“The world is on course to record its warmest winter ever, unsettling global crop production and raising the risk of food inflation.
“Thailand has been hit with its worst drought in 40 years, Europe witnessed its hottest winter ever, Australia and New Zealand are reeling with poor rainfall and in some parts of the U.S., warmer temperatures have contributed to wetter weather.
“For markets, extreme weather conditions, coupled with the spread of the coronavirus across the world, have led to volatile prices. The United Nations Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in global prices of commonly-traded food commodities, jumped to the highest in five years in January, before slipping in February as the virus hurt demand for products like edible oils and meat.”
“The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that the number of crop-eating locusts in east Africa could explode 400-fold by June 2020.
“That would devastate harvests in a region with more than 19 million hungry people, the FAO has outlined.”
“Uganda on Monday issued a disaster alert warning that the country will face floods, landslides, strong winds and lightning as the first rain season starts.
“Martin Owor, commissioner in charge of disaster management, said in a statement that several sub-regions in the country will be confronted with heavy rains above the normal level.”
http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2020-03/10/content_75795350.htm
“It’s deja vu for Morocco’s grain farmers, who are bracing for another dismal harvest as one of the worst droughts in decades withers crops.
““Morocco is Thirsty,” the daily L’Economiste said on its front page last week after several months of dryness and heat hurt wheat and barley plants.””
“Over 298,000 people have been affected by severe drought conditions across Sri Lanka while the dry weather is expected to further worsen in the coming weeks, the Disaster Management Center said in a statement here Tuesday.
“The Meteorology Department said temperatures were expected to hit 41 degrees centigrade in the coming days.”
http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2020-03/10/content_75797422.htm
“Indian Ocean surface temperatures that helped drive hot and dry conditions in eastern Australia last year were more clearly influenced by climate change than previously thought and are likely to worsen in future, researchers have found…
“Australia could experience future conditions even more extreme than those that elevated the bushfire risk during the 2019-20 fire season.”
“Queensland could be drenched with up to 300mm [12 inches] of rain as a tropical cyclone forms in the Coral Sea.
“Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said the downpour could lead to flooding, with a warning in place from Mackay up to Cape York.”
“After six months without rains that have caused a severe drought…
“the Government of Uruguay has declared the agricultural emergency in five departments affected by water stress and heat.”
“You weren’t wrong, it WAS a wet winter. At least if you were in north or central Alabama.
“And NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information has made it official, declaring that the state of Alabama as a whole had its wettest winter on record.”
https://www.al.com/news/2020/03/its-official-alabama-had-its-wettest-winter-on-record.html
“Record-breaking warmth for the month of March hit New England on Monday with more high temperatures expected Tuesday across Massachusetts.
“Providence, Rhode Island saw its highest March temperature of 72 degrees.”
“A surge in activity on farms [in Ireland] across the country has been brought to a halt again by the heavy rains of the last few days…
“…fertiliser spreading is well back on normal years as a result of the heavy rainfall levels of recent months… grassland management was also proving extremely difficult for farmers as they have been unable to get cows out on paddocks for extended periods.”
“Two people have been rescued from cars as heavy rain brings flooding to parts of Wales…
“Heavy rain overnight had been expected to cause “fast-flowing rivers and deep flood water, causing danger to life”, the Met Office had warned.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-51807510
“The spread of coronavirus across the world is disrupting climate and biodiversity meetings ahead of two critical UN summits seeking to limit warming and to halt extinctions of plants and wildlife.
“Measures to contain the spread of coronavirus, also known as Covid19, are ramping up globally, with tougher travel restrictions forcing meetings to be postponed later into the year and squeezing timetables for decisions.”
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