Karma's Blog

This week, we discussed coastal hazards, more specifically the damages they cause. In my chosen country, Jamaica, they are faced with various coastal hazards, such as coastal erosion and sea level rise. Unfortunately, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, coastal areas are home to at least 70% of the Jamaican population, as well as around 55% of its economic assets such as airports, tourism infrastructure, and harbors. Therefore, coastal hazards are both a social and economic threat in Jamaica, and make it extremely difficult for them to recover and redevelop.  The main coastal problem Jamaica faces is erosion, which is a direct result of both rising sea levels and the deterioration of coral reefs. This erosion can also be linked to the severe hurricanes Jamaica experienced in 2004 and 2007, Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Dean. For example, one of the most well-known beaches in Jamaica, Hellshire Beach, has lost over 100 feet of its beach in the last 15 years. A

Hello everyone!  This week, we discussed extreme weather events, such as thunderstorms, severe thunderstorms, lightning, hail, and tornadoes. Therefore, I chose to center this blog post around one of the extreme weather events that Jamaica experiences: thunderstorms.  According to the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, the rainy season occurs from June to November, and thunderstorms are a part of daily atmospheric conditions. On average, Jamaica experiences around 82 inches of rainfall annually. More specifically, Jamaica's North Coast gets an average of around 134 inches annually, due to relief rainfall that occurs in the mountainous regions. In November of 2023, Jamaica experienced such heavy rainfall that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Mining had to increase support for farmers. The thunderstorms caused farmers to suffer damages that led to an immense decline in the production of vegetable lines, as well as flash floods that many areas in Jamaica had to be placed on