Apologies for the lack of an ‘Economic’ thread this morning. Work sometiimes encroaches and I must render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.
“Every summer as the Arctic warms up, seasonal highways open on the ocean, allowing sea ice to migrate southward and melt. Now, satellite data is revealing that the gateway to one critical highway—the Nares Strait dividing northwest Greenland and Canada’s Ellesmere Island—has broken up months ahead of schedule. And that could spell even more trouble for the Arctic’s oldest and most critically-endangered sea ice.
“Normally, Baffin Bay just south of the Nares Strait remains closed off to marauding sea ice from the north until June, July or even August, thanks to the presence of an ice jam that forms at the strait’s northern mouth between November and January, taking on a spectacular, arch-like shape. This year, however, the Nares Strait arch began to disintegrate in March.”
https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-gateway-protecting-the-arctics-oldest-sea-ice-has-c-1835875727
“For almost two months now, a bulging zone of high pressure has stagnated near Greenland.
“This consequential weather pattern is poised to persist for the longest duration in modern records.”
“The Artic landscape is changing at an unprecedented pace: in Sweden, entire towns and villages, houses half sunken into the ground, are being moved to more stable ground, as the permafrost they had been built on shifts and melts.
“In the Canadian north, suitable houses have become so rare that apartment prices have skyrocketed, triggering a housing crisis.
“All around the Arctic, homes lay abandoned, the damage too severe. Roads and other vital infrastructure are at risk, too.”
“The Juneau International Airport [Alaska], the city’s official measuring point, is expected to warm to 80 degrees on Thursday and 82 degrees on Friday.
“The latter mark would set a new record for the hottest-ever June 28th in the capital city.
“The current record-high temperature is 78 degrees, set in 1983.”
https://www.juneauempire.com/news/break-out-the-sunscreen-its-about-to-hit-80-degrees-in-juneau/
“Dry weather in Canada’s western wheat growing states has cut this year’s planted acreage by 1.08 million acres from the initial estimate…”
“The 2019 Mississippi River flood fight is going to slog deep into the summer — and maybe much longer.
“While communities north of St. Louis are beginning the expensive path to recovery after record-breaking winter and spring precipitation and runoff, people below the Missouri River are shoveling mud from their houses and praying for a dry spell. The Lower Mississippi Valley remains in a flood crisis…”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/no-end-in-sight-for-record-midwest-flood-crisis/
“After historic flooding in the Mississippi River, the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway appears to have triggered the algae bloom. Mississippi River water can carry high levels of nutrient runoff from agricultural activities, as well as sewage from upriver sources…
“This May capped off the wettest 12 month period on record in the U.S. and was the second wettest month recorded in US history.”
“If there was one upside to the severe drought that plagued California for seven years, it was how the lack of rain and dirty runoff improved beach water quality…”
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-beach-report-card-20190626-story.html
“The high temperature Tuesday was 92 degrees, tying the record for the day set in 2017.
“On Monday, the high temperature was 94 degrees, breaking the record for the day, 90 degrees, set in 1980.”
https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2019/06/heat-records-tied-fall-again/
“The city has experienced heat that is extreme, even by its own sultry standards, with a slew of record high temperatures.
“Most notably, Miami soared to 98 degrees Monday, tying its highest June temperature ever recorded and its second-highest temperature in any month.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/06/26/temperature-records-are-melting-away-miami/
“”Last year was the fourth-warmest year on record [Jamaica] since we started recording temperatures. The highest temperature recorded last year was 36 degrees, but on Saturdays we have temperatures of 39 degrees and 39.1, which were recorded at two separate locations in Kingston.
“”We’ve never seen these types of temperatures in Jamaica, especially in Kingston. Based on our findings, there were some temperatures that were unprecedented,” he said.”
“Hundreds of kindergartens and primary schools throughout France will remain closed until the end of the week as temperatures top 40C in many cities.
“In the Essonne department alone, just South of Paris, local authorities decided to close 56 schools, according to a list published on their website.”
“A heat wave currently baking western Europe has already set new all-time June record highs, as an intense dome of high pressure taps into hot air from northern Africa.
“Germany recorded its hottest June temperature on record Wednesday… Fifty-one German reporting stations set new June heat records… An all-time June record high was also set in the Czech Republic… Poland also set a new all-time record high for the month of June…”
https://weather.com/safety/heat/news/2019-06-26-record-breaking-heat-wave-europe-june-2019
“A forest fire in Spain is raging ‘out of control’ today as sweltering Europe suffers through a Saharan Bubble heatwave with temperatures set to top 113F.
“Soldiers have been called in to help tackle the blaze which is devouring land across Torre del Espanol in the northeastern region of Catalonia.”
“India’s top rice and wheat producers Punjab, Haryana in the north west–which contribute almost 15 percent of India’s entire rice production, according to the NABARD and ICRIER report–and western Uttar Pradesh in the Gangetic plain, are also among the world’s top water-risk zones for agricultural production, the others being northeastern China and southwestern U.S., according to the WaterAid report.”
“Rani’s mother jostles with the crowd to fill one bowl of water and feed her children.
“”We know this is not the safest drinking water, but we do not have water in the village. Rani was thirsty and crying so I brought all the children here to drink water, while I fetch it for the house. This has been a daily affair for the last one year,” she said.”
“Record heat and below-average rainfall have left great swathes of Queensland [Australia] exposed to increased risk of bushfires, hot on the heels of the worst bushfire season in the state’s history.
“The Northern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook, released on Thursday, predicts “above normal fire potential” for the 2019 season.”
“The JMA warned that over the 24-hour period ending at 6 a.m. on June 28, the Shikoku region [of Japan] was expected to be lashed with up to 250 millimeters [nearly 10 inches] of rain in the heaviest hit areas.”
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190627/p2a/00m/0na/002000c
Read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here and visit my Patreon page here.
