2 thoughts on “2015 the warmest — where’s all the extreme weather damage?”
tadchem,
There’s another aspect you’re glossing over. The “rising populations” also means that more people (by absolute numbers) are able to take advantage of the improved technology. That, combined with replacement of existing structures, better building codes due to both more knowledge and prosperity (“building to code” is meaningless when you’re struggling to be able to put ANY roof over your head) means that our “structure stock” is steadily, albeit slowly, improving.
Now if we (here in the US, perhaps elsewhere) stop subsidizing high risk development. Yes, I am talking about the Gubmint Flood Insurance program.
There is a tug-of-war between inflated prices and increasing populations on one side, and improved engineering on the other.
Every weather disaster serves to educate builders and engineers by revealing the weaknesses in their designs. Meanwhile increasing prosperity means there are more and more people building more expensive and valuable structures in areas which happen to be vulnerable to possible disasters.
This leads to a tension between forces that would increase weather disaster losses and those that would reduce them. The weather itself is simply the random element – the ‘wild card’ – that mankind cannot control.
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tadchem,
There’s another aspect you’re glossing over. The “rising populations” also means that more people (by absolute numbers) are able to take advantage of the improved technology. That, combined with replacement of existing structures, better building codes due to both more knowledge and prosperity (“building to code” is meaningless when you’re struggling to be able to put ANY roof over your head) means that our “structure stock” is steadily, albeit slowly, improving.
Now if we (here in the US, perhaps elsewhere) stop subsidizing high risk development. Yes, I am talking about the Gubmint Flood Insurance program.
There is a tug-of-war between inflated prices and increasing populations on one side, and improved engineering on the other.
Every weather disaster serves to educate builders and engineers by revealing the weaknesses in their designs. Meanwhile increasing prosperity means there are more and more people building more expensive and valuable structures in areas which happen to be vulnerable to possible disasters.
This leads to a tension between forces that would increase weather disaster losses and those that would reduce them. The weather itself is simply the random element – the ‘wild card’ – that mankind cannot control.