cmooney

I don't know precisely what was said yet, but multiple folks have emailed me to let me know that my latest just came up on Science Friday, in the context of a discussion of science books of the year. And indeed, Storm World is already listed on the Science Friday website for today's show. Please…

I realize that I haven't been my usual self this week, and there haven't been many posts. Sheril has been picking up the slack, thank goodness--but I don't know how much more I'll have this week, folks. Work has just kicked up unbelievably of late. But there's good news: One reason we're a bit…

I am quite confident that most readers of this blog would agree that NASA's James Hansen is a pretty big hero. Nevertheless, he shouldn't be saying stuff like this: Recently, after giving a high school commencement talk in my hometown, Denison, Iowa, I drove from Denison to Dunlap, where my parents…

Today is officially the last day of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. Not that we can't have a storm after November 30...but it becomes less and less likely. And how do we summarize the year? Well, less active than expected, especially when it comes to the frequency of the most intense storms.…

My latest Science Progress column just went online--I look at the issue of geoengineering, and reluctantly conclude that given our current predicament, the case for at least studying possible options makes a lot of sense. Research isn't the same as implementation, but it could give us a fallback.…

So: I'm in D.C. right now. That's because Nisbet-Mooney just gave our last "framing science" talk of 2007--a lunch event yesterday at the National Academy of Sciences' Keck Center. This talk wasn't open to the public, so we didn't publicize it, but we can't think of a better place to wrap things up…

In the past three months, I have done three separate events on university campuses that have involved, in some way, panel commentaries upon books. Two of the books were my own; one was Mike Tidwell's (see here and here). As a result, I have gotten some sense of what I think works in these contexts…

It is important to remember--as I note in my latest Daily Green item--that Cyclone Sidr isn't the first staggering storm in the North Indian Ocean basin this year. Indeed, you could argue that 2007 has been the worst year on record for intense North Indian cyclones; and before Sidr came Cyclone…

From Baptist Press: DHAKA, Bangladesh (BP)--In the hours before Cyclone Sidr reached the coastal areas of Bangladesh, Southern Baptists and other Christians began praying -- aware that the Category 4 storm potentially could usher hundreds of thousands into an eternity without Jesus. ... "Last night…

[Note: I had originally planned to publish this post last week, but Cyclone Sidr soon began to consume all of our attention--and rightly so. We will continue to track the storm and its consequences; but starting now, I'm also going to leaven things a bit with blogging on other issues. So, here goes…

Now some estimates suggest the death toll from Sidr may reach 10,000. But how is it possible for a cyclone to unleash destruction on such a scale? To get a better grasp, one need only look at sea surface temperature anomalies in the Bay of Bengal before and after this storm's passage. These images…

Jeff Masters doesn't think Sidr will turn out to have killed as many as the 1998 storm that caused some 11,000 fatalities (or more) in Nicaragua and Honduras. But the Times of London is reporting that the death toll from Sidr may rise as high as 8,000. Whatever the case, this is, just as we feared…

Via AlertNet, I just saw this missive from the Belgian relief group CARE, which is already on the ground in Bangladesh but realizes the magnitude of the problem is even bigger than expected. This is the best sense I've been able to get yet of conditions where the storm struck, so I'm reproducing in…

Folks, Sheril is busy today and can't post, but for the first time we have tried videoblogging--and what she has to say couldn't be on a more urgent subject, the devastation caused by Cyclone Sidr. Please watch and I hope you're as inspired as I am by her words: The death toll from Sidr is up to…

I don't like that if you look at news reports over the past three hours or so, we find differing--but possibly escalating--reports of the casualties in Bangladesh. The highest estimate I've seen yet comes from Reuters Canada: "killed more than 500 people in Bangladesh and left thousands injured or…

It seems 300 fishing boats and 1000 people are already missing in the storm. However, there's good news, too, according to Jeff Masters: The landfall point is a mangrove forest, not very populous. Still, the whole area has to expect a Katrina like storm surge upwards of 20 feet in some places. To…

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center finally gave in and rated the storm at 135 knots--or 155 mile per hour winds. This is the cutoff for Category 5. There may be some weakening by landfall, but what we're expecting is a borderline Cat 4/Cat 5 striking along the path shown above. You've gotta figure…

Another advisory--and still at 130 knots. Though again, I suspect Sidr is really stronger. In any event, there is less and less chance of significant weakening before landfall. Sigh.

Okay, it is time to get alarmist here. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center just released its latest forecast, and this storm still hasn't weakened as has been so endlessly predicted. Instead, it is still a strong Category 4--130 knot winds, or almost 150 miles per hour--according to JTWC. And frankly…

Beautiful and deadly--that's how it always is with hurricanes. And so it is with Cyclone Sidr, depicted in this satellite picture courtesy of NASA. This storm has had a lot of cloud in its eye lately, but don't let that fool you. Automated estimates suggest it may now be a Category 5...

As many of you folks know already, I give a lot of public talks. Generally, for each new presentation, I tinker with and add to (or subtract from) the material depending upon the circumstances. So while every presentation is very different, and while my various speeches are continually evolving and…

We have a Category 4 cyclone barreling down on what is possibly the most vulnerable place in the world for such a storm. So I just visited CNN.com. No mention of it whatsoever on the front page. Stunning--but at the same time, not unexpected, no? Incidentally, my latest take on Cyclone Sidr is now…

This storm was recently upgraded to a Category 4--and we should all be watching it closely. Knowing the history of cyclones in this region, I am very, very concerned. My latest Daily Green update on Sidr, considering some different scenarios depending on the particular storm track, is here. Suffice…

I just did my latest post at the Daily Green--we have a potentially very deadly storm in the Bay of Bengal right now. This is the area where hurricanes/cyclones can take the greatest toll. Let's hope for weakening and a landfall in a less populous area. Yikes. Read here for more.

Folks: The latest issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is now on newsstands, and online you can also read, in PDF, my cover story. Entitled "An Inconvenient Assessment," it's about the biggest Bush administration climate science scandal that you've never heard of. Let me repaste the…

I just read this scoop from my friend Eli Kintisch in Science. Scary stuff. Seems Eli attended a high level meeting of climate scientists in Cambridge, MA on the subject of geoengineering--i.e., artificially altering the planet in some way to help stave off global warming (think Frank Herbert's…

A few weeks ago, I appeared for the second time on PBS KCET's "Tavis Smiley Show," this time to discuss Storm World and global warming generally. I would have given an update and told folks to watch the show live, but I didn't know when my segment was going to air. But in any rate, you can now go…

From Jeff Masters' blog, describing the Dutch response to a powerful North Sea storm: While today's storm did not approach the 1953 storm in severity, it did bring the highest storm surge seen in the past 20 years to the North Sea. The massive flood gates that protect the Dutch port of Rotterdam…

[A NOAA P-3 on the ground in Washington, D.C.] This is a subject I've been meaning to do some reporting on for some time, but with the move and all my other obligations, I just haven't gotten the chance. So I've decided simply to blog about it (even though blogging is just a "hobby," and not a…

Um, seeing as I'm out in Hollywood...well, I guess this came along at the right time. I am part of the "cast" for a docu entitled (for now) Weather Movie. (I hope they keep the title, tones of Scary Movie.) I will be playing myself. This is something I do all the time--sometimes more convincingly…