“Global warming has heated the oceans by the equivalent of one atomic bomb explosion per second for the past 150 years, according to analysis of new research.
“More than 90% of the heat trapped by humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed by the seas, with just a few per cent heating the air, land and ice caps respectively. The vast amount of energy being added to the oceans drives sea-level rise and enables hurricanes and typhoons to become more intense.
“Much of the heat has been stored in the ocean depths but measurements here only began in recent decades and existing estimates of the total heat the oceans have absorbed stretch back only to about 1950. The new work extends that back to 1871. Scientists have said that understanding past changes in ocean heat was critical for predicting the future impact of climate change.”
“Last year was the fourth warmest on record, extending a scorching streak driven by a build-up of man-made greenhouse gases, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said yesterday…
“The last four years have seen the highest average temperatures since records began in the 19th century – 2016 was the hottest, boosted by an El Nino event that warmed the surface of the Pacific Ocean, and then 2017 and 2015.”
https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/2018-was-fourth-warmest-year-on-record-18736501
“Several people have been killed by extreme weather conditions in Europe, including a 44-year-old man in the German town of Wackersberg in Bavaria and a young woman on the Teisenberg in the Berchtesgaden region…
“While conditions have improved in some parts, meteorologists predict it’s just the calm before the next storm.”
https://www.dw.com/en/deadly-snowfall-wreaks-havoc-across-europe/a-46981061
“The ancient monuments in Athens got a rare dusting of snow on Tuesday as temperatures across Greece hit record lows, bringing transport to a standstill in some areas…
“In northern Greece… an all-time low of -23 degrees Celsius (-9 Fahrenheit) was recorded in the city of Florina…”
“2018 was the hottest year in Hungary since records began in 1901, the National Meteorological Service (OMSZ) announced on Monday.
“”Last year’s national average temperature was 11.99 degrees Celsius,” OMSZ reported. “This exceeds the normal value registered between 1981 and 2010 by 1.66 degrees Celsius.””
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/08/c_137726823.htm
“The year of 2018 was the hottest on record in Italy since 1800, the National Research Council (CNR) said in a statement Monday… “Viewed within the context of the last 220 years of Italy’s climate history, this is the umpteenth confirmation of the fact that we are witnessing significant climate change in our country,” the CNR statement said.
“”Of the 30 hottest years since 1800 to date, 25 (of those hottest years) occurred after 1990.””
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/08/c_137726972.htm
“Record rainfall helped tick up levels of two widespread pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in 2018…
“…worried scientists say bigger storms could be the new norm, according to a recent report.”
http://www.philly.com/science/climate/chesapeake-bay-climate-change-rain-storms-20190107.html
“A federal prison here in Florida’s rural Panhandle lost much of its roof and fence during Hurricane Michael in October, forcing hundreds of inmates to relocate to a facility in Yazoo City, Miss., more than 400 miles away.
“Since then, corrections officers have had to commute there to work, a seven-hour drive, for two-week stints. As of this week, thanks to the partial federal government shutdown, they will be doing it without pay — no paychecks and no reimbursement for gas, meals and laundry, expenses that can run hundreds of dollars per trip.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/us/florida-government-shutdown-marianna.html
“The northwest of the province of Santa Fe [Argentina] is suffering one of the worst floods in its history.
“The departments of Vera and 9 de Julio are the most affected by the constant rains that left under the water some 200 thousand hectares of field.”
“If you thought 2018 was rather warm, then you were right – it was New Zealand’s second warmest year on record. It is part of an overall warming trend, which a leading climate scientist says is a “wake-up call” for politicians to take action…
“January was New Zealand’s warmest month – ever, at 3.1C above average.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12187113
“Residents in northern Queensland are being urged to prepare for wild weather and flooding, with ex-Tropical Cyclone Penny expected to dump hundreds of millimetres of rain across coastal communities north of Rockhampton over the next few days…
“Mr Banks said flooding was mostly likely to occur in parts of northern Queensland that had already experienced record-breaking rain last month, brought on by ex-Tropical Cyclone Owen.”
https://www.9news.com.au/2019/01/08/12/54/weather-rain-queensland-heat-wa-storms-heatwave
“Insurance claims for Sydney’s catastrophic December hail storm has reached $670 million and are still expected to rise. Over 80,000 claims had been lodged as of 4pm on Monday, the Insurance Council of Australia said.
“About 60,000 of the claims were related to severely damaged motor vehicles, some with completely smashed windshields.”
“Two more deaths of children have been reported in Central Province bringing the death toll to six from the current wild weather experienced in Papua New Guinea.
“The two children were reported to have drowned while playing in flood waters with friends.”
https://postcourier.com.pg/two-children-lost-flood-waters/
“A glacier is essentially suspended energy, suspended force. It is, in a sense, life frozen in time. But now they are themselves running out of time. The planet’s ecosystems, pushed far beyond their capacity to adapt to human-generated traumas and stresses, are in a state of freefall.
“Just as I watched hundreds of years of time compressed into glacial ice flash before my eyes in a matter of seconds as I fell into the crevasse, swathes of the natural world are, in the blink of a geological eye, falling into oblivion.”
“Temperatures are rising faster in the Arctic than any other place on Earth. If these changes continue, it is likely that the unique and diverse Arctic tundra will change into a more uniform vegetation dominated by shrubs…
“This whole ecosystem is in danger of change when the temperature rises. But climate changes does not only affect the temperature. The amounts of snow and rain also change and the permafrost becomes less stable.”
http://sciencenordic.com/should-we-say-farewell-arctics-unique-nature
Read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here and visit my Patreon page here.
