Hurricane Dennis

[Guest]

[EmmasOneandOnly]

What does everyone think of this now catigory 4 Hurricane?

[grecopa]

Here we go again.  Did'nt we get enough of this stuff last year?  I feel really bad for the people on the gulf side.  They just can't get a break.  What city are you in, Mike?

[EmmasOneandOnly]

I'm in Tampa so we should get some heavy rain. Its pretty clear right now. I know, I'm so sick of Hurricanes but I'm not scared of them anymor like use to. Usually you'd find me under a sheet clutching my cat right about now .   

[Roz]

Yeah - it's peculiar don't you think that Blair and Bush have just confirmed that Climate Change is a long term problem, but if you look at the Hurricane belt it's further south than it has EVER been and Florida was just beaten to death last summer.

The simple fact is that if you heat up a big bowl of water like the world's oceans, and gas like the world's atmosphere all the molecules get very excited and full of energy. Causing more storms and more rain (which in the UK means more flooding), higher tides with larger waves and more atmospheric things like Hurricanes.

LONG TERM PROBLEM MY FOOT. It just means "we were not able to agree any action on this today".

[grecopa]

Oh, Roz.   Let's not turn this thread political.  Climates change, the earth changes, there have been PLENTY of other years when hurricanes have battered the Florida coast.  Floridians aren't out screaming  "Aaa!  Global warming!"  If you live where we do, it's just something you deal with. BTW, this is my last (semi) political post.  I like everyone too much to get all worked up about stuff that's not even HP related for goodness sake!

[Roz]

Well I'm sorry but unfortunately, like the members, this board is way more than just Harry Potter, but we have labelled up forums especially for it.

Whether they are or not, the people of Florida should most certainly be concerned, and if they aren't then they should do some background reading - trust me. Hurricanes are expected on the coast of Florida, but would you explain why they are hitting Brazil for the first time ever?

Whilst we don't get hurricanes here, just look at our latitude, we do get floods and we are getting them more regularly than ever before, wave heights across the North Atlantic have been increasing non-stop for the past 40 years. This isn't politics Kelly, it's undeliable science.

CO2 is higher than it has been for 100 million years during the middle of the Cretaceous Warm period. Cretaceous climate arose from a combination of factors, with higher atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations (from numerous volcano eruptions) leading to general warming, and other factors, such as increased ocean heat transport, leading to flattening of the latitudinal temperature gradient, in short - we just don't know what we are playing with here. I don't like playing with it either - odd things happened in the cretaceous, all the dinosaurs died out - it has been suggested that was caused by a meteor hitting the earth, or a cluster of meteors but even that is essentially guess work because there's a one huge crater that doesn't even seem to match the right time period (so many scientists do not accept this), on top of this the oceans became devoid of all life - this was called the strangelove ocean. Can you imagine visiting the sea and there being nothing in it - it wouldn't even have the greeny colour that it has because that is caused by plankton (basically the bottom of the food chain in the ocean). In fact, when people talk about the cretaceous they use words like "terminal" - are you hoping NASA and ESA will evacuate all 6 billion of us to another planet by then?

I just don't like playing games with climate... millions if not billions of lives will be lost as hot countries of the world become totally unable to grow any produce, these issues should not be ignored, it's a far bigger threat to us all than a few bombs... but as I say, this is just fact, it can be ignored but it will be to our own detriment.

Should I think like others and say "what does it matter? It's not going to happen in my lifetime?" No, I plan one day to have a family, and perhaps they will have a family, I don't want to leave them an uninhabitable place. It could be as little as 2 generations away.

[grecopa]

Ok then.

[EmmasOneandOnly]

I'm not that scared of Hurricanes unless its coming right at us. But, I think Hurricans help not prevent. It feels great outside after one. Its not so hot for a few days after one. The Earth is always changing and so is the atmephere (cant spell that word you think with how much I love Science ) so of course we're going to see something differenet every year. I dont think will need to leave Planet Earth anytime soon Roz

[grecopa]

Sorry we hijacked your thread, Mike.

[EmmasOneandOnly]

Lol, Roz always goes indepth

[Roz]

I'm not that scared of Hurricanes unless its coming right at us. But, I think Hurricans help not prevent. It feels great outside after one. Its not so hot for a few days after one.

He hee - it feels great after a thunderstorm here

The Earth is always changing and so is the atmephere (cant spell that word you think with how much I love Science ) so of course we're going to see something differenet every year. I dont think will need to leave Planet Earth anytime soon Roz

Answer me that again in 10 years time Mike, things will already be very different. Things already are very different than 10 years ago. People keep saying "the seasons are funny" - and other such small observations. Actually, I am building a website with a friend, this won't come to fruition til my PhD is over, but it is going to be about green living, what we each can do - our small contribution CAN help, it's so small scale but the more people make their small contribuition it becomes a much bigger contribution.

Our winters in the UK are already much milder than they were - ice skating on the River Thames has taken place in living memory. Even in my short lifetime I have noticed we get a lot less snow than we used to.

[samwise16]

i Agree with Roz, and i'm annoyed about the the no snow 

[grecopa]

Hey, Mike.  How did you do last night?  We got an outside band around 4am.  The rain was sideways and sounded like hail.  Thank goodness the kids didn't wake up.  They sleep like rocks.

[EmmasOneandOnly]

We did fine. It came in like patches rain, no rain, rain, no rain . But it looks like its over for us.

[Sharon]

Really pleased to hear the worst of the weather missed you 

Did you have to board up the windows and things just in case?  Or are you a bit in land so you miss the worst of it?  (sorry my geography is tragic )

[EmmasOneandOnly]

No, we didnt board up the windows we just went with it. We are inland but I'm not good with georgraphy so I dont no ither .

[Sharon]

No, we didnt board up the windows we just went with it. We are inland but I'm not good with georgraphy so I dont no ither .

  And you live there    There is an English term that applies perfectly to you at this moment and that is 'You plonker'* 

* for more details look up Only Fools and Horses on Google or Jeeves (and don't worry, it is definately a term of endearment)

[EmmasOneandOnly]

 

[grecopa]

   Ok, Mike.  You will have a pop-qiz on this later.  Tampa is about half way up the west coast of Florida.  It's not inland, it's on a bay (gulf coast).  I live in Jacksonville which is on the very north east tip of Florida.  We are on the Atlantic coast.  How was the wind?  It looked like you guys got the eastern edge of the hurricane from the radar, but it's hard for me to judge what's rain and what's just cloud cover.

[EmmasOneandOnly]

I dont live near the bay so I dont know where I live all I know is that its in tampa