Tag Archives: climate change

It could have been worse

Posted on September 15, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Just something to ponder, from Space City Weather. First of all, if you can remember all the way back to Saturday, I presented three different scenarios for Nicholas’ track and eventual flooding in Houston. The first of these was the … Continue reading →

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Another catastrophe averted, for us

Posted on September 9, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Sooner or later our luck is going to run out. If Hurricane Ida had veered west and hit Galveston, its 15-foot storm surge could have devastated the city and plowed up the Houston Ship Channel, smashing into residential communities and … Continue reading →

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Here come those electric buses

Posted on August 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Here comes the commitment to buy them, anyway. Local transit officials no longer are blowing hot air about the emissions coming out of Metro buses. Board members Thursday approved a plan for all new Metropolitan Transit Authority buses to produce … Continue reading →

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It’s the quick intensification of the hurricanes for me

Posted on August 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

New things to keep you up at night. It’s a nightmare scenario that keeps forecasters up at night: A tropical cyclone strengthens quickly over a 24-hour period. It happened last year close to home with Hurricane Laura, which evolved from Category 1 … Continue reading →

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Metro seeks electric buses

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Proof of concept for now and contingent on a competitive federal grant, but hopefully the start of something bigger. Transit officials in the self-proclaimed energy capital of the world are recharging their attempts to wean Metro off fossil fuels. Metropolitan … Continue reading →

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There sure were a lot of named storms this year

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Thirty of them, in fact. The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season had a record 30 named storms. Twelve made landfall in the continental U.S., including five in Louisiana. Hurricane season ends Nov. 30 (that’s next week, so fingers crossed there isn’t … Continue reading →

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Houston’s hottest neighborhoods

Posted on September 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

That’s temperature hot, not realtor hot. This summer, Houston joins 13 other cities in a massive, community-driven, heat mapping project. More than 80 volunteers like Powers and her son, dubbed “street scientists” by the organizing groups, covered roughly 300 square … Continue reading →

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When Houston is more like Austin

Posted on August 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

In a climate sense. Which is to say, drier because of climate change. A new study predicts that Texas’ climate is going to get drastically drier because of climate change. The journal Earth’s Future recently published the study looking at … Continue reading →

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More like Ike than Harvey

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Not sure this is a choice I want to have to make, but here we are. Hurricanes are expected to blow through Texas more quickly during the last 25 years of this century. A study led by Rice University researcher … Continue reading →

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Houston’s Climate Action Plan

Posted on May 3, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

We have one, with goals for 2050. Houston’s first Climate Action Plan calls on the city’s 4,600 energy companies to lead the transition to renewable sources, while residents are asked to swap car rides for mass transit and work to … Continue reading →

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Resilient Houston

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s good to have a plan. No traffic deaths on Houston streets, 4.6 million new trees, and no more homes in the floodway. All by 2030. Those are some of the lofty goals set in the master resiliency plan, “Resilient … Continue reading →

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A little national press for the Railroad Commissioner race

Posted on February 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Bloomberg News notes that the Texas Railroad Commission could have a significant effect on climate change, if it wanted to. Booming oil and gas production across the Permian Basin of West Texas has made this little-known regulator, with three voting … Continue reading →

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Sea levels rise, property values drop

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Cool, cool, cool. Sea level rise has cost Texas homeowners $76.4 million in potential property value, with Galveston hit the hardest, a new study released Tuesday found. First Street Foundation and Columbia University analysts examined about 3 million coastal properties … Continue reading →

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Climate change and hurricanes

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We’re living it now. A group of top hurricane experts, including several federal researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, published striking new research Thursday, suggesting that hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean have grown considerably worse and that climate … Continue reading →

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El Nino 2018

Posted on December 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Here it comes. Houstonians can expect more rain than usual — and possibly street flooding — this winter, thanks to El Niño. The National Weather Service forecasts an 80 percent chance for a weak to moderate El Niño this winter, … Continue reading →

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Look out for lionfish

Posted on December 2, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Hey, it’s another destructive invasive species, aided and abetted by climate change. Scientists battling coral reef deaths caused by warming ocean waters 100 miles off the coast of Galveston might now have another climate change problem to fight in coming … Continue reading →

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Typhus in Galveston

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

An infectious disease update for you. Typhus fever, a disease carried by fleas and once thought to be eradicated, is rearing its head in Galveston County, county health officials said on Monday. The Galveston County Health District reported that 18 … Continue reading →

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Rio Seco

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is not good. Mario Rosales, who farms 365 acres along the Rio Grande, knows the river is in bad shape this year. It has already dried to a dusty ribbon of sand in some parts, and most of the … Continue reading →

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From Harvey to drought

Posted on February 1, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. The Texas Panhandle has become ground zero in a drought that has crept into much of the state just five months after Hurricane Harvey — including areas that suffered massive flooding during the … Continue reading →

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The climate change effect on storms like Harvey

Posted on December 19, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

More likely and more extreme is the tl;dr version of this. The research presented Wednesday began soon after Harvey dumped feet of rain on the Houston area. World Weather Attribution — an international effort to analyze the potential influence of … Continue reading →

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Thunderstorms are going to get worse

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Just FYI. Summer thunderstorms in North America will likely be larger, wetter and more frequent in a warmer world, dumping 80 percent more rain in some areas and worsening flooding, a new study says. Future storms will also be wilder, … Continue reading →

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The 100-year-storm isn’t what it used to be

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

They’re bigger. More than three months after Hurricane Harvey battered southeast Texas with unprecedented and costly flooding, an analysis of rainfall trends across Texas suggests the standards used to develop floodplain regulations, map flood zones and design flood control projects … Continue reading →

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More Harveys

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Thanks, climate change. The extreme rains that inundated the Houston area during Hurricane Harvey were made more likely by climate change, a new study suggests, adding that such extreme flooding events will only become more frequent as the globe continues … Continue reading →

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Lamar Smith to retire

Posted on November 3, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Good riddance. U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio said Tuesday he is retiring from Congress. “For several reasons, this seems like a good time to pass on the privilege of representing the 21st District to someone else,” he wrote in … Continue reading →

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Another national publication looks at CD07

Posted on August 27, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Mother Jones, come on down. In addition to [Laura] Moser, the top competitors for the March primary are first-time candidates with stories that fit the political moment in different ways. Lizzie Fletcher, a well-connected lawyer at a large downtown firm, … Continue reading →

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Texas’ climate change future

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Gonna be awesome. The Texas economy could face some of the costliest consequences of climate change as temperatures continue to increase over the next several decades, according to a new study. In the study published last week in the journal … Continue reading →

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Mayors (still) against climate change

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Someone’s gotta do it. On Thursday, President Donald Trump officially announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, citing the deal’s failure “to serve American interests.” Hours later, governors, mayors, and environmental groups all had … Continue reading →

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California is the new Texas

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Or will be, as far as litigating against the federal government goes. Gov. Jerry Brown has tabbed Rep. Xavier Becerra to serve as California’s interim attorney general, selecting the Los Angeles Democrat to fill a vacancy opened by the imminent … Continue reading →

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Climate change will not be kind to Houston

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It could be even worse, if that’s any consolation, but it will be bad as things are going now. Houston’s brutally hot summers, persistent humidity, floods and hurricanes never have been much of a selling point. It’s been something to … Continue reading →

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We’re going to get more big rain storms

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Better get used to it. The weather is getting worse, says one expert. Torrential rains fall in the Houston area more often than they used to, according to an unpublished analysis from state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon. Heavy precipitation of any … Continue reading →

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New methane rules finalized

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Gentlemen, start your lawyers. The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued its final rule for methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. The rule limits methane emissions from new oil and gas infrastructure and requires operators to submit to … Continue reading →

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Find those leaks

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t care how. A pair of state and federal government inspectors spent two weeks traveling around northern Colorado’s oil and gas fields in early 2012, filming with an infrared camera. Air pollution was rising in the region, and attention … Continue reading →

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New EPA rules for methane coming

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

You know what will follow. Building on already pending rules to cut methane leaks from both new oil and gas wells and those on federal lands, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now plans to bring to the oil sector the … Continue reading →

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Storm protection is expensive

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

But then so would be getting hit by a truly bad storm. Building a storm surge protection system along the Texas Gulf Coast could cost between $7.9 billion and $11 billion, and likely would not be completed for about two … Continue reading →

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