“Hundreds of thousands of homes are submerged and at least 132 people have been killed as some of the worst flooding in decades hits Vietnam and Cambodia, affecting more than 5 million people…
“Tropical Storm Saudel is predicted to make landfall this weekend, bringing more torrential rain to areas of central Vietnam that are still experiencing heavy flooding.
““We have grave fears that the flooding will go from bad to worse and that it [will] be overwhelming for even the most prepared and resilient communities, with many more typhoons and storms predicted in the next month,” Viet Nam Red Cross told the ABC…”
“Nepal’s population of one-horned rhinoceros …are faced with a new threat: changes in their living environment due to a rapidly-warming atmosphere.
“Eight rhinos have been found dead inside Chitwan National Park since 11 July – half of them due to unprecedented floods on the Narayani River that submerged their grassland habitat.”
“Once again, Hyderabad [India] witnessed heart-rending scenes as people caught in helpless situations amidst waterlogged roads, floodwaters gushing into houses and desperate rescue attempts by volunteers and government personnel, following heavy rains the previous night.” Photos:
“…it is observed that the number of weather stations [in India] which reported very heavy rainfall has increased by 67.5% while the number reporting extremely heavy rainfall has more than doubled, increasing by 112%.
“In simpler terms, there has been a steady increase in the number of very heavy & extremely rainfall events in India in the last 3 years.”
“As many as 1.4 million children face homelessness and disease following some of the worst ever floods in Pakistan, warns Save the Children… children are living outdoors, schools have been destroyed or damaged and agricultural crops have been lost. In many rural districts, people have only five days’ worth of food stock left.
“Khuram Gondal, Save the Children’s Country Director in Pakistan, said: “During the current monsoon, Sindh province has experienced some of the heaviest rainfall for nearly 90 years and more heavy rains are expected.”
“…floods have been caused by delayed heavy rain pounding the region [Barringo, Kenya] for almost a month now.
“The raging water that has broken its banks has displaced thousands, washed away farm products and animals, leaving houses fully submerged in water, with roads now submerged in water. Locals claim that millions worth of property has been destroyed by the water and now are forced to use boats to move around where once motor vehicles and bicycles were the norms.”
“Over the past six months, the lakes of Kenya’s Rift Valley have risen to levels not seen in at least half a century. This follows one of the wettest periods in East Africa in living memory.
“Above-average temperatures in the Indian Ocean have caused consecutive years of extreme and erratic rainfall, resulting in frequent and unusual showers on the slopes and rivers that feed the lakes.” Video:
“On 6 October 2020, flood levels at the hydrological stations monitored in Niamey (Niger Republic) and Malan Ville (Benin Republic) reached the red alert zone due to the intensity of the torrential rainfall and caused flooding in Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Sokoto, and Zamfara state (amongst other states) affecting 91,254 people or 15,209 households…
“The situation in Kebbi [Nigeria] – the country’s biggest rice-producing state – is especially dire, as vast farmlands are completely submerged due to the most recent rains.”
“While the Western Cape [South Africa] has been blessed with much rainfall [after running, in parts, entirely dry in 2018], the central Karoo region is still struggling with a seven-year drought and farmers are desperate for help…
““There are farms entering the second year with no water at all,” a Klein-Karoo stone fruit farmer told Fresh Plaza.
“Storm Barbara will bring gale-force winds and torrential rain to Kent [UK] from the early hours – adding to an already record-breaking month of weather for the county.
“Saturday, October 3 was the UK’s wettest day since records began in 1891 with enough rainfall in a single day to fill Loch Ness.”
“Cork city centre [Ireland] was hit by severe flooding on Tuesday morning with many business owners having to bail out waters after the river Lee burst its banks. Gardaí were forced to close off a number of low-lying streets as flood waters, up to a foot high in places, began to make some streets impassable. “Speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin pledged supports for businesses and residents hit by the flooding.”
“Bears, bison and wolves: Rewilding Romania to better cope with climate change.
“In this episode of Climate Now, as part of Euronews’ Green Tomorrow initiative, we report from Romania to on the link between biodiversity and climate change, with projects to build bridges for bears and bring back the bison.” Video:
“Russia’s Siberia has seen its warmest spring and summer on record, reports World Grain. Although the unusual weather resulted in a record number of wildfires and the worst pest invasion in years, there appears to be a silver lining for Russian agriculture, as the country stands to gain a considerable amount of arable land if the trend continues.”
[This is akin to gleefully collecting fish from seabed exposed by an impending tsunami].
“Kahului [Hawaii] experienced 94-degree heat Monday, tying the record set in 2019 and 1984 and marking the fourth day in a row that Central Maui tied or broke a heat record.
“Temperatures also hit 92 degrees Sunday (tying the 1984 record), 94 degrees Saturday (breaking the 2015 record of 91 degrees) and 93 degrees Friday (tying the 1991 record). Kahului has now broken or tied records 12 times this month.”
[You may recall that Hawaii broke or tied 273 heat records in 2019.]
“About 40% of the U.S. population lives in a coastal area and in Hawai’i, nearly everyone is vulnerable to the effects of tropical storms and hurricanes.
“Tropical cyclones, regionally known as hurricanes or typhoons, have been moving across ocean basins faster since 1982, according to a new study published in Environmental Research Letters.”
“A shark lab in California tagged more sharks off the southern coast this year than ever before, raising questions researchers are unable to answer…
“While researchers don’t know why the sharks are hanging around, Lowe said they suspect it could be related to food sources or a result of climate changes.”
“If by “apocalyptic” we mean simply “catastrophic,” then yes, the wave of wildfires that began in Southern California in early September has been apocalyptic…
“The consequences, once local, are now regional: friends from Los Angeles to Vancouver can compare dire air-quality data.”
“National forest land in five Colorado counties will temporarily close due to “unprecedented and historic fire conditions…”
“”The new starts and explosive growth of fires throughout the northern Colorado Front Range over the past week, including the Cameron Peak, Cal Wood, and Lefthand Canyon fires, has led to this decision,” said Tuesday’s release from the US Forest Service…”
“Results from a study published in the Journal of Biogeography indicate that wildfires may play a role in accelerating climate-driven species changes in mountain forests by compounding regional warming trends.
“The study examined temperatures within forests in a region of Colorado that has experienced wildfires and spruce beetle outbreaks within the last 10 to 15 years.”
“The largest and most intense drought in years is engulfing the Western US and threatens to grow larger and more severe in the coming months.
“The drought has already been a major contributor to record wildfire activity in California and Colorado. Its continuation could also deplete rivers, stifle crops and eventually drain water supplies in some Western states.”
“Deadly Bacteria in Coastal Waters Causes a Flesh-Eating Disease. Climate Change Is Making It Worse:
“In October 2018, three weeks after Hurricane Florence pummelled swaths of North Carolina, Eddie Clinton, a retired schoolteacher opened a cooler full of shrimp from an acquaintance who went on a fishing expedition 130 miles south in a river that empties into the Atlantic Ocean…
“The next day, he woke up feeling weak. By evening, struggling to breathe, he was rushed to an area hospital.”
“Tropical Storm Epsilon formed Monday in the open Atlantic Ocean, a little more than 735 miles southeast of Bermuda.
“With maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, it is the 26th named storm of the extraordinarily busy 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, and puts us one tropical storm away from tying 2005′s record.”
“Mourners Hold a Funeral for a Dead Oregon Glacier:
“The funeral held for Clark Glacier took inspiration from a funeral held for dead ice in Switzerland and Iceland last year and is part of a growing sense of grief for the collapse of the natural world at the hands of unfettered capitalism.”
“Time is running out for the Arctic. The region continues to warm at two or three times the global rate and scientists now predict that we could see Arctic summer ice disappear as early as 2042.
“As the realization sets in that existing emission reductions and renewable energy programs in place won’t be enough to save the Arctic, alternative geoengineering projects have gained traction as scientists look for a last-ditch solution.”
This graph shows that re-freezing has yet to meaningfully occur in the Laptev Sea, where, I might add, extensive methane gas-bubbling has been observed by scientists.
Image courtesy of Zack Labe. Article re methane seepage from 2019:
“Even amid a pandemic that has killed more than 1 million people, infected over 40 million, and tanked economies, people around the world are still extremely worried about the threat posed by climate change.
“A recent poll from the Pew Research Center found that a median of 70 percent of respondents in 14 countries identified climate change as a major threat to their countries, while 69 percent expressed the same level of worry about the spread of infectious disease.”
“California’s record-breaking wildfires have consumed about 1 million acres in just the past month, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
“The worst wildfire season in state history has been one of shocking superlatives.
“CalFire reported Saturday that more than 4.1 million acres have burned across the state in 2020 — nearly 1 million of those since mid September, when California had seen more than 3.3 million acres scorched by fire.”
“Based on news reports of record-sized wildfires, it would seem that the worst drought scourged parts of America are in Southern California and Oregon. However, four huge parts of America are suffering from drought which is much more extreme…
“There is no evidence in the forecasts for any of these four areas that relief can be expected.”
“Scorching. Blistering. Burning. There are only so many ways to describe how hot it’s been in the West this year.
“The desert Southwest is a hot place to live, but imagine spending over half of the year with high temperatures of at least 100 degrees. Parts of California and Arizona did just that this year.”
“…human activities transform not just the health and composition of forests, but their colors, too.
“Introduced pests, pathogens and invasive species are causing immediate changes to the fall color palette. And scientists are beginning to see a framework for how climate change may shape the forest colors of the future.”
“Although more than 11 million gallons of water have been pumped from the Las Américas [Merida, Yucatan, Mexico], around 30% of the subdivision continues to be flooded….
“…sections 1 and 2 of the development remain almost entirely underwater after Tropical Storm Gamma and Hurricane Delta contributed to Merida’s record-setting rainfall.”
“Firefighters tried to stifle several fire hotspots on Saturday in central Argentina, where continuous flames have devastated several mountain areas in recent months, ravaging some 190,000 hectares [469,500 acres].
“Seven other Argentine provinces, most in the north of the country, are also experiencing periodic forest fires.”
“Nigeria’s emergency management agency says floods in the northern state of Kano have claimed 54 lives in the last four months, as well as destroying over 30,000 homes.
“81 injuries were also sustained as a result of windstorms, heavy rains and associated fire outbreaks in region during the same period, the agency said.”
“Africa’s Sahel region is at the centre of accelerating climate change and “a canary in the coalmine of our warming planet”, the United Nation’s top humanitarian official has said. [Lot of canaries we have.]
“Mark Lowcock, the UN’s undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, said the Sahel was facing tragedy after an “alarming deterioration” in recent years that had led to tens of millions of people being displaced, rising extremist violence, massive violations of human rights and growing political instability.”
“The drought which has been raging for two years has hit national agriculture and rural areas [of Morocco] hard.
“In front of Parliament, in response to an oral question on the subject, Aziz Akhannouch, Minister of Agriculture, highlighted the worrying water situation, due to a precipitation deficit of 44% compared to normal during of the 2019/2020 agricultural season.”
“Drought And Humans Drove The Elephant Bird And The Dodo Extinct…
“Scientists have long debated whether humans or climate change were to blame for their extinction. Now cave deposits [in Madagascar] may provide a possible answer, showing that unusually dry conditions coincided with a growing human population on the island, putting the isolated ecosystem under a lot of stress.”
“Even as Hyderabad [India] was reeling from floods after record rainfall last week, on Saturday night, the city received heavy showers yet again, which inundated several colonies and swept away vehicles.
“Several videos which surfaced on social media, showed arterial roads flooded, while in the other places, water entered homes. Authorities are undertaking rescue and relief work.”
“Torrential rain across the Kingdom [Cambodia] has left residents who live near crocodile farms in fear as floods threaten to compromise premises and set reptiles loose.
“Fears have risen since a 30 kilogramme crocodile escaped from a farm in Prek Kampoes commune, Kandal, during floods on Thursday.”
“Rescue teams in Vietnam raced against the clock on Sunday in search for a dozen men, after a series of landslides overwhelmed an army camp.
“Heavy rain has pounded over central Vietnam for more than a week, resulting in floods and landslides that have killed at least 64 people, according to the country’s disaster management authority.”
“The development of oil palm and rubber plantations in a watershed area of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island is exacerbating flooding for nearby communities, new research suggests.
“The multidisciplinary study finds that soil compaction on land cleared for planting oil palm and rubber reduces the ground’s capacity to absorb rainwater, leading to surface runoff that leads to flooding.”
“From disease to bushfires, Australia’s iconic koalas face bleak future…
““They really run the risk of becoming extinct inside our lifetime,” Morgan Philpott said of the New South Wales koala population at an animal hospital on Sydney’s outskirts while helping a veterinarian treat a rescued koala infected with the bacterial disease chlamydia.”
“The western Antarctic Peninsula (the northernmost part of the continent) is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth. In February, temperatures there reached a record 20.75 °C, with an average daily temperature that was 2 °C higher than the means for the preceding 70 years.
“Most of the region’s glaciers are receding. And sea ice is dwindling.”
“In Alaska and other high, cold places around the world, new research shows that mountains are collapsing as the permafrost that holds them together melts, threatening tsunamis if they fall into the sea.
“Scientists are warning that populated areas and major tourist attractions are at risk.”
“It was a devastating summer for the Arctic. In September, sea ice in the Arctic Ocean hit a low of about 1.4 million acres – the second-lowest on record… When it comes to ice on land, the picture is just as dire…
“”climate change has overwhelmingly driven the dramatic increase in melting observed over the last 40 years.” Photos:
“Teenagers living in remote Arctic communities say they’re worried about the effects of climate change. Scientists warn that melting ice and warming temperatures show rapid climate change is taking place.
“Rarely heard young people from multiple countries within the Arctic Circle say their way of life is at risk and governments must act.”
“Technology is keeping patches of Alaska permafrost frozen to preserve energy infrastructure even as indigenous residents’ world is transformed by the climate crisis…
“Countries from Norway to Russia are advancing new Arctic oil developments. But under Donald Trump’s administration, Alaska has emerged as a hotbed of Arctic oil extraction…”
NOAA agrees with EU’s Copernicus that September was the hottest on record; this in spite of a La Nina:
“Boosted by human-caused climate change global temperatures averaged 60.75 degrees (15.97 Celsius) last month… That’s 1.75 degrees (0.97 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average.”
“Thousands of people in northern California were without power on Thursday amid an autumn heatwave that brought another round of extreme wildfire danger.
“The utility company Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) began shutting off power on Wednesday evening to about 50,000 customers – about 100,000 people – in portions of 24 counties…”
“Phoenix has hit 100 degrees on record-breaking half of the days in 2020.
“The unrelenting and unprecedented heat that scorched Phoenix all summer, setting countless records, has carried over into the fall. Now it has set another blistering milestone: the most 100-degree days ever observed in a calendar year.
On Wednesday, the mercury in Phoenix climbed to at least 100 degrees for the 144th time in 2020.”
“A Colorado wildfire, fueled by high winds, grew by more than 22,000 acres Wednesday to become the largest in state history.
“The Cameron Peak Fire burning in the mountains west of Fort Collins had grown to 158,300 acres by Wednesday evening, making it the largest wildfire in state history…”
“Wildfires show how climate change is transforming national parks. Drier landscapes, warmer weather, and intensifying fires may change America’s beloved landscapes forever.”
“As boreal forest wildfires increase in severity and frequency, new patterns of post-fire recovery are emerging.
“Research led by Jill Johnstone and colleagues at the U.S. National Science Foundation-supported Bonanza Creek Long-term Ecological Research site found that recent wildfires led to changes in tree species dominance that are persisting through post-fire succession in Alaska’s boreal forests.”
“Small, controlled fires have long been a seasonal occurrence in Bolivia…
“[But] fires this year have escaped and burned unchecked in several ecosystems, including the Pantanal wetlands in the eastern part of the country; the dry Chiquitano forest in the southeast; and Beni savanna and Amazon rainforest areas in the north.”
“The Atlantic hurricane season this year has been a doozy, with 25 named storms forming at a breakneck record pace and lashing broad swaths of the U.S. coastline. But the Pacific Ocean, normally busier than the Atlantic and featuring stronger storms, has been uncharacteristically tepid…
“Part of the reason behind that is a developing La Niña pattern.”
“Vietnamese rescuers on Thursday recovered the bodies of all 13 soldiers from the site of two deadly landslides, three days after the disaster near a remote hydropower dam…
“Intense rains since early October have caused floods and mudslides that have killed at least 49 people in central Vietnam, while more heavy rainfall is expected until early next week on several fronts.”
“Floodwaters following heavy rains have risen to “an alarming level” in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, a disaster management official said Wednesday, creating a rank soup as it mixed with weeks of garbage left uncollected during a sanitation worker strike, residents said.
“A tropical storm that caused flash flooding in 19 of Cambodia’s 25 provinces has led to the evacuation of more than 10,000 people…”
“Heavy rains caused by Tropical Storm Nangka have inundated many provinces in the eastern and southern regions of Thailand, forcing many schools to close.
“Around 920 houses in Trang province were flooded by overflowing rivers and two houses damaged by landslides.”
“In one of the worst spells of downpour spanning over a few days in this city and other parts of Telangana [India], 50 people died… The flood situation in neighbouring Karnataka worsened on Thursday with several areas in the northern parts of the state inundated due to torrential rains and release of water from major dams.
“In Telangana [India], officials said that for the first time after 1916, such a big spell of rain was recorded…”
“Heavy rain claimed at least 27 lives in separate incidents in various parts of Western Maharashtra [India] since Wednesday, an official from Divisional Commissionerate in Pune said on Thursday.
“Torrential rainfall in most parts of Western Maharashtra resulted in flood-like situations in many districts as dams and small reservoirs were filled to the brim.”
“At least 12 people have been killed in flash floods caused by ongoing heavy rains in Tanzania’s business capital Dar es Salaam, police said on Thursday.
“…the victims died after they were swept away by floods. Two children from the same family were among the victims.”
“The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warns Sudan’s fragile political stability could be at risk if the desperate needs of hundreds of thousands of flood victims are not urgently addressed…
“…children comprise about half of the flood victims and are particularly vulnerable…”
“The next rainy season in East Africa is forecast to fail, jeopardizing food security for millions of people…
“The timing could not be worse. The region is more precarious than ever — destabilized by COVID-19 and the worst devastation from locusts in half a century.”
“The olive trees have become drought-stricken, after a season in which the temperatures rose sharply, reaching “unprecedented” degrees in the southern countryside of Qunaitra [Syria]…
“The heatwave caused olive fruits to wither and dry while they are still in the flowering stage, according to some farmers interviewed by Enab Baladi.”
“French authorities have caught a black Canadian wolf that escaped from a wildlife park during heavy flooding in southern France more than a week ago but six others remain on the run…
“At least six people died and more than a dozen are believed still missing after the worst flooding to hit southeastern France for more than a century…”
“The UK had its wettest day on record after Storm Alex hit earlier this month, with enough rain falling to more than fill Loch Ness, the Met Office has said.
“Data from the national weather service shows Saturday 3 October, the day after the storm, was the wettest day in records dating back to 1891.”
“Solastalgia means a feeling of homesickness without ever leaving home – and for Inuit in Canada’s north it describes the psychological impact of the climate crisis…
“Around the world, environmentally sensitive areas from Australia to the Amazon are being transformed by a warming climate. While climate change may be abstract in some places, here in the Arctic it is concrete, and becoming unsettlingly familiar.”
“Methane emissions have jumped so far this year even as oil and gas production has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The report from Kayrros, which analyzes methane leaks through satellite imagery, found visible methane emissions jumped 32 percent in the first eight months of 2020 when compared with the same period in 2019.”
“Increasingly I am feeling overwhelmed and unsure about how I can best live my life in the face of the catastrophe that is now upon us.
“I’m anxious about the enormity of the scale of what needs to be done, afraid of what might be waiting in my inbox.
“Something inside me feels like it has snapped, as if some essential thread of hope has failed.
“The knowing that sometimes things can’t be saved, that the planet is dying, that we couldn’t get it together in time to save the irreplaceable.
“It feels as though we have reached the point in human history when all the trees in the global common are finally gone, our connection to the wisdom of our ancestors lost forever.”
“The Atlantic Ocean has reached its hottest temperature in 2,900 years, according to a new study. The research, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that recent Atlantic warming has been “unparalleled” in the past three millennia.
“A team of scientists, from universities in the US and Canada, looked at the Atlantic’s “multidecadal sea surface temperature variability” (AMV) – long-duration, naturally-occurring, warm and cool phases that can last up to 40 years at a time, and swing about 1F between extremes.
“As the report notes, AMV “strongly influences the Northern Hemisphere’s climate, including the Arctic”. Since the mid-Nineties, we have been in a warm phase.”
“The Arctic is unravelling. And it’s happening faster than anyone could have imagined just a few decades ago. Northern Siberia and the Canadian Arctic are now warming three times faster than the rest of the world.
“In the past decade, Arctic temperatures have increased by nearly 1C.”
“There was no ice on the water, says captain of tall ship Sedov about Arctic voyage.
“We had at least expected some minor pieces,” says Mikhail Novikov as his 100 years old sailing ship exits the Northern Sea Route… The voyage would have been unthinkable only few years ago. But this year’s unprecedented low levels of sea-ice has made sailing on the route smooth and easy.”
“The icy landscape of the Arctic as we imagine it will no longer exist in just a few decades, researchers returning from a major expedition to the frozen north have warned.
““This world is threatened. We really saw how the ice is disappearing,” said Markus Rex, leader of the largest-ever Arctic expedition, at a press conference Monday.”
Like many Britons in Portugal, Richard Alan moved to the sun-drenched southern Algarve region to retire. He bought a farm, married the love of his life and grew a vegetable garden. Then he started running out of water.
“He, and some environmentalists, blame an avocado production boom in recent years for mopping up already scarce water as a drought linked to climate change blights the area.”
“Days after Europe’s climate body’s announcement of the “hottest September on the planet,” Turkish officials declared new high-temperature records of last month in 93 sites of the country...
““Due to warmer weather beyond the season normal last month, we saw record-breaking changes in temperatures,” said Ahmet Duran Şahin from Istanbul Technical University to the state-run Anadolu Agency.”
“Mount Kilimanjaro fire: What is at risk for the local ecosystem?
“Fires are becoming more frequent on Africa’s highest mountain. With the latest blaze threatening wide-reaching consequences, DW looks at what is at stake for local wildlife.”
“In recent months, unpredictable, intense floods have washed across parts of Rwanda, Kenya, Somalia, Burundi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti and Tanzania, ruining homes and livelihoods…
“As the world battles a pandemic, large swaths of the African continent have been —literally — submerged by floods.”
“The warning by the Pakistan Meteorological Department of a heatwave hitting Karachi in October is extraordinary.
“No one would have thought that the temperature scale would be hitting 40 Celsius or above at the tail end of the year, but this an indication of what is to come; unpredictable weather patterns and harsher, longer seasons.”
“A house has collapsed in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad in Telangana state amid record rains and heavy flooding, killing at least eight people, police said.
“The house was in a hilly area of the city where the soil had loosened due to more than 25 centimetres (9.8 inches) of rain falling in the past 24 hours, said the city’s police commissioner Anjani Kumar.”
“At least one extreme disaster occurred every month over the last five months affecting lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh and killing about 300 people…
“In 15 hours from 6:00pm on the day, Rangpur city received 433mm rainfall, the highest rainfall recorded since the Met Office began keeping record in 1947.”
“Heavy rains since early October have caused deadly floods and landslides in several provinces in central Vietnam and displaced thousands of people in western Cambodia, officials and state media said.
“The floods are expected to worsen over the coming days, with tropical storm Nangka forecast to dump more rain as it makes landfall in Vietnam on Wednesday.”
“The southern Chinese province of Hainan has suspended a number of ferry and train services and canceled some flights as the 16th typhoon of the year barrels toward land.
“The Hainan provincial government issued the second-highest emergency alert for typhoon Nangka at 10 a.m. Tuesday as it was expected to make landfall in the coastal region between Wenchang and Lingshui in Hainan Tuesday evening.”
“At least 1,000 residents from six districts in Garut regency, West Java [Indonesia], have been displaced by flash floods and landslides due to torrential rainfall in the region since Sunday…
“According to local officials, the flood waters in Pamengpeuk reached up to 80 centimeters high.”
“Hundreds evacuated in Metro Cebu [Philippines] amid heavy downpour and floods… Nonstop rains which started early Tuesday night submerged low lying areas mostly in Mandaue and Cebu cities…
“Cebu City Risk Reduction Management Office OIC Ramil Ayuman said they are collating data on the overwhelming number of reported floods in several areas in the city.”
“Thousands of fish are feared dead in rivers in the south-west of the Australian state of Victoria after once-in-50-year flooding, local media reported Tuesday.
“Last week, rivers in the Shipwreck Coast region swelled to record levels after some areas received a month’s worth of rain in 48 hours.”
“Half the corals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have died over the past 25 years, scientists said Wednesday, warning that climate change is irreversibly destroying the World Heritage-listed underwater ecosystem.
“A study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Journal found an alarming rate of decline across all sizes of corals since the mid-1990s.”
“California’s siege of wildfires has significantly quieted but forecasters warned on Tuesday that a fall heatwave could bring back critical fire weather conditions this week.
“Fire weather watches will go into effect in much of northern California early on Wednesday due to high pressure producing hot and dry conditions with gusty offshore winds, the National Weather Service said.”
“800 Years Ago, Old Faithful Went Quiet. Soon, It Might Happen Again…
“”Climate models project increasingly severe droughts and large fires by mid-century leading to a major transformation of Yellowstone’s ecosystems,” the team writes.”
“Four people are dead in the aftermath of Hurricane Delta as remnants of the storm brought widespread rain to the US mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Monday…
“Hurricane Delta was the 25th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.”
“Experts warn that climate change will make the world a more inhospitable place to live, and we may be further along in that journey than we realized, a new report from the UN has revealed.
“The frequency of natural disasters over the past two decades is almost double that of the 1980-1999 period… with extreme weather events driven by climate change accounting for a large portion…”
“Deputy Governor of Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria visited several locations in Jakarta [Indonesia] that were hit by floods and landslides, on Saturday night.
“…the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has called to step up disaster mitigation efforts on account of a spike in the number of natural disasters in recent years.”
“A typhoon continued to move almost parallel to Japan’s Pacific coast from west to east on Saturday, the weather agency said, issuing a heavy rain alert for parts of the Izu island chain south of Tokyo and warning of mudslides as persistent downpours might have saturated the soil in the region…
“Rainfall of up to 300 millimeters [12 inches] is projected for the island chain…”
“The Paraguay River has reached its lowest level in half a century after months of extreme drought in the region, exposing the vulnerability of landlocked Paraguay’s economy.
“Some 85% percent of Paraguay’s foreign trade is conducted via the river, which has been depleted because of a lack of rainfall in the Pantanal area of Mato Grosso state in Brazil.”
“In the last seven days, rainfall has amounted to a third of what Merida [Yucatan, Mexico] normally gets in an entire year. But 2020 is not a normal year.
“The year still has 82 more days to go and yet Merida has already broken its own annual record for precipitation… The city has accumulated 1,474 mm / 58 inches of precipitation to date…”
“Gamma and Delta are in our rearview mirror. But parts of Yucatan are still underwater after the heavy rainfalls they brought… Mayor Renan Barrera called the events unprecedented…
“A tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea could bring yet more rain Tuesday, forecasters said.”
“Weary residents of coastal Louisiana began cleaning up on Saturday from wind and water damage inflicted by Hurricane Delta to their already storm-battered region, even as it weakened and moved northeast…
““Even if it wasn’t quite as powerful as Hurricane Laura, it was much bigger,” Governor John Bel Edwards told a briefing in Baton Rouge.”
“Cameron and other nearby hamlets have been virtually wiped off the marshy coast by back-to-back hurricanes that leveled homes and swallowed up vast swathes of land… By the time Delta came ashore Friday, there was little left to destroy.
“What’s happened to Cameron is a taste of what may be coming for other towns along the Gulf Coast as climate change takes hold. Warmer Gulf water and moister air are the kindling for tropical cyclones…”
“…a warm-up is forecast to begin Sunday as upper-level high pressure builds into California, the National Weather Service said. High temperatures will climb by several degrees on Sunday.
“California just recorded its hottest September on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the state looks to be stuck in a nearly endless loop of hot, dry weather.“
“In California’s celebrated Napa Valley, instead of welcoming visitors to their wineries for the autumn harvest season, winemakers this year are looking at decimated vineyards. Massive wind-driven wildfires have damaged and destroyed dozens of the region’s famed wineries, many of them family-owned businesses.
“And the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t helped either.”
“The Bay Area has broken the previous record for the most Spare the Air alerts issued in a year — and new records will continue to be set, as the air district extended an alert to Tuesday.
“That will mark alerts for a total of 51 days this year, compared to the previous record of 46 days in 2017…”
“Arizona has just experienced its driest monsoon season on record with an average of just 1.51 inches of rainfall across the state… It’s not a coincidence that it was also one of the hottest summers on record… 2020 was the second consecutive “dry” year in a row.
“Multiple years of dry monsoons can have serious effects on people and Arizona’s wildlands.
“South Sudan families displaced by fighting forced out again by floods… The worst rains in living memory have forced nearly 370,000 people to flee their homes since July, and roughly half of South Sudan’s 78 counties have large swathes of land underwater, the U.N. says.
“Scientists attribute the unusual rains to cyclical weather pattern that has been exacerbated by climate change.”
“Wildfires around the Middle East triggered by a heatwave hitting the region have killed three people, forced thousands of people to leave their homes and detonated landmines along the Lebanon–Israel border, state media and officials said Saturday.
“The areas hit by the heatwave are Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories. The fires come amid an intense heatwave that is unusual for this time of the year.”
“Russian authorities have declared an emergency in the Kezhemsky District in the eastern part of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory following a major oil spill…
“Russia has faced several high-profile pollution-related incidents this year, the most notable one being the one that occurred in the city of Norilsk, the Krasnoyarsk Territory.”
“As the permafrost thaws, the topography of the Arctic will alter dramatically, according to an international study headed by Finnish geographers. [We don’t really need a crack team of Finnish geographers to tell us this.]
“The study, which covered the entire area of permafrost in the Arctic, found that much of the permafrost landforms now occurring in that region was in danger of disappearing some time this century, and the change has already begun.”
“Night-time temperatures of 15-16 degrees Celsius in Norway are not normal for the time of year. The northern part of the country in particular has had an unusually warm start to October.
Bodø, the capital of the North Norway county, registered a temperature of 16.5 degrees on the first day of the month, an all-time record for the location…
“There is a clear trend. North Norway has had the most warming generally, including in the autumn,” Met Norway researcher Helga Therese Tilley Tajet told NRK…
“It is concerning that heat record after heat record is being broken. September was the warmest (September) ever measured globally,” she added.
“Russia’s Siberian Waters See Record Ship Traffic as Ice Melt Accelerates.
“The Arctic has gone through its warmest summer on record, and with the ice melting, more ships than ever are sailing along Russia’s Siberian coast, underscoring its role as a growing energy transport corridor and potential as a new ocean trade route.”
“Fife Airport in Glenrothes [Scotland] recorded a rainfall of 105.6mm water area within 12 hours – the equivalent of a one in 1000 year probability event happening overnight.
“Ross Speirs, service manager, said: “The rainfall we had was way above anything that I have seen in such a short period of time.””
“UK wheat production slumped by 38pc to 10.1m tonnes after a year of extreme weather took its toll on the 2020 harvest, according to official estimates…
“Some East Anglian cereal farmers reported their worst-ever harvests this year after a challenging season which began with continuous rain in autumn and winter, leaving many crops struggling to establish roots, followed by a prolonged dry spell in spring – including East Anglia’s driest May on record – and a heatwave in the summer.”
“Southern France digs out from devastating flash floods…
“People work among tree branches on the beach of Saint-Laurent-du-Var after storm Alex brought record rainfall in places, causing heavy flooding that swept away roads and damaged homes…”
“A rare October heatwave ramped up over Israel on Thursday, bringing blazing temperatures to many parts of the country as an alarmingly hot summer and fall continued to grip the region…
“October heat waves are uncommon but not unprecedented, though they appear to be increasing in recent years… Experts say the number of hot days in the region is increasing, as well as the length of the hot season, due to global warming.”
“September 2020 was the hottest September ever experienced in Bahrain since [record-keeping began in] 1902, Bahrain’s ministry of transportation and telecommunications’ meteorological directorate said.
“Hot and humid weather dominated Bahrain during the month due to the moist easterly to southeasterly winds, the directorate said in its monthly weather report.”
“Floods have displaced thousands of people in Kanara sub-county, Ntoroko district [Uganda]. According to the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS), the majority of the affected residents prefer to live near the lake because they do fishing.”
“Natural calamities have rendered over 16,000 people homeless in Koyra [Bangladesh] in the past 11 years…
“”The pain that riverbank erosion has caused over the past decade is immense. I have lost everything to the natural calamity — my home, my livelihood,” says Rabiul Islam, a resident of Koyra upazila in Khulna… This year, Cyclone Ampan also caused huge destruction to the coastal upazila…”
“Over 11,000 people have been evacuated to safety in central Vietnam which has been hit by severe flooding following prolonged rains. The entire region has been battered by torrential downpours for the last three days.
“Some areas in Quang Tri Province and neighboring Thua Thien-Hue Province have received 980mm of rain [38.6 inches]. Rainfall of 180 mm a day is considered heavy.”
“A typhoon approaching Japan could bring heavy rains to the Tokyo region over the weekend, weather officials said Thursday, urging residents to take precautions early…
“In the 24 hours through noon Saturday, rainfall of up to 400 millimeters [15.7 inches] is projected for the Tokai area…”
“Wild weather continues to lash parts of Australia as heavy downpours, thunderstorms, hail, ferocious winds and flash flooding create havoc.
Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania have copped the brunt of the conditions in recent days following the formation of a La Nina event and a massive low pressure system spanning much of the country… South Australia has copped the biggest soaking with Adelaide forecast to reach its average October rainfall of 44mm just eight days into the month on Thursday.”
“Bolivia declared a state of disaster due to wildfires ravaging forested and agricultural areas in the eastern part of the country, President Jeanine Anez said on Thursday.
“In 2019, wildfires destroyed more than 6 million hectares in the Bolivian Amazon… “We are declaring a national disaster due to drought and fires,” Anez, the country’s interim leader, said during a press conference. “We are facing a serious threat and we do not want what happened last year to happen again.”
“As Glass Fire burns, Wine Country residents grapple with future: ‘I just can’t deal with this anymore’.
“Bobby Hougen can’t do it anymore. Staying up all night during high fire danger. Trapped inside as smoke clogs the air. Living with go bags packed with pictures, diplomas and a memento from his late grandfather… He hopes to resettle in the Sacramento area, more affordable and less fire-prone, by the end of the year.”
“More than half of Colorado is experiencing extreme drought conditions, with some stretches of the mountains and Western Slope going through the highest level of drought conditions, according to the latest state drought monitor this week.
“And there may only be little relief in sight, with another another weekend of warm and dry conditions across the state…”
“People in Louisiana are bracing themselves for flooding and dangerously high winds for the sixth time this year, as 2020’s extraordinary hurricane season sent yet another major storm in the state’s direction, amid Earth’s accelerating climate crisis…
“Delta is expected to hit areas around the city of Lake Charles that were devastated when Hurricane Laura tore through the region in August…”
“The number of climate change-driven disasters and extreme weather events costing in excess of a billion dollars, has beaten the annual US record in the first nine months of 2020 – with another two months of wildfire and hurricane season still to come…
“Six of those events – unprecedented wildfires in the American West, a drought and heatwave across the west and central belt, a Midwest derecho, then Hurricanes Sally, Laura and Isaias – have all happened in the past three months.” [The patches of blue in the photo are blue tarps, covering roofs still damaged by Hurricane Laura].
“Climate change, droughts, storms, invasive species, and disease are just some of the factors that threaten the health of trees…
““Climate change is having a huge impact on these trees,” said Holman. “With the weather being the way that it is, there’s more stress on the plants…””
“University of Adelaide scientists have shown how droughts are threatening the health of wetlands globally.
“Published in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, the scientists highlight the many physical and chemical changes occurring during droughts that lead to severe, and sometimes irreversible, drying of wetland soils.”
“The ozone hole that typically grows over the Antarctic each September and October has become one of the largest and deepest in recent years — just one year after scientists recorded its smallest size since it was discovered…
“NASA said last year’s ozone hole was particularly small because of unusual weather patterns that cause warmer stratospheric temperatures over Antarctica.”
“As far as I know, your work is unique in pulling together stories from all over the world. Very sobering but a better and more complete view. Terrific and necessary work. Thank you!” – Simon
“With the inundation of so much depressing news, Justin Panopticon presents it in a succinct format that one can quickly go thru and see the big picture of climate and economics/politics to stay current and if a particle topic is of interest one can delve into the details… I try never to miss any of his posts…I am a Patreon of his work.”
– Karina S.
Search
About This Site
Weekday updates on both climate change and the global economy. Stay current with what’s happening around the world with a quick scan of top news.
“Hundreds of thousands of homes are submerged and at least 132 people have been killed as some of the worst flooding in decades hits Vietnam and Cambodia, affecting more than 5 million people…
“Nepal’s population of one-horned rhinoceros …are faced with a new threat: changes in their living environment due to a rapidly-warming atmosphere.
“Once again, Hyderabad [India] witnessed heart-rending scenes as people caught in helpless situations amidst waterlogged roads, floodwaters gushing into houses and desperate rescue attempts by volunteers and government personnel, following heavy rains the previous night.” Photos:
“…it is observed that the number of weather stations [in India] which reported very heavy rainfall has increased by 67.5% while the number reporting extremely heavy rainfall has more than doubled, increasing by 112%. 
“As many as 1.4 million children face homelessness and disease following some of the worst ever floods in Pakistan, warns Save the Children… children are living outdoors, schools have been destroyed or damaged and agricultural crops have been lost. In many rural districts, people have only five days’ worth of food stock left.
“…floods have been caused by delayed heavy rain pounding the region [Barringo, Kenya] for almost a month now.
“Over the past six months, the lakes of Kenya’s Rift Valley have risen to levels not seen in at least half a century. This follows one of the wettest periods in East Africa in living memory. 
“On 6 October 2020, flood levels at the hydrological stations monitored in Niamey (Niger Republic) and Malan Ville (Benin Republic) reached the red alert zone due to the intensity of the torrential rainfall and caused flooding in Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Sokoto, and Zamfara state (amongst other states) affecting 91,254 people or 15,209 households…
“While the Western Cape [South Africa] has been blessed with much rainfall [after running, in parts, entirely dry in 2018], the central Karoo region is still struggling with a seven-year drought and farmers are desperate for help…
“Storm Barbara will bring gale-force winds and torrential rain to Kent [UK] from the early hours – adding to an already record-breaking month of weather for the county.
“Cork city centre [Ireland] was hit by severe flooding on Tuesday morning with many business owners having to bail out waters after the river Lee burst its banks. Gardaí were forced to close off a number of low-lying streets as flood waters, up to a foot high in places, began to make some streets impassable. “Speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin pledged supports for businesses and residents hit by the flooding.”
“Bears, bison and wolves: Rewilding Romania to better cope with climate change.
“Russia’s Siberia has seen its warmest spring and summer on record, reports World Grain. Although the unusual weather resulted in a record number of wildfires and the worst pest invasion in years, there appears to be a silver lining for Russian agriculture, as the country stands to gain a considerable amount of arable land if the trend continues.”
“Kahului [Hawaii] experienced 94-degree heat Monday, tying the record set in 2019 and 1984 and marking the fourth day in a row that Central Maui tied or broke a heat record.
“About 40% of the U.S. population lives in a coastal area and in Hawai’i, nearly everyone is vulnerable to the effects of tropical storms and hurricanes.
“A shark lab in California tagged more sharks off the southern coast this year than ever before, raising questions researchers are unable to answer…
“If by “apocalyptic” we mean simply “catastrophic,” then yes, the wave of wildfires that began in Southern California in early September has been apocalyptic…
“National forest land in five Colorado counties will temporarily close due to “unprecedented and historic fire conditions…” 
“Results from a study published in the Journal of Biogeography indicate that wildfires may play a role in accelerating climate-driven species changes in mountain forests by compounding regional warming trends.
“The largest and most intense drought in years is engulfing the Western US and threatens to grow larger and more severe in the coming months.
“Deadly Bacteria in Coastal Waters Causes a Flesh-Eating Disease. Climate Change Is Making It Worse:
“Tropical Storm Epsilon formed Monday in the open Atlantic Ocean, a little more than 735 miles southeast of Bermuda. 
“Mourners Hold a Funeral for a Dead Oregon Glacier:
“Time is running out for the Arctic. The region continues to warm at two or three times the global rate and scientists now predict that we could see Arctic summer ice disappear as early as 2042.
This graph shows that re-freezing has yet to meaningfully occur in the Laptev Sea, where, I might add, extensive methane gas-bubbling has been observed by scientists.
“Even amid a pandemic that has killed more than 1 million people, infected over 40 million, and tanked economies, people around the world are still extremely worried about the threat posed by climate change.
“
“
“
“
“…
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
NOAA agrees with EU’s Copernicus that September was the hottest on record; this in spite of a La Nina
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“Increasingly I am feeling overwhelmed and unsure about how I can best live my life in the face of the catastrophe that is now upon us. 
“
“
“
“The icy landscape of the Arctic as we imagine it will no longer exist in just a few decades, researchers returning from a major expedition to the frozen north have warned.
“
“
“Mount Kilimanjaro fire: What is at risk for the local ecosystem?
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“Cameron and other nearby hamlets have been virtually wiped off the marshy coast by back-to-back hurricanes that leveled homes and swallowed up vast swathes of land… By the time Delta came ashore Friday, there was little left to destroy.
“…a warm-up is forecast to begin Sunday as upper-level high pressure builds into California, the National Weather Service said. High temperatures will climb by several degrees on Sunday.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“