“The world’s seas are simmering, with record high temperatures spurring worry among forecasters that the global warming effect may generate a chaotic year of extreme weather ahead…
““The entire tropical ocean is above average,” said Michelle L’Heureux, a forecaster at the U.S. Climate Prediction Center.
““And there is a global warming component to that. It is really amazing when you look at all the tropical oceans and see how warm they are.””
“Fans and air conditioners also work at full throttle these days, since a heat wave has triggered thermometers to temperatures never seen on the island in April:
“…on the 12th, a new national record [for Cuba] of maximum temperature of 39.7 degrees Celsius.”
https://www.larazon.es/salud/20200419/v7utlxtnzvb2bcier4xzg4ly4i.html
“The governments of Argentina and Brazil are in talks to release water from the giant Itaipu Dam…
“A drought over the southern hemisphere summer means the river is at its lowest level since 1989, costing Argentina’s crop traders money at a time when the soybean harvest is starting to roll in…”
“Auckland [NZ] is on track for a one-in-1000-year drought.
“Watercare has revealed the only reason Aucklanders aren’t under severe water restrictions is because of COVID-19. And that goes for Coromandel too. Farmers in the Coromandel too are struggling to feed stock after months without rain.”
“This time of year, Brisbane should be enjoying a respite from the summer heat, with temperatures averaging around 27 degrees Celsius (80.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
“Instead, according to Australia’s Weatherzone, Friday saw the mercury reaching 34C (93F) in the capital city of Queensland…”
“With Thailand in the midst of its worst drought in four decades, sugar production is falling significantly for this year’s crop cycle…
“…pushing up the price of sugar globally and placing a severe strain on the domestic industry.”
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1903400/bitter-outlook-for-sugar-industry
“Several people are feared dead and many more are missing after heavy rainfall caused flash floods and landslides in parts of western Kenya.
“Local media on Sunday reported that the rains swept away several houses and a police post…”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/heavy-rains-flash-floods-western-kenya-200419101219115.html
“More than 10,000 people have been displaced in separate floods in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the authorities said Saturday.
“The flooding submerged homes in the eastern Maniema province, according to the authorities… About 25 people have been killed by flooding in eastern Congo…”
“Fires around the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant and elsewhere pushed pollution levels in Ukraine’s capital Kiev to the worst in the world on Friday, giving inhabitants another reason to stay indoors on top of the coronavirus lockdown…
“Police said a huge fire was started by arsonists in the forests around Chernobyl earlier this month.
“It was put out this week, but new blazes broke out on Thursday evening, fanned by heavy winds.”
“Some 350,000 foreigners are usually employed seasonally in Italy’s agriculture sector. The coronavirus crisis means this year there is a shortage of between 250,000 and 270,000, according to the farming ministry…
“The production crisis [in Italy, also caused by the worst drought in 60 years] could impact food availability.”
https://www.france24.com/en/20200420-crops-rot-as-italian-farmers-hit-by-virus-drought
“Farmers in northern France face “catastrophic” weather, with very little rain forecast for the next two weeks and the potential for yields “sharply down,” Luc Morin, who runs crop-weather analyst Visio-Crop, said in a tweet on Sunday.
“Wheat in France is suffering from drought after entering spring time with very low levels of biomass…”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wheat-france-faces-catastrophic-lack-135425307.html
“Despite the calendar reading mid-April and Americans preparing to stow away their winter jackets, winter hit rewind on 2020, dumping record-breaking snow totals on the High Plains region Thursday night.
“Through Friday morning, that snow turned treacherous in its path towards the East Coast…”
“More than 5 million people are under tornado watches across the southeast — in many of the same places that suffered deadly storms last week.
“A line of storms moved east across the South overnight putting areas including Tallahassee and Panama City, Florida; Albany, Georgia; and Dothan, Alabama under a tornado watch Monday morning.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/20/weather/severe-storms-in-south-return-monday/index.html
“As farmers deal with supply chain disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic, drought conditions have gripped California, Florida, parts of the Southwest and south Texas.
“The drought means additional expense for some farmers to find water or bring their livestock to a water source. It also increases the cost and a lack of selection at grocery stores for some crops grown in the United States.”
“One in five of the world’s large marine animals could go extinct in the next 100 years, according to a new study.
“Marine megafauna are most at-risk from climate change and 18 per cent could be lost forever by the year 2120, UK scientists say.”
Read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here and visit my Patreon page here.
