“This past April, the circumpolar world saw the lowest Arctic sea ice extent, or coverage since record-keeping began 40 years ago…
“April 2019 marked the 18th consecutive April during which Arctic sea ice extent was below average, the data centre found… And nearly all of the oldest ice, four years old or more, which once made up about 30 per cent of the sea ice within the Arctic Ocean, is gone.
“As of mid-April 2019, the older ice made up only 1.2 per cent of the ice cover.”
https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/april-saw-big-decline-in-arctic-sea-ice-cover/
“This rapid wandering of the north magnetic pole has caused some problems for scientists and navigators alike. Computer models of where the north magnetic pole might be in the future have become seriously outdated, making accurate compass-based navigation difficult….
“In fact, the pole is moving so quickly that scientists responsible for mapping the Earth’s magnetic field were recently forced to update their model much earlier than expected.”
https://earthsky.org/earth/magnetic-north-pole-shift-northern-lights
“As Earth’s temperatures continue to rise, freshwater ecosystems in the Arctic are becoming unusually warm — too warm for many native species.
“According to a report, the trend could cause regional extinctions, resulting in a tremendous loss of biodiversity in Arctic lakes and rivers.”
“Climate change that has warmed the world’s oceans has prompted a “worrying” northward migration among some communities of the smallest organisms in the sea: plankton.
WThat is the conclusion of new research published Thursday in the journal Nature examining the make-up of plankton communities across the northern hemisphere.”
https://phys.org/news/2019-05-migration-north-climate-plankton.html
“A third gray whale has been found dead in Alaska. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says a gray whale was spotted Tuesday on Kodiak Island. Carcasses also were found this spring near Cordova and south of Anchorage…
“However, they’re part of an unusually high number of gray whale deaths along the West Coast.”
http://www.startribune.com/dead-gray-whale-found-on-island-is-alaska-s-third-this-year/510300432/
“It has been nearly 120,000 years since Earth was this warm, and 40,000 years since some ice-swathed Arctic lands have seen the sun.
“This is one conclusion of a study published recently in the journal Nature Communications, in which researchers carbon-dated plants collected at the edges of 30 ice caps on Baffin Island, in the Canadian Inuit territory of Nunavut.”
“Wildfire season is getting longer in Alberta every year with climate change, scorching land and polluting the air with thick smoke…
“…there are fears a major fire west of the city could wash burned material into the rivers, impacting the drinking water supply for the city’s 1.4 million residents.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/wildfire-risk-water-supply-1.5144417
“It’s shaping up to be a dry summer for B.C.’s streams and rivers, with the province warning that provincial snowpacks are verging on 40-year lows for mid-May.
“The B.C. River Forecast Centre says that snow levels have dropped significantly since the beginning of the month due to persistently hot weather and rapid melt.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/5302499/bc-snowpack-drought-fears/
“Officials are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst as flood waters rise on the Arkansas River.”
https://www.tulsaworld.com/city-of-tulsa-flood-map/pdf_c0a4e359-6b31-5284-9b14-1109d0a03efe.html
“A tornado hit the Missouri capital as people slept late Wednesday night — part of a deadly spring storm system that has ravaged the central United States over the past several days, unleashing twisters, drenching rain, flash flooding and hail.
“More than 150 miles southwest of Jefferson City, the storm killed at least three people earlier Wednesday in Golden City, Missouri.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/23/us/severe-weather-thursday-wxc/index.html
“Five days of snow in February. A week in late May with lows in the 50s. A year’s worth of rain in five months. Go home, Mother Nature. You’re drunk.
“Las Vegas has seen some strange weather so far in 2019, with colder, wetter conditions than people are used to in one of North America’s hottest, driest cities.”
“Hot and muggy weather resulted in record high temperatures for parts of the state, including a sweltering 96 degree temperature recorded at Kahului Airport.
“If the preliminary data from the National Weather Service is verified, that would break the previous record of 94 degrees set back in 1993. It would also be the hottest temperature recorded in Kahului for the month of May.”
“Seven months since Hurricane Michael’s category 5 winds twisted over Florida – and two weeks until the 2019 hurricane season begins – Mexico Beach is still in the clean-up phase from the strongest storm to ever hit the area.
“Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration upgraded the hurricane to a category 5, making it one of only four storms on record to hit the continental United States at that intensity.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/23/mexico-beach-hurricane-michael-florida-recovery
“Tens of thousands of trees planted to mitigate the environmental impact of the High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) route have died following the UK’s 2018 summer drought.
“More than one-third of saplings planted in 2017-18 had to be replaced a year later, bosses admitted, as they said putting in new plants was cheaper than keeping the old ones alive.”
“It has been one of the wettest and coldest months on record in Croatia, but it looks like after the unsettled weather of May is behind us the whole region could be in for a summer to remember.
“AccuWeather, the much respected well-known American meteorological service, has released the weather forecast for this summer in Europe. And according to forecasts we are in for a baking hot summer.”
“‘…long-duration’, ‘intense’ and ‘persistent’ heatwaves will spread from Spain and Portugal all the way to eastern Europe and will bring sweltering temperatures for months.
“The high heat is forecast to arrive in June and will be much stronger than last year, which saw record-breaking recordings.
“Spain is facing ‘multi-day’ heatwaves and could see temperatures reach a life-threatening 43C or even higher.”
“The Khomas region [of Namibia] is experiencing its worst drought in 90 years, according to official rainfall figures released by the Namibia Meteorological Service this week.
“The region received less than a third of its normal quantity of rainfall over the past rainy season from October last year to the end of April this year.
“The bulk of the north-central regions of the country received about a third of their normal seasonal rainfall.”
https://www.namibian.com.na/78826/read/Khomas-faces-worst-drought-in-90-years
“A tropical cyclone that battered Madagascar for several days last month killed at least 34 people, according to a statement by the disaster management on Thursday.
“The National Disaster and Risk Management Bureau had previously said that at least 15 people died after cyclone Bingiza swept through the Indian Ocean Island’s southern and northern regions from February 14 to 19.”
https://www.thenewage.co.za/11812-1019-53-madagascar_cyclone_death_toll_rises_to_34/
“After four successive deficit monsoons and droughts, we do not need a large deficit in rainfall for it to have the same impact as a drought. An unevenly distributed monsoon with a small departure from the forecast can have a devastating impact on rural India.”
“Salem [India]: Coconut farmers in the district are staring at a bleak future with the trees withering away due to severe drought.”
“”Here there’s four dams that are only a quarter full and one dam that’s completely empty,” he said.
“”The rain was so steady but we didn’t get any heavy falls … so the water didn’t run into dams.
“”When there’s green grass but no water you’ve got to work as hard as being in a dry drought.”
“Mr Gardiner said many people in the community had been finding the situation challenging.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-05-23/queensland-graziers-face-a-green-drought/11139320
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