24 year Anniversary of Plainfield Tornado

It was on this date in 1990 that a deadly F5 tornado hit Plainfield and the surrounding communities,the only F5 to hit the Chicago area that killed 29 people, injured more than 300 and left $160 million in damage.

The tornado hit at approximately 3:30 p.m. on a warm Tuesday, with no warnings coming until the tornado had already done its damage. The twister first touched down in northwest Plainfield, then cutting a 15-mile swath on its way to Crest Hill.

Plainfield High School was destroyed, as well as St. Mary Immaculate Catholic Church and St. Mary’s Elementary School. Hundreds of homes were leveled, including most of an apartment complex in Crest Hill.

http://voices.suntimes.com/news/photos-deadly-f5-tornado-hit-plainfield-on-aug-28-1990/

Never Ending Drought

Global Warming has had an effect on every region of our country. However the impact that it has left promises never ending problems for some states due to green house gas emissions.These issue are not only promising to affect the well being and livelihood of humanity and the animal kingdom, but also promises a great deal of economical issues. The damage that global warming will do and has already done, will costs billions of dollars in fixing. 

The Southwest faces a dry and dusty forecast, with a 90 percent chance of a decade-long drought searing southern regions of Arizona and New Mexico this century, if global greenhouse gas emissions stay the same.

The drought risk for southern portions of California and Nevada is nearly as great, with an 80 percent chance of a decade-longdrought by 2100. California is already in the midst of an extreme drought. In 2014, the water shortage is expected to cost the state a total of $2.2 billion, including agricultural losses, according to a recent study from the University of California, Davis.
The U.S. Southwest has always suffered droughts. Tree rings and other historical records show one or two of these 10-year dry spells strike every century, such as in the 1950s. But computer models predict that climate change will tweak this historical drought pattern. Thanks to global warming, the Southwest is transitioning to a hotter and drier local climate, with less rain and snow, studies show. [The Worst Droughts in US History]

http://www.livescience.com/47652-chance-of-southwest-megadrought.html

Climate Change Will Ruin Hawaii

According to "Climate Change Impacts In Hawaii: A Summary Of Climate Change And Its Impacts To Hawaii’s Ecosystems And Communities," which was paid for by Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA), the oceans, rainfall, ecosystems and immunity of people who live on islands in the Pacific are all at peril. But what’s more, tourism -- an industry responsible for most of the state’s annual revenue -- might all but vanish.

Amongst the doom and gloom, the study projects:

• Higher average temperatures, stressing native animals and plants and causing an uptick in heat-related illnesses in people (think dengue fever or cholera), as well as a higher concentration of invasive species;
• A decrease in trade winds, which would disrupt the rainfall patterns across each of the islands and create periods of drought and heavy rain and flooding;
• Warmer oceans and higher ocean acidity, which could trigger massive coral bleaching, marine migration, and affect the ocean’s circulation and the way it distributes nutrients

Perhaps the most obvious change around the state will be the rise in sea levels, which have risen about 0.5-1.3 inches per decade throughout the last 100 years. The study projects this rate to accelerate, resulting in a 1-foot to 3-foot rise (or possibly more) by 2100.   

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/28/climate-change-study-hawaii_n_5731956.html

Rapidly Warming Arctic Leading to Deadly Extreme Weather Events

Rapid Arctic warming since 2000 may be reshaping and rerouting the narrow current of high winds across the Northern Hemisphere known as the jet stream, forcing it to act like a giant stop light at 30,000 feet.

This leads to stalled and prolonged weather systems that can bring deadly extreme heat and rainfall events, a new study has found.

The study, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the latest in a wave of research focused on the potential ties between melting sea ice and skyrocketing air temperatures throughout the Arctic, and extreme weather events in the northern midlatitudes, including the U.S., Europe and Asia.

The study adds to growing evidence that manmade global warming may already be reshaping today's weather patterns in ways that favor dangerous storms.

http://mashable.com/2014/08/11/warming-arctic-causing-deadly-extreme-weather-events/

6 Extreme Weather Events that Pummeled America this Summer

This summer, we have witnessed a number of extreme meteorologic and geologic events. Here are some of the worst in the U.S.:

California drought

Since May, California has faced a historic drought, resulting in the loss of 63 trillion gallons of water. 95.4 percent of the state is now experiencing "severe" drought conditions, which is only a marginal improvement from 97.5 percent last week.

Great Plains tornadoes

From June 16-18 this year, the Midwest was slammed by a series of four tornadoes, all ranking as category EF4--meaning the winds reached up to 200 miles per hour. An unlucky town called Pilger in Nebraska was hit especially hard, suffering through twin tornadoes, an extreme event that may only occur every few decades. The two that swept through the town killed two people, injured 16 and demolished as many as 50 homes. 

Michigan flooding

On Aug. 11, Detroit's wettest day in 89 years -- with rainfall at 4.57 inches -- resulted in the flooding of at least five major freeways, leading to three deaths, more than 1,000 cars being abandoned on the road and thousands of ruined basements. Gov. Rick Snyder declared it a disaster. It took officials two full days to clear the roads. Weeks later, FEMA is finally set to begin assessing damage. 

Yosemite wildfires

An extreme wildfire burning near Yosemite National Park forced authorities toevacuate 13,000 nearby residents, while the Madera County sheriff declared a local emergency. The summer has been marked by several wildfires due to California's extreme drought, which causes vegetation to become perfect kindling. 

Hawaii hurricanes

Hurricane Iselle was set to be the first hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii in 22 years. It was downgraded to a tropical storm and didn't end up being nearly as disastrous as it could have been, but it still managed to essentially shut down the entire state for a day, as businesses and residents hunkered down in preparation, with many boarding up their windows to guard against strong gusts. The storm resulted in downed trees, 21,000 people out of power and a number of damaged homes.

Florida red tide

A major red tide bloom can reach more than 100 miles along the coast and around 30 miles offshore. Although you can't really see it in the above photo, the effects are devastating for wildlife. This summer, Florida was hit by an enormous, lingering red tide, also known as a harmful algae bloom (HAB), which occurs when algae grow out of control. HABs are toxic to fish, crabs, octopuses and other sea creatures, and this one resulted in the death of thousands of fish. When the HAB gets close enough to shore, it can also have an effect on air quality, making it harder for people to breathe.  

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/30/6_extreme_weather_events_that_pummeled_america_this_summer/

Fire and water – how global warming is making weather more extreme and costing us money

Connecting the dots between human-caused global warming and specific extreme weather events has been a challenge for climate scientists, but recent research has made significant advances in this area. Links have been found between some very damaging extreme weather events and climate change.

There are several ways in which global warming intensifies drought. Hotter temperatures increase evaporation from soil and reservoirs. They cause more precipitation to fall as rain and less as snow, which for a region like California that relies on the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains as its natural water storage system, is problematic. Hotter temperatures also cause the snowpack to melt earlier in the year. The problem can be alleviated by building more water storage infrastructure, but that costs money.

Global warming is putting extreme weather on steroids. That creates all kinds of costs from more expensive food bills due to drought, to more property damage from higher hurricane storm surges, to higher firefighting costs. Climate contrarians love to exaggerate the costs of reducing carbon pollution, but the even higher costs of allowing global warming to continue are far too often overlooked.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/sep/02/global-warming-making-weather-more-extreme

California's 100-year drought

California is in the third year of one of the state's worst droughts in the past century, one that's led to fierce wildfires, water shortages and restrictions, and potentially staggering agricultural losses.

The dryness in California is only part of a longer-term, 15-year drought across most of the Western USA, one that bioclimatologist Park Williams said is notable because "more area in the West has persistently been in drought during the past 15 years than in any other 15-year period since the 1150s and 1160s" — that's more than 850 years ago.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2014/09/02/california-megadrought/14446195/