I have seen global warming blamed for a lot of things I questioned.

It’s flooding in Texas. Global Warming.

There’s a drought in Missouri. Global Warming.

Heat wave in Europe. Global Warming.

Snow in Argentina. Global Warming.

But now, global warming is being blamed for the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Who knew?

The question remains, do we need to climate-proof our bridges, does a connection exist between climate change and the collapse of the I-35W bridge? Consider what a meteorologist who worked in the city for years blogged:

Now the questions begin. Why did this happen? Structural integrity will obviously be a huge concern. Minnesota experiences extreme temperature fluctuations throughout the year and this summer has been extremely hot and humid. During my time working there, road buckling from extreme heat was very common. You have to wonder if the bridge buckled.

And consider the remarkable conclusion of one Minneapolis resident:

Several eyewitnesses reported seeing what looked like “explosions” coming up from the concrete roadway just prior to the collapse. I am reasonably certain that authorities and investigators will find that the extreme heat of the last several days in Minneapolis had caused the expansion joints in the bridge to close completely.

…

Melissa Hortman of the Minnesota House of Representatives “speculated that 90-plus-degree heat Wednesday and the above-normal temperatures of the past two summers may have been a contributing factor,” and said “You wonder if this bridge was built to withstand the massive heat we have had this summer.” Or even if it was built to withstand heat, whether its structural deficiencies undermined the design integrity to a point where heat contributed to the collapse.

You know, I can’t remember the last time it was hot in summer. Really. When was the last time it was really, really hot in the summer?

Oh yeah, last year. Hmm.

Could it be that it was just a matter of money not being used to keep the bridge safe, and not a case of super heated summer weather causing the bridge to fail? I mean, was it cooler by the other bridges in Minneapolis? Why didn’t they fail from global warming?

Hat Tip: Newsbusters

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