Does Increasing Extreme Weather Threaten Our Society's Stability ?

“Shrieking hysterically on a blog about it is a pathetic spectacle, CC and such ilk.”

“You are just another doomsday crackpot,”

“There is your hysteria. No, the facts cited point to significant changes to come gradually on a time scale of a century or two.”

“Cities get built a lot faster than one might realize.”

“You apparently are not familiar with the construction industry and how it persists in harsh weather.”

“More CC shrieking hysteria.”

“More like a nightmare-er.”

“You have a wild imagination.”

“You have constructed an elaborate set of fantasies in your mind about me.”


Oh the irony, but guess it would be lost on you Starry.

“Try reading and thinking before you go half wacko over one question.”
Might I suggest dear physician, heal thyself.

I don’t need to be calling you all sorts of frothing nonsense. I’m capable of keep my eye on the ball, as they say. While all you got is that GOP sort of ignorant dismissiveness and ruthless love of the slander.

I can show you where I get my information regarding what I’m trying discuss. Your ignorant nasty derogatory spitballs mean nothing to me, they are simply a reflection of what going on inside your lil ol mindscape, not mine.

Oh now for some of those real world facts:

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Transportation resilience to climate change and extreme weather events – Beyond risk and robustness

Samuel A. Markolf, Christopher Hoehne, Andrew Fraser, Mikhail V. Chester, Shane Underwood.

Transport Policy | Volume 74, February 2019, Pages 174-186

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X17305000

Climate change impacts on infrastructure can be exacerbated by issues like complexity and interconnected systems.

Current focus of climate adaptation in transportation infrastructure may overlook behavioral and interconnected effects.

Successful adaptation may require more than robustness (i.e., calculation of risk and subsequent hardening of infrastructure).

Indirect vulnerabilities via interconnected infrastructure and non-physical vulnerabilities are less conducive to robustness.


The High Price of Inaction

How Congress Can Support Resilient Infrastructure and Communities

By Guillermo Ortiz and Cathleen Kelly Posted on February 20, 2019

<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2019/02/20/466480/high-price-inaction/">https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2019/02/20/466480/high-price-inaction/</a>

2018 marks yet another year plagued by catastrophic extreme weather events that ravaged communities, infrastructure, and businesses across the nation. From Hurricane Michael’s destructive path through the Florida Panhandle to the most ferocious and deadly wildfire season on record in California, people across the country are witnessing the grim realities of climate change impacts firsthand. To safeguard these communities, Congress must support resilient infrastructure solutions and other measures to reduce climate pollution and help communities prepare for the stark realities of a warmer world.

According to a new analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States was hit by 14 extreme weather events and climate disasters in 2018 that each caused damages exceeding $1 billion. …

Rethinking Infrastructure in an Era of Unprecedented Weather Events -

Issues in Science and Technology

BY THADDEUS R. MILLER, MIKHAIL CHESTER, TISCHA A. MUÑOZ-ERICKSON

https://issues.org/rethinking-infrastructure/

A more integrated and systemic approach is needed to ensure the nation’s resilience in the face of a changing climate.

One common failure is an overconfidence, bordering on hubris, in the ability to tightly control complex social and ecological systems through the management of technological systems.

To address the interdependence of infrastructure systems, the institutions that build, manage, and maintain them must explore new models of institutional design. …


A systems framework for national assessment of climate risks to infrastructure

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

Richard J. Dawson , David Thompson , Daniel Johns , Ruth Wood , Geoff Darch , Lee Chapman , Paul N. Hughes , Geoff V. R. Watson , Kevin Paulson , Sarah Bell , Simon N. Gosling , William Powrie and Jim W. Hall

<a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsta.2017.0298">https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsta.2017.0298</a>

Published: April 30, 2018

Abstract

Extreme weather causes substantial adverse socio-economic impacts by damaging and disrupting the infrastructure services that underpin modern society. Globally, $2.5tn a year is spent on infrastructure which is typically designed to last decades, over which period projected changes in the climate will modify infrastructure performance.

A systems approach has been developed to assess risks across all infrastructure sectors to guide national policy making and adaptation investment.

The method analyses diverse evidence of climate risks and adaptation actions, to assess the urgency and extent of adaptation required. Application to the UK shows that despite recent adaptation efforts, risks to infrastructure outweigh opportunities.

Flooding is the greatest risk to all infrastructure sectors: even if the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2°C is achieved, the number of users reliant on electricity infrastructure at risk of flooding would double, while a 4°C rise could triple UK flood damage.

Other risks are significant, for example 5% and 20% of river catchments would be unable to meet water demand with 2°C and 4°C global warming respectively. Increased interdependence between infrastructure systems, especially from energy and information and communication technology (ICT), are amplifying risks, but adaptation action is limited by lack of clear responsibilities.

A programme to build national capability is urgently required to improve infrastructure risk assessment. …

2017 U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters: a historic year in context

Adam B. Smith \ January 8, 2018

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/2017-us-billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters-historic-year

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) tracks U.S. weather and climate events that have great economic and societal impacts (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions). Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 219 weather and climate disasters where the overall damage costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index, as of December 2017). The cumulative costs for these 219 events exceed $1.5 trillion.

During 2017, the U.S. experienced a historic year of weather and climate disasters. In total, the U.S. was impacted by 16 separate billion-dollar disaster events including: three tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two inland floods, a crop freeze, drought and wildfire


Climate Change and Infrastructure Failings in Extreme Weather

Alexandra Silets | September 11, 2017

<a href="https://news.wttw.com/2017/09/11/climate-change-and-infrastructure-failings-extreme-weather">https://news.wttw.com/2017/09/11/climate-change-and-infrastructure-failings-extreme-weather</a>

6 Rules For Rebuilding Infrastructure In An Era Of ‘Unprecedented’ Weather Events

With unforeseeable weather events always a possibility, rebuilding infrastructure during the aftermath is key.

BY THADDEUS R. MILLER, MIKHAIL CHESTER, THE CONVERSATION / SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

https://www.govtech.com/fs/infrastructure/6-Rules-For-Rebuilding-Infrastructure-In-An-Era-Of-Unprecedented-Weather-Events.html

Before Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Aug. 25, there was little doubt that its impact would be devastating and wide-ranging.

Unfortunately, Harvey delivered and then some with early estimates of the damage at over US$190 billion, which would make it the costliest storm in U.S. history. The rain dumped on the Houston area by Harvey has been called “unprecedented,” making engineering and floodplain design standards look outdated at best and irresponsible at worst.

But to dismiss this as a once-in-a-lifetime event would be a mistake. With more very powerful storms forming in the Atlantic this hurricane season, we should know better. We must listen to those telling a more complicated story, one that involves decades of land use planning and poor urban design that has generated impervious surfaces at a fantastic pace. …


<a href="https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/report-findings/infrastructure">https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/report-findings/infrastructure</a>

Infrastructure is being damaged by sea level rise, heavy downpours, and extreme heat; damages are projected to increase with continued climate change.

Infrastructure Threatened by Climate Change Poses a National Crisis

Whether it’s water or communication systems, infrastructure is ill prepared to keep functioning under changing climate conditions

By Evan Lehmann, ClimateWire on March 6, 2014
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/infrastructure-threatened-by-climate-change-poses-a-national-crisis

… The nation’s aging infrastructure makes up an interconnected web of systems that are alarmingly vulnerable to the shocks of climate change, according to a report released today that will inform the National Climate Assessment, to be made public next month.

The difficulty of strengthening the systems that support the American economy – from electricity to drinking water – poses significant problems requiring large investments at a time of rising risk and receding political appetite for big spending initiatives. …


Weather Extremes Leave Parts of U.S. Grid Buckling

By MATTHEW L. WALD and JOHN SCHWARTZ  |  JULY 25, 2012

<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/us/rise-in-weather-extremes-threatens-infrastructure.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/us/rise-in-weather-extremes-threatens-infrastructure.html</a>

WASHINGTON — From highways in Texas to nuclear power plants in Illinois, the concrete, steel and sophisticated engineering that undergird the nation’s infrastructure are being taxed to worrisome degrees by heat, drought and vicious storms.

On a single day this month here, a US Airways regional jet became stuck in asphalt that had softened in 100-degree temperatures, and a subway train derailed after the heat stretched the track so far that it kinked — inserting a sharp angle into a stretch that was supposed to be straight.

Northwestern Expert Devises Method for Quantifying Impact of Global Warming

Alex Ruppenthal | April 26, 2017

https://news.wttw.com/2017/04/26/northwestern-expert-devises-method-quantifying-impact-global-warming

Yes.

No. Extreme weather conditions aren’t increasing fast enough for that.

Economic inequality and social dysfunction are more of a threat.

Come on. Drought conditions in certain places have already lead to social dysfunction, which leads to war and extreme violence, which has lead to massive immigration influxes in Europe, which has lead to more social dysfunction.