Twenty years ago today, the deadliest tsunami in recorded history inundated Asian countries and killed about 230,000 people.  The  Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake, also called the Boxing Day Earthquake  ( Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, mostly in Europe and Commonwealth nations ): Was caused by a subsea earthquake possibly as high as  9.3 magnitude  ( this was #2 to the largest, which was the 1960 Chile earthquake at 9.5 ) off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Waves were as high as  167 feet  in Aceh province, and two hours later, Sri Lanka saw 20 feet ( with run-ups as high as 41 feet--there is a difference in these two terms ), and  Thailand had run-ups of up to 64 feet.   At Phuket, Thailand, the second wave was the largest at 20 feet.  Also two hours after the earthquake, India saw heights as much as 33 feet.   3100 miles away in Somalia, there was a run-up of 30 feet. The maximum height above sea lev...

Nearly 24 years ago, NASA researcher James Hansen said:   The greenhouse effect had been detected.  And it is changing our climate now .  It was at that time the hottest 12-month period scientists had ever seen. Returning to the present, 2021 was only the fifth or sixth hottest year, even though July was the hottest month humanity has recorded.   Further, the seven hottest years on record have happened in the last seven years. Further : Since 1981, average global temperatures have increased at a rate of about 0.18 degrees Celsius (0.32 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade. In the same period, the warming of oceans — which have absorbed about 90 percent of the additional heat trapped by human carbon pollution — has gotten eight times faster. Finally : The United States endured at least   20 weather disasters costing $1 billion or more   last year, the second most on record, NOAA announced this week. Hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and floods — almost al...