<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Insurance Journal February 12, 2020</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff; text-shadow: 1.0px 1.0px 0.0px #000000" class=""><b class="">‘Rivers in the Sky’ Causing Billions in Flood Damage in U.S.</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(8, 57, 143); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(8, 57, 143);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(136, 136, 136); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); text-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 1px 1px 0px;" class="">By <a href="https://www.insurancejournal.com/author/brian-k-sullivan/" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(8, 57, 143); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(8, 57, 143); text-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 1px 1px 0px;" class="">Brian K. Sullivan</span></a> </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; color: #333333" class=""><<<a href="https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2020/02/12/558222.htm" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 238);" class="">https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2020/02/12/558222.htm</span></a>>></span></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff" class=""><b class="">Excerpts </b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff" class="">Atmospheric rivers are narrow ribbons of concentrated moisture that originate in the Pacific and can flow thousands of miles before dropping rain and snow on land. Scientists are ramping up their research into the systems this winter fearful that warmer temperatures tied to climate change will boost the moisture they carry, supercharging them moving forward.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff" class="">“It is 100% completely saturated air,” said Rich Henning, a flight director for the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(175, 35, 28); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(175, 35, 28);" class="">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</span></a> who conducts onboard weather observations. “If you’re ever wondering how six feet of snow can fall in the Cascades in one day, this is exactly how all that moisture is transported.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff" class="">The systems flow between 1,000 and 2,000 feet above the surface, with 80 mile-per-hour winds pushing the water vapor through the air, Henning said. Last week, crews from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Air Force Reserve flew into an atmospheric river that traveled from Hawaii to the Pacific Northwest.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff" class="">A study <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/12/eaax4631" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(175, 35, 28); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(175, 35, 28);" class="">released in December</span></a> by Scripps and the Army Corps of Engineers found that atmospheric rivers caused 84% of the flood damage suffered in 11 western states over 40 years through 2017. The average annual cost: $1.1 billion, according to the report.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff" class="">“In a warmer climate,” the study concluded, atmospheric rivers will be “more intense as they become wetter, longer, and wider; there is some indication that this is already happening.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">It won’t take much of a temperature change to boost their moisture content, according to John Dickson, a flood researcher who is the chief executive officer of Aon Edge,<b class=""> </b></span><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #fffb00" class=""><b class="">a Montana-based flood insurance provider.</b></span><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> A rise of just 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit can boost water vapor in the air by 7%, he said.</span></p><div class="">
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;">++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br class="">“ Increasingly, fires are even spreading through the Arctic, where there is little to burn other than grasses, sedges, and a few shrubs.”<br class=""><br class=""><a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145417/a-new-global-fire-atlas?src=eoa-iotd" class="">https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145417/a-new-global-fire-atlas?src=eoa-iotd</a></div>
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