This month is kindly sponsored by an anonymous donor in memory of Rev. Michael Dowd, founder of postdoom.com.
“Check out this perspective of the anomalous warmth in the Arctic from last month, which really highlights its large amplitude. Temperature variability is smaller in summer due to thermodynamic processes related to sea ice melt.”
Graph by Zack Labe. Data from ERA5 reanalysis.
https://bsky.app/profile/zacklabe.com/post/3lk5jair3zk2u
“The Arctic is in trouble [ice-extent still at record lows]. The consequences will be felt around the world…
“Last month was extreme: Temperatures in parts of the Arctic spiked 36 degrees Fahrenheit, or 20 Celsius, above normal. By the end of the month, sea ice was at its lowest level ever recorded for February, marking the third straight month of record lows.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/12/climate/arctic-sea-ice-heat-downward-spiral/index.html
“Arctic sea-ice loss drives a strong regional atmospheric response over the North Pacific and North Atlantic on decadal scales…
“We observe weakening of the Aleutian Low and development of a geopotential ridge in the North Pacific, associated with drier winter conditions over the southwest United States. Over the Atlantic, a negative NAO-like response drives wetter winter conditions across the western Mediterranean.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02059-w
“Winter subglacial meltwater detected in a Greenland fjord…
“The results suggest that warm Atlantic water and nutrients are entrained at the glacier front… the fast-changing Arctic climate may already be causing shifts in wintertime conditions, highlighting the urgency for a better understanding of wintertime dynamics.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01652-0
“RECORD HEAT IN THE BALTIC COUNTRIES – 18.6C in Lithuania, 20C [68F] in Belarus, 17.4C in Latvia etc…
“All several degrees above any temperature ever recorded in early or even mid March. Thousands of stations all over Europe have been with unprecedented heat, except Spain and Italy.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1899445210007875700
“Pasterze Glacier (Hohe Tauern, Austria) 1960 | 2024.
“Austria’s largest glacier (overlooked by Austria’s highest peak) has suffered greatly from recent years of record losses and will lose its valley tongue in the near future (it is no longer fed from above).”
https://x.com/subfossilguy/status/1899878164014522368
“Czech Republic Sees Record High Temperatures For Six Consecutive Days.
“The Czech Republic experienced record high temperatures for March for the sixth day in a row yesterday, exceeding 20 degrees Celsius in some places. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMU) reported on Facebook that 47% of long-term measuring stations registered record highs.”
“Farmers in Romania are moving away from growing one of the European Union’s staple crops: potatoes…
“The price of potato seeds has dramatically increased… Extreme weather is also making it increasingly difficult for farmers in Romania to successfully grow potatoes. The drought and subsequent heat in 2024 took a worsening problem to a new low.”
https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/declining-potato-production-farmers-romania/
“EXTRAORDINARY HEAT IN EASTERN EUROPE:
“Records of March hottest nights destroyed. Examples: MIN 18.4 [65.1F] Vlore, HOTTEST MARCH NIGHT IN ALBANIA HISTORY tied;14.0 Girokaster; SERBIA: 12.2 Vranje; GREECE 16.4 Aktio; MOLDOVA 11.7 Ribnita 11.0 Komrat.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1899844816223273256
“The devastating environmental shock to the Black Sea following the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine has been revealed for the first time by University of Stirling scientists.
“An investigation carried out using Earth Observation (EO) satellites and water sampling found a sharp increase in pollutants and decline in water quality in the north-western Black Sea, downstream of the dam breach.”
“African heat wave sweeps across Türkiye, temperatures to peak in Istanbul…
“…as March progresses, the impact of rising temperatures is becoming even more apparent. In Türkiye, the remnants of winter have all but disappeared, giving way to warmer days, especially in Istanbul and other major cities.”
“A major forest fire broke out on the Greek island of Crete…
“Conditions in the area are characterized by high temperatures and strong winds. However, the mayor of the municipality of Apokoronos, Charalambos Koukyanakis, expressed cautious optimism to ERT that the fire would soon be brought under control.”
https://fakti.bg/en/world/956280-a-major-forest-fire-broke-out-on-the-greek-island-of-crete
“Drought, desperate situation: half of Sardinia dry, water rationed in the fields…
“”The situation is desperate,” warns Gavino Zirattu, president of Anbi, the association of land reclamation consortia , “the last hope is the rain announced for the next few days, but honestly we are not very optimistic. We do not know if and how much it will arrive…””
“Flooding in Fernán Núñez after a hailstorm [Spain].
“A hailstorm caused flooding this Tuesday afternoon in the Cordoba town of Fernán Núñez [Cordoba], Within minutes, several streets in the town became veritable rivers. Emergency services are working in the area.”
“On May 1st 2025 sulphur emissions from shipping over the Mediterranean will reduce again by 80%.
“We don’t know what impacts will be. Uncertainty increases the risks. 17.5 million Hiroshima bombs worth of heat accumulated in the Mediterranean Sea from 2023 to 2024.”
https://x.com/LeonSimons8/status/1899747161362837589
“The world regulated sulfur in ship fuels − and the lightning stopped…
“…in 2020, new international regulations cut ships’ sulfur emissions by 77%. Our newly published research shows how lightning over shipping lanes dropped by half almost overnight after the regulations went into effect.”
“Heatwave in Nigeria may trigger meningitis outbreak, says NiMET…
“The agency called on relevant authorities to act swiftly to contain possible outbreaks, noting that symptoms of the infection include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, light sensitivity, confusion, and seizures.”
https://www.thecable.ng/heatwave-in-nigeria-may-trigger-meningitis-outbreak-says-nimet/
“Gambians Call for Climate Action, Including Assistance From Wealthy Countries.
“Almost four in 10 Gambians (38%) say that drought has become more severe in their area over the past 10 years, and 37% say the same about flooding. One-third (33%) say crop failure has worsened.”
https://allafrica.com/stories/202503110370.html
“HISTORIC HEAT IN TANZANIA:
“The famous tourist island of Zanzibar with a Tmin 28.4C [83.1F] had its HOTTEST NIGHT IN HISTORY which is also the Highest Min in all Tanzania in March. Record heat has been going on for two years.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1899493650725265756
“Why is there another hunger crisis in Somalia?
“Nearly one in five people are going hungry in Somalia largely due to a drought, the latest in a series of hunger crisis to have plagued the country in recent decades, said the world’s main hunger monitor.”
https://www.context.news/socioeconomic-inclusion/why-is-there-another-hunger-crisis-in-somalia
“Tehran Faces Grave Water Crisis: 85% of Reservoirs Empty, Wells at Risk…
“Tehran’s five principal dams—Latian, Mamloo, Lar, Taleqan, and Amirkabir—collectively stand at around 15% of their total capacity. The Lar Dam, which supplies a significant portion of eastern Tehran, is reportedly down to 7% of its capacity.”
“Protests continue across Sindh [Pakistan] against the construction of new canals on the Indus River.
“In Mirpurkhas, college and university students staged a demonstration, while in Kotri, female students and teachers organised a rally. Employees of Civil Hospital Sajawal also joined the protest, demanding an end to the project.”
https://english.aaj.tv/news/amp/330406902
“Kashmir Hospitals Battle Power Cuts as Neglect and Climate Change Affect Infrastructure…
“Across the region, hospitals battle chronic electricity shortages that have increased reliance on polluting diesel generators that spew toxic emissions into already pollution-choked air.”
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/kashmirs-hospitals-battle-power-cuts/
“Summer is early – and India’s economy is not ready for it…
“Across India as cool weather beats a hasty retreat, anxieties are building up at farms and factories, with cropping patterns and business plans getting upended.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czrnyde158po
“Heat wave across Goa causes a surge in hospital visits…
“The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has extend-ed the yellow alert for heat over Goa till March 13, 2025, marking the 11th consecutive day of the warning. Healthcare facilities are feeling the impact…”
https://www.heraldgoa.in/goa/heat-wave-across-goa-causes-a-surge-in-hospital-visits/420511
“Wildfires sweep across Odisha forests [Eastern India], 747 regions burning today.
“Massive wildfires continue to engulf Odisha, with 747 new fire-affected regions today. The state has reported over 12,000 fire spots this year. Officials are battling relentlessly to contain the blazes.”
“On the Mongolian steppe, climate change pushes herders to the brink.
“Over a year after a devastating winter wiped out virtually his entire sheep flock, herder Zandan Lkhamsuren is still reckoning with the damage wrought by Mongolia’s increasingly erratic extreme weather.”
“Vietnam’s Coffee Output Dips on Drought, Adding to Global Crunch…
““We are facing a shortage of coffee this year because of the many weather events, strong events” in growing areas around the world, Vanúsia Nogueira, the executive director of the International Coffee Organization, said in an interview.”
“Golf ball-sized hailstones strike three northeastern provinces [Thailand].
“Hundreds of homes damaged as Surin, Yasothon and Nong Bua Lamphu bombarded by worst storm in years… A local official said storm-hit areas would be surveyed on Thursday to assess the damage and provide assistance to affected villagers.”
https://www.nationthailand.com/news/general/40047369
“NEVER ENDING RECORD HEAT IN THAILAND:
“Two years breaking records (monthly/all time) every single day 40.0C [104F] at Ratchaburi, south of Bangkok for two days in a row tied its record of March hottest day, after breaking those of January and February. It will just get worse and also more humid.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1899792500900131083
“Australia registers 5 months of record-breaking ocean temperatures.
“The Australian region has set new sea surface temperature records on each of the past five months, with the oceans around Australia expected to stay abnormally warm throughout autumn. Rising ocean temperatures are one of the most obvious impacts of climate change.”
“Extra feed brought in amid ‘worst ever’ drought [NZ].
“When dairy farmer Richard Walker looks out over his parched and yellowed paddocks, it’s like nothing he has seen before. The dry conditions were “the worst ever”, he said. The Otakeho farmer is one of hundreds grappling with drought…”
https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360610124/extra-feed-brought-amid-worst-ever-drought
“Storm in Córdoba [Argentina]: flooding, evacuations, rescues, and a neighborhood that exceeded 140 millimeters [5.5 inches] of water.
“A storm hit the province of Córdoba , causing flooding, evacuations, and rescues… As happened in Bahía Blanca, there was heavy rainfall in just a few hours, causing chaos in the city.”
“At Lake Titicaca, residents feel the strain of climate change and pollution.
“For our grandparents, the cycles of nature were predictable. It rained when it was supposed to rain, and the frost fell when it was supposed to fall. Everything was very orderly, and that gave them confidence,” recalls Gonzalo Pusari.”
“Temperatures will soar in South Texas later this week and could reach levels that have never occurred on record there in the month of March…
“According to temperature records analyzed by climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera, the highest temperature recorded in the United States during March is 108 degrees in Rio Grande City, Texas, in 1954.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/03/11/texas-march-heat-record/
“Evacuation warnings and orders have been issued for parts of Los Angeles County on Wednesday, near burn scar areas from the Palisades Fire, due to high mudslide and debris flow risks, according to the LA Fire Department.
“”These are recent burn areas and are especially susceptible to heavy rain,” LAFD said in its warning.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/evacuation-orders-issued-los-angeles-area-amid-fears/story?id=119711861
“Columbia County [NY] has declared a state of emergency for all outside burning, the county’s Board of Supervisors announced on Tuesday.
“The declaration comes after multiple brush fires have been reported throughout the county.”
“Climate change made severe fires during the UK’s 2022 summer heatwave six times more likely, new research has revealed.
“The Met Office study said human-induced climate change “amplified fire risks” and warned that wildfires posed an increasing risk to people, property, and ecosystems. Temperatures soared to 40C [104F] for the first time in August 2022…”
“Financial Storm: How Escalating Climate Events Are Reshaping the Insurance Market…
“Climate change is manifesting through more frequent and severe weather events such as wildfires, hurricanes, and floods. These disasters are not only devastating communities but also straining the insurance sector.”
https://earth.org/financial-storm-how-escalating-climate-events-are-reshaping-the-insurance-market/
“Study shows rain-soaking atmospheric rivers are getting bigger, wetter and more frequent.
“Scientists have long predicted that as climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas makes the air warmer, it holds more moisture, which means bigger, nastier atmospheric rivers are coming in the future. This week’s study shows that a more moist future is already here.”
“‘Global weirding’: climate whiplash hitting world’s biggest cities, study reveals.
“Climate whiplash is already hitting major cities around the world, bringing deadly swings between extreme wet and dry weather… Dozens more cities, including Lucknow, Madrid and Riyadh have suffered a climate “flip” in the last 20 years, switching from dry to wet extremes, or vice versa.”
“Climate change is wreaking havoc on Earth. Soon it will mess up its orbit.
“Climate change is poised to exacerbate the growing problem of space debris, potentially shrinking the usable space for satellite in low Earth orbit, according to a new MIT study.” [Least of our worries, really]
https://www.independent.co.uk/space/climate-change-earth-orbit-space-junk-nasa-b2714233.html
“Plastic pollution leaves seabirds with brain damage similar to Alzheimer’s, study shows…
“Blood tests indicated that the plastic pollution had left the chicks with severe health issues, disrupting the stomach, liver, kidneys and brain, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances.”
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You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an “Economic” thread.
Amazon forest felled to build road for climate summit
Morons.
But look at it as a public financial capital investment that will provide jobs for the locals and returns in the years to come with plans for a hotel, shopping center and eco park with amusement park to educate visiting tourists. A legacy we all can be proud of for future generations that follow.
Forgive them for they know not what they do…..
My response..what will it take to knock some coming sense into them?
Some days the destruction gets a bit too much to bare. I now definitely find the climate deniers less annoying than technocopian reality deniers, who think we can do a one for one replacement of fossil fuels with renewables and then just keep on demolishing the natural world in all the ways we currently are as if nothing has happened.
Here is P. P. Arnold as an antidote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vWTtx_PxPo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujeUrXWJXBY
I’ve come to this conclusion as well. The folks who think we’ll just do some solar farms and swap out every suburban dadbro’s full size commuter pickup with an electric one are as much in denial as climate deniers, if not more so. Adam Sacks made this point a while back in this article: https://grist.org/article/2009-11-10-we-have-met-the-deniers-and-they-are-us/
The Biden administration’s depiction of him in a 5 ton hummer SUV is the poster child for what you’re saying. But the demolition of the natural world you refer to is actually intensified by the rapid deployment of the “renewable energy” infrastructure championed by those rabid technophiles who lecture the deniers to “listen to the science”, completely oblivious to the fact that it’s the science that not only got is into this trap, but is exacerbating it (as per the Brazil COP razing the Amazon to build roads to fly in 50,000 … 50,000! … people to once again gather to accomplish exactly nothing. It is only in such an insane environment that anyone would consider it sane to put a madman in charge of what we still refer to as the free world.
George, you have exposed a gaping hole in my musical knowledge there. I only knew Rod Stewart’s version of “The First Cut is the Deepest”, and vaguely assumed he must have written it.
Google is telling me that Cat Stevens actually wrote the song, and obviously PP Arnold did an epic job of covering it way in advance of Rod the Mod.
Apropos of nothing I think Tin Soldier is the pinnacle of the three minute pop single. Without P. P. Arnold the Rolling Stones and Small Faces maybe wouldn’t have become quite what they did; without the Small Faces no Faces, then no Sex Pistols or Jam and all the groups they caused to form or influenced like the Fall, at least not in the manifestations we know them.
Also bear not bare – I don’t know if it’s old age, microo-plastics, high CO2 levels or spell checkers but some sort of cognitive decline setting in. “Precede” or “preceed” I never get that either.
Leaf – thanks for the link. That was written 15 years ago and nothing has changed – probably the key characteristic of denial – nothing can overcome it once it’s in place.
For the climate whiplash report in the Guardian article: https://www.wateraid.org/uk/media/global-cities-wateraid-report
You are so young Pan- I don’t know if that’s lucky or not.
Not that I am in any hurry to die but I’ve had plenty of adventures, MickN.
It’s my kids and their generation I feel terrible for; growing up in a world of shrinking possibilities, declining prosperity and rising brutality.
“On May 1st 2025 sulphur emissions from shipping over the Mediterranean will reduce again by 80%.”
“We don’t know what impacts will be.”
Another spike in temperatures? Weren’t a bunch of researchers pointing towards that as one reason the mercury jumped so much in 2023?
And we’re still going through with that, even as tipping points barrel towards us!? Are we warped!?
No, we’re trapped.
Kord, they were indeed:
“The pace of global heating has been significantly underestimated, according to renowned climate scientist Prof James Hansen, who said the international 2C target is “dead”.
“A new analysis by Hansen and colleagues concludes that both the impact of recent cuts in sun-blocking shipping pollution, which has raised temperatures, and the sensitivity of the climate to increasing fossil fuels emissions are greater than thought.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/04/climate-change-target-of-2c-is-dead-says-renowned-climate-scientist
Hello Pan
Complex messages full of paradoxes, in which the boundaries of the fossil paradigm implode. Like a thunderstorm imploding according to the laws of Nobel Prize winner Prigogine…. With great violence but no survivors.
The Last Stories
Perhaps we have already entered the silence phase. Not the big bang, not the apocalyptic fall, but the fading phase—where stories are still being told, but the nexus is missing.
Narratives were once our way of taming chaos. Cause, effect, meaning. A beginning, a middle, an end. But when the structure of a system crumbles, so does the story. Too much chaos destroys narrative coherence.
We are still talking.
We are looking for explanations, patterns, transitions.
But perhaps it has already happened. Perhaps we are already post-narrative.
The signs are everywhere.
Politicians speak of growth in a world where growth is no longer possible.
Climate strategies attempt to save a system that has long since exhausted itself.
Economies calculate with fiction, while the foundation is crumbling.
The stories keep coming, but they no longer tell anything.
They are fragments, shards without cohesion. A broken mirror that no longer reflects the whole.
What happens when a civilisation loses its own narrative?
What if there is no longer any connection between the past and the future?
Perhaps all that remains are the last echoes—the conversations on the edge of a system that has already collapsed.
Not with a bang. Not with a sudden end.
But with a diminishing resonance. A fading signal.
The last words in an already empty room.
And then… silence.
Insightful and eloquent.
You are in poetic form this evening, Zip.
We are certainly sinking into a quagmire of confusion. Things will go south quickly when the narratives that allow our financial system to function are punctured.
‘And then … zip. … :
You went from Pan (everything) to Zip (da nada) … good work!
The localized & temporary, but still violent weather whiplash events induced by much larger areas experiencing new phases of climate weirding will soon be the new normal. Of course, long ago predicted by scientists.
Now combine those facts with ever more rapid resource & energy depletion to further elevate our eco-anxiety & future desperation to survive. Dr. William Rees, Professor Emeritus of Ecology quote: “Nobody can avoid Collapse, it must be endured”.
In our future: We must endure wildfires coming for our structures with empty fire hydrants, and no firefighters because no diesel or critical parts to power the firetrucks.
Oops, that has already happened in Los Angeles!
In our future: We must endure empty wells & aquifers, empty dams & rivers, plus no powered water pumps or water delivery tankers. Water filtration & purification–Nope, Nada, No Way! “Thirst-traps” will be a real thing for billions, not some stupid word-combo on social media.
Oops, thousands of thirst traps already exist as evidenced by endless pictures of people carrying buckets on their heads as they laboriously shamble past their dead livestock as the vultures feast. What new level of eco-anxiety is attained when after a long hike under the blazing desert sun you discover your mudhole has now gone dry?
Bob Shaw Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Bob, you wonder how long it will be before a major city becomes a “thirst-trap”.
Sao Paolo, Cape Town, Chennai, and I’m sure others I can’t immediately recall, have come close, but weather whiplashing has always come to the rescue. I was happy to read that the heavy rain dousing until-recently-parched southern Spain has also alleviated the six-year drought in Morocco a little.
There is a political group in America that are in denial of AGW because it hasn’t directly slapped them in the face but there is something that will get their attention. Elon Musk said we have to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. Sorry about you monthly bank deposit & loss of health insurance. I’m sure the rich will enjoy getting tax cuts because of one’s years of SS & Medicare tax deductions that workers will lose.