August 2024 was the hottest month on record and this past summer the hottest season on record. https://www.noaa.gov/news/earth-had-its-hottest-august-in-175-year-record
An interesting article about this. What The Jet Stream And Climate Change Had To Do With The Hottest Summer On Record https://www.discovermagazine.com/en...e-change-had-to-do-with-the-hottest-summer-on
Jeff Masters (NOAA hurricane scientist 1986-1990): Helene’s landfall “gives the U.S. a record eight Cat 4 or Cat 5 Atlantic hurricane landfalls in the past eight years (2017–2024), seven of them being continental U.S. landfalls. That’s as many Cat 4 and 5 landfalls as occurred in the prior 57 years.”
September 27, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson (substack.com) FEMA was created in 1979 after the National Governors Association asked President Jimmy Carter to centralize federal emergency management functions. That centralization recognized the need for coordination as people across the country responded to a disaster in any one part of it. When a devastating fire ripped through Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the day after Christmas in 1802, Congress agreed to send aid to the town, but volunteers organized by local and state governments and funded by wealthy community members provided most of the response and recovery efforts for the many disasters of the 1800s. When a deadly hurricane wiped out Galveston, Texas, in 1900, killing at least 6,000 residents and destroying most of the city’s buildings, the inept machine government proved unable to manage the donations pouring in from across the country to help survivors. Six years later, when an earthquake badly damaged San Francisco and ensuing fires from broken gas lines engulfed the city in flames, the interim fire chief—who took over when the fire chief was gravely injured—called in federal troops to patrol the streets and guard buildings. More than 4,000 Army troops also fed, sheltered, and clothed displaced city residents. When the Mississippi River flooded in 1927, sending up to 30 feet (9 meters) of water across ten states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, killing about 500 people and displacing hundreds of thousands more, President Calvin Coolidge appointed Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover to coordinate the federal disaster response and pull together the many private-sector interests eager to help out under federal organization. This marked the first time the federal government took charge after a disaster. In 1950, Congress authorized federal response to disasters when it passed the Federal Disaster Assistance Program. In response to the many disasters of the 1960s—the 1964 Alaska Earthquake, Hurricane Betsy in 1965, and Hurricane Camille in 1969—the Department of Housing and Urban Development established a way to provide housing for disaster survivors. Congress provided guaranteed flood insurance to homeowners, and in 1970 it also authorized federal loans and federal funding for those affected by disasters. When he signed the Disaster Relief Act of 1970, Republican president Richard Nixon said: “I am pleased with this bill which responds to a vital need of the American people. The bill demonstrates that the Federal Government in cooperation with State and local authorities is capable of providing compassionate assistance to the innocent victims of natural disasters.” Four years later, Congress established the process for a presidential disaster declaration. By then, more than 100 different federal departments and agencies had a role in responding to disasters, and the attempts of state, tribal, and local governments to interface with them created confusion. So the National Governors Association asked President Carter to streamline the process. In Executive Order 12127 he brought order to the system with the creation of FEMA. In 2003, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., the George W. Bush administration brought FEMA into its newly-created Department of Homeland Security, along with 21 other agencies, wrapping natural disasters together with terrorist attacks as matters of national security. After 2005’s Hurricane Katrina required the largest disaster response in U.S. history, FEMA’s inadequate response prompted a 2006 reform act that distinguished responding to natural disasters from responding to terrorist attacks. In 2018, another reform focused on funding for disaster mitigation before the crisis hits. The federal government’s efficient organization of responses to natural disasters illustrates that as citizens of a republic, we are part of a larger community that responds to our needs in times of crisis. But that system is currently under attack. Project 2025, a playbook for the next Republican administration, authored by allies of the right-wing Heritage Foundation and closely associated with Republican presidential candidate Trump and vice presidential candidate Ohio senator J.D. Vance, calls for slashing FEMA’s budget and returning disaster responses to states and localities. Project 2025 also calls for dismantling the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and either eliminating its functions, sending them to other agencies, privatizing them, or putting them under the control of states and territories. It complains that NOAA, whose duties include issuing hurricane warnings, is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.”
Helene shows exactly why we need a federal government involved in disaster relief and recovery. It is a multi state disaster that it’s unlikely individual states will be able to deal with adequately with. Just preparing for it required cooperation and coordination across state lines. That it’s hitting red states including some very red parts of those states should be a wake up call to people there about how important agencies like NOAA and FEMA are. Also how competence and experience is versus political loyalty.
Why is it all the hurricane predictions from the climate change doomers are always wrong. This year was suppose to be the worst on record and .... one cat 1 hurricane and one cat 4 hurricane. Turned out to be one of the quietest. The only anomaly is the two that did hit, happened early and the other was late.
The amount of damage caused by Helene is very severe and in the hurricane thread you just mentioned how the Saffir Simpson scale isn’t a good measure of potential damage. Also Beryl formed much earlier than anyone had seen which is a warning sign in and of itself. Finally the hurricane season is far from over.
Are you refuting this statement? Powerful hurricanes form very early. Most of them spin out into the Atlantic. At best, beryl coming into the gulf this early was a signal that this wasn't going to be an average season. Still, not much to read into it. Mid Aug to Mid Sept is peak. It rapidly falls off over the next 30-45 days. Looking at the current two storms in the Atlantic, Helene will be the last for this year.
I’m not going to claim expertise in this but from what I recall Beryl was very unusual for not just its date but also its intensity. If you have evidence that this isn’t that rare of an occurrence I would be interested in seeing it We’ve seen several hurricane seasons with strong storms in November. I wouldn’t be quick to say Helene is the last of the year. Even with all of that your claim iant proven given the damage we’ve seen Helene inflict and which you acknowledged in the other thread.
FEMA has a role, but competent leadership is key, whether state or federal. while I haven't seen President Blinken weigh in, Florida was prepared.
I given Florida authorities and even DeSantis credit for dealing with disasters but this is a multistate disaster and that is role of the federal government. Also Biden has issued several statement on Helene and is working with governors and other state officials to respond. https://www.tallahassee.com/story/n...ource-spared-for-helene-recovery/75429596007/
pretty funny thread August was not the hottest month on record there is literally proof the earth has been significantly hotter in the past. If you are claiming the hottest since the farmers almanac well let's assume they are accurate readings there is a massive difference between open fields and taking it at an airport that is full on concrete A call for the federal government to be more involved? Well that seems like a good idea you know the government that is 35 trillion in debt, can't protect the border let alone deliver mail on time I think the combination of cell phone cameras and decades of global warming propaganda has really done a number on the ability for critical thinking
Complete agreed. It's a disaster and people still haven't come to grasp. Spartanburg and Greenville supplies are wiped out. This is the stuff I remembered back in the 80s. FL does a great job to make sure there are plenty of supplies. As long as you have enough water, everything else stays stable.
Seriously? You actually think climate scientists predict the number of storms in any given year? Do you know who put out those predictions? Do you know that they underestimate the number of storms as often as they overestimate? You get that they aren't climate change people? AND - if you read the predictions from climate scientist - they actual predicted LESS storms but more INTENSE storms. So actually, by your own spurious logic, they nailed it.
@rocketsjudoka wants to make this a red state political competency issue, but as someone else already noted, NC has a democratic governor. I understand that after landfall, precise predictions of where the storm would head, and how much rain there would be, are exceedingly challenging. Still, "widespread catastrophic flooding" should have been an easy call, and FEMA and the national guard should have been staged and prepped, ready to move as soon as the storm passed. this is the responsibility of the president, and the continued suffering in western NC and elsewhere is a direct consequence of having a non-functional national executive. Americans are dying because Joe Biden won't stand aside, and because the rest of the administration don't have the guts to remove him.
