“Several Russian regions will experience “extreme hot weather” over the next few days… The freak weather conditions are expected to be most severe in the Volga River region and the Ural Mountains. Temperatures in these areas could rise to 37 degrees Celsius [98.6F]…
“The heatwave has been raging through Siberia and European parts of Russia for two weeks, with Moscow and St. Petersburg seeing a rapid shift from snow to record heat in the space of just ten days. Some areas around the Arctic Circle were as hot as beaches in Southern France and Italy.
“Temperatures in Ufa, Samara, and Orenburg rose to 31-32 C [89.6F] May 22, smashing heat records… Extreme weather events in Russia have doubled in frequency in the last 20-25 years…”
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/05/25/extreme-heat-a74005
“The record heat is persisting in Central Russia with again a Tmax monthly record at Yekaterineburg with 34.7C [94.5F].
“Also 36.3C [97.3F] at Sorochinsk, in Kazakhstan after the 40.5C [104.9F] recorded yesterday at Novyj Ushtogan… Uralsk beat its May record for the 3rd time in a row with 37.8C [100.04F].
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1396891628422500352
“How Russian Oil Companies Illegally Dump Massive Amounts Of Toxic Waste.
“Russian oil companies are illegally disposing of millions of tons of contaminated drilling waste, a practice that is wreaking environmental havoc by polluting northern rivers that drain into the Arctic Ocean, a new RFE/RL investigation has found.”
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-oil-toxic-waste-arctic/31272382.html
“Cyprus swelters under mid-summer conditions… In 2020 Cyprus sweltered under… the hottest summer on record, as warm-weather records were broken in July, August, and September last year…
“The average daily maximum temperature in July was 39.7°C [103.5F] with the island experiencing a series of week-long heatwaves.”
https://www.financialmirror.com/2021/05/25/cyprus-swelters-under-mid-summer-conditions/
“25th May Qatar set a new record of the highest temperature ever recorded in May with 48.1C [118.6F] at Abu Samra, 0.3C above the previous monthly record set at Doha Airport in 1986 and 2014.
“This is the 44th national monthly record of Tmax beaten or tied so far in 2021 vs. 3 of Tmins.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1397258549349191684
“Cyclone Yaas: more than a million evacuated as storm hits India’s east coast.
“More than 1.2 million people have evacuated low-lying areas of India’s east coast as Cyclone Yaas made landfall on Wednesday… A tornado snapped electricity lines that electrocuted two people and damaged 40 houses in West Bengal’s Hooghly district on Tuesday…”
“China braces for summer floods as 71 rivers exceed warning levels.
“China is bracing for a heavy flood season with 71 rivers already exceeding warning levels, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday, as meteorological authorities warned that global warming is fuelling more extreme weather.”
“Climate change could push temperatures at the Tokyo Olympics to the ‘danger-zone’ for athletes, report warns.
“Intense heat and high humidity could pose a serious risk to athletes at this year’s Tokyo Olympics, according to a new report… the average annual temperature in Tokyo “has increased by 2.86 degrees Celsius since 1900, more than three times as fast as the world’s average.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/25/sport/olympics-heat-climate-change-spt-intl/index.html
“The extent of Australia’s revolting mouse plague has been revealed in an alarming new map by the CSIRO…
“According to the the national science body, the worst hit areas have been the Northern Tablelands, Central West and New England regions of NSW, but there has been speculation the plague could reach even Sydney in coming months.”
“A series of lightning flashes, followed by thunder, were observed on Monday morning in various districts across Lima and Callao [Peru], causing surprise and fear in the population…
“…this is an atypical phenomenon that occurs every 50 years, usually in high Andean and jungle areas.”
“A third part of Guatemala is prone to flooding and landslides due to rains…
“Severe weather in Guatemala from 21 to 24 May 2021 affected over 10,000 people and damaged more than 200 homes across the departments of Baja Verapaz, Izabal, Petén, Quetzaltenango, San Marcos, Santa Rosa, Sololá and Suchitepéquez…”
https://holanews.com/tercera-parte-de-guatemala-es-proclive-a-inundaciones-y-derrumbes-por-lluvias/
“Texas Legislature close to approving billions to pay for winter storm financial fallout…
“Several billions of dollars in state-approved financing will be necessary to stabilize the state’s distressed energy market after the winter storm. Texas approves more in finance bailouts for its utilities than any other state.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/25/electricity-market-financing-winter-storm/
“Biden increases funding to prepare for extreme weather ahead of hurricane season.
“President Joe Biden will double funding for communities to prepare for extreme weather events ahead of a hurricane season that meteorologists warn will bring above-normal activity to the Atlantic.”
“Arizona’s current historic drought may be ‘baseline for the future’… Arizona and other Western states just lived through the driest year in more than a century, with no drought relief in sight in the near future, experts told a House panel Tuesday…
““We have never seen drought at the scale and intensity that we see right now, and it is possible that this may be the baseline for the future,” Elizabeth Klein, a senior counselor to the secretary of Interior, said in her testimony.”
“Raleigh [North Carolina] on pace for driest spring on record… with the month of May quickly drawing to a close we may actually have THE driest spring ever in Raleigh dating back to 1887!
“…Folks on Facebook and social media were saying enough already with the rain [in March]… Then in just three months’ time we are at an opposite extreme with rainfall down over 5” for spring.”
https://www.wral.com/raleigh-on-pace-for-driest-spring-on-record/19694964/
“Greenland’s ice sheet is releasing huge amounts of mercury into rivers… [Great. We can add that to the carcinogenic radon being released from thawing permafrost.]
“An ice sheet in the southwestern region of Greenland is releasing huge amounts of mercury into nearby rivers. The discovery is worrying as the toxic metal can accumulate in the marine animals that are a key dietary component for local Indigenous communities.”
“Where’s Wally? Iceberg-hopping walrus is now 2,600 miles from home… Walruses are only rarely spotted so far south of the Arctic Circle, where they typically hunt for shellfish in shallow water and rest on nearby beaches and icebergs…
““Wally’s rare southern appearance was not one “we would ever expect to see,” Jenny Simpson, head guide at Padstow Sealife Safaris, told Live Science…”
https://www.livescience.com/wally-the-walrus-appears-in-cornwall.html
“Katesbridge: Northern Ireland hamlet breaks another cold record…
“There have been 12 days with air frosts recorded at the weather station so far in May. On average, it records two and a half days during the final month of meteorological spring.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-57242790
Wettest May on record confirmed for Wales:
“It will probably come as no surprise, but provisional figures from the Met Office show that Wales has experienced its wettest May since records began in 1862… Simon Partridge, a senior operational meteorologist at the Met Office, said the wet weather had been mainly down to the position of the jet stream.”
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/weather-rain-wettest-record-wales-20670271
“Can wildfires be prevented in a world dealing with climate change?
“India recorded 82,170 forest fire alerts from April 1 to 14, nearly doubling from 43,031 in the same period in 2020. Forest fires, wildfires and their alerts in the country have gone up sharply in recent times, posing a serious threat to our environment, wildlife and biodiversity.”
“Air pollution helps wildfires create their own lightning.
“Most people know lightning can spark wildfires. But wildfires can also spark lightning… Now, researchers have revealed a key cause of this phenomenon: air pollution. Dirtier air means more lightning above wildfires—and more rain, too.”
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/05/air-pollution-helps-wildfires-create-their-own-lightning
“Plastic Pollution Raises Beach Temperatures, Threatening Marine Life, Study Finds…
“”When you have plastic piling up and piling up, it creates this insulation layer – it rapidly raises the temperature to a point where it is likely unsuitable for most animals,” Dr. Jennifer Lavers from the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies said.”
https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-pollution-heat-beaches-marine-life-2653104016.html
“Scientists Warn of Fertility Loss in Many Species Due to Climate Change…
“…what if fatal temperatures were not the main driver of biodiversity loss in the era of climate change, but mass sterilization?“
You can read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an ‘Economic’ thread.
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