Global warming threat to seattle? (live, safe, moving to)

[HopeKid]

I've been reading and been discussing about this. Moving to Seattle may not be such a wise decision if I'm reading global warming could raise the oceans and not to mention flood the area? If it happens would Seattle flood, or is the area pretty much safe from it?

[SinDonor]

Go move to Denver or Atlanta if you are really worried about oceans rising. Seattle is mostly at sea level, but there are areas well above sea level as well.

[Ultrarunner]

Isn't much of Seattle built on hills that were flattened?

[SinDonor]

I think so, but a lot would be lost if the sea level rose 20 meters like Al Gore says.

[seattlenextyear]

Well, you could instead deal with more droughts in Charlotte.

[Woof]

from The moral flaws of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. - By Gregg Easterbrook - Slate Magazine

For instance, this 2005 joint statement by the science academies of the Western nations, including the National Academy of Sciences, warns of sea-level rise of four to 35 inches in the 21st century; this amount of possible sea-level rise is current consensus science.

Even if the water rose 3 ft in the next 100 years, Seattle could handle it. But assuming you only live another 50 years, that would be just 2" to 18" at the most.

[seattlenextyear]

If sea level rises 3 feet, I'm moving to Denver, k thnx.

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by HopeKid

I've been reading and been discussing about this. Moving to Seattle may not be such a wise decision if I'm reading global warming could raise the oceans and not to mention flood the area? If it happens would Seattle flood, or is the area pretty much safe from it?

First of all, remember that Seattle isn't on the ocean! It does have access to the ocean and is close to sea level, but it's a lot different than ocean front property.

I don't think a 3 foot increase in water levels would do much to Seattle. As another poster said, it's very steep around Seattle and a 3 foot increase in MSL wouldn't change the size of the sound very mcuh.

[allforcats]

The Google is your friend!

From The Seattle Times of July 25, 2007:
Local News | Rising sea, rising threat: What Puget Sound risks | Seattle Times Newspaper

"...climate change threatens to upset Puget Sound's delicate ecosystem ... dramatically...", directly affecting fish, harbor seals, seabirds, wild shellfish, and change thousands of acres of freshwater marshlands into salt marshlands while eliminating other marshlands.

The report also says that a 2-foot rise in sea level -- which would be gradual, it says -- would drown Dungeness Spit, and "half of the current beaches in ... Elliott Bay and the Duwamish Estuary".

But there are other effects of warming, such as "warmer water and reduced freshwater flows into the Sound, caused by a dwindling snowpack that melts more quickly". Which, of course, would also provide less drinking and household water to residents in this area.

[Woof]

Are you kidding, Allforcats? If people in Seattle need drinking water, all they have to do is tilt their heads up and open their mouths.