Franke sent me a link to this very cool interactive map that allows you to play with various climate change scenarios for the Province of Ontario. This is very relevant to me as Rochester is essentially a part of the same climate.

In the last two days:

Climate changing Chesapeake Bay
French Alps Ski Resorts closes after 40 years
Indian Glaciers retreat- source of water for hundreds of millions
500 page study funded by energy industry sees 50% increase in energy use by 2032, calls for huge efficiency gains

The Toronto Star notices a footnote to the IPCC report that states that it did not take into account recent observations of the movement of fresh water in polar ice. Now a team led by James Hansen, NASA’s head of climate policy, says there is a strong indication that their could be a non-linear response to warming that could trigger precipitously high ocean levels in decades rather than centuries. This response, should it occur, would be beyond our ability to do anything about it. Similar events have taken place in very short periods many times over the past 400,000 years according to ice core samples.
The only way we have of possibly holding off this possibility is to hold total increases in temperature rise to 1 degree centigrade over the next 100 years- this will not happen in today’s political climate.

Tighten your seat belts- it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

The long term outlook for waterfront cities in the Northeast ain’t good- that’s the gist of this science story. Besides major flooding issues in Boston and Atlantic City, New York will see catastrophic floods every ten years.
Northeastern ski resorts are already completely reliant on snowmaking technology which has increased the minimum temperature required for making snow in response to average temperature increases. Even an incremental increase in average temps can mean a lot less snow since the majority of natural snowfall occurs just below freezing because humidity is typically higher than at lower temperatures. This is not the case in western resorts where altitude is a major factor.
Europe is becoming the largest buyer of snowmaking equipment as snowfall zones move up the mountains, often stranding lower altitude lifts in the process.
The article notes that an increase in fuel efficiency requirements to 35 MPG would save US consumers $65 billion annually while significantly reducing carbon emissions.

BTW, Washington, DC is probably the city in the worst position should a major storm hit. It lies near sea level in what was an estuary of the Chesapeake. Last year the Mall was flooded. This will happen more frequently, hopefully reminding the politicians that this global warming stuff is real.