Weather and Climate change

[GMDino]

It's weird to hear hard core conservatives I know wonder, out loud, if these increased storms and flooding is a result of climate change.

I heard one yesterday use a phrase I frequently use about it "the new normal".

We didn't design our towns for this kind of weather to continuously happen...and now we are paying the price for the lack of foresight and denial of the changes going on around us.

It's going to be more painful now to make the needed changes than it would have been to think and plan in the past.

Same mistakes made over and over.

[*michaelsean*]

Design our towns? Who designed our towns? And when?

[Belsnickel]

(05-29-2019, 09:54 AM)michaelsean Wrote: Design our towns? Who designed our towns? And when?

You may not know this, but towns and cities are actually designed and planned. That's what zoning ordinances are all about. It's not something a lot of people think about, but I am involved in city planning a bit, so it's a familiar topic for me.

Edit to add: Yeah, this is Wikipedia, but it probably gives you more information than you care to know about the topic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_urban_planning

[Vas Deferens]

(05-29-2019, 09:54 AM)michaelsean Wrote: Design our towns?  Who designed our towns?  And when?

obviously the beautiful work of 'intelligent design'.   

[*michaelsean*]

(05-29-2019, 10:30 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: You may not know this, but towns and cities are actually designed and planned. That's what zoning ordinances are all about. It's not something a lot of people think about, but I am involved in city planning a bit, so it's a familiar topic for me.

Edit to add: Yeah, this is Wikipedia, but it probably gives you more information than you care to know about the topic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_urban_planning

I dare you to find any planning in my enclave of Norwood. 

[Belsnickel]

(05-29-2019, 10:57 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I dare you to find any planning in my enclave of Norwood. 

That's the way most people tend to feel about their localities, but you do actually have a Planning Department.

[Benton]

(05-29-2019, 10:30 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: You may not know this, but towns and cities are actually designed and planned. That's what zoning ordinances are all about. It's not something a lot of people think about, but I am involved in city planning a bit, so it's a familiar topic for me.

Edit to add: Yeah, this is Wikipedia, but it probably gives you more information than you care to know about the topic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_urban_planning

Gah, planning and zoning meetings were always mind numbing when I was a beat reporter, but they were a great source. Every town I was in, all businesses had to go before them for one reason or another so you always knew what was coming.

Going one further, though, most cities had some sort of plan when it was incorporated 

[GMDino]

I thought I replied but I must have not hit the button.

Matt said it, but to elaborate cities did not plan for the higher rain totals for one.  And they won't change because too many don't want to "waste" money because they don't "believe" in climate change.

Pittsburgh is seeing a higher than usual amount of landslides.  Of course they built on hills.  And no one wondered what would happen if we got wetter than usual....and stayed that way for years.

Houston zoned their way into massive flooding.

Everyone will be affected eventually in one way or another.

[Belsnickel]

(05-29-2019, 11:27 AM)Benton Wrote: Gah, planning and zoning meetings were always mind numbing when I was a beat reporter, but they were a great source. Every town I was in, all businesses had to go before them for one reason or another so you always knew what was coming.

Going one further, though, most cities had some sort of plan when it was incorporated 

I actually chair our city's zoning board. It definitely doesn't get much attention, we only meet when we have to, and the only people that show up are the board members, staff, applicants, and neighbors if it is a contentious case. You definitely learn a ton about what is going on in the city, though, if you pay attention to planning and zoning.

[Benton]

(05-29-2019, 11:46 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I actually chair our city's zoning board. It definitely doesn't get much attention, we only meet when we have to, and the only people that show up are the board members, staff, applicants, and neighbors if it is a contentious case. You definitely learn a ton about what is going on in the city, though, if you pay attention to planning and zoning.

You poor, poor soul.

[*michaelsean*]

(05-29-2019, 11:04 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: That's the way most people tend to feel about their localities, but you do actually have a Planning Department.

Are building inspectors part of city planning? We’ve got those and they can hear you nail two boards together from 3 miles away.

[*michaelsean*]

(05-29-2019, 11:35 AM)GMDino Wrote: I thought I replied but I must have not hit the button.

Matt said it, but to elaborate cities did not plan for the higher rain totals for one.  And they won't change because too many don't want to "waste" money because they don't "believe" in climate change.

Pittsburgh is seeing a higher than usual amount of landslides.  Of course they built on hills.  And no one wondered what would happen if we got wetter than usual....and stayed that way for years.

Houston zoned their way into massive flooding.

Everyone will be affected eventually in one way or another.

Maybe they guessed drought.

[Belsnickel]

(05-29-2019, 12:11 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Are building inspectors part of city planning? We’ve got those and they can hear you nail two boards together from 3 miles away.

Not usually. The way the city departments are set up varies from city to city. For instance, where I live there is a department called Community Development. Within that, there are Building Inspections, Engineering, and Planning & Zoning units.

[Beaker]

As of today, there have been 12 consecutive days where 8 or more tornadoes have touched down in the US....that's a new record by far. The Earth keeps sending us signals that we keep ignoring in the name of politics.

[*jason*]

(05-29-2019, 01:26 PM)Beaker Wrote: As of today, there have been 12 consecutive days where 8 or more tornadoes have touched down in the US....that's a new record by far. The Earth keeps sending us signals that we keep ignoring in the name of politics.

I grew up in Xenia, and was born 6 months after the tornado that destroyed it. So growing up it was tornado this, tornado that. I'd always heard that they don't strike at night, and they don't hit urban areas. I live in Dayton at the moment, and I can testify that they do both of those things now.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(05-29-2019, 11:04 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: That's the way most people tend to feel about their localities, but you do actually have a Planning Department.

Did the Marquis de Sade design the highways around DC with on and off ramps on both sides to purposely cause congestion?

[Mike M (the other one)]

(05-29-2019, 09:35 AM)GMDino Wrote: We didn't design our towns for this kind of weather to continuously happen...and now we are paying the price for the lack of foresight and denial of the changes going on around us.

That's just poor City planning.

[*Synric*]

As someone that's livelihood revolves around the weather I can honestly say it has rained solidly for about 2 or 3 years now in the north east. The roads are falling apart around me because of it...

When I went out west last year they said the rain and snow was way down and have been in a drought over the same period of time. Alot of the trees are dieing in the Rockies because it hasn't been getting cold enough to kill the bugs.

[Benton]

(05-29-2019, 03:53 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Did the Marquis de Sade design the highways around DC with on and off ramps on both sides to purposely cause congestion?

Well they didn't have Matt on their board, so...

[Benton]

(05-29-2019, 04:27 PM)Synric Wrote: As someone that's livelihood revolves around the weather I can honestly say it has rained solidly for about 2 or 3 years now in the north east. The roads are falling apart around me because of it...

When I went out west last year they said the rain and snow was way down and have been in a drought over the same period of time. Alot of the trees are dieing in the Rockies because it hasn't been getting cold enough to kill the bugs.

About 10 years ago we had some near-record flooding in the towns just down from the Kentucky Dam (houses under water and major roadways impassable). A lot of talk was about a 'hundred year flood' and about how you can't really plan for that combination of sudden heavy rain following a long period of steady rain. But it shouldn't be a big concern because it happens so rarely (hence the name). The last time it was anywhere near that close was before the dam was built and there was no flood control, back in the early 1900s.

In the decade since, we've almost reached that same water level three times.