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May 6, 2021

Research

Climate change is bringing heavier rains. Here are steps Wisconsin communities are taking to combat flooding

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

While the northern half has seen a smaller increase, Dane County has seen a 20% increase and Milwaukee County has seen a 15% increase, according to data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Scientists started keeping records of precipitation levels in the 1890s, said Steve Vavrus, a climate professor at UW, and since then, all records for the state have been broken.

Climate change explains the rising amount of rain falling from the sky, Vavrus said. As temperatures rise, warmer air can hold more droplets of water.

“More moisture can be wrung out of the air than 100 years ago or so,” he said. “And climate models have been projecting that for a long time that as the climate warms, we’ll get more heavy rains.”

Antarctic ice melt could cause ‘catastrophic’ sea level rise

Posted on
Futurity

The paper appears in the journal Nature. Additional coauthors are from McGill University; the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Penn State; the University of California Irvine; the University of Bristol; the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For a Peek Inside Wisconsin’s Watery Past, Thank the Microbes

Posted on
Hakai Magazine

Knowing they had found something special, Gunderson and Meyer frantically shaved off slabs of the fossil-bearing rock, preventing them from being pulverized in the pursuit of limestone. They donated their find to the University of Wisconsin–Madison Geology Museum, where thousands of Waukesha specimens now fill drawer after drawer.

Higher Education/System

Budget-writing committee begins work by stripping hundred of Evers items out

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: The two-year state budget plan also won’t allow the University of Wisconsin System to borrow for operational expenses, restore collective bargaining for public employees, make Juneteenth a state holiday, create a so-called red flag law for gun owners or adopt maps from the governor’s redistricting commission, among other proposals.

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Opinion

Keep Tommy Thompson in charge of UW System — Jonathan Barry

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Letter to the editor: Thompson is no “place holder.” He is a dynamic leader who is proving his value to UW System during these challenging times. Also, with Regent membership and leadership change underway, it seems advisable to retain Thompson’s steady hand and not dive into another national search now.

UW Experts in the News

“It’s a Nightmare”: Inside America’s Rural Housing Crisis

Posted on
In These Times

Steven Deller, a professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison and expert on rural economies, says one factor contributing to Wisconsin’s rural housing crisis is the sharp decrease in construction of new affordable housing since the Great Recession. He says developers are focused instead on building luxury homes because they produce higher profits.