“”The floodwater is constantly rising. Neither we nor our cattle can go out. So, I’m using a boat to go out. We’re having issues regarding food also. The cooking ovens have been flooded. Even our beds are also underwater,” Samsud Doha, farmer, said.”
“The Assam State Disaster Management Authority has said that 85 people have died in the state in flood-related incidents so far… in the Kaziranga National Park [Assam], known for its one-horned rhinos, around 51 wild animals had died because of the floods and 100 had been rescued.
“The report said that 95% of the park had been submerged under water.”
“The Pakistan Meteorological Department feared that the country might face more flash floods triggered by a glacier lake outburst flooding…
“Manzoor Ahmad, official of the PMD from the district told Xinhua that the department has predicted that more glaciers could burst and cause floods if the prevailing heatwave continued in the area.”
“Heavy rainfall caused flooding in dozens of cities and villages in Iran’s northwestern province of Ardebil [Iran], forcing many families to leave their homes.
“Roads to some 50 villages have been cut near Meshkinshahr, Ardebil Province, due to the heavy rain and flooding.”
“Flooding caused by heavy rain has impacted at least 27 of 31 of China’s provinces and regions.
“On July 14, China’s National Meteorological Center alerted that more heavy rain is forecasted for the area of the Yangtze river basin in the next 24 hours.”
“Two people have been found dead after a landslide triggered by torrential rains struck their house in western Japan, local media reported on Wednesday…
“Heavy rain caused flooding and landslides in some areas of western Japan on Tuesday, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders to about 11,000 people.”
“Flash floods and landslides have killed at least 16 people and displaced hundreds in a district on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, officials at the country’s disaster mitigation agency said on Wednesday.
“Search and rescue officials were still looking for 23 people missing after the floods struck the North Luwu district of South Sulawesi province…”
“This year’s locust attacks, which spread from Kenya to Pakistan and India… may be the most economically destructive since the 1960s, said Chaudhry Inayatullah, a former research scientist at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi, Kenya.
“The swarms are expected to peak this month, as a wetter-than-normal monsoon arrives, and to flourish as the rains continue through October…”
“The impacts of extreme heatwaves amplified by climate change are going unrecorded in sub-Saharan Africa… Only two heatwaves in sub-Saharan Africa have been listed over the last 120 years in the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), the most complete registry of extreme weather event impacts in the world.
“By contrast, 83 European heatwaves — resulting in more than 140,000 deaths and $12 billion in damages — have been logged since 1980 alone.”
“The 12-month deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon has risen 96% since President Jair Bolsonaro took office, and the extent of deforestation over the past year is the highest recorded since INPE, Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research, started releasing monthly statistics in 2007…
“June 2020 represents the 15th consecutive month of increasing forest loss…”
“Historic heat across the South continues today with San Antonio, Texas hitting 107 degrees, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city in the month of July.
“In Del Rio, Texas, temperatures reached a whopping 112 degrees which tied the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city’s history.”
“Washington hasn’t seen a high below 90 degrees since June 25.
“The current streak, through Tuesday, of 19 straight 90-degree days, the second-longest on record, puts 2020 among an elite list of years for lengthy heat waves locally.”
“Farmers in parts of Alberta say their crops are under water and are bracing for a devastating harvest. It has been so wet, many fields look more like lakes. John Guelly, a farmer in Westlock County, said even if his wheat and canola crops do dry out — it’s too late.
““My main point is that we are and were not ready for fires because we have not seriously recognised the effects of global warming,” says Pavlova, agreeing with much of the criticism from Chernobyl Tours…
“She says that strong winds and a dry winter and spring made it almost impossible to stop the fires, which started in the western part of the closed Chernobyl zone.”
“Fuelled by record high temperatures in Siberia, the fires are currently burning on an area of land the size of Luxembourg, or 333,000 hectares. Greenpeace said earlier this summer the blazes were covering an area of some 3 million hectares.
“After a week where the fires had calmed down, outbreaks multiplied again over the weekend…”
“Microplastic particles shed by tyres and brakes are swept by winds to remote areas including the Arctic where they darken the surface and hasten the melting of ice.
“About 48,000 tonnes of these particles end up in snow and ice-covered areas each year, scientists calculated.”
“Global emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, have soared over the past decade, according to two new studies that tracked growing sources of the odorless, colorless gas.”
“An increase in the spread of non-native plant and animals species around the world could lead to dramatic biodiversity loss, a new study has found, causing permanent damage to ecosystems as they are pushed past biological tipping points…
“…a non-native species can disrupt that balance and wipe out other organisms, resulting in a large population of the invasive plant or animal.”
At first I suspected that the critiques of the Three Gorge’s dam’s construction appearing in the press were geo-politically motivated – but, although some of them undoubtedly are – they are not without substance my research suggests.
“As China counts the costs of its most punishing flood season in more than three decades, the role played by the massive and controversial Three Gorges Dam – designed to help tame the Yangtze river – has come under fresh scrutiny.
“Amid some of the heaviest rainfall on record, the Chinese government says the world’s biggest hydroelectric plant has reduced flood peaks, minimised economic losses and slashed the number of deaths and emergency evacuations.
“But critics say the historically high water levels on the Yangtze and its major lakes prove the Three Gorges Dam isn’t doing what it was designed for.”
“A retired Indian Army colonel on Friday (July 10) released satellite images appearing to show the Three Gorges Dam releasing water far earlier than reported and at a much greater rate than announced…
“…the dam appears to be releasing far more water than what the Chinese government has officially stated.”
“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.”
“During the July 1965 [Kuma River, Japan] flood, a utility pole next to the shrine was submerged to a depth of 2.3 meters, while in another flood in August 1971, a water depth of 1.1 meters was recorded.
“This time the height of the water reached 3 meters.”
“Heavy flooding is worsening in parts of Bangladesh, with over 1 million villagers marooned or leaving their homes for higher ground along with their cattle and other belongings, officials and volunteers said Tuesday.
“Water levels at major rivers were rising Tuesday…”
“Keshav Bahadur Thapa of Byas Municipality Ward No. 9 in Tanahun [Nepal] lost his entire family in a landslide that occurred early Monday morning.
““It was around 6:30 in the morning when I was awakened by a loud sound. Our house collapsed on us,” he said. “I was half-buried and I looked around but could not see my wife, sons and my daughter-in-law anywhere.””
“The flashflood triggered by a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) swept away several buildings, including homes, mosques, irrigation and the water supply system and a powerhouse and destroyed standing crops in the Golen Gol valley of Lower Chitral [Pakistan] district on Monday.”
“Flooding that is said to be unprecedented in over 80 years wreaked havoc to lives and property in Burayu town, just outside of the capital Addis Ababa [Ethiopia].
“It has claimed the lives of at least nine people and several cattle and pets. The victims are said to be daily laborers who used to work in factories in the region.”
“Brace up for imminent flooding, NEMA warns Nigerians…
“To this extent, Mohammed during a press conference in Abuja said, “2020 is going to be a year of ‘an incident within an incident’. With the Country battling Covid-19 pandemic, managing a flood disaster will be a herculean task.””
“Morocco’s economic growth will shrink by 5.8 percent in 2020, down from a growth of 2.5 percent in 2019, the country’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) said on Monday.
“In a periodical report published on its website, HCP said this performance, the worst in decades, is due to the combined effect of drought and the COVID-19 pandemic…”
“Russian authorities claim to have contained the massive spill in Norilsk, but a whistleblower and an environmentalist tell CNN the damage is much worse than disclosed and poses a threat to the ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean.”
“Measuring methane flux from Arctic lakes is part of a broader effort to better understand the methane budget—an accounting of how much of the gas is moving between various parts or the environment.
“Concentrations of methane in the atmosphere have risen significantly in recent decades, prompting scientists to try to understand why.”
“As if this summer’s drought conditions in Maine were not hard enough on lawns, recent rain and humidity have created the perfect conditions for a fungal disease that’s not been seen in the state for at least three decades.
“The fungus is turning those lawns a startling shade of black…”
“Wildfires threaten the economy of the western United States to a greater extent than the rest of the country, and the coronavirus pandemic and climate change will only make that worse…
“…according to research from the San Francisco Fed on Monday.”
“The official weather observing station in Death Valley, California — called Furnace Creek for obvious reasons — reached a scorching 128 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday.
“That is the hottest temperature anywhere on the planet since 2017 and only one degree behind what experts say is likely the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth.”
“Global temperatures in 2020 are on pace for one of the planet’s top two warmest years in 141 years of temperature records, according to separate new analyses.
“NOAA’s State of the Climate report released Monday found that temperatures in the first six months of 2020 were second warmest of any January-June period, trailing only 2016 in records dating to 1880.”
““Limiting warming to 1.5 C (2.7F) is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics [I beg to differ],” Jim Skea of Imperial College London, one of the authors of the 2018 IPCC report, told NPR’s Christopher Joyce in 2018, “but doing so would require unprecedented changes.”“
Only reported in Spanish-language press so far: “A heat wave hits the Sahrawi camps with unprecedented intensity:
“The area where the Sahrawi refugee camps [Algeria] are located pulverized its temperature record twice on Tuesday. In a day of extreme heat, the thermometer rose first to 49 degrees Celsius, and again broke the record a few hours later, at 4.30, with 50.6 degrees.”
“A firefighter died and three others were injured on Saturday in a forest fire in central Portugal…
“Many Portuguese fear this summer will be disastrous because of forecasts of record temperatures as well as fewer resources being available to fight blazes due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
“Fire rescue teams continue to extinguish the flames in Ukraine’s Luhansk region’s forest. As of early July 13, there are still separate fire seats moldering in there, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported…
“An operative HQ is working on site. The operative group of State Emergency Service and life support point are there, too.”
“Russia’s forest service said there were nearly 300 wildfires blazing across the vast country’s northern wilderness on Saturday, as it attempted to contain them with methods including explosives and cloud seeding…
“Both the number and intensity of fires in Siberia and parts of Alaska have increased since mid-June…”
“Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel said on Sunday that around 45 tonnes of aviation fuel had leaked from its pipeline in the Arctic.
“Arctic environment security has been in the spotlight at Nornickel’s assets since another leak of 21,000 tonnes of diesel from Nornickel’s power plant near the city of Norilsk on May 29.”
“A tornado that ripped across farmland in western Minnesota on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring three others, was one of the most powerful this year, according to forecasters.
“The National Weather Service on Friday said the twister was an EF-4, packing winds up to 170 mph and causing major damage.”
“An unusually long stretch of warm weather nudged surface water temperatures on Lake Michigan past July records last week, and to within half a degree of the warmest lake-wide average ever recorded.
“Lake Michigan surface temperatures averaged 24.1 degrees Celsius (75.3 degrees Fahrenheit) on July 9…”
“The record-breaking torrential rain which battered Japan’s southwestern region of Kyushu since last weekend has left 70 people dead as of Sunday, as rescuers continued operations to search for the missing people.
“Among the 70 fatalities, 63 were from the hard-hit Kumamoto Prefecture.”
“South Korea saw torrential rain on Monday, with floods in low-lying areas, traffic disruptions and property damage mostly in the southern part of the country. At least three people have died, and some regions received over 200 millimeters of rain between Sunday and Monday morning.”
“Torrential rains have continued to batter China, destroying homes and rendering millions of people homeless…
“China’s ministry of water resources said flood alerts had been raised for 433 rivers in the country since early June, including 33 where water levels have broken historical records.”
“Heavy rains triggered flash floods and landslides that killed at least 40 people and displaced thousands in western Nepal, authorities said on Saturday.
“Twenty people were killed and at least 13 others were missing in the Myagdi district alone, said district administrator Gyan Nath Dhakal.”
“Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) warned that the country will experience heavy to very heavy rainfall all over the country in the next 24 hours.
“Due to heavy rainfall and a steady rise in the water levels of our main rivers, the overall flood situation is likely to deteriorate, bringing more misery to the lives of people in the north and northeastern districts of Bangladesh.”
“According to a report issued by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Sunday, nearly 13 lakh people in 24 of the state’s 31 districts have been affected by floods.
“A total of 44 people have lost their lives due to floods till now.”
“At least one person died and three others went missing after heavy rain in northeastern Turkey’s Artvin province triggered floods, an official said Monday.
“Yilmaz Doruk, the provincial governor, told reporters that the flash flood occurred at 7.30 p.m. local time (1630GMT) on Sunday.”
“Dubbed the “doomsday” glacier, Thwaites, perhaps more than any other place in the world, holds crucial clues about the future of the planet…
““It is the most vulnerable place in Antarctica,” says Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist and UK principal investigator for the Thwaites Glacier Project at the British Antarctic Survey.”
“There’s a major change happening in the Arctic. Dark waters are blooming with algae, as sunlight floods spaces long obscured by sheets of ice.
“Over the past two decades, there’s been a 57 percent increase in phytoplankton in the Arctic ocean, an analysis by researchers from Stanford University has revealed.
“That’s outpaced scientist’s expectations, and it’s changing the way the ocean stores carbon, as well as sucking up resources needed for the rest of the ecosystem. And no one’s sure what it means.”
“Pressure is mounting on Russian mining company Norilsk Nickel over an Arctic oil spill that has wiped about 17% off its share price, left it with a hefty compensation bill and exposed it to accusations of covering up the full extent of the damage…
“Nornickel, as it is better known, denies the cover-up allegations by green campaigners, a regional governor and a former official at Russia’s environmental watchdog.”
“After a month of blazes that released record-breaking amounts of polluting gases, smoke from Siberian wildfires are now making their way to the west coast of the United States…
““I was a little shocked to see a fire burning 10 kilometers south of a bay of the Laptev Sea, which is like, the sea ice factory of the world,” Miami University in Ohio fire researcher Jessica McCarty tells National Geographic.”
“A punishing and relentless heat wave is just getting underway in the US…
“The National Weather Service is forecasting 75 or more record-high temperatures to be approached or broken from Friday to Tuesday alone, and that number is likely to grow significantly into next week. Early next week a few cities in the Plains states may even flirt with their all-time record highs.”
“As weather patterns in the Northeast US change, expect to see swings between soil-damaging rain events and more regular drought conditions. The words of University of Maine soil scientist Ivan Fernandez reveal a troubling truth.
““Never again will we have the climate system of the 20th century,” wrote Fernandez, co-chair of the Maine Climate Council’s Scientific and Technical Subcommittee…”
“Tropical Storm Fay, the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, is set to batter New York City on Friday, bringing the potential for flash floods and sustained 50mph winds for at least 12 hours as the system follows a similar path as Hurricane Sandy in 2012.”
“Fish kills are a recurring phenomenon in lakes suffering from oxygen depletion. Often the kills are triggered by factors like an algae bloom, but now a new study reports on a new, climate-related cause of fish kills.
“A grave example is reported from a lake in Denmark.”
“Hundreds of children were being evacuated from a summer camp in Greece as a precaution after a forest fire broke out near Corinth and strong winds fanned the blaze.
“The fire department said more than 80 firefighters, two water-dropping planes and one helicopter were sent to tackle the fire near Corinth in south-central Greece on Thursday.”
“Between end-May and mid-June, parts of northern and western India went through a phase of intense heatwaves…
“The increasing frequency of heatwaves has long been seen as a signature of global heating, and we have seen exactly that in the past few years around the world.”
“Parts of Uttar Pradesh [India] are set to experience heavy rainfall for the next three days starting Friday, July 10. Accordingly, a red alert has been issued across the state between July 10-12…
“According to The Weather Channel’s forecast, east UP could record total precipitation between 150 mm to 200 mm…”
“The district water development board has recorded 183mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours…
“Already flooded this year, people in the lowlands and haor areas of Sunamganj [Bangladesh] are seeing fresh flooding again due to heavy rainfall and water from upstream.”
“As many as 31 people have been killed and dozens are missing due to incessant rainfall-triggered landslides and floods throughout the country [Nepal].
“According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division, incessant rainfall is likely to will continue till Monday.”
“China has experienced a 20% increase in incidents of heavy rainfall since 1961, while urban development on flood plains has put more people at risk…
“Four cities along China’s Yangtze river have declared top-level flood warnings over the past two days after torrential rain triggered landslides and inundated roads and farmland, with parts of the river threatening to burst its banks.”
“Wuhan in central China is bracing for potentially devastating floods as intense downpours pound the surrounding region, threatening the metropolis of over 11 million people with a second disaster as it recovers from the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Hubei province… has been hit by at least seven rounds of heavy rain since early June. Each of those has produced average cumulative rainfall of 55.3cm (21.8 inches).”
“Outbreaks of deadly African swine fever are surging in some parts of southern China following heavy rains, analysts and industry sources said, in what could be a big setback for Beijing’s goal of replenishing pork supplies.
“China’s hog herd, by far the world’s largest, shrank last year by around 180 million pigs, or 40%, after the incurable disease decimated farms.”
“Japanese emergency services and troops yesterday scrambled to reach people cut off by catastrophic flooding and landslides that have killed dozens and caused widespread damage, with more torrential rain forecast.
“The Japan Meteorological Agency said that heavy rain will likely continue at least until July 12, calling for “extreme vigilance”…”
“A late 2020 La Nina raises crop risks for already-dry Argentina…
“Persistent dry conditions associated with La Nina are most likely to occur in Argentina and southern Brazil, along with the southern U.S. Plains, where the country’s hard red winter (HRW) wheat variety is grown.”
1.) We likely already exceeded 1.5C in 2016 if we use 1750 as our pre-industrial baseline, as the IPCC originally did.
2.) It’s not a question of “rising chances”, it is baked into the cake! But, FWIW:
“The planet is on course to break the 1.5C warming barrier in the next few years, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, only five years after the limit was agreed at the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement.”
“Intense wildfires in the Arctic in June released more polluting gases into the Earth’s atmosphere than in any other month in 18 years of data collection, European scientists said in a report Tuesday…
“The Arctic is warming at least two and a half times faster than the global average rate.”
“Russian fertiliser maker Uralchem said on Wednesday it had temporarily suspended its Azot plant, an ammonia, nitric acid and urea producer in the Perm region, due to high calcium chloride levels in a river it uses for water supply.
“The company said it recorded high pollutant levels in the Kama river on Tuesday and Wednesday…”
“According to Christopher Larsen, project manager of Operation IceBridge (OIB) Alaska, these glaciers are losing on the order of 75 billion tons of ice each year, which contribute to global sea level rise…
“Larsen has seen Yakutat Glacier break apart into large icebergs and retreat significantly over the past few years.”
“There have also been six straight “tropical nights,” a term Environment Canada uses for nights where temperatures stay above 20 C. Statistically speaking, Toronto and surrounding regions would normally see one or two per year…
“This summer has also seen scorching temperatures take hold earlier than usual.”
“Oppressive heat will blanket the U.S. from California to the Northeast through at least the middle of next week, driving up energy demand, stressing crops and probably setting new records…
““This heat is different,” Matt Rogers, president of the Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland, said by telephone.”
“2020 has been the hottest year on record so far in Florida, and among the hottest in 126 years in a number of eastern states, according to a government report.
“NOAA’s June State of the Climate report released Wednesday found the first six months of 2020 was Florida’s warmest January through June period on record, edging out the previous record-holder, 2017, in records dating to 1895.”
“Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Puerto Rico is not only enduring a health crisis but also a worsening drought, forcing tens of thousands to go without running water every 24 hours.
“For nearly a week now, more than 140,000 residents, including some in the island’s capital of San Juan, have been experiencing an intermittent water supply.”
“South America has experienced an “unprecedented” increase in extreme weather events over the past century, according to a new analysis of 600 years of tree-ring records…
“For example, an ongoing decade-long drought in Chile and Argentina is one of the worst on record and could result in “the potential collapse of food systems,” according to Morales.
“Meanwhile, other regions of South America have seen frequent periods of flooding.”
“In the year 2050, summers in Spain could be far from recognisable as experts predict that temperatures could reach the 50-degree mark.
“In 30 years, suffocating heat waves could be experienced followed by months of drought and tropical nights. According to a study conducted by eltiempo. es, the summer of 2050 could be irrevocably altered by the effects of climate change.”
“New research confirms that extreme droughts amid the deepening climate crisis are forcing nocturnal aardvarks in the Kalahari [South Africa] to feed and forage when the sun’s up — but even so, their ant and termite food sources are dying out as the vegetation they survive on is affected by the droughts.”
“Street vendors in India are suffering from lower earnings and ill health as they lose access to shade in cities where trees are felled to make way for construction, researchers said on Thursday.
“As deadly heatwaves become more frequent in tropical countries such as India, loss of shade can severely affect those who live and work on the streets…”
“It started raining in Dwarka [Gujarat, India] on Saturday evening. A series of torrential bursts dropped 593mm (23 inches) of rain since then, three and a half times the July average rainfall.
“Streets disappeared under half to one metre of collected water, submerging cars.”
“Two persons died while 23 others went missing as the monsoon-fed rivers swept away 14 houses in Bahrabise Municipality-5 and two houses in Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality of Sindhupalchok district [Nepal] on Wednesday night…
“…security personnel… have been conducting rescue and search operation at the incident sites.”
“A landslide buried nine people on Wednesday in China’s Hubei province, the People’s Daily newspaper reported, after some of the heaviest rain in decades brought floods that have killed more than 100 people…
“…with rainfall in some places two to three times higher than normal, according to the China Meteorological Administration.”
“Torrential, record-breaking rainstorms have deluged southern and central Japan since Friday, killing at least 58 people… On Friday, 15 inches of rain fell in just six hours, a record, in southwest Kyushu… Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged the government to declare an “extreme disaster”…
“Meanwhile, meteorologists are eyeing the potential for parts of Japan to receive another foot or more of rainfall next week.”
“The heavy rains that have pummeled the Kyushu region in recent days have severely damaged railway lines on Japan’s southernmost main island and washed away a number of historic rail bridges.
“The damage not only cuts off a means of transportation for local residents, but could have major ramifications for tourism on Kyushu…”
“Siberia’s unprecedented heat wave will continue through July, experts have warned, increasing the risk of forest fires and permafrost damage and highlighting the effects of climate change. Forecasts show that five Siberian regions, including one in the Arctic, will experience temperatures of 37 degrees Celsius in early July.
“The hot Siberian summer comes on the heels of the hottest winter since 1891, according to the Russian State Meteorological Service, with average temperatures in what used to be one of the coldest regions of the world hitting 6 C. “The warming isn’t just affecting Russia’s northern regions.”
“A disastrous fuel spill at the CHPP-3 combined heat and power plant in Norilsk has resulted in massive contamination of the local environment…
“Above all, the catastrophe could have detrimental long-term consequences for the ecology of the surrounding territories and seriously affect the health of the wider Artic region.”
“Extreme waves in the Arctic typically occur every 20 years, but as climate change continues to plague the region these events could happen every two to five years, a new study reveals.
“Much of this area is frozen for a majority of the year, but rising temperatures have increased periods of open water that could result in catastrophic waves.”
“Summer has finally arrived in the northern reaches of Canada and Alaska, liberating hundreds of thousands of northern stream fish from their wintering habitats…
“…the survival tools these Arctic fish have used for millennia—exceptional tolerance to cold, slow growth rates and long lifespans—could be a disadvantage as environmental conditions in the north warm and more fast-paced species move in.”
“Heat warnings are in effect in and around the Montreal area, and even areas somewhat north of there are expected to be uncomfortably hot in the coming days.
“”Beginning Tuesday, temperatures will exceed the 30-degree mark during the day and will not fall below 20 degrees at night,” Environment Canada warns.”
“As we plow ahead toward monsoon season here in July, the monsoon will find it difficult to get started as a massive ridge in the jet stream closes the door to moisture from Mexico for the time being…
“The heat is not great news for what has been a rough fire season so far in Arizona.”
“After a destructive spring that made 2020 the deadliest year for tornadoes in nine years, an unusually quiet May continued into June, with some record low activity recorded.
“The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said June 2020 had the fewest number of tornado watches in recorded history with only six recorded for the entire month. The previous record was eight in 2019.”
“After a frenzied start, the Atlantic hurricane season could turn out to be the most active since 2005, when a record 28 storms formed…
““Overall, it’s looking like a very active season in store,” said Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher with Colorado State University. “Conditions in the Atlantic look conducive for an active season with warm sea surface temperatures and relatively low shear.””
Poor Ukraine – floods in the west and fires in the east:
“Four people died and nine were hospitalised as a forest fire swept through villages in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday… This spring, forest fires around the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant in the north of the country and elsewhere pushed pollution levels in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to the worst in the world.”
“Rising temperatures due to climate change may lead to the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus to currently cooler regions.
“Under the most drastic model of global warming, the risk of Zika transmission will increase over southern and eastern Europe, the northern US, northern China and southern Japan…”
“The [Ogun State, Nigeria] governor, who stated this when he visited the areas affected by last weekend’s torrential rain, regretted the huge loss caused by the flood…
“He promised to assist those who lost property and belongings to the flood.”
“The floods across China’s heartland and south are a blow to the country’s recovery efforts after the coronavirus pandemic.
“The heavy rains are causing billions of dollars of damage to cities, homes and businesses… While the rain has come down in historic volumes, the damage may have been exacerbated by failures in safeguards.”
“The torrential rain wreaking havoc in Kyushu [Japan] smashed all records for single-day maximum rainfall in numerous locations on the main southern island, phenomena a Kyoto University expert on rainfall linked to global warming…
“Rainfall measured 489.5 millimeters in Yunomae, 463.5 mm in Asagiri and 410.5 mm in Hitoyoshi, municipalities along the Kumagawa river, which overflowed extensively.”
“Torrential rain lashed central Japan on Wednesday, prompting the government of Gifu Prefecture to instruct some 219,000 residents to evacuate.
“The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the highest level of alert for heavy rain in more than 20 municipalities in Gifu and Nagano prefectures in the morning…”
“Mildura [NW Victoria, Australia] is on track to record its coldest maximum temperature since the airport weather station was established 74 years ago.
“Temperatures on Wednesday remained stubbornly low throughout the day, with the maximum during the afternoon just 7.6 degrees — below the previous daily record of 7.9 degrees on July 11, 1956.”
“The planet is warming. That we’ve known. It is warming much fastest near the poles. That we’ve also known. Yet just how fast that warming has been still comes as a surprise.
“The Arctic has warmed by 0.75 degrees Celsius over the last decade alone… The South Pole, too, is warming much faster than the global average: more than three times faster over the past three decades.”
“It could take decades before cuts to greenhouse gases actually affect global temperatures, according to a new study. 2035 is probably the earliest that scientists could see a statistically significant change in temperature — and that’s only if humans take dramatic action to combat climate change.”
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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.
“A third of Bangladesh is underwater…
“The Assam State Disaster Management Authority has said that 85 people have died in the state in flood-related incidents so far… in the Kaziranga National Park [Assam], known for its one-horned rhinos, around 51 wild animals had died because of the floods and 100 had been rescued. 
“The Pakistan Meteorological Department feared that the country might face more flash floods triggered by a glacier lake outburst flooding…
“Heavy rainfall caused flooding in dozens of cities and villages in Iran’s northwestern province of Ardebil [Iran], forcing many families to leave their homes. 
“Flooding caused by heavy rain has impacted at least 27 of 31 of China’s provinces and regions. 
“Two people have been found dead after a landslide triggered by torrential rains struck their house in western Japan, local media reported on Wednesday… 
“Flash floods and landslides have killed at least 16 people and displaced hundreds in a district on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, officials at the country’s disaster mitigation agency said on Wednesday.
“This year’s locust attacks, which spread from Kenya to Pakistan and India… may be the most economically destructive since the 1960s, said Chaudhry Inayatullah, a former research scientist at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi, Kenya. 
“The impacts of extreme heatwaves amplified by climate change are going unrecorded in sub-Saharan Africa… Only two heatwaves in sub-Saharan Africa have been listed over the last 120 years in the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), the most complete registry of extreme weather event impacts in the world.
“The 12-month deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon has risen 96% since President Jair Bolsonaro took office, and the extent of deforestation over the past year is the highest recorded since INPE, Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research, started releasing monthly statistics in 2007…
“Historic heat across the South continues today with San Antonio, Texas hitting 107 degrees, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city in the month of July.
“Washington hasn’t seen a high below 90 degrees since June 25. 
“…an exceptionally hot weather pattern has pushed water temperatures in most of the lakes to the highest levels on record so early in the summer. 
“Farmers in parts of Alberta say their crops are under water and are bracing for a devastating harvest. It has been so wet, many fields look more like lakes. John Guelly, a farmer in Westlock County, said even if his wheat and canola crops do dry out — it’s too late.
““My main point is that we are and were not ready for fires because we have not seriously recognised the effects of global warming,” says Pavlova, agreeing with much of the criticism from Chernobyl Tours… 
“Fuelled by record high temperatures in Siberia, the fires are currently burning on an area of land the size of Luxembourg, or 333,000 hectares. Greenpeace said earlier this summer the blazes were covering an area of some 3 million hectares.
“Microplastic particles shed by tyres and brakes are swept by winds to remote areas including the Arctic where they darken the surface and hasten the melting of ice. 
“An increase in the spread of non-native plant and animals species around the world could lead to dramatic biodiversity loss, a new study has found, causing permanent damage to ecosystems as they are pushed past biological tipping points… 
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“Measuring methane flux from Arctic lakes is part of a broader effort to better understand the methane budget—an accounting of how much of the gas is moving between various parts or the environment. 
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Only reported in Spanish-language press so far: 
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“Between end-May and mid-June, parts of northern and western India went through a phase of intense heatwaves… 
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“The district water development board has recorded 183mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours… 
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1.) We likely already exceeded 1.5C in 2016 if we use 1750 as our pre-industrial baseline, as the IPCC originally did.
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“Families were displaced by flooding and at least one person died in a traffic accident after a record day of rain in the Augusta area. 
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“Summer has finally arrived in the northern reaches of Canada and Alaska, liberating hundreds of thousands of northern stream fish from their wintering habitats… 
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Poor Ukraine – floods in the west and fires in the east
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“The planet is warming. That we’ve known. It is warming much fastest near the poles. That we’ve also known. Yet just how fast that warming has been still comes as a surprise. 