This thread is just to post interesting news, thoughts, opinions about climate change.
The US West could certainly use a more normal distribution of precipitation. Things are getting rough there, including the flooding atmospheric rivers (is the recent one still going?).
We drove through that river on the way from LA to Seattle. Totally normal weather, then weird dark stripe is visible, we realize its a WALL of rain and the visibility drops to nearly nothing. Within 2 minutes we were on the other side it was fine again. Luckily no flooding of the highway.
I drove from SF to LA in 1998, I think it was, and on the second day - stopped in Pismo Beach because it was the weekend and I wanted to sight-see - as I approached LA, the rain became absolutely torrential. I learned that LA drivers are extremely dangerous in hydro-planing conditions. At one point on I-5, I think it was, where it was quite wide, a guy drove off a downhill on-ramp at about 60 (everyone was doing around 35-40), lost control as he came up on my right, started a counter-clockwise spin that had him cross my lane about 3 feet in front of my car *facing* me, at speed. He finished his spin in the breakdown lane, literally bounced full-length off the divider - and pulled into the fast lane and just kept going. He missed about 5 cars in this process.
The rain was amazing.
I know the drivers everywhere are terrible and 'the city with the worst drivers' is whichever one you're driving in right now, but... We ran into more idiot drivers per minute in LA than I have in decades.
Yeah, the experience we've had with consecutive La Nina patterns this decade on the eastern side of the Pacific has been multiple "once in 100/1000 year" floods.
So if anything, it may be reasonable to assume a similar trend will occur should the warm water body park itself off the US west coast. But the ENSO can remain in neutral cycle for years at a time, and it could even slip back to what it was previously.
The hope however is that if it remains in neutral cycle it will bring benefits to the west Pacific without necessarily bringing excess precipitation; likewise for Australia, it will let our ecological systems absorb the last few years of heavy rainfall. Too much rain, as it turns out, can be problematic for water systems as the biomass increases and reduces oxygen levels in the water.
I know the drivers everywhere are terrible and 'the city with the worst drivers' is whichever one you're driving in right now, but... We ran into more idiot drivers per minute in LA than I have in decades.
Listen, I work in Manhattan and until I see video evidence, Miami still has the crown there. They're idiots and they're all on bath salts.
I am glad we have USA Today doing in depth reporting to get the answers
Are California's storms normal? Or are they linked to climate change?
Then the "answer" is buried under a lot of dancing around the issue...
However, climate scientists are clear that overall, the state's weather is becoming more variable and more intense, which is very much a long-predicted effect of global warming.
"Climate change today has probably already doubled the risk of an extremely severe storm sequence in California," Swain said. "That risk has increased quietly in the background during a period of extreme drought."
Come to the DC area, Prederick. Florida drivers are known here for being meek and easy to intimidate. 
Boston apparently has the worst drivers.
As for LA drivers, at least they know how to merge onto the highway at speed and honk the crap off the road 2 cars driving side by side at 50 blocking traffic for miles.
Boston drivers are skilled and aggressive, but more importantly, they have the US's most screwed up large city road layout to play with. Very easy to take a wrong turn and end up the wrong way on a one-way street, or suddenly find yourself on a highway whisking you away from wherever you wanted to be.
I had a friend watch a guy get most of the way down a one-way street the wrong way, as a rush hour shortcut. Just as he gets near the end of the block, a police car turned in the right way. Dude honked and the cop *backed up* into traffic and let him by...
Boston drivers are skilled and aggressive, but more importantly, they have the US's most screwed up large city road layout to play with.
See, I know Boston's bad but I will never forgive DC for when I drove down to see a friend and he told me which street he lived on and I had to say "which one?"
Yeah, but it's all intersecting lines and circles, without drunken cow streets wandering through the grid. Still, I stay off the DC streets. I drive to a Metro station and ride in. I admit it.
I have lived in Atlanta, NJ / NYC, Baltimore (lot of time in DC), Boston, and a few more not-as-big cities across the Midwest and South, and traveled a lot to Chicago. Of all those places I have spent a lot of time driving in, Boston definitely has the worst drivers. It is a crazy combination of both stupid / carelessness and ultra aggression.
I haven't driven much on the west coast / California so I can't compare to there.
oof I did not mean to start a bad drivers of the US rathole. We are all terrible all the time even though we always think we're better (on average, we're average) Lets get back to climate disaster 
Having just moved across a city a year ago, it's not "drivers in this city are like X", it's "drivers in this NEIGHBORHOOD are like X".
Driving style and unwritten rules of the road in old neighborhood vs new neighborhood are TOTALLY different.
oof I did not mean to start a bad drivers of the US rathole. We are all terrible all the time even though we always think we're better (on average, we're average) Lets get back to climate disaster :P
Nah, "who has the worst drivers" is always a entertaining, brief distraction. I do wish we had a little bit more of an international audience here though, because someone from Italy (or anywhere in the Asian subcontinent) would be able to dunk us all into oblivion.
...although, to be fair, there's an order to their terrifying insanity.
Back on topic, however...
All of us are, of course, above average drivers with blameless attitudes.
Pred, I've been wondering for a few years now why anyone moves to the West. Or any coast, or Florida. Just makes no long-term sense to me. Unless you're renting; then you can get out any time. But the idea that you could move to any of those places and actually sell your property for more money in 50 years is... Bizarre. What will you leave your kids?
Unless you've got one of those Damnation Alley modified Strykers ready to go in your underground bunker. Then it's full steam ahead.
The only time I've come close to getting car sick was in Boston from a cabby who seemingly only knew how stomp on the either the gas or the brake with all his might.
Worst taxi driver I ever had was in NYC in 1984. I had a big, heavy, hard case electric typewriter with me. He put in the trunk, joking about how heavy "your computer" was. He kept asking about "your computer", I was like, no, electric typewriter.
He expected me to get out before he pulled my stuff out of the trunk, I was like, noooo, that's not how it works bucko...
I honestly think he was going to drive off with my typewriter and 3 months work tucked into the case, thinking he'd come into a fortune with this ignorant kid.
I do have to say, though, the "Black Car" drivers in NYC are some of the best to deal with after a long, stressful day. On the whole, they take care of their customers. If they are still a thing, I guess...
Pred, I've been wondering for a few years now why anyone moves to the West. Or any coast, or Florida. Just makes no long-term sense to me. Unless you're renting; then you can get out any time. But the idea that you could move to any of those places and actually sell your property for more money in 50 years is... Bizarre. What will you leave your kids?
The weather.
In my brief time driving in LA, I did enjoy the left on red courtesy, after a long straight green light. Never seen that anywhere else though I've been to some intersections where it would help
Question for the group:
Is there consensus about whether electric vehicles are better for the environment than ICE vehicles?
I've seen things like, "Tesla's are carbon bombs" because of the energy consumption that goes into producing the battery. Have also seen that it depends on the type of energy used to produce the electricity (so, electric car charging in West Virginia, which uses so much coal, takes longer to offset an ICE car than in Washington, where power is hydroelectric dams). And of course, building a 3000 pound car to move a 200 pound human is ridiculous, but that's a transport issue I as an individual consumer can't solve.
Pred, I've been wondering for a few years now why anyone moves to the West.
This is how i ended up in the PNW....
1: it's where the work you do is (I moved out here initially cos Seattle is an aerospace hub)
2: Geography. I have snowy mountains to go play in an hour away but I don't have to live in a frozen tundra. Puget Sound is right there, and I can see Lake Washington if i sit up in bed with the blinds open.
3: Weather. I'm British. Gloomy grey suits me better than weather that actively wants you dead (c.f. Arizona in the summer or Michigan in the winter)
4: Politics. You couldn't pay me enough to go live in Alabama. It may not be perfect here but it's not right-wing hellscape (yet).
Maryland has some "left on red after stop" intersections, but they have to be marked as such and have a special light that turns red when it does not apply, and blinks otherwise to get your attention.
Is there consensus about whether electric vehicles are better for the environment than ICE vehicles?
Yes, if you look at the science and engineering and economics, they become less costly in carbon after maybe 2 years, maybe longer if you live in a country like India with heavy coal power generation. (Note that at the time of purchase of your ICE car, it would definitely be less carbon-intensive in its physical construction, so the battery *does* add more carbon to the manufacturing process. But the argument becomes nonsensical when you consider gasoline use over the lifetime of the ICE vehicle.
The ICE vs EV carbon argument was always a disingenuous one, meant to throw FUD into the conversation. Unless you have a home coal-fired electric generator you power your EV with while quaffing pints of gasoline, you're better for the environment in the EV.
Yes, if you look at the science and engineering and economics, they become less costly in carbon after maybe 2 years, maybe longer if you live in a country like India with heavy coal power generation. (Note that at the time of purchase of your ICE car, it would definitely be less carbon-intensive in its physical construction, so the battery *does* add more carbon to the manufacturing process. But the argument becomes nonsensical when you consider gasoline use over the lifetime of the ICE vehicle.
I've heard and read similar on the science here. A brand new electric car takes more carbon to build, but in general after only around 18,000 miles of driving it surpasses even the most fuel efficient ICE vehicle.
The ICE vs EV carbon argument was always a disingenuous one, meant to throw FUD into the conversation. Unless you have a home coal-fired electric generator you power your EV with while quaffing pints of gasoline, you're better for the environment in the EV.
I sort of agree but the numbers get interesting for something like a plug-in hybrid vs ev. Roughly the same amount of steel to produce but a much smaller battery which makes the whole vehicle lighter which means if most of your travel is within the smaller battery’s range you’ll be more efficient per mile most of the time and it can take a while for a rare times you do use the engine it it to overtake the cost of the larger battery.
It also gets interesting if you are comparing keeping your existing ice car versus buying a new ev car. The pay off period for less carbon produced if you have to offset the manufacturing costs can be surprising. Especially in Europe, where the efficiency standards are higher and the cars are smaller.
This is how i ended up in the PNW....
Oh, I've heard nothing but wonderful things and I absolutely have to come out there soon because I wanna see the Cascades and stuff.
My reasons for not deciding to live out there are a general terror of the Cascadia subduction zone and a general lack of melanin. 
Driving style and unwritten rules of the road in old neighborhood vs new neighborhood are TOTALLY different.
This.
Apparently in Dublin CA they have special exceptions to the CA vehicle code where pedestrians do, in fact, not have the right of way 
Pages