“Frontlines of Climate Change”

Florida in the News

2022

October 2022

It is October 1st and we are looking at a Week that Was (It was Ian, a Disaster). In Florida, the terrestrial home of GreenPolicy360, we faced a Hurricane named Ian — and resulting catastrophe throughout our state. Hurricane Ian arrived from the Caribbean and target the Florida west coast from Naples in the south to Tampa Bay and further in the north and central Florida. Mandatory evacuations were ordered… many listened, many didn’t and now the consequences are coming into view. The media and press are reporting, politicians speaking, emergency services, the Coast Guard, police, and regular citizens of all persuasions and backgrounds have acted, often as rescuers and/or protectors of families and homes. The consequences of the damage and the on the ground reality and experience will go on for months and years.

We have to ask, as now is the time to ask about Florida’s future, what about Florida? Where is the ‘trending’ threads of concern acknowledging, risks, problems and identifying solutions to ‘extreme weather events’. We have for years spoken of a warming Gulf of Mexico and tropical storms that ‘rapidly intensify’ as a result. Ian the hurricane did exactly that, surprising many but not out of line with the physics of a Gulf of Mexico that is heating due to climate change. The atmospheric science, earth science, ocean science, the statistics and the physics of interacting systems, and the political responses to the full scope of the devastation this extreme weather event/storm/typhoon, call it what you will, is on the radar. We are seeing connections between human decisions and nature’s responses. Florida is, as we have written for years, “The frontlines of climate change”.

Change is in the air. It is time for reality check. It’s time that we see the threat speeding at us…

— Steve Schmidt, Editor, Climate News Florida

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September 2022

Hurricane Ian Hits Florida

The ‘Rapid Intensification’ of Ian

Hurricane Ian ”’– Close to Cat5

:* https://twitter.com/JimCantore/status/1575076077914972160

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Climate-induced, warm water in the Gulf of Mexico is a feeder of intensity

* https://twitter.com/ClimateCentral/status/1575116109744939010

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Destructive Surges with Hurricanes, Extreme Weather Events

Florida, we’re pointing at Gulf Waters heating up and ‘inducing’ more powerful storms

Hurricane Ian, September 26, the ‘spaghetti plot lines’ warn of a historic Gulf Hurricane on the way…

There are ‘no easy fixes’ in Florida. But could Hurricane Ian’s havoc bring a call for better planning?

Via USA Today

Researchers who study flooding, development and climate change were horrified by the emerging images but not surprised. For years, they have warned that sprawling development in Florida and other coastal states wasn’t sustainable, especially with the warming climate supercharging hurricane rainfall.

“This is kind of what we had expected for days in advance, and it’s still heartbreaking to see so many people stranded,” said Kevin Reed, associate professor in atmospheric science at Stony Brook University…

“None of this is surprising,” said Linda Shi, an assistant professor in Cornell University’s city and regional planning department. “How much does it take for us to want to make a change? Our policies and our choices have led us to this point.”

Reed and colleagues recently published a study looking at all hurricanes during the 2020 season and concluded climate change was adding up to 10% more rain to today’s hurricanes. On Thursday, they used the same models to compare Ian’s rainfall and concluded it was at least 10% higher than it would have been without the warming climate.

“This is one of the clearest indicators of how climate change is impacting storms,” Reed said. It may not seem like a lot, but 2 inches on top of an already large amount of rainfall makes an enormous impact.’

What can Florida learn from Hurricane Ian?

Mother Nature keeps telling us homes don’t belong where we built them, yet we continue to build homes where they don’t belong.””'”We can’t stop cyclone events or stop the rain from falling, but we can build communities that are better able to withstand these events,” says John Dickson, president of the national Aon Edge Insurance Company. “We need to think about more resilient structure, and we need to make a plan to handle the water and move it away from our people and our families and our property.”

”Whether a storm water system is designed for rain that could occur once every 25 years or a rainfall event every 100 years, the system probably would be overwhelmed with rain like Ian’s,” said Chad Berginnis, executive director for the Association of State Floodplain Managers.

”The state may have to accept the fact that developers will have to build at higher elevations.”

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Re: Florida’s Flood and Property Insurance Crisis

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — ”As hurricane season approaches, it’s not an understatement to say that water is heading to Florida. However, in addition to the rain and storms coming to the Sunshine State, residents are also likely to see higher flood insurance costs in 2022.”

Florida has 8,436 miles (13,576 km) of coastline, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the second highest number of shore miles in the U.S. by distance.”

~ The terms “coastline” and “shoreline” are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. The coastline of a place is defined as the boundary between the coast and the shore. In other words, a coastline is a big-picture view of the approximate line between the land and the sea. A shoreline is an ever-changing line that marks the specific place where the water and shore meet…

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — ”Halloween isn’t the only scary thing coming up in October for Florida residents. More immediately, the state is going to see rate hikes on flood insurance as the Federal Emergency Management Agency implements a new risk rating system on Oct. 1.”

”Flood insurance is a yearly cost to homeowners who use it, and it covers homes in danger of water damage, particularly during storms. For Florida, that’s all year but particularly in hurricane season.”

Starting on Oct. 1, FEMA is implementing a program update it calls Risk Rating 2.0, which will change the way that flood insurance rates are calculated and charged and could lead to price increases for thousands of homeowners with waterfront properties. The changes coming through the system update are part of FEMA’s 2018-2022 Strategic Plan.”

* https://coast.noaa.gov/states/florida.html

* https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/88-of-florida-homeowners-to-see-higher-flood-insurance-rates/

* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Living_coastline