Hurricane-Force Winds Whip Cody, Wyoming, Knocking Out Power, Breaking Windows

The small town of Cody, Wyoming, was taken by surprise when hurricane-force winds whipped the area, causing power outages, uprooting a power pole and transformers and blowing out windows.

The wind gusts the area experienced were powerful, as weather.com meteorologist Linda Lam described, “Chinook winds developed along parts of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains on Friday. This strong downslope wind brought wind gusts of over 80 mph to some locations. As the wind comes down the leeward side of the Rocky Mountains the dry air warms. The warm and gusty winds ahead of an approaching cold front resulted in some record and near-record warm temperatures as well."

The highest wind gust reported was 117 mph near Clark, Wyoming, and the high wind warnings continue into Sunday for parts of Wyoming and Colorado.

 http://www.weather.com/news/news/cody-wyoming-strong-winds-impacts

Denver International Airport Experiences Dozens of Delays Due to Freezing Fog

"An arctic cold front blasted southwestward into the Denver area Sunday morning," said weather.com senior digital meteorologist Nick Wiltgen. "The cold air was nearly saturated -- humidity was near 100 percent -- and the east-northeast winds bringing it into Denver were blowing upslope toward the Rockies."

 

Wiltgen added: "The combination of cold, moist air and a wind blowing upslope led to very low clouds and thick fog -- in this case, freezing fog, since temperatures quickly plunged well below freezing. The fog, the icing concerns, the strong winds -- all of these are just bad news for trying to get planes in an out of a busy airport."

 

Departures were delayed as well. Flightaware.com said that as of 2 p.m. Sunday, 22 percent of the roughly 1,000 flights originating from DIA Sunday had been delayed, a larger percentage than any other U.S. airport at that time.

 

Coale stated more than 166,000 passengers were expected to pass through DIA on Sunday, 26,000 more than usual, the Denver Post reported.  Monday is also expecting a large amount of passengers, at least 157,000. 

 http://www.weather.com/news/news/denver-international-airport-thanksgiving-weekend-delays-fog

 

Big Welcome Storm Headed California’s Way

       The West Coast storm is expected to bring desperately needed rain and snow to parts of California. The state has been mired in a 3-year-long drought that has seen its driest year on record and what is almost certain to be its warmest year on record. Of course, one storm won’t erase such a deep moisture deficit, which has left some communities on the brink of waterlessness. But it’s at least a small step in the right direction, local forecasters and climate scientists say.
      There are indications that this storm could be the start of some wetter weather for California. The December outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called for better chances of above-normal precipitation for the whole state, in part because of the El Niño struggling to fully develop in the Pacific Ocean.
      “They seem to think that this will continue at least for a little while,” Tom Dang, a meteorologist in the Sacramento NWS office, said. And if nothing else, it’s unlikely California will see a repeat of last winter: “It’s very difficult for it to reach the levels that we reached last winter,” Dang said. “We’re certainly on much better footing” this year than last year.
 http://www.weather.com/news/news/california-drought-rain-coming
 

Denver International Airport Experiences Dozens of Delays Due to Freezing Fog

Dense freezing fog moved into the Denver area Sunday morning, forcing delays and diversions of dozens of flights scheduled to arrive into Denver International Airport. This unfortunate event happened at the worst possible time, on one of the busiest travel days of the year. 

The Federal Aviation Administration noted arrivals into the airport were delayed for at least two hours, KMGH-TV reported. As of 11 a.m. local time, Laura Coale of DIA said, "Unfortunately, the fog and winds are not working in our favor. Because of the direction of the wind it doesn't allow us to use all our runways right now."

"An arctic cold front blasted southwestward into the Denver area Sunday morning," said weather.com senior digital meteorologist Nick Wiltgen. "The cold air was nearly saturated -- humidity was near 100 percent -- and the east-northeast winds bringing it into Denver were blowing upslope toward the Rockies."

 

Wiltgen added: "The combination of cold, moist air and a wind blowing upslope led to very low clouds and thick fog -- in this case, freezing fog, since temperatures quickly plunged well below freezing. The fog, the icing concerns, the strong winds -- all of these are just bad news for trying to get planes in an out of a busy airport."

 

According to official observations, the temperature at DIA plunged from 42 degrees at 7:53 a.m. to just 26 degrees by 8:21 a.m., and 20 degrees by 8:46 a.m.

Coale stated more than 166,000 passengers were expected to pass through DIA on Sunday, 26,000 more than usual, the Denver Post reported.  Monday is also expecting a large amount of passengers, at least 157,000. 

Link: http://www.weather.com/news/news/denver-international-airport-thanksgiving-weekend-delays-fog

Flooding Threatens Spain, France, Italy on Sunday

A storm system that brought flooding rainfall to Portugal during this past week will move slowly to the east on Sunday bringing the threat for flooding rainfall to more of the Mediterranean coast.

The worst of the weather has ended across Portugal and most of Spain, however, this is after parts of the region experienced flooding rainfall.

On Sunday, the greatest threat for scenes like the one above will unfold from along the southeastern coast of Spain to northwestern Italy. AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Tyler Roys expects the storm to bring 12 to 40 mm (0.50 to 1.5 inches) with locally 75 mm (3 inches) or more as it slowly moves from south of Spain into the western Mediterranean Sea.

The greatest opportunity for the rainfall amounts in excess of 75 mm (3 inches) will be across northeast Spain where areas such as Barcelona could have significant flooding. With the ground already saturated, any torrential rain would quickly trigger new flooding problems.

While a few areas could have significant flooding, the greatest concern from the rainfall is that low-lying and poor drainage areas could quickly fill with water.

Streams and normally dry riverbeds may also turn into swollen rivers. Remember never to cross such waterways; doing so could have deadly consequences.

From Monday through Wednesday, this storm system will slowly cross the Mediterranean Sea bringing locally heavy rainfall to much of Italy and the Balkan Peninsula.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/flooding-threatens-spain-franc/38063285

Environment Canada issues winter weather warning

Following intermittent light snow today, expect more snow tonight, with snowfall amounts of up to five cm possible before temperatures rise above the freezing mark. The mercury will rise to about 4 C, and expect it to be about 2 C on Sunday morning. 

Roads could turn slick as weather warms overnight                             

A low pressure system from Alberta is currently over the Dakotas and will track across Northern Ontario all of Saturday. A southerly flow ahead of this system will bring a surge of milder air to the region resulting in a wintery mix of precipitation for Northern Ontario.

Following intermittent light snow today, expect more snow tonight, with snowfall amounts of up to five cm possible before temperatures rise above the freezing mark. The mercury will rise to about 4 C, and expect it to be about 2 C on Sunday morning. Temperatures will drop Sunday to about -7 C.

“Snow could become mixed with ice pellets or freezing rain before ending or changing to light rain,” the weather forecaster said in a release.

“On Sunday, patchy light rain or drizzle is forecast to change to flurries as a cold front passes and temperatures drop below zero. If surfaces are wet as the freezing occurs, very icy conditions may develop.”

Poor winter travelling conditions are expected across Northern Ontario. Drivers are urged to exercise caution as untreated surfaces may become snow covered and/or slippery.

“Environment Canada meteorologists are watching the evolution of this system closely and will issue further statements or alerts as required,” the release said. 

http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2014/11/29-weatherwarning.aspx 

Does recent unusual weather affect views on climate change? Not really, recent study suggests

Does a stretch of unseasonable warmth do much to influence people’s views on climate change?

One recent study suggests the answer is: No.

This study looked at two big data points. One was weather data for the winter of 2012, an unusually warm one across most of the country—and the 4th-warmest on record for the contiguous US as a whole.

The researchers then created “anomaly measures” for each state, said Aaron McCright, an associate professor of sociology at Michigan State University and the study’s lead author.

The other data point was Gallup polling data looking at beliefs about climate change from the spring of 2013.

The result? “Living in a state that had much warmer than normal temperatures had no influence on respondents’ attributing that warmth to global warming,” McCright said.

http://michiganradio.org/post/does-recent-unusual-weather-affect-views-climate-change-not-really-recent-study-suggests 

But while recent weather conditions had no effect, McCright says there was a strong link to some “individual-level variables: their pre-existing global warming belief, their belief in the scientific consensus, their party identification, [and] their political ideology.”

Though the scientific literature had been split on whether and how much unusual weather influences people’s beliefs about climate change, McCright says the latest research seems to show political leanings trumping weather extremes when it comes to influencing those views—with more self-identified Democrats than Republicans willing to accept the scientific consensus that climate change is real and human-driven.

And McCright says that in pretty much all studies, “Party or ideology or both is a statistically significant factor in people’s views about climate change. So in that case, what we found was very consistent with the literature.”

California Drought: Some Rain, but Still Not Enough

California Rainfall Is Nothing To Get Too Excited About

"An unusual thing happened across California this week -- it rained.

But while heavy downpours pounded across the San Francisco Bay Area and brought about an inch of rain on Thursday, water and climate experts warned that the wet week doesn't promise much relief as the state endures its fourth year of drought.

"The recent rains are nice, but so far are not much," UC Davis professor and Center for Watershed Sciences Director Jay Lund told The Huffington Post. "We are now at 62 percent of normal precipitation for this early time in the wet season. Better than last year, but only 62 percent of average."

Mark Svoboda, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, agreed, describing the downpours as having "not much of an effect at all" and suggesting that average rainfall isn't going to cut it this deep into the drought. "This winter will need to be much above the norm to make any headway against the drought," he told HuffPost.

Currently more than half of California is in a state of "exceptional drought," the most severe level of dryness as measured by the U.S. Drought Monitor"

I'm excited to read that California is getting some rain! Living in a state that is suffering from extreme drought must be a daily challenge. There are so many restrictions when it comes to consuming water, as well as using it for leisure and business. Hopefully, this rainfall continues at a pace that removes California from this drought sooner than later!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/21/california-rain-drought_n_6201744.html?utm_hp_ref=extreme-weather

Morocco hit by floods killing 32 people and leaving hundreds stranded

Dozens of homes swept away as heavy rain turns normally-dry riverbed into free-flowing watercourse

"Days of unusually heavy rain pounded Morocco’s south and unleashed deadly floods that killed 32 people, the country’s interior ministry said on Monday.

Near the southern city of Guelmim alone, 24 people died, with 11 bodies recovered from a valley which is normally a dry riverbed but had been turned into a raging torrent by flooding.

The army and national police rescued 214 people, including 40 by helicopter. Two French nationals were also rescued.

There are also reports that dozens of homes have been swept away and bridges cut off by the flooding."

I chose this article because flooding is a very extreme and bizarre occurrence to me. Living in the city of Chicago my whole life, I've never experience flooding. I mean, a little flooding if the alley way filled with some water from bad plumbing and pot holes is considered flooding. It saddens me that people have to lose their lives to natural disasters because I feel like deaths can be prevented if proper warnings and rescue measures are taken.

Buffalo, New York Area, Great Lakes, Lake-Effect Snow Impacts: At Least 5 Dead, State of Emergency Declared

November 19, 2014

"Snow was still falling on the Buffalo, New York, area Wednesday morning, a day after a major lake-effect snow event dumped up to 60 inches of snow on areas south of Buffalo, killing at least five people and stranding vehicles for hours on roads throughout the area. In response, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the western New York counties most impacted by the snow.

Snow also fell in other Great Lake states, including northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where up to two feet of snow blew ashore. Those areas will get a bit of a reprieve today before the lake-effect event ramps-up again in the evening hours Wednesday into the morning Thursday. For specific forecast details click on the link below.

A 46-year-old man was found dead in his vehicle in Alden, New York. The car was completely buried in snow, The Buffalo News reports.  A second person died in an automobile accident, and the three other deaths are possibly due to cardiac complications.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for 10 counties, including Erie County, most impacted by lake-effect snow. The declaration mobilizes more than 1,000 transportation personnel, including 526 snow plows, 74 large loaders and 21 snow blowers. The declaration also sends 150 National Guardsmen into the Buffalo area to assist with recovery efforts.

A travel ban remains in place for areas south of Buffalo."

I came across this article on weather underground and instantly I became interested. Considering I haven't seem much snow in Chicago yet, it was amazing to me how NY had suffered such a great snow storm and that 5 people perished as a result. Unfortunately, we as humans cannot control the weather because it is indeed a natural occurrence, but we can control how we deal with the weather. NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, from what I've read, has done a great job with issuing a variety of reliefs to the people of Buffalo through snow plows and travel bans. The actions taken to help these people in distress have been done with a sense of urgency and that it a great thing to witness.

Risk from extreme weather set to rise

The Royal Society warns that the risk of heatwaves to an ageing population will rise about ten-fold by 2090 if greenhouse gases continue to rise.

They estimate the risk to individuals from floods will rise more than four-fold and the drought risk will treble.

The report’s lead author Prof Georgina Mace said: “This problem is not just about to come… it’s here already."

She told BBC News: "We have to get the mindset that with climate change and population increase we are living in an ever-changing world – and we need much better planning if we hope to cope."

The report says governments have not grasped the risk of booming populations in coastal cities as sea level rises and extreme events become more severe.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30215782

UK faces SNOWSTORMS and plunging temperatures as ARCTIC December hits

A dramatic swing in the position of the jet stream threatens to send temperatures in parts Britain plummeting to an unprecedented levels by the end of NEXT WEEK.

Even the Met Office, which has so far distanced itself from the growing body of severe predictions, now agrees there could be “very cold spells” this winter.

A set of freak circumstances will collide to trigger a perfect storm of conditions capable of sparking a near NATIONWIDE whiteout.

The phenomenon, which also fuelled last week’s chaotic scenes in the United States, threatens to throw Britain into months of winter misery.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/540052/UK-weather-December-forecast-heavy-snow-winter-freeze

October 2014 Global Weather Extremes - U.S

October was globally the warmest such on record according to NOAA
It was the 4th warmest October on record for the contiguous U.S. with an average temperature of 57.1°F (13.9°C), some 3.0°F (1.7°C) above the long-term average and the first month since July 2013 that no single state reported an average temperature in the below-average category (bottom third of the historical record). The warmth was most pronounced along the Pacific Coast where Seattle, Portland, and many sites in California had their warmest October on record (San Francisco had its 3rd warmest October since records began 140 years ago at the downtown location).

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=316#commenttop

Extreme Weather Caused By Global Warming Could Become Normal

“Today’s report confirms what scientists have been saying – past emissions have set an unavoidable course to warming over the next two decades, which will affect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people the most,” said Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group.  “We’re already seeing record-breaking temperatures occurring more frequently, rainfall increasing in intensity in some places, and drought-prone regions like the Mediterranean becoming drier.

Extreme heat is the biggest problem, the report found, because it can reduce crop yields, negatively impacting food security and future economic growth as well as economic development, social stability and well-being.

“These changes make it more difficult to reduce poverty and put in jeopardy the livelihoods of millions of people,” Kim said. “They also have serious consequences for development budgets, and for institutions like the World Bank Group, where our investments, support and advice must now also build resilience and help affected populations adapt.”

http://www.weather.com/science/environment/news/extreme-weather-global-warming-world-bank-report

Massive Glacial Boulder Unearthed at Construction Site

About 30 feet below the surface, construction workers in Everett, Washington, made an enormous find that harkens back to times of much colder weather.

While using an excavator on Nov. 13 at the site of a new Courtyard by Marriott hotel, construction workers made contact with something solid, the Daily Herald reported. After geotechnical engineers were able to analyze the object, they concluded that it was a glacial rock weighing some 300,000 pounds and roughly the size of an SUV, the report added.

The huge boulder, known as a glacial erratic, could be as old as two million years, though scientists would need to study the rock closer to get a better estimate for its age, the Daily Herald also said.

http://www.weather.com/science/news/glacial-rock-discovered-everett-washington

At Least Five Tornadoes Confirmed in South Recently

At least five tornadoes have been confirmed after a round of severe weather moved through the Deep South Sunday night into Monday, and at least one of these storms caused serious damage to structures in the Florida Panhandle.

"A powerful jet stream, relatively warm, humid air and low-level wind shear ahead of a cold front combined to spawn supercell thunderstorms, a few of which spun up tornadoes in the Deep South," said weather.com senior meteorologist Jon Erdman. "November is notorious for tornadoes in the Deep South."

The severe weather comes on a day when the Ohio Valley pauses to mark one year since a tornado outbreak scarred parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, spawning several violent tornadoes on a Sunday afternoon.

http://www.weather.com/storms/tornado/news/severe-weather-deep-south-latest-news-20141117

Coldest Thanksgiving in Chicago area in 58 years

With the southern edge of cold Arctic high pressure nosing into the Midwest and western Great Lakes, Thursday may well turn out to be Chicago's coldest Thanksgiving Day since 1956 when the high was 25.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/weather/

Florida's Risk For Sea Level Rise - Illuminated in Photo by NASA

NASA's Earth Observatory just released an awe-inspiring photo (in the slideshow above) that shows just why so many Floridians are at risk to tropical cyclones and global sea level rise.

The photo, taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2014, shows Florida's peninsula illuminated at night. As NASA notes, the brightest areas in the photo indicate the most populous areas in the state. Notably, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area, home to 5.6 million people, is the most noticeable blip on the landscape, lighting up the entire southeastern coast of Florida a brilliant white.

Global sea level rise is another risk to the millions along Florida's coast. Since 1880, sea levels along the Florida coast have risen by nearly a foot, and are projected to rise another 3 to 6 feet by the end of the century due to climate change. So great is the concern for sea level rise in the coastal areas of South Florida, where some areas are currently just five feet above sea level, that local politicians in South Miami, Florida, recently proposed splitting Florida into two separate states, North and South Florida, in order to better sort out sea level rise implications.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/nasa-photo-florida-coast-night-20141119

Buffalo Lake-Effect Snowband Looked Like a Haboob

An impressive band of lake-effect snow off Lake Erie hammered parts of western New York Monday into Tuesday, leaving parts of the Buffalo metro area with several feet of snow.

A haboob is a massive dust storm caused by strong winds, typically flowing outward from thunderstorms. This is typically seen several times each summer in the Desert Southwest, but was also more recently seen with an arctic front diving down the High Plains of the U.S. on Veterans Day 2014.

Of course, there are many differences between this lake-effect snowband and a haboob.

The two phenomena occur at different times of year in different regions of the country with different precipitation regimes (heavy snow falling vs. mainly dry outflow winds kicking up dust from the ground).

Also, a lake-effect snowband can remain parked for a time while a haboob typically races quickly thanks to outflow winds propagating away from their parent thunderstorms, or a fast-moving arctic front in the Veterans Day case, kicking up the dust cloud.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/buffalo-lake-effect-snowband-resembles-haboob-20141118

Record-Breaking November Arctic Cold, Round Two

A second push of bitterly cold air has blasted its way south and east, bringing extremely cold temperatures for millions of Americans who have already endured nearly a week of January-like chill. There have been more than 350 record lows and record cool highs set, covering 42 states, since Sunday.

On Wednesday morning record lows were broken or tied from New York to New Orleans and more record lows and record cool high temperatures are possible.

With blocking high pressure aloft over eastern Alaska and northwest Canada, a direct pipeline of cold air will come from Siberia to near the North Pole, then southward into Canada and the U.S., particularly the Plains and Midwest. While not nearly as cold in magnitude, the arctic surges will also sweep into parts of the East.

This is a classic Arctic outbreak pattern that will remain largely locked in over these areas this week. 

http://www.wunderground.com/news/arctic-cold-outbreak-november-locked-20141110

High Winds Cause Damage from Kentucky to Canada

Thousands of people in Michigan woke up without power Tuesday morning after a vicious wind storm raked a large swath of the U.S. and eastern Canada Monday.

Strong low pressure over the Midwest was responsible for the winds, which gusted over 60 mph in some cases. At least three people were hurt during the storm and thousands of flights were delayed or canceled.

Outages also hit parts of Canada hard, with some 140,000 customers lacking electricity Monday evening. About 78,000 of those were in Ontario, with the rest in Quebec.

http://www.weather.com/forecast/news/airport-delays-thanksgiving-travel-high-wind-warning

Winter Storm Cato

Winter Storm Cato is moving up the Eastern U.S., dumping a wintry mix of snow and rain as it pushes into highly populated areas of the Eastern Seaboard. Tens of thousands are without power, and countless accidents have slowed travel for drivers on the day before Thanksgiving.

Over a foot of snow has already fallen in parts of the Mid-Atlantic region, and Cato could dump more than a foot in parts of New England later today. All that wintry precipitation is making for slick, treacherous roads for the estimated 41.3 million people traveling via vehicle today. 

As for air travel, there were already more than 1,200 cancellations and 450 delays at airports across the U.S.as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to FlightAware. Those numbers will likely continue to jump as Cato moves into high air traffic areas like New York and Boston.

http://www.weather.com/safety/winter/news/winter-storm-cato-news-and-impacts

Snowstorm Continues to Slam New England

A storm with rain and heavy snow is stretching across the East Coast, continuing to cause delays for Thanksgiving travelers.

The heaviest snow will continue through Maine and interior New England through the night.

The most recent update from Accuweather: 9:25 p.m. EST Wednesday: More than 89,000 customers are without power across Maine, including 79,000 Central Maine Power customers.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/live-blog-northeast-snow-storm/38009838

Warmer in Alaska?

Many cities saw temperatures plummet as much as 30 degrees within a day as the cold front advanced east. Behind the front, temperatures dropped to 27 degrees below zero Wednesday in Casper, Wyoming, and Riverton, Wyoming had a daytime high of 0 degrees on Thursday.
(MORE: Record-Breaking November Arctic Cold: How Long Will It Last?)

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By Friday, the front had reached as far as the Eastern Seaboard, and the majority of the contiguous U.S. was locked in a deep freeze. Taking a look at the surface map, it was easy to see that sub-freezing temperatures had invaded the Rockies, Great Plains, and even much of the East. These are temperatures comparable to Alaska, right?
Not quite. On Friday morning, temperatures were warmer -- significantly warmer, in some cases -- in Alaska compared to much of the Lower 48. In fact, at 8 a.m., temperatures were warmer in Fairbanks than they were in Denver. Kansas City was envious of Anchorage. And Kodiak, Alaska, was at least 15 degrees warmer than Dallas, Texas.
Both Chicago and Indianapolis, which are located near the 40°N latitude line, were bested by Barrow, which is located north of the Arctic Circle at 66°N. This is extremely impressive, considering the fact that Barrow only experienced three and a half hours of daylight yet achieved a high of 31 degrees on Friday, which is 24 degrees above Barrow's normal for the day.
Barrow is banking on the "toasty" temperatures to ride them into the next 65 days of the season, in which the sun drops below the horizon and Barrow experiences nothing more than civil twilight until January 23.
(MORE: Current Lower 48 Temperatures | Current Alaska Temperatures)
Why Is It Warmer in Alaska Than Say...Texas?

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A large upper-level ridge has developed over Alaska, locking in the more moderate air and preventing the bitterly cold Arctic air mass from moving into Alaska and the Southwest. East of the ridge, a very large upper-level trough developed over Canada and the Lower 48, which allowed the polar air mass to sink well into the U.S. and invade as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.
Unfortunately, forecast models do not anticipate a shift in this weather pattern. Abnormally cold air is expected to continue to invade the U.S. http://www.weather.com/storms/winter/news/warmer-alaska-texas-contiguous-united-states-artic-blast-20141115

7 Ways the U.S. Can Adapt to Climate Change

http://www.weather.com/science/environment/news/7-ways-us-adapt-climate-change-20141118

Climate change is being felt locally, through floods, heatwaves and other meteorological maladies, but there’s little sense in leaving the mammoth task of climate adaptation to local communities to figure out for themselves.

That’s why the Obama Administration convened a panel of local, state and tribal leaders last year to advise the federal government on how to guide and improve climate adaptation efforts and resiliency planning. On Monday, that panel presented a 46-page report containing more than 100 of suggestions to White House officials, ranging from a need for a compendium of adaptation case studies and best practices to changes in how the insurance industry works.

“These should be nonpartisan issues, and they’re really issues that impact the quality of life in our cities,” task force member Jim Brainard, the mayor of Carmel, Ind., said during a press conference Monday. “We cannot continue to build cities as we have in the past.”

The federal government says it’s already acting on some of the group’s findings. “We have started to integrate the recommendations into the grant programs across the federal government, and really trying to figure out how to embed this work in the DNA of the agencies across the administration,” White House Council on Environmental Quality chief Mike Boots told reporters.

Many of the panel’s suggestions focused on the need for improved data and information; a theme upon which the government had acted even before it started sending out the morning’s media alerts. The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, aka the Climate Explorer, is a new online tool that can be used to assess coastal flooding risks, water shortfalls and other challenges associated with global warming.

The first phase of the toolkit was launched by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Monday, representing an extension of the government’s geeky approachto harnessing the power of Big Data in working to adapt to climate change.

Genoa, Italy and Nimes, France Swamped By Flash Flooding

http://www.weather.com/storms/severe/news/genoa-italy-nimes-france-flood-20141010
Heavy rainfall sent floodwaters rushing through parts of northern Italy and southern France Thursday into Friday, swamping buildings, trapping vehicles and killing at least one.
Flooding swamped city streets in the northern Italian coastal city of Genoa (population about 600,000) Thursday night. Numerous vehicles were trapped by water up to windshields, then floated, and piled into and on top of each other once the floodwaters subsided.
A 57-year-old man was killed in Genoa after being swept away in floodwaters, according to Reuters. Streets were left covered in mud after the water receded. A retaining wall collapsed and forced the evacuation of 16 families and a few mudslides were reported on several major highways, according to Italian news site Primocanale.it.
More than 7 inches of rain fell in Genoa in a three-day period ending Friday morning, local time. However, Thursday into early Friday, alone, 7-12 inches of rain had fallen in the Apennine Mountains north of the city, helping to push the Bisagno River well out of its banks.

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A man enters his partially-buried car, on October 10, 2014 in Nimes, after heavy showers led to flash floods. (BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images)