
Eleven Straight Days of Tornadoes Have U.S. Approaching ‘Uncharted Territory’ - indigodaddy
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/us/tornadoes-usa.html
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DesiLurker
I am as democratic/left as it gets on most issues but I'd argue that its time
to defund FEMA Insurance programs and let the private sector free market
factor in the cost of impending destruction because of climate change. IMO
that would put a hard dollar figure on the 'cost of doing nothing'. Which will
(hopefully) translate into some kind or carbon taxes.

Or another alternative would be fund insurance through carbon tax dollars and
return the rest as refund.

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gbrown
The problem is that vulnerable populations would be hurt the worst. It's an
ugly issue that will be hard to deal with, and I think we need to start
looking at more widespread preparedness regulation as well as systems for
moving people out of at-risk areas.

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throwawaytoday5
Not speaking of tornado zones, but most of the FEMA insurance goes to homes
that make of beach/water front property.

I'd love to see the hordes of poor people that live on the beach.

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zaroth
> _FEMA’s research found that low-income households are less likely to
> purchase flood insurance than higher-income households, even though low-
> income families are more likely to live in high-risk flood zones._

[1] - [https://www.nrdc.org/experts/joel-scata/flood-insurance-
subs...](https://www.nrdc.org/experts/joel-scata/flood-insurance-subsidies-
must-include-actions-lower-risk)

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colechristensen
I believe in human-induced climate change.

I am also incredibly tired of people banging the climate change drum every
time there is a weather anomaly (or even a marginally notable event). In a
dynamical system "anomalies" are normal.

There is a difference between a philosophy of reason and discovery driving
your view of the world and interjecting your chosen "science issues" at every
opportunity with zeal.

In more general terms I am sick of the top ten political issues being the only
thing of substance anybody seems to care about because I believe the people in
power want those discussions to happen as they benefit from the discord and
distraction.

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hackersword
No one single instance of an extreme can be used to pinpoint "climate change"
, but the absurd statistical deviation from the norm over the last 10 yrs or
so is notable and clearly present.

[https://www.pnas.org/content/108/44/17905](https://www.pnas.org/content/108/44/17905)

But sure, lets play devil's advocate.

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ctlby
Your linked paper does not discuss natural disasters at all. How is this an
answer to the parent comment’s concerns?

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hackersword
parent comment

>I am also incredibly tired of people banging the climate change drum every
time there is a weather anomaly (or even a marginally notable event). In a
dynamical system "anomalies" are normal.

linked paper (first sentence)

>We develop a theoretical approach to quantify the effect of long-term trends
on the expected number of extremes in generic time series, using analytical
solutions and Monte Carlo simulations

"weather anomaly/marginally notable event" signified by the "expected number
of extremes"

In this paper, focused on the extreme heat wave in Moscow and linked to other
anomolies in recent news
[https://www.pnas.org/content/108/44/17905#ref-2](https://www.pnas.org/content/108/44/17905#ref-2)

The google scholar link/search seems broken, but I remember reading this when
it came out in 2011 and covered a wide range of global heat waves in disparate
parts of countries, extreme drought, extreme flooding, wild fires, etc.

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madengr
Considering there were over 1000 tornados last year (and it was a low year),
I’d say they are sensationalizing.

As I type this, there is a 1 mile wide one just 20 miles from here.

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King-Aaron
Is it the storm cell, or the tornado itself that's a mile wide?

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sverige
The storm cells are typically many miles wide. Tornadoes not infrequently will
cut a swath a mile wide. I could repeat many stories from family and friends
who have witnessed such things, but after a bit they all start to sound the
same to me after living most of my life in tornado alley.

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czr
For those curious about the connection between climate change and the observed
trends in tornado behavior (stable year-over-year total count, and stable
average intensity, but increased 'clumping' and variability), I would
recommend this talk Harold Brooks gave last week:
[https://youtu.be/Z_1PiixPX3o?t=275](https://youtu.be/Z_1PiixPX3o?t=275)

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almost_usual
Really great to hear these phone alerts are working as intended and saving
lives. When I grew up in Tornado Alley you pretty much listened for the wind
and hoped the sirens didn't get knocked over.

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mholt
Same here. We learned to read the clouds because you were lucky to be in range
of a siren (especially since storms and tractors are noisy).

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tedunangst
> Tuesday was the 12th consecutive day with at least eight tornado reports,
> breaking the record

Is there a list of tornado records? How many consecutive days with four
tornados? 16 tornados? Longest stretch of at least one tornado but less than
8?

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taneq
Who'd have thought that increasing the system energy of a chaotic system near
its critical value would lead to an increase in unusual events?

