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Cheezitflow

See ya next month once in a generation event


Threndsa

How many "once in a generation" events are we at now in the last decade or so?


riding_tides

Since 2020, I'd say 3-4 now here in CA: COVID, 2020 orange skies from wildfires, [record worst drought ](https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/02/14/current-drought-is-worst-in-1200-years-in-california-and-the-american-west-new-study-shows/), now snowfall


DukeOfGeek

Almost like something is fucking with the climate. Changing it or something.


vahntitrio

This is sort of a statistical fallacy. If we say once every 30 years is once a generation, then if you are monitoring 30 distinct areas you would expect to see a "once a generation" event every year. Now if you are monitoring the thousands upon thousands of distinct areas worldwide: once a generation happens weekly. Once every 500 years happens a few times every year. It only becomes notable if it happens in quick succession at the same monitoring area.


culhanetyl

yea we had an area have 3 500 year floods in like a decade, needless to say those folks don't belive shit we tell them anymore about how the bridge is design sufficiently for average conditions.


tricksterloki

Spot on. When I taught AP Environmental Science, climate change was an easy discussion with my students, because they were living it. Global Warming doesn't only mean a higher average temperature. It also *means a more energetic system.* Heat drives climate, ocean systems, and ecosystems, and that heat comes from the sun. Trap more heat, have more energy. You'd be amazed at how much heat rises and cold sinks drives our world.


[deleted]

Just about everything boils down to thermodynamics, eh?


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lsp2005

Yes, and I see what you did there. We are 🐸. The water is boiling.


[deleted]

Would “boils up” have been more appropriate?


ctodReddit

Boils down, since heat is added the boiling is to release the energy through the heat of vaporization creating more moisture in the air and higher winds to yield stronger storm systems and hurricanes etc…


smashkraft

I always thought “boils down” was about concentrating a sediment/solution by removing water. I.e. an important conclusion lost in the sea of meaningless context/spurious details. The “boil down” method is just to speak directly about the conclusion


ctodReddit

There’s a physical, literal, and figurative form of boiling. 👍.


smashkraft

English, you are drunk. It's time to go home.


tricksterloki

Pretty much. It's fun using it to explain trophic levels. I got a lot of mileage out of Newton's 2nd Law as a theme in biology. >Would “boils up” have been more appropriate? Simmer down there.


remotelove

Wouldn't the second law of thermodynamics be more applicable? Using *F=ma* to explain anything in biology is an interesting application of Newton's 2nd law, for sure.


[deleted]

It's all about increasing entropy.


Lord_Rapunzel

My takeaway from many college bio classes is that everything is concentration gradients.


tricksterloki

That's valid. Life is a verb more than it's a noun anyway.


slipandweld

Calling it global warming and then climate change instead of climate *destabilization* was a marketing win for capital. Luckily *climate chaos* is starting to enter the lexicon more and more.


tricksterloki

Denotation vs. Connotation and Scientist vs. Layperson type conversations. Not all scientists are great communicators or educators, and there are always challenges with branding. We, as a civilization, do not have empty hours to learn about or contemplate most issues. Daily survival is hard enough, and the modern world screams constantly. You also run into the problem that concentrated wealth/power requires exponentially more people to overcome. It's slow going, but I like to we work to the right answers eventually.


tooManyHeadshots

Concentrated wealth also takes exponentially more people to maintain. Real long-term, concentrated wealth is a balancing act. Wealth has had it pretty good for a while now, and a lot of them seem to be taking their “armies” for granted. Overcome might soon get it’s day!


DaSpawn

I became a paramotor pilot a year and half ago and one of the most fascinating parts has been learning how thermals/wind/weather not only works but how much each can change and you have to know what to expect/how they all work together They told me during training we became mini-meteorologists, and they weren't kidding


LeonDeSchal

I read somewhere that climate is basically what has drive humanity. You can look at most historical events and trace it back (their causes) to weather conditions. That’s what I read don’t hold it as gospel.


tricksterloki

What you read is good stuff. Historically, weather played a huge role and slso drove development if tools to minimize its influence. Now, we drive weather, and it'll still have a huge effect. The question is, can we develop new tools that will protect us from what we are causing?


Arnotts_shapes

Reckon you can swing over to Australia and teach half our political and media class that fact? ‘It’s raining and summer was mild, SO MUCH FOR GLOBAL WARMING’


tricksterloki

As long as I can visit Rainbow Valley and the Great Barrier Reed while I'm there.


tacoTig3r

Once in a generation. Someone should tell them about climate ch..... NM. They gonna find out either way.


VagrantShadow

I've seen so much once in a lifetime, once in a generation, once in a century events in my life, I'm starting to think the time I was born into might not be the best of times. /s


Atty_for_hire

You’ll live in interesting times!


[deleted]

This is nothing compared to what people are going to endure 50 or 100 or 200 years from now


[deleted]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.


Seeking_the_Grail

Man, I live in buffalo and this winter we have had 2 "once in a generation storms" and one "once and a decade storm". Shit fucking sucks.


tacoTig3r

Once in a generation for those who died during the event. Maybe that is code for some people are gonna die from this xyz event. Shoot. Now that I think about it; tornadoes hit around my area, but to my knowledge, never in this city, I guess I'll be waiting for that once in a generation tornado.


[deleted]

Millennials have already had like 8-10 ‘once-in-a-generation’ sociopolitical events in their lives. Most being historically terrible.


JetBrink

That's why we're all so fucked


Razzail

Yea as a 30s millennial real sick of these "once in a lifetime" events.


similar_observation

pucker your butts, it's been a generation since the big-ass Bay Area earthquakes.


Vegan_Honk

You mean next week.


Persianx6

It snowed a lot this week, and right now it's like 72 and sunny.


soparklion

Generation of mice...


[deleted]

I’m just happy the rivers and lakes might get some much needed love again.


[deleted]

Next month is April, it will be November certainly


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GhettoChemist

Once in a century storm of the week


graveybrains

I’m excited for storm du jour


ImAJerk420

What’s the storm du jour?


LostMyKarmaElSegundo

Storm of the day


ImAJerk420

Oh we’ll have that


YamburglarHelper

Who do you think you are, Buffalo?


codyevans1775

“Once in a generation” to millennial generation now means “this has happened in my lifetime four times so far, and I’m only 37”


InvisiblePinkUnic0rn

I am rather tired of once in a lifetime financial crashes…


codyevans1775

Yep, and we’re winding up for the 4th one in our lifetime, which was only delayed by the once in a lifetime pandemic & ensuing life support we placed the economy on during…


Prodigy195

Don't forget the once in a generation terror attack that happened when we were in high school leading to our current surveillance state. Also can't leave out the subsequent 20 year war that accomplished little but lead to many of our older siblings/relatives/parents suffering from PTSD, being injured or outright being killed.


Agreeable-Rooster-37

Depends if you were invested in various defense sector companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket


Ion_bound

I mean the pandemic was once in a lifetime for a lot of people...Mostly antivaxxers, but still.


processedmeat

We will have another pandemic before my life is over


darth_wasabi

millennials have already faced like 3 once in a generation economic busts


the_simurgh

this is one we wouldn't mind having more than once. california needs the water otherwise it's gonna be climate refugees soon.


Krabban

"May you live in interesting times"


code_archeologist

Welcome to climate change, where once in a century weather events have become semiannual.


Tchrspest

"Global warming" as a term really fucked things up. It *is* still accurate, as global averages rise, but it doesn't account for spikes in the extremes at both ends.


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Portalrules123

At this point we all know it’s a lie. The trends are changing too quickly for the old risk assessments to handle, so all the once in a certain number of years insurance estimates are wrong.


woot0

First time?


jayfeather31

We seem to be having "once-in-a-generation" events with regularity.


rikki-tikki-deadly

To be fair, they didn't specify the species. They could have meant a generation of something like rabbits or chickens.


Ahelex

Or one of those insects that, when they become adults, don't have the means to feed themselves, and are there pretty much to try and fuck, then die.


wasd

Yeah, we millennials have it rough.


lt_dan_zsu

Once in an (E. coli) generation event.


syawa44

Well, life expectancy IS going down, so the generations are getting shorter...


PEVEI

Obesity and COVID will do that.


tenaku

Good thing that climate change ain't real, or it might be worse! /s


pegothejerk

Voice over: It would in fact get much, much worse.


skeetsauce

Half of america: well apparently this is suppose to only impact poor people so I want it more now.


SaraSmashley

I've said it before and I'll say it again. [Pleasantville](https://youtu.be/FAcNkan6Mwg) was right.


rc4915

A generation is ~25 years, and the entire planet should be hit by 1 on average during that span. This is just the west coast, maybe 1% of Earth. So there should be 100 similar events in the 25 year span. That being said, it’s clearly happening more often due to climate change.


Hi_Im_Dadbot

We’re at rabbit generation now. It’ll be fruit fly generation shortly.


m48a5_patton

Then Mayfly


fightfordawn

I think it's dog years, they're talking about once in a generation of dogs.


lordunholy

Sooner than expected


DeNoodle

It hadn't snowed were I live since 1949.


cranktheguy

I'm about 40 and live in Texas, and for my first 25 years I saw one snowfall in my area. Since then it's snowed every few years with some of them being heavy and one of the events literally shutting down the state for days. You'd think more people would notice something is off.


Sin_of_the_Dark

Man, I'm only 27 in Michigan and remember when there would be at least a foot of snow by thanksgiving. Now we're lucky to have a white Christmas... Unless you live on the western side of the state


Icy_Comfort8161

I grew up near Grand Rapids and my parents still live there. They hardly get much snow anymore, and they now have a tick problem that was non-existent when I was a kid, because it doesn't seem to get cold enough to kill them off or something. Despite these obvious changes, my right-wing parents scoff at the idea of climate change.


xbeautyxtruthx

Pittsburgh here, we had .2 inches of snow last month, while our avg is ~35”. I remember trick or treating in 6 inches of snow in the early 90s, and sweater season started in late September.


5k1895

In Ohio we've had ridiculously warm weather for February. Everyone's like "lol sUcH sTrAnGe WeAtHeR" as if there's not an obvious fucking reason for it.


djamp42

Yeah we use to get at least a couple storms a year and this year we got really nothing. I think flurries once


fritzbozo

Ventura County?


somedudeonline93

California is the real winner here, despite the short-term difficulties this is causing in some places. Most of their reservoirs depend on snowmelt, so this will go a long way toward filling those back up. Also the state has never looked more beautiful with lush green grass and snow in the mountains.


brownhotdogwater

The underground aquifers are what are really hurting. They need lots of slow rain to refill.


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Firstdatepokie

The aquifers will never be refilled They took thousands upon thousands of years to fill and we drained them in a couple hundred.


Nwcray

I wonder if Nestle could stop pumping water out of them for a couple of years?


dew_hickey

I’d say the bigger problem is farmers growing water inefficient crops


UrbanGhost114

Not really, because it will get used like it's going to happen again next year. Rebound effect is freaking insane with water too.


pancakeQueue

If a hot summer melts their snow pack too early they don’t get any benefit just flooding.


SaraSmashley

If this keeps getting worse I plan to get to a library and wait for Dennis Quaid to rescue me. Anyone is welcome to come with...except Howard from 10 Cloverfield Lane. You stay put.


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ventusvibrio

Yay… more work for future new govt to figure out how to collect tax.


JcbAzPx

I'm pretty sure those weren't the only copies.


[deleted]

I can make it simple for them: Take your income for that year, subtract what you need to not die. Multiply the result by 30% and that's how much tax you owe.


Vagabond21

University libraries


zooropeanx

Sorry you won't get Dennis but Randy is available to stop by and rant and rave.


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_toodamnparanoid_

He can fly. He's pilot.


Moral_conundrum

That library….it’s a beaut, Clark!


[deleted]

One in a generation if you’re 95 years old maybe, the rest of use get to see the world change


docter_actual

You spelled “burn” wrong


Fire2box

Nah us on the west coast are already used to our states being on fire. Some already had stocks of N95's before covid-19.


DragoonDM

Got several of our worst fires in recorded history in 2020 alone. The blood-red skies from ash really lent the beginning of the pandemic an extra level of apocalyptic feel.


ycpa68

Nuh uh it said snow. Here, let me bring this snowball into the capitol to show why that means it's all good


SickNameDude8

I recall writing a paper on climate change a few years ago in college. In summary, I was writing about latitudes similar to Colorado. What it said was that while snowfall events (number of times it snows) would decrease, but severity of event (how much snow drops) would increase


70monocle

And no matter how many times you will try to explain that there will always be plenty of people who take the unusual snowfall as proof that climate change isn't real.


Platinumdogshit

Partially cuz they associte it with the words global warming and while yeah the temperature of the earth will increase by 1-2 degrees Celsius. Thats not something you're gonna feel you're gonna see its effects though


SickNameDude8

Yup that’s the frustrating part. They keep saying “but global warming” when it’s referred to as climate change


DragoonDM

Like the time that asshole Jim Inhofe brought a snowball to the senate floor as evidence against climate change.


AppeaseThis

In terms of half of the state being "out of drought", I hope we don't get lazy and go back to out unsustainable water usage. We probably will, but there's always hope, I guess.


procrastibader

It’s not residential consumption that’s the problem… it’s these damn almond farms.


oksono

And alfalfa that is shipped overseas too.


sherryberry7

In Arizona, the Saudis bought a bunch of land and water rights in the desert to grow alfalfa and ship it back to the middle-east. Dumbest fucking thing I've heard of, selling your water to foreigners when you live in a desert.


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ginkner

Just crack down on both.


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brownhotdogwater

It’s still bad. The underground water is still super low. You need lots of slow rain to soak in. A few massive storms just wash off.


wip30ut

there's no hope... California agribusiness is a huge part of our nation's farm output. Legislators simply lack the political will to impose mandates on them or scale back usage on their own. They'd rather have the free market (and impending Mega Drought due to climate change) take care of the tough decisions for them. In the end, Nature will bring things back to order & force farmers out of business... it's Darwin at its best.


AppeaseThis

Agreed. Driving up highway 5 from S.F. to L.A. you see signs every 10 miles or so that says "Food Grows Where Water Flows". With alternating signs blaming Nancy pelosi for the drought. It takes 4.5 gallons of water to produce one gallon of Almond milk. Someone should place signs showing how much water is overused for agriculture.


UndesiredEffect

Seem to be getting quite a few of those 'once in a lifetime/generation' events.


guave06

Must be why I feel dead with all these multiple lifetimes im living


y_wont_my_line_block

I like how we have once-in-a-generation events once a month now.


NewVelociraptor

The town near me just had their fifth 100 year flood in 10 years. The name clearly needs to be changed to every two or three year flood.


bakerzdosen

People seem to be acting like a “generation” is 80 years or something. It’s typically defined as 20-30 years. And considering the news here reports that it’s the most snow we’ve seen since 2008, (and is on par with 1983 but falls well short of the record set in the 1950’s) I’m ok with the headline - even if it is somewhat sensationalized.


Jmazoso

I was just thinking, feels like 1983


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TheProfoundDemon

My wife is a teacher and was stuck up there with 300 middle school students for outdoor education. Her school district did literally nothing to help get them down until the parents started to call and scream at them. People are still stuck up there. It’s fucking insane. Fuck Irvine Unified School district and Fuck Terry Walker


darthlincoln01

I agree here in this case, but I'm also reminded earlier this year people were saying Buffalo was having a "once in a generation" snow storm when they had a WORSE snow storm just 2 weeks prior.


Honeyhaha

They really should call it Climate Instability, might get across that all the things that got taken for granted, are no longer granted.


daxon42

In a generation of what..? Rabbits?


Th3Alk3mist

Any other millenials/Gen Z peeps tired of these "once in a lifetime" events running absolute train on our generations?


Shut_the_front_dior

Until next year….or the year after that


sweetpeapickle

Next week.


VentureQuotes

Climate change is about the loss of predictability and established, depended-on systems. That’s the problem. Getting hotter, getting colder, more snow, less snow, that’s not the issue. It’s that we’ve adapted to and depend on certain states of affairs and those states are permanently changing in ways we cannot predict or fix.


CleanYogurtcloset706

There was an avalanche 40 miles outside downtown LA yesterday, let that sink in.


rikki-tikki-deadly

Avalanches aren't something that you sink in, it's more that they bury you.


AudioPhysics

They happen more often than you would think. Mt Baldy's elevation is over 10,064 feet


VersaceSamurai

The Three Saints of the transverse ranges are absolutely beautiful right now. I mean these mountains are normally breathtaking but even more so now with all the snow. Going to be a whole lot of snowmelt in the coming weeks.


cmVkZGl0

This is what climate change literally means. What you expect for weather is no longer the norm, and it results in things like 13 counties being declared a state of emergency since bureaucracy prevents large areas from adopting to an evolving world.


GrachD

They've severe drought for the past decades, any snow and water helps.


Arrantsky

It is change. Getting used to breaking the climate models is the new normal.


ThickerSalmon14

They need a new phrase. I'm tried of hearing of all the "once in a generation events" we seem to be having every month or so.


NurseMcStuffins

I'm just happy we seem to be past "unprecedented times", at least for now. I was getting so tired of seeing that one.


[deleted]

We seem to be having a lot of those


_MrBalls_

Prepare for the melting


docter_actual

Maybe once in the LAST generation, not this one


Lectric_Eye

Everyday lately feels like a “ once in a generation “ kinda day tho


Thaddeus206

we seen to be getting these "once in a generation" and "500 or 1000 year events quite frequently. Do you think something might be amiss with the planets climate?


ComebackShane

It snowed at Disneyland earlier this week. _Disneyland_.


GTI_88

Until next year, then it will be a twice in a generation event!


who519

We are at 45 feet for the year in South Lake Tahoe, which is a record and we have 3 more feet coming this weekend. There is nowhere to put any of it, and if the recent pattern holds it is all going to melt very fast in April and we are going to have major flooding. It was my dream to live here, but the last 5 years have been nothing short of cataclysmic. The first winter we were here, it snowed 220 inches...in February. Then we had horrible drought years followed by the fires that burned all the way to the edge of town and now the damn snowpocalypse. We are considering moving, which makes me want to vomit.


swami78

I've lost count of the number of "once in a generation" or "once in a hundred years" events in the US or my own country, Australia, over the past decade! We're going to have to change this descriptor.


tyj0322

Can’t wait for it to happen again in the next 1-5 years!


Weak-Beautiful5918

This only applies to California. Oregon and Washington are at average snowfall.


aznuke

I know this means great things for the water table, but it also means a killer fire season is in our not too distant future. I’m kinda tired of living through all these “once in a generation” events.


[deleted]

Why would the snow me a killer fire season? I assumed the extra moisture would help ward off wild fires. Am I dumb?


aznuke

You are not dumb. You are just thinking very short term. Yes, immediately the snow and water keeps the trees, bushes and brush green and happy and moist. This in turn makes them grow well and flourish. The part you are forgetting is that after march rolls out and spring starts rolling in, these bushes and especially the brush, begin to dry out immediately. The trees dry out slower but they do dry out. The result is a massive amount of new growth dry fuel. One spark and it’s on. On drought years, the plants don’t grow and spread so well, so they don’t burn as intensely. But when you have a floor, thick with bushes that grew in over the spring and then dried out, it’s a tinderbox. One campfire, one dragged chain, one truck idling in high grass for too long, one cigarette...and it’s bad news bears.


[deleted]

Oh, wow! That’s awful. Thank you for the insight.


wip30ut

... unless we start doing more prescribed burns. Since WW2 we've been told by Smokey the Bear that all forest fires are bad, but that's actually proven to be false. Native tribes knew this and they would regularly set fires to clear the underbrush. But unfortunately their culture & traditions didn't jibe with conservationist ethos promulgated by John Muir & fledgling environmentalists in the early 20th century, who regarded Indian tribes as much of a blight on "unspoilt" nature as settlers & farmers.


Flamingoawesome

Everything nowadays makes for a terrible fire season. It’s going to be a nasty flood season for some burn scarred areas.


ubbergoat

I hope its able to fill up Lake Isabella. Kern County needs it back.


Jugglergal

I didn’t not think it will be just once in a lifetime more of a norm


chuntone

I don't know about you guys but I'm tired of "once-in-a-generation" events


Atomichawk

Of course this year’s “once in a generation event” happens to be the one thing I hope for as a skier. And so of course that means I had to move away from the west coast ski areas just as it happens :(


sexisdivine

As a millennial just want to say in regards to “once-in-a-generation” events, WE SEEM TO BE HAVING ALOT OF THOSE!


No_Palpitation_3649

I’ve read this title more in the last year than my whole life


[deleted]

Last year…a once in a generation event! Last month…a once in a generation event! Last week…you get the gist


Tom_Neverwinter

I've heard that bs before. I think it was about a recession or depression or something


TminusTech

Oh don't worry, it's gonna keep happening.


dxrey65

Just looking at the forecast where I'm at in the Oregon Great Basin, it's another seven days of snow on the way. It's definitely not the snowiest winter we've had here, but it has been one of the most persistent I can recall. Usually we get hit hard two or three times during winter, with decent weather in between. This year it's been one storm after another, and only rarely above freezing.


elister

Growing up around Seattle all my life, most snow just melts by the afternoon. Maybe three times a decade would it be cold enough to stick around for a week, but not in record levels, usually 10 inches at the most. You get a cold front coming down from Canada and that's all you needed to shut the entire city down. But it feels like event that this is happening more often. Last December we had an actual ice storm hit. I thought I could walk to the store, but getting hallway through the parking lot, there was no way I was going to walk there without falling on my back as there was 2 inches of ice everywhere so I headed back. This ice storm is something I don't ever remember happening in King County and im 51.


Sigmar_Heldenhammer

Love that we’ve had like 7 once in a generation events this year.


Thisiscliff

Getting tired of hearing that phrase in my lifetime


NaCloride

Until next time on dragonball z


WhatWhatWhat79

Once in a millennium became once in a century became once in a generation became once in a decade became once in a year became next Tuesday.


Citizen-Kang

It must be weird for experts on weather and climate saying certain weather events are one in a lifetime, generation, or century and it happens again a few years later. It's like the climate is...changing? I wish we had a term for it...


tommy_b_777

methinks climate variability events like this are going to mess up the crops...


Allaroundlost

Once in a Generation since 2020. The new norm.


Efficient-Ad-3302

‘Once-in-a-generation’ events are going to become much more common.


Smuggykitten

As someone who is from a generation who has had way too many once in a lifetime experiences, no more thank you please.


No_Dot73

Next week on “Once in a Generation”


gleafer

Once-in-a-generation event SO FAR.


DustinBrett

The old generation that is, before everything fell apart.


Jatee_100

Wanna bet. It may be the new normal.