Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
A meteorologist was brought to tears and Florida governor Ron DeSantis refused to take relief calls from Kamala Harris. This is Hurricane Milton in pre-election America. As Milton charged towards Florida with sustained winds of 180 mph, birds flew into the eye to avoid the dangers of the wall. They were wise to take shelter: wind speeds increased by 90 mph in a single day, which is nearly three times what’s required for a storm to have undergone ‘rapid intensification’ and is partly down to record ocean heat in the Atlantic. Milton is expected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay area from this evening. It is the first hurricane to directly hit the city in more than 100 years and could cause storm surges of 15 feet. “You are going to die,” Tampa’s mayor said of residents who stay in the evacuation zone. DeSantis and Harris have accused each other of political gamesmanship, but both would do well to remember that a hurricane cares nothing for the fripperies of US politics.
