“The models are wrong, climate change is accelerating faster than predicted [graph is of declining sulphur emissions, which are proving a significant warming wild card]…
“”It’s not like we’re breaking records by a little bit now and then. It’s like the whole climate just fast-forwarded by fifty or a hundred years,” says Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School, told the New Yorker…
““The effects of global warming are progressively more severe, and possibilities such as a worldwide societal breakdown are feasible and dangerously underexplored…””
“Breaking News! Code FUBAR!!!
“Yesterday global sea surface temperatures (SST) hit a new modern-day record high of 21.18°C [70.12F], beating the previous record of 21.17°C set just this past March 1st. Yearly SSTs usually peak towards the end of March.”
https://twitter.com/EliotJacobson/status/1783151323736609047
“One way to see just how truly “gobsmackingly bananas” North Atlantic sea surface temperatures are right now is to remove the “less anomalous” year 2023 from the graph.
“This just looks impossible in real life.”
https://twitter.com/EliotJacobson/status/1783187432139284738
“Forecast group predicts busiest hurricane season on record with 33 storms… [Michael Mann’s team]
“The new forecast, issued Wednesday, calls for a range of 27 to 39 named storms, with a best guess of 33. The most on record was 30 named storms in 2020. The forecast is consistent with those recently released by Colorado State University and AccuWeather but is even more aggressive.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/04/24/record-atlantic-hurricane-season-forecast/
“Met Eireann have forecast ‘cursed weather’ coming for Ireland following a record breaking 18 months of wet weather.
“Weather experts have forecast wetter weather with the latest maps showing more rain sweeping into the country for the end to April and start of May.”
https://www.galwaybeo.ie/news/galway-news/met-eireann-forecast-cursed-weather-9242983
“A heat wave fueled by climate change helped create deadly, record-breaking hail in Spain, a new study finds.
“The baseball-sized hail hit northeastern Spain in August 2022, injuring 67 people and killing a 20 month old girl. Videos of the storm show balls of ice up to 4.7 inches (12 centimeters) wide dropping from the sky, smashing car windows and damaging property.”
“Storms and cold temperatures combined yesterday (April 22) in the south of France, bringing rare hail to the French Riviera – turning several towns and beaches white…
“At 18:00, temperatures in Nice and the surrounding area were 4.4C, the lowest in all of France at that time.”
https://www.connexionfrance.com/news/photos-sudden-hailstorm-turns-french-riviera-towns-white/654295
“Incredible in EUROPE – January weather in Italy (maxes 6C/10C yesterday, 12/14C below average), above July average in GREECE with HOTTEST NIGHT EVER RECORDED IN APRIL IN EUROPE. INSANE MINIMUM 29.3 [84.7F] at Rethymnon.
“Europe has never seen a month like that extreme.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1782717945853944234
“Dust storms are becoming ‘more frequent and severe’ – so are we prepared? As haze from the Sahara envelops Athens, scientists are racing to explain a worrying global trend…
“As the number of storms increases across the planet, scientists are now racing to explain the trend – with deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion and climate change all identified as potential factors.”
“Mosquito-borne diseases spreading in Europe due to climate crisis, says expert…
“The insects spread illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever, the prevalences of which have hugely increased over the past 80 years as global heating has given them the warmer, more humid conditions they thrive in.”
“EXTRAORDINARY MEDITERRANEAN HEAT WAVE – Almost 40C in CYPRUS – 39.3 [102.7F] Morphou, hottest April day in Cyprus history.
“Tomorrow the heat will worsen and expand: hundreds of records will be brutalized in several countries.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1783201613714260025
“HISTORIC DAY IN TURKIYE – HOTTEST APRIL DAY IN HISTORY. 39.2 [102.6F] today at Çukurova broke the 39.0 recorded at Iskenderun in April 1970.
“39.3 Cyprus, 39.2 Turkey, 44C Egypt, 42C Jordan, 45.5 Israel. From MGM”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1783210484730052936
“EXTRAORDINARY HEAT WAVE IN AFRICA: Records all over the Continent:
“47.2 Tillabery ties HOTTEST APRIL DAY IN NIGER; 47.0 Bokoro ties HOTTEST APRIL DAY in CHAD… ALL TIME RECORDS – NIGER: 47.1 Nguigmi 46.1 Dosso; 45.5 Magaria; 45.1 Zinder; 44.0 Kano NIGERIA… Niamey NIGER MIN 33.3 Hottest night in history…”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1783228399013532028
“EXTRAORDINARY HEAT SOUTHERN AFRICA – April Records destroyed all over Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana with margins up to 6C.
“ZIMBABWE 39.4C [102.9F] at Beitbridge NATIONAL HEAT RECORD FOR APRIL. Both South America and Southern Africa are living unprecedented autumn heat waves.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1782840694106710497
“Madagascar’s forgotten crisis: poverty and hunger on the front line of climate change…
“Madagascar, situated in the Indian Ocean off the coast of southern Africa, has one of the world’s highest poverty rates, exacerbated by recurring natural disasters. Much of the soil is infertile and drinking water scarce.”
“Unstoppable records in African islands of Indian an Atlantic Oceans.
“GLORIOSO ISLAND TMIN 28.5 [83.3F] Hottest April night on record again; ASCENSION ISLAND TMIN 27.7C Hottest April night again (0.1C from all time high set last month). Records are sweeping every single tropical country.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1783144637860864509
“At least 32 dead as flash floods sweep through half of Kenya…
““The situation in Nairobi has escalated to extreme levels. The county government for all its efforts is clearly overwhelmed,” wrote city Senator Edwin Sifuna on his X account. “We need all national emergency services mobilized to save lives.””
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/24/africa/kenya-flash-floods-intl-latam/index.html
“Mass Snowmelt, Heavy Rains Worsen Flood Devastation Across Central Asia.
“Sudden spring warming and rains are continuing to complicate flood recovery across Central Asia. Devastating mudslides in Kyrgyzstan and overflowing rivers in Kazakhstan and Russia are the worst current threats. They follow weeks of floods and a burst dam in Orsk, Russia, on April 6.”
“Highway Along China Border [with India] Washed Away After Massive Landslide In Arunachal…
“The district witnessed heavy landslides between Hunli and Anini on the National Highway-313 yesterday due to heavy rainfall over the past few days, authorities said. Videos showed a stretch of the highway missing…”
“Bengaluru witnesses second hottest April day in history…
“Bengaluru city broke yet another weather record on Tuesday, witnessing a maximum temperature of 37.6 degrees Celsius, marking the second-hottest summer day in the city’s history. The Karnataka capital, which is already enduring a relentless heatwave for months, continued to see sizzling temperatures…”
“Along the mighty Bay of Bengal, the forces unleashed by climate change are overwhelming lives and livelihoods…
“Climate change is warming waters, shifting ocean patterns and transforming the region’s yearly monsoon from a reliable lifeline into a menace. The water in the bay is rising faster than in other major bodies of water.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2024/bay-of-bengal-climate-change/
“Thousands in heatwave-hit Bangladesh pray for rain…
“”Praying for rains is a tradition of our prophet. We repented for our sins and prayed for his blessings for rains,” Muhammad Abu Yusuf, an Islamic cleric who led a morning prayer service for 1,000 people in central Dhaka, told AFP. “Life has become unbearable due to lack of rains,” he said. “Poor people are suffering immensely.””
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-thousands-heatwave-bangladesh-pray.html
“‘Everything is gone’: Chinese farmers face huge losses after widespread floods…
“In south China’s Qingyuan city, farmers are facing huge losses caused by widespread floods. Torrential rains hit Guangdong province starting on April 19, 2024, ushering in an earlier-than-normal start to the province’s annual flooding season in May and June.”
“First cherry blossoms in Kyoto, Japan have a record going back to the 9th Century. It shows: – No trend and random noise till about 1800. Then, exponential warming for the last two centuries.
“These single site data from crude instrumentation track climate change very well.”
https://twitter.com/RogerCoppock/status/1782971875036909914
“EXTRAORDINARY HEAT IN ASIA. Thousands of records smashed. HOTTEST NIGHT ever LAOS/CAMBODIA TMin. 31.5 [88.7F] Pakse, 30.6 Preah Viehear.
“HOTTEST APRIL NIGHT in INDONESIA Tmin 28.6 Medan; RECORD HOT NIGHTS VIETNAM Tmin 29.2 Truong Sa; THAILAND 30.6 Ubon, 30.5 Mukdahan, 30 Kosumpisai; 29.5 Buriram.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1783295931196072196
“In the Philippines, it’s ‘so hot you can’t breathe’ as heat index touches 47 degrees Celsius…
“Extreme heat scorched the Philippines on Wednesday, forcing schools in some areas to suspend in-person classes and prompting warnings for people to limit the amount of time spent outdoors.”
“HISTORIC IN THE PHILIPPINES – 29.8 [85.6F] MINIMUM Manila AP (28.6 Puerto Princesa) HOTTEST NIGHT IN HISTORY.
“Dozens thousands of records are being brutalized all over Oceania and Asia in every country, we are witnessing something beyond any imagination.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1783297153059721533
“More than coral: the unseen casualties of record-breaking heat on the Great Barrier Reef…
“What have we found? So far, the signs are not good. When we dive underwater, we can taste the change as stressed and dying corals release chemicals into water. When we bring back samples, the smell is distinctly sulphurous and sour.”
“New Zealand experiencing 5x more temperature extremes than expected…
“Researchers have analysed 70 years’ worth of weather data across the whole country to see how frequently extreme events, such as record-breaking heatwaves, are happening. They found that they are increasing at a much faster rate than the mean average temperature.”
https://niwa.co.nz/news/new-zealand-experiencing-5x-more-temperature-extremes-expected
“Early this Wednesday, a storm occurred that hit several cities [Parguay] in the Central department with great force, including Limpio, Fernando de la Mora, Asunción and Luque.
“In this last city, the death of a woman and her daughter was even recorded, who were traveling in their vehicle that was swept away by the rapid when crossing a bridge, and fell into the bed of the stream.”
“EXCEPTIONAL HEAT WAVE IN SOUTH AMERICA – Unbelievable MINIMUM 29.4C [84.9F] at IPTA Chaco Hottest April night in PARAGUAY.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1783170436907368521
“Amid record-high fires across the Amazon, Brazil loses primary forests…
“The number of fires shows no signs of easing as Brazil’s Roraima faces unprecedented blazes, and several Amazonian countries, including Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela, registered record-high outbreaks in the first quarter this year.”
“Costa Rica Faces Water Supply Challenges Amid Severe Drought…
“This alarming situation has left residents of various areas in the capital, which is home to half of Costa Rica’s 5.1 million inhabitants, facing programmed cuts in their drinking water supply for weeks. Some neighborhoods have even gone days without access to water.”
https://ticotimes.net/2024/04/24/costa-rica-faces-water-supply-challenges-amid-severe-drought
“Wildfire razes pinelands near top Cuba tourist town of Viñales…
“A wildfire blazed early on Wednesday outside the picturesque western Cuba valley town of Vinales, state-run media said, threatening a region considered to be among the island’s most important tourist destinations.”
“HISTORIC HEAT IN MEXICO – MINIMUM temperature 29.2C [84.6F] at Arriaga is HOTTEST APRIL NIGHT IN MEXICAN HISTORY.
“Dozens of thousands of records are falling in every corner of the planet: nothing seen in 3+ centuries of world climatology can remotely compares to what’s happening these hours.”
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1783268995052785809
“Iceland’s glaciers are collapsing quickly. It could be catastrophic for the Massachusetts coastline..
“Sólheimajökull has lost two kilometers of ice in the last 130 years. Twenty-five percent of that loss happened in the last 15 years. The glacier is now melting at a rate of over 40 meters per year.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/iceland-melting-glaciers-climate-change-massachusetts-coast/
“Wildfires in Siberia are a growing global threat…
“The researchers predict a dramatic increase in air pollution, especially under the most extreme wildfire scenarios. This pollution impacts not only Siberia but also vast areas of East Asia, which lie downwind from these fires.”
https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-in-siberia-are-a-growing-global-threat/
“Beyond higher temperatures: Preparing for national security risks posed by climate change…
“”National security has many facets affected directly by climate,” said Jill Brandenberger… who leads the Laboratory’s climate security research. “It involves energy and water, which may be more obvious, but also food security, infrastructure, and health. These are all critical to national security and overall human security.””
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-higher-temperatures-national-posed-climate.html
You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an “Economic” thread.
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Thank you
You are welcome, Regan.
More than half of the major property insurers in California have cut back on business in the state in recent years in response to the increasing severity of wildfires.Photographer: David Odisho/Bloomberg
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By Nadia Lopez
April 24, 2024 at 9:20 PM EDT
Allstate Corp. will end its years-long pause on underwriting in California as soon as the state regulator adopts proposed regulatory changes to make it easier for insurers to raise rates, according to a company spokesperson.
“If the regulations were in effect today, we would begin selling new homeowner insurance policies tomorrow,” said Gerald Zimmerman, senior vice president of government relations for Allstate, in a public hearing on April 23. “Let me repeat that: As soon as we can use catastrophe modeling and incorporate the net cost of reinsurance into our rates, we will be open to business in nearly every part of California.”
CATASTROPHE MODELING ….now who is sounding the alarmist 🔔🔔🔔 bells?
See, when climate change hits them in their pocket books it becomes an issue the people have to pay for…can’t hurt their profit margins..can we?
The financial system is really a nexus for our converging crises and a major Achilles’ heel. I would not be at all surprised to see a financial cataclysm implode the global economy before climate/eco mayhem make it physically non-viable.
Justin, thank you for all your work and taking the time to follow up with comments.
From the looks of things, you are very likely correct with a financial implosion.
Actually, surprised on how things have held up until now with all the stresses being brought to bear in many directions.
It was suggested that a full blown recession here in the United States won’t be allowed until after the November elections.
Not sure how much longer the common person will be able manage these escalating living costs .
Unfortunately, the way it is presented deflects the climate crisis as a major component in the equation…
Saw now that President Biden just made an announcement that used that very term…. we’ll see how far that is taken…
This site is a great resource, a reality check from another dimension, as the plump-Trump circus monopolizes what news isn’t dedicated to the Whirled Wars spinning out of control.
Meanwhile a single car manufacturer boasts of a 10 million unit production as though that’s a good thing:
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/toyota-hits-record-output-sales-043204802.html
Meanwhile Wunderground reports center of tornado activity moves out of the south to Ohio: the new Epicenter of US fracturing growth. I’m sure that’s a mere coincidence.
As we move deeper into what Eliot Jacobsen calls FUBAR territory, each glowing manufacturing report sounds the death knell for yet another coral reef, the end of life for another glacier, the transformation of yet another once-vibrant community into one more Doomtown.
As the approaching summer brings with it a sense of dread never experienced before, how long, one wonders, before these corporate profits, that everyone knows get distributed to the already wealthy in a tsunami of cash, result in a paroxysm of revolt across the globe?
The two themes of this blog are thus engaged in a pas de deux, a danse macabre wherein the better the news reads for the economy , the more dire it portends for that of climate derangement.
Thank you, Pan, for being the sole chronicler of this dance with doom.
“Meanwhile a single car manufacturer boasts of a 10 million unit production as though that’s a good thing…”
Weird to think that those 10 million Toyota cars were once just nature minding its own business…
I noticed that a few of the climate stories I posted today occurred on contested land: China and India are at loggerheads over Arunachal where a landslide took out a highway; Girona of the Spanish record-breaking hailstorm is in the autonomous region of Catalonia, which has a very strong independence movement; and Morphou, where Cyprus recorded its new April heat record, is hotly disputed between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots:
“Turkish Cypriots Say Not an Inch of Morphou Will be Returned…” [A Greek article from 2016].
All of our human dramas are starting to look so petty and absurd against the gathering might of nature disrupted.
A lot of 84F+ temperature minimums around the globe & plenty of all time April heat records broken to boot!
Quite the ominous warning of what this summer will undoubtedly bring in a few months’ time…
Justin, I recall you fondly from Facebook. I can’t recall if you’ve commented before but, if not, welcome to the site. May I also compliment you on that rather stylish first name of yours! 😆
“it’s so hot you can’t breathe”. Schools are closed. Office workers fretted that they can’t go out for lunch anymore and their biggest concern is the AC breaking down.
Extreme heat in April:
Philippines
Mediterranean
Turkey
Africa
India
Bangladesh
The list goes on…
I’m starting to wonder how many people are so acclimated to their AC that they could no longer survive for long without it.
And the weather mavens are predicting 33 named storms in the Atlantic this year. Ouch! Better update your insurance! Oh, wait…
Regarding cherry blossoms, I myself was surprised to see blossoms behind my flat here in Juneau. “Well, now…” I thought to myself, “that can’t be right!” And yes, I have sighted buds on the Rhoddies, can blooms be far behind?
Indeed – extreme heat everywhere.
I feel a bit sorry for climate historian, Maximiliano Herrera, who is one of my go-to sources of data for these threads. English is not his first language, and he is struggling to find sufficient adjectives to describe the endless, falling records.
Hello Pan, that warming of the sea water and in my case the Mediterranean does make ‘the weather’a lot more interesting 🙂 We are now entering a seventh ‘Mediterranean period as they call it. With southerly winds from Africa a warm sea and a cold upper air That means a lot of very much rain. For the next few days, another forecast of around 150 mm in a few days! This week snow and hail as you yourself reported and a fortnight ago 30 degrees at the weekend!
Just yesterday – 2 well we will see!
What a topsy-turvy month this is for Europe. My poor parents have been on some pilgrimage in Italy and were not expecting bitter cold at the end of April!
Re The Mediterranean, I was reading that there is now an extreme category 4 marine heatwave off the coast of North Africa, and I recall that a few days ago there was a +7C anomaly off the coast of Venice. Crazy.
WTF does anyone expect from infinite growth on a finite planet, Mo Money? Go ahead & enjoy the destruction of The Garden of Eden. I have no empathy for, “It’s not my fault.” stupidity. I’m still waiting to see the harsh reality of MSM talking heads, paid climate scientist, rich elites as they face the consequences of their denial of anything that goes against their value systems. The poor are already having a great time with habitat destruction, around the globe. How about some hopium while waiting to see the billions of poor say “Enough”? Like that’s going to happen.
My favorite links are those that talk drought & lack of drinking water. Individuals of this species can only live a few days without water consumption. I think that this species is going to get Pink Floyds: “quick short, sharp, shock”. Too bad that nothing sinks in until it’s too late as civilization & habitat falls down around 8 billion brilliant minds’ heads.
Sorry I failed to post this: 😉
“”…noticed that a few of the climate stories I posted today occurred on contested land: China and India are at loggerheads over Arunachal where a landslide took out a highway;..”
Ahhh.. I follow Carl Zha on Chinese and Asia news. Apparently, the “border dispute” with India, raises its head every Indian election cycle for decades.. for the benefit of local population propaganda…. a little like the US southern border “issue” gets raised as a political hammer to bash the other side on partisan politics, whenever the opportunity presents itself, but nothing substantial ever gets agreed.
In the case of India-China their “border clashes” are just political theatre since the 1970s, .. nearly always staged.
By mutual agreement, for example, both sides troops are unarmed 🙂 It suits India having a constant background issue for distraction etc. Being posted to the border region, seems to be a secret holiday for both countries’ troops.
Not so in Myanmar, not just the headline action, but plenty of covert sabotage attacks on Chinese BRI projects, including deaths of Chinese engineers and technical staff, as well as local workers.
Did you all know that when China constructed the long Vietnam high speed rail line a few years ago, they had to spend almost the first year completing the de-mining of the landscape from the 60s/70s Vietnam War.
Rain, those clashes in Arunachal are not purely political theatre for gullible electorates. China and India fought actual wars over Himalayan territory in the 1960’s. The local animus is certainly real and the, very sensible, bilateral decision to keep the border soldiers unarmed has meant that the battles have been positively medieval at times, with numerous fatalities (from 2020):
“A savage brawl between Indian and Chinese forces in the Galwan river valley in Ladakh, a disputed Himalayan border region, has left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-53076781
As with the Galwan, China controls the upstream portions of all the major rivers that flow into India. You’d guess this will prove a further challenge for Sino-Indian relations in the not too distant future.
https://nonsite.org/change-agent-gene-sharps-neoliberal-nonviolence-part-one/
Here is the link to Gene Sharp, harvard and the cia and cold war