Government Security News August Digital Edition

Climate Change – This is what it’s going to look like!
A dispatch from Baton Rouge from George Lane,
GSN Columnist
Thu, 2016-08-18 03:00 AM
My son was evacuated Saturday
night by boat in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The National Weather Service
(NWS) said this was a one in 500
years flood; however, there have
been 8 one in 500 year floods in this
year alone, including one in Louisiana
in March. This is what climate
change will look in Louisiana. Here
is why the disastrous flooding occurred;
1.) “Inland Tropical Depression”:
Flooding in Louisiana was fueled
by a system somewhat similar to an
inland tropical depression. Parts of
Louisiana saw more rain than some
U.S. cities have seen in the last few
years combined. Deep, tropical
moisture in combination with low
pressure near the earth’s surface and
aloft were the main ingredients that
fueled the serious flooding in Louisiana.
Simultaneously the Jet stream
dipped into North Louisiana, providing
a blocking force that kept the
tropical storm over South Louisiana.
On Friday morning, NOAA’s
Weather Prediction Center said:
“The best description of this system
is that of an inland sheared tropical
20
depression.”
The rainfall it
produced was
very similar
to what one
would expect
from a
George Lane
slow-moving tropical depression or
storm since rainfall potential is related
to the forward speed of those
types of systems. A weather forecast
discussion from the National
Weather Service in New Orleans
Friday morning said that the moisture
content in the atmosphere was
higher than what has been observed
there during some tropical cyclones.
It was an all-time record for the area.
When that much moisture is
available in the atmosphere, thunderstorms
can produce excessive
rainfall of several inches in a single
hour, leading to astronomical totals
over time. While no one likely forecast
24+ inches of rain in southeast
Louisiana, this is the type of thing
that can happen on a very localized
scale in situations like this one.
2.) River Records Shattered by 4 to
6+ Feet: At least 8 river gauges have
set new record highs in southeast