HURRICANES - Performance by FEMA, Trump on Puerto Rico, Climate Change

"How prepared is FEMA for Hurricane Florence?" PBS NewsHour 9/12/2018

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SUMMARY:  President Trump has said the federal government in "totally prepared" for Hurricane Florence, but the federal reaction to Hurricanes Harvey and Maria last year have raised questions about the nation’s disaster response.  Judy Woodruff talks with former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate and Chris Currie, a Director of the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

"Flying into hurricanes, scientists search for more certainty" PBS NewsHour 9/12/2018

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SUMMARY:  How do meteorologists and scientists make predictions about the power and trajectory of a hurricane?  Buckle up.  Science correspondent Miles O’Brien joins a crew of scientists who fly right into the eye of Hurricane Florence.

"Trump disputes Puerto Rico’s hurricane death toll.  Here’s how they are calculated" PBS NewsHour 9/13/2018

aka "Anything That Makes Me Look Bad is 'Fake News'"

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SUMMARY:  In the months since Hurricane Maria, studies estimating the death toll in Puerto Rico have far exceeded the government's initial figure.  But President Trump is denying a conclusion that nearly 3,000 people died as a result of the storm, and defending the government's response.  John Yang talks with Philip Bump from the Washington Post.

"How climate change is ‘loading the dice’ for more perilous hurricanes" PBS NewsHour 9/14/2018

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SUMMARY:  As Hurricane Florence was closing in on the Carolina coast this week, the role of climate change in intensifying weather was back in the national conversation.  Amna Nawaz talks with Radley Horton of Columbia University about the link between climate change and sea level rise and rising temperatures.

WEATHER - Ice Booms

"Mysterious 'ice booms' across North America linked to wet, cold weather" RT News 1/26/2015

Cold booms?  Frost quakes?  A winter-time meteorological phenomenon has scientists debating whether blasts heard across North America are, indeed, cryoseisms.  Most agree that the loud, inexplicable booms are associated with cold, rainy conditions.

These ice booms have rattled houses in Georgia, caused the earth to shake in Montreal, and led law enforcement from several Oklahoma counties on an unfruitful search to locate the ruckus.

"It was this very loud boom that happened all of a sudden," Marjorie in Idaho, who asked that her last name be withheld, told RT.  "My son and I went to look to see where it came from. It sounded like a door slamming very hard or something big falling down on the patio. But we couldn’t find anything.  We watched the news later to see if anyone knew what it was, but no one did.”

“It was so loud the house shook.  My kids ran in yelling, ‘what was that mommy?’”  Tracy Walker, of Kennesaw County, Georgia, told WAGA.

Residents in these areas thought the booms could be fireworks, gun shots, or blown transformers.  But meteorologists have offered a less threatening, more fascinating explanation.