Climate Catastrophe? Here's What the U.S. Could Look Like in 2100

We can still turn it around, but here is the world our grandchildren will live in if we don't.      By Jean Weiss

Courtesy NOAA

Southeast: The Gulf Coast states, up to Carolina

What we could see in 2100: Hurricanes, wind damage, storm surges, flooding, extra sea level rise

 

The Southeastern states will experience less extreme temperature increases than northern and western states, but they will see stronger storms and find themselves more vulnerable to sea level rise. "All areas within the U.S. have not had similar rates of change," says Hoerling. "If you're sitting in the Southeast, you might scratch your head and say, ‘Where is global warming?'" While the year 2100 will show some increases in temperature for the southeast, so far that increase has been minimal, says Hoerling. "From 1951 to 2006, no net warming has occurred in the southeastern states," he says.

 

While temperature increase will be less dramatic, effects from sea level rise will be more so. "There are two major factors in terms of sea level rise," says Hurrell. "The first is that as the oceans warm, the water expands as it warms. This is called thermal expansion. The second is that more fresh water will be added to the oceans." Hurrell says that coastal areas in the Southeast will be under water, to the tune of two to three feet, unless we build levees and other systems to adapt to rising sea levels. Because of the same sea current patterns that will create more flooding in Northeastern states, Southeastern cities such as Miami can expect about 2 inches of flooding above the anticipated average global sea rise.

 

The Southeast can also expect more extreme hurricanes, similar to the conditions that came together around Hurricane Katrina. "There are three main risks," says Trenberth. "There is risk for increased wind damage, risk for a storm surge, which is very coastal and exacerbated by higher sea levels, and then a bit further inland, there is an increased risk of flooding from torrential rains."

 

Waterborne diseases such as cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis are more likely to fester in a flood zone and will create additional risk to public health, says Knowlton.

 
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009 7:29:27 AM
What a crock. Perhaps you have missed the last 10 years of cooling. This is the most hyped lie of our times and you who propogate it are going to become the fools and charlatins of our time.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 10:26:47 AM

Notice how everything is doom and gloom?  Carbon Dioxide is NOT a pollutant, and comprises less than one per cent of our atmosphere (0.0036%).  So, "an increase of 35% in the level since pre-industrial times and over half of that since 1970," is statistically insignificant.  What if the Earth becomes warmer, how much is too warm?

 

You got to love these environmentalists; to them the Earth isn't a planet, it's our terrarium to manipulate as they see fit.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 10:54:00 AM
Quit lying u chicken littles the sky is FALLING
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 11:03:24 AM

Let me point out some contradictions these scientists make in this article:

 

"We can still turn it around, but here is the world our grandchildren will live in if we don't."By Jean Weiss

And in the next paragraph, she writes, "This change is irreversible,"

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"areas within the U.S. have not had similar rates of change," says Hoerling.

they continue to call it Global Warming, but its not affecting the whole globe...hmmm

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"researchers predict it may be worse than the depressing situation Al Gore foretold"

I must agree, there is nothing more depressing than ALGore.....Open-mouthed

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The only thing constant about our climate is CHANGE. Without it, the Seasons would not exist and we wouldn't, either.

 

 

 

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 12:00:36 PM

those who believe global warming is a serious threat (despite the cooling trend) should ask themselves: who will be responsible for regulating global warming and how will they fund its regulation?

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 12:49:15 PM

What makes people think that they can predict the weather 90 years from now when they can't even accurately predict the weather one day from now????

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 11:51:04 PM
The end is near and genocide either by man or nature is a constant over the history of the world.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 2:11:44 AM

So you're telling me that a trace gas, carbon dioxide, that only comprises 0.038% of the Earth's atmosphere is causing this "global warming?"  Was this person in a coma with all the snowstorms and frigid weather in the northern U.S. during this past winter?  This report is lunacy and junk science to the extreme!  Go write for Weekly World News!  Is global warming being caused by the incredible "bat boy?"  I want to challenge the writer of this article to a debate!  Bring it on!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 9:48:23 AM
Until someone starts monitoring the variation of temperatures in the other planets around the sun, I wish the news production would just stop the Global Warming trash.  I believe that we are seeing nothing more than normal variations caused by the sun.  We may think we have a lot of influence over the global climate, but that is just arrogance.
Thursday, April 16, 2009 7:17:45 AM

I'm a geologist, and what people have to realize is that humans have only been around about 10,000 years (which coincidentally was the last ice age).  The earth is about 3.5 billion years old, these wet/dry and hot/cold cycles have been going on a long time, so let's stop pretending we know what were talking about when we have only been around for a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things.

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