“Parts of the Arctic are set to experience intense heat over the next few days as sea ice in the region falls to record lows. Meteorologists say temperatures in parts of Siberia could reach well into the 90s over the next few days.
““Savage heat for several days incoming for Siberia. Again,” tweeted Scott Duncan from utility company EDF Energy.
“Duncan said the minimum temperature in some parts of Arctic Siberia will not drop below 68 degrees Fahrenheit for several days, what some countries refer to as a “tropical night,” according to a series of tweets.
““Truly mind-blowing. Records likely to fall,” he wrote.”
“It rained 40.9 millimetres yesterday in Iqaluit… It’s also the wettest July week on record. The rain started on Friday and is expected to clear up at the end of the week, on Friday. So far it’s rained over 60 millimetres this week. The average rainfall for July is 51 millimetres.
““It’s rare,” said Phillips. “I wouldn’t call it a monsoon, maybe a Nunavut monsoon.””
“…ancient climate records show that Nevada was even hotter and drier in the past than it is today, and that one 4,000-year period in particular may represent a true, “worst-case” scenario picture for the Southwest and the Colorado River Basin…
“At that time, the long-term hot and dry climate of the region was linked to warm Arctic seas and a lack of sea ice…”
“Large wildfires can make their own weather, and the Hog Fire in California’s Lassen County has been busy doing exactly that…
“Twice in two days, the Hog Fire has helped produce its own thunderstorms, which then dumped rain on the flames below. Hail even pelted the wildfire Tuesday…”
“For the fourth day in a row, Norfolk International Airport [Virginia, US] reached 100 degrees.
“According to the National Weather Service in Wakefield, this is the first time in the stations history, which started in 1874, that Norfolk has had four consecutive days above 100 degrees.”
“The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has unanimously voted to shut down the state’s iconic Apalachicola oyster fishery after years of drought and other pressures have devastated wild oyster beds…
“”Right now, there’s no boats out there,” says local fisherman Shannon Hartsfield. “There’s nobody harvesting any oysters right now.””
“Tropical Depression Seven strengthened into Tropical Storm Gonzalo on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center…
“This is the earliest that a storm has received a name starting with the letter “G” since the United States began using a named-storm system in 1953. On average, the seventh named storm in a season is on September 16.”
“Argentina’s production estimates for both wheat and maize in 2020/21 have been reduced due to lack of rainfall, causing major droughts across the country…
“There are prolonged droughts in two of Argentina’s three main growing regions, Cordoba and Santa Fe. The third key region, Buenos Aires, did have minimal rainfall in early July, but this offered very little respite.”
“Amazonia experiences seasonal fires each year. More than 90% of the fires are distributed across the southern boundary of Amazon Basin where the vegetation dominated by savannas are flammable in the dry season. In recent decades, however, more fires have been reported in the Amazon forests.
“Chinese regions as far apart as Sichuan in the southwest and Gansu in the northwest are at heightened risk of natural disasters in the coming days amid another round of torrential rain, the country’s weather bureau said on Thursday.
“Parts of the eastern coast, including the Bohai Bay region, Shandong and the province of Jiangsu also face hurricane-force winds…”
“…the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei Province is now holding back water from the Yangtze River, China’s longest, at a level topping 162 meters as of Tuesday afternoon.
“Greek firefighters brought in reinforcements from across the country on Wednesday to help control a large forest fire fanned by strong winds near the seaside village of Kechries in the eastern Peloponnese, fire brigade officials said.
“Authorities said they had been forced to evacuate a residential settlement as the blaze, burning through pine trees, came close to a military camp where explosives were stored.”
“The years 1990-2016 rank among the worst periods of flooding in Europe in five centuries, according to an assessment of historical letters, annals and legal records.
“The period has seen intense floods such as those in England in 2009 and 2002’s devastating flooding in Dresden in Germany, Prague in the Czech Republic and across central Europe.
“Destructive and unsustainable fishing has caused a crash in shark numbers across many of the world’s coral reefs, upsetting the ecological balance of the critical marine ecosystems, a major study has found.
“The loss of sharks was putting further pressure on coral reefs around the world that were already under threat from global heating, scientists said.”
““If we were to make a projection about the future based on this past, the take-home-message is: Tropical marine ecosystems which includes coral reefs will be the first major victims of rapid global change.
“The evidence that this process of destruction has already begun has been documented.””
“May and June of 2020 saw a shocking ten times more fires in the tundra landscapes in the northernmost regions of the Arctic—the ones so cold and high up that trees can’t grow there—compared to the average of the preceding 15 years…
“…the growth in fires in the Arctic’s ice and permafrost-filled northern latitudes above the geographical treeline is jarring and extremely worrisome given that those areas simply don’t burn easily.
““Unfortunately the analysis points to extremely anomalous fire activity that is either a sign of an extreme couple of years … or perhaps more alarming a potential step-change shift in regime,” Thomas Smith, a wildfire expert at the London School of Economics, told Earther in an email.”
“With several days left in July, there’s a chance that Yellowknife [NW Territories] may be on track to break the monthly and summer records for precipitation, according to the federal Department of Environment and Climate Change Canada…
“In the summer of 2018, Yellowknife broke the historical record of 78 years of record keeping with 248 mm of rain.”
“As you head to Lake Michigan for a relaxing beach day this summer, you may notice higher than normal water levels and temperatures warmer than normal for July.
“Lake Michigan water levels have been at an all-time high throughout 2020. These high water levels create shoreline erosion, which can deplete beaches.”
“Phoenix tied its record for the longest stretch of time where temperatures never fell below 90 degrees last week.
“The temperature was 90 or above for seven straight days, even at night, an indicator of the impact of the urban heat island effect in combination with an increasingly warming world.”
“A river of black sludge has been captured flooding through the rural US in shocking footage…
“The dramatic scenes are the result of wildfires that have swept the area in recent weeks, according to the official Pima County Twitter account, which uploaded the clip.”
“Sizzling temperatures are endangering residents along the entire East Coast with extreme triple-digit heat indexes from Maine to Florida. In some locations, it feels as hot as 110 degrees today!
“…The heatwave that’s gripping parts of the country is sparking concern that air conditioning systems could help the virus spread.”
“Air conditioning is absolutely killing our planet: As the planet continues to get hotter, and faster than expected, air conditioners and other cooling technologies will only become more important…
“The problem is that while air conditioning makes the indoors feel like a brisk fall day year-round, it also makes the outside even hotter.”
“Tropical Depression Seven formed Tuesday afternoon in the Atlantic, 1,420 miles east of the southern Windward Islands, according to the National Hurricane Center.
“The storm currently has sustained winds of 35 mph. It is expected to strengthen and have winds greater than 39 mph in the next 24 hours, which will make it Tropical Storm Gonzalo.”
“Researchers have warned about the Amazon rainforest-to-savanna tipping point for years, but a clearer picture of how this may happen is emerging with new research.
“A recent study covering the years 2003-2014 in the Amazon basin found that the deforestation-drought feedback loop accounts for 4% of the region’s drought…”
“Australia is set to see extreme weather conditions in coming days, with warnings of severe fire danger in the Northern Territory today, frost in South Australia, Victoria and Canberra this morning, and more dangerous weather potentially in store for the eroded New South Wales coast.”
“In a rare revelation, Beijing has admitted that its 2.4-kilometer Three Gorges Dam spanning the Yangtze River in Hubei province “deformed slightly” after record flooding.”
“The dam at a small reservoir in China’s Guangxi region gave way last month after days of heavy rain in a collapse that could be a harbinger of sterner tests for many of the country’s 94,000 aging dams as the weather gets more extreme…
““I’ve never seen such flooding,” said villager Luo Qiyuan, 81, who helped build the dam decades ago.”
“Deadly flooding will persist in Bangladesh for the next 10 days, officials warned on Tuesday…
“In flood-prone Bangladesh — where almost one-third of the impoverished nation is underwater— officials warned of an extended disaster in one of the worst deluges in recent years.”
“…The heavy rain, which began on Monday night, continued till Tuesday afternoon with intervals in Vehari, Burewala and Mailsi and suburbs. The rainwater gushed into houses and shops in the low-lying areas.”
“Flash floods caused by heavy rains have affected about 37,000 people in Somalia, causing a humanitarian crisis in the regions affected, the Somalia’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs said on Tuesday…
“Somalia is already struggling with COVID-19 and an invasion of desert locusts in the northern parts of the country.”
“Heavy floods in Niger have claimed nine lives and destroyed more than 2,000 homes , affecting at least 20,000 people, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.
“The southwestern Dosso region, central-south Maradi and Tahoua and Tillaberi in the west have been worst hit, it said in a statement.”
“The first active leak of methane from the sea floor in Antarctica has been revealed by scientists…
“Vast quantities of methane are thought to be stored under the sea floor around Antarctica. The gas could start to leak as the climate crisis warms the oceans, a prospect the researchers said was “incredibly concerning”.”
“Sea ice loss accelerated in early- to mid-July, bringing sea ice extent — which measures the area of ocean where there’s some ice cover, down to record-low levels for this time of the year.
“As of Saturday, the Arctic as a region had an ice extent that was about 193,000 square miles below the previous record low for the date, using data from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
“In other words, the difference between the sea ice extent on July 18, 2020, and the previous record low for the same date is equivalent to the states of Colorado and Oklahoma combined…
““In the Laptev and East Siberian Seas, the sea ice extent is tracking at the record lowest,” Julienne Stroeve, a senior researcher at NSIDC, said via email…
““Now melt ponds are quite widespread over much of the Arctic Ocean, with anomalously more melt pond development north of Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago, which is also helping to hasten ice melt elsewhere,” she said…
…“The amount of surface melting we are seeing could easily melt out ice” of that thickness, she said. “Thus I do have a feeling we are on track to reach a new record low for September.”
“A new study from Umea University highlights the uncertainty involved in projecting CO2 emissions from thawing permafrost in the Arctic.
“The research reveals that CO2 emissions from permafrost have been underestimated by billions of tonsdue to the role of plant roots in microbial decomposition and carbon release.”
“The mayor of the Russian Arctic city of Norilsk who was charged with negligence last month over a major fuel spill in the region resigned on Monday, the RIA news agency reported.
“State investigators opened a criminal case against Norilsk’s mayor, Rinat Akhmetchin, after 21,000 tonnes of diesel leaked from a tank at the power plant near the city of Norilsk on May 29.”
“Wildfires in Russia have burned across an area larger than the size of Greece so far in 2020, Greenpeace Russia said Monday as it criticized the authorities of inaction.
“Using satellite data, Greenpeace Russia estimated that 19 million hectares burned across Russia’s forests, steppes and fields from January to mid-July.
“The country of Greece, by comparison, is more than 13 million hectares in size.”
“Iran has been ravaged by hundreds of brush and wildfires spreading across thousands of acres since May 22…
“Climate change also plays a role… drought has played a big role in contributing to the fires in the south and central parts of the country. Dried-out vegetation provides more fuel for the fires, igniting easily and spreading flames quickly.”
“Parishan Wetland, the largest freshwater lake in Iran and West Asia, dried up in recent years and is struggling to death due to excessive groundwater withdrawal.
“Parishan is located in Kazerun County, Fars Province, and receives only a very small amount of water from Feeder Rivers and the whole lake or wetland is a protected area, as it is considered a globally significant wetland ecosystem.”
“Nine rare one-horned rhinos are among 108 wild animals killed in the last 10 days as monsoon rains have caused flooding in India, authorities in the country have said.
“The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam state is home to the world’s largest population of the endangered one-horned rhinos, which faced extinction just two decades ago.”
“The flood situation in Bangladesh continues to be grim, with nearly one third of the country deluged by floodwater after heavy rains for over a month now.
“Around 15 lakh people in Bangladesh have been affected by floodwater -– a double whammy for them after the coronavirus crisis.”
“Incessant rain in the Bhutan Hills over the past 12 hours has left large portions of Dooars in Jalpaiguri inundated…
“According to reports, Bhutan witnessed over 10 inches of rainfall, which led to the flooding of the tea belt… The Meteorological department has sounded a red alert for very heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours.”
“Seems to be part of the times, no? A once in a generation pandemic, a once in a generation flood.
“Parts of China are literally up to their eyeballs in water… The Three Gorges Dam, built to stop these things, is now in the spotlight… The last thing China needs is for that dam to fail. Papering that over would be a bitter pill to swallow for Beijing.”
“Four people in Ha Giang Province in the northern highlands died Tuesday amid heavy flooding in the region due to prolonged rain.
“”The city [Ha Giang] has never been as severely flooded as now. We’re busy calculating the damage,” said Nguyen Manh Thang, chief of Ha Giang Town People’s Committee.”
“The 2020 monsoon season in East Asia that is wreaking havoc… can be traced back to a warming hot spot in the Indian Ocean, experts say…
“[It is believed] to have resulted from …the stalling of the front associated with the region’s annual spring and summer monsoons. A growing number of experts attribute this to warmer-than-usual sea surface temperatures around the Indian Ocean.”
“Climate change is the likely cause of Northland’s [NZ] extreme weather woes, climate and weather researcher James Renwick says. The Far North was shut off after heavy rain caused multiple slips, flooding and chaos…
“Northland has just come out of a drought with Whangārei this year recording its driest January to April season on record, according to Niwa.”
“Temperatures in Kahului soared to 93 on Saturday, breaking the old record of 91 set on the same day in 2019, according to the National Weather Service. [Hawaii had an insane year for heat in 2019, with 135 record highs]
“This capped off a record-setting week in which Kahului reached a scorching 95 on Friday, breaking the old record of 92 set in 2015, and 92 degrees on Tuesday, tying the former record set last year.”
“There’s no denying July 2020 has been an unusually hot month. Even in our typically cooler mountain towns, thermometer readings have towered well above their normal values.
“At the Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport, where Roanoke’s official climate data is recorded, the daytime high has been at or above 90° every day in July. Not only is this unusual, but also historic.”
“Puerto Rico reversed its reopening last week after seeing a surge of new COVID-19 cases. While the rollbacks are similar to those in many parts of the U.S., one big factor compounds the risks faced by the island: 140,000 residents are subject to government-mandated water rationing and lose access to their faucets every other day.”
“Amid worsening drought conditions and continuous decline in source inflows, the National Water Commission [of Jamaica] says it has been forced to adjust its supply times…
“Starting Monday July 20, 2020, there will be an adjustment in the daily supply time, reducing supply of the commodity from 16 hours to 12 hours, the NWC said.”
“Jannie Strydom, chief executive of Agri Western Cape, said: “The drought in large parts of the Western Cape is far from broken and the government’s revocation of the classification of drought as a national disaster comes as a shock…
“”Revoking the drought as a national disaster indicates that the government has little empathy with the agricultural sector.””
“The Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) said on Monday that practically the entire territory of mainland Portugal is at “maximum, very high and high risk” of wildfires.
“According to the IPMA, about 60 municipalities in the districts of Braganca, Vila Real, Viseu, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Portalegre, Santarem and Faro are at “maximum risk.””
“There were 34 instances of acqua alta [“high water” in Venice] between 2014 and 2018 that exceeded 110 centimeters (43 inches), enough to flood chunks of the city and cause chronic damage to its infrastructure.
“There were just 30 such events between 1875 and 1951.”
“The winter of 2019-2020 [UK] was fundamentally different from anything experienced in the northern hemisphere over a century ago. With its record warmth and heavy rain, this winter was fundamentally different to those of only a decade ago.
“It”s the winter that climate change science has long been predicting, where frost is a rarity and regular storms bring abundant rain.””
You may recall that Taipei broke had its hottest ever June temperature (38.9c) on 29th June.
“As summer temperatures continue to soar, Taipei on Sunday (July 19) saw the mercury rise to nearly 40 degrees Celsius, the second-highest temperature in the city in 123 years and the hottest ever recorded in the month of July.”
“The number of sweltering days across northern Vietnam in June exceeded record levels, marking its longest ever heat wave in 49 years… Hot weather has caused acute shortage of irrigation water across the provinces, as well as a series of forest fires.
“Vietnam has experienced scorching days since early May.”
“Heat in Pakistan’s southern port city broke a 62-year record as the hottest day during the month of July was recorded on Friday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said.
“Karachi last recorded a temperature of 42.2°C on July 3, 1958, according to the PMD.”
“Nearly four million people in India’s northeastern state of Assam and neighbouring Nepal have been displaced by heavy flooding from monsoon rains, with dozens missing as deaths rose to at least 189, government officials said on Sunday…
““The flood situation remains critical with most of the rivers flowing menacingly above the danger mark,” Assam water resources Minister Keshab Mahanta told Reuters.”
“The Malda district alone in West Bengal produces an average of 500,000 to 550,000 metric tonnes (MT) of mangoes every season.
“This year, due to lockdown, demand was too low, second there was no means of transportation for whatever demand was there. On top of it, Cyclone Amphan damaged standing crops in huge areas“, Ujjwal Saha, President of the Malda Mango Merchants Association told Sputnik.”
“Pontianak, West Kalimantan [Indonesia] – A whirlwind struck two sub-districts in Pontianak, West Kalimantan Province, leaving a path of destruction and causing damage to some 300 homes on Friday (July 17)…
“The whirlwind also led to power outage in several areas affected by the disaster.”
“The Amazon is one of Earth’s most vital carbon sinks, a keystone of diversity and home to a tenth of the world’s wildlife. Under Bolsonaro’s watch, it is being destroyed at record rates.
“Studies found that last year alone, 3,000 square miles were destroyed, an area almost the size of Puerto Rico.”
“Brazil’s top indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire has been hospitalized with digestive bleeding, according to a post on the Facebook page of Raoni’s institute…
“The Kayapo chief has become the symbol of the fight to stop deforestation in the Amazon.”
“Extreme high tides rose more often on Galveston Island in the last year than they have at almost any other time in the island’s recorded history, a federal agency said in a report released last week.
“Galveston recorded 18 days of high-tide flooding from May 2019 to May 2020, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — matching a record set in 2017.”
“Residents in parts of Britain that were hit by winter flooding have experienced long delays to repair works and insurance claims while stuck in temporary accommodation in the face of a national lockdown.
“Thousands of people [UK] were forced to evacuate their homes after record rainfall caused severe flooding between November and February in parts of the country.”
“Europe’s major rivers are littered with surgical masks and medical gloves discarded by people protecting themselves against coronavirus, scientists have reported…
“The rubbish adds to plastic pollution already clogging the continent’s major waterways…”
“A total of 26 [Spanish] provinces will be on notice this Monday for risk and significant risk due to high temperatures, which in some cases will reach 42ºC, while another 9 will be on notice for storms, according to the prediction of the State Meteorological Agency.”
“The Executive Secretary of the Kano State [Nigeria] Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr. Sale Jili, has disclosed that two bridges were washed away by flood in two local government areas of the state.
““So many villages have been cut off from the headquarters of the two local government areas while the two areas have also been cut off from the state capital,” he said.”
“The Siberian Arctic region has less ice being naturally formed and it is melting faster than any year in the past four decades [which is how long we have satellite data], data from a US-based research centre has shown…
“The research centre has attributed the record-low ice levels to vast areas of open water caused by already-melting ice, as well as “unusually high” air temperatures of up to 10C in the middle of the Arctic.”
“Has the bacteria in humans that has grown resistant to antibiotics – an issue considered to be one of the world’s greatest health challenges – made its way into wildlife?
We live in an era of converging crises with ever more interplay between them:
“Large parts of China were reeling on Friday from the worst floods in decades, as disruption mounted for supply chains, including for personal protective equipment (PPE), vital in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
“The central city of Wuhan and the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang declared red alerts as heavy rain swelled rivers and lakes.
“Wuhan, on the banks of the Yangtze river where the novel coronavirus emerged late last year, warned residents to take precautions as water levels fast approached their maximum guaranteed safety level… With the relentless rain, more misery seems inevitable.
“The giant Three Gorges reservoir, which has been holding back more water to try to ease downstream flood risks, is more than 10 metres higher than its warning level…”
“The Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station on China’s Yangtze River is running at full capacity… The situation along the Yangtze River has been grim since the Three Gorges Dam saw the river’s first flood of the year on July 2.
“The upper reaches of the Yangtze River are forecast to see a new round of floods within the coming days.”
“Monsoon floods have swamped large parts of India’s densely populated eastern states, forcing more than a million people into makeshift shelters despite the risk of coronavirus, senior officials said on Thursday…
“…this year India is also grappling with the virus, which has infected 968,875 people and killed 24,915, health authorities say.”
“The death toll from flash floods in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province rose to 32 on Thursday with 16 people still missing, officials said.
“National Search and Rescue Agency spokesman Yusuf Latif said rain continued to fall as hundreds of rescuers searched on Thursday for the missing villagers.”
“Huge waves have pummelled the Australian state of New South Wales, eroding some coastal areas and putting homes at risk of collapse. In beach suburbs to the north of Sydney, residents lost decks and fences as the surf lapped at the edge of properties.
“Authorities say they have recorded waves as high as 11m (36ft) this week off the city’s coastline.”
“Large quantities of the soy and beef imported to Europe from Brazil have been “contaminated” by deforestation, research shows.
“The findings suggest much more needs to be done to protect Brazilian land as pending trade agreements are likely to increase sales to European consumers.”
“In the last week, over 1,200 heat records and 159 July heat records have tumbled across the US. Dozens of all-time hottest temperatures have also been recorded.
“More records are expected as the heat wave stretches through the weekend and into next week.”
“For five days in a row, Roswell reached at least 110 degrees, setting a new record for the most consecutive days with a high temperature at or above 110, all while breaking record high temperatures each day…
“According to records, there has been a noticeable rise in the average July temperature and the average summer temperature in Albuquerque over the past fifty years.”
“The Great Lakes have hit a record-breaking 80F for this time of year, almost as hot as bathwater.
“The increase comes during a heatwave along the east and the US border with Canada which has produced algae blooms which are harmful to water creatures.”
“Alaska state and local health officials are warning of dangerous high levels of toxins in shellfish, after a person died of paralytic shellfish poisoning from mussels and snails in the Aleutian Island community of Unalaska…
“In recent years, communities across the state have reported spikes in toxin levels, possibly related to rising ocean temperatures. That creates a better environment for the algae that produce the toxins…”
Intrigued and puzzled by this and the next story – theories welcome!
“The United States has seen a stunning lack of tornadoes since May, the fewest for that time of year in almost 70 years.
“Over the last 20 years, the months of May (281) and June (196) have averaged the most tornadoes in the U.S. But in true 2020 fashion, that script has been ripped up.”
“While the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific hurricane basins had an early start this year, and just days ago the earliest “F” storm to form made landfall on the Jersey Shore on the U.S. East Coast, the tropics around the United States …and around the globe are remarkably quiet now…
“Yesterday, there was not a single hurricane, typhoon, or tropical storm anywhere on the planet.”
“No year since weather records began was as hot and dry [in Europe] as 2018.
“A first comprehensive analysis of the consequences of this drought and heat event shows that central European forests sustained long-term damage. Even tree species considered drought-resistant, such as beech, pine and silver fir, suffered.”
“Kazakhstan is facing high fire threat due to fervent heat across the republic, Kazinform reports with the reference to the Emergency Situations Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs…
“The main causes of wildfires are hot temperatures, abandoned campfires, cigarette butts left on the land, dried grass burning and lightning.”
“Smoke from raging forest fires in Siberia on Thursday filled cities as officials scrambled to prevent the flames reaching homes…
“Yakutsk, the main city in the region of Yakutia with more than 300,000 residents, has been badly affected, according to images shot by local cameraman Ivan Semyonov, who posted them on Instagram on Wednesday.”
“An abandoned copper mine in Russia has released a huge amount of toxic waste into nearby rivers and lakes. The waste was held in a pond for treatment but nobody could pay to have it neutralized, and recent rains caused it to spill over.”
“Firefighters continue to search for people feared missing after severe flooding in the Sicilian capital Palermo on Wednesday night.
“Rescue teams searched overnight and into Thursday morning for people feared to have drowned during the flash floods, caused by what the mayor said was the most violent rainstorm since “at least 1790”.
“Over one metre of rain fell in under two hours, leaving cars submerged in parts of the city centre.”
“Ethiopia is allowing the reservoir of a huge dam built on the River Nile to fill up, a development that is likely to anger Egypt, which says the hydroelectric plant, the largest in Africa, poses it an “existential threat”…
“In the past, Egypt hinted that it might resort to force if the dam went ahead, prompting Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, to say: “No force can stop Ethiopia from building a dam. If there is need to go to war, we could get millions readied.””
“The economy of Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, is on track to shrink by five percent due to a dual shock of the coronavirus pandemic and a severe drought, the IMF said Wednesday.
“The International Monetary Fund made the projection following two weeks of discussions with Zambian authorities.”
“Water supply to several neighbourhoods is severely limited, while people in the countryside scramble for resources. Meanwhile, in a Harare suburb, residents have resorted to unsafe water for survival.”
“The UK warned the UN Security Council today 15th July that the FSO SAFER oil tanker, which has 1.14 million barrels of crude oil on board, poses a devastating threat to the environment.
“Its poor condition means it is now close to leaking millions of gallons of oil into the Red Sea.”
“Rain and drainage water entered into state-run Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad [India] on Wednesday, turning the oldest and one of the biggest healthcare facilities in Telangana into a cesspool.
“It was a flood-like situation in the over a century old hospital with the employees struggling to prevent the water from entering the building.”
“…park authorities and the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) have been engaged in rescue missions for the animals of Kaziranga Reserve trapped by the rising waters.”
“Flooding in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar and Nepal has killed scores of people, destroyed homes and structures, drowned entire villages, and forced many to crouch on rooftops hoping for rescue…
“…in recent years, the monsoon season has increasingly brought cyclones and devastating floods, causing the internal displacement of millions of people in low-lying areas…”
“As the monsoon gets underway across Indochina, farmers and fishermen are praying for rain after a lengthy drought — aggravated by climate change and dam construction.
“This year the Mekong River has seen its lowest levels since record keeping began 60 years ago.”
“The Pran Buri reservoir [Thailand], the provinces biggest supplier for vast farming areas and communities, currently has about 100 million cubic metres of water left or about 25%.
“Many districts in the province are already being affected by a water shortage. Not enough has filled the reservoir.”
“Soldiers erected sandbag flood barriers in a city near China’s largest freshwater lake after the heaviest rainfall in nearly six decades drenched the swollen Yangtze River basin.
“The vast Yangtze drainage area has been lashed by torrential rains since last month, leaving 141 people dead or missing and forcing the evacuation of millions more across several provinces.”
“More than 500 domestic tourists have been stranded in Uvs Province in western Mongolia after bridges and roads were damaged by massive flooding caused by heavy rains from Monday to Wednesday, the provincial government said Thursday…
“…major rivers of the province, including Turgen and Kharkhiraa, have exceeded the warning levels by 10-43 centimeters due to heavy downpour.”
“Agribusiness entities that deforested vast swaths of the Cerrado biome in Brazil to grow corn are now suffering a drop in production because of climate changes brought about by their own actions.
“That’s the finding of a new study that shows the loss of native vegetation has led to more warm nights and changes in rainfall patterns…”
“It’s easy to miss a flood in disguise. But the slow-motion rising of water, scattered in dozens of ponds and lakes, has become so destructive that Washington County has declared an emergency…
“The rainfall of last year capped the wettest decade ever recorded in central Washington County. Last year was the wettest single year ever… there are three or four “extreme events” annually in Minnesota…
““We are talking about eight inches of rain in 10 hours,” he said. “This is climate change.””
“‘Nuisance’ high-tide flooding has been ‘extraordinary’ along the US coasts since 2000 and a new reports projects it will only become worse.
“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warns rising sea levels will bring tides from 1.75 to two feet above the daily average, which will spill over into residential areas.”
“The record-breaking heatwave in the Siberian Arctic was made at least 600 times more likely by human-caused climate change, according to a study.
“Between January and June, temperatures in the far north of Russia were more than 5C above average, causing permafrost to melt, buildings to collapse, and sparking an unusually early and intense start to the forest fires season. On 20 June, a monitoring station in Verkhoyansk registered a record high of 38C.”
“Arctic species such as bowhead whales, belugas, walrus, bearded seals and ribbon seals are seasonally present in and travel through the waters around St. Lawrence Island and the Bering Strait.
“The team found that the increasing periods of open, ice-free water in the Arctic correlate with an increase of non-biological ambient noises, both from surface waves driven by wind and an increase in vessel traffic.”
“Antarctica’s remaining wilderness areas need urgent protection from increasing human activity.
“Even passing human disturbance can impact the biodiversity and wilderness value of sites. For example, sensitive vegetation and soil communities can take years to recover from trampling.”
“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
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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.
“Parts of the Arctic are set to experience intense heat over the next few days as sea ice in the region falls to record lows. Meteorologists say temperatures in parts of Siberia could reach well into the 90s over the next few days.
“It rained 40.9 millimetres yesterday in Iqaluit… It’s also the wettest July week on record. The rain started on Friday and is expected to clear up at the end of the week, on Friday. So far it’s rained over 60 millimetres this week. The average rainfall for July is 51 millimetres.
“…ancient climate records show that Nevada was even hotter and drier in the past than it is today, and that one 4,000-year period in particular may represent a true, “worst-case” scenario picture for the Southwest and the Colorado River Basin…
“Large wildfires can make their own weather, and the Hog Fire in California’s Lassen County has been busy doing exactly that…
“For the fourth day in a row, Norfolk International Airport [Virginia, US] reached 100 degrees. 
“The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has unanimously voted to shut down the state’s iconic Apalachicola oyster fishery after years of drought and other pressures have devastated wild oyster beds…
“Tropical Depression Seven strengthened into Tropical Storm Gonzalo on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center…
“Argentina’s production estimates for both wheat and maize in 2020/21 have been reduced due to lack of rainfall, causing major droughts across the country… 
“Amazonia experiences seasonal fires each year. More than 90% of the fires are distributed across the southern boundary of Amazon Basin where the vegetation dominated by savannas are flammable in the dry season. In recent decades, however, more fires have been reported in the Amazon forests. 
“China’s national observatory Thursday renewed a yellow alert for high temperatures, as a heat wave has engulfed southern parts of the country… 
“Chinese regions as far apart as Sichuan in the southwest and Gansu in the northwest are at heightened risk of natural disasters in the coming days amid another round of torrential rain, the country’s weather bureau said on Thursday. 
“…the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei Province is now holding back water from the Yangtze River, China’s longest, at a level topping 162 meters as of Tuesday afternoon. 
“The years 1990-2016 rank among the worst periods of flooding in Europe in five centuries, according to an assessment of historical letters, annals and legal records.
Something to look forward to: 
“Destructive and unsustainable fishing has caused a crash in shark numbers across many of the world’s coral reefs, upsetting the ecological balance of the critical marine ecosystems, a major study has found.
““If we were to make a projection about the future based on this past, the take-home-message is: Tropical marine ecosystems which includes coral reefs will be the first major victims of rapid global change. 
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“As you head to Lake Michigan for a relaxing beach day this summer, you may notice higher than normal water levels and temperatures warmer than normal for July. 
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“A new study from Umea University highlights the uncertainty involved in projecting CO2 emissions from thawing permafrost in the Arctic. 
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“Seems to be part of the times, no? A once in a generation pandemic, a once in a generation flood. 
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“There’s no denying July 2020 has been an unusually hot month. Even in our typically cooler mountain towns, thermometer readings have towered well above their normal values. 
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You may recall that Taipei broke had its hottest ever June temperature (38.9c) on 29th June
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“The Malda district alone in West Bengal produces an average of 500,000 to 550,000 metric tonnes (MT) of mangoes every season. 
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“Residents in parts of Britain that were hit by winter flooding have experienced long delays to repair works and insurance claims while stuck in temporary accommodation in the face of a national lockdown.
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“The coronavirus has revealed how risky it can be to rely on Russia for grain imports. 
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“While the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific hurricane basins had an early start this year, and just days ago the earliest “F” storm to form made landfall on the Jersey Shore on the U.S. East Coast, the tropics around the United States …and around the globe are remarkably quiet now…
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“With more than 7,000, Pakistan has more glaciers than anywhere except the polar regions. 
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“Arctic species such as bowhead whales, belugas, walrus, bearded seals and ribbon seals are seasonally present in and travel through the waters around St. Lawrence Island and the Bering Strait.
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