You may recall that Taipei broke had its hottest ever June temperature (38.9c) on 29th June.
“As summer temperatures continue to soar, Taipei on Sunday (July 19) saw the mercury rise to nearly 40 degrees Celsius, the second-highest temperature in the city in 123 years and the hottest ever recorded in the month of July.”
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3970014
“The number of sweltering days across northern Vietnam in June exceeded record levels, marking its longest ever heat wave in 49 years… Hot weather has caused acute shortage of irrigation water across the provinces, as well as a series of forest fires.
“Vietnam has experienced scorching days since early May.”
“Heat in Pakistan’s southern port city broke a 62-year record as the hottest day during the month of July was recorded on Friday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said.
“Karachi last recorded a temperature of 42.2°C on July 3, 1958, according to the PMD.”
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/688098-karachi-heat-breaks-citys-62-year-record
“Nearly four million people in India’s northeastern state of Assam and neighbouring Nepal have been displaced by heavy flooding from monsoon rains, with dozens missing as deaths rose to at least 189, government officials said on Sunday…
““The flood situation remains critical with most of the rivers flowing menacingly above the danger mark,” Assam water resources Minister Keshab Mahanta told Reuters.”
“The Malda district alone in West Bengal produces an average of 500,000 to 550,000 metric tonnes (MT) of mangoes every season.
“This year, due to lockdown, demand was too low, second there was no means of transportation for whatever demand was there. On top of it, Cyclone Amphan damaged standing crops in huge areas“, Ujjwal Saha, President of the Malda Mango Merchants Association told Sputnik.”
“Authorities in central China have blasted a dam to release surging waters behind it amid widespread flooding that has claimed scores of lives…
“Seasonal flooding strikes large parts of China annually, especially in its central and southern regions, but has been especially severe this summer.”
No dynamite required for the Enshi City dam, which failed all by itself.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayq8u_grTJk
“Pontianak, West Kalimantan [Indonesia] – A whirlwind struck two sub-districts in Pontianak, West Kalimantan Province, leaving a path of destruction and causing damage to some 300 homes on Friday (July 17)…
“The whirlwind also led to power outage in several areas affected by the disaster.”
https://en.antaranews.com/news/152690/whirlwind-devastates-300-homes-in-pontianak-west-kalimantan
“The Amazon is one of Earth’s most vital carbon sinks, a keystone of diversity and home to a tenth of the world’s wildlife. Under Bolsonaro’s watch, it is being destroyed at record rates.
“Studies found that last year alone, 3,000 square miles were destroyed, an area almost the size of Puerto Rico.”
“Brazil’s top indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire has been hospitalized with digestive bleeding, according to a post on the Facebook page of Raoni’s institute…
“The Kayapo chief has become the symbol of the fight to stop deforestation in the Amazon.”
https://www.todayonline.com/world/brazils-amazon-chief-raoni-hospitalized
“Extreme high tides rose more often on Galveston Island in the last year than they have at almost any other time in the island’s recorded history, a federal agency said in a report released last week.
“Galveston recorded 18 days of high-tide flooding from May 2019 to May 2020, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — matching a record set in 2017.”
https://www.galvnews.com/news/free/article_47b8c647-c37e-516b-b604-12df2ee745cf.html
“Residents in parts of Britain that were hit by winter flooding have experienced long delays to repair works and insurance claims while stuck in temporary accommodation in the face of a national lockdown.
“Thousands of people [UK] were forced to evacuate their homes after record rainfall caused severe flooding between November and February in parts of the country.”
“Europe’s major rivers are littered with surgical masks and medical gloves discarded by people protecting themselves against coronavirus, scientists have reported…
“The rubbish adds to plastic pollution already clogging the continent’s major waterways…”
https://phys.org/news/2020-07-coronavirus-masks-gloves-polluting-europe.html
“A total of 26 [Spanish] provinces will be on notice this Monday for risk and significant risk due to high temperatures, which in some cases will reach 42ºC, while another 9 will be on notice for storms, according to the prediction of the State Meteorological Agency.”
https://www.65ymas.com/sociedad/total-26-provincias-llegaran-hoy-hasta-42oc_17453_102.html
“The Executive Secretary of the Kano State [Nigeria] Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr. Sale Jili, has disclosed that two bridges were washed away by flood in two local government areas of the state.
““So many villages have been cut off from the headquarters of the two local government areas while the two areas have also been cut off from the state capital,” he said.”
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/07/20/floods-destroy-bridges-in-kano/
“The coronavirus has revealed how risky it can be to rely on Russia for grain imports.
“But even more worrisome than Russia limiting exports in times of crisis is the possibility that Russia could limit exports for political leverage.”
“The Siberian Arctic region has less ice being naturally formed and it is melting faster than any year in the past four decades [which is how long we have satellite data], data from a US-based research centre has shown…
“The research centre has attributed the record-low ice levels to vast areas of open water caused by already-melting ice, as well as “unusually high” air temperatures of up to 10C in the middle of the Arctic.”
“Has the bacteria in humans that has grown resistant to antibiotics – an issue considered to be one of the world’s greatest health challenges – made its way into wildlife?
“The answer, it seems, is a resounding yes.”
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This year, a la nina year, could see the minimum sea ice record. Reduced global dimming.
The Arctic sea ice was beating a similarly aggressive retreat last summer and then paused in quite surprising fashion, so I am hesitant to predict an all-time low. The ice has shown more resilience than appeared likely back in 2012 and there are some potent negative feedback loops at work. However, I would guess odds are better than 50/50 for a minimum sea-ice extent. Let’s hope it’s not a full-on Blue Ocean Event.
And, as you say, this is a year without an El Nino! Reduced global dimming surely is having an effect.
Henson of course has looked at the issue from all sides. Its easy to forget that global warming is a geological process, and so a blue ocean event within the next couple of decades would be mind blowingly fast. On the other hand, it is a complex system with lots and lots of statistical variability. So …
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/07/baked-by-midsummer-sun-arctic-sea-ice-could-face-worst-losses-on-record/
Notice, he never mentions global dimming. To prove that it exists, one would have to have multiple years of clear air to compare to the dirty air of the past. Some things are just intuitively obvious, however. … and thats why the headlines are always “New Data Shows [whatever observation] is Happening Faster than Predicted”.
Right – pulling out ‘the signal’ of lost global dimming is a daunting challenge, to say the least. IIRC the grounding of planes post 9/11 did cause a noticeable rise in temperatures. I know there have been some attempts to debunk that study but none that won me over.
https://news.psu.edu/story/141202/2005/12/05/research/probing-question-does-commercial-jet-traffic-affect-climate
Re a Blue Ocean Event, just simply eye-balling the trend-line on an ice-extent graph suggests to me that we could easily have one in the next very few years but then there are unknowns re negative feedbacks and we only have 41 years of satellite data, so…