The climate crisis has hit the Smithsonian Museum and will get worse

This week I have a lot of topics in the hopper: COP-26, the new COVID variant (Omicron), an update on an educational game I’ve been developing. But for now I want to share a single story about a far larger topic. And I’ll share it in some detail, because not every reader can climb past the paywall surrounding it.

tl;dr version — The climate crisis is already hitting America’s Smithsonian Institution in a very practical and dangerous way, according to the New York Times.

The reason is that the land where those museums stand is low-lying and increasingly vulnerable to flooding. The climate crisis ratchets up the likelihood of rising waters and increasing amounts of rainfall.

Rising seas will eventually push in water from the tidal Potomac River and submerge parts of the Mall, scientists say. More immediately, increasingly heavy rainstorms threaten the museums and their priceless holdings, particularly since many are stored in basements.

Water has already attacked the Smithsonian. Christopher Flavelle offers many examples, from a historic train engine immersed in pooled rain to a flooded auditorium.

“Flooding in the William G. McGowan Theater in the National Archives Building in 2006.”

At the American History Museum, water is already intruding.

It gurgles up through the floor in the…