Hurricane Sandy / The Tri-State

The area looks like there was a nuclear attack. Hurricanes are no longer a problem only the Caribbean has to deal with. Last year Irene. Now this.

if the flooding and fires due to the flooding had not happened. I just wish people would have evacuated like they were told to. i guess they just didnt think about flooding. too sad for words

STORM SURGE.. I know I was shocked. For years scientists have been telling us that certain areas around the world are vulnerable to storm surge and rising waters. The USVI is of course one of thoses vulnerable places. I once lived in one in California and another in Oregon. We understand Tsunamis, but this is just storm driven water. duh

Despite the Republicans who don't believe in climate change, I too wasn't convinced that rising waters might be a problem in my lifetime. Maybe ity is time to study the facts, and do something to protect our low coastline.

The climate changes over the last few decades are so obvious to so many all over the world and I've seen the same climate changes right here in the islands. People slough off the obvious when it doesn't personally affect them. Scientists for years all over the world have been warning endlessly about such extremes of nature.

Over 35 years ago a reputable team of seismological experts came to the islands to gather data and predicted that within the next 20 years of their survey, the Virgin Islands was likely to suffer a devastating earthquake. We're on a tectonic plate as unpredictable as the notorious California/SF plate. Their predictions obviously didn't come true in the suggested timeframe but such scientific data is variable at best and accepted as such within the scientific community.

If something even remotely akin to the devastating storm which hit the US East Coast happened here, bye-bye to all.

Nobody is immune to the continuing onslaught of nature's rebellion against man's intervention. All the more reason to put petty arguments aside and simply live a life? Yes, that was a question.

Am going be using the knowledge acquired in/after all the storms starting with Hugo to deal with our NY damage. First time for water in our home, but the 3 feet makes the entire first floor a total loss. Luckily the wind did not cause extensive roof etc damage. Big difference will be the soon freezing temps with no power or heat. Big difference from stx temps!

the death toll just keeping going up. wonder how many homeless are still not counted.

talked to a friend last night whose son lives in manhattan, he is having long long waits for rides and daughter is allowed two gallons of gas a day.

I hope they won't be waiting 2 1/2 (Hugo) or 3 1/2 months (Marilyn) for power to be restored, like we all did in STT in 89 and 95.
Phone service was out from Sept. - April and it took 2 yrs. for cable to come back in my location. I didn't have a computer back then so have no idea of how long that might have taken to be restored for internet service. Then came a couple years of listening to everyone around you being under construction and the associated noises for that! Not a fun time for anyone in the path of Mother Nature's destructive force.

I never understand people that do not evacuate when told especially when warned by Weather Channel and local Government officials continually, what an extremely destructive force Hurricane Sandy would be for storm surge in low lying areas and do not properly prepare to be without power for days or weeks. Possibly months, in this case. Especially, now, with even colder weather coming on.

It was nice to see that shelters there accepted people with their beloved pets. It was also interesting to learn that FEMA/Federal Government has policies in place that mandates that a percentage of a state's shelters MUST accept pets. None of ours do!

I hope and pray for a speedy recovery for everyone affected by this terrible hurricane.
The losses are horrendous.

Pls. donate to the Red Cross and ASPCA https://donate.aspca.org/donate/Donations/Res/Membership_HS.aspx?PlacementID=3001752&utm_source=newsalertemail_110112&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsalert

Despite the Republicans who don't believe in climate change, I too wasn't convinced that rising waters might be a problem in my lifetime. Maybe ity is time to study the facts, and do something to protect our low coastline.

I think that everyone believes in "climate change". The argument has been over "global warming". Specifically human caused global warming.

Climate change has without a doubt occurred in the past. Long before humans had any effect on the climate. We have ample geological and paleontological evidence to support that. The argument is whether or not humans are causing "global warming" and how drastic the measures should be to mitigate the change.

In many cases the climate change scientists are shooting themselves in the foot. You have no doubt heard of Climategate. This is the controversy where when the data did not match the desired results the scientists at IPCC engaged in a policy of "hide the decline". If you don't get the results that you like then you "fix" the data. This policy begs questions.
http://climateaudit.org/2012/10/14/lewandowsky-and-hide-the-decline/

A discussion can be found here from UC Berkeley professor Richard A. Muller.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BQpciw8suk

Behavior like this gives support to fictional books like Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" which postulates that global warming and the like are "scare" tactics designed to extort more money from the public for environmental research.

Are hurricanes hitting New York in October a sure sign of global warming?
"This is a fair question. It’s also reasonable to ask whether this storm is a product of climate change, that a warmer world will produce more “super” storms.

Certainly that’s the point of view espoused by some environmental activists."

"However the science of climate change and hurricanes does not support this conclusion.
Here were the paper’s main conclusions:
•After studying past and present hurricane data they did not conclusively find any detectable human influence on hurricane activity.
•Studies indicate more likely than not an increase in the numbers of the more intense hurricanes globally, perhaps 2 to 11 percent by 2100.
•Scientists also found increased evidence that, globally, the number of tropical storms is likely to decrease by 6 to 34 percent by 2100.
•There is some evidence that hurricanes will produce more rainfall in a warmer world."
http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2012/10/are-hurricanes-hitting-new-york-in-october-a-sure-sign-of-global-warming/

Climategate debunked

Climategate debunked

What they did do was switch the technique used to obtain the data. Historical temperature data was derived from tree-ring data but when tree-ring data showed a decline in temperature for recent years they switched to using actual measured temperature data which showed a rise in temperature. Since tree-ring data did not agree with actual measured data in recent years this should call into question all of the historical data.

They then failed to report the switch in data sources until it was called into question.

From your article.
"In the same e-mail, Jones uses the phrase "hide the decline" in reference to work by tree-ring expert Keith Briffa. Because tree-ring information has been found to correlate well with temperature readings, it is used to plot temperatures going back hundreds of years or more. Briffa described a phenomenon in which the density of wood exhibits an enigmatic decline in response to temperature after about 1960. This decline was the focus of Briffa's original article, and Briffa was clear that these data should not be used to represent temperatures after 1960. By saying "hide the decline," Jones meant that a diagram he was producing was not to show those data during the unreliable post-1960 period. "

So we should assume that tree-ring data was valid before 1960 but became invalid afterward?

I live at the Jersey Shore.....a direct hit for Sandy.......Mantoloking & Brick NJ lost more than 100 homes to fires and being washed away.

Thousands more in Brick & Toms River were destroyed by flooding.

The shore surge was caused by the 75-85 MPH winds...the bay surge was caused by a full moon high tide with the water being pushed back into the bay (and lagoons).

People still are without power for a week.

The damage is devastating....luckily our home is about 15 feet above sea level and did not sustain any damage. We feel very fortunate.