South of
Donald Trump's
weekend retreat
in Florida,
the residents
and businesses
of south Florida
are experiencing
regular episodes
of water in the
streets.
Ask nearly anyone
in the Miami area
about flooding and
they’ll have an
anecdote to share.
It is happening
more frequently.
Sea levels
have been rising
around the world
for 20,000 years.
There has been
a mean rise of
a little more than
3mm per year
worldwide
since the 1990s.
But in the last decade,
the NOAA Virginia Key
tide gauge just south
of Miami Beach
has measured a
9mm rise annually.
Most of Miami Beach’s
built environment
sits at an elevation of
only 60-120cm (2-6ft).
Underground aquifers
and septic tanks
are even closer to
the water table.
The tide gauge
at Virginia Key,
just outside Miami,
has a long term rate
of sea level rise of
2.92mm/yr,
a rise rate that has
been accelerating
in recent decades:
Virginia Key data
only go back to 1931.
Fernandina Beach, just up
the Florida coast, has data
going back to 1897, that
tell a different story:
The overall rate
of rise there
is less scary
at 2.15mm/yr,
and
is no higher
than it was
in the first half
of the 20th
century.
If we focus on
the most recent
50-year trends,
we see that
Virginia is running
at 3.52mm/yr,
but Fernandina
is lower. at 2.77mm.
There is
no evidence
that Florida
will see up to
81 inches
of sea level
rise by 2100,
as climate
alarmists
hysterically
report.
Based on the
current trends,
a figure of about
8 inches is more
likely.