The new reality of climate change: volatility in the environment. Expect (as we are already seeing) more extremes. “Global warming” is not just about a gradual and steady increase in temperature; it is about the exceptional becoming more common as energy accumulates in the biosphere and finds sudden expression.
Like this: a report on the New York Times op-ed page that describes some of the consequences from Boston’s ‘slow-motion natural disaster.’
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We are being devastated by a slow-motion natural disaster of historic proportions. The disaster is eerily quiet. There are no floating bodies or vistas of destroyed homes. But there’s no denying that this is a catastrophe. … The infamous Blizzard of 1978 brought around 27 inches of snow and shut down the region for a week. In less than a month, we’ve seen more than three times as much snow.Decades of underinvestment and alleged mismanagement of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, known as the T, have meant that the nation’s oldest subway system has been partly or entirely halted for nearly a month. …
The snow will melt, eventually. But that will bring more woes. The flooding will hurt the T, ruin roofs and basements and clog roads still more.
It’s snowing as I write this. We’re expecting more, along with freezing rain, this weekend. And the misery won’t end even when it all melts.
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Of course, in the face of catastrophe, we expect human resilience. Like this – from Mashable:
I am not too sure about the volatility perspective. http://cliffmass.blogspot.ca/2015/02/the-origin-of-this-winters-weather.html The Jet stream movements and amplified pattern may not be from climate change but natural variability.
But our winter is reminiscent of what we can see in 2070. http://cliffmass.blogspot.ca/2015/02/the-winter-of-2070.html