StormSmart National Blog » weather & climate

NOAA Releases New Storm Surge Brochure

Wesley Shaw — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:54:46 +0000

NOAA’s National Hurricane Center Storm Surge Unit has put together a new brochure explaining the what storm surge is and how to best measure it.

There’s nothing here on how to prevent losses, but the before/after shots (on page 3) should motivate some people to think about how we need to plan for it.

Download “Introduction to Storm Surge” from the National Hurricane Center (PDF).

Animated Map of Extreme Weather Events

Wesley Shaw — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:39:34 +0000

Just an animated map showing last year’s extreme weather events around the country. Amusing if you don’t think about it. Very worrisome if you do.

Extreme Weather Map

New Reality: Innocous High Tide Floods Street [video]

Wesley Shaw — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:49:38 +0000

Delaware Sea Grant has released a great short video showing how a little (offshore) storm plus a high tide can affect a seemingly safe street. Take a short break and watch. Expect a lot more like this as we see more sea level rise.

City Folds Climate Change Adaptation into Hazard Mitigation Plan

Wesley Shaw — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:19:22 +0000

“Hazard mitigation is very important and there’s a lot of value in looking at past events, but we know with climate change that we can’t use the past to project what the future will be like. For example, the flood that a community used to experience every 100 years may now be the 20-year flood.”

Nice Coastal Services Magazine article on Lewes, Delaware, where the city (with help from ICLEI and Delaware Sea Grant) successfully merged climate change adaptation into their hazard mitigation planning. One participant called it a “win-win, no-regrets strategy.” I expect we’ll be seeing a lot efforts like this in the future.

What’s the Relationship Between Climate Change and Extreme Weather?

Wesley Shaw — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:15:49 +0000

Some scientists give us the rundown:

(From Climate Communication)

Will the Next Hurricane Put You Underwater? New Site Shows How Deep

Wesley Shaw — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:32:52 +0000

Have a look at the new Miami-Dade County Storm Surge Simulator which lets you click on a map to show where you live and then select the severity of the storm before it shows you just how deep that water will be when that next hurricane hits. You can even select whether you want to see the depth shown on a person, a home, or a villa (I did mention this was for Miami, right?).

See the illustration or head over to the site to check it out.

Storm Surge Simulator

Irene Heads Up the Atlantic Coast [Video]

Wesley Shaw — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:12:27 +0000

Watching this in New York City, as of now 385 miles away.

A little intimidated.

A little excited.

Irene Heading North. Will it be New England’s First Major Hurricane in 20 Years?

Wesley Shaw — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:13:16 +0000

While the models never exactly agree (have a look at the National Hurricane Center’s page on Irene for an overview), there seems to be general agreement that Irene is going to get at least awfully close to North Carolina, and then continue up the coast. Some are predicting that it’s going to bash right into New England on Sunday, and that the region could face its first major hurricane since Bob which pummeled the coast almost exactly 20 years ago on August 19, 1991.

Let’s hope they’re wrong. But this is an obvious time to ask if your community is ready. Hopefully your emergency managers are preparing, with the emergency response plans already assembled. With some luck this will all be a non-event, but for now we’ll all have to just wait and see.

New, Non-Technical Sea Level Rise Primer for Southeastern US

Wesley Shaw — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:27:55 +0000

Finding information on sea level rise that isn’t so vague as to be useless or too technical to understand can be tricky. Gary Mitchum (University of South Florida) has taken a stab at doing so in Sea Level Changes in the Southeastern United States—Past, Present, and Future. You can download a PDF of the report (which was a joint project with the Florida Climate Institute and the Southeast Climate Consortium) here.

Thanks to Keith Ingram for sharing this over on StormSmart Connect.

FEMA Study Finds National Floodplains Projected to Grow by 40-45%

Wesley Shaw — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:13:48 +0000

As reported in the New York Times, last week (at the Coastal Zone conference in Chicago), FEMA shared some results from a pending study looking at the projected effects of climate change on the National Flood Insurance Program.

The short version? It’s not looking pretty, and the challenges won’t be confined to coastal areas either. Floodplains are going to grow across across the country, and not just a little.

You can read the full story here.