“Brazil: Mudslides and floods kill 18 people after 26cm of rain [over 10 inches] falls in just three hours in Rio…
“The state fire department said more than 180 soldiers were involved in a rescue mission in the city of Petropolis… Footage posted on social media showed cars and houses being dragged away by landslides and water swirling through the city and neighbouring districts.”
“The drought map: an official report confirms that there are 2 million hectares of crops with severe damage [Argentina]…
“The study noted that “drought conditions worsened severely during the month of January, mainly in the northeast of the country. The combination of unusual lack of rainfall and record temperatures caused an extreme situation in provinces such as Corrientes, Misiones, northern Entre Ríos, and eastern Chaco and Formosa.””
“Flames surround one of the largest wetlands in South America.
“The fires have burned more than half a million hectares of the Argentine province of Corrientes, which is home to the Esteros del Iberá… In just over a month, the flames have devoured more than half a million hectares, mostly productive areas and pastures…”
“Several areas of Paraguay wake up under intense smoke due to forest fires.
“Several areas of Paraguay, including the capital Asunción, woke up on Monday under intense smoke. Specialists believe that the phenomenon is due to the outbreaks of forest fires in the south of the country and in the northeastern provinces of Argentina.”
https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2022/02/14/paraguay-intensa-humareda-incendios-forestales-orix
“The heavy rains and winds that hit the Caribbean and north in Guatemala left 2,600 affected and 990 evacuated by floods, landslides and damage to infrastructure, civil protection reported on Tuesday…
“In one region of Alta Verapaz a bridge collapsed and in those provinces and in irazabal there are floods and landslides.”
“La Niña forecast: NOAA gives update amid dry California winter… La Niña is expected to stick around for at least a little while longer…
“This is the second consecutive winter with a La Niña event, which unfortunately for drought-stricken Southern California usually means below-average precipitation for the region during its traditionally wettest months.”
“Climate-boosted drought in western US worst in 1,200 years…
“”The turn-of-the-21st-century drought would not be on a megadrought trajectory without anthropogenic climate change,” lead author Park Williams, an associate professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues wrote.”
“Hailstorm creates winter wonderland in Pasadena as cold front brings dramatic weather shift to SoCal.
“After a week of roasting under summer-like temperatures, Southern California underwent a dramatic cooling Tuesday, with some light rain and hail even falling in select areas.”
https://abc7.com/los-angeles-weather-rain-pasadena-hail-snow/11568457/
“Minivan fills with snow after sunroof left open on 63-degree day; ‘This could only happen in New England’.
“With record high temperatures in New England to start the weekend, Saturday presented the perfect opportunity to enjoy the warm air and take a drive with the windows down… as long as you remembered to close them back up before several inches of snow fell on Sunday.”
“U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline, study finds.
“Corn-based ethanol, which for years has been mixed in huge quantities into gasoline sold at U.S. pumps, is likely a much bigger contributor to global warming than straight gasoline, according to a study published Monday.”
“Study suggests climate change made B.C. floods [Canada] at least twice as likely…
““We do find substantial ongoing increases in the probability of these kinds of events,” said Nathan Gillett, an atmospheric physicist and manager of the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis.”
“A 300ft wind turbine has been blown over in a south Wales valley as the UK braces for more dangerous stormy weather and high winds later this week.
“Residents of the village of Gilfach Goch, near Bridgend, were woken at 6.50am on Monday when the £20m turbine – double the height of Nelson’s Column – snapped apart and crashed into the valley below.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/15/storms-uk-weather-wind-turbine-blown-over-wales
“January 2022 in Montenegro had temp. anomalies from -0.7C below 81-10 norm in Berane to +1.4C above in Budva. (+0.8C in Podgorica).
“Precipitations were from 15% of normal in Bijelo Polje to 75% in Rožaje. The month saw both new record high and low temperatures for January: -33.4C [-28.1F] and +22.3C [72.1F].”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1493607913620967427
“Drought crisis puts Horn of Africa ‘on the brink of catastrophe’.
“In a region where livestock and agriculture are the mainstays of people’s lives, droughts in the Horn of Africa have wrought havoc as more than 1.5 million heads of cattle died and cereal production nosedived drastically.”
“Heavy floods destroy roads and crops in Salima, Malawi on February 15th 2022…
“Four days of rain and poor drainage led to floods that isolated rural communities, with roads collapsing into sinkholes. Houses and shops were flooded, destroying possessions and produce.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxcZkUcpz0U
“Madagascar, Southern Africa Brace for More Tropical Storms.
“Even as southern African nations assess the devastation caused earlier this month by Cyclone Batsirai, a new tropical storm is approaching… Tropical Storm Dumako is projected to slam into the northeastern coast of Madagascar Tuesday evening.”
“Floods hit the city of Muscat in Oman on February 14th 2022.
“Heavy rain during the night caused flash floods throughout Oman’s capital city. The streets filled with water, stranding some residents as their vehicles were surrounded by the floods. Sewers overflowed…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fg5nNlV3-4
“Christchurch [New Zealand] has seen just 15 per cent of its usual sunshine hours for February, the all-time dimmest first two weeks of the month in the city…
“And at the same time the sun hid away, the rain came out. Christchurch has smashed its rain record for a fortnight in February of 122.4mm; More than 139mm has fallen so far this month.”
“Weeks of persistent rain have left arable crops sodden and led to [New Zealand] farmers describing this season as the harvest from hell.
“Three weeks of intermittent rain followed by Cyclone Dovi hitting at the weekend have caused widespread damage to arable crops around the country.”
“Dead or alive: Seagrasses continue to release methane after their die-off…
“”We believe that the reason behind this continuing methane production is that methylated compounds persist in the plant tissue for a very long time,” Milucka says. They could even be detected in plant tissue that had died more than two decades ago.”
https://phys.org/news/2022-02-dead-alive-seagrasses-methane-die-off.html
“Flourishing plants show warming Antarctica undergoing ‘major change’.
“Antarctica’s two native flowering plants are spreading rapidly as temperatures warm, according to the first study to show changes in fragile polar ecosystems have accelerated in the past decade.”
“How Climate Change Is Destroying Arctic Coasts.
““According to the study, not only is more and more land mass being lost in absolute terms; with each degree of temperature increase, the annual rate of erosion increases – in meters, but also in millions of tons of carbon released.””
https://www.eurasiareview.com/15022022-how-climate-change-is-destroying-arctic-coasts/
“The reality is that the Arctic is in a death spiral at only a 1.2 C temperature rise.
“Radioactive lemmings! I kid you not. (see below). We are on track to lose the Arctic as we know it whether in five years or thirty-five years. When the media does bother to inform the public it is with kick the can down the road language such as Net-Zero, 1.5, and 2.0.”
“Drugs have dangerously polluted the world’s rivers, scientists warn.
“Pharmaceuticals and other biologically active compounds used by humans are known to harm wildlife and antibiotics in the environment drive up the risk of resistance to the drugs, one of the greatest threats to humanity.”
“Pollution causing more deaths than COVID, action needed, says U.N. expert…
“The report said pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste is causing widespread human rights violations as well as at least 9 million premature deaths a year, and that the issue is largely being overlooked.”
You can read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an ‘Economic’ thread.
If you found value in this content, please help me continue this work by becoming a patron of my work via Patreon. And if you are already a subscriber or have donated – thank you! It is a huge help, especially as the cost of living crisis is biting here in the UK.
