that will over run any defences that NC has in place. And the high rainfall on already sodden ground will exacerbate flooding, and land slips. Because the storm has spread, rather than intensified, the damage will be spread over a greater area.

      • Gareth 3.1.3
        14 September 2018 at 12:24 pm

        This article has some nice animations and graphs to illustrate the increase in frequency and intensity: https://www.theguardian.com/weather/ng-interactive/2018/sep/11/atlantic-hurricanes-are-storms-getting-worse

  4. Bill 4
    14 September 2018 at 11:50 am

    All within the past few months…

    spoke with a friend in Sweden – hadn’t been out for days because it was too hot.
    a relative in Scotland – hadn’t been out in days because it was too hot.
    a friend in Vancouver – not sleeping in 20 degrees+ at night, and the city reeked of burning woodsmoke.

    And last year too, Vancouver reeked of smoke apparently.

  5. AB 5
    14 September 2018 at 12:10 pm

    “The comedians get it. It is hard to understand why the Republicans don’t.”
    It’s not hard really – the beneficiaries of the status quo (the wealthy) will deny suggestions that any aspect of it needs to change for whatever reason.
    Those of us who despise the status quo for the miserable pile of inhuman sh*t it actually is, are much more open to radically reconfiguring it.

  6. tc 6
    14 September 2018 at 1:23 pm

    The comedians who use this material are spoilt for choice with the state of global affairs currently.

    Climate change, brexit, trump, Russia etc all put through the corporate media spin cycle. So much to choose from.

  7. Dennis Frank 7
    14 September 2018 at 1:46 pm

    “it’s a Category 2 but the storm surge and the flooding is going to be that of a category 4,” CNN Meteorologist Jennifer Gray said Thursday night.” https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/13/us/hurricane-florence-south-east-coast-wxc/index.html

    “The tropical cyclone is expected to unload 10 trillion gallons of rainfall in North Carolina, weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue said. That’s enough to fill more than 15 million Olympic-size swimming pools.”

    “Hurricanes are getting stronger and lasting longer” according to Earth System Research Laboratory – see the graphic here: https://www.theguardian.com/weather/ng-interactive/2018/sep/11/atlantic-hurricanes-are-storms-getting-worse

    “Hurricanes draw their energy from deep below the ocean’s surface – up to depths of 2,000m. The temperature at these depths is measured by Ocean Heat Content, a metric that has soared since 1970, driven largely by four of the world’s major oceans. Last year was the hottest on record.”

    • Dukeofurl 7.1
      14 September 2018 at 2:08 pm

      ““Hurricanes draw their energy from deep below the ocean’s surface – up to depths of 2,000m. ”

      Huhh? The reverse is true. Its the high surface temperatures which create and strengthen them. They are just a much stronger version of tropical storms- tropical .

      • Dennis Frank 7.1.1
        14 September 2018 at 2:23 pm

        Yeah that makes sense, eh? All the action driven at the interface (ocean surface). Could be they see the energy gradient to that depth being the primary supplier of the energy for the surface temperature. Good visual displays of the scientific data by the Guardian page though.

        • Dukeofurl 7.1.1.1
          14 September 2018 at 3:30 pm

          Its an incorrect use of terms from a graph of the ocean temperature anomaly (which is measured down to 2000m)

          As an example this study
          “Almost 70 years ago a sea surface temperature (SST) threshold of 26°–27°C, below which tropical cyclones (TCs) did not form, was proposed, based on a qualitative assessment of warm-season global SST and known TC formation regions. This threshold was widely accepted without further testing, until a recent study suggested a threshold of 25.5°C.”

          The Surface temperature is the main driver. Not 2000m down.
          https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00637.1

          • Mack 7.1.1.1.1
            14 September 2018 at 5:06 pm

            Yep Duke of Earl
            It’s all that “missing heat” of Trenberth’s “hiding in the ocean”, causing all this. All that heat that has found its way down …DOWN..mind you,… to those depths of 2000m. that Denny boy has mentioned , getting his “Guardian science” from Abrahams and Nutticelli .

            Marvellous…these 2 clowns from Skeptical Science were also involved with the production, recommendation and distribution of the “4 Hiroshima bombs / sec” widget provided to any of the alarmist sites looney enough to display them.
            https://4hiroshimas.com/
            There it is…all that heat in the oceans from the magical “greenhouse” effect.
            Boy, there some total and utter effwits around.

            • Dennis Frank 7.1.1.1.1.1
              14 September 2018 at 5:31 pm

              So if ocean heat isn’t escalating hurricane size, what is? Or do climate deniers just go around denying stuff all the time to mask their failure to figure anything out?

              • Mack …
                14 September 2018 at 6:21 pm

                “
.escalating hurricane size…” says Dennis, with pants fully laden with pee and fingernails chewed down to the quick.
                Hurricane size is not easily measured…really just about subjective, isn’t it Dennis. There could be more stuff to damage over time , therefore higher categorisation. In the aftermath, there’s often a bit of dispute as to what size it was.

                Whatever, hurricanes could get larger or smaller …more frequent, less frequent, but it’s purely natural and nothing to do with humans….and what arrogant nonsense to think otherwise.

                I’ve already explained the lack of any “greenhouse” effect to you , just here..
                https://thestandard.org.nz/farrar-peddles-climate-change-denial-nonsense/#comment-1521081
                Are you Chief Resident Troll here, Dennis, or simply the village idiot?

                • Anne …
                  14 September 2018 at 6:42 pm

                  Would someone please remove this unpleasant individual called Mack from this site please?

                  Free speech does not over-rule ultra offensive remarks as displayed by this dirty little troll.

                  • Dennis Frank …
                    14 September 2018 at 7:04 pm

                    Funny, eh? Can’t even answer a simple question, feels obliged to fake it & act like a schoolboy instead. But remember, the mentally ill are no longer in asylums, they’re mixed in with all our social groups..

                    • KJT …
                      15 September 2018 at 9:17 am

                      Someone who is mentally ill, is statistically likely to be more intelligent and empathetic, than average.

                      It is not illness, it is wilful stupidity.

                      I blame it on lack of science literacy, and too much 3R’s, in our education system since the 80’s.

      • KJT 7.1.2
        15 September 2018 at 9:52 am

        Of course higher deep water temperatures have nothing to do with surface temperature?

  8. Jenny 8
    14 September 2018 at 6:22 pm

    Are Americans in the grip of a death cult?

    In Hurricane Florence’s path 2m tons of toxic coal ash loom over Lumberton
    Oliver Laughland – The Guardian, September 13, 2018

    “All this environmentalism can kiss my ass.”
    Jackie Britt, 87, owner of Carolina Sales – a fishing boat dealer a few miles from the plant

  9. SPC 9
    14 September 2018 at 6:42 pm

    The insurance companies are going to be the ones dragging the Americans into the 21st C … if only because their own survival depends on it.

  10. Monty 10
    14 September 2018 at 7:34 pm

    Hey Mickey how about an article about the biggest storm this year about hit Asia and potentially my home town of Hong Kong or is America the only interest to kiwis and us Asians don’t count.

  11. Timeforacupoftea 11
    14 September 2018 at 10:41 pm

    Get over it snowflakes, it is just climate change.

    There have been thousands killed from weather events over the last 100 years and thousands more in years to come.

    In fact with population rise by a billion or so in the past 100 years the death rate will naturally climb anyway.