“Record-breaking winter winds have blown large swathes of old Arctic sea ice into warmer waters, putting them at high risk of melting this summer, study warns.
“The perennial ice, which is less prone to melting than new ice and has survived for at least one year, helps keep the Earth cool by reflecting sunlight.
It is also a vital part of the habitat of animals such as polar bears and seals. But its coverage has reduced by about 50 per cent since 1984 and is currently at its lowest on record for this time of year.”
“Phytoplankton blooms hint at changing Arctic waters…
“…recent research has found that coccolithophore blooms are occupying increasingly more space in the Barents Sea. Between 1998 and 2016, coccolithophore summer blooms have expanded poleward and their surface area in the Barents Sea has doubled.”
https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/phytoplankton-blooms-hint-at-changing-arctic-waters/
“A polar bear [Greenland] forced to search new areas for food because of its habitat melting in a heatwave may be killed after it injured humans.
“Hungry polar bears have been wandering further than usual in search of something to eat as Greenland hits temperatures of up to 23.4°C [74.12F]. The record-breaking heat has brought one particular polar bear too close to humans and it has been involved in five separate incidents.”
“Russia Sees Record Wildfire Spread as Siberian Blazes Rage On.
“Colossal forest fires have now devastated 13.4 million hectares of land — an area roughly the size of Greece — in Russia so far in 2021, Greenpeace wrote, citing official data… This year’s wildfires have hit particularly hard in Sakha…”
“Deadly tornado spins across Russian town destroying 1,500 homes and killing three.
“The tornado was filmed by frightened locals in the town of Andreapol in the western Russian region of Tver Oblast on August 2. The tornado reportedly damaged 1,500 homes and upended hundreds of trees.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/deadly-tornado-spins-across-town-24683193
“[In 2020] Germany recorded a sharp increase in damaged trees due to drought and parasite infestation as a new record high of 75 percent of logged timber came from damaged trees last year, the Federal Statistical Office said Wednesday.
“According to Destatis, 60.1 million cubic meters of damaged timber was logged last year, which was almost five times higher than in 2015.”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/europe/2021-08/05/c_1310108025.htm
“Devastated by historic floods last month, Germany is now left with waste piles equivalent to a whole year’s worth of refuse.
“”There’s not been anything like it in Germany,” Sascha Hurtenbach, director of the waste management center in Niederzissen, tells Agence France-Presse (AFP), while behind him diggers work to reduce the size of the mounds of debris.”
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/europe/after-disastrous-floods-germany-left-with-mountains-of-waste
“When people think of countries facing water crises and water shortages, Belgium is probably not the first to come to mind, especially considering the floods that affected the country on 14 and 15 July.
“However, for the last few years, Belgium has faced a water scarcity problem that has a lot to do with the very issue that, in part, caused the floods: climate change.“
“Heat waves to drastically worsen in Northern Hemisphere, studies warn…
“As global temperatures have increased, extreme heat events in the Northern Hemisphere have occurred with greater frequency and intensity. Deadly, record-crushing heat waves have scorched parts of the United States, Europe and the Arctic in just the past two decades.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/08/03/heat-wave-stress-climate-change/
“Hottest temperature [in Greece] on Tuesday clocks in at 47.1C [116.8F], as heatwave continues [close to Europe’s all-time heat record of 48C / 118.4].
“The town of Langadas, near Thessaloniki in northern Greece, recorded the country’s highest temperature on Tuesday, clocking in at a sweltering 47.1 degrees Celsius… In the Greek capital, the highest temperature of the day, 45C, was recorded in the industrial zones of Aspropyrgos and Acharnon.”
“Update on the Greek Heat Wave:
“With a 24 hours minimum temperature of 35.2C [95.4F] Plakias, in the island of Crete, just recorded the highest ever minimum temperature in August in the whole Europe.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1422665830156939274
“Greek firefighters battle ‘raging’ forest fire near Athens.
““Thank God we haven’t had any loss of human life so far,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said after he toured the affected area on Wednesday, calling the fire a “nightmare” situation. The government will provide hotel rooms for evacuees until they are able to return to their homes.”
“‘Everything is destroyed’: Villagers tell of wreckage as wildfires ravage Greek island of Rhodes.
“As wildfires continue to rage on the Greek island of Rhodes, many residents have been left without electricity and water as fire threatened the Valley Of The Butterflies, a military base, and the village of Psinthos, all of which have been evacuated.”
“Istanbul breaks water consumption record in scorching heat.
“Istanbul’s water utility agency announced that over 3.4 million cubic meters of water had been supplied to Turkey’s most crowded city Tuesday, the highest in its history.”
https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/istanbul/istanbul-breaks-water-consumption-record-in-scorching-heat
“Turkish town evacuated as wildfire reaches coal power station.
“A coal-fired power station in south-west Turkey and nearby town on the Aegean Sea were evacuated late on Wednesday as a deadly wildfire reached inside the plant… The defence ministry said it was evacuating villagers by sea as bright balls of orange flame tore through the hills encircling the plant.”
“Massive forest fire near Jerusalem drives residents from homes… A nearby commercial center with a gas station was also cleared of people.
““It seems it was not the weather that started the fire, but there is no doubt it is accelerating it and making it bigger,” Dedi Simchi told Kan, noting there had been no reports of lightning during the day.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/massive-forest-fire-near-jerusalem-drives-residents-from-homes/
“Update on Qatar:
“Sudanthile has recorded 49C [120.2F] three days in a row between the 2nd and the 4th of August. Reminder:
“This is now the new record of highest temperature in Qatar for the month of August.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1422959779073363968
“Heavy rains and flooding in Yemen have affected at least 28,000 people, according to initial estimates released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday…
“Meanwhile, more than half of Yemenis are facing crisis levels of food insecurity, and five million people are just one step away from famine.”
https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/08/1097122
“Severe rain triggered flooding in seven provinces of Iran, which has claimed five lives, spokesman or the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has announced…
“Over the last two years, Iran was doused with rain which was unprecedented during the past 50 years, but last year, unfortunately, the country faced drought, which shows a 40 percent decrease in rainfall.”
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/463665/Flooding-leaves-5-dead-injured-in-7-provinces
“Even the wettest place on earth is starting to run dry. Indian region with world’s highest annual rainfall suffers from impact of deforestation…
“Over the years water scarcity has been exacerbated by growing deforestation, which has reduced water retention in the soil. Wider climate change-linked factors have also contributed to less rainfall.”
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/even-the-wettest-place-on-earth-is-starting-to-run-dry
“23 dead in India’s West Bengal floods… The flood situation in six districts of West Bengal deteriorated on Tuesday, with at least 23 people killed and thousands left homeless or marooned.”
Pictures:
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/asiapacific/2021-08/05/c_1310108049.htm
“Lightning strikes kill 16 at Bangladesh wedding. Several lightning bolts hit a Bangladesh wedding party within a few seconds Wednesday, killing 16 people and injuring the groom, officials said…
“Fierce monsoon storms have battered Bangladesh. A week of torrential rains in the southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar left some 20 dead, including six Rohingya refugees.”
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210804-lightning-strikes-kill-16-at-bangladesh-wedding
“Chinese researchers have found that albedo reduction was an important driver of glacier melting on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its surrounding areas.
“The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as “the water tower of Asia,” houses abundant glaciers vital to the regional water cycle and water resources in downstream areas.
“The glaciers have been shrinking in recent years, mostly due to global warming.”
“China Typhoons Pose Latest Supply-Chain Threat as Ports Shut.
“Extreme weather in China is becoming the latest challenge to global supply chains, as a heavy typhoon season threatens to further delay goods stuck at some of the world’s busiest container ports.”
“Get the ice ready: Marathons in Sapporo [Japan] face record heat wave.
“As of Aug. 3, out of 173 meteorological observation points in Hokkaido, 68 locations marked their highest temperatures on record this summer, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.”
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14410772
“New Zealand has just experienced its warmest June and July since records began in 1909 and is on track for its second successive warmest winter on record.
“Data from NIWA… showed on Thursday that the temperature for the past two months was an extremely high 1.53 degrees Celsius above the long-term average.”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/asiapacific/2021-08/05/c_1310109378.htm
“Another record day in Mexico:
“With a max. temperature of 50.4C [122.72F] Mexicali beat the record of the highest temperature in August in Mexico which was set just 1 year ago with 50.2C at the same place. Nearest station of Ejido Nuevo Leon was 48.2C.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1422967959660662786
“A day after breaking another record in what has already been a historically hot summer, Palm Springs, as well as two other Coachella Valley cities, saw temperatures again reach record daily highs Wednesday.
“The thermometer in Palm Springs soared to 122 degrees Wednesday afternoon… falling just shy of its all-time record of 123.”
“A drought like no other, NOAA scientist says.
“For the first time in 122 years of record-keeping, drought covers almost the entire Western U.S. as measured by the Palmer Drought Severity Index, said Richard Heim, a drought historian and an author of the U.S. Drought Monitor.”
“Millers, bakers fret as drought withers North America’s spring wheat…
“U.S. and Canadian farmers are bracing for a sharply smaller spring wheat harvest due to the driest conditions in decades, as severe weather damages crops across the hemisphere, from heat scorching cherries in the U.S. Pacific Northwest to frost chilling sugarcane in Brazil.”
“Farmers Race to Save Their Cattle From Canada’s Drought…
“Field after field of ranchlands that keep the cattle fed have been stunted, parched or mowed down by an infestation of grasshoppers, with farmers running out of alternatives for food. Many rural municipalities in the provinces of Manitoba and Alberta have declared an agricultural emergency.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/04/world/canada/manitoba-drought-cattle-farms.html
“July was the wettest month on record for Kotzebue, Alaska…
““Western Alaska has just been stuck between those two high pressure systems,” said Rick Thoman, a climatologist with the International Arctic Research Center in Fairbanks. “In the atmosphere between two high pressure systems, you have low pressure.”
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/08/03/this-july-was-the-wettest-month-on-record-for-kotzebue/
“Increase in extreme precipitation in the northeast caused by Atlantic variability and climate change. Recent record-breaking rainfall across the northeastern United States is part of a larger trend.
“From Maine to West Virginia, the Northeast has seen an abrupt increase in extreme precipitation.”
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-extreme-precipitation-northeast-atlantic-variability.html
“Atlantic hurricane season is about to ramp up dramatically, as NOAA boosts forecast…
“After a record start to Atlantic hurricane season in May and June, tropical storminess shut down in mid-July. But signs point to a dramatic ramp-up in activity in the next two weeks, with a number of named storms likely to develop in August and an increasing potential for U.S. impacts.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/08/04/atlantic-hurricane-outlook-increase-noaa/
“Major floods hit Trinidad. Flash floods have destroyed parts of Trinidad after heavy rainfall and thunderstorms hit the island yesterday.
“The flooding left a trail of devastation across the north west of the Caribbean island. Shortly after 2.30pm local time, the excessive rain caused landslides from the steep hillsides.”
https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/2021/08/04/major-floods-hit-trinidad/
“Last month was the third hottest July on record, behind only 2019 and 2016, with unusually high temperatures seen in regions from Finland to the United States, EU scientists said on Thursday.
“It is the latest milestone in a long-term warming trend that saw the last seven years rank as the world’s hottest on record, as emissions of greenhouse gases change the planet’s climate.”
You can read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an ‘Economic’ thread.
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