Extreme Weather Expert Speaking on Hurricane Sandy and the Future of Extreme Weather

Community members and emergency professionals learn about Hurricane Sandy, patterns in extreme weather, and how we might better prepare for future events

HALIFAX, Aug. 25, 2015 /CNW/ - Dr. Adam Sobel, Director and Chief Scientist for the Columbia University Initiative on Extreme Weather and Climate, will discuss lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy, research on how climate change may affect patterns in extreme weather, and how coastal communities can better prepare for future extreme events during a public speaking tour visiting St. John's, NL, Halifax, NS, Charlottetown, PE, Saint John, NB, Montreal, QC, Ottawa, ON, and Toronto, ON (full schedule below).

As Dr. Sobel will discuss, research currently suggests that as the global climate warms the world will experience fewer, but more intense hurricanes.  He underscores the need for an informed, long-term vision when planning and developing coastal communities to cope with future weather events.  Dr. Sobel will use his research on Hurricane Sandy, which was both the largest Atlantic hurricane in the modern record and the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history, to illustrate the science behind hurricane forecasting, and lessons learned from the storm.

This speaker tour is organized and hosted by the Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR), a national network that funds research, training and knowledge sharing activities related to marine risk in Canada (based at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS).

"As an organization dedicated to strengthening Canada's capacity to anticipate and respond to marine risk, we understand the need for both scientific research and an informed public," said MEOPAR Scientific Director Dr. Douglas Wallace. "This tour aims to improve our collective understanding of how Eastern Canadian communities may better prepare for the extreme weather events of the future."

The tour is being sponsored in part by Insurance Bureau of Canada.

"Hurricanes that we experience along the Atlantic coast, are chief among severe weather events that can cause significant damage to properties and disrupt the lives of families and entire communities" said Amanda Dean, Vice President, Atlantic, IBC. "As we learn to adapt to this the new normal of increased severe weather events, there are preventative steps we can all take to guard against the next storm, in addition to ensuring that we know what our home insurance policy covers before any storm hits. IBC is proud to work with MEOPAR to host Dr. Sobel in Atlantic Canada."

SPEAKING TOUR DATES

Day	City	Prov	Time	Location
Aug. 25	St. John's	NL	7pm	Johnson GeoCentre
Aug. 27	Halifax	NS	7pm	Halifax Central Library
Aug. 28	Charlottetown	PE	10am	Regis and Joan Duffy Research Centre
Aug. 31	Saint John	NB	1pm	New Brunswick Museum
Sept. 1	Montreal	QC	3pm	McGill University
Sept. 2	Ottawa	ON	5pm	Canadian Museum of Nature
Sept. 3	Toronto	ON	10am	Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction

Please visit http://www.meopar.ca/calendar for more information.

ABOUT DR. ADAM SOBEL
Dr. Adam Sobel is a leading scientist in the study of extreme weather and climate. He received his PhD in meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a professor at the Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is an atmospheric scientist who specializes in the dynamics of climate and weather, particularly in the tropics, on time scales of days to decades. A major focus of his current research is extreme events - such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and droughts, and the risks these pose to human society in the present and future climate. Dr. Sobel currently serves as the Director and Chief Scientist of the Columbia University Initiative on Extreme Weather and Climate. See extremeweather.columbia.edu for more information.

SOURCE Insurance Bureau of Canada

Janet Stalker, O [phone], C [phone], [email protected]