“Turns out, Monday’s high temperature of 51° is the warmest temperature ever recorded at Ted Stevens International [Anchorage, Alaska] during the month of December.
“Records at this location go back to 1953 and before Monday, the highest temperature ever recorded in the month of December was 48°, which happened in 2005, 1999 and 1992.”
https://www.ktva.com/story/41429597/anchorage-breaks-alltime-december-recordhigh-temperature
“NOAA measuring stations in Anchorage, Cold Bay, Homer, and Kodiak have all reported their warmest November on record, culminating in the whole state’s fourth-warmest autumn of all time.
“That leaves 2019 as Alaska‘s warmest year so far, narrowly beating out 2016 as Alaska’s hottest year since measurements first started in 1925.”
https://theweek.com/speedreads/883177/alaska-just-warmest-year-record
“…glaciers in the “Frontier State” [are] melting at record or near-record levels, pouring waters into rising global seas, scientists said after taking fall measurements…
“Alaska’s glaciers account for far less than 1 percent of the world’s land ice. But their melt contributes roughly 7 percent of the water that is raising the world’s sea levels… There are also local impacts.”
“Like much of the country, Alaska is gripped by a local-food movement with a range of benefits…
“But there is a special force behind Alaska’s farming boomlet: climate change. Alaska is warming twice as fast as the global rate, and changes in the state are accelerating…”
https://inthesetimes.com/article/22147/alaska-farming-boom-climate-change-agriculture-indigenous
“A rare tornado touched down near the El Alto International Airport in Bolivia on Sunday, tossing debris into the air
“…and possibly swirling its way into record books as one of the highest-altitude tornadoes ever observed…”
“The last remaining tropical glaciers between the Himalayas and the Andes will disappear in the next decade—and possibly sooner—due to climate change, a new study has found.
“The glaciers in Papua, Indonesia, are “the canaries in the coal mine” for other mountaintop glaciers around the world…”
https://phys.org/news/2019-12-glaciers-pacific.html
“Sydney disappeared behind a thick layer bushfire smoke that blanketed the city and pushed air quality 11 times higher than considered “hazardous” on Tuesday, while Australia’s weary firefighters faced what authorities warned were the potentially “lethal” combination of high temperatures and heavy winds.
“Across Sydney, buildings were evacuated regularly as fire alarms were triggered at random.”
“Towns along the NSW coast from Bega to Tweed are facing dwindling water supplies as the drought saps usually reliable rivers and major dams drop at alarming rates.
“Water Minister Melinda Pavey has also written to councils across the state urging regions to stocktake their needs, particularly “areas unfamiliar with severe drought”.”
“…the current crisis is “far worse” than previously recorded droughts, according to Roger Stone, director of the Centre for Applied Climate Sciences at University of Southern Queensland.
“In terms of intensity and severity, for southern Queensland and northern NSW, this is the most severe in recorded history,” Prof Stone, who’s a vice president of the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organisation, told 7NEWS.”
“Cyclone Belna has hit northern Madagascar, with nine dead and three missing from the first tropical storm of the season, according to local officials. …
“Belna has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it travels south on the island. Heavy rains and winds are expected through Wednesday.”
“Day Zero and a ticking time bomb await farmers, both veteran and emerging, in the Northern Cape.
“It is a day when cattle, sheep, goats, and other livestock will all die a slow painful death caused by hunger. It is also a day when the hard work of farmers will come to end because of a catastrophic drought gripping the province…”
“By far the biggest story of the day; Centurion [South Africa] was transformed into a scene of devastation and large parts of the metropolitan was engulfed in flash floods.
“In Mamelodi, shacks were swept away by the relentless floodwaters, and many more homes were left submerged as torrents of water gushed through the neighbourhood.”
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/weathersa/south-africa-widespread-floods-9-december/
“Ugandan authorities say the death toll from a week of floods and mudslides has risen to 36 people and left thousands stranded after heavy rains swept across a mountainous region.
“A week of heavy rains caused floods and mudslides in Eastern Uganda’s Bugisu and Bundibugyo regions near Rwenzori Mountain.”
https://www.voanews.com/africa/uganda-floods-death-toll-rises-rains-continue-0
“Since October 2019, heavy rains have affected at least 170,000 people in the three most affected departments alone, including 30,000 Central African and Congolese refugees.
“Flooding caused by the overflow of the Oubangui and Congo rivers has damaged infrastructure and impeded access to food, water, education and health care.”
https://reliefweb.int/report/congo/republic-congo-floods-flash-update-n-1-10-december-2019
“When the waters finally receded, Lebanese in the south Beirut suburb of Jnah were left looking at a carpet of brown sludge and stains running up every wall…
“Rains turned the roads into rivers…
“…Mohammad estimated the water reached a height of around 1.5 metres.”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/lebanese-counting-cost-after-huge-flooding-beirut
“Refugees and people displaced within countries because of conflict are increasingly vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather, experts say.
“Humanitarian agencies told the BBC this posed significant challenges for their operations in different parts of the world. Temporary camps for the displaced in Africa and Asia have been affected.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50692857
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