“An unusually powerful storm has slammed into the Middle East, unleashing torrential rain, destructive winds and towering walls of dust.
“This storm is occurring at the same time as Egypt, Israel and other nations in the region are confronted by the growing threat from the coronavirus crisis.”
“Cyclone Idai – and then Cyclone Kenneth, which hit just six weeks later – destroyed 700,000 hectares of maize, beans, rice and other produce. In February more floods hit Sofala, the central province worst affected by Idai, swamping more fields.
“The International Organization for Migration said in December nearly 100,000 people were still displaced in Mozambique.”
“…as the area experiences increasingly intense droughts and flash flooding linked to climate change…
“…the Tonga and others living near the Zambezi River, along the border with Zambia, are looking to the lessons of the past and switching back to homes on stilts.”
“Four children and a woman were killed and several people suffered injuries in rain-related incidents in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan] on Thursday with heavy downpour and snowfall damaging crops in southern districts.
“The officials say the death toll from the ongoing rains in the province has reached 46.”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1540489
“More than 300,000 hectares of honey-producing habitat was burned in Gippsland in south-east Victoria during the summer bushfires, while more than 5 million hectares of forest – most of which was potential honey habitat – was destroyed in NSW.
“The latter’s South Coast forests are especially productive for beekeepers.”
“Researchers found that between 1900 and 2009, 56 percent of glacier area in the Cascade Range [NW USA] disappeared. In a 60-year period, spring snowpack in the state has been reduced by 30 percent.”
https://glacierhub.org/2020/03/12/glacier-retreat-poses-threat-to-beer-production/
“Huge hailstones were falling from the sky on Thursday, March 12 across parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas and some adjacent locations.
“Hail up to two inches in diameter (the width of hen eggs!) fell in parts of southern Illinois.”
https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/huge-hail-hits-central-u-s/
“On Thursday, March 12 a powerful storm tore through Latvia leaving two people dead due to high winds, according to Latvian news agency LETA…
“Rescuers were mainly involved in clearing fallen trees, but…
“…buildings were also damaged in Rīga and Liepāja.”
https://eng.lsm.lv/article/weather/weather/storm-kills-two-people-in-latvia.a351604/
“The four seasons in Germany have been shifting over the last decades due to climate change, resulting in shorter winters and earlier summers, phenological data of plant growth analysed by the German Meteorological Service (DWD) has shown…
“Germany has seen weather patterns in recent years that widely deviated from the 1961-1990 international reference period.”
https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/seasons-germany-shifting-shorter-winters-earlier-summers
“There are more than 100 small fires on average in the region each year. What made the one in 2015 so destructive was a record-breaking heatwave, explains Marcelino Núñez of the Spanish Meteorological Agency…
“It was the longest ever recorded in Spain, lasting 26 days compared to the average, of one week.”
https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/12/how-fire-turned-a-goatherd-into-a-climate-migrant-in-empty-spain
“The month of February in Portugal was characterised as “extremely hot and dry”, and was the warmest since 1931, with an average air temperature of 12.43º Celsius.”
https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/record-breaking-february-weather/53305
“Researcher from Rutgers University in New Jersey found that four times as many people could end up being impacted by heat stress than are today [by 2100].
“Heat stress harms human and animal health, agriculture, the economy and the environment.”
“Climate variability and extreme weather events are proving to be a major cause of concern leading to displacement of people and a recent rise in global hunger
“…due to loss or damage to food crops and livestock, according to World Meteorological Organization.”
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/poshan-news-global-hunger-is-on-the-rise-again/348714
“The year 2020 is shaping up to be one of the most pivotal and transformational in recent history, not just because of the devastating impact of coronavirus but because of the momentous changes related to climate change and the environment.”
Read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here and visit my Patreon page here.
