“Cyclone Fani is only the second severe cyclone in the last 118 years to form in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) in the month of April and cross over to the Indian mainland, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). “The last severe cyclone, Nargis, devastated Myanmar in 2008,” said M Rajeevan, secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences on Twitter.
“He further added that “in between 1891-2017, only 14 severe tropical cyclones formed in April over BOB and only one storm crossed the Indian mainland.”
“April cyclones are rare and the track and severity of Fani makes it even rarer. In recent times, cyclones have either had unusual timing, like Cyclone Pabuk in January, or they have intensified rapidly before making landfall, like Cyclone Ockhi in 2017 and Cyclone Titli last year.
“In fact, the IMD in October last year, had called the formation of the two very severe cyclones—Titli and Luban—on two sides of the Indian mainland as the ‘rarest of rare’ occurrences. The IMD had also said that the movement of both these storms was unique. While Titli changed its direction and moved towards the northeast after making a landfall, Luban too kept going in different directions over the nine days that it travelled through the south-eastern Arabian Sea towards Yemen and Oman on the Gulf of Oman coast and then made landfall on October 13…
“Seas and oceans have been unusually warm this March. Globally, the month of March 2019 was the second-hottest ever recorded since observations began 140 years ago, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).”
“With most parts of Maharashtra [India] reeling under drought wild animals like tigers and leopards are moving out of forest areas and into bordering villages in search of water, according to information available from the state forest department… This has led to worsening of man-animal conflict…
WLast week, 45-year old Kavdu Masram, a resident of Jatlapur village in this district, was mauled to death by a tiger…”
“Intense heat baked Delhiites on Tuesday afternoon, with city breaking several records. Today, Palam Observatory in Delhi recorded day maximum at 45.3°C, which is equal to what city had recorded 49 years before on April 25, 1970…
“Skymet Weather does not see any relief from the ongoing hot weather conditions across Delhi-NCR in the coming days as well. Maximum temperatures are likely to settle in the similar range from 42°C-45°C.”
“Torrential rain continued to batter northern Mozambique on Tuesday, several days after Cyclone Kenneth, as the United Nations said aid workers faced “an incredibly difficult situation” in reaching thousands of survivors.
“The rains grounded aid operations for a third consecutive day leaving some of the worst-hit communities cut off with very limited supplies.”
“President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared seven days of national mourning for those who lost their lives in the recent floods which ravaged parts of South Africa…
“Ramaphosa visited flood-stricken communities and assured residents that the government would help communities in their rescue and recovery efforts. He also welcomed material and social support extended to affected communities by various sectors of society.”
“The National Water Commission [of Jamaica] says it will be implementing water restrictions for sections of the Corporate Area as of Monday as it indicated that several of its water supply systems across the island are being affected by worsening drought conditions.”
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/239557/jamaica-institutes-water-rationing
“Several rounds of severe storms continue to move through the central United States, sparking tornadoes, hail, and flooding Tuesday.
“The severe weather is expected to continue into May, which is the most active month for severe storms across the region.”
“Davenport abruptly joined the ranks of Iowa regions ravaged by muddy floodwaters this spring when the Mississippi River rushed into the downtown of the state’s third-largest city Tuesday afternoon.
“The HESCO barriers holding back floodwaters from the river failed, local media reported, spilling fast-moving waters into the eastern Iowa city with a population of 100,000. The inundation was so sudden that emergency responders had to rescue people from buildings.”
“To say Graeme Olmsted has had a streak of bad luck over the last seven months would be an understatement. His home in Trend-Arlington was damaged extensively by the EF-2 tornado that tore through the west Ottawa neighbourhood on Sept. 21, 2018… now, he’s fighting a bigger battle against water damage:
“…the swollen Ottawa River is on the brink of flooding the riverfront home he’s been renting with his wife and two children in Crystal Bay west of downtown.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/5221950/ottawa-tornado-victim-flooding-threatens-rental-home/
“The drinking water in Paradise, California, where 85 people died last year in the nation’s worst wildfire in a century, is contaminated with the cancer-causing chemical benzene, officials said.
“Officials said they believe the contamination happened after the November firestorm created a toxic combination of gases in burning homes that got sucked into the water pipes as residents and firefighters drew water heavily.”
“Dry conditions this spring have put many people in north central Washington on edge.
“As wildfires become more frequent and intense, the disappearance of snow now ushers in a season of higher anxiety for those who have experienced the destruction of wildfire. And this spring feels particularly ominous, with water levels in ponds and lakes already exposing bathtub rings of pale earth that wouldn’t normally be visible until the end of the dry summer months.”
https://www.kuow.org/stories/snow-melts-anxiety-soars-wildfire-season-is-here
“The Alaska Division of Forestry is warning Alaskans in the Southcentral region of the state about high fire danger. Division of Forestry spokesperson Tim Mowry said over a dozen wildfires cropped up around the state over the weekend…
“Mowry said that earlier snowmelts and later winters around the state have led to a longer fire season.”
https://www.ktoo.org/2019/04/30/fire-season-kicks-off-with-over-a-dozen-wildfires-across-alaska/
“This much is clear: the Arctic is warming fast, and frozen soils are starting to thaw… As the temperature of the ground rises above freezing, microorganisms break down organic matter in the soil.
“Greenhouse gases — including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — are released into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. Soils in the permafrost region hold twice as much carbon as the atmosphere does — almost 1,600 billion tonnes.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01313-4
“The average temperature in Taiwan this spring has been the highest since the country began collecting weather data in 1947, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Tuesday…
“…the temperature averaged 22.23 degrees Celsius in the period February to April, soaring past the previous average record of 20.51 degrees.”
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201904300015.aspx
“The Northern Territory [Australia] has “well and truly smashed records” with its recent wet season, experiencing the hottest on record and the driest in 27 years.
“The extraordinary season, which made headlines for extreme heat in some communities and horrific animal die-offs, was consistent with the story of climate change affecting the region, the Bureau of Meteorology (Bom) said.”
“Melbourne has just endured its driest first four months of the year. The Victorian capital has counted just 49 mm of rainfall from January to the end of April.
“That’s the lowest on record for the first four months of the year — and less than a quarter of the average it would normally expect over that period.”
“NIWA says New Zealand is in for “several spells of unseasonable warmth” over the next three months.
“During April, marine heatwave conditions continued in the Tasman Sea, and warmer than average sea surface temperatures are forecast to persist during the coming three-month period.”
“Reef corals in equatorial regions are going to start moving towards the poles as climate change takes hold, scientists have said.
“By analyzing the ranges of reefs from the fossil record, researchers were able to build a picture of how these systems respond to climate change—and then project how they might respond under future global warming.”
https://www.newsweek.com/reef-corals-moving-poles-escape-climate-change-1409856
“Glaciers from almost half of natural World Heritage sites — such as the Khumbu Glacier in the Himalayas — may disappear completely by 2100, if emissions continue at current rate, a study warns.
“The research is the first-ever global study of World Heritage glaciers — home to some of the world’s most iconic glaciers, such as the Grosser Aletschgletscher in the Swiss Alps, and Greenland’s Jakobshavn Isbrae, scientists said.”
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