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Archive for April 28th, 2011
250 die in one day as twisters rampage from Texas to Virginia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
Independent: Search-and-rescue teams were last night hunting for survivors beneath fallen masonry and tangled joists, power lines and fallen trees in towns and hamlets across seven states in the south-eastern US which were ravaged by the worst outbreak of tornadoes seen in almost four decades. Almost 250 people are known to have died.
Stunned residents of Tuscaloosa in Alabama awoke yesterday to discover a city partly razed by a single killer twister that cut a swath more than a mile wide and may have got...
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Cattle groups sue to stop water rule in Florida
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
Reuters: Two cattle groups filed suit in Florida on Thursday to overturn U.S. water pollution rules that also are challenged by Florida state officials and businesses as ruinously expensive.
The Environmental Protection Agency set numerical limits last fall for nutrient levels in Florida lakes and waterways. It estimates 2,000 miles of rivers and streams are affected by excess fertilizer, stormwater and wastewater runoff.
In a suit in U.S. district court, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and...
Warming behind wild tornado season?
Posted by msnbc.com: None Given on April 28th, 2011
msnbc.com: Some climate models suggest that a warming future could herald more intense storms like those that ripped through the Southeast on Wednesday night.
But that doesn't mean the southern storms and tornadoes were a manifestation of climate change, climate scientists say. That's because teasing out the influence of climate on weather takes time.
"The impacts of climate change on any weather events will likely only be seen in the statistics -- more rainfall that occurs in intense bursts, more overall...
A Cost of Denying Climate Change: Accelerating Climate Disruptions, Death, and .
Posted by Huffington Post: Peter H. Gleick on April 28th, 2011
Huffington Post: Violent tornadoes throughout the southeastern U.S. must be a front-page reminder that no matter how successful climate deniers are in confusing the public or delaying action on climate change in Congress or globally, the science is clear: Our climate is worsening.
More extreme and violent climate is a direct consequence of human-caused climate change (whether or not we can determine if these particular tornado outbreaks were caused or worsened by climate change). There is a reason it isn't called...
Tornadoes whipped up by wind, not climate: officials
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
AFP: US meteorologists warned Thursday it would be a mistake to blame climate change for a seeming increase in tornadoes in the wake of deadly storms that have ripped through the US south.
"If you look at the past 60 years of data, the number of tornadoes is increasing significantly, but it's agreed upon by the tornado community that it's not a real increase," said Grady Dixon, assistant professor of meteorology and climatology at Mississippi State University.
"It's having to do with better (weather...
Does Wild Tornado Season Signal Climate Change?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
LiveScience: Some climate models suggest that a warming future could herald more intense storms like those that ripped through the Southeast on Wednesday night.
But that doesn't mean the southern storms and tornadoes were a manifestation of climate change, climate scientists say. That's because teasing out the influence of climate on weather takes time.
"The impacts of climate change on any weather events will likely only be seen in the statistics -- more rainfall that occurs in intense bursts, more overall...
Deadliest tornadoes since 1974 rip apart towns and lives in six US states
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
Guardian: The hilltop town of Rainsville, Alabama, bills itself as a peaceful area surrounded by beautiful ridges, valleys and lakes. By Thursday morning, after a mile-wide tornado had torn through six southern US states, killing at least 280 people, it almost seemed to have been erased from existence.
"It looks like something just washed parts of the town off the map," said Israel Partridge, a volunteer search and rescue worker. "Whole subdivisions, where there were 20 or 30 houses, there is nothing left....
Are US floods, fires linked to climate change?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
Mongabay: Are US floods, fires linked to climate change?
Jeremy Hance
The short answer to the question of whether or not on-going floods in the US Midwest and fires in Texas are linked to a warming Earth is: maybe. The long answer, however, is that while it is difficult--some argue impossible--for scientists to link a single extreme weather event to climate change, climate models have long shown that extreme weather events will both intensify and become more frequent as the world continues to heat up....
Boom and bust flags eco-collapse
Posted by BBC: Richard Black on April 28th, 2011
BBC: The name "largemouth bass" appears to suit the fish An experiment in a US lake suggests that ecosystem collapses could be predicted, given the right monitoring.
Researchers changed the structure of the food web in Peter Lake, in Wisconsin, by adding predatory fish.
Within three years, the fish had taken over, producing a decline in tiny water plants and an explosion in water fleas.
Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say the change was preceded by signals that could be used to...
Scientists scramble to save dying amphibians
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
Mongabay: Scientists scramble to save dying amphibians
Hyloscirtus colymba tree frog being fed after being treated for Chytridiomycosis. Photo taken by Rhett A. Butler at Summit Park.
In forests, ponds, swamps, and other ecosystems around the world, amphibians are dying at rates never before observed. The reasons are many: habitat destruction, pollution from pesticides, climate change, invasive species, and the emergence of a deadly and infectious fungal disease. More than 200 species have gone silent,...