“‘We Are Afraid’: Scientists Issue New Warning As World Enters ‘Uncharted Climate Territory’ [picture is of Acapulco this morning after Hurricane Otis]…
“Record climate anomalies seen around the world in 2023 have astonished the scientific community, raising concerns that further extreme weather, as well as climate tipping points, could arrive sooner than expected.
“The authors say that the temperature records, which smashed all previous observations, along with record low levels of sea ice, are signs that human activity is “pushing our planetary systems into dangerous instability.””
“Substantial losses of Arctic sea ice concentration are found in October. The largest declining trends extend from parts of the East Siberian Sea to the Chukchi Sea.
“[Sea ice concentration = fraction of ice-cover. More info on recent Arctic climate: https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0079.1]”
https://twitter.com/ZLabe/status/1716878354119602219
“Declining Bering Sea ice linked to increasing wildfire hazard in northeast China.
“…the northeast of China (120°E–135°E and 40°N–50°N) has experienced an upsurge in polluting emissions from natural and anthropogenic-induced wildfires and the resulting biomass burning over the last decade, accounting for approximately 60% of total burned area in the country. This region possesses some of the greatest and most diverse tree coverage in China…”
https://phys.org/news/2023-10-declining-bering-sea-ice-linked.html
“Historic heat in China – today Beijing rose to 27.5C [81.5F], it’s the latest 25/26/27C on record.
“>30C in Northern China, 26.0C at Hemheung in North Korea, 20.4C at Ternej in Siberia. This warmth for late October is extraordinary and will go on one more week.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1717152508173328715
“Himalayan communities are under siege from landslides – and climate change is worsening the crisis…
“As climate change is making… cloudbursts and other forms of heavy rainfall more intense and more frequent in the Himalayan foothills, the hilly slopes are becoming saturated more frequently, and thus unstable. Rainfall-triggered landslides are already happening extensively across the Himalayas…”
“Central Asian Leaders At Odds Over Controversial Canal Project…
“The Qosh Tepa canal project in Afghanistan aims to provide irrigation to 550,000 hectares of farmland but has raised alarm in neighboring Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan due to potential water shortages.”
“Iranian Wetlands Endangered Long Before the Wildfires—from Neglect and Greed.
“For over a decade, residents of the Iranian plateau, an arid and semi-arid region, have faced alarming developments concerning their most precious natural resource: water. The dry region has been grappling with a myriad of water-related issues, including shortages, groundwater depletion, land subsidence, and the desiccation of vital lakes and marshes…”
“When conflict meets climate change, in Gaza and beyond.
“People living on the front lines of conflict often find themselves on the front lines of the climate crisis as well. Many of the countries most vulnerable to climate change – including Sudan, Afghanistan and Yemen – are also experiencing instability that leaves them ill-equipped to adapt to its challenges.”
“Cyclone Tej dumps 261mm [10.3 inches] of rain on Rakhyut, Oman [five killed; thousands displaced in Yemen, pictured]…
“Medical support teams in Dhofar continue to provide services. The Ministry of Health activated a centre for emergency management in the governorate in line with the measures undertaken to alleviate the effects of the tropical condition.”
https://www.muscatdaily.com/2023/10/24/tej-dumps-261mm-of-rain-on-rakhyut-in-dhofar/
“Thursday’s weather: Fire danger in some parts of the country as a heatwave persists inland [South Africa].
“The South African Weather Service has issued a warning for extremely high fire danger conditions in four provinces as a heatwave persists over parts of Gauteng and the North West.”
“Extreme heat wave in Southern Africa – many records were beaten
BOTSWANA: 42.8 [109F] Letlhakane all time high + NATIONAL Monthly record tied; NAMIBIA: 41.3 Omaruru 1217m asl; 36.8 Eros 1699m; REUNION: Monthly records: 30.5 St-Denis AP Tmin 23.9; 31.3 Saint Benoit; Tmin 25.9 Le Port.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1717250809149157775
“Diarrhoea is hitting Zimbabwe’s young children hard – and that’s before the rains come.
“Cholera is now considered endemic in Harare… Clean water shortages in townships across Zimbabwe and old, rusty water pipes could increase the severity of waterborne diseases as the rainy season, often characterised by flooding, approaches.”
“Nigeria Struggles to Contain Worst Diphtheria Outbreak.
“Nigeria is battling to contain the outbreak, which has killed around 800 people and infected 14,000. It has spread to almost half of the country’s 36 states, with Kano accounting for the bulk of cases and deaths.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/nigeria-struggles-to-contain-worst-diphtheria-outbreak/7322432.html
“North Africa and Mediterranean Warm Spell:
“Record October temperature in NIGER: 42.5C [108.5F] Birni Nkonni beat the 42.4C record set in October 1942; Further North, sirocco with 39C in Tunisia,>35C in Turkey (Mins up to 25.5C) and Cyprus,33C in Sicily.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1716801652257095838
“Bologna, water bomb on Porretta Terme: images of the flood [Italy].
“Bad weather continues to hit the Centre-North. A violent water bomb hit the Emilian Apennines causing serious damage. The storms particularly affected the hamlet of Porretta Terme, on the border between the provinces of Bologna and Pistoia, causing the overflow of the Rio Maggiore…”
“UK farmers warn of rotting crops after Storm Babet flooding.
“Potato and cereal crops are likely to have been heavily damaged by the recent devastating floods across the UK, farmers have warned. Entire fields have been submerged in water after Storm Babet swept across the country, with crops ruined.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/25/farmers-crops-uk-floods
“How climate change is affecting the seasons… Autumn has finally arrived in the UK following an unusually sunny September. The days are growing shorter, the temperature cooler, and the leaves are changing colour.
“The delayed onset of autumn in 2023 is not a one off. It’s actually part of a broader trend in which the shift from summer to winter is happening later in the year…”
https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-is-affecting-the-seasons-213590
“‘It’s Like Our Country Exploded’: Canada’s Year of Fire…
“It was, all told, an ecologically unprecedented event. By the end of September, more than half of the world’s countries could fit inside the land burned this year in the Canadian wilderness. Since the 1970s, the average area burned in the country had already doubled; this year, wildfires consumed that average six times over.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/magazine/canada-wildfires.html
“The Rio Grande isn’t just a border – it’s a river in crisis…
“In the U.S., people often think of the Rio Grande mainly as a political border that features in negotiations over immigration, narcotics smuggling and trade. But there’s another crisis on the river that receives far less attention. The river is in decline, suffering from overuse, drought and contentious water rights negotiations.”
https://theconversation.com/the-rio-grande-isnt-just-a-border-its-a-river-in-crisis-213302
“Extreme drought is again isolating people in Amazonia…
“Remote rural communities are particularly affected because they rely mainly on inland water transportation to access urban centres and services such as health care. They are experiencing food and water scarcities and respiratory illnesses as a result of forest fires.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03311-z
“Tens of thousands of Bolivian pupils had their classes suspended as schools closed their doors due to air pollution caused by massive forest fires, the education minister said Wednesday…
“The Santa Cruz region, Bolivia’s economic engine and most populous region, has been most affected.”
https://www.macaubusiness.com/bolivia-forest-fires-shutter-thousands-of-schools/
“Hurricane Otis slammed into Mexico Wednesday morning as the strongest storm to land on the country’s west coast, leaving destruction and power outages in its wake.
“Otis went from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in only 12 hours — the fastest rate ever recorded in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.”
“Just to emphasize how poorly hurricane & global models performed for Hurricane Otis…
“Here’s the intensity forecasts initialized 24 hours ago, with the dotted black line showing verification:”
https://twitter.com/burgwx/status/1716972676471021754
“Vanuatu’s Cyclone Lola smashes the north with ‘extensive and destructive’ damage, as residents of Port Vila prepare…
“The cyclone, Vanuatu’s third major storm in seven months, is expected to weaken as it moves towards the capital Port Vila tonight. But destructive winds, flooding and damage are still expected…”
“Three dead and 275,000 people flee to shelters in Bangladesh as Cyclone Hamoon makes landfall.
“Hamoon is the most recent in a series of major storms to pummel the coastal regions of Bangladesh… Local media reported that Hamoon has taken a heavy toll on Cox’s Bazar, catching residents off guard due to the cyclonic storm’s abrupt arrival.”
“Sixteen homes lost in Tara as Queensland bushfire emergency continues…
“A dry lightning storm caused firefighters in the region to scramble overnight as the weather phenomenon ignited five small blazes, but they were able to keep them contained. The fire has burned through more than 11,000 hectares of land in the Tara region and 350 people have been evacuated.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-26/qld-bushfires-homes-destroyed-tara-deaths-fire/103023352
“Australia split with intense heat in the West and cold in the Southeast. Today very remarkable late frost in South Australia:
“-1.9C [28.6F] Wudinna AP; -0.9C Lameroo; Both are record lows for October (but short POR), very significant at the end of the month.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1717347336488161730
“Australia Is Struggling to Meet Its Agriculture Goals Amid Climate Chaos…
“The country just recorded its driest-ever September, which is jeopardizing the wheat harvest and forcing farmers to sell cattle. This summer’s bushfire season promises to be worse than usual due to the El Nino weather pattern, while new pests, like the bee-killing varroa mite, are another hurdle.”
“‘Catastrophic’: bird flu reaches Antarctic for the first time.
“Avian flu has reached the Antarctic, raising concerns for isolated populations of penguins and seals that have never been exposed to the deadly H5N1 virus before. The full impact of the virus’s arrival is not yet known, but scientists are raising concerns about possible “catastrophic breeding failure” of the region’s fragile wildlife populations.”
“Scientists: Climate change and biodiversity loss are one indivisible global health crisis.
“In an unprecedented move that marks a significant shift in the global health discourse, over 200 health journals worldwide have collectively published a seminal editorial. This concerted effort urgently calls upon global leaders and health professionals to acknowledge and confront the intertwined nature of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.”
You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an “Economic” thread.
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Going from a catagory 1 to 5 storm in just 12 hours seems like quite a feat to me. I wonder if this has ever happened in the Atlantic before. Usually one kind find the answer to any question by doing a google search. But my one attempt did not give me the answer and I can not figure out a way to rephrase the question in a way that would give me the answer. I am a technological invalid though.
But I would be willing to bet a real silver half dollar (if I had one) that it has never been recorded by scientific equipment in the Atlantic before.
Curt, Otis is in rare territory. As far as I can tell, only Wilma on the Atlantic side underwent more rapid intensification [in 2005]:
“As Wilma took advantage of warm Caribbean waters and low wind shear in the atmosphere, the storm underwent a record-setting and staggering period of intensification. The storm’s central pressure peaked at 882 millibars (26.04 inches of mercury), a record that still stands for Atlantic hurricanes…
“It intensified from a 74-mph Category 1 hurricane to a 185-mph Category 5 hurricane in just 24 hours time from the morning of Oct. 18 to the morning of Oct. 19, Klotzbach told AccuWeather.”
https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/15-years-later-forecasters-recall-the-phenomenal-intensity-of-hurricane-wilma/833923
“I am a technological invalid though.”
My VCR is still blinking 12:00 .
Ok But, does anything jump out at you? It is almost Halloween.
Oh how I love the quotes in the last piece selected by Pan-O:
“Given the dire circumstances and the tangible health impacts already underway, the authors urge the WHO to officially declare the combined climate and nature crises as a global health emergency. This pivotal step, they advocate, should occur before or during the World Health Assembly in May 2024.
This collaborative stand serves as a beacon, rallying health professionals, policymakers, and individuals worldwide to take concerted, meaningful action towards safeguarding our collective future.”
“Concerted, meaningful action” – didja hear, that, good people of the world? Now, as the skies start to darken for real, here comes the scientist “community” to the rescue of humanity, with the words we have all simply needed to hear to galvanize a worldwide political solution to the human predicament!
“Concerted, meaningful action” is about to appear, folks, just like that, today, finally.
What “concerted, meaningful action” are we talking about? What could it possibly be, even in the wildest fancies of classroom speculation/theory? What’s that “action” going to be, across the breadth and depth of today fossil fuel globalized just-in-time humanity?
Anyone wanna take a stab? I mean, “concerted, meaningful action” doesn’t just coalesce out of nowhere and magically rescue us mortal temporary citizens of Earth. What’s the collective worldwide plan, folks?
A few tweaks here and there, maybe a nice e-upcycling effort led by the wonderful people at Global Corporate, and all the extinctions, including our own, will be wiped of the board of possibility?
“Diarrhoea is hitting Zimbabwe’s young children hard ”
I’m having problems, this species is giving me the drizzling shits.
Another mass shooting in Maine.
The right to keep & bear arms shall not be infringed regardless of how many Americans die.
Wonder how many gun owners or their family members were injured or killed?
How about the number of Republicans? How many Democratic funerals will there be?
As a comedian would ask: “Too early?”