Tag Archives: weather

The Jamaican hurricane

November 12, 2025 HPSH Plaid Line Leave a comment

By: Karl Salkowski

On October 28th, 2025, a category 5 hurricane hit Jamaica. This was Hurricane Melissa, the strongest hurricane in Jamaica’s recorded history. Hurricane Melissa caused an incredible amount of damage, with economic losses totaling over 30% of Jamaica’s GDP.

Hurricane Melissa was identified as a Category 5 hurricane, making it the first of its kind to hit Jamaica. Officials have confirmed over 75 deaths across the Caribbean, with at least 32 in Jamaica. The hurricane caused massive damage to the island, with over 5 million tons of debris blocking roads and isolating communities, making it difficult for rescue teams to make their way through the island.

Although hurricanes hit Jamaica fairly frequently, none of them had this magnitude of destruction. Hurricane Melissa is the worst natural disaster Jamaica has ever faced. It displaced tens of thousands of people and caused major economic loss, projected to be over 4 billion.

Hurricane Melissa had sustained winds of 185 mph and a central pressure of 892 mb, making it one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever land in the Atlantic. Jamaica’s fisheries and agriculture were hit especially hard, with most being completely destroyed in the storm. The storm crippled Jamaica’s infrastructure, food production, roads, and power lines.

Jamaica received humanitarian aid almost immediately; food, water, and medical supplies arrived swiftly to the island from several global organizations. Due to the massive destruction of infrastructure across the island, it is projected to take years for Jamaica to fully recover.

Jamaica however has remained resilient, beginning efforts to clean and rebuild across the island. Tourism is incredibly important to Jamaica, as it is one of the largest parts of their GDP. On November 11th, 2025, Jamaica welcomed its first cruise ship to reach the island after the storm. This milestone is symbolic of Jamaica’s path to recovery as the nation adapts to Hurricane Melissa’s damage.

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Local, Science/Nature

Minnesotan winter activities and climate change

December 5, 2024 HPSH Plaid Line Leave a comment

By: Gabriella Bell

Minnesota is most commonly recognized for its drastic weather changes, harsh summers and winters alike. It’s also known for its diverse range of winter activities such as hockey, skiing, ice fishing, and more. Although in order to partake in these recreational hobbies, the most important factor is for there to be cold enough weather, and most importantly snowfall. In Minnesota this would normally never be much of a problem, however as of recent years, data is demonstrating that climate change is having a severe impact on not only these winter sports, but also local wildlife as well as our environment.

According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, worldwide climate change is also leading to a warmer Minnesota. Their stats represent an increase in the daily minimum temperature of 7.3f in the northern regions of Minnesota, 6f in the central regions, and 4.9f in the southern regions (per data from 1895-2021).

Another major impact that climate change has is in our ice cover, with an observed 10-15 days less as of these past few years. With these changes, it is ultimately impacting Minnesota fish as well, considering they are losing necessary days of ice cover, which protect them from the harsh winters. With the lack of ice, it is also contributing to the inability to begin and prolong ice fishing, ice skating and other ice-related activities that many people participate in during our Minnesota winters. Along with this unpredictable ice cover, it’s affecting the amount of flooding that the state receives, as the ice forms and then melts soon after. It then continues to follow this repeating cycle throughout the winter months until late spring.

Another factor is the inconsistent snowfalls that have been recently scattered across the winters. One of Minnesota’s most notable aspects is their snow! Not only does this affect the ability to play certain winter sports such as skiing or snowmobiling, but it also impacts the enjoyment of participating in them as well.

Per stats from the EPA, carbon dioxide levels across the world have risen over 40% since the late 1700’s, which is what’s contributing to the immense amount of climate changes worldwide, as well as in Minnesota. Not only is this a serious issue which is affecting our environment, but Minnesota’s winters are progressively growing to be much shorter, warmer and unpredictable than ever before.

As a unified community I believe that we can make changes in our lives, even small ones, in order to begin to help the restoration and conservation of our Minnesota winters, as well as the environmental health of our world.

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National, News

About Hurricane Milton

October 23, 2024 HPSH Plaid Line Leave a comment

By: Siri David

Hurricane Milton is affecting the environment and people all over the world. Hurricane Milton hit Florida’s central west coast on October 9th. It was marked as a category 3 hurricane. It had winds up to 120 mph. Earlier Wednesday morning the national weather service found at least around 4 tornados on the south west coast of Florida. This all led to a massive category 5 storm on October 7th with winds hitting speeds of 180 mph. Milton rained so much in areas of Floridas that it is qualified as a 1 in 1,000 year rainfall event.

Hurricane Milton has affected so many people. Over 3.2 million people have lost power in Florida. There have been at least 14 deaths confirmed since the storm has passed through Florida. Many people have lost their homes and all their belongings. Which leads to lots of people being homeless now. A lot of small companies were also destroyed which led to job losses, because not everyone can recover all of that damage. There were 1,200 people rescued by the National Guard. A total of around 6,500 troops were asked to come into work.

The hurricane also left a large effect on the environment. It killed many animals and destroyed a lot of their ecosystems. This causes them to not be able to repopulate as well because their environment has been ruined. Another thing that affects the environment is with all of the things being destroyed, all of that trash is being spread all over, so that isn’t good for the environment either.

This hurricane is something that will change our country forever, so here are some ways you can help. If you are someone who doesn’t live near states that were affected you can donate to foundations and help raise money. There are a lot of organizations that are taking donations, just make sure you do your research to make sure you don’t get scammed. If you do live near states that were affected you can sign up with the Red Cross to become a volunteer or could work to make meals and help get homes for people through other organizations.

To recover from a disaster like this everyone needs to participate to help the people and the environment. It takes all of us.