“Vicious weather brought damaging tornadoes and heavy rains to areas of the central United States already dealing with floodwaters that prompted scores of water rescues over the past two days.
“There were at least 30 preliminary reports of tornadoes in the central US on Tuesday, most of the twisters occurring in Kansas and Missouri.
“Over the past five days there have been 130 tornado reports, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/21/us/severe-weather-tuesday-wxc/index.html
“America is celebrating its fourth best winter season in history, with more than 59 million skiers visiting resorts across the country.
“Remarkable snow conditions are largely to thank after the wettest winter on record in the USA meant many of the country’s ski resorts experienced their snowiest season ever. The freak weather front, which blasted the country for almost six weeks at the start of 2019, led to a number of resorts announcing they would likely remain open until as late as July.”
“This winter, April showers have brought May snowfall and record low temperatures. Denver broke a 128-year record low maximum temperature record on Tuesday.
“With a high of just 39 degrees, it broke the previous record for the previous coldest May 21 high temperature – snapping the old record of 40 degrees from way back in 1891.”
https://www.denverpost.com/2019/05/21/denver-weather-record-breaking-cold/
“A big-time heatwave is set to impact the Southeast into early June. Most locations in states like Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Alabama will see highs in the 90s and even the 100s for more than a week straight. Many daily record highs will be broken; some all-time record highs for the month of May could fall as well.”
https://www.abc57.com/news/ring-of-fire-pattern-to-bring-summer-weather
“Emergency officials [Alberta, Canada] said Tuesday that approximately 5,000 people have been evacuated from the Town of High Level, portions of Mackenzie County…
“”Unfortunately, the dry conditions in northern Alberta are forecast to continue for the foreseeable future with the fire danger possibly increasing later this week,” Premier Jason Kenney told reporters in a morning briefing…”
“For the past two weeks, large parts of Mexico have been going up in flames. Wildfires blazing across the country have darkened the skies, choking the atmosphere with smoke so thick it can be seen from space.
“As CGTN’s Alasdair Baverstock explains, evacuations have been ordered as firefighters battle the flames.”
https://america.cgtn.com/2019/05/21/wildfires-force-evacuations-in-mexico
“Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have shown that atmospheric pollutants restrict tree growth and the ecosystem services provided by trees, such as filtering pollution by absorbing airborne metals in their bark, assimilating CO2, reducing the heat island effect by attenuating solar radiation, mitigating stormwater runoff, and controlling humidity.”
https://phys.org/news/2019-05-air-pollution-affects-tree-growth.html
“Officially, the Atlantic hurricane season does not begin until June 1, and notionally ends on Nov. 30. However, the formation of Andrea marks the fifth year in a row—dating to Tropical Storm Ana in 2015—that a named storm has formed before June 1.
“This is unprecedented. “
“Rain didn’t just fall in 2018, it piled up into a record breaker.
“Scientists say the health of America’s largest estuary declined last year due to the effects of record-breaking precipitation.”
Video:
“The floods of 2009 and 2015 in north-west England were the worst for more than 550 years, according to groundbreaking analysis of lake sediment in the region.
“Residents have long suspected that the devastating floods were the worst in living memory, but this confirmation – from an analysis of lake sediment layers – provides a unique window on to the history of flooding in one of the wettest parts of England, and reveals the global climate crisis.”
“The climate-related catastrophes ranging from floods, prolonged drought, violent wind and extreme temperatures that have ravaged different parts of [Uganda] have caused fears of looming famine.
“The recent flood disaster occurred in Buyende District in Busoga sub-region on April 23.
“It left 15 people dead, several injured and at least 100 families displaced. Property worth millions of shillings was also destroyed.”
“Egypt’s Meteorological Authority said on Tuesday that the current heat wave in the country will peak over the upcoming three days, reaching highs of 45 degrees Celsius [113f] on Thursday.
“Temperatures are expected to increase by an average of 5 to 6 degrees during the peak of the heat wave.”
“A car owner in India has gone to extreme lengths to protect her vehicle from the punishing summer, as the mercury in the western city of Ahmedabad crosses 45 degrees Celsius [113f].
“An image of her car being shared on social media showed her Toyota sedan completely slathered with cow dung to keep it cool in the hot weather, local media reported.”
https://www.asiaone.com/asia/car-owner-india-protects-vehicle-heatwave-layer-cow-dung
“A severe drought is baking parts of China, with southwestern Yunnan province and northeastern Jilin province getting the worst of it… Crops have been damaged…
“”The corn kernels burst out even in the cornstalk, just like popcorn,” said Liu Yueming, a technician in the promotion of scientific cultivation in the province.
“”It felt like the surface temperature was as high as 60 C. It’s a catastrophe.””
http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201905/22/WS5ce4a2e2a3104842260bd045.html
“Extreme weather events, severe drought in some parts of northern Australia and devastating floods in north Queensland have delivered a $107 million hit to beef producer Australian Agricultural Company’s profit.
“The company’s full-year results released on Wednesday revealed the vast flood in the Queensland Gulf country earlier this year killed about 43,000 head of cattle, just under 10 per cent of AACo’s herd, and cost the company an estimated $47 million.”
“The heat stress in 2016 was the worst on record, causing mass bleaching and large reductions in coral cover at Christmas Island, Ashmore Reef and Scott Reef.
“This was also the first time mass bleaching was recorded in the southern parts of the inshore Kimberley region, including in the long oral history of Indigenous Australians who have managed this sea-country for thousands of years.”
“Thermal images taken by a NIWA scientist during this year’s aerial survey of South Island [NZ] glaciers have revealed in extraordinary detail how heat in the surrounding landscape is affecting the ice.
“The long-term records show about 30% of New Zealand glacier coverage has been lost and hundreds of individual glaciers have disappeared altogether. This year there has been very little accumulation and some glaciers were only just clinging on to the sides of mountains, Dr Lorrey said.”
“Glaciers and ice sheets in Antarctica have thinned and weakened dramatically over the past quarter-century, leaving 24% of the ice in the western part of the continent seriously weakened and in danger of collapse.
“In some places on Antarctica, glaciers have thinned by approximately 400 feet (122 meters).
“This staggering loss has little to do with weather fluctuations; rather, it unfolded over decades as Earth’s climate warmed, scientists reported in a new study.
“And that ice loss is accelerating.”
https://www.livescience.com/65524-antarctica-ice-unstable.html
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