Your Weather, Our Weather (1 Viewer)

[Huntn]

Since June we (East Texas) have been running mid 90s to low 100sF (32-40C) with with hear indexes about 110F, lows of 85F (29C) at night. A high pressure dome of heat parked over the Central US bringing no rain (at least to Texas) for several weeks and high temps. Comparing F to C. I prefer the spread of F over C, but consider I grew up with F. A recent trip to Corpus Christi we saw large large fields of immature brown/dead corn.
An alarming report is that the Oceans are turning green (more plant matter growing) due to the rise of temps, sharks are reported as dying. Another report said that El Niño usually causes a reduction of Atlantic hurricane activity, but with oceans heating up, that may change.

I never thought I would be living in such a transitional period for the Earth. We have been warned for 40 years, yet as a species, we just blunder along until we are smacked upside the head.

 

[Optimus Prime]

More on this
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In south-east Detroit, the Environmental Protection Agency says, the air is clean.

Robert Shobe’s lungs tell a different story.

Like a lot of Detroiters, Shobe suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, a long-term lung ailment that flares up when the air is smoggy or smokey. On those days, Shobe said: “I probably am low on energy, and I feel like I’m seeing a haze in the air.”

Traffic, industrial sources and meteorological conditions often worsen pollution in his part of town. One of Shobe’s closest neighbors is the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant, where Jeep Wagoneers roll off the line. Since opening a paint shop on the property just over two years ago, it has racked up eight air pollution violations and fines.

So Shobe was baffled when he heard in May 2023 that Detroit had three years of clean air data, and that according to the EPA, the region met strict federal air-quality standards.

Regulators for Wayne county, where Detroit is located, accomplished that feat by removing two of the highest-ozone days from their calculations. They could do that because they had identified a surprising source of dirty air: wildfires burning across the border, in other states and in Canada.

Using a little-known loophole in the Clean Air Act, the Michigan environment, Great Lakes and energy department had made the case to the EPA that pollution on those days stemmed from an exceptional event, defined as something uncontrollable, unlikely to recur and, often, natural: wildfires.

The “exceptional events rule” allows the EPA to strike pollution caused by these events from the record, allowing regulators to meet clean-air goals on paper, without forcing local industry to comply with tighter pollution controls.

In Michigan, a regulator referred to the process as a “magic wand”.……

In Detroit, a ‘magic wand’ makes dirty air look clean - and lets polluters off the hook

Across the US, local governments, lobbyists and industry have spent millions to get wildfire pollution excluded from the record. People like Robert Shobe pay the price

www.theguardian.com

 

[fooferdoggie]

Had a tornado warning in portland Oregon yesterday. Now thats a new one.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Accelerated ice melt in west Antarctica is inevitable for the rest of the century no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, research indicates. The implications for sea level rise are “dire”, scientists say, and mean some coastal cities may have to be abandoned.

The ice sheet of west Antarctica would push up the oceans by 5 metres if lost completely. Previous studies have suggested it is doomed to collapseover the course of centuries, but the new study shows that even drastic emissions cuts in the coming decades will not slow the melting.

The analysis shows the rate of melting of the floating ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea will be three times faster this century compared with the previous century, even if the world meets the most ambitious Paris agreement target of keeping global heating below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Losing the floating ice shelves means the glacial ice sheets on land are freed to slide more rapidly into the ocean. Many millions of people live in coastal cities that are vulnerable to sea level rise, from New York to Mumbai to Shanghai, and more than a third of the global population lives within 62 miles (100km) of the coast.……

Rapid ice melt in west Antarctica now inevitable, research shows

Sea level will be driven up no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, putting coastal cities in danger

www.theguardian.com

 

[LA - L.A.]

Accelerated ice melt in west Antarctica is inevitable for the rest of the century no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, research indicates. The implications for sea level rise are “dire”, scientists say, and mean some coastal cities may have to be abandoned.

The ice sheet of west Antarctica would push up the oceans by 5 metres if lost completely. Previous studies have suggested it is doomed to collapseover the course of centuries, but the new study shows that even drastic emissions cuts in the coming decades will not slow the melting.

The analysis shows the rate of melting of the floating ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea will be three times faster this century compared with the previous century, even if the world meets the most ambitious Paris agreement target of keeping global heating below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Losing the floating ice shelves means the glacial ice sheets on land are freed to slide more rapidly into the ocean. Many millions of people live in coastal cities that are vulnerable to sea level rise, from New York to Mumbai to Shanghai, and more than a third of the global population lives within 62 miles (100km) of the coast.……

Rapid ice melt in west Antarctica now inevitable, research shows

Sea level will be driven up no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, putting coastal cities in danger

www.theguardian.com

I read about that today on CNN from the same source material. I'm quoting from it, but it's probably in your source to:

West Antarctica is already the continent’s largest contributor to global sea level rise and has enough ice to raise sea levels by an average of 5.3 meters, or more than 17 feet. It’s home to the Thwaites Glacier, also known as the “Doomsday glacier,” because its collapse could raise sea levels by several feet, forcing coastal communities and low-lying island nations to either build around sea level rise or abandon these places, Naughten said.

The Thwaites Glacier is likely going to collapse within the next 15 to 20 years, because every time models are updated with new information and discoveries, the predicted time of the collapse moves up by a decade or two. Sea level rising a few feet in a matter of days to weeks is really bad, but the worse part of it is the cascade of problems that it sets off.

• The obvious is localized flooding that forces millions to billions of people to have to evacuate and lose almost everything they have and need to restart a life for themselves somewhere else. Individuals and businesses will not get any help from insurance companies and the global insurance industry will collapse. Most of the evacuees will be trapped in a perpetual state of poverty and diaspora. History has taught us that people trapped in diaspora eventually end up oppressed and treated inhumanely. The US is going to be hit hard and may not survive it politically or economically, unless we start preparing for it right now.
• Millions to billions more people who live above the new coast created by the rise in sea level will not have fresh (salt free) water to drink. Salt water from the sea infiltrates a lot farther inland below ground level, than it does above ground. Ground water and aquifers far in land from the new coastal zones will be tainted with undrinkable salt water and there will be no way to desalinate the water at the scale that will be needed, unless we start preparing now. An area that doesn't have access to fresh water for people is not permanently inhabitable, so people in those areas will have to evacuate as well.
• Most of the world's existing ports will have to be abandoned either from being inundated by the sea level rise or from the area it's located no longer being able to sustain the people needed to work the ports. It's going to lead to a near total collapse of shipping which means food and other vital goods will no longer be available for most of the world, unless we start preparing right now.
• The global diaspora, drinking water shortage, and food shortage is going to cause intense desperation and conflict all across the planet which will turn violent. There will be global economic and political collapse. There will be military conflicts all across the planet operating from an "every person for themself" desperation.

All of that happens within the first 3 months after the Thwaites glacier collapses. It gets even worse after that point. It could actually lead to our eventual extinction, unless we start preparing for it right now. Our collective hubris and denial tells us that it won't happen or that we will invent something at the last minute that will save us. That is what will be our doom. Right now today, we are not doomed. There is a lot we can do to prepare for it and to minimize the inevitable damage and disruption, and to prevent further damage and disruption. Our doom is that we refuse to collectively do something about it while we still have a chance. We are dooming ourselves and one of life's mechanisms of correction is to let destructive things destroy themselves.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Oil and gas production in Texas is spewing out double the rate of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, than in the more regulated state of New Mexico, new satellite data shared with the Guardian shows, prompting calls for tougher curbs of “super-emitter” sites that risk tipping the world into climate breakdown.

Satellite imaging of methane leaks across the Permian basin, a vast geological feature at the heart of the US oil and gas drilling industry, show that sites in Texas have emitted double the amount of the gas than in New Mexico, per unit of production, since 2019.

Methane is a potent planet-heating gas, around 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, and is routinely released via leaks or intentionally vented and burned, in a process called flaring, by fossil fuel companies when drilling for oil and gas. Scientists have warned of a “scary” surge in methane emissions in the past two decades, posing a major threat to efforts to contain dangerous global heating.

The new satellite data, gathered by Kayrros, a French climate technology company, shows that methane is being leaked at a far higher rate from sites in Texas compared with neighboring New Mexico. Despite increasing its own oil production in recent years, New Mexico has no site with repeated methane leaks, unlike in Texas, which Kayrros said is likely due to a 2021 state law aimed at curtailing methane emissions from industry.

“The effect that methane has on the global climate is devastating,” said Antoine Rostand, chief executive of Kayrros. “Good operators will re-inject the gas while others will vent it, which means it’s very easy to eliminate leaks of methane that would have a massive impact upon the climate.”

Rostand said the difference between visible leaks in Texas and New Mexico is “huge” and should spur governments in the US and other countries to crack down on this pollution. “It seems the regulation in New Mexico has had an impact without hurting business,” he said. “It’s a message of hope because it shows that if you have regulation it works. Governments need to take up their responsibilities with this.”…….

Texas produces twice as much methane as better regulated neighbor, study finds

Data shared with Guardian reveals Texas oil and gas fields emitting far more methane than New Mexico, prompting calls for stiffer curbs

www.theguardian.com