Tag Archives: storm

More sprawl = more storm damage

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With more sprawling development in the United States comes more damage from storms:

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But a more significant influence on the rising storm damage trend has little to do with the weather: Growth and development patterns mean there are many more homes and businesses in the way of tornadoes, hail and damaging winds than there were decades ago…

The trend is a product of growing populations in regions where severe storm impacts are also increasing, said Adam Smith, a NOAA economist and scientist who tracks the events.

Researchers call it the expanding bull’s eye effect — a larger target for storms and tornadoes makes it easier for them to inflict damage.

For example, in outlying parts of a city like Wichita, a tornado that might have affected 20 homes several decades ago could now damage 2,000 homes in the same footprint, said Walker Ashley, an atmospheric scientist at Northern Illinois University.

The United States has pursued sprawl for decades now. Metropolitan regions have expanded as Americans, for multiple reasons, have loved suburban growth plus the status and profits they can bring.

A hypothetical using a notorious Chicago area storm could illustrate this. In August 1990, an F5 tornado touched down in Plainfield, Illinois. The tornado killed 29, injured hundreds, and destroyed numerous buildings. At the time, Plainfield was a small community of 4,557 residents on the edge of the Chicago region. How much damage might a similar storm following a similar course cause today? The suburb had nearly 45,000 residents in the 2020 Census and development in the region has moved further out past Plainfield. Some local residents said the 1990 tornado helped show the community’s spirit and contributed to later growth.

Given the propensity toward sprawl in the United States, would any developer or local leader or potential suburban resident say no to more sprawl to avoid storm damage?

Geography and why there is so much bad weather in the United States

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Storms and natural disasters seem to occur regularly in the United States. Why?

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It starts with “where we are on the globe,” North Carolina state climatologist Kathie Dello said. “It’s truly a little bit … unlucky.”

China may have more people, and a large land area like the United States, but “they don’t have the same kind of clash of air masses as much as you do in the U.S. that is producing a lot of the severe weather,” said Susan Cutter, director of the Hazards Vulnerability and Resilience Institute at the University of South Carolina…

With colder air up in the Arctic and warmer air in the tropics, the area between them — the mid-latitudes, where the United States is — gets the most interesting weather because of how the air acts in clashing temperatures, and that north-south temperature gradient drives the jet stream, said Northern Illinois meteorology professor Walker Ashley.

Then add mountain ranges that go north-south, jutting into the winds flowing from west to east, and underneath it all the toasty Gulf of Mexico.

The geography of the Untied States is often described as an advantage. Lots of land. Many natural resources. A range of temperatures and climates. Across the oceans from major global conflicts.

In this case, the unique geography leads to issues. The expanse and variation in land puts air masses in conflict.

As the article suggests, have American communities adapted to this? If bad weather and disasters are somewhat predictable, do we have structures and planning that mitigates some of this impact? Just as one example, suburban sprawl with its balloon-frame houses and reliance on driving could be prone to particular ill effects.

Lightning strikes Chicago

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A large storm blew through Chicago on Wednesday, June 23. A photographer caught lightning hitting the Trump Tower and the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) in the same image.

Nature vs. humanity’s skyscrapers.