Post by marchesarosa on Apr 13, 2011 8:45:20 GMT 1
Caltrans abandons weather, embraces “climate change” as the reason for washed out roads
wattsupwiththat.com/2011/04/13/caltrans-abandons-weather-embraces-climate-as-the-reason-for-washed-out-roads/
Only one small problem here, climate doesn’t wash out roads and bridges, weather does. This statement from Caltrans (below), with references to grandchildren, reads like a page from Jim Hansen’s book, Storms of my Grandchildren. I challenge Ms. Biggar to point to any event where Caltrans had to replace infrastructure and to prove that it was caused by climate change, and not weather. She writes:
They understand the impacts of climate change may include flooded tunnels, coastal highways, runways and railways, buckled highways and railroad tracks, and submerged dock facilities.
Well, sorry, I call BS on that. It’s weather by any sane definition that causes those things, and Caltrans has documented and dealt with such effects of weather in the past. For example, heavy rainfall related to El Niño driven storm systems is one of the biggest infrastructure threats Caltrans has had to deal with. Before everyone got all wonky on “climate change”, there was general agreement that El Niño drove California’s stormiest weather and rainfall, as illustrated by these 3 graphs showing El Niño/La Niño rainfall correlation from this older page at San Francisco State University: tornado.sfsu.edu/geosciences/elnino/elnino.html#Flooding
The pattern in these graphs is clear. What isn’t clear is why Caltrans suddenly thinks “climate” washes out roads. On Nov. 14, 1997, this page www.dot.ca.gov/hq/paffairs/elnino/elninofs.htm (now existing only in Google cache here) from Caltrans said:
Caltrans prepares for El Niño storm threat
And gave a list of severe weather preparations. Just three years ago, Caltrans district 7 wrote:
HIGHWAY 39: CALTRANS VS. MOTHER NATURE
www.dot.ca.gov/dist07/Publications/Inside7/story.php?id=283
In the linked article, you’ll see plenty of washed out road photos and references to weather events, but not one mention of “climate change” or “global warming” as a cause, or something that needs to be prepared for.
Pounded by rain, snow, landslides, fires and everything else Mother Nature can throw at it, the highway has been one of District 7’s biggest challenges for decades…
With the exception of fire, that’s all weather. Now, with this new Caltrans edict, it’s “climate change” the agency prepares for, and it’s ridiculous. Their move to efficiency might be helpful in reducing costs, but planning for arrival climate effects, when weather is the deliveryman, is pure folly.
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You've really gotta smile at all this jumping on the latest bandwagon.