king tides
anyone who thinks climate change is a crock of shit should go to florida during king tides. these are the highest of the high tides that occur twice every lunar month. ie when the sun earth and moon all line up. many coastal cities flood. when i say that you are probably thinking monster waves that run right up the beach and crash dramatically over the containment walls. heh. i don't blame you. i did too when i first heard about the phenomenon. but what actually happens is much more boring. florida (the land) is fairly porous. so the sea just rises up everywhere. videos look a whole lot like a broken water main. and in fact many people think that's what's happened. they call the city. and the city guy comes out has to explain that no, this is the ocean. you've heard of sea level rise? well, this is it. so for several days every month, you now live in the middle of the ocean. usually their reaction is something like madre de dios. florida is losing land area due to sea level rise. so it has the distinct honor of being both the fastest shrinking state (by land area) in the nation and also the fastest growing state (by population). which is going to make for a rather interesting reality check in the next few years. madre de dios indeed.