The alternate US of the Great Nebraska Sea.

I doubt Mount Rushmore would have survived, at least as undamaged as that image suggests. Is there any idea of the epicenter and Richter scale of the earthquake?
 
Given that it's already alternate history, I think it would be interesting to see a TL where the Great Nebraska Sea occurs in 100, or even 200 years earlier.
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
Given that it's already alternate history, I think it would be interesting to see a TL where the Great Nebraska Sea occurs in 100, or even 200 years earlier.
That would be interesting as well although Im partial to 1973. Im just surprised this scenario doesnt get more love in general considering that it addresses alternate- history, climate and geography....
 
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From a weather forecaster's perspective... the midwestern coast will get rocked by summertime tropical-strength storms due to Low pressure systems that form over the Rocky Mountains and move over the, presumably, shallow and warm Sea of Nebraske (SoN). Tornado Alley will probably shift into the central plains of Canada since the relatively warm waters of the northern SoN will provide the same warm moisture interaction of the current Gulf of Mexico. The entire coastline of the Sea is at risk of being ravaged by tropical storms and hurricanes from the Gulf of Mexico. Although the northern coast of TX and NM are fairly protected they will still be impacted by weakened storms that make landfall on their southern coasts but rapidly strengthen again as it enters the SoN (much like storms that cross FL now). "Sea-effect" snowfalls will be a real concern for the newly formed western coasts. Since very little of the SoN will freeze in the winter, bitterly cold, dry arctic pushing down from Canada will rapidly absorb water into the atmosphere and dump massive amounts of snow, much like the Great Lakes region.
The new western coast will also experience very strong winds throughout the year since the winds that currently make the central plains one of the richest wind energy places on earth will have even less friction to slow them down as they sweep across the sea from the northwest. We will probably see the emergence of rain forest conditions in much of the midwest and I imagine rivers on the western slopes of the Appalacheans will increase dramatically and many current low lying areas will become lakes as rainfall should incrase dramatically as the gradual increase in elevation from the eastern shores of the SoN wrings out all of the moisture picked up by the normally dry air from Canada and the mountain west.
This is just scratching the surface of the climatological and localized weather effects the Nebraska Sea would have on North America. Interesting exercise and thank you to MaxGerke01 for bringing this scenario and short story to out attention and to frustrated progressive for dropping the map.
 
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MaxGerke01

Banned
From a weather forecaster's perspective... the midwestern coast will get rocked by summertime tropical-strength storms due to Low pressure systems that form over the Rocky Mountains and move over the, presumably, shallow and warm Sea of Nebraske (SoN). Tornado Alley will probably shift into the central plains of Canada since the relatively warm waters of the northern SoN will provide the same warm moisture interaction of the current Gulf of Mexico. The entire coastline of the Sea is at risk of being ravaged by tropical storms and hurricanes from the Gulf of Mexico. Although the northern coast of TX and NM are fairly protected they will still be impacted by weakened storms that make landfall on their southern coasts but rapidly strengthen again as it enters the SoN (much like storms that cross FL now). "Sea-effect" snowfalls will be a real concern for the newly formed western coasts. Since very little of the SoN will freeze in the winter, bitterly cold, dry arctic pushing down from Canada will rapidly absorb water into the atmosphere and dump massive amounts of snow, much like the Great Lakes region.
The new western coast will also experience very strong winds throughout the year since the winds that currently make the central plains one of the richest wind energy places on earth will have even less friction to slow them down as they sweep across the sea from the northwest. We will probably see the emergence of rain forest conditions in much of the midwest and I imagine rivers on the western slopes of the Appalacheans will increase dramatically and many current low lying areas will become lakes as rainfall should incrase dramatically as the gradual increase in elevation from the eastern shores of the SoN wrings out all of the moisture picked up by the normally dry air from Canada and the mountain west.
This is just scratching the surface of the climatological and localized weather effects the Nebraska Sea would have on North America. Interesting exercise and thank you to MaxGerke01 for bringing this scenario and short story to out attention and to frustrated progressive for dropping the map.
Well thank you. This is very interesting and is exactly part of what I was looking to have considered. Sounds like some interesting changes, For example newly coastal cities like Denver and Kansas City might get more snow annually than they do now ? I would love to read more about such changes and differences if you are interested.
 
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Since low pressure systems transit west to east, it's doubtful that the Rocky Mtn coast would receive much more snowfall than it currently does. There will be potential impacts from large cold air masses settling in from the north which will bring some east-west moving cold fronts (back door fronts) similar to what we see on the US northeast coast.
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
Since low pressure systems transit west to east, it's doubtful that the Rocky Mtn coast would receive much more snowfall than it currently does. There will be potential impacts from large cold air masses settling in from the north which will bring some east-west moving cold fronts (back door fronts) similar to what we see on the US northeast coast.
So what is the overall weather like with the Nebraska Sea in say Denver and Colorado and Kansas City and Missouri ?
 
Denver would probably not change very drastically in the winter. But summers would be hot And humid due to the proximity to the sea. I would imagine the majority of the Rocky coast would be similar to the current eastern seaboard. A north-south oriented mountain range to the west and a large body of water to the East. I imagine KC would be similar to the west coast of Italy but probably a bit wetter. similar latitudes and a fairly large sea to the west. Of course Italy does not see the tranitory low pressure systems that the interaction between the jet stream and the rocky mountains produce.
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
Denver would probably not change very drastically in the winter. But summers would be hot And humid due to the proximity to the sea. I would imagine the majority of the Rocky coast would be similar to the current eastern seaboard. A north-south oriented mountain range to the west and a large body of water to the East. I imagine KC would be similar to the west coast of Italy but probably a bit wetter. similar latitudes and a fairly large sea to the west. Of course Italy does not see the tranitory low pressure systems that the interaction between the jet stream and the rocky mountains produce.
Again thanks and I must say the more I read the more I want to see.If you are interested perhaps you can tell us what the new climate is like in each of the states that now border the Nebraska Sea as well as the overall changes to the rest of the US ,Canada and Mexico ?
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
So any new ideas on this issue.One thing it occurred to me that it would be interesting to consider is how remaining residents of the Ozarks have been transformed into islanders and likely fishermen. Talk about a cultural transformation...
 
So any new ideas on this issue.One thing it occurred to me that it would be interesting to consider is how remaining residents of the Ozarks have been transformed into islanders and likely fishermen. Talk about a cultural transformation...
Having family from central Missouri I can tell you that I don’t think it wouldn’t be as big of a change for a lot of folks. The rivers are a big part of people’s lives anyway and quite a lot of them live relatively isolated outside of the towns. It’s not too different from living in the Great Plains except that it’s less flat and a heck of a lot more forested, both of which kind of engender a sense of isolation.
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
Nixon probably won't resign if seven states all but disappear.
Possibly but said states contained a large part of his base at the time.
How would the demographics change?
Despite what will be seen as an act of god by a large part of the population I could see this event actually making the US somewhat more liberal and secular in the immediate aftermath. After all as is noted above it was the god fearing Heartland of the US that was hit hardest by this disaster as far as population lost. Oklahoma for example is sometimes called the buckle of the Bible Belt and it got completely submerged...
 
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MaxGerke01

Banned
I'm pretty sure this is going to be a disaster of unprecedented scale for the United States. The Soviet Union just won the Cold War.
The US would turn somewhat inward but I dont think it would abandon the world completely. This does probably seriously limit the Space program for a while unfortunately .Also I think the Soviets were getting a fair amount of surplus US grain imported at this time so what happpened to the US would make it harder for the Soviets to feed themselves as not as much American grain would be produced by a long shot....
 
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MaxGerke01

Banned
I dont know alot about climate effects but I would assume that the weather in central Canada would get alot warmer because of the big body of water so much closer. Would that lead to more arable land there?
 
The US would turn somewhat inward but I dont think it would abandon the world completely. This does probably seriously limit the Space program for a while unfortunately .Allso I think the Soviets were getting a fair amount of surplus US grain imported at this time so what happpened to the US would make it harder for the Soviets to feed themselves as not as much American grain would be produced by a long shot....
The Soviet Union was importing grain because they wanted to produce more beef, not because they were short on bread.
 
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