Extreme weather

As clean up from Hurricane Sandy continues across the East Coast, we hope that you and your families, as well as your businesses and employees remained safe. We thought that one small way in which we could make your life a little easier is to answer some questions that you may have about your obligations as an employer during the disruption that the hurricane causes.Temporary Closings Unless your agreements or policies provide otherwise, you are generally not required to pay non-exempt employees when they are not working. Therefore, if your business is closed and your employees do not report to work, you are not obligated to pay nonexempt employees. However, make sure that these employees are not checking work e-mails, communicating with supervisors about work-related issues or otherwise working from home, because non-exempt employees are entitled to receive pay for these activities even if they do not physically report to work. Note that some states require an employer to pay … [Read more...] about Extreme Weather, Natural Disasters and Personnel Issues

Forensic meteorologists who testify in court about past weather conditions could soon see an uptick in business.The New York Times explains why. “Extreme weather often leads to property damage, which can evolve into legal proceedings,” the newspaper says.Stephen Wistar, a senior forensic meteorologist for AccuWeather, testifies mostly in civil cases. He gave the Times some examples of how weather can be a legal issue.If a city is sued because its drainage system is overwhelmed by rainfall, it could argue the amount of rain was so unusual that it couldn’t have anticipated the deluge. If a property owner is sued after a roof collapse, he could argue the amount of snow was so high it could not have been expected.Weather can also be an issue in criminal cases. Accused killer Michael Mosley had claimed in a recent trial in Rensselaer County, N.Y., that he had a cut on his hand from snowboarding rather than stabbing two people to death. Mosley was convicted after a … [Read more...] about Extreme Weather Could Mean More Business for Meteorologists Who Testify in Court

Climate change and the risk it poses to businesses and communities has been in the headlines this week, including one article by Reuters analyst Gerard Wynn that claims “rising temperatures are driving more frequent bouts of extreme weather,” some of which we saw this year. While Wynn and others (such as myself) are in agreement that climate change is behind some extreme weather events, others continue to staunchly deny such links.In his article, Wynn references the fact that global carbon emissions rose by a record amount last year (6%), making it the biggest one-year jump in history and proving that even though the world economy may be in tatters, ozone-depleting gasses continue to be emitted at an alarming rate. And, according to statements issued today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “It is virtually certain that increases in the frequency and magnitude of warm daily temperature extremes and decreases in cold extremes will occur in … [Read more...] about Climate Change Causes Some Extreme Weather Events: United Nations

Manado, N Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has urged the residents of Sitaro Islands region in North Sulawesi to beware of extreme weather that may occur in the on Thursday. ??"The potential for heavy rain accompanied by lightning and high winds may occur in the region," Section Chief of Observation and Information Meteorology Station of Sam Ratulangi of Manado Sutikno said. ???Based on daily forecast, the cloudy morning is sunny in some regions of North Sulawesi and the potential for local mild rain is in Kotamobagu and Melonguane Cities (Talaud Islands District). ???While during the day, in some areas of North Sulawesi, there is a light rain potential in the area of Airmadidi (North Minahasa District), Tahuna (Sangihe Islands District) and Melonguane. ???Heavy rains accompanied by lightning and strong winds are estimated to occur in the Ondong Siau region. ???Besides, starting from evening until the early morning, sunny cloudy … [Read more...] about Residents of Sitaro Islands must beware of extreme weather: BMKG

Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. SUBSCRIBE When the heat waves, droughts, wildfires and deluges come — as they seem to with increasing regularity these days — the question inevitably arises: Did climate change play a role? The answer scientists gave for years was that greenhouse gases created by humans likely contributed to extreme weather, but it was hard to definitively tie the warming atmosphere to any single episode. But that cautious approach, repeated in thousands of news reports for more than a decade, has been changing in recent months. Now, scientists say that they will increasingly be able to link extreme weather events to human-caused global warming and to make such determinations quickly, sometimes within days. So when a heat wave beset Northern Europe early this summer, bringing temperatures in Scandinavia into the 90s, a consortium of researchers operating under the name World … [Read more...] about Global warming can make extreme weather worse. Now scientists can say by how much.