Category: Extreme Weather

Barley Beer Climate Change Extreme Weather Global Warming

Climate change could threaten the world’s beer supply. Do you care about global warming now?

sudshr47 October 15, 2018

TwitterFacebook

Some 10,000 years ago, after the frigid Ice Age ended, humans tamed the nutritious grain, barley. 

It blossomed in a fertile realm of early civilization spanning contemporary states like Israel, Palestine, Jordan and beyond. Then 5,000 years later, peoples in the Zagros Mountains of modern-day Iran learned to brew barley beer. Today, farmers globally harvest tens of millions of tons of the crop each month. 

But barley, like many crops, has a flaw: Its yields plummet during heat waves and drought — both extreme consequences of a warming planet. As a primary ingredient in beer, this poses a real threat to the future global supply of frothy ales, lagers, and stouts.  Read more…

More about Beer, Global Warming, Extreme Weather, Climate Change, and Barley

View More Climate change could threaten the world’s beer supply. Do you care about global warming now?
Extreme Weather Hurricanes Science Space Photos

Before-and-after satellite photos reveal devastation left by Hurricane Michael

sudshr47 October 13, 2018

TwitterFacebook

Hurricane Michael — the fourth Category 4 storm to pummel the United States in 14 months — snapped pine trees like toothpicks, washed neighborhoods into the sea, and shredded the hangars off an Air Force base. 

Before the storm’s 155 mph winds struck the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10, storm scientists predicted Michael would be an extremely intense storm, in large part because it passed through ocean waters that were 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal — and hurricanes thrive on warm water.

The devastation, seen by satellites orbiting hundreds of miles above, is ghastly. 

Some of the images of destruction from #HurricaneMichael have been devastating, but I wasn’t prepared for these before/after aerial shots provided by @NOAA‘s post storm survey of #MexicoBeach

Most buildings in this area are completely gone.

Link:https://t.co/VEM6x3fEQK pic.twitter.com/cQwdzSbY1b

— Philippe Papin (@pppapin) October 12, 2018 Read more…

More about Science, Space Photos, Extreme Weather, Hurricanes, and Science

View More Before-and-after satellite photos reveal devastation left by Hurricane Michael
Extreme Weather Florida Hurricanes Science

Watch as Florida man experiences eerie calm inside Hurricane Michael’s eye

sudshr47 October 11, 2018

TwitterFacebook

When the steep-walled eye of Hurricane Michael passed over Stefan Melendez Wednesday afternoon, he stepped into the temporarily tranquil Florida environment and saw blue skies above.

Melendez captured the footage during a Facebook Live video, soon after Category 4 Hurricane Michael — packing 155 mph winds — became the third-strongest cyclone to make landfall in U.S. history. 

The storm is now the most powerful storm on record to strike the Florida Panhandle.

Violent winds thrashed communities like Panama City and Marianna Florida, while surges of ocean water — pushed into the shore by winds — submerged coastal homes in Mexico Beach, Florida. Read more…

More about Science, Florida, Extreme Weather, Hurricanes, and Science

View More Watch as Florida man experiences eerie calm inside Hurricane Michael’s eye
Arctic Ocean Arctic Sea Ice Climate Change Extreme Weather Science

Things in the middle of the Arctic are getting really strange

sudshr47 October 11, 2018

TwitterFacebook

In the deep middle of the remote Arctic Ocean, things are amiss.

With the passage of summer, the ice — diminished by the warm season — is expected to regrow as frigid temperatures envelope the Arctic. 

But, this year, it’s not. 

Specifically, sea ice in the Central Arctic basin — a massive region of ocean some 4.5 million square kilometers in size — hasn’t started its usual rapid expansion, and unusually warm temperatures in both the air and the ocean are largely to blame. 

“For the most part, Arctic sea ice normally begins rapidly refreezing this time of year,” Zack Labe, a climate scientist and Ph.D. candidate at the University of California Irvine, said over email. Read more…

More about Science, Extreme Weather, Arctic Sea Ice, Climate Change, and Arctic Ocean

View More Things in the middle of the Arctic are getting really strange
Atmospheric Science Extreme Weather Florida Hurricanes Science

Hurricane Michael is primed to grow stronger and pummel the Florida coast. Here’s why.

sudshr47 October 9, 2018

Hurricane Michael has matured, developed an eye, and is gathering strength as it churns on a direct path towards the Florida Panhandle. 
National Hurricane Center scientists expect the storm to strike land on Wednesday as a major storm, with win…

View More Hurricane Michael is primed to grow stronger and pummel the Florida coast. Here’s why.
Extreme Weather Hurricane Michael Hurricanes Royal Caribbean Science

Watch as a cruise ship gets battered by Hurricane Michael

sudshr47 October 9, 2018

TwitterFacebook

Once again, rough weather has disrupted what should have been a leisurely cruise. The outer bands of Hurricane Michael tossed a cruise ship around, jostling hundreds of vacation-goers in the Gulf of Mexico.

Royal Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas ship was caught up the roiling seas just off the coast of Isla de la Juventud, Cuba, according to CNN. 

One passenger caught video of the choppy water. 

More about Science, Extreme Weather, Royal Caribbean, Hurricanes, and Hurricane Michael

View More Watch as a cruise ship gets battered by Hurricane Michael
Atmospheric Science Climate Change Extreme Weather Hurricanes Science

Remarkably warm oceans spawned 2017’s massive hurricanes

sudshr47 September 27, 2018

TwitterFacebook

There’s no doubt that hurricanes are complicated beasts with complex origins. 

But following the Atlantic’s extremely active 2017 hurricane season, a group of scientists at Princeton University’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory have identified a connection between the six major hurricanes — with winds over 110 mph — that churned in the ocean, three of which pummeled the U.S. 

All were supercharged by unusually warm waters, and these warm conditions outweighed other weather factors. 

This research — published on Thursday in the journal Science — has significant climate change implications, as the world is expected to continue its accelerating warming trend.  Read more…

More about Science, Extreme Weather, Climate Change, Hurricanes, and Atmospheric Science

View More Remarkably warm oceans spawned 2017’s massive hurricanes