“The melting of Himalayan glaciers has doubled since the turn of the century, with more than a quarter of all ice lost over the last four decades, scientists have revealed. The accelerating losses indicate a “devastating” future for the region, upon which a billion people depend for regular water.
“The scientists combined declassified US spy satellite images from the mid-1970s with modern satellite data to create the first detailed, four-decade record of ice along the 2,000km (1,200-mile) mountain chain.
“The analysis shows that 8bn tonnes of ice are being lost every year and not replaced by snow, with the lower level glaciers shrinking in height by 5 meters annually. The study shows that only global heating caused by human activities can explain the heavy melting.”
“The floor of the Chembarambakkam reservoir is cracked open, dry and sun-baked. About 25 km away, in Chennai, India’s sixth largest city with a population of 4.6 million is running out of water.
“Chembarambakkam and the three other reservoirs that have traditionally supplied Chennai are nearly all dry, leaving the city suffering from an acute water shortage, said Jayaram Venkatesan, an activist in the city.”
This is so sad. After years of drought, record rainfall had generated a bumper harvest for Iraq. Now insurgents are setting fire to it:
“…officials in Iraq’s breadbasket province Nineveh warned that if the fires spread to storage sites, a quarter of this year’s bumper harvest could be at risk, potentially ending Iraq’s dream of self-sufficiency after years of disruption due to drought and Islamic State rule.”
“A severe heatwave hit Yemen’s southern provinces controlled by the government, killing seven citizens within a week, a medical official told Xinhua on Wednesday.
“Seven citizens died as a result of the heatwave that overwhelmed the southern province of Lahj in addition to the repeated power outages, the local medical source said on condition of anonymity.”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-06/20/c_138156767.htm
“As if the weather in Germany hasn’t been crazy enough recently, it now looks set to get even more extreme: it’s going to get hotter and hotter next week, potentially reaching temperatures of up to 41 degrees…
“The weather experts are all in agreement on one thing: a heatwave is coming to Germany. The only question is how hot it will get and how long it will last.”
https://www.iamexpat.de/expat-info/german-expat-news/it-could-hit-41-degrees-next-week-germany
“Numerous Ohio cities have been hit hard by heavy flooding… In the city of Green, located in Summit County, the Dowey family remains trapped in their home as severe flash flooding swept away their driveway.
“The family, with three young children, moved to their home on East Nimisila Road six weeks ago.
“A reporter from FOX8 Cleveland traveled to the family’s home on Tuesday and interviewed the Dowey family across what looks like a moat in front of the house.”
“South Dakota doesn’t get a lot of tornadoes, but a twister there last weekend was particularly rare — because it was spinning clockwise. The National Weather Service says the anticyclonic tornado only lasted for about 45 seconds on June 15.
“That was long enough for it to knock down seven trees at a farmstead outside of Estelline, which is about 80 miles north of Sioux Falls.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/19/us/south-dakota-anticyclonic-tornado-trnd/index.html
“Going to a movie could become pricier later this year for people who enjoy popcorn with a flick.
“The snack will be in short supply because relentless spring rain prevented many growers across the Midwest from planting. Popcorn processors estimate 30 to 40 percent of the nation’s popcorn fields went unplanted this spring — and the crops in many that were planted are growing poorly.”
“Beekeepers across the US lost four in 10 of their honeybee colonies over the past year, as the worst winter on record for tracked bee populations raised fresh concerns over the plight of the crucial pollinators…
“Overall, 40% of colonies died off over the entire year to April, which is above the 38% average since the survey began.”
“With summer just around the corner, fear of another record wildfire season in Washington is growing…”
“Just off the coast of Louisiana, where the Mississippi River lets out into the Gulf of Mexico, an enormous algae bloom, fueled by fertilizer from Midwestern farm fields and urban sewage, creates an area so devoid of oxygen it’s uninhabitable to most marine life every summer…
“This year, historic rains and flooding in the Midwest have roiled farm fields and overwhelmed sewer systems, flushing a tremendous amount of nutrients into the Mississippi River and into the Gulf, spurring a remarkable amount of algae. “
https://phys.org/news/2019-06-giant-dead-zone-gulf-mexico.html
“Torrential rains in central and southern Uruguay in the past several days have caused massive floods and forced some 7,400 people to leave their homes, according to the latest update by the country’s National Emergency System.
“The central city of Durazno is the most affected, with 5,299 evacuees, according to official reports.”
https://en.mercopress.com/2019/06/20/torrential-rains-in-uruguay-forces-7.400-to-abandon-their-homes
“The NSW Government issued its Annual air quality statement 2018, showing high levels of toxic air pollutants across the state – and they are on the rise…
“There was also an increase in the number of days that reached hazardous pollution levels in 2018 compared to 2017.
“This was mainly due to record climate conditions – NSW had its warmest year on record for maximum mean temperatures, rainfall was 40% below average and the entire state drought-declared.”
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/report-on-nsw-air-quality-reminder-of-pollution-s
“South Korea plans to send 50,000 tonnes of rice to drought-stricken North Korea, its first food donation to the isolated nation in a decade. A severe drought, compounded by economic sanctions, has led to chronic food shortages in North Korea.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48694123
“Summer doesn’t begin for two more days, but oceanographers and climatologists are already sounding the alarm about stunning, dangerous ice melts going on right now in Greenland…
“…not only is the ice melting very fast, it has more time to melt this summer than it would in a climate system that wasn’t so unbalanced…”
https://www.livescience.com/65749-greenland-early-melt.html
“New evidence shows that Arctic ecosystems undergo rapid, strong and pervasive environmental changes in response to climate shifts, even those of moderate magnitude, according to an international research team led by the University of Maine…
“The new evidence underscores the highly responsive nature of Arctic ecosystems to abrupt transitions—and the strength of climate forcing.”
https://phys.org/news/2019-06-evidence-rapid-response-west-greenland.html
“Emissions need to be halved by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius but temperatures are on track to be double that by the end of the century even if countries’ current plans are fully implemented, scientists say.”
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