“Day Zero is pending in at least a dozen Australian country towns stretching from the northern state of Queensland – known for its sprawling banana plantations and tropical heatwaves – to the state of New South Wales, whose capital Sydney is the country’s most populous city.
“Successive droughts and the extra water needed to fight intense bushfires have caused an unprecedented shortage, with these regions now facing the prospect of the taps running out within a matter of months.”
“After a long drought and warm winter for much of the country, meteorologists are predicting a hotter, drier, longer summer
“…authorities warn the risk of bushfires is higher than normal, too, for nearly the whole of Australia’s east coast and large swaths elsewhere.”
“Melbourne has sweated through with its warmest night in September in almost 20 years in the midst of wild winds that have caused airport chaos.
“The temperature stayed at 20C or above on Thursday night and Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport was hit with severe wind gusts forcing one plane from the US to make an emergency landing.”
“Abby Frazier, a geographer at the East West Center specializing in drought research, recently explored the financial cost of a record-breaking drought that lasted from 2007 to 2014 [Hawaii].
“That episode of abnormal dryness was exceptional both in its duration and severity. Frazier characterized the 7 year drought as unprecedented in 100 years of data.”
“The city of Trinidad, in the department of Beni [Bolivia], has endured a heat wave for more than three days, temperatures reached a record 39.5 degrees Celsius and the thermal sensation reached 43 degrees on Tuesday…
“Due to the intense fires that are registered around Trinidad, the smoke covered almost the entire city and in some cases the scheduled flights had to be suspended, as a precaution.”
https://fmbolivia.com.bo/trinidad-soporta-una-ola-de-calor-de-mas-de-43-grados/
“Owners pulled boats from the water and hauled them away on trailers, while shopkeepers put plywood over windows and doors as Tropical Storm Lorena bore down on Mexico’s resort-studded Los Cabos area, predicted to arrive Friday at hurricane force.”
https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/09/19/mexicos-los-cabos-braces-for-approaching-storm-lorena/
“[Harvey] was an event of biblical proportions. The kind that, in previous decades, would be expected only once every millennium.
“But Harvey was soon followed by equally catastrophic storms named Irma, Maria, Florence, Dorian and now Imelda is disintegrating over southeast Texas, leaving behind a little-too-familiar deluge as a parting gift.”
“Humberto hit Bermuda with 130 mph winds, parts of Texas are treading water after three feet of rain, and Jerry became a hurricane. …
“Humberto hit Bermuda with winds up to 132 mph, people in parts of Texas are treading water after the remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda dumped three feet of rainfall…”
“Jerry strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane Friday and was packing sustained winds of 105 mph in the Atlantic as it headed in the direction of the northern Leeward Islands, forecasters said.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/20/weather/hurricane-jerry-friday-wxc/index.html
“Four months ago, Washington had notched its wettest 365 days in recorded history, accumulating over 71 inches of rain (and melted snow).
“Now, Mother Nature has turned off the spigot, and the landscape has shifted from lush and green to barren and brown.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/09/19/feast-famine-washington-area-is-brink-drought/
“[Alaska’s] wildfire seasons with more than 1 million acres burned (black patches the size of Rhode Island) have increased by 50% since 1990… People in the village of Northway felt the sting of -30F air about 40 days each year before 1960. In the last 10 years, Northway residents have experienced less than one month per year of such days.
“Since 2014, thermometers from Ketchikan to Utqiagvik have recorded from five to 30 times more record highs than record lows.”
https://www.juneauempire.com/news/alaskas-changes-are-many-and-so-fast/
“Temperatures here [Greenland] have risen more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet because the Arctic
“… A heatwave this summer saw record temperatures across the ice, contributing to days … That could spell disaster for the rest of the world.”
https://www.ft.com/content/65dbd11a-d9a4-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17
“Large Typhoon Tapah will likely bring strong winds and heavy rain to extensive areas of the Japanese archipelago over the three-day weekend, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.”
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190920/p2a/00m/0na/002000c
“More than 580,000 people have been impacted and at least 28 have died in floods caused by heavy rains over the past two weeks in Laos’ southern provinces, according to estimates revised during a cabinet meeting this week.
“The death toll figure was reported by the Vientiane Times Thursday.”
“With no relief in sight from a noxious layer of smoke and ash that has engulfed parts of South-east Asia, Indonesia accused the nation’s timber and plantation industries of failing to prevent the emergence of wildfires…
“Indonesian authorities have named more than 200 companies including oil palm, pulp producers and individual farmers as responsible for starting the fires and sealed their land holdings.”
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