Over the weekend, more than 50 million people in California and New York are at risk from hail, tornadoes, severe storms and flooding.
The back-to-back bomb cyclones are forecasted to create atmospheric rivers. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, atmospheric rivers are long, narrow areas of moisture in the atmosphere that release rain or snow to earth.
A storm is classified as a bomb-cyclone when its minimum atmospheric pressure drops 24 millibars within 24 hours. The next storm could reduce by 50 millibars and become a double bomb’.
From Saturday night through Tuesday, the West coast will be impacted by the strongest atmospheric stream. It is expected to drop several inches and possibly feet of rain.
Another atmospheric river just struck the Pacific Northwest and Central California on Thursday and Friday.
Although heavy rainfall should help to combat the drought in the region and end the fire season it is not expected that it will end the droughts and wildfires.
Heavy rainfall in areas recently ravaged in wildfires could cause flooding and mudslides. Evacuation warnings have been issued in some locations.
Forecasters predict strong winds could reach 60 mph along the West coast.
The West coast’s atmospheric river is expected to be a Level 5 or 5 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a Level 3 and 4 in the Pacific Northwest and other parts of California.
The storm surges across the country could cause low pressures to reach levels not seen since the 1950s in the Pacific Northwest.
Another storm system has been developing in the Gulf of Mexico with extremely high temperatures, moisture levels, and is expected strengthen as it moves into Mid-Atlantic/Northeast regions early next week.
The Intermountain region through to the Northeast is also expected to experience a storm surge Saturday through early next week.
Parts of California and Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri. Illinois, Indiana. Ohio., and Michigan were deemed high-risk areas for heavy rainfall.
Sections of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska have been issued Level 2 storm warnings with large hail, strong winds, and isolated tornados being the biggest threats beginning Saturday.
As the storm moves towards East coast, the chances of severe thunderstorms increasing on Sunday will be higher. The storm system will reach the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic on Monday.
A level 2 warning has also been issued to Atlanta, Knoxville, Charlotte, and Raleigh for Monday while severe storms are a possibility in some Northeast cities including New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, and Virginia Beach.
As climate change’s effects become more apparent, the US has seen an increase in extreme weather events this year.
The US intelligence community has issued a warning to all about the growing danger that climate change poses for national security and global stability. This chilling report was revealed on Thursday.
The 27-page report was signed by all 18 US intelligence agencies. It was released in a declassified form by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. This is after President Joe Biden ordered that the government undergo a climate assessment in January.
It’s just over a month before Biden jets off for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.
Thursday’s report is the most comprehensive ever and examines how rising carbon emissions could affect geopolitical power and cause conflict, as well as create new ones.
The report was released less than a week before United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (pictured, Biden addresses UN General Assembly September)
Biden issued an executive directive in May requiring the development of a comprehensive climate-risk strategy for the entire government within 120 days. Also, an annual assessment of climate-related fiscal risk as part of the US budget.
It said that “Intensifying physical impacts will exacerbate geopolitical flawpoints, particularly after 2030”, and that key countries and regions will face increased risks of instability, need for humanitarian aid, and that it was a matter of urgency.
Even before any significant climate catastrophe, blame shifting and disagreements about how the Paris Climate Accord should operate and who should perform it will cause increased tensions.
It states that the Paris Agreement’s cooperative breakthrough may not last long as countries struggle to reduce their carbon emissions and blame others for not doing more.
Countries would then turn against their neighbors to compete for new technologies and thinning resources.
The physical effects caused by climate change could also lead to mass migration as large areas of the globe become uninhabitable.
Many global organizations, including the United Nations have raised concerns about climate refugees.