The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration increased our chances for an above normal hurricane season just weeks before Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas, sitting at a near standstill hovering over the islands for more than 24 hours.
Scientists believe slow-moving storms like Dorian could become the new normal in the face of climate change, which is also leading to less predictable El Nino and La Nina weather cycles.
How will Florida residents, plants and animals adapt? Here’s what you may have missed this month in the state’s climate news.
Small Cities, Big Problem
What’s going on
A traffic analysis firm found that Florida has more small cities with storm evacuation issues than any other state. Take for example the community of Immokalee, which is home to 24,000 residents and only four main exits should a disaster strike.
Why it matters
Florida gains 900 new residents every day, most of whom will move to suburbs away from large cities. Researchers worry that as climate change fuels more frequent and intense storms, Florida could be growing less prepared for mass evacuations.
Learn more:
- Check out this National Map of Communities with Limited Evacuation Routes
- Find your evacuation zone.
Fish in the Streets
What’s going on
Recent heavy rains led to overwhelmed stormwater drainage systems in Tampa Bay. As a result, water overflowed into the streets, bringing its inhabitants, like catfish, with it.
Why it matters
The Tampa Bay Climate Science Advisory Panel recently presented area lawmakers with updated sea level rise projections for the region, which were 12 to 18 inches higher on average than the same group’s 2015 estimates. Just last month, NASA scientists flew over Greenland to track melting ice, to find out whether seas around the globe are rising faster than expected.
This increase in sea level means that it no longer takes a hurricane or bad storm to cause flooding in coastal cities. Today, routine high tides can result in a phenomenon known as nuisance flooding.
Nuisance floods can overwhelm sewage systems and cause drainage problems that may degrade water quality, posing a risk to public health. Additionally, puddled water serves as a breeding ground for disease carrying mosquitoes and bacteria. Researchers also found that rising sea levels are threatening mangroves, which help buffer the impacts from storms. The costs of these impacts add up and coastal communities are left to pay the tab.
Learn more:
Salty Spiders
What’s going on
Researchers have found that more frequent hurricanes could bring more aggressive spiders. This is because during storms, spiders have to be more active when protecting their nests, a trait that gets passed down to future generations.
Why it matters
This study is part of an emerging field of research that aims to understand how plants and animals will evolve as the climate changes. For example, another study found that lizards with longer legs are more likely to survive hurricanes.
“The impact of these storms on wildlife are mostly a big question mark on our white board,” one of the paper’s authors, Jonathan Pruitt, told the Miami Herald. “Hurricanes could be shaping that evolutionary history of animals and we don’t even know.”
Learn more
Climate Rights
What’s going on
September was a month of climate action. More than 250 news outlets around the globe flooded social media channels with climate change coverage as part of the #CoveringClimateNow campaign. On September 20, youth in 50 different countries around the around the globe participated in a climate strike to demand action to save the planet. On September 21, the United Nations hosted Youth Climate Summit ahead of its Climate Action Summit on the 23.
Why it matters
Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree that the climate is changing, and that humans play a large role in accelerating that rate of change. Florida is often referred to as ground zero when it comes to climate change impacts. We face intensifying hurricanes, rising sea levels and threats to our natural ecosystems. For Generation Z, the science has been part of their lesson plans for most of their lives. Armed with the information, they hope to spark the sense of urgency that they feel, as they will witness some of the most severe impacts in their lifetime.
Learn more
The key takeaway
Slow moving storms and less predictable weather patterns may be the new normal as the climate changes, but small cities in Florida aren’t well prepared for mass evacuations. Rising sea levels are also causing more frequent flooding in our coastal cities.
Meanwhile, scientists are trying to determine how plants and wildlife will adapt.
Inundated by the scientific consensus, youth around the globe make their voices heard to demand climate action.