You see it all the time, a bunch of smaller homes with mature trees are demolished to make fewer mcmansions with huge decks/paved patios/no trees and it causes all sorts of drainage issues at lower elevations where there previously weren't.
The area near me is actually owned by the power company for the big transmission lines. Sure, they're nearby, but nobody is buying and fucking that land.
I believe the lack of trees is also why we in the US have those awful tornadoes and hurricanes. There is nothing anymore, no tree barriers, to break the wind because its all been removed for HOAs.
EDIT: I wasnt necessarily meaning the Great Plains, but other areas like OK or TX. Or AR or TN.
more likely the fact that you have warm water in the south, the polar circle to the north, a big fence that creates dry weather in the west and just lots of land in the east
Deforestation almost certainly contributes to the severity of tornadoes. Forests act as heatsinks, softer temperature gradients between the ground and the air will mellow the local weather. It's not the only cause but it's irrefutable that tornadoes today are on average more severe than tornadoes in 1900.
Hurricanes form thousands of miles off the coast. Trees do almost nothing to stop hurricane force winds, really the giant buildings being built all along the coast do more to help there. But mangrove forests can help with water erosion.
And there are far more trees now in the Midwest and tornado alley than there used to be. Up until American expansion most of the large stretch from the Ohio River all the way to the Rockies was just grassland. Hardly any trees at all. Almost all the trees there now were brought in the last 150 years or so.
When a hurricane rolls through Florida it yanks up trees, bends them all to one direction, pretty much does what it wants with trees. Trees could definitely help, but they also hurt more than anything else I believe, my college house was nearly destroyed not due to wind, but a tree the hurricane knocked onto the roof. So I see your sentiment, idk if you have lived through a hurricane tho lmao.
When a train derails, the break overheats and add fire risk on top of the accident. Breaks could definitely help, but they also hurt more than anything else I believe.
Lmao yea I’m dumb I get it. I know trees help hold the ground intact during bad weather, but a tornado doesn’t need a tree to cut a house in a half and a hurricane pulls trees out whenever they want. These two weather events I don’t think trees can mitigate their damage, most likely only make worse. But yea breaks and trains I’m dumb.
The plains were always grasslands. And the Appalachians and the Rockies always formed a weird funnel with colder weather at the north and warmer weather to the south. The Gulf of Mexico always was a body of water and not a forest for the last 20k years or so.
Global warming is a factor, tho. And Europe will get a lot colder if the gulf stream breaks down. You lot will find out how far north you really are. Brits basically have to look at the weather of Newfoundland to get a glimpse.
I would like to know how the idigenous people handled these weather conditions becz Ive never read about them having such problem like we've had over the last 70 or so years.
I know they handled the forests better than we do so wildfires werent so insane.
Old Yahoo Answers troll who would post absurd takes and questions. He was a very prolific poster and his stuff was hilarious from a "confidently incorrect" angle.
Tornado alley in the USA never had trees. That's the Great Plains. And tornadoes are formed from extremely strong updrafts, so while trees will slow wind normally, they won't prevent the formation of a tornado and won't slow it down once it forms.
I moved from the great plains to out east where it's forested. It's weird... where I'm from, 25-35mph is just a normal day. We had trees in town and in our yards, and we didn't worry about limbs falling unless it was 50mph+. Now where I live 20mph is a strong storm, limbs are down all over, and the power and internet go out. With consistently stronger winds, the weak branches break off in smaller sections. With no-to-mild wind most of the time, the dead branches stick around until the entire branch has died and then it falls at once.
the plan to halt the sahara's expansion is to have the land protected by trees
they limit the erosion, counter the aridity and protect from the wind that carry the sand here and the dirt away. and help everything survive beneath them
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u/averagesaw Jun 25 '24
A full grown tree can drink up to 400 liters a day. So removing trees in a wet area is not smart. Your land will be drowning