Many thanks to my October donor, Cassandra, who suggests this month listening daily to Adagio for Strings (one of the west’s most famous concert pieces) while you read the C & E posts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450 (If you use the Brave browser it can play in the background even when not on that page, plus no ads!).
“Earth’s largest ocean current is grinding to a halt: Crucial system is now flowing three times slower than it was 130,000 years ago…
“Five times stronger than the Gulf Stream and 100 times larger than the Amazon River, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is by far the world’s largest ocean current. But this key system is grinding to a halt, a new study has warned.
“Analysing core samples, scientists from the University of Bonn have found that the ACC has undergone a major slowdown.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15173723/Earths-largest-ocean-current-slowing.html
“The most important data in the world comes from NASA satellites. Here I plotted both hemispheres:
“It shows that the Northern Hemisphere now absorbs more sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere and that both hemispheres absorb more sunlight than they radiate heat to space, leading to faster warming. The Northern Hemisphere now has a positive energy imbalance (with space). This likely contributes to accelerated AMOC slow down!” [Leon Simons]
https://x.com/LeonSimons8/status/1975657267782439096
“Very mild air reached the Arctic:
“After yesterday’s record warmth in Scotland with 22.0C at 22.0 Fyvie Castle (Oct record tied), today October historical records fell in Svalbard: 10.9 Isfjord Radio; 10.6 Akseloya; 10.2 Svalbard Lufthavn; 9.0 Hornsund. +15C [59F] also in Greenland.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1975618574682362015
“Marine heatwaves to become more frequent off UK and Irish coasts, experts say.
“The unprecedented marine heatwave of 2023 was in line with climate modelling, research shows, as scientists warn such events will become more frequent. The “unheard of” heatwave off the UK and Irish coasts during a summer of 40C temperatures raised concerns that fish, shellfish and kelp would not be able to survive.”
“One year’s worth of bread lost in UK to wrecked harvests since 2020, report finds.
“Droughts and floods, which have been exacerbated by climate breakdown, have created a deficit in wheat production of over 7m tonnes. Experts at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) calculated this is enough wheat to bake more than 4bn loaves of bread – a year’s supply.”
“National security threatened by climate crisis, UK intelligence chiefs due to warn.
“The UK’s national security is under severe threat from the climate crisis and the looming collapse of vital natural ecosystems, with food shortages and economic disaster potentially just years away, a powerful report by the UK’s intelligence chiefs is due to warn.”
“Cider ‘too potent for pubs’ after apple harvests hit by heatwave.
“The hottest summer on record [UK] has led to an extra-sweet apple harvest, which presents an issue for cider makers. Higher sugar content brought on by “back-to-back sunshine” means that cider will have a higher alcohol content.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/08/cider-too-potent-pubs-apple-harvests-hit-heatwave/
“France trims wine output estimate after summer heatwave…
“”The grape harvest, now almost complete, confirms the adverse effects of the August heatwave on production potential in most regions,” the ministry said. The hot and dry weather reduced production potential, accelerating grape ripening while limiting their growth, which late September rains failed to offset, the ministry said.”
“The before and after images showing glaciers vanishing before our eyes [Alps].
“When Matthias Huss first visited Rhône Glacier in Switzerland 35 years ago, the ice was just a short walk from where his parents would park the car. “When I first stepped onto the ice… there [was] a special feeling of eternity,” says Matthias. Today, the ice is half an hour from the same parking spot and the scene is very different.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce32ezzq6zlo
“Two houses in the northern Bulgarian town of Svishtov were destroyed by a landslide triggered after more than 50 hours of continuous rainfall, Mayor Gencho Genchev confirmed.
“One of the buildings now hangs precariously above a slope, while the other collapsed during the evacuation of its occupant.”
“Rains deluge Western Türkiye, sparking major flooding…
“In Edirne, torrential rains triggered severe flooding and road collapses. A public minibus fell into a large sinkhole on Kuvayi Milliye Boulevard when part of the road collapsed, damaging the vehicle.”
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/rains-deluge-western-turkiye-sparking-major-flooding-214412
“Several parts of the Greater Accra Region were submerged after heavy rains hit the capital on Tuesday afternoon [Ghana].
“Videos captured by eyewitnesses showed vehicles struggling to navigate submerged roads, with some commuters forced to wade through the floodwaters to safety. The flooding also caused heavy traffic congestion…”
https://www.myjoyonline.com/part-of-roman-ridge-roundabout-flooded-after-heavy-downpour/
“Kenya’s slum-dwellers are struggling to survive on the climate crisis frontline.
“A terrible mix of unemployment, poverty, crime, and the climate crisis is making life unbearable for those living in the informal settlements of Nairobi, writes Nick Ferris in the Kenya capital. Cuts to foreign aid programmes are now threatening what little support is available.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/trump-aid-cuts-africa-kenya-slum-b2833021.html
“Facing drought, Israel to direct desalinated water to Sea of Galilee, in world first.
“With severe drought continuing to grip much of the Middle East and North Africa, Israel is also planning for another dry winter and a world first: channeling desalinated water into the northern Sea of Galilee, whose surface has dropped below the minimum level at which pumping is recommended.”
“Iconic lake in western Iran dries up amid worsening water shortages.
“The Sarab Niloufar spring, one of western Iran’s most iconic natural landmarks, has dried up, local environmental officials said, warning that years of groundwater depletion, unregulated farming and drought have destroyed the 25-meter-deep lake once covered in lotus flowers.”
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202510079755
“How extreme temperatures strain minds and bodies: a Karachi case study [Pakistan].
“When the daytime air feels like an oven and night brings no relief, people in Karachi, Pakistan, say the heat “goes straight to the head”. They mean more than dizziness or sweat. It’s the creeping panic of a body that cannot cool down…”
“EXTRAORDINARY HEAT ALL OVER ASIA:
“There has never been anything like this, records smashed everywhere. MALDIVES Records in ALL ATOLLS: 33.2 Kadhdhoo, 33.1 Gan, MINS: 28.6 Male [83.5F] HOTTEST OCTOBER NIGHT IN MALDIVES [yet again]; 28.4 Kadhodhoo.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1975579964989673949
“Fifteen people dead after bus hit by landslide in India.
“At least 15 people have been killed and several others are feared trapped after a bus was crushed by falling boulders during a landslide in Himachal Pradesh, India. The disaster struck near Bhalughat in Bilaspur district on Tuesday evening… Officials said recent heavy rain likely triggered the deadly landslide.”
“Severe weather across India: Dozens dead in North Bengal, snow in J&K, floods hit Tamil Nadu.
“Adverse weather conditions across India have caused widespread disruption, with landslides and heavy rainfall killing dozens in North Bengal, snowfall and landslides shutting major highways in Jammu and Kashmir, and torrential rain triggering flooding in parts of Tamil Nadu.”
“Snakebite surge as Bangladesh hit by record rains.
“In the swamplands along Bangladesh’s mighty Padma River, snakes slithering through villages have become an unrelenting menace, leaving residents terrified and hospitals overwhelmed with bite victims.”
https://phys.org/news/2025-10-snakebite-surge-bangladesh.html
“Taipei sets record with 19 days last month hitting 35°C / 95F [Taiwan]…
“Meanwhile, weather stations at Pengjia Islet, Keelung, Yangmingshan Anbu, Yangmingshan Zhuzihu, Tamsui and Taipei all recorded their highest-ever average temperature for the month, the CWA said.”
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2025/10/09/2003845197
“‘I Can’t Sleep’: Hong Kong’s Rising Night-time Heat Exposes Inequalities.
“For decades, Hong Kong’s climate worries centered on typhoons and floods. Now, after its hottest year on record, a quieter, deadlier threat is emerging: heatwaves… Hong Kong’s tightly-packed neighborhoods, with 7.5 million residents packed into high-rises, leave apartments hotter inside than they are outside.”
https://earth.org/i-cant-sleep-hong-kongs-rising-nighttime-heat-exposes-inequalities/
“‘You want a player to die?’ Heat is on tennis after players wilt in extreme conditions.
“Jannik Sinner had tried everything but after baking for two and a half hours inside the sauna of Shanghai’s stadium court, he was finished. Even around midnight, the humidity was still so oppressive he spent the final 20 minutes of his third-round match against Tallon Griekspoor cramping, panting and in considerable pain…”
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/08/heat-on-tennis-players-wilt-extreme-conditions
“EAST ASIA HISTORIC HEAT – MINIMUMS: 25.2 [77.4F] Jeju, 25.1 Sogwipo. HOTTEST OCTOBER NIGHT IN KOREAS [AGAIN]. Record High max: 30.5 Wando
“In CHINA Absolute madness: October Record High Minimums: 27.0 [80.6F] Shanghai, 27.8 Hangzhou, 28.9 Jinhua, 28.5 Nanchang, 27.2 Fuzhou.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1975527571963142519
“UNBELIEVABLE HEAT IN JAPAN – MINIMUMS up to 28.5C [83.3F], worse than July. MAXIMUMS up to 34C. Heat indexes up to >45C! Hazardous heat day and night.
“See list of records (High mins, high maxes) by JMA. And it will get worse!”
[Extreme Temps]
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1975837433599303865
“Typhoon batters Izu islands with record rainfall, ferocious winds [Japan]…
“The typhoon unleashed 356.5 millimeters [14 inches] of rain on the island in the 24 hours to 10:30 a.m., a record for the island. The JMA also issued a special heavy rain advisory for the southern Izu island chain, citing the repeated formation of linear rainbands over the area.”
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16081400
“Photos capture devastation after hydropower dam bursts in northern Vietnam…
“The initial cause of the dam failure is believed to be prolonged heavy rain, which sent water inflows into the reservoir reaching 1,572 cubic meters per second by Tuesday noon, while the spillway was designed to discharge only 24 cubic meters per second.”
“Amazon Rainforest hits record carbon emissions from 2024 forest fires…
““The escalating fire occurrence, driven by climate change and unsustainable land use, threatens to push the Amazon towards a catastrophic tipping point,” the authors write. “Urgent, coordinated efforts are crucial to mitigate these drivers and to prevent irreversible ecosystem damage.””
“Tornado wrecks houses in west Trinidad…
“Videos posted on social media of the tornado moving through the area showed roofing sheets circulating like confetti, dancing through the air above the area. The tornado then moved into the Gulf of Paria and became a visible waterspout.”
https://newsday.co.tt/2025/10/08/tornado-wrecks-houses-in-west-trinidad/
“HISTORIC HEAT IN THE CARIBBEAN:
“Minimum 29.0C [84.2F] Roatan Island HONDURAS HOTTEST OCTOBER NIGHT IN HISTORY tied. Honduras has been breaking records for years, every single month continuously.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1976036862511939745
“Heavy rains cause flooding and stranded vehicles in Monterrey [NE Mexico].
“The intense rain recorded Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning caused flooding and stranded vehicles in various municipalities in the Monterrey metropolitan area, reported Civil Protection of Nuevo León.”
“Mexico Struggles to Meet Water Delivery Deadline.
“Mexico is expected to deliver 2.158 billion m3 of water to the United States under the 1944 binational water treaty. As of Oct. 1, the country had only sent 46.4% of the required volume, leaving more than half still pending just three weeks before the end of the current five-year cycle.”
https://mexicobusiness.news/sustainability/news/mexico-struggles-meet-water-delivery-deadline
“San Antonio [Texas] weather hits rare streak seen just twice in 100 years. Here’s what happened.
“This year… October has felt more like June. Tuesday marked San Antonio’s seventh-straight day to start the month when high temperatures hit at least 90 degrees. Before this year, such a streak had happened just two other times in the previous 100 years. It first occurred in 1928, then again in 2024.”
“Glacier melt will lead to ice-free peaks in California for first time in human history…
““Our reconstructed glacial history indicates that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since known peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article states.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/07/california-sierra-nevada-glaciers
“A deadly tornado that tore across North Dakota this summer has been upgraded to an EF-5, the strongest kind of tornado and the first one to attain that classification on US soil in 12 years.
“The tornado on 20 June in Enderlin caused significant damage across the region and killed three people.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/07/north-dakota-tornado-ef-5
“Montreal broke another heat record yesterday, with a high temperature of 28.7 degrees Celsius. The previous record for Oct. 6 was 26 degrees, set in 2005.
“This was the second consecutive day of record-breaking heat, with the temperature rising to 29.9 degrees on Sunday — not only beating the record for the hottest Oct. 5, but for the city’s hottest October day ever.”
https://cultmtl.com/2025/10/montreal-broke-a-heat-record/
“Halifax heat record smashed by several degrees after high temperatures.
“It wasn’t just Nova Scotia; several other Maritime provinces were faced with summer-like temperatures. “P.E.I., I believe, it was they recorded their hottest October day on record yesterday,” Aalders said.”
“Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says…
““We must stop expecting carbon offsetting to work at scale,” said Stephen Lezak, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Smith School and co-author of the study, in Annual Reviews. “We have assessed 25 years of evidence and almost everything up until this point has failed.””
“Experts: The key ‘unknowns’ of overshooting the 1.5C global-warming limit…
“This is a bigger concern that I have – that we are pushing the habitability in our societies on this planet above that limit and towards maybe existential limits. We may not be able to walk back from it, even if we wanted to.”
https://www.carbonbrief.org/experts-the-key-unknowns-of-overshooting-the-1-5c-global-warming-limit/
“About 117 billion humans have lived on Earth. The math is tidy and even accounts for our recent surge.
“But in ecology, exponential growth isn’t elegant; it’s terrifying. On a finite planet…..what goes up, will come down.”
[Lyle Lewis]
https://x.com/Race2Extinct/status/1975574575074451503
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You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an “Economic” thread.
Skea is back! – and boy is he pissed!
In the penultimate link, an academic conference was held to whitewash the Climatastrophe, promoting the Orwellian theft of the term “overshoot.”
And Skea is there, referred to not as Skea, but as “Sir Prof,” since he was appointed a Knight Bachelor back in 2004, being given a set of antlers to parade about whilst being pelted with kippers by his business-class sponsors.
Actually the profs and Sir Prof being canvassed did evince some trepidation about the Ultimate Fate of Humanity in the piece, focusing meekly on “unknowns” such as Sir Prof’s milquetoast mumblings about “equity” and “sustainability” regarding CCS (ya think?).
Funny, stupid, or horrifying – what’s the proper mixture for today’s, and every day’s, C&E?
Interestingly Sir Prof Jim Skea is an anagram of Aim for piss, jerk
That is indeed interesting, George.
Justin Panopticon is an anagram of Putin co-opts ninja… hints at all sorts of international intrigue. 😎
That made me laugh 😂 thanks, Pan.
“…an academic conference was held to whitewash the Climatastrophe, promoting the Orwellian theft of the term “overshoot.””
Martin, it is an irksome set of quotes from that conference, clearly intended to obfuscate rather than enlighten; as if the realities of a 1.5C+ world are a mystery that can only be penetrated by elite academics.
Hello Pan
Carrying water to the sea — only in reverse.
They sell it as innovation, but it’s really thermodynamic despair.
With a mix of technical pride and climatic desperation, Israel is launching a world first: the inverse of carrying water to the sea. In the coming months, the country will pump millions of cubic meters of desalinated seawater from the Mediterranean up to the Sea of Galilee, whose surface has fallen below its critical minimum level after years of drought.
The project, led by the national water company Mekorot, is meant to let the “Kinneret” breathe again. But the price of this symbolic restoration is astronomical. Desalinating seawater costs on average 3 to 3.5 kilowatt-hours per cubic meter; transporting it north from the coast adds another kilowatt-hour. That’s around 4 to 5 kWh per cubic meter—roughly the electricity use of an average household per hour, multiplied by more than 100 million cubic meters of water every year.
The energy bill: 0.4 to 0.6 terawatt-hours annually, enough to power a medium-sized city. Financially, it comes to $0.70 to $1 per cubic meter, or $90 to $110 million per year, not counting the $250 million one-time investment for pipelines.
The water cycle as a perpetuum mobile: sea → filter → pipe → lake. What was once a natural rhythm has become an industrial pumping chain with CO₂ emissions and a budget line.
In an age when rivers dry up and glaciers vanish, humanity no longer pumps water to survive but to preserve the illusion of continuity.
The sea keeps rising, the lake keeps falling — and we keep pumping, as if the two were communicating vessels.
Thanks, Zip. That is fascinating stuff. This is a quote from Dr. Gideon Gal, head of the Kinneret Limnological Lab in The Times of Israel article:
“All the decisions are accompanied by a certain concern and a wish that we didn’t have to do this.”
So, it sounds like they are only too aware this is a desperate measure. I’m afraid these water issues portend more instability and conflict in that region. You wonder how long Israel’s water sharing treaty with Jordan will hold, for example.
Wait, carbon offsets are a scam? At least we can still count on the COP meetings, EVs, and solar farms to reduce atmospheric carbon concentration and emissions, right? RIGHT?!?
Leaf, “Absolutely. If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through,” as General Melchett bellows in Blackadder Goes Forth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUA93fdb7I8&list=RDEUA93fdb7I8&start_radio=1
What a doozy today!
Thank you, Truth Wizard.
As a west countryman and long time imbiber, the phrase “cider too potent for pubs” just does not compute as a bad thing, except for my liver.
😂
I felt sure some would see a silver lining in that story, MickN.
https://youtu.be/jeP3tLXfsKE?si=FV-6g8bERXRSkYRh
Space balls self destruct button