Comments on: Today’s ‘king tide’ not so high – but new city map warns climate change has more in store

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:08:42 +0000

You’re so quick to quote Newsweek. As they said a few months ago in their cover article after Hurricane Sandy: “IT”S GLOBAL WARMING, STUPID.”

Regardless of whether you are an anti-science climate denier or a climate hawk – or even somewhere in between. We all MUST realize that changes are coming and that we must make adaptations measures now or risk billions of dollars and thousands of lives.

Additionally, it is also the government’s fiduciary responsibility to take every action they can to mitigate the problem as much as possible. Seems to me that that is what the sea level rise announcement as all about. An explanation of risks – followed by action plans to address that risk. Sounds like responsible government to me.

The Northwest will be the last place in the United States that will feel the most severe of the impacts of a changing climate. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t prepare and it doesn’t mean that we don’t have a role to play in mitigating disaster.

To do anything else is to stick your head in the sand.

By: Ex-Westwood Resident

Ex-Westwood Resident — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 04:29:21 +0000

Hmmm…I’m old enoough to remember the fear of the mid-late 70′s. In fact Newsweek magazine ran a comprehensive article on it.
It wasn’t the danger of Global Warming, but instead, of Global COOLING.
The earth has cooled and warmed MANY times over the ages.
There have been at least four “Ice Ages” followed by “Global Warming.” Some experts say that we are coming out of a “Mini” Ice Age.
England used to have vineyards, today it is too cold to properly grow grapes. Greenland was named Greenland for a reason.
When looking at the “Climate” or “Weather” (two TOTALLY different things, looking at the last 50-100 years is like trying to see an elephant through a straw at 2 inches.
Ole Al Gore has made HUNDREDS of $$$$ MILLION through this farce and through “Carbon Credits.”

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:47:56 +0000

Climate change is a problem for our infrastructure. It will take money and lots of it to combat climate change related problems. However, the big problem is the effect of pollution on the air we must breath, the water we must drink, and a healthy and abundant food supply from ocean, field and stream. The latter problem should be our driving motivation for reducing our carbon footprint. Every individual can have a positive impact by choosing and demanding choices for the most energy efficient means of transportation, home and business operation.

By: WSB

WSB — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 09:03:15 +0000

Lura – I know that Seattle Public Utilities *is* working on all that – when we talked with them about the “highest water level ever” day last month, they explained that they were working on a variety of things, including this map. The reason they have been studying all this is because at the very least they have to plan what it means to public facilities like drainage systems. Will ask if that will be the subject of a later briefing or what. – TR

By: Lura Ercolano

Lura Ercolano — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:48:49 +0000

You’d think there’s be something about planning for how the city would handle higher water. But no, all those recommendations are about how the city can be more “green”, have a lower carbon footprint, by tolling side streets, converting streets to pedestrian plazas, adding insulation to buildings, etc. The map is irrelevant to those potential plans.

By: G

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:41:34 +0000

Warmer weather leads to more evaporation and precip, which will fall in higher elevations as snow, and then form ice. All periods of increased glaciation, must be preceded by warmer periods. The pendulum might swing the other way in the long run, who knows.

By: chas redmond

chas redmond — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 06:50:11 +0000

Wow, South Park and Harbor Island are going to need New Orleans-class levees or a lot of landfill.

By: J

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 01:40:27 +0000

We can still mitigate the effects of climate change with intelligent action: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1793.html

By: neal chism

neal chism — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:28:23 +0000

At the risk of spooling up a global warming debate here, I will just add that we do have an actual tidal measurement station run by NOAA. It is downtown just to the right of where the WS ferry boat docks. http://www.co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/gmap3/ On this page you can see actual vs. predicted water levels and also a barometric pressure graph. On one or two days of last month the high tides, one could argue, were affected by the weather going on over Puget Sound.

By: G

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 23:27:01 +0000

Dunno. I’ve lived here most of my life, and haven’t noticed much of a change. We’ve had high tides sloshing over the boardwalk in the past.