DAILY TRIFECTA: Is Climate Change On Your Radar?
I'm finding it hard to believe we're in havens
TITLE: Radar gaps threaten millions as severe weather season ramps up in U.S.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/03/24/weather-radar-gaps-safety-nws/
EXCERPT: In March 2012, a tornado near Charlotte damaged or destroyed nearly 200 homes, injuring four people, including three children. In February 2020, a tornado near Demopolis, Ala., destroyed a mobile home, killing a 54-year-old substitute teacher and injuring her husband. In May 2022, a violent thunderstorm complex sweeping through Minnesota killed a 63-year-old volunteer firefighter when a grain silo blew onto his vehicle.
All three severe weather episodes share a common trait: They formed in areas of poor radar coverage known as “radar gaps,” where the closest radar is too far to reliably detect tornadoes, flash flooding, heavy snow and ice. That means people either were not warned by the National Weather Service about the dangerous conditions, or they weren’t warned until after the damage was done. The U.S. weather radar network is considered the most advanced in the world. But these gaps have persisted for years, in both rural areas and highly populated cities, leaving millions of people vulnerable to severe weather as peak tornado season approaches next month.
Local and state officials, meteorologists, universities and the private sector have ramped up efforts to reduce radar blind spots, even after a 2020 Weather Service report to Congress that downplayed their significance. Those efforts, which in some cases began more than a decade ago, have been buoyed by pressure from lawmakers to close the gaps and by the availability of a new radar service from a tech company. In some regions, though, progress remains elusive.
“We’ve run into some roadblocks, partly because I think there’s denial of the problem,” Van Denton, chief meteorologist at the Fox affiliate serving North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad region, said in an interview.
TITLE: Over half of homeowners fear impact of climate change on property: Survey
https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/infrastructure/4554221-over-half-of-homeowners-fear-impact-of-climate-change-on-property-survey/
EXCERPT: A roughly 2,000-person LendingTree survey published Monday found that 51 percent of homeowners fear climate-related hazards will affect their homes.
Survey findings also show about 50 percent of homeowners worry that extreme weather stemming from climate change and rising sea levels will affect property values.
Out of those people, 25 percent believe climate change will impact their home’s value within 10 years, while 25 percent think it will take more than a decade to impact their property value.
On top of this, 70 percent of homeowners think climate change-related risks will cause insurance prices to rise.
About 20 percent of survey respondents said their home insurance costs have already gone up because of such risks.
Homeowners are most concerned about severe storms, followed by hurricanes, flooding, heatwaves and wildfires, according to the survey.
Worries about how climate change will impact homes have caused some to relocate. About 40 percent of survey respondents said they live in an area they think is “at risk of climate change.”
And out of these people, 34 percent are considering moving and 13 percent have already moved.
A 2023 report from the First Street Foundation found that 3.2 million Americans relocated due to high flood risks alone between 2000 and 2020.
The organization predicts that an additional 7.5 million Americans will move away from areas with climate-change related hazards over the next 20 years.
Nowhere in the United States is fully protected from the consequences of climate change, despite some cities’ efforts to sell themselves as climate havens.
TITLE: Are Great Lakes cities ready for climate migrants
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/are-great-lakes-cities-ready-for-climate-migrants/
EXCERPT: A California woman on “The Daily Show” recently swapped her sandals for snowshoes after moving to Duluth to escape her state’s wildfires.
The Comedy Central show featured Duluth as a climate haven, an ideal place to live to avoid wildfires, droughts, hurricanes and extreme flooding.
Minnesota is one of the states least vulnerable to the ravages of climate change, ranking in the 14th percentile for social and environmental vulnerability, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. Wisconsin falls within the same lower vulnerability category. New York, Michigan and Illinois follow with average vulnerability. Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana are the most vulnerable of the Great Lakes states.
The Great Lakes region has a lower risk of extreme weather compared to other parts of the country. Southern and western states are most vulnerable. They are the most likely to continue to experience sea level rise, drought and other social and environmental stressors, in the Environmental Defense Fund model.
Climate change risk may cause people to flee cities like Miami, Houston, Los Angeles and New Orleans, said Derek Van Berkel, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School for Environmental Sustainability. Whether that’s a good decision depends on if other states are ready to receive them.
“Places like Duluth definitely could be a good place to live, but we’re going to have to plan now,” Van Berkel said. “In areas where we have quite aging infrastructure, that can be a big challenge. The notion of a climate haven is a little bit aspirational.”
The cities most prepared for climate change do not necessarily have a checklist of characteristics, Van Berkel said. Climate change planning looks different in different cities.
“We’re finding that cities are becoming more aware of the climate crisis,” Van Berkel said. “They’re having those conversations and that’s what makes them the most prepared because they’re thinking about things long term.”
Van Berkel has mapped the social and environmental risk of different counties across the Great Lakes states. His research team uses it as a basis for climate change planning conversations with city officials.
“The map gives a snapshot of the social and environmental challenges that Great Lakes cities have,” Van Berkel said. “It’s about evaluating exposure.”
The team plans to work within Duluth, Grand Rapids and Buffalo to implement urban planning strategies and will include community members in a collaborative process, Van Berkel said.
“It’s important for us to have local knowledge and understanding of the challenges of neighborhoods,” Van Berkel said. “It’s important we give people an equal voice in making decisions.”
First Street, a New York City-based nonprofit research organization, also brings climate change risk data into the hands of citizens. Users of its web-based tool can see a summary of a location’s climate change risks like flooding, wildfires, wind, heat and air quality.
“When we first started about seven years ago, there really was no way to get access to climate information for your city,” said Jeremy Porter, the group’s head of climate implications. “The role that we play is making this data available so that the public can make informed decisions.”
Homeowners in high-risk climate areas who are unprotected by flood insurance are forced to pay for damage out-of-pocket, Porter said. The most vulnerable homeowners are those within smaller communities that lack the resources to adapt to climate change.
Homeowners and governments bear the costs of climate change, Porter said.
Van Berkel and his team are considering how Great Lakes cities could adapt to climate change before social and environmental stressors reach those of the most vulnerable U.S. cities.
“To realize the climate haven aspiration, we’ll have to have urban planning conversations early and often,” Van Berkel said.