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Things are getting better, or at least not changing, part 1 10

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Tornadoes in USA except Alabama are less damaging

Abstract
Damage from tornadoes imposes substantial costs on society. This study provides an analysis of time trends in the severity of losses from tornadoes in the United States for the period 1954–2018. Based on information provided by the Storm Prediction Centre (SPC) of the U.S. National Weather Service, we create a dataset of normalized losses from tornadoes spanning 65 years. We then analyse patterns and trends in the total annual losses from tornadoes as well as distributional properties of the damage from individual tornadoes. Our approach allows us to combine observations from the period 1954–1996, when losses from tornadoes were typically reported in a range (e.g. $500,000–$5,000,000) with observations from 1997 onwards when an actual estimate of the damage for an event is provided. Our findings suggest an overall national significant decline in normalized losses from tornado events. At the country level, both the severity of damage from individual events and the total annual losses from tornadoes are seen to have reduced over time. We also find spatial variations in time trends for the damage from tornadoes: while for most U.S. states the declining trend in severity is confirmed, an increasing trend of total annual losses from tornadoes is observed for Alabama.

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Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376
 
Warming brings increased precipitation. Whoever correlates drought with climate change is lying or not an expert.
 
It's weird that nobody acknowledges that the entire central valley of California flooded in 1862. It was recent enough that there are even photographs of it. Extreme weather is normal.
 
Flood damage in USA. I don't know why they picked 1940 as a start date

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Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376
 
Coffee panic, revisited. Covfee?

Scientists in Brazil have discovered that “carbon dioxide fertilization offsets negative impacts of climate change on arabica coffee yield.” They say that the CO2 fertilization effect will cause a net increase of the average Brazilian arabica coffee harvest by the years 2040-2070.

CO2 enrichment studies in Latin America show that elevated CO2 increased photosynthesis by 40% and increased the efficiency plants’ water use by approximately 60%. Higher CO2 eventually caused a 7-14% increase in plant height and a 12-14% increase in yield. Another study showed that there were significant increases in all leaf area and biomass markers in response to increased CO2.

The research indicates that we might already be reaping the rewards of increased productivity rates in both arabica and robusta coffee varieties thanks to the recent rise in atmospheric CO2. This reality is reflected in the plantations across the globe. Production in South America and Southeast Asia have shown increases in yield during the past two decades.

The reason increasing CO2 increases plant yields is only slightly complicated. A plant breathes through stomata. If it opens them up to get more CO2 then more of its internal water evaporates. So increasing CO2 allows the plant to get enough CO2 without having to open the stomata so much, retaining more water, allowing more growth. This is seen worldwide in the NASA study "The greening of the Earth".

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Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376
 
Isn't it the change in temperature/year that has CO2 concerning people worried?
 
Forest fires in California have historically been on a 35 year schedule. Burn lots of average one year and we're good for the next 35 years.

On a side note, our insurance companies are scamming us when they raise rates after a fire because the probability of a second fire is much lower for many years to come.
 
Well this is a bit of a rethink. New paper says that increasing CO2 will cool Antarctica. As an aside it'll still melt in places due to underground volcanoes etc. Still, it might explain why sea level rise is not accelerating.

preprint here

related full article


They also drop the climate sensitivity to the lowest value I can remember seeing, the equivalent of 0.72 deg C/doubling. No wonder the models are running hot, they result in about 2-4 deg C/doubling.





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Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376
 
I believe that much of humanity's food comes from cereal, and it is the most storable. So it appears that we have stock of about three months of food for after the apocalypse.
 
According to the chart production and utilization have merged. This is very alarming if food is concerned.
 
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