“The first five months of 2019 have been among Earth’s top three warmest in 140 years of temperature records, according to a just-released analysis.
“NOAA said Tuesday that global average temperatures across all land and ocean surfaces were third warmest for any January-through-May period, ranking only behind 2016 and 2017, in records dating to 1880.
“Parts of central and southern Africa, southeast Asia, southern Brazil, the western Pacific Ocean, the Barents Sea, northwest Canada and northeast Alaska were among the areas that experienced a record warm first five months of 2019, according to NOAA.
“Australia shattered its record warm January-May period in 2019, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology noted.
“This was despite notable cold over a swath of Canada and the central United States. It was the seventh coldest January-May on record in South Dakota.”
https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2019-06-18-may-2019-global-temperatures-nasa-noaa
“May 2019 will go down as the fourth-warmest May on record according to the latest report from the National Center for Environmental Information.
“The top five warmest Mays on record have all been in the last five years with records dating back to 1880.”
https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/top-five-warmest-mays-have-been-in-the-last-five-years
“Scientists say 2019 could be another annus horribilis for the Arctic with record temperatures already registered in Greenland—a giant melting icicle that threatens to submerge the world’s coastal areas one day.
“”It’s possible that we could break the records set in 2012 for both lowest Arctic sea ice extent … and for record high Greenland ice sheet melt,” warned Ruth Mottram, a climatologist at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI).”
https://phys.org/news/2019-06-arctic-annus-horribilis.html
“A starving polar bear has strayed hundreds of kilometres from its natural Arctic habitat and wandered, exhausted, into the major Russian industrial city of Norilsk in northern Siberia.
“The female bear, visibly weak and seemingly ill, lay despondently on the ground for hours on Tuesday in Norilsk’s suburbs, its feet caked in mud, occasionally rising to sniff around for food. It is the first polar bear seen in the city in more than 40 years.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/18/polar-bear-russia-siberia-norilsk-climate-crisis
“As of June 18, more than 9,000 people were out of their homes due to wildfires in Alberta, including about 700 from the Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement, who were forced to leave May 26.
“Three areas were evacuated Monday, including several communities to the south of High Level overnight, as the driest conditions in more than 40 years continue to fuel wildfires in the region.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/5402497/alberta-wildfire-tuesday-june-18/
“A wet spring and dangerous flooding [in Illinois] have created a nasty byproduct — more mosquitoes… mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus prefer hot, dry conditions.
“But nuisance mosquitoes that flourish in wet weather can still pose a threat.
“A bite from one of them can become infected if it is scratched and becomes a wound.”
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/06/18/flooding-produces-more-mosquitoes/
“The flooding that devastated the Midwest this spring damaged infrastructure and prevented farmers from getting crops planted on time.
“Though scientists can’t say if one storm or one wet season is the result of climate change, so far this year’s heavy rains are a perfect illustration of what scientific models of climate change predict for the region.
“And it’s only going to get more intense.”
https://www.wired.com/story/midwest-farms-face-an-intense-crop-killing-future/
“Flash flooding continues to be a threat as severe storms develop from the the southern Plains towards the Ohio Valley.”
Forecast:
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/weather/2019/06/19/daily-weather-forecast-severe-weather-flooding.cnn
“The Florida Forest Service estimates that Michael left roughly 72 million tons of rotting timber on the ground.
“About 13 percent has been cleared in what is expected to be a five to seven-year effort…
“…after living through the worst storm to ever strike the Panhandle, some farmers are already fighting for economic survival.”
https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-timber-farmers-hurricane-michael
“More record high temperatures have been set in the Hawaiian islands in the days leading up to the summer solstice, officially the first day of summer, on Friday.
“On Monday, the National Weather Service noted one tie and two record-breaking highs…”
“”We had monsoon conditions at the start”, says Nina Barbour.
“For many British businesses, this long spell of wet weather has been challenging and costly. Nina Barbour is director of Bolesworth Estate, where one of the country’s biggest equestrian events went ahead last week – but was closed to the public.
“The financial implications of this are huge,” she tells BBC Radio 5 Live’s Wake Up to Money programme.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48674803
“The UK’s Brassica Growers Association is warning of a potential shortage of supplies to customers following extremely high levels of rainfall in the key growing county of Lincolnshire in the east of England.
“The association said a month of rain fell on brassica crops in Lincolnshire in a single day last week and that growers across the key production area are assessing the damage and the impact on consumers.”
“The enormous volume of plastic waste, wood and vegetation that washed up in South Africa’s Port of Durban after heavy rains and flooding has been revealed in new footage.
“Some 70 people were killed during the floods in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces while 1,000 more were forced from their homes. Heavy rains tore down homes and ravaged infrastructure, causing a deluge of plastic and other debris to flow into the port…”
“129 degrees. 128.7 degrees.
“Those unfathomably hot temperatures, recorded in Kuwait in 2016 and Pakistan in 2017, have officially been confirmed as the Earth’s 3rd and 4th hottest temperatures on record, scientists from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced Tuesday.”
“Kuwait Municipality announced on Tuesday (June 18) that street cleaners’ working hours have been rescheduled due to the current heatwave, in order to ensure their wellbeing.
“Ahmad Al Manfouhi, the Director-General of Kuwait Municipality said in a press release that this decision revised the cleaners’ working hours from 3:00am to 11:00am in the summer season, and from 4:00am to 12:00pm during winter.”
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/region/kuwait/gcc-country-revises-summer-winter-work-timings-
“Bihar [India] alone is not suffering because of searing temperatures. Over the past month, parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Telangana, and Maharashtra have witnessed record temperatures.
“Many studies have established that the frequency and intensity of heatwaves in India are rising… Deaths due to heatwaves are also showing an increasing trend.”
“On June 5, it drizzled for about ten minutes over most of Marathwada in India’s western state of Maharashtra.
“The brief mizzle made headlines in the local media, because it was the first time since August 17, 2018, that anyone had seen a drop of rain in the region, the epicentre of the drought that is now afflicting almost half of India.”
“China is tragically hit by heavy rains and flooding this week which left approximately 4 million hectares of farmlands submerged in water… China’s agriculture sector has been one of its most reliable GDP contributor with vast lands dedicated to farming.
“The country is also a major exporter of agricultural products including rice, tomatoes, peas, and cotton.
“There are over 300 million Chinese who are into farming in China, and a significant proportion of them lives in the South Central region where the recent flooding took place.”
“South Sudan, Yemen and the Horn of Africa remain as the areas of greatest concern to food and water security monitoring agencies, due to their poor economic and food production conditions, which are often exacerbated by ongoing conflict.
“Across the world, 85 million people are expected to require emergency food assistance in 2019, an 80 per cent increase compared to 2015…
“…severe food and water insecurity is now occurring with greater regularity.”
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