Climate Change Committee Meeting

Climate Change Committee Meeting

Join us on Zoom! https://zoom.us/j/5133069449

In-person events have been cancelled for all Sierra Club activities through February 2021. Dang.
You can also join our Zoom video conference here: https://zoom.us/j/5133069449 .

6:30-7:15 or 7:30 - Catastrophic floods and temporal increases in catastrophic floods in Central Texas:
By: Raymond Slade, Adjunct Professor of Austin Community College,
Certified Professional Hydrologist, American Institute of Hydrology, Hydrogeologist with Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center at Texas State University, Hydrologist with U.S. Geological Survey
ResearchGate Publication Bibliography - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Raymond_Slade

Central Texas often leads the nation in drowning deaths and flood-damage costs—more than 300,000 people reside within the 100-year floodplain in the five-county IH-35 corridor from Williamson to Bexar County. The area is characterized by fast-developing intense storms, some of which have produced world-record rainfall depths. Also, geographic characteristics such as thin soils and steep land slopes contribute substantially to the flooding. However, perhaps the most substantial flooding threat is from easterly moving storms which often follow basin orientation—such storms can overlie and move with channel flooding thus causing immense increases in downstream flood peaks.
Additionally, climate change likely is increasing the flooding threat. For example, trend analyses of data for all long-term NOAA rainfall gages in Central Texas indicate temporal increases in annual-maximum 6-hour storm depths and in annual-maximum 2-day depths during the past 60 years. For example, 23 of the 31 two-day storm depths exceeding 10 inches since 1950 in Central Texas occurred during the second half of that time period. Additionally, analysis of data for all 15 long-term streamflow gages in the area document annual-peak discharges to have increased by a mean value of 72 percent during the past 60 years--the 16 largest gaged peaks occurred in the second half of the period. Finally, based on the trend analyses, the flooding threat in Central Texas is expected to increase even more in the future.

7:15-8:00 Climate Change Committee Meeting - Discuss Action Teams and allow people to sign up to continue the work to stop climate change, an imperative if we want our current civilization to survive. We’ve formed Action Teams on Austin Energy, the Permian Pipeline, Rio Grande Valley Support, Carbon Fee & Dividend, People Power, Data Entry, and Presentations and more. We have identified additional action teams we’d like to form, including Transportation, Climate Justice, Partner Organizations, School Education, and Social Media. Whether you have only minutes a month or hours a day, join us to build a mass movement to stop climate change. Or join another group fighting this vital cause.