The COP18 climate change negotiations have now concluded in Doha. According to the BBC:

UN climate talks in Doha have closed with a historic shift in principle but few genuine cuts in greenhouse gases.

The summit established for the first time that rich nations should move towards compensating poor nations for losses due to climate change.

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Cornish charity Shelterbox have been providing their distinctive green, tent filled boxes to the people of Haiti off and on for years now, as well as many other places around the planet.  In their latest report from the Caribbean island nation following the passage of Hurricane Sandy last month, they say that:

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After an expensive and thoroughly negative campaign that failed to mention climate change at all, Barack Obama has been voted another four year term in charge of a nation that pumps a lot of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.  According to the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL for short):

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Four years ago Barack Obama was President Elect.  Here's a speech he gave at that time:

Notice his concluding remarks:

Once I take office you can be sure that the United States will once again engage vigorously in…. negotiations, and help lead the world towards a new era of global cooperation on climate change. Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all. Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high. The consequences too serious. Stopping climate change won't be easy and it won't happen overnight, but I promise you this. When I am president, any governor who's willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that's willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that's willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America.

Stopping climate change hasn't happened overnight, or over the last four years for that matter. The stakes are higher. The consequences more serious. Stopping climate change is now much harder. Whether as a result of Michael Bloomberg's last minute introduction of climate change onto the agenda or not, Mr. Obama has just been voted another four years in office by the U.S. electorate. Here's his 2012 acceptance speech:

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In their last public advisory bulletin concerning "Super Storm" Sandy the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center said yesterday that:

WINDS, ACCUMULATING SNOWS AND RAIN FROM THE REMNANTS OF SANDY CONTINUE TO DIMINISH. MULTIPLE CENTERS OF CIRCULATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE REMNANTS OF SANDY CAN BE FOUND ACROSS THE LOWER GREAT LAKES.

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Last summer we speculated about what might happen if the winds and/or storm surge from Hurricane Irene happened to hit the Brunswick nuclear plant in North Carolina head on. As luck would have it Irene weakened and veered to the north, but did she did go on to cause the shut down of the Oyster Creek nuclear reactor in New Jersey, amongst numerous other problems.

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Hurricane Sandy turned sharp left as (ultimately) predicted, and crossed the eastern coast of the United States last night rather earlier than anticipated earlier in the day. Advisory bulletins on "Post-tropical Cyclone Sandy" are now being issued by the HPC instead of the NHC. Their first one says that:

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Monday morning has dawned, and it's raining again here in not so sunny South West England. Over on the other side of the Atlantic the news about Hurricane Sandy hasn't improved overnight.  Here's how the latest National Hurricane Center prediction looks at the moment:

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Much as we did last year as Hurricane Irene bore down on New York City, we hereby present the surf forecast for the entrance to New York Bay, courtesy of MagicSeaweed:

MagicSeaweed surf forecast for The Cove on Monday October 29th 2012

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Since we first reported on Hurricane Sandy she slightly surprisingly left the north coast of Cuba as a category 2 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. According to Associated Press she then:

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