Huge swathes of agricultural land in North America are experiencing record flooding. Meanwhile on the Canadian prairies:
“Saskatoon saw only nine percent of its typical precipitation over the last three month. Most of the prairies have been waiting for spring showers that never materialized…
“Our polar jet has been pushing systems to the north of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, leaving Western Canada in the dry and calm air in the middle.
“This pattern has been acting as a block in our atmosphere, meaning day after day of similar conditions.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saskatchewan-dry-spring-1.5160381
“It seems June 2 was a day for unusual tornadoes across Canada. While one unexpected twister tore a path through the National Capital Region, another looks to have gone north. Way north, in fact — all the way to the Northwest Territories…
If confirmed, the tornado will join a very exclusive group. To date, only three tornadoes have been confirmed north of 60 degrees latitude in Canada.”
“Environment Canada is reviewing its public alerts system after residents of a suburban Ottawa neighbourhood hit by a tornado Sunday were never warned that one was on the way… A spokeswoman for the department said the weather leading up to the tornado didn’t suggest one could develop…”
“Lake Ontario water levels set a record Friday, and levels have climbed higher since then. According to the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board, which monitors water levels, the lake level reached 248.98 feet on Friday, breaking the existing record…
“The agency expects the lake level to “continue rising gradually” for several days until peaking in one to three weeks, according to a news release.”
“The Arkansas River near Little Rock is cresting at its highest level since 1945 as the region braces for more rainfall… Dozens of levees in Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas have failed, with more rain forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Tropical moisture from the Gulf of Mexico is forecast to combine with a western storm system and add to the region’s precipitation levels.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/catastrophic-flooding-continues-rain/story?id=63470040
““A lot of the farmers along this river valley won’t get a crop this year, just due to the high waters and how long it’ll take to go down and the timeframe which we’re running out of to get crops in the fields to ensure a harvest…
“”…it’s just unbelievable how much water we do have here,” he said. “If they have a crop planted and it gets flooded out, they get some flood insurance, but if they don’t get a crop in at all, I’m not sure how that works.””
“The advance of the waters of the Paraguay River left thousands of victims in our country. In the capital alone, there are 12,802 affected families.
“In the last week of May there was an increase of 5,104 new affected and total 47,434 people affected throughout the country, according to data from the SEN itself.”
“Australia is staring down the barrel of another lower-than-average winter crop, as ongoing dry weather hinders planting across the nation, according to Rabobank’s Australian 2019 Winter Crop Outlook, released today…
“…all cropping regions in the Eastern States – as well as South Australia and WA – had begun the season with below-average rainfall, record-low soil moisture and a less-than-favourable rainfall outlook.”
“Ferocious weather has lashed a 600-mile stretch of coastline in eastern Australia prompting emergency warnings from the authorities as snow fell in subtropical Queensland…
“There are warnings that climate change in Australia, the world’s driest inhabited continent, will unleash more intense bushfires, droughts and storms.”
“India’s average surface temperature has risen by 0.8 degrees Celsius from 1880 to 2018, according to a report by El Dorado Weather.
“Many cities recorded all-time high temperatures this year, with temperatures rising about 40 degrees Celcius in most cities, and exceeding 45 degrees Celcius in some of the worst-affected states.”
“Nearly half of all rural Afghans now face some level of food insecurity, a UN agency said on Monday, as a historic drought and deteriorating security grip the country.
“Described by some locals as the worst in a lifetime, the drought had a devastating effect on rural populations last year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.”
https://www.rt.com/newsline/460981-rural-afghans-food-drought/
“When Cyclone Idai slammed into the African nation of Mozambique in March, the world knew recovery would be an uphill struggle. Then, just a month later, Cyclone Kenneth came roaring through with speeds reaching 174 miles per hour. Recovery from the twin cyclones is going to be a costly, uphill struggle…
“At an international conference in Beira, donors from around the world promised to donate $1.2 billion to recovery efforts. That’s less than half of the $3.2 billion the country actually needs…”
https://earther.gizmodo.com/donors-give-mozambique-less-than-half-of-whats-needed-f-1835201227
“Powerful storms, record-breaking temperatures and rising water levels remind us daily of the impact of climate change and our need to address it… Proponents of nuclear power argue that nuclear energy is the most viable and powerful alternative to fossil fuels.
“Opponents point to waste storage problems, plus the slow pace and high cost of building new reactors. And, they ask, what about when something goes wrong?”
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/life/2019-06-04-chernobyl-horror-has-nuclear-lessons-for-sa/
“Torrential rains over 24 hours caused floods Monday in central Serbia that covered roads, washed into homes and damaged bridges…
““There was huge rainfall overnight in these areas,” said Maric. “That is why we have declared emergency situations in nine municipalities.
“”Our emergency teams are in the field.””
https://apnews.com/15c2fc073a004b2f98d80dd9a433bec7
“Hottest May on record follows rainiest April on record for Ourense, Galicia.”
“The number of extreme downpours increased steadily between 1964 and 2013 — a period when global warming also intensified, according to research published in the journal Water Resources Research.
“The frequency of ‘extreme precipitation events’ increased in parts of Canada, most of Europe, the Midwest and northeast region of the U.S., northern Australia, western Russia and parts of China…”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190603132612.htm
“Nearly one-fifth of the world’s population lives in a stressed water basin where the next climate change-driven incident could threaten access to an essential resource for agriculture, industry and life itself, according to a paper by University of California, Irvine researchers and others, published today in Nature Sustainability.”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190603132606.htm
“More than 200 of the world’s largest listed companies forecast that climate change could cost them a combined total of almost $1 trillion, with much of the pain due in the next five years, according to a report published on Tuesday.
“Even so, the findings by charity CDP suggested many companies still underestimated the dangers as scientists warn that earth’s climate system is on course to hit catastrophic tipping points without rapid cuts in carbon emissions.”
“Twenty days of lethal heat per year. Collapsed eco-systems. And more than one billion people displaced.
“Those are all probable scenarios that could devastate societies by 2050 if swift and dramatic action isn’t taken to curb climate change, according to a think tank report backed by a former Australian military chief.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/04/health/climate-change-existential-threat-report-intl/index.html
Read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here and visit my Patreon page here.
