There’s too much news for me not to do a climate thread today, unfortunately. There may not be another thread until Wednesday but we shall see. Events seem to keep overtaking me!
“Svalbard experienced hottest summer on record: Glaciers are melting, permafrost thaws and buildings are sagging. What scares the scientists most is studies of decomposing carbon from beneath the ground being emitted to the atmosphere as CO2 or methane…
“In the 1990s, a clear change was observed, and after 1997 the researchers have not registered a single summer with a mean temperature under the normal.”
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/climate-crisis/2020/09/svalbard-experienced-hottest-summer-record
Displaced polar cold has to go somewhere, right?
“An early taste of winter with record cold temperatures and snow — yes, snow — is on the way for the Rocky Mountains.
“A strong September cold front is set to drop out of Canada in the beginning of the week, making its presence known from the Dakotas all the way down to Texas by Wednesday.”
“As of Saturday afternoon, not only had a new record been set, but Denver had officially recorded its latest day of 100 degrees or hotter since record-keeping began…
“By 4:40 p.m., the temperature had ticked up to 101 degrees, according to weather service, a new record high for September.”
https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/05/denver-breaks-record-latest-100-degree-day/
“September has arrived but the record-breaking heat has not left Death Valley.
“On Saturday, the high at Death Valley National Park was 125 degrees… its all-time hottest temperature for September. The previous record was 123, set in 1996.”
“Los Angeles County recorded its highest-ever temperature Sunday as the weekend heat fanned wildfires across California…
“”We reached 121 degrees (F) in Woodland Hills, California. That is the highest-ever temperature at a station…””
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/06/weather/california-record-temperature/index.html
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in five counties late Sunday as multiple wildfires continue to burn across the state following a weekend that brought both record high heat and record acres scorched…
“Tens of thousands of acres have been burned by the three fires, which have also destroyed homes…”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/07/us/california-fires-update-monday/index.html
“The largest wildfire in Colorado’s recorded history didn’t destroy scores of homes like other mammoth fires of the past, but it scorched large swaths of ranch land and wildlife habitat tied to many people’s livelihoods.
“The Denver Post reports the Pine Gulch Fire left some ranches in western Colorado blackened and useless for grazing.”
“For most in southwest Louisiana, there’s little debate that the devastation Laura wrought tops that of Hurricane Rita, the 2005 monster of a storm that’s been the yardstick in this part of the state for every hurricane since.
“But there’s a growing sense that, fearsome though Laura was… it’s gone largely unnoticed in the rest of the country…”
https://www.nola.com/news/hurricane/article_c1c4157c-ef9d-11ea-95bf-e78474c2d417.html
“Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is under renewed criticism over widespread wildfires in the country’s Amazon rainforest, which rights groups say have reached an “alarming” level so far this year.
“A group of environmental NGOs launched a website called Defund Bolsonaro this week…”
“Venezuelan Cities Flooded With Water and Crude Oil Following Heavy Rains…
“Many families were forced to sleep out in the open after water flooded their homes making them uninhabitable…. Three cities in the Venezuelan state of Zulia have been transformed into something resembling Venice, Italy…”
“Senegalese President Macky Sall has activated an emergency aid plan after a seven-hour downpour caused widespread floods.
“Water Minister Serigne Mbaye Thiam told national television that Saturday had seen more rain fall in a single day than the country usually sees in three months of rainy season.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUKKBN25X0J9
“Floods washed away at least two million tons of rice in Nigeria, the second-largest importer of the grain.
“That is more than 25% of the previously projected national output of 8 million tons, according to estimates by a farmers’ organization.”
“After months of unusually heavy rain, thousands of people in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley have evacuated due to intense flooding.
“Rising waters have inundated homes, businesses, farms, and even entire islands. The torrential rains have also caused two important lakes to swell, creating several issues for local wildlife and businesses.”
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/147226/rising-waters-on-kenyas-great-rift-valley-lakes
“Scores of villages in Sindh and Punjab [Pakistan] were inundated with stormwater after heavy rains lashed parts of two provinces.
“The rise of the water level in the embankments of canals passing through Golarchi Tehsil of Badin district due to rain wreaked havoc.”
“Typhoid, cholera outbreak feared due to Karachi’s post-rain insanitary conditions…
“Following last week’s torrential rains, the sewerage system of the city — already in fragile condition — collapsed completely, resulting in filthy water flooding almost all thoroughfares and neighbourhoods of the metropolis.”
“The receding water has revealed the extent of damage in flood-ravaged Kendrapara district, Odisha [India] with the worst hit being farmers…
““The floods have completely shattered the rural economy. Farmers had spent huge amount of money to raise paddy saplings which have been damaged in the floods. With the deluge ruining our livelihood, we now stare at a bleak future,” said Sarat Sahoo, a farmer of Manapur village under Rajkanika.”
“As glaciers in Kashmir are melting fast, having lost 23% of area in the last six decades, the valley could face major water scarcity in coming years which could result in less agricultural productivity.”
“Locusts, Rodents, Floods Destroy Crops in China’s Yunnan Province – Southern China has suffered the worst natural disasters in decades this year.
“Farmers in Yunnan Province said that in addition to the floods, the ongoing locust plague and rodent infestation have damaged nearly all the crops.”
“Typhoon Haishen has touched down in South Korea after slamming through southern Japan…
“Haishen is the third typhoon to hit South Korea in a two-week period – the country has not previously been hit by three typhoons in a single year, according to records dating back to 1945.”
https://www.dw.com/en/typhoon-haishen-lashes-south-korea-heads-north/a-54836864
“Parts of South Australia are set to swelter in record breaking heat with temperatures in Adelaide forecasted to reach 31 degrees due to strong winds.
“If the city exceeds 30.4 degrees, it will be the hottest day this early in the season on record.”
https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6188295604001
“Dozens of schools were closed and workers were barred from outdoor work in Jordan on Sunday as the country toiled through the longest heatwave to hit it in a century of record-keeping…
“The heatwave, which started on August 29 and is expected to continue until September 10, is the longest and hottest on records going back to 1922, the Jordan Meteorological Department said.”
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/jordan-has-no-respite-from-rare-september-heatwave-1.1073760
“A teenage boy in Jerusalem died of heatstroke on Sunday, as Israel braced itself for another week of searing temperatures after experiencing the hottest days on record.
“The heatwave, now on its eighth day… has caused multiple life-threatening incidents.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-record-breaking-heatwave-enters-second-week/
“Large areas of northern Scotland have been placed on drought alert by environmental watchdogs despite heavy rain and flooding last month.
“The water level in many lochs is “very low”, according to the latest water scarcity report, published at the weekend by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).”
“Land in Russia’s Arctic blows like a bottle of champagne:
“”Since finding the first crater in 2014, Russian scientists have documented 16 more explosions in the Arctic caused by gas trapped in thawing permafrost…
“…scientists have established that the craters appearing in the far north of western Siberia are caused by subterranean gases, and the recent flurry of explosions is possibly related to global warming.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/world/europe/russia-arctic-eruptions.html
You can read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here and visit my Patreon page here.
From one of your linked articles:
“In San Bernardino County, the El Dorado Fire — which started during a gender reveal using a pyrotechnic device — has scorched 7,050 acres and is at 5% containment.”
Kind of pithily sums up our “civilization“.