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General Security and Resilience

Severe Tornado Outbreaks Already Appearing in the First Month of 2023

The Washington Post has posted an article detailing the unusual outbreak of tornados and thunderstorms observed in January 2023, despite such activity not being expected until March or April. As of January 18th, the National Weather Service has already received 124 preliminary tornado reports (compared to January’s national average of 34 tornados). Furthermore, Iowa experienced its first January tornados since 1967, potentially the furthest northwest tornados ever observed during January.

Enabling NATO’s Collective Defense: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resiliency Report

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in collaboration with the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute published a comprehensive handbook on key aspects of critical infrastructure security and resilience shared by all NATO allies. The report, Enabling NATO’s Collective Defense: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resiliency, offers a conceptual framework of baseline knowledge so critical infrastructure owners and operators in all NATO countries share a common understanding of the threat environment and means for enhancing resilience.  

Combining Machine Learning and Flood Modeling to Enhance Local Flood Awareness

The Conversation has posted an article discussing the challenges and benefits of developing a machine learning-based method to create street-by-street flood hazard models. This model would be extremely beneficial to local emergency managers and civilians operating during a flood by informing them of which roads are too dangerous to use. However, rainwater prediction programs require high levels of processing power and accuracy in precipitation forecasts is difficult.

Resumption of El Nino in 2023 Has Potential to Create Unprecedented Heatwaves, Hottest Year on Record

The Guardian has written an article covering predictions by multiple climate scientists that unprecedented heatwaves will likely occur in 2023 due to the resumption of the El Nino climate pattern, which creates conditions for higher temperatures across the globe. While 2022 is officially the fifth warmest year on record, 2023 is already forecast to be hotter in comparison.

Critical Infrastructure Impacts from Atmospheric River in California, Where another Episode is Expected this Week (Updated January 17, 2023)

January 17, 2023

Forecasters believe the weather system fueled by atmospheric rivers that has brought heavy rain and flooding to California the past few weeks is finally easing. In the meantime, a ninth atmospheric river impacted the state over the weekend and another is expected to hit midweek, although it is expected to be relatively mild.

2022 the Third Most Expensive Year on Record for Disaster Damages/Costs

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a report analyzing all weather and climate disasters costing a billion dollars or more that the U.S. has suffered since 1980. The total number of these events is 341 and their gross economic cost exceeds 2.5 trillion dollars. In 2022 alone, there were 18 billion-dollar events, including “1 drought event, 1 flooding event, 11 severe storm events, 3 tropical cyclone events, 1 wildfire event, and 1 winter storm event.

Yale Climate Connections Releases Climate Predictions for 2023

Yale Climate Connections has posted a blog containing climate-related predictions for the year 2023. Due to the predicted subsiding of the current La Nina, which tends to cool global temperatures, 2023 is expected to be one of the hottest years on record as neutral conditions return to the Pacific Ocean, with an El Nino event potentially beginning in the latter half of the year. On the climate policy side, the Russian war with Ukraine has seen many countries beginning to reduce their reliance on fuel and increase their reliance on solar panels and wind turbines.

New Mitigation and Climate Action Planning Resource Available from the American Planning Association

With support from FEMA’s Cooperating Technical Partners program, the American Planning Association (APA) produced a mitigation and climate action planning resource guide to assist community stakeholders with risk-based mitigation planning to reduce or eliminate risks to life and property from natural hazards.

AMS Releases Eleventh Edition of the Report Explaining Extreme Events from a Climate Perspective

The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has released the 11th edition of Explaining Extreme Events from a Climate Perspective, a collection of peer-reviewed analyses discussing how climate change has “affected the strength and likelihood of individual extreme events.” These papers represent an international spread of researchers, including from the U.S., U.K., South Korea, and China.

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