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politicsSo Australia has been having a bad couple of months. They've been dealing with floods of Biblical proportions recently, brought on by the La Nina phenomenon, which some scientists think was climate changed enhanced:
Climate Change Could Be Worsening Effects of El Niño, La Niña
Jan 2 :Australia continues to battle floods
Jan 13 Reuters
Australia flood clean-up starts; risk of more floods
Australia floods: 'Inland sea' moves across Victoria
And in addition to leeches and crocodiles and snakes and mosquitos possibly infected with dengue fever, they had to deal with @ least two infestations of locusts.
First locusts, then floods, now more locusts
The damages were so great that a temporary flood tax on higher income earners has been proposed to pay for the damage and a pile of green programmes are being cut so that money can be diverted. And the floods have not fully subsided yet.
...one can see why news that the worst cyclone to hit Australia in recorded history is headed directly in their direction might be a bit...distressing:Australia braces for cyclone fury:Police were forced to turn people away from some shelters which were already full as 'monster storm' moves closer
Residents turned away from packed shelters
At least the damn thing will have decreased to a Category Three by the time it hits land, instead of the Category freaking FIVE it is right now.
Cyclone Yasi approaches Queensland NZ Herald TV
We hope that the damage isn't too bad. And we really hope that they get no more rain or cyclones this year.
ETA: viacamrogers How Cyclone Yasi compares around the world
A series of floods hit Australia, beginning in December 2010, primarily in the state ofQueensland including its capital city, Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities.[2] At least 70 towns and over 200,000 people were affected.[2]Damage initially was estimated at around A$1 billion.[3] The estimated reduction in Australia's GDP is about A$30 billion.[1]
...
The floods were a result of heavy precipitation caused by Tropical Cyclone Tasha that combined with a trough during the peak of a La Niñaevent. The 2010 La Niña weather pattern, which brings wetter conditions to eastern Australia, was the strongest since 1973.[7] This La Niña event caused a prolonged period of heavy rainfall over Queensland river catchments. Record or near to record sea surface temperatureswere recorded off the Queensland coast in late 2010.[8] December 2010 was Queensland's wettest on record, with record high rainfall totals set in 107 locations for the month. The state average rainfall level of 209.45 millimetres (8.25 in) exceeded the previous record of 200.1 millimetres (7.88 in) set in 1975.[9] 2010 was also recorded as the state's wettest spring since 1900[10] and the Australian continent's third wettest year.[11] Kevin Trenberth sees climate change as a contributing factor in the unusually high precipitation rates.[12] He attributes a half degree celsius rise in ocean temperatures around Australia to global warming which produces extra water vapor and intensifies the monsoon. Other scientists say that it is too early to draw such a conclusion.[12]MORE
Climate Change Could Be Worsening Effects of El Niño, La Niña
UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jan 11 (Tierramérica) - The strongest La Niña weather system in 50 years has brought historic flooding to Australia and drought to Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, driving up food prices.And considering that this was the result:
Scientists now believe climate change is likely enhancing the impacts of the famous El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a cyclical climate phenomenon that affects weather patterns around the world.
La Niña and El Niño are, respectively, the cold and warm phases of the ENSO cycle, and form part of the system that regulates heat in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
Both accompany simultaneous changes in surface ocean temperature and air pressure.
In conditions defined by climatologists as "neutral," high air pressure predominates in the eastern Pacific, while low pressure predominates in the west.
The difference in pressure generates the trade winds, which blow east to west over the surface of the tropical Pacific, pushing the warm waters westward. The deeper, cooler waters then surface in the east, replacing the warm waters.
MORE
Jan 2 :Australia continues to battle floods
Jan 13 Reuters
Australia flood clean-up starts; risk of more floods
(Reuters) - Australia's third-largest city began cleaning up stinking mud and debris in flood-hit areas on Friday, but whole suburbs remained submerged, smaller towns braced for more inundations and forecasters pointed to a threat of cyclones.
Military aircraft and trucks fanned out across Queensland state, ferrying food and clothing over an area the size of South Africa. The state's capital, Brisbane, a city of two million people, was virtually shut down except for the clean-up.
"The effort that we are concentrating on today is emergency response," Queensland state premier Anna Bligh told Australian television, having described Brisbane as like a war zone.
MORE
Australia floods: 'Inland sea' moves across Victoria
Parts of the south-eastern Australian state of Victoria are braced for the approach of a giant lake of floodwater 55 miles (90km) long, as Australia's severe flooding problems continue.
Deputy PM Wayne Swan said the recent floods would rank as one of Australia's most costly natural disasters ever.
More than 30 people have been killed since flooding began last month.
In Queensland, which has witnessed the worst of the flooding, nine people are still missing.
Floods tore through the towns of Toowomba and Grantham.
But record rains have shifted the flood emergency focus from the north-eastern state to Victoria in the south-east, which is experiencing its worst floods since records began 130 years ago.MORE
And in addition to leeches and crocodiles and snakes and mosquitos possibly infected with dengue fever, they had to deal with @ least two infestations of locusts.
First locusts, then floods, now more locusts
The Department of Primary Industries is urging Victorian farmers to spray a second generation of locusts.
The first generation of locusts hatched in spring.
Now their eggs, a second generation, have hatched further south, in a band stretching from Horsham to Wodonga.MORE
The damages were so great that a temporary flood tax on higher income earners has been proposed to pay for the damage and a pile of green programmes are being cut so that money can be diverted. And the floods have not fully subsided yet.
...one can see why news that the worst cyclone to hit Australia in recorded history is headed directly in their direction might be a bit...distressing:Australia braces for cyclone fury:Police were forced to turn people away from some shelters which were already full as 'monster storm' moves closer
Tens of thousands have been evacuated in Queensland state, northeastern Australia, as a cyclone described as the most powerful in the country's history has barrelled toward the coastline.And let me just emphasize this ... they have run out of room at the shelters.
The storm is expected to hit the coast on Wednesday evening.
Police were forced to turn people away from some shelters which were already full, and engineers warned that even "cyclone proof" homes could be blown apart by winds expected to reach 300km (186 miles) per hour.
"We are facing a storm of catastrophic proportions," Queensland state premier Anna Bligh said after Cyclone Yasi was upgraded to a maximum-strength category five storm.
More than 400,000 people live in the cyclone's expected path, which includes the popular tourist cities of Cairns, Townsville and Mackay.
The area is also the gateway to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.MORE
Residents turned away from packed shelters
People seeking refuge from the effects of Tropical Cyclone Yasi have been turned away at the entrance to jammed evacuation shelters as the monster storm bears down on north Queensland.
Authorities have recorded wind speeds of 295km/h and warned that storm surges of up to 7 metres could hit Cardwell, between Townsville and Cairns, as the cyclone’s expected arrival at 11pm tonight combines with a high tide.
...
At 2pm local time, Ms Bligh said wind gusts were being recorded at 290km/h.
“The system has now moved into the zone covered by the Cairns radar system,” she said.
Ms Bligh said the bureau continued to hold grave concerns about the strength of the system for some time after it crossed the coast.
Inland towns will be hit tomorrow, with Cyclone Yasi expected to remain at a category-three intensity when it arrives at Georgetown, 450km west of Cairns, at 7am.MORE
At least the damn thing will have decreased to a Category Three by the time it hits land, instead of the Category freaking FIVE it is right now.
Cyclone Yasi approaches Queensland NZ Herald TV
We hope that the damage isn't too bad. And we really hope that they get no more rain or cyclones this year.
ETA: via
camrogers How Cyclone Yasi compares around the worldIF you're struggling to grasp the magnitude of Tropical Cyclone Yasi, consider this: it is so large it would almost cover the United States, most of Asia and large parts of Europe.
Most of the coverage about the scale of Yasi has tried to compare it with storms of the past - it's bigger than Larry, more powerful than Tracy.
But just as powerful is this comparison, showing this storm is continental in size. The main bloc of the cyclone is 500km wide, while its associated activity, shown above in a colour-coding to match intensity, stretches over 2000km.
The storm's scale of destruction is as shocking as it is inevitable. In the map above, the United States from Pennsylvania in the east to Nevada in the west, from Georgia in the south to Canada in the north and well into Mexico would be battered with 300km/h winds and up to one metre of rain.
The economic impact would be felt around the world.Take a look at those MAPS
Holy HELL!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 07:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 07:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 07:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 07:33 am (UTC)I was planning to post on that waste of time climate change conference but was too depressed at the time. I think I'l try to get around to it tomorrow.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 07:36 am (UTC)Symbolism Heavy (paraphrase) Quote: "Oh, we all care about global warming, extremely. Who doesn't? It's incredibly important. Everyone must do their part. But, really, this idea would absolutely destroy the view."
Can the aliens just come save -some- of us?
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 07:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 07:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 08:00 am (UTC)PS: Pics
Date: 2011-02-02 11:28 pm (UTC)That is some shite out of TWISTER (the movie) - only BIGGER. This pic is what made me call it a 'SUPER STORM', more than any dopplar or radar.
Re: PS: Pics
Date: 2011-02-03 01:22 am (UTC)O_O
Date: 2011-02-02 08:28 am (UTC)Meanwhile in central Illinois we're encased in a layer of glaze ice, soon to be followed by several inches of snow.
Re: O_O
Date: 2011-02-02 07:51 pm (UTC)Re: O_O
Date: 2011-02-02 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 01:23 am (UTC)