We've all seen the photographs of the dramatically reduced Alpine glaciers and the polar bears trudging through puddles. But when will each of us have our first direct experience of global warming? The weather in the United States has been haywire all summer. My father and stepmother own a cottage on the Wisconsin-Michigan border, and it's been so dry up there that there's an extra ten feet of beach surrounding the lake. The water is so low it's not safe to take a boat out. A co-worker who lives in drought-ridden North Carolina can't leave so much as a drop of water on her kitchen or it will be swarmed upon by thirsty ants.
Last Thursday afternoon storms blew through the Chicago area, bringing 80 MPH winds and torrential rains. The hardest hit area was Wilmette, IL, where I live. Our basement flooded, a large tree branch crashed into our house, and we were without power for three days. We still don't have cable TV or broadband. Most businesses in the area were closed because of lack of power. The whole town was a disaster area. The parkways are piled high with tree branches--and often entire trees--along with the entire contents of people's basements. We have a neighbor who's lived in his house for over 50 years and he says he's never seen anything like it. Supposedly, Wilmette made the national news, but we've been in a complete news blackout for days.
I'll try to get back to regular posting as soon as I get things straightened out around here. I don't know, however, if this was a once-every-fifty-years event or if we should be preparing for similar extreme weather to strike every summer. I don't know if there is any way to prepare.
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