“Global Surface Air Temperatures are shocking!
“June-August was extremely hot this year. It broke last year’s record by about 0.3 °C! But this wasn’t the El Niño effect many say it is (yet).”
https://twitter.com/LeonSimons8/status/1697253983415595413
“Even with Hurricane season in full swing, the upwelling of cool waters by these storms has not done much to cool the world’s oceans.
“The global sea surface temperature anomaly continues on its way at “Code Yikes!” after briefly hitting “Code UFB!!!” just 10 days ago.”
https://twitter.com/EliotJacobson/status/1697633208337313975
“How raging wildfires could break the global carbon budget.
“As human-made climate change brings more heat and drought, wildfires are burning longer, hotter and more often in forests from Canada to Greece and Australia… Recovering forests do sequester carbon again, but full regeneration of these carbon stores is less likely after “high-severity” fires…”
https://www.dw.com/en/how-raging-wildfires-could-break-the-global-carbon-budget/a-66644022
“Experts discover new reason that uncontrollable ‘zombie fires’ could rise from the dead: ‘A near-exponential relationship’…
“Zombie fires — blazes that burn underground and come back from the dead after smoldering through cold seasons — are spreading more extensively in hotter, drier, more lightning-prone Arctic environments affected by the planet’s warming, a recent study finds.”
https://news.yahoo.com/experts-discover-reason-uncontrollable-zombie-110000471.html
“B.C. extends state of emergency as wildfire risk stretches into colder season.
“British Columbia and the Northwest Territories both extended their states of emergency this week as tens of thousands of residents remain displaced or ready to flee a sudden blaze even as the cooler temperatures of September arrive.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-bc-nwt-wildfire-state-of-emergency/
“Canada wildfires inflict brutal toll on tourism, other areas of economy.
“”The worst Canadian wildfires on record appear to be behind much of the recent weakness in GDP and, with more areas now under evacuation orders, the data are likely to remain weak in the coming months,” he said.,, Statistics Canada on Friday reported a 0.2 percent contraction in the second quarter and a weak start to the third.”
“After Maui’s wildfires, thousands brace for long process of restoring safe water service.
“Some populated areas of Maui are looking at months or even years before their water systems are fully and safely restored following the wildfires that devastated the island last month.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ap-maui-lahaina-people-california-b2403379.html
“A large wildfire ignited Friday north of Houston, Texas, causing homes to be evacuated and road closures in Walker County.
“The Texas A&M Forest Service reported the Game Preserve Fire started during the afternoon and, by nightfall, had burned over 1,000 acres.”
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/fire-tx-weather-water-restrictions
“Hottest August on record caps scorching summer for the southern U.S…
“Nearly every place where weather records are kept along the Gulf Coast just experienced its hottest August. From Brownsville to Houston and New Orleans and onward to Pensacola, Tampa, Fort Myers and over to Florida’s east coast, it was sweltering.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/09/01/record-heat-gulf-coast-south-northwest/
“21 weeks of heat stress in the FL Keys this summer. That is more than double the old record of 10 weeks (see graph).
“On the top graph you can see how this years sea surface temps (black line) compare to the other years since 1985. This has decimated coral.”
https://twitter.com/WeatherProf/status/1697438811792244885
“A Tesla combusted Wednesday in Hurricane Idalia floodwaters near Tampa, prompting officials to remind residents of the dangers of electric vehicles coming in contact with saltwater.
“Dunedin Fire Rescue, located in Pinellas County west of Tampa, confirmed crews responded to a fire Wednesday afternoon, hours after Hurricane Idalia blew by in the Gulf of Mexico.”
“Summer of 2023 goes down as second rainiest on record in Boston, forecasters say.
“The only summer it rained more than this one, a pair of hurricanes inundated southern New England in rapid succession and Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” topped the pop charts.
“More than 20 inches of rain fell in Boston over the past three months…”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/08/31/metro/second-rainiest-summer-mass/
“The North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly is still off the chart.”
“Very little of the 40,000,000 km² is below average. Except little bits where hurricanes stirred up cold water.”
https://twitter.com/LeonSimons8/status/1697645513150017752
“Summer 2023 in Svalbard: Record high active-layer thickness (the layer above permafrost that freezes and thaws annually).
“This summer is the hottest summer on record at Svalbard Airport.”
https://twitter.com/Ketil_Isaksen/status/1697588959797186885
“Finnish Lapland sees record-high temperatures in August…
“This past August saw warmer-than-usual temperatures across Finland with Lapland seeing record-high readings… Three weather stations located across Finnish Lapland, in Kilpisjärvi, Utsjoki and Savukoski, all captured record-warm temperatures for the month of August.”
“‘A first in Paris’: city fumigates for tiger mosquitoes as tropical pests spread, bringing disease.
“Health authorities in Paris have fumigated areas of the French capital for the first time to kill disease-carrying tiger mosquitoes whose rapid advance through northern Europe is thought to have been accelerated by climate change.”
“Spanish Food Industry Group Makes Plea for Water as Drought Threatens Crops…
““It’s essential that the food and beverage industry receives special treatment in these serious circumstances and has preferential access to water in order to guarantee a stable and safe supply of food and beverages,” Fiab General Director Mauricio García de Quevedo said in a statement.”
“Wildfires force Sicilian winemakers to grapple with climate change…
““People in the city complain about the temperature, the heat, the smoke, but it is nothing compared to people who dedicate all their life to growing almonds, olives, grapes,” said Dario Vento, a guide who gives bicycle tours of Sicily’s landscapes.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/08/31/wildfires-sicily-wine-climate-change/
“Three people lost their lives and seven were injured in northern Yemen due to lightning strikes and floods in the past 24 hours, according to local health authorities on Thursday.
“Two women were killed by lightning strikes in separate incidents in the Shaharah and al-Ashah districts of Amran province. Another woman was swept away by floods in the al-Jamimah district of Hajjah province…”
https://english.news.cn/20230831/2110dd8315214458a3f841aaff991b90/c.html
“Modern slavery: Pakistan’s latest climate change curse.
“As Pakistan finds itself in another unpredictable monsoon season, vulnerable farming communities face a resurgence of indentured servitude and other forms of modern slavery.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/9/1/modern-slavery-pakistans-growing-climate-change-curse
“Amid record heat, even indoor factory workers enter dangerous terrain… Climate change is making it unbearable to labor in Asia’s factories…
“Extreme heat caused by human-induced climate change has wreaked havoc on the bodies of outdoor workers, from delivery drivers in India to construction workers in Qatar. Now, heat scientists and labor researchers say even those who labor indoors are not safe.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/31/extreme-heat-indoor-work-asia/
“August was not just the driest month since 1901 but it was also the hottest ever recorded in India, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday…
“Four out of five hottest August mean temperatures were recorded in the last seven years, an indication of growing extreme weather events due to climate change.”
“In Longhai, Zhangzhou [Fujian, China], 400 mm [15.7 inches] of rain fell in 24 hours, and villages and towns were severely submerged.”
https://twitter.com/yangyubin1998/status/1697572576384725403
“For the first time in recorded history, daily highs in Tokyo, Japan never dropped below 30°C (86°F) for a whole month [Aug. 2023]. Records date back to 1875.”
https://twitter.com/WxNB_/status/1697686790541377854
“Another record day in Japan. 34 stations today had their hottest September day on records: Hokkaido still records 35C [95F], after an exceptional August +3C/+5C above average.
“More fierce hot days and nights are ahead for Japan next week. Records will be hundreds.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1697573403593465922
“Record heat also in Siberia and Far East Russia. Today 29.2C [84.6F] at Ust Yudoma at 59N of latitude destroys the previous September record of 28.0C.
“That area has beaten records of high temperatures every month since the start of the spring.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1697591353658507331
“Dozens of towns and villages have been submerged under water in Russia’s Far East amid ongoing flash floods since early August, the environmental news outlet Kedr reported Friday.
“Russia’s Primorye region — which for weeks has been under a region-wide state of emergency since — witnessed fresh flooding from heavy rainfall in 19 settlements.”
“Authorities struggle to fight fires on Mt. Sindoro-Sumbing [Java, Indonesia], hiking trails remain closed [the fire is real but the link is erroneous; see comments section].
“The authorities are scrambling to tackle land and forest fires that have ravaged Mount Sindoro and Mount Sumbing in Central Java, but challenging terrain and strong winds are hampering the efforts to extinguish the fires.”
“Record-breaking winter heat in the Southern Hemisphere.
“Perth airport in Western Australia just recorded its hottest winter day on record at 30.2°C (records go back 79 years here). Cape Town Observatory, South Africa records its hottest August day on record with 32.9°C. Records here go back 63 years here.”
https://twitter.com/ScottDuncanWX/status/1697341307952267331
“Bureau of Meteorology confirms Australia’s warmest winter on record…
“Bureau of Meteorology data shows the mean temperature across the country this winter was 1.53 degrees Celsius above the long-term average, and the highest since national records began in 1910. The previous record was +1.46 Celsius set in 1996.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-01/bom-confirms-australia-s-warmest-winter-on-record/102804760
“Australia Set to Reduce Wheat Forecast on Drier, Hotter Conditions…
““If it gets drier and production falls below average, a higher proportion of our grain will need to remain on the domestic market to meet our own demand,” said Dennis Voznesenski, an analyst with Rabobank in Sydney.”
“It’s been *over six years* since Aotearoa/New Zealand had a month during which the nationwide average temperature was below average!
“The last 73 months (June 2017-July 2023) had average or above average temperatures. The streak may end this month… [it did and NZ also had the strongest cold anomaly of any nation in August, thanks to El Nino].”
https://twitter.com/NiwaWeather/status/1695690775043207523
“The Australian (BOM) model is back at forecasting a 3°C El Niño. Let’s keep hoping this is totally off, while preparing for a very strong El Niño, because hope is not a strategy.”
https://twitter.com/LeonSimons8/status/1697236711812567542
“Pacific Ocean global sea surface temperatures reach record levels in 2023…
“In March and April 2023, some Earth scientists began to point out that average sea surface temperatures had surpassed the highest levels seen in a key data record maintained by NOAA. Months later, they remain at record levels…”
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-pacific-ocean-global-sea-surface.html
“After a historic August in South America with hundreds of heat records all 31 days of the month, September starts extremely hot in several areas again.
“Paraguay rose to 40.3C [104.5F] with a torrid night ahead (Tmins can be near 30C in the Chaco). 39.5C at Girardot, Colombia.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1697733761524281670
“The far-reaching ramifications of a drought-hit Panama Canal…
“…the problem could become a full-blown crisis by next spring, the time of year when conditions are at their driest. It has raised fears within the maritime industry that climate change will make such hold-ups a more common and costly occurrence.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/09/02/panama-canal-drought-chaos-shipping-affect-supplies/
“”Is anyone alive?”: Man kayaks after flooding in Guadalajara streets [Mexico].
“In the videos that were released on social networks, the streets are totally flooded, even the level reaches the meter and a half completely covering the cars parked in the streets.”
“Researchers find Antarctic ice shelves thinner than previously thought.
“As global ice dams begin to weaken due to warming temperatures, a new study suggests that prior attempts to evaluate the mass of the huge floating ice shelves that line the Antarctic ice sheet may have overestimated their thickness.”
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-antarctic-ice-shelves-thinner-previously.html
“Antarctic research stations have polluted a pristine wilderness.
“Antarctica is often described as one of the most pristine places in the world, but it has a dirty secret. Parts of the sea floor near Australia’s Casey research station are as polluted as the harbour in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to a study published in PLOS One in August.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02740-0
“Icebreaker sails to Antarctica to rescue sick Australian expedition member.
“An urgent evacuation operation has been launched to assist an Australian with a “developing medical condition” at the remote Casey research station in Antarctica. Australia’s icebreaking vessel RSV Nuyina left Hobart last week and is sailing thousands of kilometres to collect the expedition member…”
“Bats and brain worms: how humanity’s environmental impact is giving rise to new infections.
“As humans encroach further on the natural world, researchers warn that 75% of novel diseases are transmitted from wildlife… As the world’s first case of a parasitic roundworm infecting a human’s brain made headlines this week, infectious diseases experts warned the threat of novel infections is rising.”
You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an “Economic” thread.
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It looks like the Java Forest Fire article dates from 2018?
Scott, thank you for pointing that out. That was poor cross-referencing by me.
I generally prefer published articles over Twitter/X posts, although I know I use plenty of the latter. I spotted various Twitter posts about the fire in Sumbing, Java and then searched for a corresponding article. I must have accidentally used one from 2018, reporting a fire in the same location.
Looking again, the only articles I can find about the current fire are in Indonesian but Google-translate should oblige:
https://www.kompas.id/baca/english/2023/09/01/en-225-hektar-lahan-di-lereng-sumbing-wonosobo-terbakar
The fire in itself is not especially noteworthy but I wanted to include it because El Nino likely means some desiccation of Indonesia and I expect this to be one of many we see over the next year or two.
You can see some footage here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsj66Q7_bl4
The extreme summer weather that scorched and soaked the world
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-8f0357f9-9013-4567-8407-be938c8c70cf
Thanks, George. That’s a nice photo-essay and overview.
Hello Pan
A huge water crisis is underway in the French department of Mayotte ( 400.000 inhabitants).
A tragic example of climate change and overdue maintenance, with seawater desalination just one of the disappointing factors. I have a feeling this is going to become a major problem on more islands in various subtropical regions in the not too distant future.
…….. In Mayotte, an “unprecedented” water crisis due to lack of rain and infrastructure
From Monday, the water supply in France’s 101st department will be cut off for 48 hours every 24 hours, i.e. two days out of three. “Water will be cut off at 4pm and restored 48 hours later at the same time,” the prefecture wrote in a press release describing “the turnaround schedule for water”. This applies to the whole island, with the exception of certain high-activity sectors, where the closure will be slightly less drastic.
The aim is clear: to hold at least until the next rainy season. As Floriane Ben Hassen explained to Franceinfo in June, the last rainy season, from November 2022 to April 2023, fell 24% short of rainfall. This season accounts for 75% of the year’s rainfall and it is almost impossible to make up for such a shortfall during the dry season,” explained the head of Mayotte’s meteorological centre.
Construction projects behind schedule
In addition, works announced as part of the “emergency water” plan (in PDF), following the momentous drought of 2016, have been delayed. The modernisation of the Petite-Terre desalination plant, which is far from producing what was planned when it was expanded in 2018, should have been ready for commissioning in summer 2022. However, according to the prefecture’s projections, it will not be until the end of 2023…..
Meanwhile, bottled water distribution has started. The problem is that it is extremely expensive on islands like these, over 5 times more expensive than in France.
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/france/mayotte/est-ce-qu-on-verrait-ca-ailleurs-en-france-a-mayotte-les-habitants-se-preparent-a-manquer-d-eau-potable-deux-jours-sur-trois_6031751.html
Zip, thank you for the info.
You may recall that Mayotte had a remarkable run of 100 consecutive warmer than average months up until June last year. On the other side of Madagascar, the Mauritian island of Agaléga has been breaking monthly heat records like nowhere else on the planet, so that part of the world is clearly a warming hotspot.