The article doesn’t mention it but I would guess that the record-breaking heat Korea experienced last year is a factor. April seems very early in the year for this kind of conflagration:
“South Korea has declared a national emergency in response to one of the largest wildfires on record.
“At least one person has died and more than 4,000 people have been evacuated.
“Thousands of soldiers have been helping firefighters from across South Korea extinguish the flames in the country’s north-eastern mountainous region, close to the border with North Korea.
“Although the main fire has been brought under control, others are still burning, officials say.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47824306
“One of the consequences of Bangladesh’s long struggle with the elements is a spike in the number of families leaving rural areas and heading for major cities such as Dhaka and Chittagong, where children’s rights are frequently violated.
““There are already something like six million climate refugees in Bangladeshi cities and that number is growing fast,” Mr. Ingram said. He described “brutal surroundings” where children “are forced to essentially fend for themselves, while many children are “pushed into very hazardous forms of child labour.”
https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/04/1036141
“For more than a week, parts of India have been gripped by a heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring up to six degrees Celsius above average.
“The heat has mostly affected central and northwestern India, with cities across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan seeing daily highs of over 42C.”
“An Afghan official says at least seven people have been killed as heavy rains and flooding swept through the country’s western Herat province.
“Heavy snowfall across Afghanistan this winter had cut off many areas, raising fears of severe floods in the spring. So far this year, 63 people have died as heavy rains and flooding swept away their homes.”
https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/04/05/heavy-rains-flooding-in-western-afghanistan-kill-7-people/
“Rescue operations are under way across Iran as the death toll from severe flooding has reached more than 60. There are new warnings that dams in some areas could overflow, causing more devastation.
“Tens of thousands of people have been displaced, and many are in urgent need of food, water, tents and blankets.”
“A lack of rain in Kenya’s Turkana region has left a million people with severe food shortages.”
Video:
“As part of a report on the severe drought blighting Madagascar, Aid-Zone spoke to health workers and locals in the south of the country about the daily challenges they face.
“”We have no money to buy food. I give my baby anything I can find, but when I can’t find anything, he doesn’t eat,” insists one mother while holding her son.”
https://www.euronews.com/2019/03/28/madagascar-s-malnourished-children
“Last week, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) decried the escalating heat waves ravaging the country with the temperature in most parts, including coastal areas, hovering far above 35 degree Celsius…
“NiMet has also noted that the beginning of 2019 continued where 2018 left off with extreme weather which has claimed lives and destroyed livelihoods. Available records indicate that nearly half a million people were affected by flooding in eight states of the country with at least 108 deaths. Now, NiMet predicts that these events will continue this year. This is frightening…”
https://allafrica.com/stories/201904040513.html
“Alarm bells are already ringing as at least ten reservoirs are currently less than half full, a third of the country is in a state of severe meteorological drought, and swathes of southern Portugal are already experiencing extreme meteorological drought.
“Last month, most of mainland Portugal was experiencing meteorological drought, with the amount of territory in a state of severe or critical conditions rising month-on-month due to the below-average rainfall.”
http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/portugal-braces-for-drought/48950
“Communities along the Darling River in Australia are on the verge of collapse as the long-term drought continues to dry up the waterway, which hasn’t flowed for more than 200 days.
“Much of the New South Wales’ river’s tributaries have run dry and the main waterway is dangerously low and contaminated with blue-green algae. The algae has deteriorated the water quality so much large quantities of dead fish were discovered floating on the surface earlier this year because of the lack of oxygen.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6885727/Communities-Darling-River-verge-collapse.html
“After wet weather in February, very dry weather in March into the early April has resulted in the return of drought conditions to the islands [of Hawaii], with severe drought for part of leeward Kauai.”
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/04/05/drought-conditions-make-quick-return-islands/
“Even longtime Californians might be surprised to learn of modern-day glaciers in the state. But the fact is remnants of the Lyell Glacier, in Yosemite National Park, are about to disappear. Glaciers sculpted Yosemite’s spectacular granite monoliths and its waterfall-laden valley. The glaciers demise tells us much about our changing world.”
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2019/apr/04/what-disappearing-yosemite-glacier-tells-us-about-/
“Record-shattering floods across the Midwest have devastated parts of the region, with thousands of residents now facing a long and expensive recovery.
“But even in areas that managed to avoid the worst of the damage, local experts are worried about a range of environmental hazards — from drinking water to Superfund sites — that pose a serious threat to public health. With flooding predicted to worsen throughout the region due to climate change, those risks won’t dissipate when these floodwaters recede.”
https://thinkprogress.org/midwest-floods-missouri-superfund-toxins-hazards-nebraska/
“Expect warmer and rainier-than-usual weather this April in the Tri-Cities [Washington], says the National Weather Service. It should be a welcome change for Tri-City residents. March broke a record for cold weather that has stood for more than 100 years, plus a record for snow that has stood for more than half a century.”
https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/weather-news/article228801719.html
“Much of Saskatchewan experienced the driest March on record, with only four per cent of the normal precipitation falling in Regina, according to data from Environment and Climate Change Canada.
“Regina only saw 0.8 millimetres of precipitation in the month. That made for the driest March in 133 years of record-keeping for the city. Estevan, Moose Jaw, La Ronge and Meadow Lake also experienced their driest years ever since records were kept in each of those weather stations.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/dry-march-precipitation-regina-1.5085072
“Falling snowflakes in the Arctic are trapping extra heat, which could be enough to speed up the melting of sea ice. The effect could mean Arctic seas become ice-free up to 20 years earlier than expected.
““It’s counter-intuitive because we think of snowflakes as being cold, but they’re slow-falling ice particles that act like blankets,” says Frank Li of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.”
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