<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59c3fbe038d20d1f4f8b5f3d-2222/hurricanesvir2017251lrg.jpg" alt="hurricanes" data-mce-source="NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens and Jesse Allen" data-mce-caption="Hurricanes Katia, Irma, and Jose churn their way through the Atlantic and Caribbean." /><p class="source"><span>NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens and Jesse Allen</span></p><p class="caption">Hurricanes Katia, Irma, and Jose churn their way through the Atlantic and Caribbean.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season is "extremely active," according to the definitions used by the National Hurricane Center.</strong></li><li><strong>That's largely because there have been excellent conditions for hurricanes to form: low wind shear and high ocean temperatures.</strong></li><li><strong>This year will set some records but won't necessarily be as bad as 2005.</strong></li></ul><p>First came <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/hurricane-harvey-2017">Harvey</a>, which dumped unprecedented amounts of rain on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tropical-storm-harvey-hurricane-updates-map-texas-where-landfall-damage-2017-8">Houston and the Gulf Coast</a>. Then <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/hurricane-irma-2017">Irma</a> rolled over the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-irma-us-virgin-islands-damage-2017-9">Virgin Islands</a>, St. Martin, and other parts of the Caribbean before <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-irma-florida-keys-landfall-photos-damage-videos-2017-9">slamming into</a> Florida. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-maria-path-track-update-2017-9">Maria stripped</a> the roofs off of building after building in Dominica and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-damage-caribbean-2017-9">wiped out the power infrastructure in Puerto Rico</a>. Two of those storms first made landfall as Category 5 hurricanes, the other a Category 4.</p><p>And those are just the major hurricanes (defined as Category 3 or above) of 2017 that have made landfall. Another major hurricane, Jose, threatened some already ravaged Caribbean islands before taking a turn to to the north. So far this year, there have been seven hurricanes in total, and 13 named storms.</p><p>If those numbers make the 2017 hurricane season seem particularly intense, that's because it is.</p><p>The <a href="http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization has a formal definition</a> for an "extremely active" Atlantic hurricane season. For that to happen, storms have to generate a certain amount of accumulated cyclone energy - a measure of storm intensity, duration, and frequency. There also have to meet two out of these three conditions: 13 or more named storms, 7 or more hurricanes, and 3 or more major hurricanes.</p><p>Phil Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University, specializes in Atlantic hurricane forecasts and tracks cyclone energy. <a href="https://twitter.com/philklotzbach/status/910618090844471296">He said on Twitter</a> that by September 20, we'd already met the definition of "extremely active," with enough cyclone energy and all three of the above conditions checked off.</p><p>Hurricane season isn't over until November 30, so there's almost certainly more to come.</p><p>So why do storms keep coming one after another?</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59bece4c9803c5b3308b648a-1120/hurricanes jose maria water vapor satellite sunday.gif" alt="hurricanes jose maria water vapor satellite sunday" data-mce-source="NOAA" data-mce-caption="The water vapor from Hurricane Jose, Tropical Storm Maria, and Tropical Depression Lee is seen via satellite on Sunday, September 17, 2017." data-link="http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/imagery/tatl.html" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/imagery/tatl.html">NOAA</a></span></p><p class="caption">The water vapor from Hurricane Jose, Tropical Storm Maria, and Tropical Depression Lee is seen via satellite on Sunday, September 17, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>"Extremely active"</h2><p>In many ways, 2017 has had ideal conditions for a lot of big, powerful storms, several experts told Business Insider.</p><p>Two main factors have allowed these massive storms to form: the lack of an El Niño system, and the fact that the Atlantic is unusually warm.</p><p>El Niño systems generate particularly warm temperatures in the Pacific, which tends to create high wind shear in the Atlantic. James Belanger, a senior meteorological scientist with The Weather Company (the group behind the Weather Channel and Weather Underground), <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-irma-effect-on-hurricane-season-2017-9">told Business Insider</a> that wind shear "rips storms apart" before they develop into massive systems.</p><p>But this year, we've had what are referred to as "ENSO-neutral" conditions so far, meaning that there hasn't been any El Niño or La Niña system whose wind shear could prevent hurricanes.</p><p>At the same time, the North Atlantic has been "quite warm," Belanger said. Warm water helps storms intensify since the weather systems absorb heat energy from the water. As <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ClimateStorms/page2.php">NASA puts it</a>, "the more heat energy that goes in, the more vigorously a weather system can churn."</p><p>Warm ocean temperatures in the Caribbean allowed this year's storms to rapidly gain power. Maria, the most recent, is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/19/the-scariest-thing-about-2017s-hurricanes-they-got-really-bad-really-fast/?utm_term=.561a549a975c">likely to set a record</a> for being the most rapidly intensifying hurricane ever measured.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59b6c523609c3030008b64e2-1777/ap17250821437251.jpg" alt="hurricane irma st martin" data-mce-source="Gerben Van Es/Dutch Defense Ministry via AP" data-mce-caption="This Sept. 7, 2017 photo provided by the Dutch Defense Ministry shows storm damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, in St. Maarten. Irma cut a path of devastation across the northern Caribbean, leaving thousands homeless after destroying buildings and uprooting trees. Significant damage was reported on the island that is split between French and Dutch control." /><p class="source"><span>Gerben Van Es/Dutch Defense Ministry via AP</span></p><p class="caption">The aftermath of Hurricane Irma in St. Maarten.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Two combined factors affect on Atlantic temperatures: ocean heat content (a measure of heat stored by the ocean), and sea surface temperatures (measured at the top layer of the ocean). There's no simple explanation for this year's high surface temperatures and ocean heat content, according to Belanger. One possibility is that weaker trade winds and wind speeds in the Atlantic have led to less evaporation, which would normally cool the ocean more. </p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/07/the-science-behind-the-u-s-s-strange-hurricane-drought-and-its-sudden-end/?tid=ss_tw&amp;utm_term=.73b6530fc01b">Another factor is climate change</a>, since data indicates that a warmer climate is likely to result in more intense hurricanes and more <a href="http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0134.1">rapid storm intensification</a>. Oceans absorb much of the heat that's emitted into the atmosphere, which leads to warmer water. That's one of the reasons researchers say that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/19/why-its-time-to-stop-calling-these-hurricane-disasters-natural/">climate change will lead to more intense storms</a> like the ones we've seen this year.</p><p>Along with raising sea temperatures, climate change also causes sea-level rise - which makes cities more vulnerable to the storm surge that comes with hurricanes. Plus, global warming is expected to lead to a higher concentration of atmospheric water vapor and heavier rainfall. Intense rainfall can be devastating, as Harvey showed in Houston and Maria has shown in Puerto Rico.</p><p>Climate change didn't cause any of the storms that we've seen this year, and we don't yet know how the changing climate affected these specific hurricanes. But climate scientists have warned that the world could see more storms as temperatures rise. If nothing else, this season could serve as an example of what we'll see in the future.</p><p>"There is evidence that we are emerging from an era of messy meteorological data, where we were blind to warming seas strengthening hurricanes because the really damaging ones were rare," meteorologist <a href="http://grist.org/article/harvey-irma-maria-this-is-the-hurricane-season-scientists-expected-and-feared/">Eric Holthaus wrote for Grist</a>. "If that's true, weather historians may look to this year as the beginning of a frightening new phase of superstorms."</p><p>Yet another explanation for the warmer Atlantic Ocean could be changes in high and low pressure systems that caused surface temperatures to fluctuate, according to Michael Ventrice, a meteorological scientist at The Weather Company. <span>Ventrice</span> said a current called the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) may also have played a role - that current is slow moving, and changes conditions on a 20 to 50 year scale. At the start of the 2017 season, meteorologists were unsure whether the AMO was still in a warm phase, <a href="http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml">according to NOAA.</a> But if so, that could help explain this season's activity as well.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59b6a167609c301b008b62ce-993/djcls6waaa4vm.jpg" alt="Tropical Storm Irma" data-mce-source="NOAA" /><p class="source"><span>NOAA</span></p><p class="caption">Irma after it became a tropical storm.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>A record breaking year</h2><p>Whatever the reason for 2017's seemingly endless bombardment of hurricanes, we have certainly seen records get broken this year.</p><p>This is the first time in known history that the Atlantic has had two storms with 150+ mph winds <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-irma-effect-on-hurricane-season-2017-9">raging at the same time</a>: Irma and Jose.</p><p>Maria went from a tropical depression to a Category 5 storm in two-and-a-half days, a speed that Mark DeMaria, acting deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/19/the-scariest-thing-about-2017s-hurricanes-they-got-really-bad-really-fast/?utm_term=.561a549a975c">told the Washington Post</a> is most likely the record for fastest intensification in the Atlantic.</p><p>This year we could also <a href="https://twitter.com/philklotzbach/status/910161903652970496">very likely set a record</a> for cyclone energy generated in September, according to Phil Klotzbach.</p><p>But this season isn't the worst we've ever seen, as much as it might seem that way. That distinction belongs to 2005.</p><p>That year, there were so many named storms that we ran through the whole alphabetical list of names (the letters  Q, U, X, Y, and Z are not used) and then had to run through the Greek alphabet, using Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta. Fifteen storms in 2005 were hurricanes, with seven being major hurricanes. </p><p>Five storm names were retired that year because of the devastation the hurricanes caused: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan, and Wilma. We will most likely have at least three names retired after 2017: Harvey, Irma, and Maria.</p><p>Based on the Atlantic hurricane activity so far this year, we're not quite on pace to surpass 2005. But <a href="https://qz.com/1080620/hurricane-maria-jose-irma-harvey-is-hurricane-season-busier-than-usual/">as Molly Rubin recently wrote in Quartz</a>, if you look at both the Atlantic and Pacific simultaneously, the world is on pace for a new record number of named storms overall, outpacing 2012 and 2005.</p><p>After Maria dissipates, we're likely to enter a quieter period in the Atlantic, according to <a href="https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/marias-parting-shot-flash-floods-hammer-puerto-rico?__prclt=Fka2n0X7">Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground</a>. But there's still reason to watch for new storms developing in the Caribbean, since water temperatures remain warm.</p><p>And even if we have a quiet week or two, there's plenty more time for storms to come. Hurricane season peaks on September 10, but the period of peak activity lasts though the middle of October. The season isn't over until November 30.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/latest-updates-maria-hurricane-jose-east-coast-us-puerto-rico-virgin-islands-tropical-storm-2017-9">Puerto Rico is completely without power after getting slammed by Hurricane Maria - here's where the storm is heading next</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/f9ViYlwC-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Here's why hurricane season has been exceptionally disastrous - and why there's probably more to come

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbe56359fb84c43c9772525-1200/hurricane%20michael%20landfall.jpg" border="0" alt="hurricane michael landfall" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Gerald Herbert" data-mce-caption="A storm chaser climbs into his vehicle during the eye of Hurricane Michael to retrieve equipment after a hotel canopy collapsed in Panama City Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018."><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</span></p><p class="caption">A storm chaser climbs into his vehicle during the eye of Hurricane Michael to retrieve equipment after a hotel canopy collapsed in Panama City Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/hurricane-michael">Hurricane Michael</a> made <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-michael-approaches-florida-2018-10">landfall Wednesday northwest of Mexico Beach, Florida</a>. The powerful <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-hurricane-damage-as-measured-by-saffir-simpson-scale-2017-8">Category 4 storm</a> brought winds of up to 155 mph.</strong></li><li><strong>Michael's low central pressure makes it the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-michael-strongest-storm-in-50-years-2018-10">strongest hurricane the US has seen in nearly 50 years</a>.</strong></li><li><strong>Videos and photos shared on social media show severe flooding and destruction in Florida residents caught in the crosshairs said the storm felt like an earthquake.&#xa0;</strong></li></ul><p>Hurricane Michael, the most powerful storm the US has seen in nearly 50 years, is moving through the Florida Panhandle, ripping apart homes and sending walls of water rushing inland.&#xa0;</p><p>The storm made landfall northwest of Mexico Beach around noon on Wednesday, with an eye so clear and wide it could easily be seen from space.&#xa0;</p><p>That strong, well-developed core <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-michael-live-tracker-storm-heads-for-florida-2018-10">makes for a very powerful, windy storm on land</a>.&#xa0;Journalist Kirsten Fiscus was less than 25 miles away in Panama City when Michael's eye landed, and said she could smell the pine from snapped tree branches.</p><p>Richard Fausset of the New York Times was in the area too and said the winds were so intense, it felt like a California earthquake.</p><p>Outside, the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore narrowly missed getting slammed by a flying piece of wood.</p><p>Part of the reason Hurricane Michael became so strong and developed so quickly is that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are much warmer right now than what's normal for October.</p><p>Up the coast in Pensacola, the water temperature is&#xa0;<a href="https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/egof.html">82 degrees</a> Fahrenheit - 8 degrees higher than normal for this time of year. Warmer water acts&#xa0;<a href="http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/warmer-air-means-more-evaporation-and-precipitation">as fuel</a> for a hurricane, helping it develop into a more destructive, windier storm.&#xa0;</p><p>Michael was forecast to bring storm surge up to 14 feet in some areas. Josh Benson, a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> anchor at local station WFLA in Tampa Bay, shared a video taken by Tessa Talarico in Mexico Beach, Florida that showed the extreme flooding.</p><p>In Panama City Beach, a building that was still under construction didn't stand a chance against Michael. It quickly buckled under the pressure of the storm.</p><p>The hurricane also ripped the roofs off homes.</p><p>"Where homes were, they are not." ABC's Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee said <a href="https://twitter.com/Ginger_Zee/status/1050101892167151616">in a video posted on Twitter</a>. "It's really wild to see."&#xa0;</p><p>Benson of WFLA also posted this clip of the storm's winds picking up a porta potty and sending it flying across a parking lot:</p><p>Michael is making its way northeast towards Georgia and the Carolinas at about 14 mph. It's expected to gradually weaken over land. By Friday, it should be a post-tropical cyclone, according to the <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4+shtml/101836.shtml">National Weather Service</a>.</p><p>You can track the hurricane's progress using <a href="https://www.google.org/crisismap/weather_and_events">Google Crisis Map</a> or check out live updates from this<span>&#xa0;National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration <a href="https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/hurricane-imagery">camera in space</a>.</span></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbe5cfd2e7129446e5a5676-1086/screen%20shot%202018-10-10%20at%2041102%20pm.png" border="0" alt="michael storm track weds" data-mce-source="NOAA"><p class="source"><span>NOAA</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>High-end Cat. 4 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hurricane?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hurricane</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Michael?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Michael</a> now making landfall between Tyndall AFB and Mexico Beach, FL with *sustained* winds of 150 MPH. Pressure down to 919 MB (27.14"). (<a href="https://twitter.com/NOAA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NOAA</a> GOES-East vis imagery) <a href="https://t.co/hp1X9RF8aT">pic.twitter.com/hp1X9RF8aT</a></p>- NASA SPoRT  (@NASA_SPoRT) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1050069729837240320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I seriously have no words to describe this, it's awesome but equally terrifying <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HurricaneMichael?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HurricaneMichael</a> <a href="https://t.co/0Y8HQJub1Z">pic.twitter.com/0Y8HQJub1Z</a></p>- Kirsten Fiscus  (@KDFiscus) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1050071845427433474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Panama City, Fla. This whole hotel is shuddering like it was an LA earthquake. <a href="https://t.co/CVA7SrxT2d">pic.twitter.com/CVA7SrxT2d</a></p>- Richard Fausset  (@RichardFausset) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1050086561088503809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Cantore nearly just got speared by 2x4 it seemed. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HurricaneMichael?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HurricaneMichael</a> <a href="https://t.co/tyNWrymC3p">pic.twitter.com/tyNWrymC3p</a></p>- Tim Ballisty  (@IrishEagle) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1050082142397583361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>A look at what houses in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mexico?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mexico</a> Beach, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Florida?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Florida</a> look like right now. This is a follow up from the previous clip posted. They are now submerged and were no match for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HurricaneMichael?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HurricaneMichael</a> (via Tessa Talarico) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hurricane?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hurricane</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Michael?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Michael</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HurricaneMichael2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HurricaneMichael2018</a> <a href="https://t.co/GJENrhFJha">pic.twitter.com/GJENrhFJha</a></p>- Josh Benson  (@WFLAJosh) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1050098823194963968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>New construction just collapsed in front of me in Panama City Beach from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hurricanemichael?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#hurricanemichael</a>!!! It is going bad fast! <a href="https://t.co/CG5R8jcUuf">pic.twitter.com/CG5R8jcUuf</a></p>- Marc Weinberg  (@MarcWeinbergWX) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1050049977744003072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>HURRICANE DESTRUCTION: Hurricane Michael is tearing through Panama City Beach, Florida. Ripping away roofs, flooding condos and throwing debris everywhere. <a href="https://t.co/7tuHkPGIvI">pic.twitter.com/7tuHkPGIvI</a></p>- ABC 13 News - WSET  (@ABC13News) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1050091341915582464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>LOOK OUT! Watch as this Porta Potty goes flying across the parking lot. Wow. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HurricaneMichael?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HurricaneMichael</a>'s winds are no joke. (via Jonathan Petramala) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortaPotty?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PortaPotty</a> <a href="https://t.co/q4YBBYrZIt">pic.twitter.com/q4YBBYrZIt</a></p>- Josh Benson  (@WFLAJosh) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1050085870949273600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-irma-made-shorelines-disappear-florida-2017-9">Why water disappears from shorelines during a hurricane</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/yIKLDLcr-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Early videos of Hurricane Michael reveal the scale of the storm's destruction in the Florida Panhandle

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a4d0362cf698a0a1c8b46e0-2000/rtx176pg.jpg" alt="cold weather" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Eric Miller" data-mce-caption="Ice from the breath of Gail Davis forms around her face as she exercises by walking outside in Minneapolis, January 8, 2014" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Eric Miller</span></p><p class="caption">Ice from the breath of Gail Davis forms around her face as she exercises by walking outside in Minneapolis, January 8, 2014</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The Northeast will experience some of the coldest temperatures in decades on Friday and Saturday as a 'cold weather bomb' bears down on the region.</strong></li><li><strong>Temperatures are expected to plummet to below zero Fahrenheit in New York City on Friday night.</strong></li><li><strong>Snowfall may actually insulate infrastructure from freezing too much. </strong></li></ul><hr /><p> </p><p>A '<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cold-weather-bomb-east-coast-snow-record-lows-2018-1">cold weather bomb</a>' is bearing down on the East Coast. At least one meteorologist is warning that the frigid temperatures following the storm could be "literally the worst you've ever seen," with low temperatures not seen in decades. </p><p>Gary Szatkowski, a meteorologist who spent 35 years with the National Weather Service, tweeted on Wednesday morning that the snowfall associated with the storm isn't the biggest issue.</p><p>"<span>There's a strong tendency to focus on the snow amounts, but please keep in mind the bitter cold and very low wind chills which follow this storm," Szatkowski <a href="https://twitter.com/GarySzatkowski/status/948549320034455552">said</a>. "It may literally be the worst you've ever seen." </span><span></span></p><p><span>While 'bomb cyclones' - the type of storm that's heading toward the Northeast - aren't particularly uncommon, the temperatures this storm will bring to the region will be far colder than a similar storm that hit the region in November 2014. That storm, popularly known as the 'polar vortex,' dumped 65 inches of snow on Buffalo, New York, and brought temperatures across New York and the Northeast into the single digits for a few days. </span></p><p><span>The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and parts of Massachusetts as of Wednesday. </span></p><p><span>The upcoming frigid weekend won't be coldest the region has ever experienced, however. On February 9, 1943, the mercury hit 15 degrees below zero - the coldest day, before the windchill, in New York City's history, <a href="http://www.silive.com/news/2016/02/10_coldest_days_on_record.html">according to AccuWeather</a>. Less than a week later, the city experienced the eighth coldest day in its history, with a low of 8 degrees below zero.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img style="color: #000000;" src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52caa7a86bb3f7ed42bfebcb-2400/ap354169587710.jpg" alt="Deep freeze polar vortex" data-mce-source="AP" /><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>The coming storm, which is creeping up the East Coast, is set to unload up to a foot of snow across parts of Southern New England and Long Island on Thursday, according to the NWS. New York City, Philadelphia, and much of New Jersey are only expected to receive a few inches, but after the snow falls, the storm will pull a frigid Arctic air mass over region. That will likely plunge temperatures to the single digits on Friday and Saturday nights.</span></p><p><span>By Thursday night, temperatures are expected to plummet to an average low of 10 degrees across the region, with gusts of winds up to 33 miles per hour. That could make it feel as cold as -14 Fahrenheit with the windchill. The NWS predicts the snow will stop falling on Thursday evening. B</span><span>y Friday night, the low forecast for New York is 3 degrees with wind gusts of up to 34 miles per hour, according to the NWS.</span></p><p><span>That's true for much of the Northeast - in Boston, which is expected to get up to a foot of snow on Thursday, temperatures will plummet to a low of -3 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday evening, with wind chills of up to -35 degrees likely on Friday and Saturday nights. </span></p><p><span>The National Weather Service warns that heavy snow and frigid temperatures will make travel difficult, and added that there are likely to be power outages throughout Boston, Eastern Massachusetts, and Rhode Island on Thursday. </span></p><p>Szatkowski explained on Twitter that a few inches of snow can serve as infrastructure insulation, protecting water pipes and subway tracks from freezing in the extreme cold. </p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a42b3d94aa6b5bd198b6d10-2000/coldpeople.jpg" alt="cold people new york" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Don Heupel" data-mce-caption="It's going to be really, really cold this week." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Don Heupel</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Saturday 's temperatures will creep back up into the teens in New York and Philadelphia, only to plunge to 5 degrees after the sun sets, though the NWS expects winds to subside. Single digits will continue that day in Boston. On Sunday, temperatures will move back up to a more normal (but still cold) high of 22 degrees around New York and Philadelphia, with a high in Boston around 16.</span></p><p><span>If you live on the East Coast, temperatures could get cold enough to worry about frostbite. The Mayo Clinic warns that it's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/when-is-it-too-cold-to-go-outside-2018-1">too dangerous to do any sort of outdoor workout</a> once the thermometer dips below zero. When the windchill drops below negative 18, frostbite can hit fingers and toes in half an hour.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-long-stay-cold-temperatures-before-frostbite-stella-snowstorm-snow-2017-3">How long you can stay in extremely cold temperatures before getting frostbite</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/3hg7BmIX-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

The cold weather 'bomb' headed for the East Coast may be the 'worst you've ever seen,' according to a meteorologist

<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/550a7665dd089503318b4577-1200-924/cuba-dog.jpg" border="0" alt="Cuba dog"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa</span></p><p class="caption">n this March 13, 2015 photo, former street dog Vladimir wears an ID collar that gives his name and residence, as he sits at the entrance of the Old Havana Museum of Metalwork in Havana, Cuba.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Hello! Here's what you need to know for Thursday.</span></p><p><strong>1. </strong>At least 19 people are dead <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/at-least-8-are-dead-after-an-attack-on-a-leading-museum-in-tunisia-2015-3">after gunmen attacked a leading museum in Tunisia's capital </a>Wednesday.<strong><br /></strong></p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">2.</strong> <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/pictures-anti-capitalist-protesters-riot-outside-new-european-central-bank-hq-2015-3">A</a><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/pictures-anti-capitalist-protesters-riot-outside-new-european-central-bank-hq-2015-3">nti-capitalist demonstrators in Frankfurt, Germany, set police cars on fire</a><span> and clashed with riot pilot Wednesday in protest of the opening of the new European Central Bank headquarters.</span><span><br /></span><span></span></p><p><strong style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em;">3.</strong> The Indonesian court is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-indonesian-court-delays-decision-on-australian-death-row-convicts-2015-3">delaying its decision to execute two Australian drug convicts</a>.<strong style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></strong></p><p><span><strong>4.</strong> Several people were shot and two have been killed in a </span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/gunfire-erupts-inside-restaurant-in-sweden-several-people-injured-2015-3">restaurant shooting in Sweden's second biggest city</a> Goteborg.</p><p><strong style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">5. </strong></strong>The <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/china-has-appointed-a-new-ambassador-to-north-korea-2015-3">Chinese government appointed a new ambassador to North Korea</a><a>, replacing </a><a>Liu Hongcai with the former ambassador to Myanmar and the </a><a>Philippines, </a><a>Li Jinjun.</a></p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">6.</strong> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-thai-former-pm-yingluck-to-face-trial-over-rice-scheme-court-2015-3">Thailand's former premier Yingluck Shinawatra will face trial</a> on charges of negligence over a disastrous rice subsidy scheme.</p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">7. </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Target has agreed to </span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/target-agrees-to-pay-10-million-to-settle-a-class-action-suit-over-its-massive-data-breach-2015-3">pay $10 million (£6.7 million) to settle a class-action suit over a massive 2013 data breach</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> in which 40 million credit cards were compromised.</span></p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">8. </strong></strong></strong>Chancellor <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/uk-2015-budget-announcement-breakdown-george-osborne-2015-3">George Osborne unveiled the UK Budget yesterday</a>, raising the tax-free threshold and revising the country's 2015 growth forecast up to 2.5%.</p><p><strong>9. </strong><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/yahoo-lays-off-200-in-china-more-than-700-total-in-5-months-2015-3">Yahoo is laying off between 200 and 300 employees</a> as it shuts down its operations in China</p><p><strong>10. </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-australias-great-barrier-reef-braces-for-cyclone-hit-2015-3"><span class="s1">powerful cyclone is headed toward Australia's Great Barrier Reef</span></a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, where residents have been told to stay indoors and prepare for dangerous tidal surges.</span></p><p><strong><strong>And finally ...</strong></strong></p><p><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/pictures-northern-lights-above-the-uk-st-patricks-day-2015-3">The Northern Lights looked particularly awesome over northern Europe, Scandinavia, and Iceland Tuesday night.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/map-how-indo-european-languages-evolved-2014-12">This Animated Map Shows How European Languages Evolved </a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="wwMjI2cjq9yWkT5MO7-968mt2D9V_wxN" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'wwMjI2cjq9yWkT5MO7-968mt2D9V_wxN',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

The 10 most important things in the world right now

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/51dd9baeecad048a45000000-897-673/python-6.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="python" width="480" /><p class="source">AP/Queensland Police</p></div></div>CAIRNS, <keyword id="6355478" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Australia">Australia</keyword> (AP) — Australian police were mystified by a chaotic crime scene including a hole in the ceiling and a smelly pool of vomit-like liquid — until they found the culprit was a 5.7-meter (19-foot) python.</p>
<p>The massive snake weighing in at 17 kilograms (37 pounds) was captured a day after a suspected burglary was reported at a charity store in Queensland in northeastern Australia.</p>
<p>"Its head was the size of a small dog," Police Sgt. Don Auld said Wednesday.</p>
<p>Before they found the python, investigators' working theory was that a human burglar with an appetite for destruction — and a serious illness — had gone on a rampage inside the St. Vincent de Paul store in the small town of Ingham.</p>
<p>"We thought a person had fallen through the ceiling because the roof panel was cut in half," Auld said. "When they've hit the floor, they've vomited and then staggered and fallen over. That's what we thought anyway."</p>
<p>Police now suspect the python entered the store through the roof, which was damaged in a cyclone two years ago.</p>
<p>The animal then plummeted through the ceiling, knocking over dishes, clothes and other items, before relieving itself on the floor. It somehow managed to hide from officials until staff spotted it lying alongside a wall the next day.</p>
<p>A local snake catcher was called in to capture the reptile, which has been relocated to nearby wetlands.</p>
<div class="nc_footer">
<p><em>Copyright (2013) <keyword id="176712" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Associated-Press">Associated Press</keyword>. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</em></p>
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<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="http://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT03MTAxZTg2OWQzOWQ0MDU1YWE3ZTgxZmRhOTNjZmVhOCZvd25lcj1lOTllZDJiYjAxYjQzNmJkZWEyOWQ2NjAyYTg2NTY4NSZub25jZT01MDQyZTE1MS1jYjA1LTQwYWItYTBhNy0xNjVjMjJmY2EwM2EmcHVibGlzaGVyPThjMDBmYmVlNjFkNWJjZjBjNjA5MmQ4YjkyZWJiY2Ex" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p>

A 19-Foot Python Broke Into A Thrift Shop

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55067de0dd0895124c8b4567-1200-924/chinese-paramilitary-policemen.jpg" border="0" alt="Chinese paramilitary policemen"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Andy Wong</span></p><p class="caption">Chinese paramilitary policemen watch over Tiananmen Square from a rooftop across from the Great Hall of the People, as the sun rises ahead of the closing ceremony of the annual National People's Congress at the hall, in Beijing Sunday, March 15, 2015.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Hello! Here's what you need to know for Monday.</p><p><strong>1. </strong>An Austrian newspaper reported Sunday that a Viennese doctor travelled to Moscow to <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-paper-says-austrian-doctor-treating-putin-for-back-problems-2015-3">treat Russian President Vladamir Putin for back problems</a>.<strong><br /></strong></p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">2.</strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A 20-year-old protester was arrested Sunday night </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-suspect-arrested-in-ferguson-police-shooting-police-2015-3">for the </a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-suspect-arrested-in-ferguson-police-shooting-police-2015-3">shooting of two police officers</a> in Ferguson, Missouri.</span></p><p><strong style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em;">3. </strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-now-has-a-foothold-in-an-oil-rich-mediterranean-port-city-2015-3">ISIS has established a foothold in Sirte,</a> an oil-rich Libyan port city on the Mediterranean coast.</p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">4. </strong>At least 8 people are dead after a <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/at-least-8-people-are-dead-after-a-huge-cyclone-devastates-the-pacific-island-of-vanuatu-2015-3">powerful cyclone devastated the Pacific island of Vanuatu</a> on Saturday.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-now-has-a-foothold-in-an-oil-rich-mediterranean-port-city-2015-3"><br /></a></p><p><strong>5.</strong> In a pre-recorded documentary aired on Sunday, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/putin-russia-was-ready-for-nuclear-confrontation-over-crimea-2015-3">Russian </a><span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/putin-russia-was-ready-for-nuclear-confrontation-over-crimea-2015-3">President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was ready for nuclear confrontation over its annexation of Crimea</a> from Ukraine last year.</span></p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">6.</strong> Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-greek-finance-minister-says-liquidity-problems-insignificant-german-tv--2015-3">called the country's </a><span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-greek-finance-minister-says-liquidity-problems-insignificant-german-tv--2015-3">liquidity problems "insignificant" in a panel discussion Sunday</a>, while ensuring that the government would take all necessary steps to repay its debt.</span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/isis-accepted-boko-haram-pledge-2015-3"><br /></a></p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">7. </strong>US Secretary of State John Kerry said he <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-just-gave-syrias-assad-a-symbolic-victory-2015-3">would be willing to talk wih </a><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-just-gave-syrias-assad-a-symbolic-victory-2015-3">Syrian President Bashar Assad</a> to help negotiate an end to the country's four-year conflict. <strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></strong></p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">8.</strong></strong></strong> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-boston-gets-most-winter-snow-in-its-recorded-history---1086-inches-2015-3">China has overtaken Germany to become the world's third-largest arms exporter</a>, a sign of the country's growing economy and technological advances.</p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">9. </strong></strong></strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-boston-gets-most-winter-snow-in-its-recorded-history---1086-inches-2015-3">Boston has officially had the snowiest winter in recorded history</a>, with 108.6 inches (275.8 cm) of snowfall this season.<strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>10. </strong></strong></strong></strong></strong>Australia detailed plans to protect the Great Barrier Reef by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-australia-spells-out-plans-to-protect-great-barrier-reef-2015-3">banning the dumping of dredged soil</a> into the sea. </p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>And finally ...</strong></strong></p><p><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-pet-cat-photo-on-instagram-2015-3">Taylor Swift says her pet cat Meredith owes her $40 million after scratching her leg.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/map-how-indo-european-languages-evolved-2014-12">This Animated Map Shows How European Languages Evolved </a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="wwMjI2cjq9yWkT5MO7-968mt2D9V_wxN" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'wwMjI2cjq9yWkT5MO7-968mt2D9V_wxN',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { 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<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/543f8381eab8ea5240f582cd-1200-924/typhone-hayan.jpg?maxX=800" border="0" alt="Typhone Hayan" width="800"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Bullit Marquez</span></p><p class="caption">Typhoon Haiyan, in the Philippines, took the deadliest toll: almost 8,000 people died.</p></img></div><p></p></div>Geneva (AFP) - Natural disasters claimed over 22,000 lives last year, with Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines the deadliest of all, the Red Cross said Thursday.</p>
<p>In its annual report on disasters, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned that the outlook was bleak.</p>
<p>"Climate change is leading to damaged livelihoods and increased vulnerabilities. Natural hazards are also becoming more frequent and extreme," said IFRC head Elhadj As Sy.</p>
<p>"The resulting stresses on social, physical and economic systems are shifting the world into a new era of risk," he added.</p>
<p>Haiyan, which struck in November 2013, slammed a massive storm surge into the city of Tacloban and surrounding communities in the eastern province of Leyte.</p>
<p>At least 7,986 perished, the IFRC said.</p>
<p>The next-deadliest disaster was the June 2013 monsoon flooding in India, which killed 6,054 people.</p>
<p>Last year's overall natural disaster death toll was 22,452, the IFRC said.</p>
<p>That was well under the 2004-2013 average of 97,954 per year.</p>
<p>It was also far below the decade's peak year, 2004, when 242,829 people perished, mostly in the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.</p>
<p>The number of people affected by disasters in 2013 -- almost 100 million, overwhelmingly in Asia -- was also the lowest in a decade.</p>
<p>But the report's lead editor Terry Cannon said tolls were only part of the story.</p>
<p>"Major hazards and disasters are distributed randomly. So comparing year-on-year in a data set like this is not very useful," he said.</p>
<p>What tolls can reveal, however, is a country's ability to head off catastrophe.</p>
<p>For example, 36 people died when Cyclone Phailin hit India in October 2013.</p>
<p>Thousands of lives were saved thanks to a widely-praised risk reduction programme which included pre-planned evacuation, repeated this week when Cyclone Hudhud struck.</p>
<p><strong>More people in harm's way</strong></p>
<p>Rapid economic shifts, population growth and urbanization in developing nations are putting more people in harm's way, while experts warn that climate change driven by emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases is causing more frequent extreme weather events.</p>
<p>Besides thinking up risk reduction plans, governments and aid agencies need to make more effort to understand the lives of people in danger zones, said Cannon.</p>
<p>"The vast majority of people do not die or suffer in disasters. They suffer because of the problems of everyday life, whether it's bad water, poor nutrition, or bad health," he said.</p>
<p>"People don't give priority to severe hazards. They will highlight their day-to-day problems, health, malaria, water supply, not enough food, not enough jobs," he added.</p>
<p>The report said that estimated economic damage in 2013, at $119 billion, was the fourth-lowest in a decade.</p>
<p>However, financial totals do not show the full picture either.</p>
<p>Developed countries traditionally see the most expensive single disasters in terms of losses and insurance claims, given their wealthier economies and extensive insurance penetration.</p>
<p>In 2011, for example, when Japan was battered by a massive earthquake and tsunami, estimated global disaster losses rocketed to $391 billion.</p>
<p>The situation in poorer countries is less clear, notably if a disaster does not strike industrial areas, and because insurance coverage is far less widespread.</p>
<p>"The damage to things that are valued in dollars can be very small. What you have to measure is the loss of livelihoods, of millions of people's livelihoods, fishing boats, their nets, their villages, their houses," said Cannon.</p>
<p>"They are not measured in dollar terms, they're not insured, they're not even counted in the international statistics," he said. </p>

There Were 22,000 People Killed By Natural Disasters In 2013, The Lowest In A Decade

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="AP Photo/Eric Gay" title_caption="A map marking where Marshallese live in the Marshallese consul general's office in Springdale, Arkansas. Springdale is in the northwest corner of the state." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b3b5516e97c621048b4f51-960/ap_117951658194.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b3b5516e97c621048b4f51-3761-2821/ap_117951658194.jpg" alt="arkansas map marshall islands" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Eric Gay" data-mce-caption="A map with push pins marking where Marshallese live hangs in the Marshallese Counsel General office in Springdale, Arkansas." /></a><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Eric Gay</span></p><p class="caption">A map marking where Marshallese live in the Marshallese consul general's office in Springdale, Arkansas. Springdale is in the northwest corner of the state.</p></div><p></p></div></div>In the Marshall Islands, climate change is an existential threat.</p><p>Alternating droughts and cyclones are wreaking havoc on the Pacific island nation of 52,000 people. Rising tides could even <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/these-island-nations-could-be-underwater-in-as-little-as-fifty-years-2015-12">submerge the entire country</a> within decades.</p><p>As coastal homes become uninhabitable, the Marshallese are starting to seek refuge in other countries. <span style="font-weight: 400;">Thousands of those "climate refugees" could find a safe haven in an unlikely town in the American heartland.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Springdale, Arkansas, may be 6,000 miles away from the Marshall Islands, but it is the unexpected home to a thriving Marshallese community. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nearly 7,000 Marshallese live in Springdale, <span>by far the largest such community in the mainland US</span>. The greater region of northwestern Arkansas has at least 12,000 - more than a fifth of the Marshall Islands' population. It is </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">second only to that of Honolulu.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unlike Hawaii, Springdale has no history of any other Pacific Islander migration or settlement.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Mark Abadi" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b3c1882e526558008b5045-960/marshall islands map.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b3c1882e526558008b5045-800-595/marshall islands map.jpg" alt="marshall islands map" data-mce-source="Mark Abadi" /></a><p class="source"><span>Mark Abadi</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>"The Marshallese are living in Springdale with no template," wrote UCLA researcher Jessica Schwartz in her paper "Marshallese Cultural Diplomacy."</span></p><p><span>Nestled in the Ozark Mountains, the town of 75,000 boasts a Marshallese radio station and the country's only <a href="http://kuaf.com/post/new-marshallese-newspaper-hits-stands#stream/0">Marshallese-language newspaper</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marshallese people come to the US primarily for jobs, education, and health care, said Carmen Chong Gum, consul general of the Marshallese consulate in Springdale - the only such consulate in the continental US. But she said Springdale residents could soon expect the community to swell with climate refugees.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Climate change is really happening. It's a reality," Chong Gum told Business Insider. "If it continues to be a reality, that would be another reason added to the list - families coming that have lost their homes to the sea."</span></p><h2><strong>The Marshall Islands' close relationship with the US</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table center"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/50c6191f6bb3f73f71000000-800-555/bikinatoll.jpeg" alt="bikini atoll nuclear bomb" data-mce-source="Wikimedia/US Navy" data-link="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baker_nucelar_test_at_Bikini_atoll_1946.jpg" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baker_nucelar_test_at_Bikini_atoll_1946.jpg">Wikimedia/US Navy</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Marshall Islands served as a test theater for American nuclear weapons from 1946 to 1958.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Marshall Islands benefits from a close, albeit complicated, relationship with the US. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">America used the islands as a test theater for 67 thermonuclear weapons between 1946 and 1958. The most famous of these, the "Bravo shot," was dropped on Bikini Atoll in 1954 and was <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX51.html">1,000 times more powerful</a> than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Residents of Bikini were displaced, and the atoll remains uninhabited today. Large swaths of the islands still suffer from nuclear contamination.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">1986, the US agreed to the <a href="http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/173999.pdf">Compact of Free Association</a>, which stipulated that Marshallese citizens can emigrate freely to the US and stay indefinitely without visas.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Basically it's what we get in return for allowing our islands to be used by the United States for testing nuclear weapons," Chong Gum told Business Insider.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hundreds of displaced Bikinians now live in Springdale, according to Schwartz's research.</span></p><h2><strong>The Marshallese diaspora</strong></h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table center"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b2b45d2e526558008b4b70-960-540/mei climate.jpg" alt="mei climate" data-mce-source="Facebook/Marshallese Education Initiative" /><p class="source"><span>Facebook/Marshallese Education Initiative</span></p><p class="caption">Springdale's Rally for the Earth event, which raised climate change awareness.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Arkansas can trace its Marshallese diaspora to a single islander named <a href="http://showtime.arkansasonline.com/e/media/gallery/mi/articles/paradise.html">John Moody</a>, who came to Springdale in the 1980s to work for Tyson Foods.</p><p>Springdale is <a href="http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/cities/ar_poultry_capital_of_world.htm">recognized</a> as the "Poultry Capital of the World." Tyson - a <a href="http://fortune.com/fortune500/tyson-foods-83/">Fortune 100 meat producer</a> - is its largest employer.</p><p>Word of the jobs available spread back home, and a steady migration began, with many newcomers securing jobs at the Tyson plant.</p><p>Although some immigrants consider Springdale their long-term home, many young people don't plan on staying in the US permanently, said Benetick Maddison, a Marshallese student at Northwest Arkansas Community College.</p><p><span>"We're in college because we want to go back to the island and serve our people," Maddison told Business Insider. "We just want to go back to our homeland."</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table center"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b3c31e6e97c629008b4ffb-3539-2654/ap_358022887750.jpg" alt="Marshallese springdale arkansas" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Eric Gay" data-mce-caption="Marshallese men congregate in a back room of the Jakejeboleo market, a gathering place for Marshallese, in Springdale, Arkansas." /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Eric Gay</span></p><p class="caption">Marshallese men congregate in a back room of the Jakejeboleo market, a gathering place for Marshallese, in Springdale, Arkansas.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Given their people's history of displacement, younger members of the community are especially vocal about climate change, said April Brown, executive director of the nonprofit Marshallese Education Initiative.</p><p>Brown pointed to the large youth turnout at Springdale's Rally for the Earth, a December event that raised awareness of climate change in the Pacific.</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"I think that young people believe that something can be done to stave it off," Brown told Business Insider. "Their voices are starting to be heard. The community is proud of them."</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/psychology-finding-purpose-life-happiness-2016-1">A psychologist reveals how to find your purpose in life</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="s5MTEzMDE6XURmHG5QnaxQm-kfuQCpA6" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 's5MTEzMDE6XURmHG5QnaxQm-kfuQCpA6',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Thousands of 'climate refugees' could be soon heading to this Middle America town

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b9ac481b354cd9d268b5946-2000/ap18256682931901.jpg" border="0" alt="Hurricane Florence" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Tom Copeland" data-mce-caption="Waves from Hurricane Florence pound the Bogue Inlet Pier in Emerald Isle N.C., Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018." /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Tom Copeland</span></p><p class="caption">Waves from Hurricane Florence pound the Bogue Inlet Pier in Emerald Isle N.C., Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>A major threat from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/hurricane-florence">Hurricane Florence</a> is flooding associated with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-storm-surge-rainfall-destruction-map-forecast-2018-9">storm surge</a>.</li><li>A storm surge is when hurricanes or tropical storms push the water level above the high tide line, flooding coastal communities.</li><li>In some areas of North Carolina, the surge is expected to reach 11 feet. </li></ul><p>The outer bands of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/hurricane-florence">Hurricane Florence</a>, now a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-hurricane-damage-as-measured-by-saffir-simpson-scale-2017-8">Category 2</a> storm with maximum sustained winds of up to 105 mph, are hitting North Carolina's coast.</p><p>But the wind is not the main threat to people and property from the storm; it's the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-what-storm-surge-could-look-like-on-east-coast-2018-9">storm surge</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-why-so-much-rain-2018-9">rainfall</a>, which combined will likely cause serious flooding in the low-lying coastal regions of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia.</p><p>The National Hurricane Center <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/surge_intro.pdf">defines</a> a storm surge as an abnormal rise of water over and above the predicted tide. In short, it's when a large storm pushes water up over the high tide line. Here's why that happens and why storm surges can be so dangerous.</p><h2>How storm surges form</h2><p>Hurricanes are large low-pressure systems that create a cyclonic wind effect. Those winds force ocean water to spin down into the water column. In deep water, this spinning motion has little effect. But when the storm approaches the coast, the rotating water mass has nowhere to go - except onto land.</p><p>Strong winds associated with the storm also create large waves that travel ahead of the storm. </p><p>Hurricanes and tropical storms also cause a "dome effect" that pulls water levels up under the low air pressure in the storm's center, though the NHC notes that the effect of low pressure is slight when compared to wind. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b4f53b496957326008b467c-2400/superstorm sandy local governements suing big oil companies for climate change.jpg" border="0" alt="Superstorm Sandy local governements suing big oil companies for climate change" data-mce-source="Lucas Jackson/Reuters" data-mce-caption="In this picture taken October 29, 2012 storm surge pushed up by Superstorm Sandy floods homes in Hampton Bays, New York." /><p class="source"><span>Lucas Jackson/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">In this picture taken October 29, 2012 storm surge pushed up by Superstorm Sandy floods homes in Hampton Bays, New York.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The strongest surges occur when a storm's winds are blowing directly toward the shore and the tide is high. In such cases, storm surges can force water levels to rise as rapidly as a few feet per minute, according to the <a href="http://coastalrisk.live/">Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment</a>.</p><p>There are multiple factors that can affect the size of a storm surge. Storms that approach land perpendicular to the coast - like Florence - produce more powerful surges. And the shape of a coastline, as well as local features like sandbars and barrier islands, can affect how the water propagates over land.</p><p>North Carolina has lots of sandy barrier islands, which could halt the flow of water inland. However, with a storm as powerful as Florence, it's likely that these islands will be inundated. </p><p>Storm surges aren't included in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-hurricane-damage-as-measured-by-saffir-simpson-scale-2017-8">Saffir-Simpson scale</a> for measuring hurricane intensity. That scale includes only wind speed, which makes the danger associated with a Category 2 storm like Florence misleading. </p><h2>Storm surge projections for Florence</h2><p>The National Hurricane Center has issued <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT1+shtml/131753.shtml">hurricane and storm surge warnings</a><span> for the coastal areas between the South Santee River in South Carolina and Duck, North Carolina as well as Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds in North Carolina. </span></p><p><span>"A storm surge warning means there is a danger of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline," The National Hurricane Center said.</span></p><p><span>North Carolina's barrier islands, from Cape Fear to Cape Lookout, could see the biggest <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-storm-surge-rainfall-destruction-map-forecast-2018-9">storm surge</a>: between 7 and 11 feet above mean sea level.</span></p><p><span><em><strong>Read More: </strong></em><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/where-will-hurricane-florence-hit-predicted-landfall-2018-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Where Hurricane Florence's eye is due to make landfall</a></em></span></p><p>Parts of North Carolina's coast, including Hatteras and the Outer Banks, are already experiencing waves of<span> </span><a href="https://magicseaweed.com/Outer-Banks-Hurricane-Surf-Report/1093/">around 30 feet</a>, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoys. The storm surge is starting to wash over roads, according to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/brettbarley/?hl=en">videos </a>and <a href="https://twitter.com/_andrewcarter/status/1040279568299503616">images</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/StormVisuals/status/1040253237616619520">taken</a> by residents who remained in evacuation zones on Thursday. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b9969b9b354cd81398b5817-2400/hurricane-florence-potential-destruction-infographic.png" border="0" alt="hurricane florence potential destruction infographic" data-mce-source="Business Insider" /><p class="source"><span>Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>Because Florence is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-why-so-much-rain-2018-9">expected to stall</a> over North and South Carolina for several days, there's ample opportunity for the storm surge to coincide with high tide. </span><span>If Florence sticks around the Carolinas for more than two days, the storm surge could coincide with four high tide cycles, since high tides occur once every 12 hours.</span></p><p><span>"The timing of the surge with the tide is enormously important," Rick Luettich, the Director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told <a href="https://mashable.com/article/hurricane-florence-sea-level-rise-damage/#yZGlryPS9aqu">Mashable</a>.</span></p><p><span>On Wednesday, FEMA administrator Brock Long <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-track-evacuations-2018-9">warned</a>, </span><span>"storm surge is why many of you have been placed under evacuation, and we are asking citizens to please heed the warning. Your time is running out." </span></p><h2>The compounding effects of rainfall on storm surges</h2><p>In the case of Hurricane Florence, potential flooding from storm surge will be compounded by rainfall. </p><p>Since the storm is predicted to linger over the Carolinas, it could dump up to 40 inches of rain in some areas. <span>Even places as far inland as Charlotte and Raleigh could get between 6 and 10 inches of rain.</span></p><p><span><em><strong>Read More: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-prepare-for-a-hurricane-2018-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The 14 most important things you should do to prepare for a hurricane</a></em></span></p><p><span>Rain runoff from land and rivers combines with the storm surge in coastal inlets, exacerbating flood problems. </span></p><p><span>The trend of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-track-evacuations-2018-9">sluggish hurricanes</a> with high flood risk - like last year's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricanes-moving-more-slowly-causing-more-damage-2018-6">Hurricane Harvey</a> - might represent a new normal. Recent research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that storms slowed by an average of 10% between 1949 and 2016, making storm surges and the associated flooding more costly and disastrous. </span></p><p>On top of all this is sea-level rise, which increases the flood risk from hurricanes. In 2010, scientists from the Coastal Resources Commission wrote <a href="https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/coastal-management/coastal-resources-commission">a report</a> that showed the sea level on North Carolina's coast could rise by 39 inches by 2100.</p><p>North Carolina legislators voted to ban the use of the report for policy and planning purposes, according to <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article218287205.html">The Raleigh News &amp; Observer</a>, since they feared it would affect coastal property values.</p><h2>Read more of Business Insider's hurricane coverage:</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-why-so-much-rain-2018-9">Hurricane Florence could dump up to 40 inches of rain on parts of the Carolinas - here's why the deluge may be so intense</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-astronaut-photos-storm-space-2018-9">'Watch out, America!': Astronauts in space photographed Hurricane Florence, and they say the view is 'chilling'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-livestream-conditions-beach-cams-north-south-carolina-2018-9">Watch storm conditions on these livestreams of North and South Carolina beaches in Hurricane Florence's path</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-eerie-photos-carolina-coasts-before-hurricane-2018-9">Eerie photos show empty supermarket shelves and desolate streets before Hurricane Florence hits</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-hurricane-damage-as-measured-by-saffir-simpson-scale-2017-8">Hurricane Florence is a Category 2 storm - here's what those labels really mean</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-prepare-for-a-hurricane-2018-9">The 14 most important things you should do to prepare for a hurricane</a></li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-humans-still-evolving-2018-8">3 surprising ways humans are still evolving</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/cDbxjCAo-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Hurricane Florence could bring a wall of water up to 11 feet high -&#160;here's what a storm surge is and why it forms

<p><div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/527e994aecad04cc33c7d829-1200-924/india-mars-mission-2.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="India Mars Mission" width="480" /><p class="source">AP</p><p class="caption">A rocket carrying the Mars orbiter takes off from the east-coast island of Sriharikota, <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. </p></div></div>ON NOVEMBER 5th, India's <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> organisation, ISRO, launced a rocket carrying a small, unmanned spacecraft, the Mangalyaan ("Mars vehicle"). By the end of the month, the orbiter is set to stretch its solar wings and begin a <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21588945-boldly-go-china-mind-red-planet-red-rival">nine-month trip to Mars</a>. Officially, it will look for signs of methane on Earth's neighbour. In fact the main concern is rivalry closer to home: to show that India's space plans are not entirely outclassed by China's. A successful mission would swell national pride. But as the Mangalyaan begins its journey, many might wonder how a country that cannot feed all of its people can find the money for a Mars mission. How can poor countries afford space programmes?</p>
<p>India is not the only emerging economy with space ambitions. Nigeria already has a handful of satellites floating around the Earth (though these were launched by others). Depending how you define a space programme, even minnows like Sri Lanka, Bolivia and Belarus have plans of some sort to get space activity under way. By one count, including co-operative efforts between countries but not fully private ones, there are currently over 70 space programmes, though only a dozen of these have any sort of launch capability. China's programme is advanced: last year it <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/06/chinas-space-programme%20">put a woman in space</a>, and in December it will launch its <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21586805-international-astronautical-congress-meeting-beijing-what-exactly">first (uncrewed) lunar mission</a>. </p>
<p>From a distance, India's extra-terrestrial ambitions might seem like a waste of money. The country still has immense numbers of poor people: two-fifths of its children remain stunted from malnutrition and half the population lack proper toilets. Its Mars mission may be cheap by American (or Chinese) standards, at just $74m, but India's overall space programme costs roughly $1 billion a year. That is more than spare change, even for a near $2-trillion economy. Meanwhile, spending on public health, at about 1.2% of GDP, is dismally low. What if the 16,000 scientists and engineers now working on space development were deployed instead to fix rotten sanitation? And why should donors bother to help tackle poverty where governments have enough spare resources to think about space? For some countries, at least, decent answers exist to such questions. Trips to the Moon and Mars may well be mostly about showing off. But most space programmes are designed to get satellites into Earth's orbit for the sake of better communications, mapping, weather observation or military capacity at home. These bring direct benefits to ordinary people. Take one recent example: a fierce cyclone that hit India's east coast last month killed few, whereas a similar-strength one in the same spot, in 1999, killed over 10,000. One reason for the improvement was that Indian weather satellites helped to make possible far more accurate predictions of where and when the storm would hit. Otherwise, improved data on monsoon rains, or generally shifting weather patterns, can help even the poorest farmers have a better idea of when to plant crops.</p>
<p>Donors may not be mollified (Britain, for example, is winding down its aid to India). But any aid programme has to be justified in the face of other waste, which can be far costlier than space programmes. A bigger problem in India, for example, is that pitifully few people pay tax, partly because so few have formal jobs. As an emerging middle-income country, India should easily have the means to pay for proper public health, as well as the odd jaunt into space. The pity of it all: it does neither as well as it could.</p>

THE ECONOMIST EXPLAINS: How Poor Countries Afford Space Programs

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542ee120eab8ea655b5c0cbc-1200-800/rtx10xre.jpg" border="0" alt="Muslim students wear pollution masks Indonesia"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Beawiharta</span></p><p class="caption">Students wearing masks in the haze-hit Dumai in Sumatra, Indonesia. Smoke from land-clearing fires pushes air pollution above the level considered hazardous.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>By midcentury, an emerging public health problem will alter the way we eat, the way we travel, and the places we live. It will also make us more susceptible to mental illnesses like anxiety and depression while exacerbating allergies and increasing the reaches of the world's most infectious diseases.</p>
<p>It's climate change, and it's happening so fast it's prompted the BMJ to write a letter to the World Health Organization <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5945">urging them to declare</a> the phenomenon a public health emergency.</p>
<p>"Deaths from Ebola infection, tragic and frightening though they are, will pale into insignificance when compared with the mayhem we we can expect for our children and grandchildren if the world does nothing to check its carbon emissions," <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5945">wrote BMJ editor Fiona Godlee</a> in the editorial.</p>
<p>Here's a look at some of the conditions that will plague the next generation in a warmer world.</p>
<h2>1. Anxiety and PTSD</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542c662ceab8eaf427ed1d55-1200-800/ap560245317289.jpg" border="0" alt="AP560245317289"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">Young Sino and his daughter Demarri Warren participate in a remembrance event along the Industrial Canal flood wall, seen in background, in the Lower 9th Ward section of New Orleans, on the ninth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Aug. 29, 2014.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>In 2006, a team of psychologists <a href="http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=482512">visited</a> thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina - six months after the original event. They diagnosed nearly half of the residents they visited with a serious anxiety disorder. One in six, the doctors said, had PTSD, and many suffered from both illnesses. Over time, these disorders can lead to suicidal thoughts and, in some cases, suicidal behaviors.</p>
<p>In 2008, mental health workers returned to New Orleans. To their surprise, the number of people regularly contemplating suicide hadn't fallen (as is usually the case after a natural disaster). On the contrary, the number of suicidal residents <a href="http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v13/n4/full/4002119a.html">had risen significantly</a>, along with the number of people with serious mental illness. Even in 2009, the number of suicides in New Orleans Parish <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129482180">remained double</a> its pre-Katrina levels.</p>
<p>Because cases of mental illness and suicidal behavior increased in general in the years after the recession, which happened to coincide with the occurrence of Hurricane Katrina, it's impossible to pinpoint Katrina as the sole driving force behind the huge uptick in mental illness here.</p>
<p>However, the pattern of increases in depression and anxiety after any severe natural disaster is well documented: The mental health infrastructure in Haiti <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335115/">nearly collapsed</a> in the wake of the 2012 earthquake there; Typhoon Haiyan, the <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140122-noaa-extreme-weather-2013-climate-change-drought/">strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded</a> to hit land, <a href="http://wfpusa.org/blog/post-typhoon-trauma-and-recovery-one-psychologists-experience-philippines">led to a spike</a> in incidences of post-traumatic stress disorder among victims in the Philippines; and the 2011 East African drought in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia <a href="http://www.who.int/diseasecontrol_emergencies/publications/who_hse_gar_dce_2011_3.pdf">caused existing psychosocial support networks in the region to crumble</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Heat Stroke - but not for the reason you'd think</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542c67e8ecad04f37829cd33-1200-800/ap418888794114.jpg" border="0" alt="AP418888794114"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">A woman in Las Vegas wipes her face with a cold wet towel to cool off while working outside holding an advertising sign. The heat kills at least 2,000 Americans each year.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Having a psychiatric illness like depression can more than <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/11339/">triple</a> your risk of dying during a heat wave.</p>
<p>First, depression can make it harder to take the necessary steps to protect oneself from changes in the environment. People with depression already experience difficulties with <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08964289.2012.708682#.VCxzsyldVg8">self-care</a>, such as staying hydrated, maintaining personal hygiene, and taking their medications consistently. High temperatures can make these activities especially taxing.</p>
<p>Worse still, people who take medications to treat mental illness are especially susceptible to heat stroke, a serious condition that results when the body overheats, because many mental health medications <a href="http://dwb.unl.edu/teacher/nsf/c01/c01links/www.science.mcmaster.ca/biology/4s03/thermoregulation.html:">interfere with our body's natural ability to regulate its temperature</a>. Antipsychotics like Abilify and Risperdone, for example, block brain cells from communicating with the body's thermostat, the hypothalamus. Anticholinergics, such as Cogentin and Enablex, inhibit sweating and make it easier to overheat.</p>
<h2>3. Respiratory Disorders</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53a8827169bedd71519abc73-1200-750/ap648236694590.jpg" border="0" alt="New Delhi smog"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/ Manish Swarup</span></p><p class="caption">Traffic moves in front of the landmark India Gate monument enveloped by a blanket of smog, caused by a mixture of pollution and fog, in New Delhi, India</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Ever wonder why smog always seems so much worse on a hot, sunny day? Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. The chemical reactions that form <a href="http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone/health.html">ozone</a> - one of smog's main components - happen faster at higher temperatures.</p>
<p>The warmer it is outside, the more ozone gums up the air. Ozone doesn't just dirty the horizon, though. The toxin also exacerbates a host of respiratory conditions (from asthma to bronchitis and emphysema) by irritating the delicate tissue lining the lungs.</p>
<p>In recent years in some parts of the US, ground-level ozone has reached <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/7/2866">dangerous levels</a>. Overall, though, the US is a partial success story for the pollutant: Ozone levels <a href="http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/ozone.html">started to decline</a> for the first time here in the 1980s.</p>
<p>Ozone levels are still on the rise in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060930/abstract">other parts of the world</a>, however, leading to more complications and even deaths from respiratory conditions that could have previously been treated. In India, levels of the pollutant were so high in 2014 that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060930/abstract">scientists estimated it killed enough crops</a> to feed close to 100 million people in poverty.</p>
<h2>4. Infectious Diseases</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542ec657eab8ea9e4e5c0cba-1200-800/2048px-anopheles_albimanus_mosquito.jpg" border="0" alt="Anopheles_albimanus_mosquito"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anopheles_albimanus_mosquito.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></p><p class="caption">Female Anopheles albimanus mosquito feeding on a human host</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Increased heat will expand the range of pests carrying deadly disease. In the past few years, mosquitoes carrying malaria (which <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/">killed</a> 630,000 people last year) <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/06/us-malaria-climate-idUSBREA251V620140306">have already begun</a> creeping up mountains to recently-warmed, higher-altitude elevations, where they spread malaria to areas never previously exposed to the disease.</p>
<p>Since they've never been exposed before, people living in these areas will have zero protective immunity from the disease. The result? Malaria will be deadlier than ever.</p>
<p>Mosquitoes, which thrive in warmer climates, also carry diseases like <a href="http://www.oxitec.com/oxitec-video/dengue-fever-a-growing-problem/">dengue</a> and <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs100/en/">yellow fever</a>, which collectively kill more than 50,000 people each year. As temperatures rise, <a href="http://agadapt.ucdavis.edu/pestsdiseases/">more and more areas around the globe</a> will become increasingly hospitable to the pests.</p>
<p>Bacteria, too, will take advantage of their newly-welcoming habitats.</p>
<p>Vibrio cholerae, the comma-shaped bacteria responsible for cholera, prefers to nest in warm, coastal seawaters. As recently as last year, however, the bacteria were <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3863721/">discovered</a> floating in usually cooler Baltic Sea that separates Central and Northern Europe. Cholera now <a href="http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/en/">kills between 100,000 and 130,000 people</a> worldwide each year, almost entirely in <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/">areas where there is a lack of clean water</a>. Warming waters means that the bacteria can live longer and spread to more locations. At one site in Bangladesh, cholera risk rose <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/news/speeches/colwell/rc040214aaascholera.htm">two to four fold in the six weeks after a 9-degree Fahrenheit spike</a> in water temperature?.</p>
<h2>5. Starvation</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="WFP" title_caption="Climate change will make it harder for everyone to grow and access food." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542d5ce46da811eb36701309-960/screen shot 2014-10-02 at 10.09.22 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542d5ce46da811eb36701309-1620-846/screen shot 2014-10-02 at 10.09.22 am.png" border="0" alt="WFP global hunger climate change" /></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp229182.pdf">WFP</a></span></p><p class="caption">Climate change will make it harder for everyone to grow and access food.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Climate change is projected to drive down global food production by <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/report/">2% every ten years</a>, even as the demand for food increases by 14%. Across Africa and South Asia - regions where much of the world's food is produced - yields of wheat, corn, and millet will fall nearly 10% by mid-century. As a result of this rocky imbalance, the price of rice and corn will skyrocket, likely <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1909928">doubling by 2050</a>.</p>
<p>With the <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/4/044003/article">exception of a few</a>, the majority of the world's crops will be ravaged by the new pests and diseases that take advantage of warmer temperatures.</p>
<h2>6. Dehydration</h2>
<p>Water scarcity is another emerging threat. Severe droughts have already begun plaguing the west coast of the US. In Tulare County, south of Sacramento, Calif., the board of supervisors has <a href="http://tularecounty.ca.gov/county/index.cfm/county-news/county-proclaims-local-emergency-due-to-drought/">declared a state of emergency</a>. People can't flush toilets, wash clothes, fill cups, or bathe <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/us/california-drought-tulare-county.html">without buckets of bottled water that are driven in</a> from elsewhere.</p>
<p>In other parts of the world, where crops that feed the rest of the globe depend on a steady stream of slowly-melting glacier water, water scarcity is an even more serious problem. The Himalayan glacier, for example, presently supplies 25% of the world's cereal crop. If it melts too quickly, however - as some estimates <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/climate-change-melting-glaciers-bring-energy-uncertainty-1.14031">suggest</a> it has already begun doing - it will become nearly <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3059.2010.02411.x/abstract">impossible</a> to meet the needs of a growing, hungrier planet.</p>

There's A 'Public Health Emergency' That Is Way More Threatening Than Ebola, And No One's Addressing It

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/527cb28969bedd0e3b659926-899-674/nasa-haiyan-1.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="nasa haiyan" width="480" /><p class="source">NASA</p></div><p></p></div>MANILA, <keyword id="3750" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Philippines">Philippines</keyword> (AP) - The strongest <keyword id="46590" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Typhoon">typhoon</keyword> this year slammed into the Philippines on Friday, setting off landslides, knocking out power in several provinces and cutting communications in the country's central region of island provinces. Four people died.</p>
<p>Telephone lines appeared down as it was difficult to get through to the landfall site 650 kilometers (405 miles) southeast of Manila where Typhoon Haiyan - one of the strongest typhoons ever - slammed into the southern tip of Samar island before barreling on to Leyte Island.</p>
<p>Two people were electrocuted in storm-related accidents, one person was killed by a fallen tree and another was struck by lightning, official reports said.</p>
<p>Close to 720,000 people had been evacuated from towns and villages in the typhoon's path across the central Philippines, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. Among them were thousands of residents of Bohol who had been camped in tents and other makeshift shelters after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit the island province last month.</p>
<p>Southern Leyte Gov. Roger Mercado said 31,000 people were evacuated in his landslide-prone mountainous province before the super typhoon struck, knocking out power, setting off small landslides that blocked roads in rural areas, uprooting trees and ripping roofs off houses around his residence.</p>
<p>The dense clouds and heavy rains made the day seem almost as dark as night, he said.</p>
<p>"When you're faced with such a scenario, you can only pray, and pray and pray," Mercado told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that his town mayors have not called in to report any major damage.</p>
<p>"I hope that means they were spared and not the other way around," he said. "My worst fear is there will be many massive loss of lives and property."</p>
<p>Television images from Tacloban city on Leyte Island showed a street under knee-deep floodwater carrying debris that had been blown down by the fierce winds. Tin roofing sheets ripped from buildings were flying above the street.</p>
<p>Visibility was so poor that only the silhouette of a local reporter could be seen through the driving rain.</p>
<p>Weather officials said that Haiyan had sustained winds at 235 kilometers (147 miles) per hour, with gusts of 275 kph (170 mph) when it made landfall. That makes it the strongest typhoon this year, said Aldczar Aurelio of the government's weather bureau.</p>
<p>Gener Quitlong, another weather forecaster, said the typhoon was not losing much of its strength because there is no large land mass to slow it down since the region is comprised of islands with no tall mountains.</p>
<p>The typhoon - the 24th serious storm to hit the Philippines this year - is forecast to blow toward the South China Sea on Saturday, heading toward Vietnam.</p>
<p>Jeff Masters, a former hurricane meteorologist who is meteorology director at the private firm Weather Underground, said the storm had been poised to be the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded at landfall. He warned of "catastrophic damage."</p>
<p>But he said the Philippines might get a small break because the storm is so fast moving that flooding from heavy rains - usually the cause of most deaths from typhoons in the Philippines - may not be as bad.</p>
<p>As it approached the Philippines, the storm was one of the strongest on record.</p>
<p>The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center said shortly before the typhoon made landfall that its maximum sustained winds were 314 kilometers per hour (195 mph), with gusts up to 379 kilometers per hour (235 mph). Those measurements are different than local weather data because the U.S. Navy center measures the average wind speed for 1 minute while local forecasters measure average for 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Hurricane Camille, a 1969 storm, had wind speeds that reached 305 kph (190 mph) at landfall in the United States, Masters said.</p>
<p>Officials in Cebu province have shut down electric service to the northern part of the province to avoid electrocutions in case power pylons are toppled, said assistant regional civil defense chief Flor Gaviola.</p>
<p>President Benigno Aquino III assured the public of war-like preparations, with three C-130 air force cargo planes and 32 military helicopters and planes on standby, along with 20 navy ships.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.</p>
<div class="nc_footer">
<p>Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</p>
</div>
<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="http://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT03Zjc5N2E4ZmUyOWE1MmQyYjRiZTQyYzVkNjA5N2NhOCZvd25lcj1lOTllZDJiYjAxYjQzNmJkZWEyOWQ2NjAyYTg2NTY4NSZub25jZT0zY2FhNzI1OC00NTNlLTRkNzctODM2OC01NjdkMWVlNTUyNTkmcHVibGlzaGVyPThjMDBmYmVlNjFkNWJjZjBjNjA5MmQ4YjkyZWJiY2Ex" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p>

Super Typhoon Haiyan Slams The Philippines - Over 700,000 People Forced To Evacuate 

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542ee120eab8ea655b5c0cbc-1200-800/rtx10xre.jpg" border="0" alt="Muslim students wear pollution masks Indonesia"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Beawiharta</span></p><p class="caption">Students wearing masks in the haze-hit Dumai in Sumatra, Indonesia. Smoke from land-clearing fires pushes air pollution above the level considered hazardous.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>A warmer world will change how we eat, how we travel, and where we live. What far fewer of us have considered is how dramatically climate change will alter the way we die.</p>
<p>Even after we adjust our lifestyles to accommodate a less hospitable planet, harsher conditions mean that far more of us can expect to develop mental illnesses, suffer from severe allergies, and contract infectious diseases. Many of us - our children or grandchildren - won't survive.</p>
<p>The BMJ <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5945">urged the World Health Organization</a> this week to declare climate change a public health emergency. "Deaths from Ebola infection, tragic and frightening though they are, will pale into insignificance when compared with the mayhem we we can expect for our children and grandchildren if the world does nothing to check its carbon emissions," <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5945">wrote BMJ editor Fiona Godlee in the editorial</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this week, the BMJ <a href="http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/october/climateanalysis.pdf">published a paper</a> intended to educate doctors on the basic <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> of climate change, in an effort to prepare them to treat the worsening conflagration of conditions and diseases that will become far more common in a warmer world. The new dilemmas that don't kill us will still, in many cases, make daily life more uncomfortable, whether we are contending with <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1480488/">a longer</a> <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17195993">allergy season</a>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/28/climate-change-bad-expensive-coffee-ipcc">foods that are suddenly</a> <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/08/climate-change-ruining-your-breakfast">out of reach</a>, or a host of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/effects-of-climate-change-2014-6">environmental catastrophes</a>.</p>
<p>But some of the most memorable effects of climate change will be the most personal, those that change not only how we live but how we die. These are some of the most surprising health challenges we'll face.</p>
<h2><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">1. Anxiety and PTSD</strong></h2>
<p>In the days and weeks after a wildfire consumes your home or a flood destroys your neighborhood, it's common to experience temporary periods of anxiety, depression, and stress. Depending on the nature and severity of the disaster, however, those feelings can linger for years. In the past five decades, <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/images/uploads/IPCC_SREX_fact_sheet.pdf">human-induced climate change has fueled</a> increases in the number of heavy rains, prolonged periods of excessively high temperatures, and in some regions, severe flooding and droughts. In the US, those changes <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/images/uploads/IPCC_SREX_fact_sheet.pdf">have been felt</a> as heat waves, hurricanes, and heavy winter storms.</p>
<p>In 2006, a team of psychologists <a href="http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=482512">visited</a> thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina - six months after the original event. They diagnosed nearly half of the residents they visited with a serious anxiety disorder. One in six, the doctors said, had post-traumatic stress disorder, and many suffered from both illnesses. Over time, these disorders can lead to suicidal thoughts and, in some cases, suicidal behaviors.</p>
<p>In the years after Hurricane Katrina, scientists assumed people would gradually recover and their symptoms would disappear (as is usually the case for natural disasters). But something strange happened. As time passed, more and more people showed signs of mental illness. More troubling still, more began to contemplate or attempt suicide.</p>
<p>In 2008, mental health workers returned to New Orleans. To their surprise, the number of people regularly contemplating suicide <a href="http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v13/n4/full/4002119a.html">had risen significantly</a>, as had the number of people with diagnosable serious mental illness. Even in 2009, the number of suicides in New Orleans Parish <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129482180">remained double</a> its pre-Katrina levels.</p>
<p>Because cases of mental illness and suicidal behavior increased in general in the years after the recession, which happened to coincide with the occurrence of Hurricane Katrina, it's impossible to pinpoint Katrina as the sole driving force behind the huge uptick in mental illness here. However, the pattern of increases in depression and anxiety after any severe natural disaster is well documented: The mental health infrastructure in Haiti <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335115/">nearly collapsed</a> in the wake of the 2012 earthquake there; Typhoon Haiyan, the <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140122-noaa-extreme-weather-2013-climate-change-drought/">strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded</a> to hit land, <a href="http://wfpusa.org/blog/post-typhoon-trauma-and-recovery-one-psychologists-experience-philippines">led to a spike</a> in incidences of post-traumatic stress disorder among victims in the Philippines; and the 2011 East African drought in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia <a href="http://www.who.int/diseasecontrol_emergencies/publications/who_hse_gar_dce_2011_3.pdf">caused existing psychosocial support networks in the region to crumble</a>.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542c662ceab8eaf427ed1d55-1200-800/ap560245317289.jpg" border="0" alt="AP560245317289"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">Young Sino and his daughter Demarri Warren participate in a remembrance event along the Industrial Canal flood wall, seen in background, in the Lower 9th Ward section of New Orleans, on the ninth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Aug. 29, 2014.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2>2. <strong>Heat Stroke - but not for the reason you'd think</strong></h2>
<p>Having a psychiatric illness like depression can more than <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/11339/">triple</a> your risk of dying during a heat wave.</p>
<p class="p2">First, depression can make it harder to take the necessary steps to protect oneself from changes in the environment. People with depression already experience difficulties with <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08964289.2012.708682#.VCxzsyldVg8">self-care</a>, such as staying hydrated, maintaining personal hygiene, and taking their medications consistently. High temperatures can make these activities especially taxing.</p>
<p class="p2">Worse still, people who take medications to treat mental illness are especially susceptible to heat stroke, a serious condition that results when the body overheats, because many mental health medications <a href="http://dwb.unl.edu/teacher/nsf/c01/c01links/www.science.mcmaster.ca/biology/4s03/thermoregulation.html:">interfere with our body's natural ability to regulate its temperature</a>. Antipsychotics like Abilify and Risperdone, for example, block brain cells from communicating with the body's thermostat, the hypothalamus. Anticholinergics, such as Cogentin and Enablex, inhibit sweating and make it easier to overheat.</p>
<p class="p2"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542c67e8ecad04f37829cd33-1200-800/ap418888794114.jpg" border="0" alt="AP418888794114"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">A woman in Las Vegas wipes her face with a cold wet towel to cool off while working outside holding an advertising sign. The heat kills at least 2,000 Americans each year.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2 class="p2">3.<strong style="font-size: 1.17em;"> Infectious Diseases</strong></h2>
<p>Increased heat will expand the range of pests carrying deadly disease. In the past few years, mosquitoes carrying malaria <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/06/us-malaria-climate-idUSBREA251V620140306">have already begun</a> creeping up mountains to recently-warmed, higher-altitude elevations, where they spread malaria to areas never previously exposed to the disease.</p>
<p>Since they've never been exposed before, people living in these areas will have zero protective immunity from the disease. As a result, malaria will be deadlier than ever.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/">2013</a>, malaria infected more than 200 million people, killing about 630,000 (mostly in sub-Saharan Africa). Those numbers will likely rise quickly as areas close to the equator bear the brunt of the rise in heat.</p>
<p>Mosquitoes, which thrive in warmer climates, also carry diseases like <a href="http://www.oxitec.com/oxitec-video/dengue-fever-a-growing-problem/">dengue</a> and <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs100/en/">yellow fever</a>, which collectively kill more than 50,000 people each year. As temperatures rise, <a href="http://agadapt.ucdavis.edu/pestsdiseases/">more and more areas around the globe</a> will become increasingly hospitable to the pests.</p>
<p>Bacteria, too, will take advantage of their newly-welcoming habitats.</p>
<p><em>Vibrio cholerae</em>, the comma-shaped bacteria responsible for cholera, prefers to nest in warm, coastal seawaters. As recently as last year, however, the bacteria were <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3863721/">discovered</a> floating in usually cooler Baltic Sea that separates Central and Northern Europe. Cholera now <a href="http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/en/">kills between 100,000 and 130,000 people</a> worldwide each year, almost entirely in <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/">areas where there is a lack of clean water</a>. Warming waters means that the bacteria can live longer and spread to more locations. At one site in Bangladesh, cholera risk rose <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/news/speeches/colwell/rc040214aaascholera.htm" target="_blank" title="">two to four fold in the six weeks after a 9-degree Fahrenheit spike</a> in water temperature?.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542ec657eab8ea9e4e5c0cba-1200-800/2048px-anopheles_albimanus_mosquito.jpg" border="0" alt="Anopheles_albimanus_mosquito"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anopheles_albimanus_mosquito.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></p><p class="caption">Female Anopheles albimanus mosquito feeding on a human host</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2>4. <strong>Starvation</strong></h2>
<p>Climate change is projected to drive down global food production by <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/report/">2% every ten years</a>, even as the demand for food increases by 14%. Across Africa and South Asia - regions where much of the world's food is produced - yields of wheat, corn, and millet will fall nearly 10% by mid-century. As a result of this rocky imbalance, the price of rice and corn will skyrocket, likely <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1909928">doubling by 2050</a>.</p>
<p>With the <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/4/044003/article">exception of a few</a>, the majority of the world's crops will be ravaged by the new pests and diseases that take advantage of warmer temperatures.</p>
<p>Water scarcity is another emerging threat. Severe droughts have already begun plaguing the west coast of the US. In Tulare County, just north of Sacramento, Calif., the board of supervisors has <a href="http://tularecounty.ca.gov/county/index.cfm/county-news/county-proclaims-local-emergency-due-to-drought/">declared a state of emergency</a>. People can't flush toilets, wash clothes, fill cups, or bathe <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/us/california-drought-tulare-county.html">without buckets of bottled water that are driven in</a> from elsewhere.</p>
<p>In other parts of the world, where crops that feed the rest of the globe depend on a steady stream of slowly-melting glacier water, water scarcity is an even more serious problem. The Himalayan glacier, for example, presently supplies 25% of the world's cereal crop. If it melts too quickly, however - as some estimates <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/climate-change-melting-glaciers-bring-energy-uncertainty-1.14031">suggest</a> it has already begun doing - it will become nearly <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3059.2010.02411.x/abstract">impossible</a> to meet the needs of a growing, hungrier planet.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="WFP" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542d5ce46da811eb36701309-960/screen shot 2014-10-02 at 10.09.22 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542d5ce46da811eb36701309-1620-846/screen shot 2014-10-02 at 10.09.22 am.png" border="0" alt="WFP global hunger climate change" /></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp229182.pdf">WFP</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></h3>
<h2>5. <strong>Respiratory Disorders</strong></h2>
<p>Ever wonder why smog always seems so much worse on a hot, sunny day? Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. The chemical reactions that form <a href="http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone/health.html">ozone</a> - one of smog's main components - happen faster at higher temperatures.</p>
<p>The warmer it is outside, the more ozone gums up the air. Ozone doesn't just dirty the horizon, though. The toxin also exacerbates a host of respiratory conditions (from asthma to bronchitis and emphysema) by irritating the delicate tissue lining the lungs.</p>
<p>In recent years in some parts of the US, ground-level ozone has reached <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/7/2866">dangerous levels</a>. Overall, though, the US is a partial success story for the pollutant: Ozone levels <a href="http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/ozone.html">started to decline</a> for the first time here in the 1980s.</p>
<p>Ozone levels are still on the rise in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060930/abstract">other parts of the world</a>, however, leading to more complications and even deaths from respiratory conditions that could have previously been treated. In India, levels of the pollutant were so high in 2014 that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060930/abstract">scientists estimated it killed enough crops</a> to feed close to 100 million people in poverty.</p>
<p>Already, 43 million Americans live in <a href="http://www.epa.gov/airquality/greenbook/popexp.html">counties that exceed the EPA's health standards</a> for a certain type of pollution produced by burning fossil fuels called particulate matter.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.epa.gov/pm/">Particulate matter</a> consists of tiny particles so small that <a href="http://www.epa.gov/pm/graphics/pm2_5_graphic.jpg">several thousand could fit</a> on the period at the end of this sentence. The particles travel deep into the lungs, where they make breathing difficult, and irritate the eyes, nose, and throat. Particulates also damage blood vessels, <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/121-a282/">worsening heart disease</a>. Even short-term exposure to particulate matter has been <a href="http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Planning-and-Research/Particulate-Matter.aspx">linked</a> with heart attack, decreased lung function, and premature death.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53a8827169bedd71519abc73-1200-750/ap648236694590.jpg" border="0" alt="New Delhi smog"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/ Manish Swarup</span></p><p class="caption">Traffic moves in front of the landmark India Gate monument enveloped by a blanket of smog, caused by a mixture of pollution and fog, in New Delhi, India</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>

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