Analysis of 1998 Ice Storm Intensified by Orographic Channeling
By: Daniel Smith
Topic Statement
The ice storm of 1998 brought exceedingly heavy rainfall along with freezing temperatures to southeast Canada and the northeast United States. This event claimed numerous lives, caused billions of dollars in damages, and persisted much longer than originally thought. Hence, a post mortem analysis is needed to get a better understanding of the mesoscale processes which resulted in the persistence of this storm.
Introduction
An ice storm is a unique natural phenomenon that occurs when rain comes into contact with a freezing surface. This condition had a significant impact on individuals, businesses, and property in southeast Canada and the northeast United States in January 1998. This particular event brought 50mm of freezing rain across a widespread area, 80-100mm in Quebec, and persisted for five days.
The hazards associated with an ice storm include: dangerous travel conditions, power outages, broken tree limbs, and compromised structures due to the added weight of the ice. The soci...
States on the lee, or down wind, sides of the great lakes receive lake-effect snow every year. For some cities this can push the average snowfall up to 400 inches. During the February storm of this year records were broken for the most snowfall in one storm. For a duration of the storm snow was falling at a rate of six inches or more per hour. Some of the images captured from the event leave some in disbelief that such a thing could even happen. Storms of this magnitude completely shut down all activity. Many areas do not have equipment capable of handling such mass amounts of snow, and even if they do the task is overwhelming. (weather.com 2006)
Antarctic’s ice melt and accelerating sea level rise, the growing number of large wildfires, intense heat wave shocks, severe drought and blizzards, disrupted and decreased food supply, and extreme storm events are increasing to happen in many areas world wide and these are just some of the consequences of global warming. The fossil fuel we burn for energy coal, natural gas, and oil plus the loss of forests due to disforestation, in the southern hemisphere are all contributors for climate change. In the past three decades, every single year was warmer then the previous year and the warmest 12 years were recorded since 1998. We are overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and trapping the heat and recently, the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere reached 400 pmm. Not just environmental issues are rising due to carbon dioxide increase but more and miscellaneous issues are appearing as climate change becomes more severe. For example, regional models and local analyses agree that Mongolia has become noticeably warmer and the climate change effect is damaging their millennial of historic nomadic lifestyle and even came to the peek of extinction. The Mongolian nomadic pastoralists became highly vulnerable to many an unusual climate impacts and extreme temperature fluctuation that have led to inadequate pasture land and loss of enormous number of livestock, often faces hostile environmental conditions that led o entrenched pastoral poverty. This essay focuses on how the climate change impacts the qualitative and quantitative value of indigenous culture and nomadic life style, and how the economy struggles in the magnitudes of massive migration of nomads to urban area while it fails to value t...
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People did many things to prepare for Hurricane Sandy. Many people who lived on or near the coastline were given evacuation orders by government officials. These areas were likely to experience severe flooding. The people who lived in low elevations along the coast were particularly in danger. These people left their homes in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut; some were fortunate enough to find a hotel to stay in or relatives to stay with. Others who weren’t as fortunate waited in community shelters. Organizations such as the American Red Cross opened shelters specifically for people who had to leave their homes because of Hurricane Sandy.
When we think of Christmas weather, “snow” comes to mind. From making snow angels, building snowmen, throwing snowballs, and catching snowflakes on our tongues, we anticipate living in every single moment of this Winter Wonderland. However, at any time, this perfect depiction of a Winter Wonderland could unravel unexpectedly to becoming a Winter Disaster, known as a snow blizzard. In accordance to the National Weather Service that the LIVESCIENCE website quotes of, a blizzard is a “storm with considerable falling or blowing snow and winds in excess of 35 mph and visibilities of less than ¼ mile for at least 3 hours.” The Great Blizzard of 1888 overshadowed New York City to become a city that was fully covered in snow ruins as it took its toll
January 12, 1888, a blizzard covered the northwest part of North America that claimed many lives. This blizzard was considered to be the worst blizzard of all time, and was dubbed the “the Schoolchildren’s Blizzard”, for claiming the lives of so many school children on their way home. The death toll of this murderous blizzard rose, because of lack of preparation and being uninformed. During this time, many farmers and families were unprepared to survive a blizzard of this magnitude, by the lack of clothing they wore. Forecasters were not as accurate enough to inform people on the weather conditions. Also, shelter was a major factor in protecting themselves from the winter storms, but the shelter was not stable
Climate, weather, and meteorology are 3 words that seem to be the same but in reality differ significantly. Two of these concepts pertain to the atmosphere but differ in what time and place they are studied in, and the last one is studying these concepts.
Polar ice is sea ice created from the freezing of sea water, ice sheets and glaciers. These in turn are formed from the build up and compaction of fallen snow. Both the ice sheets and glaciers cover vast areas of the Polar Regions. This polar ice is hugely important to our globe and takes up a large part of it. Global sea-ice coverage averages about 25 million kilometers square; this is the area of the entire North America continent. The ice sheets, which cover the land, with the glaciers cover about 15 million kilometers square; this is almost 10% of the Earth’s land area, with the majority on Antarctica (Earthobservatory.nasa.gov, 2013).
Based on the impacts on a coastal location near point Barrow, Alaska which impacts to the ecological, heath, fresh water and societal life. Increasing temperatures in the next 25 years sea thawing permafrost coastal erosion flooding other climate change. Scientist predict that over the next century the temperature increase will be twice as much over the long term norm as it is now. Statewide average annual temperatures could rise from current levels by as 5 to 13 degrees, an average winter temperature could rise by as much as 22 degrees F in certain locations. Climate change is unavoidable, it’s already under way, and the observable effects are likely to increase with time. In the next century, predict changes of 3 to 10 degrees F. small changes in temperature will cause big changes to life on earth. With planning we can minimize the potential harm from coming changes and in some cases even find opportunities. Most planning for future climate change adaption is simply a matter of addressing current effects of weather extremes. The impacts of climate change are diverse, and vulnerabilities differ across regions and sectors.
Climate change, otherwise known as global warming, has grown more apparent in recent years, with increased natural disasters, significantly warmer temperatures and unreasonably long seasons. Global warming is one of the main concerns that scientists have been researching for the past century. Scientific evidence shows that global warming is caused by human behaviors. Due to the amount of human-induced carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that have been released into the air, the earth is becoming a highly poisonous place to live on. Earth’s climate has been constantly changing ever since the Industrial Revolution, when innovations began and factories were built, which emitted mass air pollution. As more technological advances continued the years after, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air also increased. According to the UPI Space Daily News, “Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) - the main cause of global warming - increased by 45% between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tonnes in 2010” (Writers 1). The 1900s through the 2000s is the time period in which humans caused the most air pollution by creating vehicles and other industrial machinery. In the contemporary time period, human activities that contribute to climate change consist of hydraulic fracturing, rice cultivation, the increase of fossil fuel burning, and the rise of deforestation.
"Snow Storms: What's a Blizzard." Forces of Nature: TQ 2000. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. .
Climate change occurs when there is a significant variance in the climate which last for several decades or longer and not for a short period of time. Climate change includes changes in elements such as temperature, precipitation and wind patterns.
Snow Storm Baby The year was 1992; a cold December arctic wind had brought a chance of snow to the area. It was the weekend and time to relax after a long, hard week at work. The weather service had predicted several inches of snow to blanket the region by the next day. Not to worry: it was the weekend and traveling was not a necessity.
Climate change is “any significant change in climate including temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns that occur over an extended period of time.” (Glossary of Climate Change Terms)