“Catastrophe-Bond Market Hits a Record $12.8 Billion as Extreme Weather Worsens…
“The growth in the cat-bond market, which helps provide capital for risks from natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires, comes as insurers hunt for ways to deal with increasing costs brought on by worsening extreme weather events and investors seek yield in a low-interest-rate environment.”
“Climate change is causing ‘super-extreme’ weather events, scientists say…
““Are all these extreme events connected? Definitely yes,” Jennifer Francis, senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts, told Yahoo News. “We are seeing an uptick of extreme weather events to the tune of about a tripling since the 1980s.””
“Svalbard’s Arctic heritage is threatened by climate change…
“On Svalbard, cultural heritage monuments and environments tell a unique history about hunting, trapping, coal mining and scientific activities all over the archipelago. The conservation of these objects and sites faces a double challenge from the warming climate and increasing human activity.”
https://phys.org/news/2022-02-svalbard-arctic-heritage-threatened-climate.html
“Alaska permafrost thaw is clue in mystery of Arctic methane explosions…
“Longtime permafrost researcher Dr. Vladimir Romanovsky with UAF’s Geophysical Institute, a professor emeritus as of this week, is featured in the Nova episode that aired Wednesday night. And Romanovsky says there are several reasons to keep an eye on the exploding methane phenomenon…” [podcast]
“Marine heat waves driven by climate change have fueled a dramatic increase in market squid along the Washington and Oregon coast over the past two decades, new research shows.
“Market squid from central California to northern Washington saw a fivefold increase over the past 22 years, according to a report published by the American Fisheries Society last month.”
“‘We have to adapt’: US Pacific north-west weighs plans to cope with extreme weather…
“…with more intense extreme weather expected in the years ahead, driven by the climate crisis, a bipartisan assortment of Washington state lawmakers has simultaneously introduced a handful of bills this legislative session that, rather than focusing on mitigation and emission reduction, focus on climate adaptation.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/03/pacific-north-west-extreme-weather-plans
“17 feet of snow sparked hope for quelling California’s drought. Then precipitation ‘flatlined’ in January…
“Climatologists were cautiously elated as they watched snow pile as high as some roofs. But they still were going to need much more to make headway on the drought, said Andrew Schwartz, the lead scientist and station manager at the University of California, Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Laboratory.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/03/us/california-drought-snow-dry-january-climate/index.html
“Dry January: Reno goes a month with no rain for the first time in nearly 130 years [of record-keeping]…
“Reno, Nevada, hasn’t recorded a single drop of rain during the entire month of January, a record that goes back nearly nearly 130 years. The city, tucked on the Nevada-California border, has borne the brunt of weather extremes in recent months.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/02/reno-nevada-rain-january-drought
“A dramatic new video reveals burning of hundreds of piles of debris in the Black Hills of South Dakota caused by recent tornadoes in the region.
“Footage from the Black Hills National Forest shows the process of cleaning up dead vegetation resulting from the extreme weather events in the Spearfish area of the Black Hills…”
“Alabama severe weather: Woman killed, several injured by tornado as storms wreak havoc.
“A woman was killed and several people were injured, including three critically, after a tornado tore through Hale County and left a trail of damage across west-central and southwest Alabama on Thursday.”
“A historic home in Cape Cod is teetering on the brink after this weekend’s bomb cyclone…
““The erosion on the backside, especially on Truro and Ballston, is significant,” the homeowners’ attorney told the Globe. “It’s not a couple of feet. It’s 20, 30, 60 feet in one storm, laterally. It’s huge.””
“Haiti struggles to provide water, food after heavy floods.
“Hundreds of people have crowded into a shelter in Haiti as authorities say they’re struggling to provide food and water to those affected and are unable to reach several communities affected by heavy flooding in recent days.”
“Nuevo León [Mexico] declares an emergency due to “Extreme Drought”: the state does not have water to face the first half of 2022…
“The document details that the state has faced for several years the lack of water due to the absence of rains, which has caused a shortage in the natural sources of water supply and has not provided the volume required to withstand the spring and summer of 2022.”
“Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon hits January record.
“Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon set a new record for January just three weeks into the year, according to data released Wednesday, a worrying sign of the surging destruction of the world’s biggest rainforest.”
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220202-deforestation-in-brazilian-amazon-hits-january-record
“Paraguay’s drought hits biodiversity, Indigenous communities the hardest.
“The ongoing drought in Paraguay, now moving into its third year… Record-breaking heat waves in the South American nation have lasted longer than expected, resulting in water shortages and forest fires that threaten local biodiversity and many of the Indigenous communities who steward it.”
“In more than 20 days of heat wave, 75 temperature records were broken [Argentina]…
“According to the data released by the National Weather Service, it suffered an important extreme heat event that was characterized by its large territorial extension, its persistence and maximum temperatures.”
“A forest fire in Chile burns almost 1,200 hectares of province…
“According to the National Forest Corporation (Conaf), a fire in Chile’s Tierra del Fuego province burned 1,235 hectares of forest in the commune of Timaukel… The fire in the Magallanes region has been difficult to contain due to the rough terrain… and meteorological conditions…”
“Europe weighs death and destruction from extreme weather.
“Extreme weather events across Europe caused up to 145,000 fatalities and heavy economic losses over the past 40 years, a report says. Freak occurrences are expected to become more frequent.”
https://www.dw.com/en/europe-weighs-death-and-destruction-from-extreme-weather/a-60645644
“Southern Europe battles increases in major wildfires.
“A series of devastating wildfires coincided with record-breaking heatwaves, first in June and then in late July to mid-August. They affected countries across the Mediterranean, including Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Albania, North Macedonia, and Spain, Algeria and Tunisia in north Africa, and Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon and Israel.”
https://www.eumetsat.int/southern-europe-battles-increases-major-wildfires
“A hail storm followed by extensive flooding hit Santorini on Thursday as severe weather is once again sweeping through Greece.
“Videos and photos uploaded on social media show a thick layer of hail on the streets of the island. In villages such as Messaria, the narrow alleys have been turned into rivers…”
https://greekreporter.com/2022/02/03/hail-storm-hits-santorini/
“Twenty-six people died on Wednesday after lightning struck a high-tension power cable on the outskirts of the Congolese capital Kinshasa, causing it to snap and fall on houses and a market, the authorities said.
“The victims included 24 women and two men, and another two people were seriously injured…”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/26-dead-high-voltage-power-cable-snaps-congo-market-rcna14623
“Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Batsirai headed for vulnerable Madagascar.
“The island nation of Madagascar, already reeling from flooding rains from Tropical Storm Ana on January 22 and a devastating drought in southern parts of the nation, is bracing for the expected arrival of Tropical Cyclone Batsirai on Saturday.”
“Frequent marine heatwaves in Indian Ocean disrupt India‘s monsoon patterns.
“Marine heat waves… in the Indian Ocean region have increased significantly in the past few decades, according to a new report. The phenomenon is impacting the Indian monsoon, the study published in the journal JGR Oceans showed.”
“Mount Everest’s highest glacier is losing decades’ worth of ice every year, scientists warn…
“The team’s findings suggested that ice that had taken decades to accumulate was melting away each year, jeopardizing both climbers and those who depend on the glacier for drinking water and irrigation.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mount-everest-melting-glacier-climate-change/
“Perth weather: Metro area sweats through hottest January on record…
“January was officially Perth’s hottest on record, and get this – it didn’t rain ONCE. And six consecutive days above 40C ending on January 18 earned Perth the title of ‘hottest capital city in Australia’. On Friday Perth reached a maximum of 41.1C – bringing the total number of days at 40C or above during summer to 12 – another record.”
“Water treatment chemical shortage looms in eastern states after floods cut Western Australia rail link…
“The New South Wales water directorate on Wednesday said a major supplier of aluminium sulphate – or alum – had warned eastern customers that disruptions of the east-west railway due to flooding had halted deliveries of a key ingredient, aluminium trihydrate.”
“Record rainfall kicks off 2022 across NSW as several towns break monthly highs…
“The Hume Reservoir near Albury recorded its wettest January in 101 years of records with 317 millimetres [12.5 inches] for the month. Culcairn and Grong Grong near Narrandera also received their highest tallies in more than a century of records.”
“Antarctic sea ice level could reach record low in 2022, UCLA climate scientist says.
“Sometime in the next few weeks, during late summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the area covered by sea ice around Antarctica will reach its annual minimum. According to UCLA climate scientist Marilyn Raphael, the measurement could set a new record low, just five years after the last record was established.”
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/antarctic-sea-ice-possible-record-low-2022
You can read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here. I’ll be back over the weekend with an ‘Economic’ thread.
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