Major ice storms in the United States, 1949–2000

Abstract

An extensive new database identifying ice storm losses allowed a first, definitive assessment of these storms in the US. During 1949–2000, 87 major ice storms each causing property losses >$1 million, occurred and resulting losses totaled $16.3 billion. Storm frequencies and losses were greatest in the northeast, southeast, and central US, and only 3 percent occurred in the nation's west. More freezing rain occurrences in the Deep South produce major storms than do occurrences elsewhere in the US, a result of variations in prevailing storm-producing conditions. Severe ice storms peaked in 1993–2000 when losses totaled $5.8 billion. Losses in the nation's west were infrequent but most occurred since 1982. Recent increases in ice storm losses in the faster growing areas of the nation reflect increasing societal vulnerabilityto ice storms.     

沙尘暴评估中土壤含水量概率分布模型研究 --以内蒙古中西部地区为例

根据内蒙古中部地区二连浩特,乌拉特中旗和乌海3个观测站2001年4月至2004年4月的逐时土壤含水量观测结果和相应的沙尘暴发生的实况,对沙尘暴发生时和没有沙尘暴发生时的土壤含水量,分别用正态分布、指数分布、伽马分布、瑞利分布、威布尔分布和耿贝尔分布函数进行了拟合,并根据相关系数和最小二乘法进行了拟合优度检验.结果表明,对内蒙古中部地区这3个地点而言,沙尘暴发生时的土壤含水量服从耿贝尔分布,沙尘暴不发生时的土壤含水量服从伽马分布.根据耿贝尔分布,建立了土壤含水量重现期的曲线拟合模型.     

2000年全球气象灾害评价

2000年,全球气候持续较常年偏暖。赤道中,东太平洋地区强拉尼娜事件在1月再次达到峰值后,迅速减弱,强拉尼娜事件对全球,特别是对热带地区产生了较大的影响,北半球许多地区冬季出现严寒天气,夏季又遭热浪袭击,严重的高温、干旱、森林大火困扰全球。而亚洲南部、西欧、南部非洲、南美北部的许多地区暴雨频繁。估计气象自然灾害造成全球经济损失达上千亿美元。数亿人口受灾。     

Hurricane storm surge in Volusia County,Florida: evidence of a tipping point for infrastructure damage

Storm surge often is the most destructive consequence of hurricanes and tropical storms, causing significant economic damage and loss of life. Many coastal communities that are located in high‐risk areas vis‐à‐vis hurricanes and tropical storms are prepared for moderate (between six and eight feet) storm surges. Such preparation, though, is not commensurate with more severe, but less frequent, storm surges (greater than eight feet). These gaps in preparedness have serious implications for community resilience. This paper explores elements of the vulnerability and resilience of coastal communities during major storm surge events, drawing on Volusia County, Florida, United States, as a case study. It simulates the impacts of five hurricanes (Categories I–V) and their associated storm surges on local infrastructure systems, populations, and access to resources. The results suggest that Volusia County is subject to a ‘tipping point’ , where surge damage from Category IV storms is significantly greater than that from Category III and lower hurricanes.     

A national and local media perspective on responsibility for and solutions to storm-related power outages in the northeastern United States

Major storms in the northeastern United States in 2011 and 2012 caused widespread power outages, bringing attention to the vulnerability of utility infrastructure as a result of extreme weather and environmental change. Media coverage of such focusing events provides context for and can affect government and public response. Our objective was to analyze gatekeeping, agenda setting, and framing in the New York Times (NYT) and local newspapers covering power outages related to large storm events in 2011 and 2012 (Tropical Storm Irene, October snowstorm, Hurricane Sandy). Government and utility officials focused on structural solutions to mitigate future storm impacts, whereas residents and businesses targeted individual actions. NYT interviews included residents more frequently than local newspapers, influencing coverage of impacts and solutions. Geographic differences between NYT and local newspapers’ foci may relate to coverage of solutions to and responsibility for outages. Our findings demonstrate the importance of collective action toward shared solutions.     

Normalized tornado damage in the United States: 1950–2011

In 2011, thunderstorms in the United States resulted in 550 deaths from tornadoes and more than $28 billion in property damage, according to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with the vast majority of economic losses resulting from tornadoes. This article normalizes U.S. tornado damage from 1950 to 2011, using several methods. A normalization provides an estimate of the damage that would occur if past events occurred under a common base year's societal conditions. We normalize for changes in inflation and wealth at the national level and changes in population, income and housing units at the county level. Under several methods, there has been a sharp decline in tornado damage. This decline corresponds with a decline in the reported frequency of the most intense (and thus most damaging) tornadoes since 1950. However, quantification of trends in tornado incidence is made difficult due to discontinuities in the reporting of events over time. The normalized damage results are suggestive that some part of this decline may reflect actual changes in tornado incidence, beyond changes in reporting practices. In historical context, 2011 stands out as one of the most damaging years of the past 61 years and provides an indication that maximum damage levels have the potential to increase should societal change lead to increasing exposure of wealth and property.     

近50年来中国沙尘暴变化趋势分析

综述了关于我国沙尘暴时空分布规律的研究进展,利用117个沙尘暴代表站近50年来的气象观测数据,以沙尘暴出现日数为定量指标,采用相关分析的方法,对我国沙尘暴的变化趋势进行了分析,并针对中国北方的草原区、荒漠区和农业区,进行了变化趋势分析.结果表明:近50年来,我国北方沙尘暴天气总体呈下降趋势,沙尘暴发生频率与下垫面状况有着很好的对应关系,同时,沙尘暴有着明显的年代级变化规律.     

Local government,political decentralisation and resilience to natural hazard-associated disasters

Natural hazards affect development and can cause significant and long-term suffering for those affected. Research has shown that sustained long-term disaster preparedness combined with appropriate response and recovery are needed to deliver effective risk reductions. However, as the newly agreed Sendai framework recognises, this knowledge has not been translated into action. This research aims to contribute to our understanding of how to deliver longer term and sustained risk reduction by evaluating the role of political decentralisation in disaster outcomes. Specifically, we investigate whether countries which devolve power to the local level experience reduced numbers of people affected by storms and earthquakes, and have lower economic damage. Using regression analysis and cross-country data from 1950 to 2006, we find that, in relation to both storms and earthquakes, greater transfers of political power to subnational tiers of government reduce hazard impacts on the population. The downside is that more politically decentralised countries, which are usually wealthier countries, can increase the direct economic losses associated with a natural hazard impact after the storm or earthquake than those which are more centralised. However, overall, it seems advantageous to give subnational governments more authority and autonomy in storm and earthquake risk planning.     

沙尘暴发生过程中的风速和土壤湿度变化

利用内蒙古中西部二连浩特、乌拉特中旗和乌海等3个地区2001—2004年的6小时风速风向观测资料和每小时的土壤湿度观测资料，以及同期的沙尘暴观测数据，统计研究了在沙尘暴发生季节，沙尘暴发生过程中风速与土壤湿度的关系和变化特征。结果表明，内蒙古中西部沙尘暴主要发生在春季，在这个季节，沙尘暴的发生主要受西风影响，沙尘暴发生过程中的风速达到最大，沙尘暴发生前和发生后风速变化较大，统计样本中的最大变幅达12m／s；统计样本中土壤湿度在沙尘暴发生前达到最小值，在沙尘暴发生过程中和发生后则没有明显的规律性的变化。土壤湿度是制约沙尘暴发生的较为重要的下垫面要素之一。     

Present and future economic impacts of climate extremes in the United States

Recent studies have yielded definitive information about the nation's economic impacts from extreme climates, although some sectoral values rely on educated estimates since hard data does not exist. Review of existing measures of the national impacts from weather—climate conditions reveals annual average losses of $36 billion from extremes and gains averaging $26 billion when conditions are favorable (good growing seasons, mild winters, etc.). Comparison of these values with various measures of the national economy reveals that the impacts are relatively small, typically about 1% of the Gross Domestic Product and less than 2% of the federal budget. The current impact information provides a basis for assessing various estimates of the nation's financial impacts resulting from a future climate change due to global warming. Most such estimates predict values similar to the magnitude of current climate impacts. Moreover, most economists attempting such estimates express a large degree of uncertainty about their projections.     

A SUMMING-UP REPORT ON THE MAJOR METEOROLOGICAL DISASTERS OF CHINA IN 2001

Intheyear 2 0 0 1(fromDec.2 0 0 0toNov.2 0 0 1) ,manymeteorologicaldisasters,suchasdrought,typhoon ,rainstorm ,dustdevil,hightemperatureandsnowdisasteroccurredinChina,whichcausedlossesofthenationaleconomyandendangeredpeople’slivesandproper tiestodifferentextent.Especiallythesustainingdroughtbroughtonevidentbadeffects,sothisyearwasadisaster strickenyearasforagriculturalproduction .Droughtdisasterswerees peciallyserious,suchasthespring～summerdroughtinthenorth ,thesummerdroughtinthemid～lowerr…     

沿海防潮堤坝对风暴潮危害的减灾效益研究

风暴潮是海洋灾害中对人类造成损失最为严重的类型之一,海岸带地区防潮堤坝的修建对抵御风暴潮起到重要的作用。在综述国内外风暴潮研究的基础上,提出了沿海防潮堤坝对风暴潮的减灾效益的定量研究方法。以黄河三角洲9711号特大台风风暴潮为例,利用G IS技术模拟了无防潮堤坝情况下海岸带地区的受灾面积以及经济损失,并与实际灾害损失进行对比,得出防潮堤坝减少的风暴潮灾害经济损失为25.7亿元的结果,证实了兴建防潮工程的必要性。利用费用-效益法对防潮堤坝工程进行了成本与减灾效益评估,分析了防潮堤坝修建的经济合理性。     

民勤地区大震、古地理和沙尘暴的关系

民勤地区是中国沙尘暴发生年频次最高的地区。本文讨论了干旱、地震、古湖泊和风线对民勤地区沙尘暴形成所产生的综合作用。强地震破坏了土壤颗粒的团聚性,古湖泊环境提供了沙土混杂的地表层,风线决定了沙尘暴的飞扬和运移。     

内蒙古赤峰地区沙尘暴的天气学特征

分析了1960—2003年内蒙古赤峰地区69次沙尘暴天气过程的环流形势，重点讨论了高低层系统的相互配置；根据沙尘暴的观测资料，以造成内蒙古赤峰地区沙尘暴的主要地面环流系统为依据，通过综合分析归纳，将形成沙尘暴的环流系统划分为蒙古气旋、高压前偏北大风、冷锋过境、东低西高和南高北低型等5种环流形势，供本地沙尘暴天气过程的预报参考。     

“一带一路”沿线国家台风灾害关联经济损失研究--以2018年“山竹”台风灾害为例

经济全球化背景下,各区域的产业关联强度增加,灾害链也日益复杂,对“一带一路”沿线国家及其部门带来了深远的影响。该文梳理了台风灾害损失传导机制,运用多区域投入产出模型(Multiregional Inputoutput Model,MRIO),以2018年“山竹”台风为例,量化分析“一带一路”沿线20个国家24个部门的关联损失情况。研究认为:①2018年“山竹”台风对我国各部门造成的直接损失约为142.31亿元,间接经济损失达到1272.73亿元;②“山竹”台风灾害对沿线其他国家带来的关联损失为1232.13亿元,其中受影响最严重的是菲律宾;③部门关联损失最大的是制造业,其间接损失是直接损失的60倍。     

福州市区地震灾害损失预测研究

基于福州市区地震危险性分析、地震地质灾害区划、建筑物和生命线易损性分析及防震减灾信息管理系统,本文介绍了在设定地震、历史地震、盲估地震和实时地震等4种不同地震参数输入下福州市区可能遭遇的地震灾害损失预测成果,提出了依据地面数据精度和设施类型划分的大城市地震灾害损失预测城市核心区、城乡结合部和乡村三个层次方案,并在此基础上确定了地震灾害损失的预测评估单元,即在城市核心区,地震灾害的损失评估单元可以是建筑物、居委会或区;在城乡结合部,地震灾害的损失评估以居委会或区为单元;在乡村地震灾害损失评估以乡镇和自然村为单元。根据系统模块,本文预测了8度地震烈度下福州市区地震灾害的总损失及其空间分布,其中全市区人员死亡约123人,重伤约654人,无家可归者约417100人,直接经济损失156.1亿元,并分析了地震灾害损失空间分布不均匀性的主要原因。     

Normalised insurance losses from Australian natural disasters: 1966–2017

ABSTRACT

The paper updates normalisation of the Insurance Council of Australia’s Disaster List in the light of debate about the contribution of global warming to the rising cost of natural disasters. Normalisation estimates losses from historical events in a common year, here ‘season’ 2017 defined as the 12-month period from 1 July 2017. The number and nominal cost of new residential dwellings are key normalising factors and post-1974 improvements in construction standards in tropical cyclone-prone parts of the country are explicitly allowed for. 94% of the normalised losses arise from weather-related perils – bushfires, tropical cyclones, floods and severe storms – with the 1999 Sydney hailstorm the most costly single event (AUD5.6 billion). When aggregated by season, there is no trend in normalised losses from weather-related perils; in other words, after we normalise for changes we know to have taken place, no residual signal remains to be explained by changes in the occurrence of extreme weather events, regardless of cause. In sum, the rising cost of natural disasters is being driven by where and how we chose to live and with more people living in vulnerable locations with more to lose, natural disasters remain an important problem irrespective of a warming climate.     

福建暴雨洪灾时空变化与区域划分的初步研究

根据福建省暴雨洪涝灾害数据库资料，重建了1971—2005年福建暴雨洪灾的时空格局，在此基础上，基于自然灾害系统理论，以县域为单元，根据综合性与主导因素相结合的原则，采用自下而上的方法对福建暴雨洪灾进行了区域划分。结果表明：福建洪涝灾害的年际变化呈波动上升趋势，与暴雨次数的年际变化并不一致；年内非台风暴雨洪涝灾害有71．2％集中在4—6月份，台风暴雨洪涝灾害有81.3％集中在7—9月份，群发性强；空间上东西分异明显，东部以台风暴雨洪灾为主，区内根据危险性差异划分为4个二级区；西部以非台风暴雨洪灾为主，区内依据危险性差异划分为3个二级区。分阶段研究表明，洪涝灾害的分布范围由沿海向内陆扩展，并与暴雨频次和持续时间呈不同步增长，反映了福建的洪涝灾害是主要致灾因子暴雨和承灾体共同作用的结果，承灾体的脆弱性加大了洪涝灾害灾情，福建暴雨洪涝灾害的时空格局和区域划分可为防灾减灾规划提供科学参考。     

基于灰色理论的黑龙江省暴雨洪涝特征分析及灾变预测

基于灰色理论和气象灾害普查资料对黑龙江省暴雨洪涝灾害时空分布特征进行了分析并进行了灾变预测。黑龙江省暴雨洪涝灾害主要发生在5-9月,其中7月损失最大;1990年以来暴雨次数虽然有所减少,但暴雨洪涝造成的损失却明显增加;黑龙江省暴雨洪涝灾害可划分为严重洪涝区、重洪涝区、中洪涝区和轻洪涝区,严重洪涝区位于松花江及其支流沿岸的大庆市、伊春市、齐齐哈尔市、佳木斯市和哈尔滨市。根据灰色灾变预测理论预测2013年出现严重暴雨洪涝灾害(全省农作物受灾面积≥500 000 hm2、可比经济损失≥50 000万元)的可能性最大,其次是2016年。     

Estimating the mitigation effect of Tokai earthquake measures on housing damage: a counterfactual approach

This paper evaluates the mitigation effect of Tokai earthquake measures on housing damage using a counterfactual approach. It focuses on those measures that stimulate ex‐ante investment in disaster prevention in the supposedly affected area, including earthquake‐proof retrofitting and improved housing construction; the effect of the measures on housing losses is estimated monetarily. The study compares factual disaster damage computed using a real distribution of houses with counterfactual damage to a hypothetical housing distribution that would occur if the measures were not implemented. The key findings are: (i) the disaster mitigation effects of Tokai earthquake measures on housing amount to approximately JPY 18 billion (USD 0.18 billion) for Yamanashi Prefecture and JPY 0.26 trillion (USD 2.6 billion) for Shizuoka Prefecture, which would be at the centre of the event; (ii) a before–after comparison biases estimates of the mitigation effect; and (iii) statistically, the measures do not mitigate the housing damage predicted for an earthquake in Tokai.