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Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Climate Woes: Prepare for worst
The cloudbursts let up long enough Tuesday for bicyclists, runners, walkers and their pets to bust out of their houses and onto Seattle sidewalks. After weeks of more or less daily rains, the entire Puget Sound region is ready for anything that resembles good weather.
Amid the occasional sun break, the real question is how ready are we for truly bad weather or any sort of natural catastrophe.
Climatologists say global warming will bring much more severe weather. Patterns are far too cyclical and variable, they say, to pin any one weather event on climate change. But the kind of heavy rainfall patterns we have seen lately certainly could become more common.
On one day last week, Sea-Tac Airport saw both a record rainfall and a record high temperature for the day. Sound Transit has stopped rail service between Seattle and Everett twice because of landslides. Rural areas see flood watches come and go.
There are some who argue that climate change is all theory. Time will tell, even if the evidence so far seems overwhelmingly on the side of the scientific consensus that warming is a real phenomenon with human factors as part of the cause.
The best advice is to plan for the worst. Individuals can pull out rainproof gear. Public officials should keep checking that the cupboards are stocked with natural disaster-response plans.
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