CAI-NJ Jan.2020 (w) (2)

STORM PREPAREDNESS By Robert C. Griffin, Esq., Griffin Alexander, P.C.

Trifonov Evgeniy / iStock / Getty Images Plus

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ike it or not, our climate is changing. The number of hurr- canes and tropical storms has grown over the last several decades in number and intensity.

The number of major snowstorms has likewise increased.

YEAR

NUMBER OF MAJOR SNOWSTORMS

1960’s 1970’s 1980’s 1990’s 2000’s 2010’s

3 1 4 2 3

PERIOD:

NUMBER OF MAJOR STORMS 2 (on average) 10 (on average)

1900 – 1949 (50 years) 1950 – 1979 (30 years) 1980 – 1989 (10 years) 1990 – 1999 (10 years) 2000 – 2009 (10 years) 2010 – 2019 (10 years)

12 18 23 25

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What has traditionally kept New Jersey safe from these storms is its relatively cool temperatures. Today, with the oceans warming and our temperatures climbing, these storms are coming up from the south, extending farther north, and are holding so much more moisture than in the past, resulting in more devastating effects. We are having tornadoes now, which were unheard of in New Jersey 20 years ago.

With regard to storm intensity, in the New York/New Jersey area, in some places, we are still rebuilding from Superstorm Sandy, which occurred in 2012. We have had 100-year storms (severe storms of the kind we used to only have every 100 years) nearly every year for the past 5 years. In 2017, in March and April, there were three severe Nor’easters in three weeks.

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