“Tropical storm Isaias is now a hurricane.
“With maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, Hurricane Isaias is moving northwest from about 45 miles southeast of Great Inagua Island, according to the National Hurricane Center…
“Where Isaias will hit and how intense it will be was still uncertain Thursday evening.
“Some forecast models show a weak storm hitting the southern coast of Florida, while others show a much stronger storm lashing the east side of the state and moving toward the Carolinas.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/31/weather/hurricane-isaias-forecast/index.html
“Strong winds and heavy rains lashed the island of Puerto Rico on Thursday, July 30, as Tropical Storm Isaias made its way through the Caribbean… Puerto Rico’s electricity authority, Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica, on Thursday said 46 percent of the island’s 1.47 million residents were without power…
““Isaias has been terrible to us, so much rain our island is flooded,” Ortiz said.” [On the plus side, this will have eased the drought].
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/isaias-terrible-tropical-storm-floods-192442807.html
““Currently, Atlantic surface waters are the fourth warmest they’ve been since NOAA began keeping records in 1982.
“The only years water has been warmer are 2005, 2010, and 2017, which bore witness to Hurricanes Katrina and Maria, two of the most devastating natural disasters to strike the Atlantic basin,” according to the National Geographic.”
“Summer’s temperatures have been record-hot in an of the United States that isn’t usually associated with blazing heat.
“At least five locations from upstate York to Maine had an average temperature that was the hottest on record from June 1 through July 27, or nearly the first two-thirds of summer.”
https://weather.com/news/weather/news/2020-07-30-new-england-new-york-record-hot-summer-so-far
“Unforgiving heat has baked Phoenix this month, not only scorching the afternoons but also failing to cool down at night…
“Overall, low temperatures during July are running the highest on record for the city, where weather records date to the late 1800s. The July average temperature for Phoenix of 98.6 degrees is also the highest on record for any month.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/07/30/phoenix-hottest-month-july/
“Reports filed by NGOs including the Socioenvironmental Institute (ISA) and Greenpeace Brazil say that a major invasion of indigenous reserves and conservation units in the Amazon is underway, prompted by miners well backed with expensive equipment supplied by wealthy elites.
“Miners are emboldened, say the NGOs, by the inflammatory anti-indigenous and anti-environmental rhetoric of the Jair Bolsonaro administration…”
https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/goldminers-overrun-amazon-indigenous-lands-as-covid-19-surges/
“The Hong Kong Observatory is planning to raise a strong wind signal No 3 on Friday night, replacing a monsoon signal in a rare move as a tropical cyclone is forming over the South China Sea.
“The weather forecast agency said the monsoon depression over the central and northern parts of the sea was strengthening…”
“The ancient walled city of Xi’an appears to be the latest victim of the massive flooding that has ravaged much of China over the past two months…
“Multiple videos dated July 30 show many roads turned into rivers with water up to waist level.”
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3977898
“Flash flood events in the Western Himalayan rivers doubled between 1980-2003 due to increases in extreme rainfall, according to a new study.”
“Devastating floods in northeast India have killed dozens of wild animals, including rare one-horned rhinos.
“About 60 percent of the Kaziranga National Park in the state of Assam is underwater… Park authorities say climate change and the building of dams have worsened their effects.”
“Yemen is in the eye of a “perfect storm” of economic shocks, conflict, floods, a plague of desert locusts – and now the coronavirus….
“Caught in the crossfire, farmers have had to abandon their plantations to drought, disease and destruction, says Yemeni journalist Mohammed al-Hakimi…”
“Temperatures in Middle East top 50C every day for a week…
“Iraqis rarely have electricity for 24 hours of the day, making air conditioning a rarity even if they can afford it, and many are struggling to keep vital equipment such as refrigerators running, on small, expensive supplementary generators.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/temperature-in-middle-east-tops-50c-for-a-week-ktgvdjsg9
“The Algerian authorities announced on Sunday that 6,000 hectares of forests have been destroyed in 923 reported fires since June, state-run Algeria Radio reported.
“These fires have affected 46 percent of forests and bushes, with an average of 17 fires triggered a day…”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/29/c_138265284.htm
“During the day, it is expected that thermometers can even reach 43ºC in the Cordoba area of the Guadalquivir valley, 42ºC on the banks of the Ebro in Zaragoza and more than 40ºC in the rest of the basin from Navarra to the Huesca depression and Lleida [Spain].”
“A wildfire fanned by soaring temperatures tore through a pine forest in southwestern France on Thursday, burning down at least one house and forcing dozens to flee their homes…
“The southwest of France experienced particularly hot weather on Thursday, with the nearby town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz setting its new temperature record of 41.9C.”
https://www.thelocal.fr/20200731/dozens-evacuated-as-wildfire-hits-south-west-france-town
“The UK broke six records for temperature highs last year in evidence of the increasing influence of global warming on the British climate, the Met Office said yesterday.
“Last July saw a new all-time high temperature of 38.7C, recorded in Cambridge…
“…while in February a new winter record-high of 21.2C was recorded in Kew Gardens, the first time 20C has been reached in the British winter.”
“One quarter of the UK’s native mammals are classified as being at “imminent risk of extinction” and conservationists are calling for urgent action to save them…
“Among those species listed as being at risk of extinction in Britain are the water vole, hedgehog, hazel dormouse, wildcat and the grey long-eared bat.”
“…research indicates that within the next few decades, climate change will further boost the amount of freshwater moving into the Arctic, which will ultimately flow into the North Atlantic Ocean.
“This influx of freshwater will disrupt ocean currents and heavily influence temperatures in northern Europe.”
https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-freshwater-will-disrupt-the-north-atlantic-climate-system/#
“Mark Serreze… who now directs the National Snow and Ice Data Center, has confirmed that the two ice caps on the Hazen Plateau of Canada’s Ellsmere Island have disappeared.
“They’re the victims of human-caused warming that has occurred three times more rapidly in the Arctic than anywhere else.”
https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/going-going-gone-two-arctic-ice-caps-have-disappeared
Seems very optimistic indeed to me:
“The combined impacts of human-caused sea level rise, storm surges and high tides could expose an extra 23 million people to coastal flooding within the next 30 years, even with relatively ambitious cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, a new global study has found.”
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