PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Flood Levels Out East - have people been kept in the dark?
by pat neuman Friday, Jun. 30, 2006 at 3:14 PM

Have people been kept in the dark about floods and climate change?

To view latest river levels

Click town of interest at:
newweb.erh.noaa.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=ctp

e.g. On the map from the link above, click the circle near Danville PA, to view the latest river gage plot on the Susquehanna River at Danville PA.

The same link can be used to find the latest river conditions at river stations in any state.

My job was flood modeling, river forecasts and spring snowmelt flood outlooks with NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS). As a result of my efforts related to climate change and hydrologic modeling, I was removed by NWS as a federal employee on July 15, 2005 after I had served 29 years and 5 months in issuing flood predictions.

The problems began for me in Feb of 2000 when I tried to give a public display on global warming at the Mall of America at the first annual Government Services on Display Expo at the Mall of America. After I had created a poster on hydrology and climate change, I was ordered by NWS and NOAA personnel not to appear at the Mall Feb 4-5 2000, not even as a private citizen. They said that my just showing up at the Mall of America that weekend might give an "appearance" that NOAA and NWS were somehow associated with my views on global warming. As far as I know now, the gag order on all NWS employees is still in effect.

I don't think people should not be kept in the dark about climate change and global warming, and the lack of consideration being given by NWS to climate change in it's hydrologic modeling procedures and flood predictions.

I don't think people care at all about any of this, otherwise they would speak up. I think that some people are afraid to risk their personal connections, and thus they remain silent or look away on what's happening to the world - not wanting to get involved. It seems like it's no ones job to care about what we're doing to the planet.

Does anyone care enough to do something? It's already too late to prevent major damage but perhaps we can reduce future damage to people's lives and the living Earth by slowing the rate of global warming. Doing something positive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions should be better than doing nothing or doing the wrong thing.

Pat Neuman,
Hydrologist (forced retirement, July 2005)
Chanhassen, MN

For additional information please contact:
Christine Frank,
Climate Crisis Coalition of the Twin Cities (3CTC), Minneapolis, MN
612-879-8937

Related
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/patneuman2000/my_photos
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClimateArchive/