Citizen Power

If you think about it seriously you can often find a connection between unusual weather events and climate change.  That’s true of flooding this year already.  President Obama has declared a State of Emergency in Fargo, ND.   The Red River in the area is expected to crest at 43 feet this weekend, which will be a disaster for homes and businesses on this flood plain.  Right now, the flood waters are at over 40-1/2 feet .  Volunteers from across the Midwest are fighting against time to fill sandbags and implement flood relief measures.   Obama recently suggested that the flooding currently happening in Fargo is connected to climate change and that this flood should help raise everyone’s awareness of it.  He may be right.  Flooding to this degree, and it seems to get worse every year, is not how things have always been  in Fargo.

This page from North Dakota State University shows past flood photos.  It seems there have been Red River floods in the past but not as frequently as now (which is almost every year).  There were big floods in 1969, 1975, 1984, 1989, 1995, 1997, and then in 2001, 2006, and 2009.  Some of the flooding is being blamed on blizzards this year.  When I lived in Moorhead there were blizzards every year, but no major floods. In fact, the photo here is of Moorhead, only a couple of days ago.

But the floods in Fargo are probably doing a lot more in the U.S. to raise awareness of winter and bad weather, because no scientists are really coming out in the media to show cause and effect of rapid melting in the spring, or what might be causing this flooding.  I have noticed rapid melting gradually in the last 5-6 years, because I live in central Minnesota.  For the last 3 springs my unattached garage and much of my backyard has flooded.  My garage in particular has filled with more than an inch of water from melting snow.  This started happening a few years ago, no matter how much snow we have had.

Spring use to come gradually to Minnesota, but now it comes suddenly.  One week it’s below freezing, the next we have a string of days in the 40s and 50s.  This may be  caused by solar flares, (according to my crazy Congresswoman ) but I really doubt it.  (That last comment was sarcasm, in case you missed it).

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