JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Way, way back in the mid-1980s, I visited southern California for the first time. First during winter break, to meet Ross’s father, then to spend time with Ross during his summer internship at a Crystal City law firm, and later for New Year’s at his dad’s place in Laguna Niguel. Ross would be graduating from law school in less than six months, and the firm had tendered him a position as an associate.
We weren’t engaged - not yet - but we were at the point in our relationship where neither of us would make a serious life decision without consulting the other. So as we leaned on the rail of his father’s balcony, watching the fireworks reflect in the Pacific Ocean, we talked about the job offer. “I love it here,” I said, “but the weather never, ever changes. What do people even talk about?”
Well. It was 35 years ago.
In the summer of 2021, the Pacific northwest is on its second life-threatening heat wave, caused by a once-rare, now increasingly common “heat dome.” In the eastern seaboard, we’re just drying out from the torrential record-breaking rain of Tropical Storm Elsa. We got six inches at my place, and there was water leaking through my 200-year-old stone foundation, a very unusual occurrence (fortunately, I have a true New England celler, with a dirt floor that absorbs almost everything.)
Meanwhile, Jenn has been living under an extreme heat warning for the past several days. The weather is nice in northern California where Rhys is, but twice in the past four years, her community has been threatened by wildfires and choking smoke.
The climate is changing - it already has changed, and one of the signal markers of “the new normal” is the increase in extreme weather events. As this graphic from Climate Central shows, the change in the average day-to-day weather isn’t very noticeable - but the shift to a warmer planet gives a big boost to the extreme edge of the spectrum.
Out west, it means killer heat and drought. In the east, it’s moisture-drenched storms and polar vortexes. For all of us, it means (among many other things) learning to cope with “once in a century” weather coming once every ten or five or three years.
Reds, what’s the extreme weather event you worry about most where you live? And what do you do to prepare for and get through it?
LUCY BURDETTE: It’s hurricanes for us of course, both in Key West and Connecticut. Both of our beloved places were in the path of the recent Elsa--and this isn’t the first time it’s happened. After two wicked hurricanes hit CT in 2010 and 2011 (Irene and Sandy), we finally invested in a generator. Because after the storm passes through, there can be a long stretch of time without electricity, and that means ruined food and reading by candlelight and hot, muggy nights. We also worry about fires--so scary--on the west coast, and tornadoes in the middle.
I just said to John the other night, doesn’t it seem like a few people have warned us about climate change for decades, and now suddenly it’s devastating the world? It’s pretty darn discouraging…
HALLIE EPHRON: Climate change is truly scary. I have a friend who’s house hunting in this brutal sellers’ market, and the first thing she looks at is “flood factor” - not something I would have even considered when we bought our house. It eliminates a lot of otherwise perfectly acceptable properties.
Here in New England, blizzards are atop my worry list. The cold, mountains of snow, power outages. It’s nice to live in a house but it has its down side.
JENN McKINLAY: Aside from being broiled alive by the summer sun, I fear running out of water. It’s my biggest worry, because AZ has no 
water restriction measures set in place at all. With the 26 year drought happening, and six of our counties on the brink of being declared uninhabitable, they’re just talking about maybe restricting the water in the year 2022. We’ll see. This is a state that has 299 days of sun per year and won’t mandate that all buildings be solar. They say we’ll be out of water by 2050. Sort of feels like something we should prepare for, you know?
DEBS: Jenn, that is crazy!!!! We’ve had water restrictions here for years, and they don’t lift them even when there is lots of rain and full reservoirs.
RHYS BOWEN: I also worry about running out of water. Marin is a small county and we rely on our own reservoirs which this year are in danger of doing up. I can’t understand why we don’t have desalinization plants! But we always live with the threat of wildfires, power outages, poor air quality. Otherwise it’s perfect!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Before this year I’d have said our biggest fear was tornadoes and blistering summer heat. Then in February, we had 
SNOWMAGGEDON! We are just not prepared for that extreme cold, and obviously our power grid was not, either. That week caused terrible damage in Texas. People FROZE to death in their homes! And agriculture took a huge hit. Our favorite peach orchard, for instance, lost one third of their trees, and all their early crop peaches. You would think people would get their head out of their--I mean out of the sand!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Power outages. We have blizzards, true endless relentless blizzards (once we could not even open our back door because the snow was so high.). And massive thunderstorms. I 
plug in everything, obsessively. And this year, for the first time, we had a brown-out because of the intense heat. And last year, the Boston downtown streets flooded! The harbor overflowed and cars were floating. I know the weather here has gotten--weirder. I mean--look at all of our experiences. Debs! I read about that, and it is so disturbing. Terrifying. And yes, Lucy. Real and imminent.
JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What are the weather emergencies you worry about? And how do you prepare to meet them?
I suppose hurricanes and coastal storms are the biggest worry [although the rising sea level is a particular concern for our low-lying state]. And we've always worried about fire in the Pine Barrens.
ReplyDeleteLike Lucy, we have a generator, but it feels as if there’s not much we can do to be prepared for all the changes we’re seeing these days . . . the extreme heat, the stronger coastal storms . . . it’s all quite concerning.
Joan, New Jersey got socked hard in Hurricane Sandy, didn't it? I feel that's the storm that really highlighted the vulnerability of the NYC/NJ area.
DeleteYes, we were hard-hit by Sandy. I think people overlooked [or forgot about] the area's vulnerability and the possibilities for future changes. The last storm brought a tornado with it, something we hadn't had to deal with in the past. We've had less snow, but there's plenty of rain to go with the heat. But those hot, sunny days are good for the solar panels on the roof . . . .
DeleteI'm sitting halfway between Hank and Julia, so I worry about blizzards - and we still don't have a generator. We do have solar panels, but they're hooked into the grid, so we can't access the power independently. And it's the first New England house I've lived in without a fireplace or wood stove.
ReplyDeleteThe weather in the West is scary, indeed. Jenn, do you have a water collection and storage system at your house? Might be something to think about. It's hard to believe they don't have water restrictions in the state!
Edith, one of my daughters, born and bred in Maine, went to spend an afternoon at a friend's house in a brand-new development. First one other than my parent's place she had been to, as all our friends live in 100+ year old homes. "Mom," she said when she came back. "They didn't have anyplace to build a fire!"
DeleteI worry about blizzards. I worry about losing power. I worry about massive flooding given all the rain we get. And in between all the rain, I worry about the heat. While the heat in Massachusetts hasn't been as bad as Arizona, California or the Pacific Northwest, hot is hot and as a fat person, there's only such much I can take off to try and cool down before it becomes a felony.
ReplyDeleteLike Edith, I don't have a generator. Kind of paranoid something would go wrong if I did and I'd be one of those stories you see on the news about dying from carbon monoxide build up from the generator.
It is amazing that Arizona has no restrictions in place but it isn't surprising given the political makeup of the state overall. The wing and a prayer stupidity of the government there means pretty much nothing they do (or don't do) really surprises me. We have restrictions here in my town but as of late it hasn't mattered because of all the rain we've been getting recently.
I'm by no means a prepper or anything so I'm not sure that I've gone too far out of my way to prepare for any particular kind of weather event other than the standard things we all do as a matter of course.
Jay, I don't have a generator either, despite the fact we regularly lost power in the winter for 20 years until the state widened the road and the power company installed new, taller poles. Ross, who had been a product liability lawyer, always said they were more dangerous (and troublesome) than they were worth.
DeleteCelia and her husband have a modern wired-in version that comes on automatically and is fueled by the gas man. That, I would consider, but they're not cheap.
Probably my biggest worry would also be blizzards. I can cope with being snowed it and even if the power is down I could cope (not well, but I'd manage). However I live at the top of a long steep driveway so it would be difficult if not impossible for an emergency vehicle to get in.
ReplyDeleteA couple years ago with more than 3 feet of snow I thought I could at least walk down to the road. I quickly found out I could not! Have you ever fallen down in that much soft snow? It is almost impossible to get back up. Maybe if I were a lot younger I could do it but luckily I had the snow shovel in my hand and could use that the brace myself to a stand.
Other than that I think I must live in the most perfect place of all!
Several years back, I also fell in just about 8 inches of snow. It took me four attempts to get back on my feet. Partly it was my age. I am not as strong as I once was. Partly, I was tired, having walked across town in the storm and I couldn't raise my left leg above the snow line. But I am terrible worried these days in the winters of falling. I try not to go out in harshly inclement weather.
DeleteThere's a reason so many northern retirees are snowbirds, and it's not just to bask in the sun. I wish there were local and state programs to help people who can't or who don't want to flee to Florida in the winter - snow removal up to the door and mobility assistance like railings or hand-holds or chains.
DeleteLiving between Lake Erie and Ontario, I thought we were safe from really destructive weather (snow storms and blizzards are just a fact of life. Most of the snow goes to the south of us). But a heat dome? If it happens in the Northwest it could happen here, too. 90 degree weather used to be rare, now happening more and more. We had drought conditions last year. One thing I always thought we'd have was a great supply of water. It's more than a little scary.
ReplyDeleteAnd people down in Jenn's region are starting to agitate for a big ole pipeline to transfer water from the Great Lakes to the southwest! Can't see any potential problems with that, no sir.
DeleteMy house floods. It's flooded a few times in the 30 odd years we've lived here. The town has installed larger drains and done what they can to help, but it is the lowest house on three streets, probably sitting in a former swamp (no wetland restrictions to building in the 1950's) and most likely situated where there was a watercourse of some sort. We have done several things to waterproof as best we can. Anyway...I do not fear blizzards as much as I do big hurricanes. I have stories. And it is pouring now!
ReplyDeleteTHe world water situation is terrifying and I agree with everything Jay said about Arizona. Head In Sand is not a good policy. But there are solutions and Israel is a case in point. They recycle something like 70% of their water. They have desalination plants and they also have a fairly new tecnology that can extract the moisture from the air to provide water on a small scale. Their agriculture depends on drip irrigation, thereby conserving water that would otherwise be wasted. Putting these systems in place is expensive but...and Israel is a tiny country, only about the size of New Jersey. But they have solutions and they readily share their technolgy. If the will is there to make changes, human ingenuity will find a way. But the will must be there. THe US as a whole should be examining our water policies. We have been draining aquifers that existed for millenia, not just in Florida but throughout the miswest as well.
My heart breaks when I hear about wildfires anywhere. What happened in Australia two years ago was devastating. California, I worry constantly about my friends and relatives out there. Oregon. Washington State. There should be things that humans can do to mitigate the impact or extent of a fire. Fires are positively terrifying.
Israel is a leader in desert living. Much to learn from them.
DeleteUsing less water is kind of like losing weight - everyone knows how to do it, and it only requires a few simple lifestyle and cultural changes. But can we manage to make those changes? *she looks down ruefully at her pandemic pounds*
DeleteCalifornia has strict water restrictions, many recycling programs for brown water, but in a place with 40,000,000 million people it doesn’t make that much difference. The federal government controls water allocations for farming, which complicates an untenable situation. However, the biggest water loss is through evaporation and environmental conditions, which for the most part are not addressed. Water rights and management are very complicated politically, socially and environmentally.
DeleteSusan, you're right - I was thinking of the sort of thing like changing our cultural norms around landscaping, or golfing, or even flushing every time someone uses the john. When my father-in-law lived in SoCal in the 1990s, every house in his neighborhood was REQUIRED to have a lush, green lawn in the front, maintained with daily watering. Even back then, it struck me as crazy.
DeleteThe deep, underlying water use and resource allocation issues... well, those you can write a book about. And many people have!
Two of my kids live in hurricane country (Houston and New Orleans), but "all" we fret about in Cincinnati is major snowstorms, mid-April freezes, and tornados around Easter. In 2008, we had a violent windstorm (90 mph, Cat One hurricane strength) and lost power for four days.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, a friend of mine from the midwest says when it comes to weather, they get the worst of all worlds!
DeleteOh, don't get me started. This has been coming for so long, and all the warnings have fallen on deaf, greedy, or uncaring ears. I honestly worry that my grandson has no future at all.We have not been good stewards of this poor earth.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago when Steve and I drove across the country home from San Diego, we stopped at the Hoover Dam. I'd never seen it before, but was shocked to see the massively deep "bathtub ring" around Lake Mead, where the levels were historically low. That changed when the previous drought broke and the lake started recovering a bit, but it's even worse now. Which is very, very bad. Not only does the water in that lake serve as a reservoir for California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and other states, but it also provides the hydroelectric power for those areas, as well. Once the water level goes beneath the powerhouse, BAM, no more hydro generation. That means places like Las Vegas, a notorious user of electricity, could suddenly be in big, big trouble.
I really think a lot of our problems with climate change stem from overpopulation, and rapid increase in population, with all that comes with it. There's no way it could not be. From 1820 to 1900, the world population increased from about 1 billion to about 1.2 billion. In 1950 it was about 2.4 billion. A mere 70 years later that number has increased more than 300%. At the same time, every gas-powered vehicle that was ever manufactured were built, and housing for all those people are taking up more and more of the earth's surface, using more and more of our natural resources.
So far, the Ohio Valley has had smaller changes than most of the rest of the country. We have had almost no snow for several years, which is very different than my childhood in the 1950's. Our winters aren't as cold, either, which has caused a change in our frost date zone to a more temperate designation. When I was a kid tornadoes were unusual, and not as dangerous here as they were in Oklahoma and other Plains states. Now we are seeing tornadoes in weird places, including southern Canada.
We lost a lot of ground to the political nonsense that took us out of the Paris Climate Accord. I hope we did not foolishly dig our own graves, but I'm also not especially optimistic that we didn't.
Everything you have said here and more, Karen. It drives me nuts to think about Las Vegas and the waste. I do not think we can mandate population growth (thinking of China), but we can curb abuses of resources. It is past time for the US to take the lead here instead of being the worst abuser.
DeleteKaren, from a story in the LA Times yesterday:
Delete"Next month, the federal government expects to declare its first-ever shortage on the lake, triggering cuts to water delivered to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico on Jan. 1. If the lake, currently at 1,068 feet, drops 28 more feet by next year, the spigot of water to California will start to tighten in 2023."
I think that is an optimistic estimate, frankly.
DeleteWater is another issue, too, especially in light of all the captured water we have taken out of the natural circulation. I don't know what we could possibly do about that, when you consider all the captured water vehicles:
Bottled water/other liquids; icemakers all over the world in restaurants, bars, homes, hotels, schools, hospitals, office buildings, etc.; toilet tanks (some homes have as many as six toilets, each holding gallons of water); cisterns; hot water heaters (again, in homes, schools, restaurants, hotels, office buildings, hospitals),
Then there's the accidentally captured water, like the cup of ice left over in a fast food soft drink that gets thrown away inside the cup, or the half-drunk bottle of water that gets pitched, or the many, many half-drunk bottles of beer, Gatorade, etc. that get ditched, including at big events. Another weird way captured water is stowed away from the system, disposable diapers, wrapped securely in plastic.
And speaking of plastic, it not only uses petroleum in its manufacture, but WATER, as well.
Now I'm depressed. Sorry.
Thinking about it is the first step to acting on it, Kathy!
DeleteAnd right now it is absolutely pouring. Pouring pouring pouring.
ReplyDeleteHere, too, Hank - we have a flash flood watch until 8pm tonight. Too bad we can't send some of our excess to Jenn in Arizona...
DeleteHere on the south shore of Lake Erie we can get blizzards, flooding, tornados. For several years in a row, tornadic storms tracked to the north of us along the lake shore and to the south of us--I worry about when the track shifts to the middle of that range! We are fortunate to have a basement so there's a refuge in the event of a catastrophe. What has been increasing are storms with straight-line winds--they shear off everything in their path and cause as much damage as a tornado, although they aren't classified as one. My property is surrounded by lovely trees--I worry about them and us.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Karen and Judy and all, I took a history of architecture class once and the range of prehistoric and historic solutions to climate extremes was astonishing! I remember thinking why? Why do we rely so much on technological solutions which require so much energy and maintenance when such elegant, simple means of dealing with climate are possible? There is a contest now in India, for example, to rethink air-conditioning--to come up with a simpler way to achieve this goal, to design a cheaper, new method of cooling homes. I'm sure it can be done.
Flora, I see this in a small way in my own house, built in 1820. It's sited to get the most sun from the south and west, with the barn and the smallest face of the house facing the north/east. We have mature trees on three sides that shade in the summer, and large windows that let in warming sunlight in the winter. And, of course the interior is divided into discrete rooms with doors, so heat can be conserved in one room and areas not in use can be shut off.
DeleteNone of it's complicated; it just required the builders to work with the climate instead of against it.
Flora, we've had a major increase in straight-line wind events, too.
DeleteTo bring in a crime fiction angle, the action and mystery in Kent Krueger's NORTHWEST ANGLE hinges on a terrifying derecho that hits as Cork and his family are on a camping trip.
DeleteI fear the heat, which we are currently experiencing. I fear droughts, which we are currently having. I fear a lack of snow in the winter, which we had this past winter. Sadly and very furious-making, we humans are reaping what we have sowed. Jane Fonda says that action - any action - makes her feel better, so I'm going to write to my MP, MLA and city councillor today to urge them to enact policies to address climate change. As Julia says, we are seeing it with our own eyes these days; deniers must be blind.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, when I read (as we all have) estimates that climate change would be doing such-and-so by 2050, I somehow thought that would mean we wouldn't see much of anything until 2050. Obviously not so.
DeleteI have a friend who feels uncomfortable with the idea that we are responsible for the changing climate (he acknowledges it is changing, but likes to point to the planet's natural cycles of heating and cooling.) We talked about the amount of particulates humans have been spewing into the air since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in 1760, and that seemed to help - his block was that he didn't want to feel personally guilty for being born a late 20th century American.
I totally understand your friend's reluctance. Who among us wants to feel the weighty burden of this guilt? Not I, that's for sure. But if we each were to simply do something to address it, rather than spinning our wheels debating where the blame lies, we would likely get somewhere productive.
DeleteBlizzards, I guess. We don't have a generator, but we do have a wood stove, so we have heat. We're looking into solar chargers for our small electronics. The stove is gas, so in theory we can cook (just light it with a match instead of the electronic ignition).
ReplyDeleteI so want to do solar panels with a battery-backup.
Liz, one of my dream improvements to the old farm would be installing solar panels on the barn roof. Its center beam runs roughly NNE-SSW, so the pitch of the roof would be perfect for getting sun all day long. And I could easily store batteries inside!
DeleteAlas, there are other projects I have to spend $$$ on before I'll ever be able to get to this one...
In 1981, my first year in this house, high winds ripped through the roof. I fear them especially when I go up to sleep.. It was in the middle of a snowstorm but more and more, we have high winds all year round . As for tornadoes that were very rare before, they increase each year even here in Quebec.
ReplyDeleteWith warmer times , we have more ice storms. They are dangerous if you have to walk or drive and they damage the trees.
In 1998 , I lost my power for 30 days, I had wood stove to keep warm and cook a little but in the country, when no power, no water. As I live alone, I don’t feel safe using a generator.
And then, in the summer, it is more and more dry even up here. It is very bad for lawns and crops.
With the heat, more and more people use air conditioners . I hate that and hope to be able to continue with open windows for a long time to come.
Danielle, I'm in the "no AC if I can possibly avoid it" camp here as well! Of course, if we ever have a heat dome in our part of the world, we'll be in as much trouble as the Pacific Northwesterners, who also rely on naturally cooler summers and who don't often have AC.
DeleteI'm not far from Rhys and the increase of wildfires is my current fear. As Rhys said, we've always had fires but the numbers are increasing. The fire seasons are happening earlier every year and last later into the fall. There is a power flex alert in California today not because of the heat but because of a fire in Oregon that is compromising the power lines.
ReplyDeleteThe fires are scariest to me, Deana, because they're one of those events where lots of other trends come together. Drought kills trees, creating more fuel for the fires. Excessive heat dries everything out and increases electricity usage, making it more likely a spark will happen (as in the 2018 Camp Fire.)
DeleteWe’re supposed to get rain this week - please, please, please - even though I hate the humidity that comes with it.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed for you, Jenn!
DeleteJenn, I suspect your humidity is not our humidity, lol.
DeleteYeah, I just checked Weather Underground, and tomorrow their humidity is going to briefly get up into the low 40% range. Meanwhile, if the humidity gets below 70% here in the northeast, we have a party.
DeleteWay back in the '90's we began to talk about "Where to relocate to", Victor was interested in going south because of the 'nice' climate. So off we went on a road trip to Florida to see the southern states. To cut a long story short, we agreed that we might not fit in with the culture and so back to my first choice - up to Maine. Well the weather hasn't been great this summer so far, BUT, we have water. I Think that the talking heads of the world are not taking water shortages seriously. No I'm. not keen to spend days inside watching the rain run down the windows, but we live in a community over a very large aquifer and we refused to sell to Nestle when they came calling. I think we made the right moving choice with the facts we had in 1999. Now for the next step to save the planet. Do we know that that really is yet?
ReplyDeleteCelia, I read somewhere that 71% of the carbon going into the atmosphere right now comes from large corporations. We can all try to live as carbon-responsibly as possible, but nothing is going to change until the corporations change.
DeleteAmen to that, Julia.
DeleteI was born and raised in Tornado Alley, and all my children still live there. I spend most summers being worried. And after last year's snowmageddon, I have something new to worry about. Here on the tundra we do have blizzards plus the phenomenon of lake effect snow. This happens when arctic air from Canada blows across a warmer Lake Ontario and dumps on Rochester and surrounds. However, it doesn't really affect me. Our snow removal system is spectacular, plows and sand and salt trucks being out before the storm hits and continue through it all. It's very rare to have roads blocked.
ReplyDeleteMy years of living in earthquake territory, both southern and northern California, are but a memory. I'm very glad not to be concerned about that. The odd ice storm does happen, but so far we haven't lost power, just a clump of birch trees than laid across our drive way.
Ann, I lived near Syracuse, NY for many years, and my parents (now my dad) continue to be in the area. Ross actually had a job offer from a Syracuse firm before he graduated law school - the lake effect was one of the big reasons we went to Maine instead!
DeleteWe now have tornadoes. That is a new phenomenon for us. They are not as powerful like in the Midwest, but they uproot trees and shear off roofs. Very scary. I live in the Delaware Valley and in recent years, about a decade ago, the Delaware River overflowed its banks 3 times in about 5 years. One friend’s home was flooded out all three times. The windy and snowy weather causes frequent electricity blackouts. Once in the past decade, we once lost power for five days, and without heat, it was very difficult to sleep. Also without power, none of our internet or telecommunications devices work past a few hours. A local Starbucks, with electricity and a surfeit of power outlets, was mobbed with people jockeying for position to power their devices.
ReplyDeleteThe summers are sometimes hot. I stay in the air conditioning when possible. And thankfully, the temperature goes down below 80 degrees F at night.
I follow the news about wildfires in the West and pray always for those in their paths.
David, it has been so strange to see tornadoes (albeit, as you say, small ones) in the Northeast and the Atlantic Seaboard. Once, when the Maine Millennial was attending Smith (in western Massachusetts) she called to tell us there was a tornado in nearby Springfield. I didn't believe her until I saw the pictures, and I still remember the sense of utter disbelief I felt. How can there be a tornado in Massachusetts? Or Pennsylvania?
Delete@Rhys-Sadly, desalinization contributes to the warming.
ReplyDeleteIt's very power-intensive, isn't it, Libby? I recall reading it's a net loss in terms of the energy required.
DeleteYes, it’s nice on the Marin coast but inland in California it’s thirty degrees warmer. I live at the southern end of the Bay Area where temperatures the last five days have been over 105. Normal is low nineties. We had a week of one hundred degree temperatures in March. It essentially has not cooled off since early Spring. We have had temperatures over 100 more this year than ever before, and yes this is technically Northern California. Just a side note, the Central Valley and Sacramento are always hotter than the LA area.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I saw the normal temperature differences one year when I did a lengthy book tour in the Golden State. San Francisco to Fresno - boy, that was an eye-opener! I had to stop at a gas station and change into lighter clothes before I got to my destination.
DeleteWe've lived in different parts of the country so have been exposed to many of your weather issues. So far, not wildfires though. We're on the Gulf coast inland so our main concerns are hurricanes, flooding, and tornadoes. Frank looked into getting a generator after Ike but there is no place to put it. Narrow lot. We lucked out during Ike; we were part of a small area that did not lose power. Harvey did a number with flooding but through dumb luck (husband claims not) we live in the highest part of the city and have not ever flooded. My sister is out in the country and grass fires are always a threat. And everyone suffered in some way from Snowmageddon with lost power or frozen pipes. I'm still popping on Zillow a lot, house hunting, and one of the things I look at is the flood factor. And how close a house is to water. And is that house elevated. And if it's not in town is there a steep drive that would be impossible in wintertime. And so forth.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of considerations, Pat! I've thought I'd love to get a seasonal place where I could be away from the hard Maine winters but the southeast floods and has rising sea levels and hurricanes, the southwest has droughts and fires... maybe I'll stay in new England and buy a sun lamp!
DeleteAfter living in South Florida for 40 years disaster prep has become a way of life. We would begin preparing in May and then in December donate the non-perishable foods we'd stockpiled. The generator was always ready to go, water stockpiled, and if a hurricane threat imminent - bathtubs filled. Not that we are in Maine the disaster weather drill starts in August and donations are made in May.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest fear is an old-fashioned ice storm. Not only do they take down the power grid - but the weight of ice on roofs can create a crisis. Fingers crossed all our worst case scenarios remain only in our stories and imagination.
Amen, Kait!
DeleteI'm not sure if you need a subscription to the Washington Post or not to read this. The headline alone is germane to this discussion, though.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/09/bidens-best-ally-his-push-upgrade-infrastructure-climate-change-climate-change/
I have a subscription, Karen! This is an excellent analysis for anyone to read - and I think you get X amount of free articles each month.
DeleteOne of the reasons for moving to Oregon 20+ years ago was that we would have four seasons but few climate extremes. In the past year we have been under an evacuation watch for wildfires, are still cleaning up from the damage of a February ice storm, and, of course, just suffered from the heat dome and 116 degree temperature.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping the shock of seeing what happened in Oregon will be a wake-up call to more people, PlumGaga. Everyone knows about the Pacific Northwest's famous mild weather. If it can happen there...
DeleteCurrently cat sitting in NY. Last week there was flooding in the subways and all the major roadways with waist deep water in towns in NJ and CT. Luckily I didn’t have to go anywhere. There was also flooding in MI. When I lived in MO I worried about tornadoes and flooding. And yet one of my biggest concerns is lack of water. I try to conserve whenever I can. Glass instead of plastic, no unnecessary electric or water use. We need to take conservation of our planet more seriously.
ReplyDeleteAnn, I mentioned above that corporate practices account for the vast majority of carbon dumping (as well as overflowing garbage dumps, pollution, etc.) BUT! I do believe each of us should do all we can to conserve what we can.
DeleteSort of like the value of your home rising (or not.) Mostly, its due to market pressure in your area, something no individual can affect. But, keeping my house in good repair, the landscaping neat, the exterior painted does make a difference in the value. Why wouldn't I want to add to the value where I can?
I think we are all trying to adjust to changes in what we worry about weather-wise, and I'm not sure there will be any adjustment before the weather threats change again. My friend who goes with her husband to Oregon from mid-May to mid-September to avoid the heat of southern California during those months, and they recently had the 100 plus temps in Oregon. I don't think we're having the extremes here yet, although we've had some really hot days before we usually do. Our worry has always been tornados and then ice in the winter. The worst weather I've ever been in was an ice storm that disrupted our electric service for a week (much longer for others) and resulted in a large (I mean giant) icicle falling from a light pole and shattering the back window of my car while I was driving it.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow, Kathy! That's a close call! Yes, the scariest weather event I've ever been in was a lengthy ice storm as well. Probably because the effects - impassable roads, power outages, damage to trees and homes - last so long.
DeleteAnd I forgot to mention Saharan dust. We get clouds of it several times a year. Including right now.
ReplyDeleteHere in SoCal, I worry about earthquakes, of course, but also fire. We abut the Santa Monica Conservancy and about three years ago, a fire broke out in the hill above the cul de sac up the street from us. Flames shot up thirty feet in air. It was terrifying. I packed up our car in case we had to make a run for it, but luckily there was no wind, so the fire department knocked it down. I also worry about the drought - incessantly worry. About 15 years ago, we redid our master bath. It's gorgeous but since it's at the opposite end of the house from the water heater, it takes forever to heat up. So to save water, Jer and I have been showering in the small guest shower stall for years now because it heats up the fastest!
ReplyDeleteOur daughter is in college in NOLA, where we also go two or three times a year, and I worry about hurricanes for her and all my own friends there. I went to college there myself and some of my closet friends lost everything in Katrina. Several are on disability for PTSD brought on by the storm's devastation.
When I was a kid, my mother took me to the first Earth Day parade in NY. It breaks my heart to see that things have gotten drastically worse since then, not better.
Julia,
ReplyDeleteExactly what Rhys said about Northern CA. I try to take short showers. Recycle water. Conserve water. Eat plant based diet instead of beef.
Diana
Sigh . . . we were talking about this in the '70s . . yikes! 50 years ago. Silent Spring . . ZPG . .. Hmm, so college students discussed limiting population growth and having no more than two children, but those who didn't? IDIOCRACY becomes a scary movie, too close to reality, like the dystopian books that were not meant as playbooks, or at least I hope not.
ReplyDeleteAs with COVID-deniers, the environment-scoffers are like the slackers in group work, letting other do all the heavy lifting.
I hope it's not too late for our too little.
Tornadoes. You don’t prepare so much as try to remind yourself to take it seriously. To go to the basement quickly just in case. We are moving to Tennessee where there are tornadoes as well, but no basements That is a very vulnerable feeling.
ReplyDeleteWe have just lived through weather that defies the term "extreme"; 116 F in Portland, Oregon. We used to say summer didn't really begin here until July 5 because June was guaranteed cool and rainy. I can't even tell you when it last rained. My biggest fear? Wild land fires. We are part of a multi-generation farming and timber operation on the northern slope of Mt. Hood. It is tinder-dry. We have had two fires as high as 6,000 feet in elevation on the mountain in the last 10 years. We had a level 2 (be ready) evacuation warning during the last one. The dry forests feed directly into acres and acres of fruit trees---all combustible. Have you ever had to decide what to take from a 100+ year-old-farm house that has housed three generations? Please pray for rain for the Pacific Northwest.
ReplyDelete