Designing for Sustainability

Preface

Building a Cleaner, Greener Internet

Goliath and Frank: A Holiday Tale

As I write this in upper Michigan during the last days of 2015, the year is poised to take the title of hottest on record,^[1] broken from the previous year in 2014. I recently rode my bicycle on snow-free roads, wearing a light jacket just a few miles from what has been named by The Weather Channel as the third snowiest city in the United States.^[2]

Figure P-1. A balmy December day near the third snowiest place in the United States

In fact, many places in the eastern United States reported the warmest Christmas Eve on record, with Fahrenheit temperatures ranging from 20° to 30° higher than average.^[3] New York City, Philadelphia, and other eastern seaboard cities reported temperatures in the low to mid-70s. Burlington, Vermont reported its highest December temperature ever at 68°. In total, more than 6,000 temperature records were broken in the United States alone during December 2015.^[4]

Shortly thereafter, a single storm system—aptly named Winter Storm Goliath by The Weather Channel (but called Frank by weather agencies in the United Kingdom and Ireland^[5])—encompassed more than half the United States. With it came a string of at least 55 tornadoes over a seven-day period that destroyed numerous homes and killed 20 people,^[6] making it the deadliest December for tornadoes in 62 years.^[7] Record-breaking blizzards ...