“Cyclone Harold has levelled buildings and caused dangerous flooding across Fiji’s largest island of Viti Levu, after pummelling Vanuatu as a category-five storm on Monday.
The tropical cyclone was downgraded to category four before reaching Fijian waters… The storm has already wreaked a path of destruction through the Pacific.
“Twenty-seven people are missing and feared dead after being swept off a ferry in rough seas caused by the cyclone in Solomon Islands. The storm hit Vanuatu on Monday and two days later, it is still unclear how badly the country was hit.”
“Recent wildfires in Australia torched more than 48,000 square miles of land (for context, Pennsylvania is about 46,000 square miles).
“The fires impacted ecologically sensitive regions…
“…including an area called the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Site.”
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-bushfires-australian-rainforest-home-earth.html
“Beachgoers have been urged to stick to social distancing rules this Easter long weekend with Perth and parts of the South West set to experience potentially record-breaking heat…
“Saturday could see heat records tumble if the city climbs slightly above the 37C forecast. The hottest April day ever recorded in Perth was 37.6C on April 9, 1910.”
“After one of the driest January/February combinations on record, Southern California saw averages of 150 to 250 percent of normal rainfall in most areas through the month of March, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
“Precipitation levels “helped to put a noticeable dent in what was becoming a dry water year, NWS said.”
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/04/07/la-rain-southern-california-socal/
“While the world wrestles with the immediate impacts of the coronavirus crisis, the more gradual climate crisis continues to accelerate in the background.
“New research released by a team of scientists at Stanford University shows human-caused warming is playing a considerable inflammatory role in California fire seasons.”
“The City of Kamloops [Canada] is preparing for a situation in which it may need two emergency operations centres — one to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and another to respond to flooding…
“…the city is prepping for potentially historic level flooding, with an eye to 1972 levels, when the North Thompson River flooded parts of Westsyde and city parks became swamps.”
“The death toll from floods ravaging southeast Tanzania since the end of January has risen to 24…
“Incessant rains have continued to date, causing more flooding in most areas due to the rivers Matandu, Mavuji and Mbwemkuru breaking their banks.”
http://cajnewsafrica.com/2020/04/08/24-lives-lost-in-tanzania-floods/
“The devastating recent floods in Kerman province, south-central Iran, have caused over 50 trillion rials (around $325 million) in damages, with the bridge at the entrance of the city of Kahnuj destroyed and the 2,000 heads of small and large livestock killed in the town of South Rudbar alone…
“The floods in March 2019 killed dozens, injured many more, and caused a great amount of damages across 19 provinces…”
https://themediaexpress.com/2020/04/07/floods-in-iran-cause-325-million-in-damages/
“The Arctic is the fastest-warming region on Earth, and increasing temperatures are thawing permafrost, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere, and accelerating warming.
“These feedbacks concern scientists because roughly 850 gigatons of carbon—representing 25%–50% of all soil organic carbon on Earth—are believed to be stored in the permafrost at present.”
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/organic-matter-in-arctic-river-shows-permafrost-thaw
“Historically, scientists have believed that the Arctic Ocean will be an important carbon sink in the coming years—ice melt will increase the surface area that’s exposed to the air, facilitating carbon uptake from the atmosphere, and cold Arctic waters can store more carbon dioxide (CO2) than warmer waters.
“Or at least that’s what was supposed to happen.”
https://eos.org/articles/the-arctic-ocean-may-not-be-a-reliable-carbon-sink
“Viruses that jump from animals to people, like the one responsible for COVID-19, will likely become more common as people continue to transform natural habitats into agricultural land, according to a new Stanford study.”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200407164947.htm
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