“Food shock: Crop-battering disasters highlight climate threat.
“Rolling crises linked to war, weather disasters and the pandemic have shaken global food systems and tipped millions into hunger and poverty.
“Climate change is already playing a role, as floods, droughts and heatwaves batter harvests from Europe to Asia and threaten famine in the Horn of Africa. And experts warn this could be just the beginning.”
“The World’s Biggest Source of Clean Energy Is Evaporating Fast.
“From California to Germany and China, climate change-fueled heatwaves and droughts have shrunk rivers that feed giant hydropower plants… China’s Three Gorges Dam is an awe-inspiring sight, a vast barrier across the Yangtze River… But this summer, the world’s largest power plant was eerily quiet.”
“Drought in East China’s Zhejiang leads to water supply restrictions.
“Leqing city in Wenzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province will launch citywide emergency restrictions on water supply from Tuesday as the city has suffered a drought for months since summer. The local flood and drought control headquarters in Leqing issued a notice on Sunday…”
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202210/1277888.shtml
“China’s Sept coal output jumps 12.3% on year, hits record daily levels.
“China’s September coal production jumped 12.3% from a year earlier to 390 million tonnes, official data showed on Monday, reaching record average daily levels as mines resumed operation after heavy rainfall in the summer months.”
https://www.mining.com/web/chinas-sept-coal-output-jumps-12-3-on-year-hits-record-daily-levels/
“Malaysia is braced for major floods. So why is it holding an election?
““Their strategy is clear: they want to keep voter turnout low because roads will be flooded and accessibility to polling stations will be cut off,” said Charles Santiago, a member of parliament for the opposition Democratic Action Party.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/25/asia/malaysia-election-floods-climate-crisis-intl-hnk/index.html
“Update on Australia Extreme Weather: On 25th October many new records of highest minimum temperatures for October were broken including 29.0C [84.2F] at Warruwi and 27.2C at Townsville.
“Heavy rainfalls are still falling in SE: Sydney is having its wettest October on records.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1584834120080760832
“About 1,500 residents in Narrabri, in the north-west slopes of New South Wales, have been told to evacuate as the flooding crisis continues across swathes of eastern Australia.
“There were 121 current emergency warnings in place across NSW on Tuesday, including 22 directing people to evacuate or move to higher ground, as swollen rivers threatened homes.”
“California becomes the first US state to enforce wildfire insurance discounts.
“California’s insurance regulator has implemented new rules that now require insurers to assess the wildfire risk of their customers’ properties and provide insurance discounts to those with safer properties.”
“New Study Shows Wildfires Drive L.A.’s Mountain Lions to Take Deadly Risks…
““We could see his paws were burnt, and he died of starvation,” said Seth Riley, co-author of the study and wildlife branch chief for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, where the study was conducted. Riley’s team recovered Culvert Cat’s body.”
“Small Missouri town ‘devastated’ by destructive wildfire.
“Roughly half of a small Missouri town burned Saturday after a wildfire spread quickly from a farm field and destroyed or heavily damaged 23 buildings, officials said… Wooldridge is a town of less than 100 people about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Columbia along the Missouri River.”
https://www.columbian.com/news/2022/oct/24/small-missouri-town-devastated-by-destructive-wildfire/
“State of glaciers in the Canadian Rockies is ‘dire right now,’ expert warns.
“John Pomeroy is the Canada research chair in water resources and climate change at the University of Saskatchewan. He says the state of the glaciers in the Canadian Rockies is “dire right now.” “We’ve lost hundreds of them already, just over the last few decades, and we’ll be losing most of the rest over this century – including over most peoples’ lifetimes.””
“October heat breaks weather record in Montreal.
“The stretch of unseasonably warm temperatures is expected to continue across southwestern Quebec this week after Montreal broke a 59-year-old weather record on Wednesday… The humidex [ie “real feel”] on this unusually warm fall day also hit a surprising high of 30 [86F].”
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/october-heat-breaks-weather-record-in-montreal-1.6123764
“Despite summer droughts Thames Water dumps sewage from storm overflows in Oxford.
“The Evenlode Catchment Partnership (ECP) said… “This is a chronic and continuous source of pollution with the recent dumping of untreated sewage particularly damaging as it entered rivers still at very low levels following the recent droughts.””
“A tornado swept through areas of Hampshire leaving a zoo, properties and trees all damaged.
“Signs, lampposts and vehicles in the car park at Marwell Zoo, near Winchester were damaged as the storm blew up on Sunday afternoon. The nearby Marwell Manor Farm was also affected, with field shelters destroyed.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-63376546
“Another incredibly warm night in Europe.
“Temperatures were near the 30C [86F] in some stations of Mallorca Island after midnight and even early morning. In Germany up to 22.6C [72.7F] at Freiburg at midnight. The station of Pirmasens had its Oct. highest min. on records with 16.0C.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1584537330890592256
“Austria heading for record-breaking October as temperatures heat up. Parts of Austria will enjoy highs of up to 25 degrees [77F]…
“Alexander Orlik, from the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG), said: “According to the current state of the forecast, it could even be the warmest October in measurement history, close to October in the years 1795, 1811 and 2001.”
“Spanish wildfire hero dies three months after being engulfed in flames.
“A Spanish man who suffered 80% burns as he dug a trench to stop a wildfire from reaching his hometown has died from his injuries three months later, his friends said on Tuesday… Locals had hailed him as a hero in July…”
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/spanish-wildfire-hero-dies-three-112624283.html
“At [a predicted] 33 degrees [91.4F] in November: the “thermal harness” returns Spain to a summer that seems never to end…
“In the midst of an energy crisis, these abnormally high temperatures seem like a stroke of luck, but even luck has consequences… Groundhog Day: The curious thing about this thermal “arreón” is that it replicates (almost step by step) the atmospheric structure that left us the record of heat waves in summer.”
“25th October was another record day in the Mediterranean with a brutal 36.8C [98.2F] at Melilla, a Spanish city in Northern Africa, which smashes its October record of 35.0C.
“In Sardinia (Italy), monthly record at Capo San Lorenzo with 34.0C (provisional). 33.0C at Muro, Mallorca Island.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1584927469504761857
“And it’s Nador [in Morocco] again! Its record of the hottest October day on records lasted just 3 days, because today the Mediterranean town rose to 37.0C [98.6F]. Nador broke its all-time heat record this summer, too.
“On the Atlantic coast, it’s much worse with brutal extremes of 28.5C/+36.8C at Tiznit and 39.0C again at Agadir. And it’s not over yet.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1584996963023753216
“Desperate flight, then misery and starvation in camps for Nigerians displaced by flooding.
“Mr George says the children were so hungry he did not have the heart to keep any for himself, and there was nothing else to eat that evening in the camp, a secondary school building in Rivers State, one of 32 Nigerian states hit by catastrophic floods.”
“Amid Egypt’s acute water shortage, Cairo is eyeing the Republic of Congo to plant wheat and other strategic crops to cover the country’s food needs.
“Sherif Al-Gabali, head of the parliamentary African Affairs Committee, said on Oct. 17 that Congolese authorities have allocated 20,000 hectares (48,000 feddans) of arable lands for Egypt in the city of Mossendjo…”
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/10/egypt-plant-wheat-congo-amid-water-shortage
“In drought-hit Iraq, six out of 10 households have had their access to drinking water disrupted and a quarter of farmers have seen crop yields drastically fall this year, said a survey published Monday.
“”We are seeing the continued damage from Iraq’s climate and water crisis,” said James Munn, the NRC’s country director, in a statement released alongside the survey findings.”
“‘It’s the fault of climate change’: Pakistan seeks ‘justice’ after floods…
““I want to feel settled for once in my life — to live in a place that doesn’t get washed away again and again,” said Sarfaraz, a labourer who is now living with her husband and children in a tent camp on rocky land near Thatta in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.”
https://www.ft.com/content/e69ece7d-11fb-4a8f-91ea-35b98d4b54db
“Floods and early snow risk killing off Kashmir’s nomadic culture.
“The journey to the pastures of the Kashmir hills gets more perilous every year, with sudden downpours and cold snaps causing Gujjar and Bakarwal herders to lose livestock and, sometimes, loved ones… “I have never seen such harsh conditions before,” said the 52-year-old herder from the Gujjar nomadic community…”
https://www.eco-business.com/news/floods-and-early-snow-risk-killing-off-kashmirs-nomadic-culture/
“A tropical storm that lashed Bangladesh left at least 24 people dead and about 8 million without power across the delta nation, officials and news reports said Tuesday.
“The government said about 10,000 homes were damaged and more than 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) of crops were destroyed. Thousands of fishing projects were also washed away.”
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/13-die-bangladesh-tropical-storm-hits-92045224
“What’s Behind the Record-Breaking Extreme Weather Events of Summer 2022?
“Heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and floods. Summer 2022 will certainly be remembered for the countless extreme weather events that have brought about destruction, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and displaced millions worldwide. But what’s behind all these devastating events?”
https://earth.org/extreme-weather-events-2022/
“Arctic sea ice loss to increase strong El Niño events linked to extreme weather: Study.
“The frequency of strong El Niño events could increase by 35% by the end of the century as Arctic sea ice begins to melt out completely in the summer, according to a recent modeling study. El Niños — buildups of especially warm water in the eastern Pacific off of Peru — often trigger ‘devastating’ droughts, floods and cyclones around the globe.”
“Fatal fungi: World Health Organization releases first ever list of fungal pathogens that are ‘becoming a threat to humanity’…
“Dr Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s assistant director-general, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) said: ‘Emerging from the shadows of the bacterial antimicrobial resistance pandemic, fungal infections are growing, and are ever more resistant to treatments, becoming a public health concern worldwide.'”
You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an “Economic” thread.
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