Cisco Sonar

Climate Change

By Bryce Nielson, The Character

As you may be aware, I am the Rich County Emergency Manager, amongst hundreds of other jobs.  Spring is a busy time for Emergency Managers across the State.  We have conferences, seminars and meetings.  We hear predictions of the weather, wildfires, landslides and other calamities.  The “Great Shake” earthquake drill was recently held and over 900,000 people in Utah participated.  Earthquakes are high priority in Utah.  One may happen tomorrow or in a 1000 years but we are trying to be prepared.

Be aware that I am a weather freak along with my daughter Ash and SIL Mike.  We watch it and debate it constantly.   There are of hazards around but I fear intense weather events more than any other.  You may remember Raspberry Days a few years ago when we had a microburst hit the crafts fair.  It was chaos and only the beginning.

You all have heard of “Global Warming”.  That term has caused countless debates and is inaccurate.  The proper terminology is Climate Change.  There are many ideas of what is affecting it.  Those I will not delve into.  As a scientist, I need definable data.  A hydrologist from NOAA presented some interesting data.  Yes, the mean global temperature is increasing faster than they had predicted.  The weather in North American over the last few years is being driven by a winter high pressure over the Great Basin which diverts snow and cold from us and puts it on the east coast.  The oceans play a major role in this.  This causes flood and droughts.  In Utah, just looking at temperatures, we are a month ahead of normal.  The same amount of precipitation is falling although now in Utah there is more rain and less snow.  This is bad news for people who rely on reservoirs for water since the snow will decline leaving less storage water.  Here at Bear Lake, we are fine since we don’t rely on storage water for drinking or irrigation.  Long term models predict that this trend will continue.  By 2070, snow won’t fall in Utah except in the highest mountains.

Which brings me back to intense weather events, localized downpours, debris flows, high winds, landslides and flooding.  They are occurring more frequently and predicted to increase.  In over 40 years here, I have never seen the wind blow down Hodges Canyon which such intensity that it broke off telephone poles.  They are unpredictable and occurring more often.  We all need to be prepared for these events.

As for Climate Change, you can decide.  Long term models are not guaranteed accurate.  I am sure of one thing.  As the climate changes, the plants and animals will adapt, it is the humans who may not.