“MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Department of Public Safety recorded 39 tornadoes, 26 funnel clouds, 11 reports of damage from thunderstorm winds and 69 reports of hail in Thursday’s storms. “

39 tornadoes in one day.

During our heat wave this summer, which seemed to last about two months, we had constant violent storms, downpours and tornado warnings in Minnesota.  We are all relieved that our heat wave and humidity that produced all these storms is finally easing off.   It’s hard not to ascribe our bizarre weather to climate change, especially now that we know for sure that there’s no doubt climate change is happening now and is increasing with time.  This month we had outbreaks of multiple tornadoes, like these:

This multiple-tornado cell was seen near Appleton, Minnesota on August 12, 2010.

The photos below were taken on August 12th in Minnesota too.

Want to see more? There are dozens of tornado videos from this year on Youtube.

I’m now on vacation for at least a week.

Meanwhile, here  is something for everyone to consider.  In 2007, Andrew Revkin wrote a series of articles in the NYT called “The Climate Divide“.  It was about how people all over the world are preparing to “adapt” to climate change.  Adaptation actually just means survival. And we know that the  wealthy are already working to insulate themselves from climate risk.  Are the rest of us?  Not so much, because someone, somewhere, is funding the outrageous myth that climate change isn’t real — even as they themselves prepare for it.

Many people do know it’s happening and are doing what they can.  Here is just one way they are experimenting with survival — the idea of living and working on the water.

For private firms, it means experimenting with new housing, as Dura Vermeer is doing here in Maasbommel [the Netherlands]. The company has also built a floating greenhouse near the Hague and, along with other firms, has received government approval to try other kinds of housing in 15 areas in the country at risk for flooding. Other proposals — for entire floating cities, for instance — are still preliminary, but are being talked about seriously as a possible way forward.

It’s worth thinking about how and where to live in the near future, but I don’t know of any type of building that is really tornado-proof.   I hope someone comes up with a structure that can withstand 300+ mph winds soon.