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On Sunday morning I read more rain will fall in Colorado throughout the day. It could affect rescue efforts and further soak the land that could result in more flash floods. I decide to write. |
“It was this persistent low pressure area that helped pull the moisture out of the tropics and into Colorado. … This tropical air mass, which is more typical of the Gulf Coast than the Rocky Mountains, has been forced to move slowly up and over the Front Range by light southeasterly winds. This lifting process, known as orographic lift, allowed the atmosphere to wring out this unusually bountiful stream of moist air, dumping torrents of rain on the Boulder area for days on end.” |
Freedman finally raises the question if climate change made the Boulder flood more likely. He writes that it will take scientists months to figure that out, but “the amount by which this event has exceeded past events [including the historic 1976 Big Thompson Canyon Flood] suggests that manmade warming may have played some role by making the event worse than it would have otherwise been.” He continues, “Extreme rainfall events have become more frequent across the U.S. during the past several decades in part due to manmade global warming.” Furthermore, the draft National Climate Assessment report that was released in January notes that “increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events are projected for most U.S. areas.” |
“Greenhouse gas emissions have significantly altered global climate, and will continue to do so in the future. Increases in the frequency, duration, and/or severity of drought and heat stress associated with climate change could fundamentally alter the composition, structure, and biogeography of forests in many regions. Of particular concern are potential increases in tree mortality associated with climate induced physiological stress and interactions with other climate–mediated processes such as insect outbreaks and wildfire.” |
In his 2010 blog piece Senator Mark Udall made the connection between dead trees and the potential danger of wildfires. He wrote, “The Rocky Mountain West has been struggling for years to overcome a bark beetle infestation that has drastically altered the visual landscape of Colorado and increased the risk of wildfire.” This summer the Black Forest fire in Colorado destroyed more than 500 homes, killed two people, and was called the most destructive fire in Colorado history. Also this summer the West Fork Complex fire in southern Colorado burned more than 100,000 acres. The Climate Central reported: “The West Fork Complex fire…was sparked by a lightning strike in an area of severe drought conditions. The fire was burning through stands of beetle–killed spruce trees.” Senator Udall was correct in his assessment that dead trees do increase “the risk of wildfire.” Whether beetle killed trees should be removed from the landscape, however, is a complex ecological subject that involves the well being of non–human communities. Some ecologists argue that “wholesale modification of forest structure [by removing dead trees] over large landscapes” could be ecologically damaging.
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