“The report’s lead author, Prof Albert van Dijk of the Australian National University’s Fenner school of environment and society, told Guardian Australia 2019 was “probably the worst in a century or more” for the environment.
““This is not the new normal – this is just getting worse and worse,” he said, adding that 2019 had seen a “continuing descent into an ever more dismal future.
“”You start to see ecosystems fall apart and then struggle to recover before the next major disturbance.””
“[Thailand’s] monsoon season, which usually runs from about May to October, came two weeks late in 2019 and ended three weeks early…
“That is contributing to a drought that is drying up farms, threatening electricity supplies from hydropower dams, and looming over an economy already hurt by the coronavirus.”
https://reliefweb.int/report/thailand/thailand-faces-record-drought
“Only this morning a fire that started on Sunday and spread across 40 hectares in Yulong County, Lijiang Prefecture [Yunnan, China], was put out with the help of 579 fire fighters and the mobilization of three helicopters.
“One international news source suggested the fire may have been caused by a villager during tomb-sweeping, which usually involves burning incense.”
https://www.gokunming.com/en/blog/item/4457/forest-fires-ignite-across-yunnan
“The little three-month-old cub runs from the approaching smoke and flames on the edge of the Land of the Leopard National Park in Primorsky region…
“This footage is unique and it highlights the acute danger to wildlife from seasonal fires – in this case manmade – even in a park set up to provide a safe haven for the Amur leopards, which are recovering from getting as close to extinction as any species can.”
“A warm winter in Russia has seen deaths from alcohol poisoning fall after drinkers ditched vodka, according to experts. Just over 600 people died from alcohol poisoning in January, a 37 per cent drop compared to the same month last year.
“Average temperatures in Moscow in the winter just gone were around 42.8 – more than 20F higher than usual.”
“Nine persons were killed and six others injured in rain-related incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan]…
“…as the fresh rain spell lashed different parts of the province from Thursday night to early Saturday.”
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/636403-nine-killed-six-injured-in-kp-rain-related-incidents
“Seven civilians have died in floods and mudslides triggered by torrential rains in the last three days in Syria’s northern province of Raqqa.
“The Civil Council of Raqqa, affiliated with the Kurdish Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), announced the floods caused by heavy rains, claimed seven civilian lives in Raqqa.”
“The emergency services are on full alert as torrential rain is forecast [on Spain’s Costa Del Sol] continuously for over the next 24 hours and dry river beds are filling fast and more storms and rain are predicted…
“With street disinfecting planned for next week the rain could hamper the street “clean down” planned.”
“A huge and intense area of high pressure has established itself in the North Atlantic, at an equal distance between Iceland and Scotland. With a central pressure of 1055 millibars, this is one the most intense anticyclones on record…
“It comes just over two months after another anticyclone saw a pressure of 1050.5 millibars being recorded in Wales, United Kingdom.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/high-pressure-brings-winter-europe-200329081834107.html
“As an expansive dome of high pressure continues to remain parked over the Gulf of Mexico and the southern United States, record-challenging heat will continue for many areas that have already smashed records this week.
“Going into the weekend, the stretch of summerlike heat allowed, New Orleans to set daily high temperature records six days in a row.”
“Six people were injured when a tornado ripped through Jonesboro, Arkansas, on Saturday afternoon, Mayor Harold Perrin told CNN affiliate KARK.
“Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott said search and rescue crews were making their third and final sweep looking for anyone in need of assistance before focusing on cleanup.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/28/weather/tornadoes-severe-storms-forecast-saturday/index.html
“This is a preview of global warming. In a warming world, these patterns shift north,” said Patzert.
““The subtropical jet stream, which comes out of Southeast Asia and usually peters out around the international dateline, also is a little more active and moves farther north. This year it behaved somewhat like in an El Niño year,” Patzert said. “In an El Niño year, it shifts even more to the north.”
“Mike Laureta has lived along the Wailua River for 30 years and says this is worst flooding he’s ever seen in his quiet neighborhood.
““If this was a 50-year flood or a 100-year flood, this is it,” Laureta said Saturday as pointed out where raging water rushed through his yard night before.”
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/03/29/kauai-residents-react-massive-overnight-flooding/
“Climate change is imperiling the world’s largest animals by increasing the likelihood of fatal collisions between whales and big ships that ply the same waters.
“Warming ocean temperatures are causing some species of whales in pursuit of food to stray more frequently into shipping lanes, scientists say.”
https://time.com/5812020/whale-ship-fatal-collisions/
“A vast ozone hole — likely the biggest on record in the north — has opened in the skies above the Arctic. It rivals the better-known Antarctic ozone hole that forms in the southern hemisphere each year.
“Record-low ozone levels currently stretch across much of the central Arctic, covering an area about three times the size of Greenland…”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00904-w
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Climate disasters continue to unfold, virus be damned!