Sandy Update for you guys.
Hurricane Sandy is still a major threat to the East Coast currently. People from NOrth Carolina up to Cape Cod are getting ready for one of the biggest storms the east coast has seen in recent memory.
As of 8AM on sunday the hurricane was 260 miles SE of Cape Hatteras North Carolina and moving westward at 10 miles per hour.
Currently the biggest worry is for D.C. and just north, in Delaware and Maryland where there could be major flooding that would occur.
In preparation for the storm the governors of Maryland and Virginia have declared states of emergency. With some Mayors even issuring mandatory evacuations of cities at this point. Good to see people taking heed to the storm. This is a sign that the storm worries a lot of people and could be a bigger deal than some are making it.
Even with mandatory evacuations you still have people who are unwilling or unable to leave, so it will be intersting to see how well these warnings are heeded and if anything comes to the people who stay behind.
Power companies are expecting huge blackouts in the area,
"The region’s utility providers called on companies outside the area to send as much help as possible. Dominion Virginia Power asked to borrow 2,000 workers, while Pepco asked for 2,500 to be sent to the District and Maryland. Pepco warned that hundreds of thousands of customers may lose power if the storm hits the area as expected."
another sign that the storm deserves more attention that it's recieving. People should be preaparing for these blackouts and hopefully will be able to manage without the power while it's out.
More Updates as it develops.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/hurricane-sandy-still-on-track-to-deliver-a-major-blow/2012/10/27/e30aaae8-204d-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_story.html
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Sandy: Hurricane Status
Fox News Latino brings us an article following the development of what is now, Hurricane Sandy. The Tropical Storm formerly known as Sandy has recently been upgraded to Category 1 Hurricane status.
Effects of the hurricane are being felt in Jamaican capital, Kingston where police issued a 2 days curfew to keep people off the streets, out of danger and to avoid potential looting possibilities.
Unfortunately as the Hurricane approaches Jamaica, most residents are not ready for it's arrival. The majority of this LDC lives in shanty towns which are ill equiped to deal with storms of this magnitude.
The best quote from the article is a simple one that comes from Jamaican meteorologist, Jaqueline Spence, "We'll be getting wet."
Futher outlook shows this storm heading North, Northeast with Cuba as it's next target.
Behind Sandy is Tropical Storm Tony which currently poses no threat to land. If that were to change and it elevated or change cource it could be a terrible tandem threatening the Carribean and the Atlandtic coast.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/10/24/andy-reaches-hurricane-strength-as-it-heads-toward-cuba/
Effects of the hurricane are being felt in Jamaican capital, Kingston where police issued a 2 days curfew to keep people off the streets, out of danger and to avoid potential looting possibilities.
Unfortunately as the Hurricane approaches Jamaica, most residents are not ready for it's arrival. The majority of this LDC lives in shanty towns which are ill equiped to deal with storms of this magnitude.
The best quote from the article is a simple one that comes from Jamaican meteorologist, Jaqueline Spence, "We'll be getting wet."
Futher outlook shows this storm heading North, Northeast with Cuba as it's next target.
Behind Sandy is Tropical Storm Tony which currently poses no threat to land. If that were to change and it elevated or change cource it could be a terrible tandem threatening the Carribean and the Atlandtic coast.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/10/24/andy-reaches-hurricane-strength-as-it-heads-toward-cuba/
Friday, October 19, 2012
Insurance companies rethought.
As a followup from my post on October 5th I found another article along the same lines.
This article is focusing on disseminating the details in a report by Munich Re, a reinsurance giant. The study performed brings some intersting topics to light, and then is debated for a few reasons.
The article talks about how climate change is affecting our weather patters in the continental United States and how this change in weather will affect the insurance models currently in place.
The study that Munich Re. conducted found that during the past 32 years the amount of natural disasters has multiplied by 5 times in the US, while only multiplying by 2X in europe.
These numbers are driven by factors like the amount of, and severity of tornadoes and thunderstorms, the intensity and length of drought periods, as well as some socioeconomic factors as well.
The article gives some visual displays (worth checking out) and numbers to put to the claims, but what is most important is what is brought up by researches at UC Boulder, who disagree with the Munich Re. study and findings. The researchers at CU-Boulder suggest that similar peer reviewed articles are finding the opposite of what Munich Re. is saying. They do not debate the increase in damage or frequency of natural disasters. They suggest that there is no hard evidence to prove human caused global warming is the creation of these factors though.
“The signal of human-caused climate change has not yet been detected in disaster loss data. Even so, humans affect the climate and a range of actions are worth considering in response. But the importance of climate change should not lead to a deviation from standards of scientific integrity,” Pielke (CU-Boulder Researcher) said in an email conversation. He criticized Munich Re for including advocacy of climate adaptation and mitigation in the report and not submitting it for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, saying that their actions have created the impression that they “have interests well beyond an accurate reporting of the science.”
Obviously, Munich Re. DOES have alternative motives, they're an Insurance COmpany. Munich Re. is not in the business of mainting scientific methods and quality. However, they have a duty to perform qualtiy studies both for their own company good as well as the good of th public.
THis whole debate is important to focus on because its that restructure on insurance companies that could be important in our future as the planet starts getting warmer.
Check out the article for further debate and some more 'hard' facts.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/natural-disaster-trends-report_n_1975190.html
This article is focusing on disseminating the details in a report by Munich Re, a reinsurance giant. The study performed brings some intersting topics to light, and then is debated for a few reasons.
The article talks about how climate change is affecting our weather patters in the continental United States and how this change in weather will affect the insurance models currently in place.
The study that Munich Re. conducted found that during the past 32 years the amount of natural disasters has multiplied by 5 times in the US, while only multiplying by 2X in europe.
These numbers are driven by factors like the amount of, and severity of tornadoes and thunderstorms, the intensity and length of drought periods, as well as some socioeconomic factors as well.
The article gives some visual displays (worth checking out) and numbers to put to the claims, but what is most important is what is brought up by researches at UC Boulder, who disagree with the Munich Re. study and findings. The researchers at CU-Boulder suggest that similar peer reviewed articles are finding the opposite of what Munich Re. is saying. They do not debate the increase in damage or frequency of natural disasters. They suggest that there is no hard evidence to prove human caused global warming is the creation of these factors though.
“The signal of human-caused climate change has not yet been detected in disaster loss data. Even so, humans affect the climate and a range of actions are worth considering in response. But the importance of climate change should not lead to a deviation from standards of scientific integrity,” Pielke (CU-Boulder Researcher) said in an email conversation. He criticized Munich Re for including advocacy of climate adaptation and mitigation in the report and not submitting it for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, saying that their actions have created the impression that they “have interests well beyond an accurate reporting of the science.”
Obviously, Munich Re. DOES have alternative motives, they're an Insurance COmpany. Munich Re. is not in the business of mainting scientific methods and quality. However, they have a duty to perform qualtiy studies both for their own company good as well as the good of th public.
THis whole debate is important to focus on because its that restructure on insurance companies that could be important in our future as the planet starts getting warmer.
Check out the article for further debate and some more 'hard' facts.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/natural-disaster-trends-report_n_1975190.html
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Pakistan Floods
Well as we talked about in class, the news attention is focused on the 4.0 magnitude earthquake in Maine that rattled New England and I can only find a 300 word blurb about the flooding in Pakistan that killed almost 500 people.
If you haven't been following... Weeks of constant monsoon rains have been falling in Pakistan causing major flooding. The article from Voice of America states that it has affected nearly 5 million people as well as every single part of the country.
Some parts have been hit harder than others, with the lowlands along the east coast taking the biggest part of the blow. This is where a large percentage of the 455 people died. These people were living in relief towns built of tents and shanty buildings.
Not only was there a large loss of human life, but more than 7,000 cattle were killed as well.
The area flooded also was hit by flooding in 2010 when the damages were even more severe.
Check out the article at
http://www.voanews.com/content/pakistan-floods-kill-hundreds-affect-millions/1528303.html
If you haven't been following... Weeks of constant monsoon rains have been falling in Pakistan causing major flooding. The article from Voice of America states that it has affected nearly 5 million people as well as every single part of the country.
Some parts have been hit harder than others, with the lowlands along the east coast taking the biggest part of the blow. This is where a large percentage of the 455 people died. These people were living in relief towns built of tents and shanty buildings.
Not only was there a large loss of human life, but more than 7,000 cattle were killed as well.
The area flooded also was hit by flooding in 2010 when the damages were even more severe.
Check out the article at
http://www.voanews.com/content/pakistan-floods-kill-hundreds-affect-millions/1528303.html
Saturday, October 13, 2012
An article with some layers...
Holy crap, talk about an article with some layers to it. I recently found a great article that goes into some depth (well, as much as a simple news article can) about the health of insurance agencies and how the impending climate change could throw off the entire insurance model.
The article focuses on how the beginning of climate change is already affecting the way insurance companies do business as well as how they are regulated. As the total numbers of environmental hazards is rising so are the amount of insurance dollars beings handed out to help cope with those problems. Insurance dollars don't come from thin air, they are forecasted far in the past and are estimated numbers so that companies can have enough when called upon. However, the new rash of disasters would completely throw that off.
The article states:
"“Insurance is the first line of defense against extreme weather losses, but climate change is a game-changer for the models that insurers have long relied on,” Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler told an industry blog on risk and insurance. “Companies will need to adapt if insurance is to remain available and affordable.”
“With 40 percent of industrial insurance claims that Allianz now pays out being due to natural catastrophes, climate change represents a threat to our business,” Allianz told the Insurance Journal."
This opens up a new layer of the 'health' of the insurance companies. Insurance companies could be reporting gains and investors buying stock in these companies, but what if a number of disaster occur to the point where the insurance company would go under. This in not an infrequent event, but what happens if it becomes more frequent in the future with the increase in natural disasters?
The article calls insurance the "oxygen that the economy needs to breathe", now I dont know enough about the complicated inter workings of the economy as a whole, but that statement seems a bit over the top. I do think that it's important for insurance agencies to take into account the pending climate change and forecast similarly.
The article focuses on how the beginning of climate change is already affecting the way insurance companies do business as well as how they are regulated. As the total numbers of environmental hazards is rising so are the amount of insurance dollars beings handed out to help cope with those problems. Insurance dollars don't come from thin air, they are forecasted far in the past and are estimated numbers so that companies can have enough when called upon. However, the new rash of disasters would completely throw that off.
The article states:
"“Insurance is the first line of defense against extreme weather losses, but climate change is a game-changer for the models that insurers have long relied on,” Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler told an industry blog on risk and insurance. “Companies will need to adapt if insurance is to remain available and affordable.”
“With 40 percent of industrial insurance claims that Allianz now pays out being due to natural catastrophes, climate change represents a threat to our business,” Allianz told the Insurance Journal."
This opens up a new layer of the 'health' of the insurance companies. Insurance companies could be reporting gains and investors buying stock in these companies, but what if a number of disaster occur to the point where the insurance company would go under. This in not an infrequent event, but what happens if it becomes more frequent in the future with the increase in natural disasters?
The article calls insurance the "oxygen that the economy needs to breathe", now I dont know enough about the complicated inter workings of the economy as a whole, but that statement seems a bit over the top. I do think that it's important for insurance agencies to take into account the pending climate change and forecast similarly.
There are even relatively new regulations put into place to help account for that, "In New York, California and Washington State, regulators already require major insurance companies to disclose their exposure to climate-related risks. Our report calls for rolling this approach out nationwide. Expanding disclosure would prompt insurers to incorporate climate risk into their business decisions—something they must do if they are to thrive, and even to survive, the coming storms. Disclosure would also help investors and regulators more accurately assess insurance companies’ financial strength."
Overall this was a pretty cool article to find and I'm someone who finds economics and geography interesting so it was right up my alley.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mindylubber/2012/10/11/climate-proofing-the-insurance-industry/
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Volcanic Activity eh?
Keeping tabs on a pretty active Volcano in Indonesia. The Volcano named, Mount Lokon has been especially active since September with over 40 eruptions occurring Last sunday it had it's largest one yet. This Volcano has proved deadly in the past, killing one Swiss tourist in 1991.
Although relatively harmless it has been incredibly active in the past year. Since July of 2011 it has erupted approximately 600 times. That's multiple eruptions per day, and in July of last year it's activities caused an evacuation of a small town of 2000+.
I wonder if eruptions are classified as just the release of magma/lava on the surface or if it is considered an eruptions only if there is material projected into the air.
The island of Java is paying special attention to Volcanoes at all times because they reside right in the middle of the 'Ring of Fire' and just last year another Volcano took the lives of 350 residents.
Good to see people keeping tabs on Volcanoes even in LDCs as a means of disaster mitigation. It is also important to have the right forecasting in place when it is possibly for Volcanoes.
http://www.examiner.com/article/series-of-eruptions-continue-from-indonesian-volcano
Although relatively harmless it has been incredibly active in the past year. Since July of 2011 it has erupted approximately 600 times. That's multiple eruptions per day, and in July of last year it's activities caused an evacuation of a small town of 2000+.
I wonder if eruptions are classified as just the release of magma/lava on the surface or if it is considered an eruptions only if there is material projected into the air.
The island of Java is paying special attention to Volcanoes at all times because they reside right in the middle of the 'Ring of Fire' and just last year another Volcano took the lives of 350 residents.
Good to see people keeping tabs on Volcanoes even in LDCs as a means of disaster mitigation. It is also important to have the right forecasting in place when it is possibly for Volcanoes.
http://www.examiner.com/article/series-of-eruptions-continue-from-indonesian-volcano
Thursday, October 4, 2012
"You guys remember storm Brutus?"
The weather channel has recently decided to start naming winter storms, beginning this winter. NY Daily News reports that this is an attempt to start raising awareness and a buzz around them to keep people interested and engaged in the forthcoming storms.
"Armed with a list of possibilities like “Brutus,” “Khan,” and “Nemo,” Weather Channel specialists say the move will give winter storms “personality” and help raise much-needed awareness."
According to the article storms will be named based on the type and amount of precipitation as well as the strength of the winds associated with the storm.
"Winter weather certainly has an attitude and takes on a certain personality,” said Tom Niziol, a winter weather expert for the Channel, who also explained that the team will seek “names with attitude."
I'm not sure about storms having an attitude but agree that naming winter storms will definitely get people talking about them and possibly heeding them a bit More.
It will be interesting to see what types of names they use and how they decide which ones to implement where.
Which storm would win in a fight, Godzilla or The Abominable Snowman?
"Armed with a list of possibilities like “Brutus,” “Khan,” and “Nemo,” Weather Channel specialists say the move will give winter storms “personality” and help raise much-needed awareness."
According to the article storms will be named based on the type and amount of precipitation as well as the strength of the winds associated with the storm.
"Winter weather certainly has an attitude and takes on a certain personality,” said Tom Niziol, a winter weather expert for the Channel, who also explained that the team will seek “names with attitude."
I'm not sure about storms having an attitude but agree that naming winter storms will definitely get people talking about them and possibly heeding them a bit More.
It will be interesting to see what types of names they use and how they decide which ones to implement where.
Which storm would win in a fight, Godzilla or The Abominable Snowman?
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
We've always had gas
In the recent past the topic of greenhouse gas has been brought up quite a bit, especially when discussing global warming. A recent LA Times article discusses an aspect of the gas topic that possibly has not been discussed much. The article is focused on pre-industrial greenhouse gas emissions and levels of these emissions and how it may put our current use into perspective.
"The quantities are much smaller, because there were fewer people on Earth...But the amount of methane emitted per person was significant." Obviously the levels of emissions were much smaller than today because of the way our society works today, but to hear that the amount was still significant might come as a shock to most.
The findings come from ice cores bored out from Antarctica. As described in the article, "Conclusions were based on an analysis of ice core samples from Greenland. The layered ice columns, which date back 2,000 years, contain tiny air bubbles from different periods of history, and provide scientists with a view into the atmosphere's changing chemistry."
The main point that the article is passing on to viewers is that we should not justify our use today by saying that we've been emitting gases since even pre-industrial days but to realize a few things. Our society has multiplied the amount by huge amounts, if the pre-industrial amounts were substantial. And we need to realize that as we move forward, to ensure that our methane emissions start to slow.
"The quantities are much smaller, because there were fewer people on Earth...But the amount of methane emitted per person was significant." Obviously the levels of emissions were much smaller than today because of the way our society works today, but to hear that the amount was still significant might come as a shock to most.
The findings come from ice cores bored out from Antarctica. As described in the article, "Conclusions were based on an analysis of ice core samples from Greenland. The layered ice columns, which date back 2,000 years, contain tiny air bubbles from different periods of history, and provide scientists with a view into the atmosphere's changing chemistry."
The main point that the article is passing on to viewers is that we should not justify our use today by saying that we've been emitting gases since even pre-industrial days but to realize a few things. Our society has multiplied the amount by huge amounts, if the pre-industrial amounts were substantial. And we need to realize that as we move forward, to ensure that our methane emissions start to slow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)