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“The world may have less time than it thinks on climate change… climate change is not only affecting the thermodynamics of the atmosphere but is also changing its “dynamics”. This is a crucial distinction.
“To understand climate change at the regional level, it is not enough to think of climate merely as some giant steam engine, warming and humidifying as we shovel in more fossil carbon; we also need to track and predict the forces and movements of the individual parts—the cogs and gears—which make up the climate system, notably the atmosphere and oceans.”
“In case you missed it … 2026 set the record for the most days with the global surface temperature above 17.0°C since 1940, and likely the most days above 17.0°C in any single year over the last 120,000 years.”
[Prof Eliot Jacobson]
https://x.com/EliotJacobson/status/2094049035846054166
“Climate change, trade, and the fragility we chose to ignore.
“For most of maritime history, weather was a voyage risk — something a Master planned around, a factor priced into insurance and routing. In 2026, weather has become something else entirely: a standing feature of the trade architecture itself.”
“Northern Fleet ships set course for the Northern Sea Route.
“For Russia, ensuring safe passage from Asia to Europe for commercial shipping companies is a matter of high importance. Earlier in August, a group of tankers loaded with up to one million tonnes of oil made history when they sailed north of Severnaya Zemlya en route to China, in what experts said was “extremely risky.””
“Russia experienced its hottest July on record this summer, the country’s national meteorological service, Rosgidromet, said Monday…
“Simonov attributed the historic heat to a stationary high-pressure system that trapped warm air over northern Russia and prevented cooler air with rain from moving in from the west. “This is a very strong anomaly for such northern parts of the country,” Simonov said.”
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/08/31/russia-reports-hottest-july-on-record-a93609
“Summer 2026 expected to be declared UK’s hottest on record.
“Provisional figures for the months of June, July and August are due to be released on Tuesday afternoon and are likely to reveal that mean temperatures – which include daytime and overnight values – have broken the previous record, set just last year.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c99dypl3jgmo
“Rising microplastics in soil a threat to UK food security, MPs and campaigners say…
“UK agricultural soils have been identified as among the most contaminated by microplastics in Europe, often as a result of repeated applications of sludge from water treatment works as fertiliser, according to a report published by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on microplastics.”
“Summer 2026 is, by far, the hottest ever observed in France, surpassing 2003 by 0.8°C. Only 5 days below normal, compared to 86 above. It leaves behind a tattered agricultural sector and ecosystems on the brink of collapse.
“Persistent cold below the norms clearly no longer exists in France since 5 years ago.” [Dr Serge Zaka]
https://x.com/SergeZaka/status/2094435637336088682
“Hottest summer on record: record temperatures at more than 100 GeoSphere Austria monitoring stations.
“The highest temperatures, the most hot days, the most tropical nights, two heatwaves each with peak temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, plus extreme drought: the meteorological summer of 2026 tops the record books.”
“Swiss construction union calls for stronger protections against extreme heat…
““The question is not whether working in extreme heat is tiring or unpleasant: it is health and safety at work that are at stake,” Unia said. The union called for a 33C (91.4F) threshold to be included in Switzerland’s Construction Work Ordinance.”
“Dozens of schoolkids have been rushed to hospital with head injuries after vicious hailstorms battered Switzerland and Italy.
“Children were injured as the extreme weather damaged buildings, tore off roofs, and sparked an urgent response from emergency services.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/40212819/hail-storm-hits-switzerland-france-children-injured/
“MEDITERRANEAN HEAT WAVE. Some more records:
“ITALY – 43.8 [110.8F] Marina di Ginosa, all-time record; ALBANIA – 40.8 Kukes, monthly record; GREECE – 40.0 (yesterday) Kerkyra-Corfu Island, monthly record.” [Extreme Temps]
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2093776735728787644
“NEW JULY EUROPEAN RECORD:
“After lengthy & careful technical validation, the ARPA Sardinia Met. Dep. (with the support of SIAP-Micros) has validated 48.4°C [119.1F] in Orani on July 19. It’s a new July record for Europe, only 0.4°C from the all-time record set in Syracuse in Aug. 2021.” [Thierry Goose]
https://x.com/ThierryGooseBC/status/2093797929450713220
“Andalucía enters meteorological autumn with dust storm and maximum temperatures of 43C [109.4F]…
“The arrival of a mass of very warm air from North Africa will send temperatures soaring, particularly from Thursday onwards. Furthermore, the ‘calima’ dust will be a prominent feature of the start of September in the region.”
https://www.surinenglish.com/andalucia/andalusia-kick-meteorological-20260831154556-nt.html
“Tunisia faces severe bottled water shortage after scorching August.
“Every day has been the same for Riadh Ayari. It was 9 am on Friday, August 28; the temperature had already reached 35°C; and, like every morning for the past week, the grocer based in La Goulette – a small town in the suburbs of Tunis – had no bottled water to sell.”
“As unprecedented wildfires rage in Algeria, authorities remain largely silent.
“In Jijel and Béjaïa, wildfires of rare intensity swept through mountains and coastal areas, leaving more than 200 dead. While many question the government’s lack of preparedness, the authorities emphasize the criminal nature of some of the fires and demand harsher judicial responses.”
“SUMMER IN WINTER IN SOUTH AFRICA; RECORDS:
“34.1 [93.4F] Nieuwoudtville; HIGH MINIMUMS – 23.5 Beutifort W, 22.6 Calvinia, 21 Willowmore, 20.6 Pofadder, 20.2 Graaf Reinet, 19.4 Ladismith, 17.8 Joubertina, 17.5 Brandvlei, 17.2 Sutherland, 15.8 Fraseburg, 14.7 Worcester.” [Extreme Temps]
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2093750828137902150
“Nile Delta Algae Bloom Shuts Down Israel’s Desalination Plants .
“Israel’s water system is under unusual strain after a bloom of microscopic algae, likely carried from Egypt’s Nile Delta by sea currents, clogged filtration membranes, forcing five of the country’s six major desalination plants offline over the weekend. By Monday afternoon, only Hadera remained in operation…”
https://themedialine.org/headlines/nile-delta-algae-bloom-shuts-down-israels-desalination-plants/
“Relentless heat worsens Gaza’s ongoing struggle to access water.
“In Gaza, securing drinking water is a relentless daily struggle. The war with Israel has destroyed critical water and sanitation infrastructure, and as temperatures soar, the extreme heat is escalating an already severe shortage into a deadly humanitarian crisis.”
https://www.france24.com/en/relentless-heat-worsens-gaza-s-ongoing-struggle-to-access-water
“Massive flash floods hit Akkar in northern Lebanon.
“Massive flash floods swept through Akkar in northern Lebanon, inundating roads and affecting communities as heavy rainfall triggered sudden flooding.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI94LdAztog
“Syria sandstorm blankets Homs in eerie orange haze.
“A dust storm swept across Homs in central Syria, turning the sky and surrounding landscape an intense reddish-orange. The thick sandy haze sharply reduced visibility, creating an eerie atmosphere across the city.”
“51 [123.8F] DEGREES IN MIDDLE EAST – another scorching day with up to 51C in Iran, Iraq and Kuwait.
“The hot air will move Eastward next days just in time to smash thousands of September records in China, Mongolia, Koreas and Japan and rewrite climatic history.” [Extreme Temps]
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2094037435189530727
“India records warmest August since [record began in] 1901 as monsoon deficit widens to 14%.
“IMD chief Mrityunjay Mohapatra attributed the unusually warm August largely to a significant shortfall in monsoon rainfall. The month ended with a 16.3% rainfall deficit, with more than 47% of India’s 741 districts recording deficient rains.”
“After Record Floods, Fresh Alert In Madhya Pradesh Town As River Rises Again [N central India].
“Just as Chitrakoot began assessing the damage from one of its worst floods in decades, the Mandakini River started rising again on Monday morning, sending water back toward shops and low-lying areas around Ramghat and prompting authorities to issue fresh warnings to residents and traders.”
“64 roads blocked across Himachal; MeT issues 4-day heavy rain alert.
“A total of 64 roads were closed for vehicular traffic in the state while 225 power transformers and nine water supply schemes were disrupted as of Sunday morning as rains continued to lash parts of Himachal.”
“‘Not an ordinary event’: Nepal PM calls for action against climate change amid disaster in the Himalayas.
“Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah has called on the international community to take urgent steps against climate change, calling last week’s floods “not an ordinary” event. In a late-night post on Monday, he wrote, “The flood in the Bhote Koshi River in Rasuwa was not an ordinary flood.”
“Nepal rescuers race to reach hundreds feared trapped in hydropower tunnels.
“Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 12 hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods, the country’s disaster management authority has said.”
“China warns fresh glacier collapse could unleash another surge in Nepal days after catastrophic floods.
“The latest satellite radar imagery by China has prompted warnings that glaciers that caused the flooding in Nepal remain at “risk of collapse”, raising the possibility of another surge of water, ice, and debris.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/china-nepal-risk-glacier-collapse-floods-b3042448.html
“8,115 residents evacuated as severe flooding hits Mohan town in China’s Yunnan.
“Heavy rainfall has triggered severe flooding in Mohan Town in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, with a reservoir at risk of breaching, authorities said Saturday. Altogether 8,115 residents have been evacuated in emergency by Sunday, and relief items are dispatched to relocations sites to meet people’s necessities.”
https://english.news.cn/20260831/f518bde9ed1b473aab459d548160b4c6/c.html
“Record Rain Triggers Level 5 Warning in Fukui [Japan].
“Record rainfall caused 19 rivers to overflow across Fukui Prefecture, flooding roads and homes, triggering landslides and temporarily forcing authorities to issue the highest-level heavy rain emergency warning from early Sunday morning.”
https://newsonjapan.com/article/150551.php
“Fridges for humans during heatwaves in Japan.
“A Japanese company has created a human-sized fridge, and workplaces across the country have been testing it out amid Japan’s current heatwave.
“Caitlin Brown has the story.”
https://www.france24.com/en/fridges-for-humans-during-heatwaves-in-japan
“SOUTH KOREA RECORD HEAT:
“Again record heat in this terrible summer. Yesterday Heuksando rose to 36.0C [96.8F], its hottest day in history.” [Extreme Temps]
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2093618125056942498
“INDONESIA RECORD HEAT:
“Record heat never ends in Indonesia. Today exceptional heat again – AUGUST RECORDS: 37.2 [99F] Banda Aceh also 0.2C from National record; 36.8 Banjarmasin.”
[Extreme Temps]
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2094060615375397151
“Toxic haze from Indonesian forest fires chokes Malaysian Borneo…
“The smoke – drifting from fires in Kalimantan in the Indonesian portion of Borneo – has settled over the Malaysian state of Sarawak, which is located on the same island, for much of August. It has also reached peninsular Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/1/toxic-haze-from-indonesian-fires-chokes-malaysian-borneo
“Orangutan saved from fire zone in Kalimantan battles respiratory illness.
“Yesterday morning, Jais, a farmer here in West Kalimantan — the province hardest-hit by raging forest fires — was en route to his farm when he found an orangutan writhing weakly on the ground on a palm oil plantation near the fire zone.”
https://mediaselangor.com/en/2026/08/393326
“Weeks of Luzon flooding, landslides kill over 30 in the Philippines.
“Floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rain and enhanced by four weather disturbances so far in August have left more than 30 people dead in the Philippines, mostly in Luzon, the local authorities said.”
“Western Australia hit by worst coral bleaching on record across 2000km of coastline…
“Australian Institute of Marine Science coral reef ecology principal research scientist Dr James Gilmour said that metric was “something like two degrees above normal for a 10-week duration, and that’s very considerable stress”.”
“Global coral reef coverage risks irreversible decline, new report warns.
“Coral reefs are experiencing bleaching events so frequently that they no longer have time to recover before the next one strikes, scientists have warned. Global coral cover is now well below normal levels and at risk of irreversible decline, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) said in a report released on Monday.”
“Antarctica’s melting ice is pushing marine animals beyond their limits.
“Antarctic coastal waters are becoming fresher in some areas. Melting glaciers, heavier rain, and extreme weather can add freshwater to the sea, reducing the salt that local animals have known for millions of years.”
“El Niño is predicted to become the strongest ever observed in September, beginning a six-month run at record strength with a peak of +4.15°C.
“That’s according to the new CanSIPS model update, which also suggests that La Niña is possible during the second half of 2027.” [Ben Noll]
https://x.com/BenNollWeather/status/2094455172001120425
“Ecuador Raises El Niño Alert to Red as Pacific Warming Intensifies.
“Ecuador has declared a nationwide red alert over the El Niño phenomenon as oceanic and atmospheric conditions continue to strengthen across the tropical Pacific. The National Risk Management Secretariat (SNGR) raised the alert to its highest level on Aug. 29…”
“Record heat again in Lima, PERU – 25.9C [78.6F] yesterday re-broke the record of August highest temperature which was set earlier this month.
“September is expected to have every record pulverized.”
[Extreme Temps]
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2094312970352304342
“Houses ripped to shreds after Tornado tore through central Chile.
“A tornado destroyed one home and damaged several buildings when it twirled through central Chile on Aug. 28. Chile’s government said that at least 63 people were affected by the storm.”
“Hail damages houses, cars and leads municipalities in SC to declare an emergency [Brazil].
“After strong storms and hail that damaged more than 3 thousand homes, at least seven municipalities in Santa Catarina declared an emergency. The information was updated by the Civil Defense at 9:30 am on Monday (31).”
“HISTORIC HEAT IN SOUTH AMERICA; RECORDS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH:
“MIN 29.4c [849F] Cuiaba is HOTTEST WINTER NIGHT EVER RECORDED IN BRAZIL – again! Also Min 28.5 Aquidauana. 22.6 Saltos del Gaira-Paraguay; AUGUST MAX RECORDS: 41.8C Fredonia COLOMBIA and 39.9C Teresina BRAZIL.” [Extreme Temps]
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2093812395223269705
“The Panama Canal will cut daily transits from Wednesday because of drought.
“The Panama Canal will reduce the number of vessels allowed to cross from 38 to 34 a day from September 3, and to 32 from the 15th, as well as imposing new draught restrictions, because of falling water levels linked to El Niño.”
“El Salvador Farmers Watch El Niño Turn Corn into Dust.
“In San Esteban Catarina, farmers who planted with faith now walk through brittle cornfields. El Niño has erased harvests, income, and certainty, exposing how climate shocks strike hardest where small producers live one failed season away from hunger and debt.”
https://latinamericanpost.com/americas/el-salvador-farmers-watch-el-nino-turn-corn-into-dust/
“RECORD HEAT IN CENTRAL AMERICA:
“Historic: 42.1C [107.8F] at Choluteca HONDURAS today is AUGUST HOTTEST DAY EVER RECORDED IN CENTRAL AMERICA.”
[Extreme Temps]
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2093857818952495163
“Climate change parches Puerto Rico and Jamaica in rare early wet season drought.
“A severe drought that has parched the Caribbean since May 2026 was fueled by human-induced climate change, according to a recent study. The rapid analysis was released by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers who analyze the influence of climate change in extreme weather events.”
“Tampa has seen 136 record highs vs. just 1 record low since 2020; Miami: 129 vs. 1; Ft Myers: 112 vs. 2.
“This isn’t noise, it’s a trend. Florida’s record book is being rewritten, and almost all of it is on the hot side.” [Jeff Berardelli]
https://x.com/WeatherProf/status/2094030424234197170
“Rising humid heat along the Gulf is partially thanks to the wind blowing record ocean temps ashore.
“Gulf waters have been one to three degrees warmer than average across much of the basin, which is “just a hair, about a tenth of a degree or so above the prior records,” according to a climate scientist.”
“Texas homeowners urged to check policies as extreme weather drives up costs, shifts coverage.
“For many households, the financial fallout continues after the skies clear. As weather-related losses become both more common and more expensive, insurers have been increasing prices, changing deductibles, and revising coverage terms, leaving homeowners to shoulder more of the burden.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/articles/texas-homeowners-urged-check-policies-154700259.html
“Flash flood in Grand Canyon left two dead. Extreme weather fueled the deluge.
“Epic flooding in the Grand Canyon that left at least two dead was fueled in part by extreme weather, including the Southwest’s long-term drought, unusually hot ocean temperatures and air from El Niño, forecasters said… experts say the amount of rain in the Grand Canyon this weekend was unusually high.”
“For a Thirsty American West, It’s Either Cows or Humans… America’s arid Southwest is learning it can’t comfortably have both…
“The toxic combination of a 25-year drought and chronic overuse has caused the Colorado River to lose 20% of its flow, major reservoirs Lake Mead and Lake Powell to fall to record-low levels and a Lake Mead’s worth of groundwater to evacuate.”
“HISTORY: Meteorological summer 2026 will go in the books as the HOTTEST summer ever recorded in the contiguous United States — by a substantial margin.
“The previous mark was set during the infamous Dust Bowl summer of 1936 and tied in 2021. Now it belongs to 2026…” [The Global Warmer]
https://x.com/TheGlobalWarmer/status/2094558999551025540
“Higher Food Bills Are The Extreme Heat Impact You Can’t Avoid…
“The heat waves that make it harder to sleep at night and the droughts that ruin your running track are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change. During a record-breaking summer for both in parts of the northern hemisphere, they’ve also been reducing crop yields.”
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According to climatebrink 2026 is certain to be the warmest as it is predicting1.62 with error bar of 0.05. So Zeke Hausfather has effectively conceded the bet to Hansen’s prediction. We’re also only a few days away from the 365 day average passing 1.5, and humans will never again see it below that figure, in fact there are probably only going to be a few months worth of individual days with global temperatures lower.
Hausfather and other conservative scientists are saying next year is going to be historically hot so I’ll apply the “it’s always worse than expected rule” and say it will be beyond awful almost everywhere, and will not get better in 2028 as the chaos in the hydraulic cycle catches up. To quote de Niro in Deer Hunter “… see this. This is this. This ain’t somethin’ else. This is this. From now on, you’re on your own”.
Also a personal anecdote now that climatic summer is over – there was a noticeable drop in the numbers of magpies, flies, bees, wasps and spiders this year.
George, Prof Eliot Jacobson has been very kind and done the maths for us here:
“For 2026 to end up hottest on record, the rest of the year will have to average nearly 1.85°C above the pre-industrial average.”
We very briefly exceeded 2C in Nov 2023 under a much milder El Nino and Dec 2023 averaged 1.78C, so this hardly seems an insurmountable target. Btw, your Deer Hunter quote has given me the itch to hear Stanley Myers’ exquisitely melancholy Cavatina:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bbm-7vdlbs
Nothing’s good.
Nothing’s good.
Truth Wizard, is that a general observation or a song lyric? 🤔
I just finished reading The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. Written in 2018, with an afterword from 2019, it’s already quite dated. It has some excellent writing, though, and spares nothing in expressing the severity of 2+ degrees of warming. He acknowledged that, at the time, current trajectories would push us past even that. Does he hope for worldwide cooperation and the enforcement of the Paris Accords? Sure, but he’s realistic about it. My biggest takeaway was the absolute breadth and length of climate change, that it’s not going to be worse for one year or five or ten or twenty, but for centuries. It’s very easy to forget that when we (this forum, myself included) focus on collapse in the near term. For myself, I’m just looking forward to an underwater Florida.
Thank you for the review, John. I recall The Uninhabitable Earth making a splash on publication. I never read it, although I have read enough of his articles to know that he does write extremely well.
2018 was, coincidentally, when I started this blog, although I’ve been putting these threads together a bit longer than that. We’ve certainly come a long way since then, and entirely in the wrong direction.
The other day we referred to Bill McGuire, Novara Media – he was quite honest but avoided saying the obvious.
I assume they must have found it too depressing so they brought in someone who sounded like he was funded by fossil fuels: Zeke Hausfather (Berkeley Earth), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVN4rt7G9mQ
Much more upbeat – chatting about end of 21st century, geo-engineering, etc.
*sighs*
Mad Hatter, he’s also a long-time contributor to Carbon Brief, primarily funded by Net Zero proponents the European Climate Foundation, plus Climate Research Lead at Stripe, where he “leads research for Frontier, a $2 billion advance market commitment accelerating permanent carbon removal”.
https://zekehausfather.com/
Thanks.
Precisely what Maguire said was pointless.
“Children were injured as the extreme weather damaged buildings, tore off roofs, and sparked an urgent response from emergency services.”
I double checked when I saw it was a Sun article but… jeez. Poor little innocents suffering for the sins of their fathers. Lot more of that coming soon to a BAU near you.
Jupiviv, I do try not to use the scuzzy tabloids but I liked the human-interest angle. Putting some faces to the chaos can make it all feel less abstract.
Thank you Justin.
You are welcome, Lyndie.
“Collapse awareness is thus a double whammy: you lose hope for the future while becoming alienated in the present.”
– Jan Andrew Bloxham
Cassandra, I have certainly felt that way at times, although I tend to circumvent those feelings by compartmentalising.
Your comment made me think of this scene in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which encapsulates some of the disconnect between the collapse-aware and, well, the less collapse-aware. It happens just before Earth is destroyed by the Vogons. Ford Prefect has been trying to warn people in the pub:
“I thought,” [the sozzled customer] said, “that if the world was going to end we were meant to lie down or put a paper bag over our head or something.”
“If you like, yes,” said Ford.
“That’s what they told us in the army,” said the man, and his eyes began the long trek back down to his whisky.
“Will that help?” asked the barman.
“No,” said Ford and gave him a friendly smile.
Things are so very bad I thought, “Why not make it worse?”
Here is some lousy doomer “poetry” of mine. 🙂
THE SEASON’S UPON US
Imagine a summer that never ends…
Oh, no, no, my dear friends,
It will not be lasting holidays!
It will be the beginning of the end of days.
The air is full of toxic fumes
The seas are infested with algal blooms
The temperature is too damn high…
To the left and right, all creatures die.
We know it’s crazy, we know it’s wrong
For a season to last all year long
Nothing left to do but lament
The eternal summer of our discontent.
Splendid stuff, Goran. Certainly better than that of the above-mentioned Vogons. 😎
Whilst we’re on the subject of poets and poetry, RIP Wendell Berry:
“Wendell Berry, the Kentucky-born author and agrarian whose poems, stories, novels and essays celebrated the farming communities of his native state and warned of the excesses and misjudgments of an industrial, commercialized society, has died aged 92.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/sep/01/wendell-berry-us-author-dead
Lost a good one.
The day before yesterday, I was at the bank. As often happens here in the French countryside, the conversation soon turned to the weather.
Or rather, to the rain.
One person had barely had any, a few kilometres away it had poured down, and somewhere else an enormous amount of water had fallen in a very short time. Nothing unusual, of course. Summer showers have always been local. But the differences over very short distances sometimes seem to be becoming remarkably large.
Coincidentally, Météo-France announced this week that it is going to refine its weather warning maps. Until now, in the event of severe thunderstorms, for example, an entire département would be coloured yellow, orange or red. In future, it will be possible to indicate much more precisely which areas within a département are expected to face the greatest danger.
This is not just intended for residents. It will also allow emergency services to position equipment and personnel closer to the areas where the most serious impacts are expected.
At almost the same time, The Economist published an interesting article by climate scientist Tim Palmer.
According to Palmer, when we think about climate change we still tend to focus too much on thermodynamics: more CO2 traps more heat, a warmer atmosphere contains more water vapour, and as a result temperatures and rainfall patterns change.
But the atmosphere is not a pan of water slowly being heated.
It is a dynamic system of air currents, pressure systems, jet streams, oceans and interacting feedback loops. And climate change can alter that dynamic as well.
That distinction matters. Because it means that not only the intensity of the weather may change, but also the likelihood of particular weather patterns developing, where they develop, and how long they persist.
A prolonged high-pressure system, for example, can intensify drought. A warm and humid atmosphere can produce enormous amounts of rain locally during a thunderstorm, while just a few kilometres away hardly anything falls.
This creates a difficult problem. Météo-France cannot, of course, wait until climate scientists understand exactly how all these changes will play out. If extreme weather can have greater local impacts, what matters operationally is knowing where it is most likely to strike.
And so, the day before yesterday, I was standing at the bank.
“We had 35 millimetres,” someone said.
“Nothing at all where I live.”
Just a few kilometres apart.
Zip, it was a similar situation last week in England where some parts were absolutely deluged with rain whilst others got none.
Thank you for your summary of the OP. It goes some way to explaining why scientists, like Professor Swenja Surminski, here addressing UK parliament, have been surprised by the severity of extreme weather relative to overall warming:
“Most scientists were surprised to see the speed of how such extremes play out. For example, Europe is the fastest-warming continent, at 0.53° per decade, which is more than the global average. Looking at how that plays out and what it means in record-breaking heat extremes, those are often outpacing climate model projections.
“In a way, the models have been underestimating the impact of the observed changes. That is very concerning, particularly when we talk about the impact not only on health, infrastructure and businesses, but on the natural environment.”
https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/17742/html/
“Europe is the fastest-warming continent, at 0.53° per decade, which is more than the global average.”
I was thinking “which is more than the global average.” was obviously redundant but then thought who he was talking to.
Re the link about putting waste treatment sludge on farm land:
“Microplastics can also pick up from the environment further contaminants,” Bowyer said. “So they become like sponges or magnets for other things like bacteria, heavy metals, viral particles, other chemicals.”
I imagine that sludge contains pharmaceuticals and drugs of all kinds, cleaning chemicals, and all other manner of nasty shit. Going on FOOD. Not to mention all the glysophate and other herbicides and pesticides.
WASF
Well. That’s put me off my dinner, Cassandra. 😂
Here is a good video on Plastics…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU1I6dDGVyo&t=428s
The next asbestos is here, and it’s EVERYWHERE
Ashley Embers explores the pervasive presence of microplastics in our environment, bodies, and daily lives. By drawing parallels to historical health crises like asbestos, the discussion highlights the unseen ways synthetic materials infiltrate our homes and health, while evaluating both individual mitigation efforts and the systemic challenges required to address this widespread issue. AI
That’s why they made nanoplastics: ya cain’t see ‘em!
Thanks JP.
For some reason, the headline “Nepal PM calls for action against climate change” struck me the most amid all the news of suffering and devastation.
I wonder what he expects at this late stage? Does he not see where the priorities lie?
Climate “action” has already been taken, in the form of a) ineffective international agreements that put business as usual first (by design), and b) “green” technologies (more business as usual) that cannot meet the demands of business as usual today, let alone scale to meet growing demands tomorrow (not that it won’t be attempted).
Leaf, you are welcome.
I guess the Nepalese PM is just dealing with what’s in front of him. I can see also that the unfairness of some of these lower-emissions nations being on the front line of climate change must rankle. This is a big challenge for his new government, which readers may recall swept to power earlier this year after the crazy gen z protests.
Not just nations, either. The entire continent of Africa.
Seems we’re all fading away….
Wendell Berry, Writer Who Extolled America’s Agrarian Past, Dies at 92
A Kentucky farmer, he railed against agribusiness and championed small family farms and the environment, winning widespread acclaim.
Author Wendell Berry
By Robert D. McFadden
Aug. 31, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/us/wendell-berry-dead.html
Wendell Berry, a Kentucky farmer who plowed his fields behind Belgian draft horses and wrote lyrical poems, novels and essays — mostly in pencil and without electric light — that explored his elegiac visions of the life and death of agrarian America, died on Monday at his home in Port Royal, Ky. He was 92.
His daughter, Mary Berry, confirmed the death.
Lanky and rawboned in middle age, with melancholy eyes, a jutting chin and a widow’s peak reminiscent of Lincoln’s, Mr. Berry wrote more than 50 volumes of poetry, fiction and argument that championed small family farms, the environment, local foods and interdependent communities, and railed against chemicals, most technologies, agribusiness and distant government.
He rebuilt the Long-Legged House and began writing there about sustainable agriculture and the culture of life on small farms and in farming towns — polemics about how such places were vital to individual liberties and why they were rapidly disappearing from a landscape increasingly afflicted with topsoil erosion, polluted water and toxic chemicals.
I recall one of his books titled “Amish Economics”…along reading essays/interviews by him published by Mother Earth News and CoEvolution Quarterly,ect (there was still some promise buzzing about to steer our culture from what it is now. Unfortunately, our concept of “money”-thinking it is wealth and progress=growth shut that off…
Vince, I’ve just got to your comment and realised we have “doubled up” on mentioning Wendell Berry, but I’m glad you did. It gives me an excuse to post this beautiful poem – The Peace of Wild Things:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Thanks for letting me/us know about Berry’s passing. A remarkable man.
And thanks Panopticon for posting that poem. I remember when I first heard it.
France article on Palestine left one important fact out. The water in gaza isn’t working because isreal has bombed all of their infrastructure or cut off the water lines. It not mysterious just look at the thief of water and resources from the insane colonizers. But yes add on insane heat to the problems doesn’t help either.
Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing, take a look at the Talking Book:
Where has my home gone?
How can I go on?
My once dear home has washed away …
That broke my spirit:
I never feared sh*t,
But now I wake scared every day.
So I’ll blame it on the sun
That’s so hot it’s a crime
I’ll blame it on the rising seas,
I’ll blame it on the clime that changed in record time,
I’ll blame it on humanity;
But my heart blames it on me.
Who poured CO2 out?
That caused this endless drought?
Why’d no one heed our plaintive plea?
Wish I could tell you
What mankind’s stealing,
The Woodlands, lakes, and endless sea.
But I’ll just blame it on the sun
Overheating sheltered skies,
While weeping for dead birds in burning trees,
I’ll blame it on the day that ended with monsoons,
And nighttimes with their bitter freeze,
But my heart blames it on me.
Stevie Wonderland
Rob, nice. 😎
I actually really liked Incognito’s cover of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTOwz8cKPx4
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Garys-Two-Week-Blackout-Is-a-Warning-for-America.html
Gary blackout is a warning of whats coming faster than you think
Heather, thank you for raising this. I kept meaning to post about it…