The sun strikes frequently Bubbles of the plasma of its surface, which comprises an intensive magnetic field. These events are mentioned Coronal mass changesor cmes. If two of those effects collide, you possibly can create strong geomagnetic storms that may result in beautiful Auroras, but can interfere with satellites and GPS on earth.

On May 10, 2024, people within the northern hemisphere were in a position to observe this Effects of those solar activities on earth Room weather.

Two merging cmes triggered the most important geomagnetic storm in twenty years, which was manifested in Brightly coloured Auroras visible About the sky.

I’m a Solar physicist. My colleagues and I would like to enhance, track and understand the predictions of space weather with the aim of improving and higher understanding. In modern times, through which technological systems are increasingly prone to room weather disorders, it has never been more vital to know how cmes interact.

Coronal mass changes

Cmes are long and twisted – much like ropes – and the way often they occur 11-year cycle. The researchers observe about one one per week for the solar minum, but near the solar maximum you possibly can observe a median of two or three a day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2hn5m4g5by

When two or more cm interacts, they create massive clouds of invited particles and magnetic fields that may compress, merge or mix them again in the course of the collision. These interactions can increase the influence of the CME on the earth's magnetic field and sometimes create geomagnetic storms.

Why do you study the interaction of CMES?

Almost A 3rd of the cms interact With other cmes or The sunwindThis is a current of charged particles which might be released from the outer layer of the sun.

In the study of my research teamWe published in May 2024 and located that CMES that interact or collide with one another causes a geomagnetic storm far more often – twice more often than a person CME. The mixture of strong magnetic fields and high pressure in these CME collisions might be what they cause to create storms.

While Maxima solarIf there will be greater than 10 cm a day, the likelihood that CME interacts with one another takes with one another. However, the researchers should not sure whether or not they usually tend to create a geomagnetic storm in these periods.

Scientists can examine the interacting cms in the event that they move through space and observe how they contribute to geomagnetic storms by examining observations from spatial and floor-based observatories.

In this study we examined three cmes that interacted with one another once they traveled through the space with the space base STEREO. We validated these observations With three -dimensional simulations.

The CME interactions we examined created a posh magnetic field and a compressed plasmaschine, which is a layer of charged particles within the upper atmosphere that interacts with the earth's magnetic field.

If this complex structure On the earth's magneticosphere of the earthIt compressed the magnetosphere and triggered an intensive geomagnetic storm.

The same process generated the geomagnetic storm from May 2024.

Between the eighth and ninth May, several earth -made CME broke out of the sun. When these CMES were merged, they formed an enormous, combined structure that arrived at Earth at the top of May 2024. This structure triggered the extraordinary geomagnetic storm, which many individuals observed. People even saw the northern lights within the sky in parts of the southern United States that night.

More technology and better operations

Scientists have an expansive network of spatial and ground -based observatories equivalent to that Parker Solar probePresent Solar orbiterThe Solardynamic Observatory And others who can be found to watch the heliocha – the region across the sun – to watch a wide range of viewpoints.

These resources along with advanced modeling functions offer timely and effective ways to look at how CME cause geomagnetic storms. The The sun will reach its solar maximum In the years 2024 and 2025. Therefore, since more complex cms come from the sun in the subsequent few years and an increasing dependence on the spatial infrastructure for communication, navigation and scientific exploration is more vital than ever.

Integration of the commentary data from room -based missions equivalent to wind And AS and data from floor -based facilities equivalent to The e-callisto network And radio operatories with state -of -the -art simulation tools enable researchers to research the information in real time. In this fashion you possibly can quickly predict what the CMES do.

This progress is essential to maintain the infrastructure secure and prepare for the subsequent solar maximum. Coping with these challenges today guarantees resistance to future space weather.

policy

The back-to-back catastrophic Helene and Milton attacks within the southeastern US are reshaping the presidential race and putting climate disasters at the middle of the ultimate stretch of the dueling campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

In interviews and speeches, on the campaign trail and on social media, Harris, the Democratic candidate, and Republican Trump are increasingly talking in regards to the same thing—hurricanes and disaster relief—and in very other ways.

For Helene, disasters were the main focus of the campaign because the storm made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region on September 26 as a Category 4 storm before dumping historic rainfall inland that triggered deadly flooding, particularly within the West North Carolina. In the wake of the storm, Harris and Trump adjusted their travel plans to go to affected communities and so they increasingly talked about recovery efforts.

The threat of Milton, one other powerful hurricane that hit Florida as a Category 3 storm Wednesday evening, only heightened candidates' attention to the difficulty.

Trump used the dual disasters to attack Harris and President Joe Biden over their response, spreading misinformation about it on his social media page Truth Social and in interviews and rally speeches. Trump falsely claimed that disaster relief funds can be diverted to migrants and that hurricane victims could only receive $750 in aid. He also claimed without evidence that the relief effort neglected Republican communities.

Meanwhile, Harris spends much of her time talking about hurricane preparedness, response and relief. The issue got here up when she appeared on ABC daytime talk show The View. She dismissed a few of Trump's baseless claims in regards to the government's post-Helene relief effort. She later called the Weather Channel to counter further misinformation about hurricanes. (Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, told Bloomberg News: “The only misinformation is coming from the Harris-Biden administration.”)

The Harris campaign also released a brand new ad attacking Trump's handling of past disasters during his time as president. It highlights the map of the trail of Hurricane Dorian in 2019, which Trump famously altered with a Sharpie – a saga that became often called Sharpiegate. The ad features interviews with two former Trump officials highlighting his response to the storm. “He would propose not to provide disaster relief to states that did not vote for him,” Kevin Carroll, the lead attorney for former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, says within the ad.

Overwhelming scientific evidence shows that climate change is increasing the strength of hurricanes, making them intensify more quickly and bringing more rain.

Harris didn’t address the connection between the storms and global warming. And so far, she has not made climate a cornerstone of her campaign, although the Biden administration has left a major climate legacy and plenty of Democrats say global warming is amongst their top election priorities. She only touched on the difficulty briefly in her speech to the Democratic National Convention. In the talk with Trump, she briefly mentioned Biden's green initiatives before touting U.S. oil and gas production. Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax” up to now, has vowed to gut Biden's climate policies while disparaging clean energy technologies corresponding to wind power and electric vehicles.

Both candidates are actually talking about climate change, even in the event that they don't use those words, says Pete Maysmith, senior vp of campaigns on the LCV Action Fund, the election-related site of the League of Conservation Voters.

“I think sometimes there's a view that we need these magic words or we're not talking about climate change,” Maysmith says. “Of course we're talking about climate change.” (Similarly, he argues that Harris has already talked about it in her comments on wind energy, solar energy, automotive batteries and more.)

Environmental groups have followed the Harris campaign's lead on find out how to raise the difficulty of climate with voters by focusing their ad buys and other voter education efforts on how federal climate spending creates recent jobs and usually lowers energy costs, reasonably than to present the political details intimately. And now they're following suit and making hurricane news.

The LCV Action Fund recently posted a brief video on Instagram showing images and pictures of Helene's damage, with a voiceover from Trump saying: “When people speak about global warming, I say that the ocean inside will decrease by 100ths of an inch over the subsequent 400 years. This will not be our problem.” (Trump has made versions of this claim in campaign rallies and tv interviews.) The video has been viewed greater than 4 million times, partially because American musician Billie Eilish reposted it.

The advocacy group Climate Power released a video Thursday with rapper Big Freedia highlighting how Project 2025 — a conservative wish list for a second Trump presidency that Trump himself has rejected — proposes privatizing the National Weather Service, which raises warnings issues that Americans proceed to depend on to maintain Helene and Milton protected.

“The indisputable fact that Hurricane Milton became such a strong storm in such a brief time period shows that the climate crisis is here and shows through a really clear lens the fee to people – in lost lives, in lost homes, within the lack of…”corporations,” says Alex Glass, communications director at Climate Power.

Hurricane Helene caused deadly and destructive floods because it swept through the Southeast from September 26 to 29, 2024. Across much of western North Carolina, where The worst floods occurredThe amount of precipitation exceeded the common expected amount just once every 1,000 years.

But it wasn't the primary 1,000-year rainstorm to hit North Carolina this 12 months. An unnamed, slow-moving storm in mid-September produced greater than a foot of rainfall closer to the Atlantic coast. This storm flooded areas had already been drenched by Tropical Storm Debby in August.

As Atmospheric scientist And State climatologistsWe imagine it is crucial that the general public understands the danger that extreme events may occur. This is very true as climate change alters the conditions that produce and promote storms. Here's how scientists calculate storm probabilities and why events like a 1,000-year storm can occur way more steadily in some places than that term suggests.

Predicting the long run based on the past

Estimates of rainfall return periods – how long, on average, it should elapse between storms of a given size – come from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationthe house of the National Weather Service. NOAA publishes these forecasts in a series of reports entitled Atlas 14. Architects and engineers use them to design buildings, dams, bridges and other structures to face up to heavy rainfall.

The estimates use past rainfall data to calculate how steadily rainfall of various sizes occurs in specific locations. In locations where historical rainfall observations have been collected over a long time, it is feasible to calculate with very high reliability the quantity of rainfall that’s exceeded on average a couple of times per 12 months.

Experts then use statistical methods to estimate how steadily larger amounts of rain would occur. The larger the amounts, the less precise the calculations develop into. Nevertheless, it is feasible to reasonably estimate very rare rain events.

The results are average probabilities that a given location will receive a given amount of rain in a given 12 months. If the probability that a storm that produces 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain in 24 hours occurs in a 12 months is 1%, we’d expect such a storm to occur once in 100 years, so its return period 100 is years. An event will be assumed to have a 0.1% likelihood of occurring in a given 12 months on average once in 1,000 years, hence it is named a 1,000-year event.

It's not “one and done”

The problem with terms like 100-year event or 1,000-year event is that many individuals hear them and assume that they mean that one other storm of that size shouldn't occur for an additional 99 or 999 years. This is an affordable conclusion, however it is incorrect. Every storm is a person event. Just because one becomes unusually large doesn't mean one other storm a 12 months later can't even be more likely.

Imagine you’re rolling the dice. The probability of hitting a pair of sixes is slim – close 1 of 36or barely lower than 3%. However, should you roll the dice again, the chances don’t change – they’re the identical for that roll as they were for the previous one.

A more accurate technique to communicate storm probability is to think concerning the annual exceedance probability – the probability that a rainstorm of a given size could occur in a single 12 months. The probability of a 1,000-year storm occurring in any 12 months is 0.1% and the probability of it occurring again the subsequent 12 months and the 12 months after which can be equal.

Since the US is a big country, we should always expect a 0.1% likelihood of a series of rainfall events every year. The probability of such a storm occurring in any given location is incredibly low, however the probability of it occurring anywhere is way higher.

In other words, even should you are unlikely to experience a 1,000-year storm where you’re, there are more likely to be 1,000-year storms somewhere within the country yearly.

Different areas experience several types of storms

In the true world, actual rainstorms are usually not randomly distributed; They are the results of atmospheric processes corresponding to thunderstorms and hurricanes brought on by local and regional climate patterns. So a map of actual 1,000-year rainstorms would show clusters reflecting hurricanes along the East Coast, atmospheric rivers along the West Coast, and thunderstorm complexes within the Great Plains where thunderstorm systems form.

Types of storms are vital because they last for various lengths of time. Almost all rare one-hour extreme rainfall events are related to thunderstorms, while those lasting 48 or 72 hours are sometimes brought on by hurricanes or their remnants.

North Carolina and South Carolina, that are steadily hit by hurricanes and tropical storms, have experienced quite a few extreme rainfall events in recent times. This includes Record rainfall in October 2015 in South Carolina; Hurricane Matthew in 2016; Hurricane Florence in 2018; the nameless storm mentioned above in September 2024; and now Hurricane Helene.

In fact, since 2002, the three U.S. storms which have caused 1,000-year rainfall in the most important areas have all hit the Carolinas: the October 2015 storm, Florence and Helene.

Loading the weather cubes

Why have so many storms struck the Carolinas in only a number of years, which historically and statistically ought to be extremely rare? There are two predominant reasons which can be related to one another.

First, estimating the probability of rare events requires increasingly large amounts of information. NOAA's Atlas 14 for the Carolinas was last updated in 2006, and only data through the 12 months 2000 were used for these calculations.

As more storms occur and more data is collected, estimates develop into more robust. Given that reliable measurements of precipitation only return about 100 years, the true likelihood of that much rain falling within the Carolinas is can have been underestimated until now.

Second, these statistics assume that the climate is just not changing, but we realize it is. The frequency of heavy rain is increasing, especially in coastal regions increased resulting from human-caused climate change. Warmer air can hold more moisture, and warmer oceans provide that moisture as fuel for heavy rainfall.

As a result, climate change is causing rainfall that was previously extremely rare somewhat more likely. Although the Carolinas have been particularly unlucky in recent times, the chances are also tipped toward heavier rainfall – a trend that poses significant challenges to emergency preparedness and recovery.

NOAA is currently evolving Atlas 15which can update current estimates with newer data and bear in mind the impacts of climate change. The agency also plans to modernize its estimates of an equivalent amount probable maximum precipitationThis is an estimate of the worst rainfall a location could experience.

Engineers use these estimates to design large critical facilities corresponding to dams that may withstand the flooding that might end in worst-case rainfall at their sites. North Carolina has developed its own version of Atlas 15 due to the urgent have to plan transportation infrastructure to handle more events like Florence and Helene.

These updates provide information that will be used for higher planning and decision making. However, extreme rainfall will proceed to pose a serious threat and have significant impacts on many U.S. communities.

It contained lots of of business plants with toxic pollutants The path of Hurricane Helene because the mighty storm flooded communities across the Southeast End of September 2024.

Near the coast and into Georgia, Helene swept over paper mills, fertilizer plants and oil and gas deposits. Paper factories are one in all them The most polluting industry on the planet – some with hundreds of kilos of lead on site from previous production processes.

Florida officials reported that a decommissioned nuclear power plant south of Cedar Key experienced a storm surge of as much as 12 feet, flooding buildings and an industrial wastewater pond. Spent nuclear fuel stored at the positioning, which also flooded during Hurricane Idalia in 2023Was believed to make certainBloomberg reported.

Further inland, the storm weakened greater than a foot of rain at industrial sites within the Carolinas and Tennessee, some near waterways, that quickly flooded Runoff from the mountains.

In disasters like these, industrial damage can spread for days, and residents may not learn concerning the release of toxic chemicals into the water or air until days or even weeks later. in the event that they even discover.

Nevertheless, pollutant releases often occur.

After Hurricane Ian flooded Florida's west coast in 2022, runoff spilled containing thousands and thousands of gallons of sewage in addition to hazardous materials from damaged storage tanks and native fertilizer mining facilities visible from spaceand spills over the coastal wetlands into the Gulf of Mexico. A yr earlier, Hurricane Ida triggered More than 2,000 reported chemical accidents.

During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, floodwaters inundated chemical plants near Houston. Some caught fire when the cooling systems failedLarge amounts of pollutants are released into the air. emergency services and residents, Those who didn't know what risks they is likely to be exposed blamed the chemicals to cause respiratory diseases.

Many kinds of Toxins can spread, settle and alter the long-term health and environmental safety of surrounding communities – often without residents being aware of it. Our team from Environment sociologists And Anthropologists has mapped hazardous industrial sites across the country and matched them with maps of projected hurricane impacts to assist communities hold nearby facilities accountable.

Petrochemical complexes within the Gulf are at great risk

The risks posed by industrial facilities are most evident on the U.S. Gulf Coast, where there are lots of large petrochemical complexes Are bundled in peril. These refineries, factories and storage facilities are sometimes built along rivers or bays to permit easy accessibility for shipping.

But these rivers can even cause storm surges, which might raise the ocean several feet during hurricanes. Helene's storm surge was over 10 feet above the bottom in Big Bend, Florida 6 feet tall in Tampa Bay.

A recent study found evidence of this two to thrice more pollution fewer releases during hurricanes within the Gulf of Mexico than during normal weather from 2005 to 2020.

The impacts of those pollutant emissions disproportionately affect low-income communities and other people of color, further exacerbating the situation Environmental health risks.

Why residents may not know concerning the release of toxic substances

The statistics are disturbing, but they receive little attention. This is because hazardous releases remain largely invisible as a result of limited disclosure requirements and little public information. Even Emergency responders They often don't know exactly which dangerous chemicals they will probably be confronted with in emergency situations.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires major polluters to file paperwork just very general information about chemicals and risks on site of their Risk management plans. Partly large areas Fuel storage facilitiesFor example, those that transport liquefied natural gas aren’t even obliged to achieve this.

These risk management plans describe “worst case” scenarios and must be publicly available. But in point of fact we’re and others found them difficult accessible, heavily edited and housed in federal reading rooms with limited access. The reason for that is local officials and national scientific review panels The secrecy often serves to guard the facilities from terrorist attacks.

Adding to this opacity is the undeniable fact that many states, including those within the Gulf, are lifting restrictions on the discharge of pollutants when declaring emergencies. Meanwhile, real-time incident notifications are provided by the National Response Center – the federal government’s final repository for all chemical discharges into the environment – ​​typically with a delay of per week or more,

We consider this limited public information concerning the increasing chemical threats posed by our changing climate must be on the front page every hurricane season. Communities should pay attention to the risks related to housing vulnerable industrial infrastructure, especially as rising global temperatures increase the danger of utmost rainfall events strong hurricanes.

Nationwide risk mapping to lift awareness

To help communities understand their risks, our team at the brand new Center for Coastal futures and adaptive resilience examines how industrial communities in flood-prone areas across the country can higher adapt to such threats, each socially and technologically.

Our interactive map shows where increased future flood risks could inundate the main polluters we discover using EPAs Inventory of toxic releases.

There are several hotspots within the United States with clusters of flood-prone polluters. The largest include the Ship Channel in Houston, the waterfront steel industry in Chicago and the ports in Los Angeles and New York/New Jersey.

But as Helene revealed, there may also be big concerns in less obvious places. Inland, particularly within the mountains, runoff can quickly turn normally calm rivers into rapidly rising torrents. The French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina rose about 12 feet during Helene and in 12 hours set a brand new flood stage record.

When hurricanes and tropical storms head toward the U.S., our interactive maps View now where the most important polluters are positioned within the storm's projected impact cone. The maps discover dangerous, flood-prone facilities right down to the address, anywhere within the country.

Knowledge is step one

Knowing where these sites are positioned is just step one. Often it’s as much as the communities themselves, lots of them already overexposed and historically underservedto lift concerns and call for strategies to mitigate the health, economic and environmental risks which will arise from industrial sites prone to flooding and other damage.

These discussions cannot wait until disaster strikes. When communities understand where these risks might lie, they’ll take motion now to construct a safer future.

SANTA CRUZ – The effects of the severe winter storms of 2023 are still being felt in Santa Cruz County, the newest example coming from the agricultural sector.

Agricultural commodities reached $654.7 million in 2023, down 1.8% from the previous yr, in response to the annual harvest report of the district published last week. The decline in value is the primary decline in crop yields in 4 years.

“Severe storms can have significant impacts on farms, and these declines were not unexpected,” Santa Cruz County Agriculture Commissioner David Sanford said in a news release. “Although fields have recovered and returned to full productivity, damage and delays caused losses that have continued throughout 2023, underscoring how climate change can impact our economy.”

Strawberries, long a powerful economic driver within the county, once more took the crown of “top crop” in 2023, bringing in greater than $184.8 million from 74,269 tons of total production on 2,363 acres. Still, the overall value of strawberries declined by greater than $35 million in comparison with 2022. In the report, Sanford attributed this to storm damage and flooding in late 2022 and early 2023.

Nursery plants – potted houseplants, landscape plants, young plants and Christmas trees – got here in second behind strawberries, bringing in greater than $128 million in 2023 – a rise of nearly $24 million in comparison with 2022.

Raspberries got here in third with nearly $115 million on 1,712 acres, a financial total that’s $13.6 million higher than the 2022 total.

Overall, the berries category had an estimated value of $184.8 million on 2,363 acres in 2023, representing 60% of the county's total gross production value of agricultural products.

Planting delays and other weather-related issues also prevented vegetable production from exceeding 2022 figures. In 2023, $90.9 million was produced – a ten% decrease from the previous yr.

“It is important to note that the figures presented in this report are gross values ​​and do not include costs incurred by producers such as labor, soil preparation, irrigation, integrated pest management, transportation, marketing and regulatory costs,” Sanford noted within the report.

Grapes and apples appeared to flee major setbacks from last yr's devastating rains, with production volumes declining in comparison with 2022, albeit only by a comparatively small amount.

Organic farming experienced a resurgence in 2023, with roughly 160 registered farms on 9,287 acres throughout the county, generating a complete value of $147.6 million. This total acreage is 1,276 greater than the 8,011 farms registered in 2022, and the gross value is $29 million higher than the $118 million in 2022.

The full report is obtainable at www.agdept.com.

Top cultures

1. Strawberries: $184.8 million2. Nursery plants: $128 million3. Raspberries: $114.9 million4. Blackberries: $84 million5. Broccoli and other vegetables: $54.9 million

Source: Santa Cruz County 2023 Crop Report

Originally published: September 24, 2024 at 5:32 am

HOUSTON – Tina Kitzmiller sat in her sweltering apartment with the windows and doors open, hoping to catch no less than the slightest breeze, frustrated and apprehensive about her dog and her neighbors.

Days had passed since Hurricane Beryl slammed into the coast from the Gulf of Mexico on July 8, causing widespread destruction and cutting off power to greater than 2 million people, including the Houston retirement community where Kitzmiller lives. Outside temperatures reached no less than 90 degrees most days, and the warmth contained in the constructing was oppressive.

Kitzmiller recently moved there with Kai, her 12-year-old dog, shortly after enduring winds gusting over 90 miles per hour. May right under a blanket on the ground of the 35-foot RV she called home. She didn't need the medical care a nursing home would offer, and figured she and Kai could be safer in a senior living facility than within the RV. She assumed her latest home would have a backup power system no less than equal to that of the post offices where she worked for 35 years.

“I looked at the food. I looked at the activities,” said Kitzmiller, 61, now retired. “I didn't know I had to ask about a generator.”

Even after several extreme weather events – including a Winter storm in Texas 2021 which led to widespread power outages and a US Senate investigation — not much has modified for residents of long-term care facilities when natural disasters strike in Texas or elsewhere.

“There were some movements, but I think they were much too slow,” said David GrabowskiProfessor of health policy at Harvard Medical School. “We keep getting tested and we keep failing. But I think we're going to have to face this problem.”

An influence outage will be difficult for anyone, but older individuals are especially vulnerable to temperature changes as medications or illnesses affect their bodies. Ability to control heat And coldIn addition, some medications Cooling, while others cannot get too cold.

Federal guidelines require nursing homes to take care of secure indoor temperatures but don’t regulate how. For example, there is no such thing as a requirement that heating and air con systems be backed up by generators or other alternative energy sources. States are largely answerable for compliance, Grabowski said, and if states fall short in that regard, there is no such thing as a change.

While nursing homes are subject to such federal oversight, lower-level care facilities that provide some medical care—so-called assisted living—are regulated on the state level, so emergency preparedness regulations vary widely.

Some states have tightened these guidelines. Maryland adopted rules for generators in assisted living facilities after Hurricane Isabel, which left greater than 1.2 million state residents without power in 2003. Florida This applied to nursing homes and assisted living facilities in 2018 after Hurricane Irma caused deaths at a facility.

But that's not the case in Texas. And Texas has no regulations on generators for the roughly 2,000 assisted living facilities or the even less regulated independent living facilities like Kitzmillers.

In Texas and plenty of other states, there are generally no special regulations for apartment complexes that specifically cater to seniors, known within the industry as independent living facilities.

Nationally, assisted living and independent living facilities are the fastest-growing sectors within the senior living space. Residents of such facilities often have medical needs, Grabowski said, but for quite a lot of reasons, they decide to live in an environment that gives them more independence than a nursing home, which offers medical care. But that doesn't mean residents of those lower-level-of-care facilities are any less vulnerable to extreme temperatures when the facility goes out.

“If the heat in your home is too much for you, it’s unsafe,” he said.

Republican state representative. Ed Thompson has tried several times since 2020 to pass laws requiring assisted living facilities in Texas to have emergency generators. But the bills failed. He is just not running for re-election this 12 months.

“It's terrible what the state of Texas is doing,” Thompson said, blaming the greed of corporations and politicians who’re more excited by stirring up their base and raising their national profile than improving the lives of Texans. “How we treat our elderly says something about us – and they are not being treated right.”

Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Department of Emergency Management, said on a press conference on 11 July that operators of nursing homes will probably be held accountable in the event that they fail to make sure the security of residents. “This facility is responsible for the health, safety and well-being of the patients and residents who stay there,” he said. told reporters“The responsibility lies with the respective institution.”

Under Texas LawRestoring power supplies to nursing, assisted living and hospice facilities ought to be a priority.

Resistance to increased oversight or government protection is not any surprise. Gregory Shelleysenior manager of the Harris County Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program on the Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston. He said that while he believes the security and health of residents is the highest priority, he realizes that installing generators is pricey. He also said that some people within the industry proceed to imagine that extreme weather events are rare.

“But all of us in Houston have already learned this year that they are becoming more common,” Shelley said. “This is the third time since May that large parts of Houston have been without power for an extended period of time.”

Following the facility outages in 2021, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission conducted a voluntary survey According to the survey, 47% of assisted living facilities and 99% of nursing homes that responded reported having generators.

The U.S. Senate investigation into the 2021 Texas storm beneficial a statewide requirement that assisted living facilities have backup power to each maintain secure temperatures and keep medical equipment running.

A Annual Report 2023 Patty Ducayet, Texas' long-term care ombudsman, also beneficial mandating generators in nursing homes. The report suggested that every one nursing homes maintain secure temperatures in a location accessible to all residents. The report beneficial that nursing homes submit emergency plans to state regulators annually for review by state authorities. The recommendations weren’t adopted.

On July 15 – greater than per week after Hurricane Beryl – Kitzmiller said she just wanted the facility back. She praised the staff at her facility but said she was apprehensive about residents isolated on the second and third floors of her constructing, where it was hotter through the power outage. Some had been unable to refrigerate the medications they needed, she said. And without working elevators, many couldn’t get to the primary floor, where it was cooler.

Kitzmiller said she was particularly frustrated with corporations and politicians who had not yet solved the issue.

“It's their mothers, their grandmothers and their families in these homes, these institutions,” she said. “All I can think is, 'Shame on you!'”

___

©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Originally published: July 18, 2024 at 11:56 am

Hurricane Beryl was the last Atlantic storm to rapidly intensify. It quickly developed from a tropical storm into the strongest June Atlantic hurricane on record. meet the Grenadine Islands with wind speeds of 240 km/h and a destructive storm surge on July 1, 2024, after which intensified further into the basin first Category 5 storm on record.

Beryl was still a robust Category 4 hurricane on July 3, when its eye wall roamed the coast of Jamaica and was heading towards the Cayman Islands. A hurricane warning was in effect for giant parts of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula.

The damage attributable to Beryl especially on Carriacou and Petite Martinique, was extensivesaid Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell at a press conference. “Within half an hour, Carriacou was razed to the ground.”

Beryl's strength and rapid intensification were unusual for a storm so early within the season. This 12 months it is especially alarming as meteorologists predicted a exceptionally energetic hurricane season within the Atlantic.

Rapidly intensifying storms can put coastal communities at great risk and leave lasting scars. In 2022, for instance, Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Florida after the storm rapidly intensified. To this present day, residents are still recovering from the results.

What causes rapid intensification of hurricanes, and has climate change made rapid intensification more likely?

I research hurricanesincluding their formation and their intensification, and am a part of a U.S. Office of Naval Research initiative rapid intensification. I also work with scientists on the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration to research data collected by reconnaissance aircraft that fly into hurricanes. Here's what we're learning.

How did Hurricane Beryl intensify so quickly?

Rapid intensification occurs when a hurricane's intensity increases by at the very least 35 miles per hour over a 24-hour period. Beryl far exceeded that threshold, increasing from tropical storm strength (70 miles per hour) to major hurricane strength (130 miles per hour) over a 24-hour period.

A Key ingredient for rapid intensification is warm water. The water temperature have to be above 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) and extend to greater than 45 meters below the surface. This reservoir of warm water provides the energy needed to drive a hurricane.

Scientists measure this energy reservoir as the warmth content of the ocean. The heat content of the ocean before Beryl was already extraordinarily high in comparison with previous years. The heat content of the oceans within the tropical Atlantic doesn’t normally reach such high levels until early September, when the hurricane season typically reaches its peak.

Beryl is a storm more typical of the height of hurricane season than of June, and its rapid intensification and strength are likely because of the unusually warm waters.

In addition to the high heat content of the oceans, studies have shown that other environmental aspects typically in order that rapid intensification can happen. These include:

My research has shown that when this mix of things is present, a hurricane more efficient use of energy It gathers from the ocean to power its winds, relatively than having to fight against drier, cooler air moving in from the storm's surroundings. The process known as ventilation.

At the identical time, more air is drawn inward toward the middle, rapidly increasing the strength of the vortex, just like how a figure skater pulls their arms inward to create spins. Rapid amplification is comparable to a figure skater pulling each arms quickly and shut to the body.

Does climate change affect the likelihood of rapid intensification?

As the oceans warm with climate change and the ocean heat content increases, it is affordable to assume that rapid intensification may change into more common. There is evidence that rapid intensification of storms has change into more common within the Atlantic.

In addition, the intensity peaks of hurricanes have increased on average by 25 to 30% when comparing hurricane data between 1971–1990 and 2001–2020. This has led to faster intensification events comparable to Beryl.

This faster intensification is because of environmental aspects: warm waters, low vertical wind shear, and a moist atmosphere that occur more incessantly, giving hurricanes more opportunity to accentuate rapidly.

The excellent news for anyone living in a region vulnerable to hurricanes is that Hurricane forecast models are recuperating in predicting rapid intensification prematurely, in order that they can provide residents and emergency managers more advance warning of potential threats. NOAA’s latest hurricane model, the hurricane evaluation and forecast systemguarantees further improvement in hurricane forecasts, and artificial intelligence could Providing additional tools to predict rapid intensification.

This article, originally published on July 2, 2024, has been updated with Beryl's arrival in Jamaica.

Hurricane Beryl was the last Atlantic storm to rapidly intensify. It quickly developed from a tropical storm into the strongest June Atlantic hurricane on record. meet the Grenadine Islands with wind speeds of 240 km/h and a destructive storm surge on July 1, 2024, after which intensified further into the basin first Category 5 storm on record.

Beryl was still a robust Category 4 hurricane on July 3, when its eye wall roamed the coast of Jamaica and was heading towards the Cayman Islands. A hurricane warning was in effect for big parts of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula.

The damage brought on by Beryl especially on Carriacou and Petite Martinique, was extensivesaid Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell at a press conference. “Within half an hour, Carriacou was razed to the ground.”

Beryl's strength and rapid intensification were unusual for a storm so early within the season. This yr it is especially alarming as meteorologists predicted a exceptionally energetic hurricane season within the Atlantic.

Rapidly intensifying storms can put coastal communities at great risk and leave lasting scars. In 2022, for instance, Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Florida after the storm rapidly intensified. To today, residents are still recovering from the consequences.

What causes rapid intensification of hurricanes, and has climate change made rapid intensification more likely?

I research hurricanesincluding their formation and their intensification, and am a part of a U.S. Office of Naval Research initiative taking a look at rapid intensification. I also work with scientists on the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration to research data collected by reconnaissance aircraft that fly into hurricanes. Here's what we're learning.

How did Hurricane Beryl intensify so quickly?

Rapid intensification occurs when a hurricane's intensity increases by at the very least 35 miles per hour over a 24-hour period. Beryl far exceeded that threshold, increasing from tropical storm strength (70 miles per hour) to major hurricane strength (130 miles per hour) over a 24-hour period.

A Key ingredient for rapid intensification is warm water. The water temperature should be above 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) and extend to greater than 45 meters below the surface. This reservoir of warm water provides the energy needed to drive a hurricane.

Scientists measure this energy reservoir as the warmth content of the ocean. The heat content of the ocean before Beryl was already extraordinarily high in comparison with previous years. The heat content of the oceans within the tropical Atlantic doesn’t normally reach such high levels until early September, when the hurricane season typically reaches its peak.

Beryl is a storm more typical of the height of hurricane season than of June, and its rapid intensification and strength are likely as a consequence of the unusually warm waters.

In addition to the high heat content of the oceans, studies have shown that other environmental aspects typically in order that rapid intensification can happen. These include:

My research has shown that when this mix of things is present, a hurricane more efficient use of energy It gathers from the ocean to power its winds, relatively than having to fight against drier, cooler air moving in from the storm's surroundings. The process known as ventilation.

At the identical time, more air is drawn inward toward the middle, rapidly increasing the strength of the vortex, much like how a figure skater pulls their arms inward to create spins. Rapid amplification is comparable to a figure skater pulling each arms quickly and shut to the body.

Does climate change affect the likelihood of rapid intensification?

As the oceans warm with climate change and the ocean heat content increases, it is affordable to assume that rapid intensification may turn out to be more common. There is evidence that rapid intensification of storms has turn out to be more common within the Atlantic.

In addition, the intensity peaks of hurricanes have increased on average by 25 to 30% when comparing hurricane data between 1971–1990 and 2001–2020. This has led to faster intensification events akin to Beryl.

This faster intensification is as a consequence of environmental aspects: warm waters, low vertical wind shear, and a moist atmosphere that occur more ceaselessly, giving hurricanes more opportunity to accentuate rapidly.

The excellent news for anyone living in a region liable to hurricanes is that Hurricane forecast models are improving in predicting rapid intensification upfront, so that they may give residents and emergency managers more advance warning of potential threats. NOAA’s latest hurricane model, the hurricane evaluation and forecast systemguarantees further improvement in hurricane forecasts, and artificial intelligence could Providing additional tools to predict rapid intensification.

This article, originally published on July 2, 2024, has been updated with Beryl's arrival in Jamaica.

Hurricane Beryl was the last Atlantic storm to rapidly intensify. It quickly developed from a tropical storm into the strongest June Atlantic hurricane on record. meet the Grenadine Islands with wind speeds of 240 km/h and a destructive storm surge on July 1, 2024, after which intensified further into the basin first Category 5 storm on record.

The damage attributable to Beryl especially on Carriacou and Petite Martinique, was extensivesaid Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell at a press conference. “Within half an hour, Carriacou was razed to the ground.”

Beryl's strength and rapid intensification were unusual for a storm so early within the season. This yr it is especially alarming as meteorologists predicted a exceptionally lively hurricane season within the Atlantic.

Rapidly intensifying storms can put coastal communities at great risk and leave lasting scars. In 2022, for instance, Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Florida after it rapidly intensified. To this present day, residents are still recovering from the consequences. As Beryl further intensified on a route across the Caribbean Sea on July 2, Jamaica was affected by a hurricane warning and other islands, including Grand Cayman, were under commentary.

What causes hurricanes to rapidly intensify, and has climate change made rapid intensification more likely?

I research hurricanesincluding their formation and their intensification, and am a part of a U.S. Office of Naval Research initiative rapid intensification. I also work with scientists on the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration to investigate data collected by reconnaissance aircraft that fly into hurricanes. Here's what we're learning.

How did Hurricane Beryl intensify so quickly?

Rapid intensification occurs when a hurricane's intensity increases by at the very least 35 miles per hour over a 24-hour period. Beryl far exceeded that threshold, increasing from tropical storm strength (70 miles per hour) to major hurricane strength (130 miles per hour) over a 24-hour period.

A Key ingredient for rapid intensification is warm water. The water temperature have to be above 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) and extend to greater than 45 meters below the surface. This reservoir of warm water provides the energy needed to drive a hurricane.

Scientists measure this energy reservoir as the warmth content of the ocean. The heat content of the ocean before Beryl was already extraordinarily high in comparison with previous years. The heat content of the oceans within the tropical Atlantic doesn’t normally reach such high levels until early September, when the hurricane season typically reaches its peak.

Beryl is a storm more typical of the height of hurricane season than of June, and its rapid intensification and strength are likely resulting from the unusually warm waters.

In addition to the high heat content of the oceans, studies have shown that other environmental aspects typically in order that rapid intensification can happen. These include:

My research has shown that when this mix of things is present, a hurricane more efficient use of energy It gathers from the ocean to power its winds, quite than having to fight against drier, cooler air moving in from the storm's surroundings. The process is named ventilation.

At the identical time, more air is drawn inward toward the middle, rapidly increasing the strength of the vortex, much like how a figure skater pulls their arms inward to create spins. Rapid amplification is comparable to a figure skater pulling each arms quickly and shut to the body.

Does climate change affect the likelihood of rapid intensification?

As the oceans warm with climate change and the ocean heat content increases, it is affordable to assume that rapid intensification may grow to be more common. There is evidence that rapid intensification of storms has grow to be more common within the Atlantic.

In addition, the intensity peaks of hurricanes have increased on average by 25 to 30% when comparing hurricane data between 1971–1990 and 2001–2020. This has led to faster intensification events resembling Beryl.

This faster intensification is resulting from environmental aspects: warm waters, low vertical wind shear, and a moist atmosphere that occur more steadily, giving hurricanes more opportunity to accentuate rapidly.

The excellent news for anyone living in a region vulnerable to hurricanes is that Hurricane forecast models are recuperating in predicting rapid intensification upfront, in order that they may give residents and emergency managers more advance warning of potential threats. NOAA’s latest hurricane model, the hurricane evaluation and forecast systemguarantees further improvement in hurricane forecasts, and artificial intelligence could Providing additional tools to predict rapid intensification.

Hurricane Beryl was the last Atlantic storm to rapidly intensify. It quickly developed from a tropical storm into the strongest June Atlantic hurricane on record. meet the Grenadine Islands with wind speeds of 240 km/h and a destructive storm surge on July 1, 2024, after which intensified further into the basin first Category 5 storm on record.

The damage brought on by Beryl especially on Carriacou and Petite Martinique, was extensivesaid Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell at a press conference. “Within half an hour, Carriacou was razed to the ground.”

Beryl's strength and rapid intensification were unusual for a storm so early within the season. This yr it is especially alarming as meteorologists predicted a exceptionally energetic hurricane season within the Atlantic.

Rapidly intensifying storms can put coastal communities at great risk and leave lasting scars. In 2022, for instance, Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Florida after it rapidly intensified. To today, residents are still recovering from the consequences. As Beryl further intensified on a route across the Caribbean Sea on July 2, Jamaica was affected by a hurricane warning and other islands, including Grand Cayman, were under commentary.

What causes hurricanes to rapidly intensify, and has climate change made rapid intensification more likely?

I research hurricanesincluding their formation and their intensification, and am a part of a U.S. Office of Naval Research initiative rapid intensification. I also work with scientists on the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration to investigate data collected by reconnaissance aircraft that fly into hurricanes. Here's what we're learning.

How did Hurricane Beryl intensify so quickly?

Rapid intensification occurs when a hurricane's intensity increases by at the very least 35 miles per hour over a 24-hour period. Beryl far exceeded that threshold, increasing from tropical storm strength (70 miles per hour) to major hurricane strength (130 miles per hour) over a 24-hour period.

A Key ingredient for rapid intensification is warm water. The water temperature should be above 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) and extend to greater than 45 meters below the surface. This reservoir of warm water provides the energy needed to drive a hurricane.

Scientists measure this energy reservoir as the warmth content of the ocean. The heat content of the ocean before Beryl was already extraordinarily high in comparison with previous years. The heat content of the oceans within the tropical Atlantic doesn’t normally reach such high levels until early September, when the hurricane season typically reaches its peak.

Beryl is a storm more typical of the height of hurricane season than of June, and its rapid intensification and strength are likely on account of the unusually warm waters.

In addition to the high heat content of the oceans, studies have shown that other environmental aspects typically in order that rapid intensification can happen. These include:

My research has shown that when this mixture of things is present, a hurricane more efficient use of energy It gathers from the ocean to power its winds, somewhat than having to fight against drier, cooler air moving in from the storm's surroundings. The process is named ventilation.

At the identical time, more air is drawn inward toward the middle, rapidly increasing the strength of the vortex, much like how a figure skater pulls their arms inward to create spins. Rapid amplification is comparable to a figure skater pulling each arms quickly and shut to the body.

Does climate change affect the likelihood of rapid intensification?

As the oceans warm with climate change and the ocean heat content increases, it is affordable to assume that rapid intensification may turn out to be more common. There is evidence that rapid intensification of storms has turn out to be more common within the Atlantic.

In addition, the intensity peaks of hurricanes have increased on average by 25 to 30% when comparing hurricane data between 1971–1990 and 2001–2020. This has led to faster intensification events similar to Beryl.

This faster intensification is on account of environmental aspects: warm waters, low vertical wind shear, and a moist atmosphere that occur more regularly, giving hurricanes more opportunity to accentuate rapidly.

The excellent news for anyone living in a region susceptible to hurricanes is that Hurricane forecast models are convalescing in predicting rapid intensification upfront, in order that they can provide residents and emergency managers more advance warning of potential threats. NOAA’s latest hurricane model, the hurricane evaluation and forecast systemguarantees further improvement in hurricane forecasts, and artificial intelligence could Providing additional tools to predict rapid intensification.