First, to answer O44′s point about a 2 degree increase…. it would in all likelihood help the area. One of the issues is that the Red River of the North flows north. As the water struggles to flow to the north, it’s increasingly likely to be slowed by ice. We see this as local officials put a lot resources before the flooding into blowing up ice jams. Back in 97 when I was living in Grand Forks, they nearly avoided the problem as before the flooding they were out sanding the ice. This helped it melt and break up.

Not only would a warmer weather in the area help melt the ice, but it would be more likely that what precipitation falls during the winter will melt and disperse more often. For example, on average Denver gets @20″ more snow in a winter than Fargo receives. Yet flooding is rarely an issue in Denver. There’s more to it but it gives you an idea.

It’s also idiotic because a man in his position should have a decent, high level picture of the situation. He should know there have been plenty of major floods in this area. IIRC there were major floods in 1950, 1952, 1957 and 1966. In fact, the 1950 did a $100m in damage which I believe would be more than the $800m from the 1997 flood if adjusted to inflation adjusted dollars. But it’s not just a consistant pattern of this sort of flooding while us whities were around. There’s a lot of speculation that flooding’s been much worse than what we’ve experienced. It’s just that we haven’t had a bunch of white europeans around to record it. More on that below from the news.

It’s also idiotic because it’s clear that man kind has made enormous changes to the environment in that area since WWII. This is a major farming area where during the last 50-60 years, all sorts of lowlands have been drained, bigger and deeper ditches have been dug (it means more water going to the rivers quickly), all sorts of fields have been tiled, etc. This of course has happened for a variety of reasons from the huge supports sugar gets (this is a major sugar beat area) to just having to add more tiling or dig bigger ditches cuz the fields don’t seem to drain like they used to cuz the neighbors field was tiled and it’s water is draining more quickly into your ditches and field. And really for someone who’s familiar with the environment and on the left, the idea that giant corporate farming would cause this sort of thing shouldn’t be too crazy. That is, that much of the problem of what we’re seeing isn’t because the amount of water’s any different but that man has altered the landscape, much of it in the last 30 years, to cause it to flood more because water isn’t holding up the way it used. it’s just getting quickly funneled right at the Red river.

And of course, the biggest reason why it’s so stupid to blame global warming is that we have every reason to expect this area to incur this sort of flooding all the time. Even without record snow falls, ice jams or man made issues. In terms of geology this is practically a newborn when it comes to being a river.

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/237121/

The Red River throws a lot of temper tantrums, and with a good excuse: Compared with most rivers, it’s just a toddler.

As Schwert points out, the Red River Valley is the youngest major land surface in the contiguous United States. It was exposed when glacial Lake Agassiz finished draining about 9,200 years ago, whereas most U.S. rivers are millions of years old.

“This is not a normal river setting,” he said.

The Red has several factors that make it prone to spring flooding.

A normal river occupies a channel with a floodplain on the sides and valley walls immediately adjacent to the floodplain.

The Red occupies a channel in a flat lakebed, and the nearest valley walls are miles away, allowing its floodwaters to move “as shallow sheets that meet with other shallow sheets,” Schwert said.

Unlike most U.S. rivers, the Red flows north. Spring thaw starts in the southern valley before the northern valley, causing ice jams, backwater flow and floods.

The river also slopes like a bowling lane – so gradual it’s almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

From Wahpeton, N.D., to the mouth of Lake Winnipeg, the snaking 545-mile-long river drops only 229 feet in elevation, an average of less than 6 inches per mile, according to the water institute.

That gives the river a tendency to pool, spilling out as a shallow lake 50 to 60 miles wide at times, as it did in 1997, Schwert said.

“Global Warming” – what a joke – http://www.chuckypita.com/global-warming-is-a-scam-glenn-beck-talks-global-warming-with-weather-channel-founder-john-coleman/

Don’t think for a moment that this wasn’t the intended result. Obama knows he’d never get Congressional approval for straight-up funding of these groups.

Banana, as in republic.

say what you will about obama, but he understands the power of bureaucracy and legal precedent.

we are going to see a lot more of this.

the potential for damage to a society that already spends over 2% of GDP annually on tort settlement (2/3 of which is consumed by lawyers and courts and never gets to the plaintiffs) is egregious.

the $1.5mm limit will do little good to prevent massive class action awards.

Apparently not. His unsuccessful stint as a community organizer has convinced him he also has the ability to successfully regulate the earth’s climate as well. The Democrats in DC agree with him.

Hubris doesn’t even begin to adequately describe this insanity.

When reading left-wing prescriptions I often wonder if the author is stupid, ignorant, or insane. I think this one is all three.