“Last month was the second warmest November in 140 years of recordkeeping, NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) reported in its November summary of global climate.
“The November warmth enhances the likelihood that 2019 will be the second warmest year in global records dating back to 1880.”
“After exchanging research teams and crewmembers, the greatest expedition to the Central Arctic of all time is now entering the next phase, during which urgently needed research into the Arctic climate system will be conducted.
“In the following paragraphs, the team from the first leg of the journey, which was dominated by thin sea ice, review the mission so far…”
https://phys.org/news/2019-12-shifts-north-pole.html
“Numerous regions of rural Iceland, especially in the north, are still experiencing difficulties…
“As reported, the North was hit especially hard by the cyclone, as both hurricane-force winds and heavy snowfall led to avalanches, loss of mobile phone coverage, and most importantly a lack of electricity.”
“It seems hard to believe that drought was a serious threat earlier this year. There were calls for hosepipe bans, crops began to wither and many [UK] farmers had difficulty finding sufficient water for irrigation.
“However, since mid-September farmers have faced a battering from relentless rains.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/winter-wheat-suffers-after-wet-autumn-ppzdtbrkv
“The year 2019 is, at this point, the warmest one since 1900, when measurements started to be made in Romania…
“Elena Mateescu, the general director of the National Meteorological Administration (ANM), told Agerpres.”
https://www.romania-insider.com/2019-warmest-since-1900
“Authorities in Rwanda have begun demolishing homes in the capital Kigali which they say are threatened by “climate dangers”…
“…residents complain that they have received no compensation so far. The UN says the weather in Rwanda is becoming “more and more unpredictable”.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-50813776
“Civil-war-torn Yemen faces vast challenges, from a struggling economy and collapsing health system to some of the world’s worst shortages of food, water and jobs.
“But more severe weather linked to climate change – and a shortage of funding to deal with it – is making life even harder.”
“Two emergency rescue teams from neighboring Chongqing Municipality have joined rescue operations after a coal mine flooding accident killed five in southwest China‘s Sichuan Province, leaving 13 others trapped underground.
“As of 4:00 p.m. Monday, one miner who was previously missing has been found dead, according to a briefing.”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-12/16/c_138635970.htm
“Firefighters warned on Tuesday they would not be able to contain some of the 100 fires still ablaze in the country [Australia] before conditions were expected to deteriorate later this week…
“With bushland tinder-box dry, authorities warned locals near existing blazes that fires could spread.”
“A “once in a lifetime” heatwave is set to sweep across Australia over the coming days, making almost the entire country “like a furnace” with temperatures on course to break records.
“Highs of over 50C are expected, with meteorologists warning the heat could break the country’s existing record of 50.7C measured at Oodnadatta, South Australia, in 1960.”
“There’s no end in sight to the drought in NSW, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with no significant rainfall predicted until April. And when rain does finally arrive, the lake which supplies 80% of Sydney’s water is facing possible contamination from bushfire ash.”
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/12/sydneys-water-crisis-deepens/
We’ve seen a ridiculous amount of heat records fall in Hawaii this year:
“Temperatures in Kahului reached 86 degrees on Sunday, tying the record set on the same day in 2008, according to the National Weather Service. That followed a record-setting Saturday of 88 degrees, which broke the old record of 87 degrees, set in 2010.”
https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2019/12/kahului-sets-fifth-record-in-six-days/
“Residents across the South will be waking up Tuesday morning to the damage that a series of deadly tornadoes left behind.
“The twisters that tore through parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are part of a larger storm system that is piling snow and ice across the Midwest and Eastern US.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/17/us/winter-storm-tornadoes-south-wxc/index.html
“In 2019, Americans saw rain, rain and more rain: The 12-month period ending in June took the crown as the wettest ever recorded in the contiguous U.S.
“But that was the fourth time the record had been broken in 2019 — the previous 12-month precipitation record had been set in May, which had broken the record set in April, which had broken the record set in February.”
https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/2019-broke-multiple-records-for-the-wettest-year-ever
““The new record high temperature was set at 10 A.M. this morning when 62 degrees was recorded,” wrote the Blue Hill weather observer [Mid-Atlantic and NE USA], “beating 61 degrees set just one [year] ago [in 2014].”
“Christmas 2015 had a high of 64 degrees, while Christmas Eve soared to 67.”
“”If we run out of oxygen it will mean habitat loss and biodiversity loss and a slippery slope down to slime and more jellyfish,” said IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme director Minna Epps.
“”It will also change the energy and the biochemical cycling in the oceans and we don’t know what these biological and chemical shifts in the oceans can actually do.””
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