What keeps you up at night? I worry like everyone else, but near the top of my list are “black swan” weather disasters, fueled by a warming climate. Black swan events are rare, highly impactful and unpredictable occurrences — that in retrospect should have been foreseen.
A Category 4 hurricane hitting Washington D.C. or New York City. A major Western city overrun by wildfires. An EF-4 tornado hitting the Twin Cities suburbs late at night, when most people are sleeping.
If it’s any consolation, Texas has seen the most billion-dollar disasters (190 since 1980) and the most FEMA major-disaster declarations (94). Minnesota had 62 separate billion-dollar weather disasters since 1980, according to NOAA — and 28 FEMA major weather disaster declarations since 2000.
Welcome to a fine stretch of weather into Labor Day with upper 70s and reasonable humidity levels. A stray storm may pop up north Friday, maybe a metro thunderstorm Saturday, but most of the next five days should be dry and drama-free. Not a weather disaster in sight.
