Real Climate Science

Irene shut down Broadway, took a bite out of Hollywood’s box office, closed casinos in New Jersey and canceled thousands of East Coast flights. But the economic fallout had been predicted to be far worse.

The full cost of the storm, which caused widespread flooding and has so far resulted in at least 22 deaths, was still uncertain as insurance experts began tallying the estimated damage Sunday.

Overall, the storm, which was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical depression Sunday, could cost insurers $1.5 billion to $3 billion to cover claims for damaged homes, vehicles and businesses, said Jose Miranda, director of client advocacy at Eqecat Inc., a catastrophic risk management firm in Oakland. Total damage, including uninsured losses, could range from $5 billion to $7 billion, he said.

http://www.latimes.com/

New York is deserted today on what should be one of its busiest weekends for tourism of the year, as businesses count the cost of a four-day city shutdown after Hurricane Irene forced people indoors.

Retailers will make heavy losses because of a shutdown on one of the last weekends before children go back to school – and one of the most popular times for tourists to visit.

However C. Britt Beemer, of America’s Research Group, told MailOnline losses will be ‘catastrophic’ for businesses, as this weekend would have seen 10 per cent of back-to-school shopping.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

TUESDAY … After another very chilly morning with isolated ground frost, lows 2-6 C, sunny by day with highs around 16-17 C. Light winds. A spell of cloud and light showers may affect eastern Ulster mid-day.

http://www.irishweatheronline.com/

Yesterday was an interesting day. I presented a very straightforward map from Weather Underground showing that there were no sustained surface winds higher than 33 MPH at Irene’s US landfall.

Hundreds of people went nuts, because the map disagreed with their need to blindly trust authority. They accused me of lying (did I make the map?) They accused Weather Underground of bogus maps (Jeff Masters the denier.) They came up with every reason to not believe the Emperor was NOAAked.

Incidents like this help me to understand the roots of historical disastrous human behaviour. Many people will blindly trust authority – rather than thinking for themselves or believing what they see with their own eyes.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.

Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on.

The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

http://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/giveme.cfm

http://thesurfersview.com/

As I write this, Hurricane Irene is on its way up the U.S. East Coast and, if the storm follows the current path projections, one thing is certain. Many buildings are soon to be destroyed — perhaps numbering in the hundreds – and thousands more will be damaged.

Dozens of artificial beaches — nourished beaches that cost millions of dollars per mile — will be narrowed and some will disappear altogether including possibly some that are a few months old like the new beach at Nags Head, North Carolina.

http://articles.cnn.com/

Irene Was All Talk

Aug 28, 2011 2:40 PM EDT
That was it? New York was obsessed with the hurricane—and still is, but for a different reason. As Jacob Bernstein reports, the talk is all about a storm that was blown out of proportion.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/

Perfect Storm of Hype: Politicians, the media and the Hurricane Irene apocalypse that never was

There was almost palpable disappointment among the TV big guns rolled out for the occasion when Irene was downgraded to a mere ‘tropical storm”. In New York city, CNN’s silver-haired Anderson Cooper, more usually seen in a tight t-shirt in a famine or war zone, was clad in what one wag dubbed “disaster casual”.

He looked crestfallen and fell briefly silent when a weatherwoman told him that the rain was not going to get any worse. “Wow, because this isn’t so bad,” he said. “It’s an annoying rain but it isn’t even a sideways rain.”

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/

Huntington Chief: Becket dam didn’t fail
Dam at Big Robin Lake in East Becket

Updated: Sunday, 28 Aug 2011, 2:46 PM EDT
Published : Sunday, 28 Aug 2011, 1:25 PM EDT

BECKET, Mass. (WWLP) – Huntington’s Police Chief says that the Big Robin Lake Dam in Becket has not failed (as reported by a trained spotter) but that hundreds of people have been evacuated downstream as a precaution.

http://www.wwlp.com/