Jeff Masters tracks Hurricane Dean

The most detailed and descriptive information on current hurricane status and danger can be found in the Wunder Blog of Dr. Jeff Masters. Right now, Hurricane Dean is leaving damage on Martinique and entering the Carribean as a Category 2 storm. Masters believes it will develop into a Cat 4 storm before hitting Jamaica. Beyond that, there are several models projecting different paths through or past the Yucatan. If it ends up following Tropical Depression Erin into southern Texas, we may see some extreme flood damage there, since Erin has already dumped 10 inches on San Antonio and the soil of the region is saturated.

And following on my article about New Orleans, there is a slim possibility that Dean will track toward Louisiana. If you live there, what are you thinking today?

Gratuitous hurricane video

I know....how crass....or just trying to be scary, like those scientists.

Guilty as charged, but watch this anyway. It's by National Geographic....just some footage of situations you don't want anyone to be in.

FEMA to the rescue

As category 3 Hurricane Flossie bears down on Hawaii, FEMA is publicizing its high state of readiness:

Anticipating Flossie, the Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched a 20-person advance emergency response team that arrived in Hawaii on Monday, spokeswoman Kim Walz said. The team includes specialists in areas of transportation, aviation, public works and health.

"Instead of waiting for an actual disaster and then going in and providing support, we want to be ready," she said. "We've begun to move resources into place ahead of time to be prepared."

Some practical ideas for a change

It's a good time to prepare for hurricanes and here's your one-stop shopping place for information about how to do that.

Hurricane hazards come in many forms: storm surge, high winds, tornadoes, and flooding. This means it is important for your family to have a plan that includes all of these hazards. Look carefully at the safety actions associated with each type of hurricane hazard and prepare your family disaster plan accordingly. But remember this is only a guide. The first and most important thing anyone should do when facing a hurricane threat is to use common sense.

FEMA does prove itself useful if you visit their site BEFORE you get flooded. Here - in a collection of PDF files - is its Homeowner's Guide to Retrofitting: Six Ways to Protect Your House from Flooding

This guide is specifically for homeowners who want information on protecting their houses from flooding. Homeowners need clear information about the options available and straightforward guidance that will help make decisions. This guide gives both, in a form designed for readers who have little or no knowledge about flood protection methods or building construction techniques.

The Weekend Backlog

Take a couple days off from posting and stories pile up.

How do you deal with local ordinance "deniers"? A S.F. Chronicle writer rants about lawn-waterers during a growing water shortage: So Where's the Drought-rage?

It's like watching someone clean out their car and just toss all the garbage onto the street. Do you say anything? Is it worth it? Just watching this river forming in the gutter is its own form of water torture. Is it time to engage in complete and total DROUGHT-RAGE!?

We ain't seen nothin' yet. British meteorologists forecast that global warming will become more intense after 2009.

Global warming is forecast to set in with a vengeance after 2009, with at least half of the five following years expected to be hotter than 1998, the warmest year on record...

A major insurer describes the changing landscape of risk management. Lloyd's Chairman speaks:

Above all, what insurers want to see is a focus on contingency planning. Preparedness is key – yet you may be surprised to know that many businesses aren’t ready to face disaster when it strikes. In our recent research, almost 40 per cent of business leaders admitted that they do not have adequate disaster plans in place to respond to terrorist attacks². Some think that contingency planning is too expensive, but in fact the most important steps for surviving a crisis often cost little. Being unprepared can be the most expensive strategy of all.

California Dreamin' - at least we've reached the point where the analysts can say "more analysis needed." This is part of the California Climate Change Portal.

In response to Executive Order S-3-05, the California Energy Commission and the California Environmental Protection Agency commissioned an assessment of potential climate change impacts to California entitled “the Scenarios Project”. This report summarizes the findings from individual research efforts and compares them with earlier studies. Findings include increases in temperature, changes to the hydrologic cycle, and more frequent and severe extreme weather events. More information and analysis is needed to understand the vulnerability of economic sectors, ecosystems, and human health.

Global Warming remedies will be expensive. As if we hadn't guessed. But this NY Times story provides examples, dollar signs and lots of zeros. Of course, if you compare it to the cost of our military adventure in Iraq, it ain't so much.

Global warming is by nature a big-enough problem to create the kind of necessity that could be mother, father and midwife to invention. And plenty of big ideas are out there to address it, some that may even lead to substantial enterprises much as our military needs have