“China storm: Eleven dead and thousands evacuated after massive thunderstorm hits Nantong. The city of Nantong, near Shanghai, was one of the worst hit areas, with trees and buildings blown over in winds up to 100mph…
“Nantong is about 60 miles away from Shanghai, on the other side of the Yangtze delta.”
“Trail of damage in Shizuoka [Japan] after rare tornado hits.
“A tornado slammed into Shizuoka Prefecture on the night of May 1 stripping homes of roof tiles, knocking down utility poles and leaving three people injured, local authorities said.”
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14341813
“Prolonged drought in Taiwan has affected the lychee harvest and may bring down production to less than 10 percent…
“The lack of rain as well as raging leaf-blotch miners prevented blooming trees from bearing fruit. But when the trees bore fruit, they all fell off.”
“Sydney was enveloped in a thick bank of hazardous bush fire smoke Monday (May 3), forcing authorities in Australia’s largest city to scale back controlled forest burning nearby.
“Ferries were cancelled and the city’s five million residents were told to stay indoors if necessary, as air pollution levels spiked.”
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/australianz/controlled-bush-fire-cloaks-sydney-in-hazardous-smoke
“Corn hits 8-year high as Brazil drought lifts supply concerns.
“U.S. corn futures rose more than 3% on Monday to hit their highest in more than eight years as a drought in southern Brazil exacerbated worries about global supply.”
“Brazilian Amazon released more carbon than it absorbed over past 10 years.
“The Brazilian Amazon released nearly 20% more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past decade than it absorbed, according to a startling report that shows humanity can no longer depend on the world’s largest tropical forest to help absorb manmade carbon pollution.”
“Heat wave exceeds 40 degrees C [104F] in Yucatan.
“The highest ranges in the last days were in Tekax and Tzucacab to the South with 42.8 [109F]; Tizimín and Chemax to the East with 41.8, and Puerto Progreso with 41 degrees.”
https://noticieros.televisa.com/ultimas-noticias/ola-de-calor-supera-40-grados-yucatan/
“San Antonio’s 4-day rain total nearly equals 4-month norm.
“Matthew Brady, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said San Antonio [Texas] has received 7.13 inches of rain at its official site at the San Antonio International Airport, since Wednesday.”
“‘Gargantuan’ hailstone that fell Wednesday may claim new Texas record. Everything’s bigger in Texas. Apparently that extends to hail, including one stone that may have been more than a half-foot wide.
“It fell amid a barrage of prolific hailstorms that incurred potentially billions of dollars in damages across Fort Worth, Oklahoma City and areas west of San Antonio…”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/05/01/texas-hailstone-state-record/
“More than 20 million genetically modified mosquitoes are coming to the Florida Keys this year, in a landmark project by British biotech company Oxitec and Monroe County’s Mosquito Control District.
“This mosquito control method hasn’t been used in the U.S. before. It’s a pilot program and the first trial began over the past week.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article251031419.html
“California’s wildfire season is expanding as the wet season becomes compressed…
“The greatest risk for wildfires comes between August and November… But in recent years, that dry season has been swelling, the threat of fires lingering when winter rains are delayed.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/05/02/california-wildfire-season-growing/
“‘Beyond depressing’: What happened to Phoenix Lake? A favorite Bay Area spot is barely there…
“In recent weeks, the reservoir has lost some of its beauty with the water dropping to a historically low level. The site of the dwindling lake — with its edges dry, crack and exposed — is alarming many residents and visitors.”
“‘It’s like a rotting carcass of its former self’: funeral for an Oregon glacier…
“The funeral, a stunt held by worried glacier researchers on the steps of the state capitol in Salem, illustrated how the climate crisis is rapidly gnawing away at the majestic icepacks that used to throng the mountains of the northwestern US, potentially posing a threat to the region’s water supplies.”
“April 2021 now holds the record for the driest April in Oregon history.
“Meteorologists from the National Weather Service recorded a rainfall total of 0.39 of an inch at the Portland International Airport for the whole month. That number shatters a record previously held from 1956…”
https://katu.com/news/local/portland-breaks-record-for-driest-april-yet-as-fire-season-looms
“April 22 landslide in northern Quebec second largest in 150 years, say experts…
“Over 45 million cubic metres of debris ended up in Great Whale River… The landslide measures 1.8 kilometres long and 500 metres wide across the riverbank.”
“Scotland’s Weather: April was sunniest on record – but also one of the coldest, says Met Office.
“Last month saw Scotland breaking its sunshine record for the second consecutive year with 211.5 hours, according to provisional Met Office figures.”
“The recent serious gorse and heather fire in the Mournes [Ireland] should focus our minds on climate change and the risk wildfires pose to our peatlands and uplands…
“Climate change predictions are for warmer, drier conditions which will lead to stronger, less predictable winds and more drying up of the soil surface.”
https://www.farminglife.com/country-and-farming/peatland-the-fire-risk-3221023
“The climate crisis could be behind French vineyard devastation… By the end of France’s big freeze, at least one-third of this year’s wine harvest and many other crops were lost, in what by some estimates was the country’s worst agricultural disaster of the century…
“Drastic temperature fluctuations and erratic weather patterns may have a lasting impact on French wines…”
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/french-vineyards-frost-climate-b1838269.html
“2nd May was another exceptionally hot day in Greece with its earliest 38C in history: 38.1C [106.5F] at Plora, Crete Island.“
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1388928485696188421
“Another amazing record in Greece. The station of Zymbragou (NOA-Univ. of Athens official station) in Crete didn’t drop below +29.4C [84.9F] on 2 May.
“This is the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in spring in Europe.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1388960725960466433
“Eastern Cape drought: Nelson Mandela Bay’s dying dams.
“The two major dams for the Eastern Cape’s biggest metro, Nelson Mandela Bay, are running dry and with no major rain forecast, the city is facing an unprecedented water crisis.”
“Burundi: Floods from rising Lake Tanganyika affect 8000 families… it appears that the number of people affected could most probably rise as flooded houses continue to collapse.
“The lake’s levels have been slowly rising since February 2021 and stood at 776.45 metres above sea level as of April 19 — as on that night, torrential rains caused the banks of the Ruzizi River to overflow.”
“Floods swept through parts of Yemen amid heavy seasonal rains, leaving at least 13 people dead, including two children, security officials said Saturday.
“Last year, flooding in Yemen left dozens dead and forced tens of thousands to leave their homes.” Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_0FS7RPBrk
“Epidemics of Tree-Destroying Diseases Are On the Rise…
“With wildfires growing fiercer and more frequent and world leaders vowing to plant trillions of trees to help restore nature and tackle the climate emergency, there’s an urgent need to find ways to fight future epidemics.”
https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/epidemics-of-tree-destroying-diseases-are-on-the-rise/
“An increasing number of people are being threatened by flooding caused by glacial lakes bursting, scientists have warned.
“As the planet warms and glaciers recede, meltwater accumulates and forms lakes, often as a result of ice or moraine acting as a dam. Since 1990, the volume, area and number of these glacial lakes has increased by 50% globally.“
“Permafrost could release much more carbon than expected…
““The stability of the last 400,000 years may actually work against us, in that it has allowed carbon to steadily accumulate in permafrost over this time,” said study co-author Professor David McGee.”
https://www.earth.com/news/permafrost-could-release-much-more-carbon-than-expected/
“Sea Level Rise From Antarctic Melt Could Be 30% Higher Than We Thought… The Antarctic ice sheet contains a global disaster waiting to happen…
“…water currently locked in the form of Antarctic ice will melt into the oceans, raising sea levels to a point that will have a significant impact on coastal communities, even in the next few decades.”
“‘Impossible to adapt’: Surprisingly fast ice-melts in past raise fears about sea level rise.
“Studies of ancient beaches and fossilised coral reefs suggest sea levels have the potential to rise far more quickly than models currently predict, according to geologists who have been studying past periods of warming.”
https://phys.org/news/2021-04-impossible-surprisingly-fast-ice-melts-sea.html
“Unrest from World’s Largest Volcano Prompts Alert from Local Authorities… ongoing unrest at the world’s largest volcano has prompted local authorities to remind residents and visitors to prepare for the eventual eruption…
“Mauna Loa has seen an uptick in activity, including 175 small-magnitude earthquakes below Mauna Loa in the last week alone.”
https://weatherboy.com/unrest-from-worlds-largest-volcano-prompts-alert-from-local-authorities/
You can read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an “Economic” thread.
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