Gov. Henry McMaster ordered evacuations along South Carolina’s entire 187-mile coastline starting at noon Tuesday, saying residents and tourists must get out of Hurricane Florence’s potentially devastating path.
The evacuations will cover some areas inland prone to flooding, including Berkeley County and parts of Dorchester County.
The eastbound lanes of Interstate 26 heading into Charleston and U.S. 501 into Myrtle Beach will be reversed when the order takes effect, opening all lanes to evacuees. A decision on lane reversals in Beaufort County will be made on Tuesday, McMaster said.
Schools and state offices in 26 counties as far inland as Lexington in the Midlands will be closed as of Tuesday, enabling schools to serve as emergency shelters and making school buses available for evacuations.
“People, we need to prepare,” McMaster said during a briefing at the state’s emergency management center in West Columbia. “This one is particularly big, particularly strong. … We don’t want to gamble with a single South Carolina life.”
Most of South Carolina’s coast remains in Florence’s cone of uncertainty, raising the possibility of the state’s first major hurricane strike in nearly three decades.
By midday Monday, the hurricane blew winds near 130 mph, reaching Category 4 strength capable of devastating damage. Forecasters expect Florence to make landfall somewhere near Wilmington, N.C., before sunrise on Friday with winds as strong as 120 mph.
Florence will cross an area of anomalously warm ocean water.Models continue to show storm stalling with massive rains.Carolinas still remain a target in models.
Some lawmakers will go to great lengths to deny the reality of climate change. But this week, North Carolina lawmakers reached new heights of denial, proposing a new law that would require estimates of sea level rise to be based only on historical data—not on all the evidence that demonstrates that the seas are rising much faster now thanks to global warming.
The sea level along the coast of North Carolina is expected to rise about a meter by the end of the century. But business interests in the state are worried that grim projections that account for climate-induced sea level rise will make it harder for them to develop along the coast line. So policymakers in the state plan to deal with that issue by writing a law requiring inaccurate projections. No joke, here’s what the measure says:
These rates shall only be determined using historical data, and these data shall be limited to the time period following the year 1900. Rates of seas-level rise may be extrapolated linearly …
I’ll stop here, because Scientific American‘s Scott Huler, a North Carolina resident, has an epic rant about this that can’t be outdone:
It goes on, but there’s the core: North Carolina legislators have decided that the way to make exponential increases in sea level rise – caused by those inconvenient feedback loops we keep hearing about from scientists – go away is to make it against the law to extrapolate exponential; we can only extrapolate along a line predicted by previous sea level rises.
Which, yes, is exactly like saying, do not predict tomorrow’s weather based on radar images of a hurricane swirling offshore, moving west towards us with 60-mph winds and ten inches of rain. Predict the weather based on the last two weeks of fair weather with gentle breezes towards the east. Don’t use radar and barometers; use the Farmer’s Almanac and what grandpa remembers.
It’s not clear when or if this is going to be voted on, but if it passes, the state would continue to develop along the coastline without paying any attention to where the sea will be in 50 or 90 years. Willful ignorance, thy name is North Carolina.
Despite intense media scrutiny around Tesla’s Model 3 “production hell” ramp, and Elon Musk’s take-Tesla-private drama, Tesla now has the #1 best selling car in the US. You may think that was a typo, but read on.
Tesla has finally executed on its vision of bringing a truly mass market car to the US, with solid results in July and August pointing to a record third quarter. In August, Tesla’s Model 3 became a top 5 best selling car in the US by units, behind popular cars from Toyota and Honda that start at less than $25,000, compared to Tesla’s current starting price of $49,000. (Note: The car category does not include SUVs and trucks.)
lthough Tesla did not exceed other gasoline cars in terms of unit sales, it was by far the best selling electric vehicle, taking nearly 50% market share of all electric vehicles, according to InsideEVs estimates, and the Model S and X took another 15%.
Because of Tesla’s high starting price and compelling options, which are also expensive, Tesla’s average selling price for the Model 3 surged past $55,759 according to Twitter user Troy Teslike, who polls people who order Model 3s and publishes a variety of resulting statistics.
The high average selling price of the Model 3 and the record deliveries have resulted in Tesla’s Model 3 being the #1 best-selling car in the US by revenue in both July and August.
In August, sales of EVs (electric vehicles) and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) rose 120% over sales in August 2017. Most of the jump is due to the Model 3. Without Model 3 sales, total EV/PHEV sales would be up just 12.5% on last year. In fact, 63% of August EV sales were from the three Tesla models. In August, the Tesla Model 3 was the 5th biggest seller of ALL US cars, behind only the Toyota Camry, the Honda Civic, the Honda Accord and the Toyota Corolla Family. Let that penetrate for a minute. An electric car, from an upstart manufacturer, is the 5th bestselling car in the US. And it doesn’t even advertise. And you have to wait months for it to be delivered. And the MSM has been spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about whether Tesla will survive, whether it’s profitable, oh, and why doesn’t Musk just give up?
I repeat: a car from a supposedly bankrupt company, with a months-long waiting list, with a new technology, and not cheap, is the 5th best selling car in America. This must be giving legacy car manufacturers the heeby-jeebies. What will happen when Tesla introduces the base Model 3, costing $35,000? What will happen when Tesla expands its production lines, again? What will happen when proud new owners give friends and family test drives in their new, beaut Model 3? How long before the Model 3 is the best-selling car in America? Will you still be buying oil stocks? Will you still be holding legacy car company stocks? Continue reading “Tesla Model 3 Sales Soar”
Hurricane Florence strengthening now, and expected to make landfall as a major Cat 3-4 hurricane.
Emergency declarations in several states along east coast.
Very concerning indications in some models that Florence could stall over coastal areas, similar to how Hurricane Harvey lingered over Houston last year. Potential for massive rain event, making the video above all the more relevant.
Scientists tracked moisture from hot ocean, thru Harvey, onto mainland, – good discussion of climate impacts on storms.
The BBC has accepted it gets coverage of climate change “wrong too often” and told staff: “You do not need a ‘denier’ to balance the debate.”
In a briefing note sent to all staff warning them to be aware of false balance, the corporation has offered a training course on how to report on global warming. The move follows a series of apologies and censures for failing to challenge climate sceptics during interviews, including Nigel Lawson.
The briefing note, obtained by the website Carbon Brief, was sent on Thursday by Fran Unsworth, the BBC’s director of news and current affairs. It includes a statement of BBC editorial policy that begins: “Climate change has been a difficult subject for the BBC, and we get coverage of it wrong too often.”
It then states: “Manmade climate change exists: If the science proves it we should report it.” In the section warning on false balance it says: “To achieve impartiality, you do not need to include outright deniers of climate change in BBC coverage, in the same way you would not have someone denying that Manchester United won 2-0 last Saturday. The referee has spoken.”
The Today programme was also censured by the BBC complaints unit for an interview with Lawson in February 2014 and has been criticised for failing to implement fully the findings of the BBC Trust’s 2011 review into the “accuracy of the BBC’s coverage of science”.
The four-page briefing note sent by Unsworth starts with a blunt statement on the science: “Climate change IS happening.” It also covers the implications of global warming: “There is a general consensus that it could be devastating in many different ways.” It ends with “common misconceptions” used to deny manmade warming, including that “not all scientists think manmade climate change is real” and “climate change has happened before”.
The briefing note does not completely rule out including climate sceptics in BBC coverage: “There are occasions where contrarians and sceptics should be included. These may include, for instance, debating the speed and intensity of what will happen in the future, or what policies government should adopt.”
But it adds: “Journalists need to be aware of the guest’s viewpoint and how to challenge it effectively. As with all topics, we must make clear to the audience which organisation the speaker represents, potentially how that group is funded and whether they are speaking with authority from a scientific perspective.” Lawson’s Global Warming Policy Foundation does not disclose its source of funding.
Hurricane Florence may have been downgraded to a tropical storm, but experts are predicting that it will get its second wind over the weekend.
And that could spell trouble for the East Coast next week.
Experts are predicting that Florence could restrengthen to a potential Category 3 hurricane by Monday, and new models show the odds have increased that the storm could potentially slam into the United States between Florida and Southern New England.
“At this point, there are several possibilities for the track and intensity for Florence,” said NBC News meteorologist Sherri Pugh.
“We’re continuing to monitor the forecast to see how potentially weak or strong Florence will be and whether there is the possibility of landfall.”
In the worst case scenarios, Florence could hit the East Coast middle to late next week, Pugh said.
Some models, though, predict the storm could make an early turn north and leave the East Coast with little more than high tides and rip currents.
If the NHC forecast is right, #Florence will be in notorious company early next week as one of the most powerful hurricanes to target this stretch of Southeast coastline in generations.
