Today, there were five tropical systems across the Atlantic, with a 6th emerging off the coast of Africa.
I thought 2005 was bad, but I have never witnessed anything like this in all of the years that I have followed tropical systems. We still have another 77 days left in the season before it officially ends on November 30. We are on the V named storm in mid-September (incredible)! I feel that every African easterly wave that has emerged from Africa has formed a tropical cyclone. It seems like a scary movie from the middle 21st century when the planet is more than 2 C warmer than the pre-industrial period, but it is now.
Climate Change is REAL and affecting Natural Hazards
I don’t know how long we can delude ourselves about what has happened over the last 5 years or more and what is happening this year. The events are causing more flooding, intensifying faster than weather forecast predict while coastal areas are increasing in population. Something is going to give and it’s not going to be these natural hazards. Hurricanes Irma, Michael, Florence, Laura, Harvey, Dorian, Paulette, Sally, Maria, Michael, and lesser storms are doing their damage in real-time.
What is strange about all of this is people’s response. They say we are going to rebuild because that is what we always do. But isn’t that a form of insanity when the systems are getting stronger and doing more damage? What about the people who can’t rebuild? What about the people that don’t recover, can’t afford the price of flood insurance, or get evicted because they are renters? A time is coming, when even those who feel buffered will lose everything and will just give up because they can’t….. any longer.
Overall I feel pessimistic about addressing climate change based on scientific evidence. Why?
- Because people are disconnected from their contributions to climate change;
- For many companies the bottom line is profit and they have a strong lobbying platform;
- Climate change may manifest initially with a short burst (a massive wildfire or hurricane season) but the real change continues to creep on us in an invisible way that the majority of the world cannot envision (polar regions – melting sea ice and ice-sheets, acidification, rising CO2, N2O, and CH4 levels, loss of biodiversity on land and in the oceans;
- Given the lack of will by countries and individuals to face a short term global pandemic (COVID-19), where the evidence from epidemiologist is clear and the numbers of individuals impacted are right in front of us (29 million cases, 930,000 deaths in the last year) — How can we face climate change?
If you have been or will be in the path of these storms (Cape Verde, Bermuda, Gulf Coast), I hope that you endured the event, are preparing or evacuating if necessary for an upcoming event, stay safe and healthy.
