“A period of punishing heat may envelop much of the Lower 48 and potentially extend to parts of Canada and Alaska. Soaring temperatures could swallow much of the contiguous United States toward the end of June, arriving just in time for calendar-year summer and potentially lingering for weeks…
“Summer 2020 may go down in the books as much warmer than average for the United States or portions of the country — unsurprising considering the past five summers have been the top five hottest on record for the globe.”
“Residents in an area of the Catalina Foothills near Tucson, Arizona, were told to evacuate and others were put on alert as a raging wildfire sparked by lightning and fueled by hot, dry conditions grew larger Thursday morning…
“”Tucson had its hottest May on record, and there was just 0.01″ of rain, so the landscape is drying out quickly,” meteorologist and Weather Underground writer Bob Henson said Thursday afternoon.”
“Multiple floods and low commodity prices are making it nearly impossible for Mississippi Delta farmers to make a profit in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.”
“At least $67bn of the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 can be attributed directly to climate breakdown, according to research that could lead to a radical reassessment of the costs of damage from extreme weather.
“Harvey ripped through the Caribbean and the US states of Texas and Louisiana, causing at least $90bn of damage to property and livelihoods, and killing scores of people.”
“The territory [Virgin Islands] has battled various droughts over the decade, some years more severe than others, but even after significant rainfall over the last couple weeks the territory is now considered to be in a severe drought according to the United States Drought Monitor Map.
“…the territory will be breaking a record this year, with the past few months the driest ever reported.”
“Small island states will be hit by a “perfect storm” in the coming months as the Covid-19 pandemic and extreme weather conditions strike simultaneously, the head of the Commonwealth has warned…
“…several economies will be forced into a “perilous” situation this year by the overlapping crises.”
“It’s set to park itself over New Zealand’s South Island and potentially plunge weekend temperatures down to record lows. So what’s created this incoming monster high-pressure system?
“This system’s record potential has meteorologists intensely interested in how it shapes up when it peaks this weekend.”
“The Bone River in Gorontalo [Sulawesi, Indonesia] breached its banks on Thursday, inundating swaths of Bone Bolango regency as well as the northern part of Gorontalo city.
“Twenty-six villages in the regency’s six districts were hit by the flood. The waters forced 5,407 residents, including 22 infants and 22 toddlers, to flee their homes.”
“Parts of southern China still cleaning up today after floods left at least 20 people dead or missing are forecast to be hit by more rain in the coming days.
“Nearly three million people have been affected by the deluge, with 228,000 forced to seek shelter and 1,300 homes destroyed, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.”
“Mangrove forests are under threat across Southeast Asia.
“In the country of Myanmar alone more than 60% of them were lost within just two decades between 1996 and 2016, according to researchers at the National University of Singapore.”
“Because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time in years poverty is rising in Madagascar, already one of the poorest countries in the world.
“Near Tsimanampesotse National Park in the southwest of the country, the loss of tourists has coincided with a disastrously dry rainy season…”
“The Mayor of Orihuela [Valencia, Spain] has issued a stark flood warning to Ximo Puig, The Valencian President. Emilio Bascunana warned that his town could bear the brunt of another devastating Gota Fria (storm) in less than three months.”
“An abundance of spring flowers, such as daffodils, crocuses and tulips, could be fuelling summer droughts [in the UK], scientists claim, based on new computer simulations.
“The unusually warm and sunny conditions experienced in spring 2018 boosted flower growth, and therefore depleted moisture in the soil just before summer hit.”
“A Russian city nestled in the vast Siberian forest — 2,000 miles and four times zones east of Moscow — has air so bad that the authorities regularly warn people to stay inside.
“During frequent “black sky” events, caused by Soviet-era factories and coal-fired power plants, Krasnoyarsk has clocked the dirtiest air on the planet, beating out Mumbai and Guangzhou.
“The record temperatures in Siberia this year mean the city may not get any respite this summer, with the forest fire season forecast to start in late June, a month ahead of usual.”
“Russian Diesel Spill Threatens Arctic Ocean… The disaster sent millions of gallons of diesel fuel into a river where it’s threatening a nature reserve.”
“Floods and mudslides in south China have uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and left dozens dead or missing, according to state media.
“The bad weather has wreaked havoc on popular tourist areas that had already suffered through months of travel restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak.”
“Terrifying footage has shown a family’s three-storey house being swallowed by devastating floods in southern China.
“The residential building can be seen in the video suddenly collapsing and being washed away by the raging floodwaters in Guangxi province this morning.”
“Hong Kong may have to brace for a typhoon slamming its large container port this weekend…
“This storm, which would be named Typhoon Nuri, will likely track over the northern Philippines on Friday, June 12, moving into southeastern China over the weekend. The projected track takes the storm close to Hong Kong on Sunday, June 14.”
“The Apsara Authority [Cambodia] yesterday announced, in cooperation with the local pagoda and authorities, it has taken immediate action to safeguard wildlife at Bakong temple after droughts have endangered the sacred fish which inhabit its surrounding moat.
“He said that there is still no rain forecast so far…”
“Brazil reports even more deforestation after revising data – Amazon deforestation rose by 34.4% year-on-year in Brazil, the country’s space agency INPE has said, revising its numbers based on satellite observation.
“The latest data does not include last year’s forest fires.”
“Primary forests in the tropics are declining at an accelerating rate according to analysis of satellite data released last week by the University of Maryland (UMD) and World Resources Institute (WRI).
“Since 2002, the tropics lost more than 60 million hectares of primary forests, an area larger than the combined land mass of the states of California and Missouri or the island nation of Madagascar.”
“The heat has been building across the West and it’ll be especially toasty in southern California again today (Wednesday).
“Temperatures could approach 100 degrees in the Los Angeles and San Diego. Heat advisories have been issued once again for the area. Several cities tied or saw record highs broken on Tuesday and more could fall today (Wednesday).”
“Two fires have at least 450 acres of the hills and woods between Ventura and Santa Paula in flames as Ventura County firefighters are battling twin blazes known as the Lime and Elizabeth fires on Wednesday evening…
“At least 75 firefighters have responded to the Lime fire, which according to county fire personnel, began about 5 p.m. and has consumed at least 200 acres, with the possibility of growing five times that size.”
“Tropical Storm Cristobal made landfall on Louisiana’s coastline on Sunday 7 June, but the impacts of the storm were felt far and wide.
“Rainfall rates of 152.4mm an hour were recorded in Florida resulting in flash flooding destroying cars, as well as a tornado forming in downtown Orlando.”
“In what is potentially the first case of many of its kind, JPMorgan Chase, Boyce Hydro Power, and several other defendants were slapped with a class action in Michigan Eastern District Court.
“The suit alleges the defendants caused the destruction of property due to mass flooding, citing the May 19, 2020, breach of the Edenville Dam.”
“The US has opened a consulate in Greenland for the first time in nearly 70 years, igniting a three-way race with China and Russia for mineral wealth and strategic control in the Arctic.
“It is the first time the US has had a consulate in Nuuk, the capital, since the Second World War when it opened one in Nuuk to counter the Nazis after Germany invaded Denmark. It closed its doors in 1953.”
“Officials in Siberia have warned that it will take years to clean up a massive fuel spill in the Arctic Circle, as investigators detained three employees of a power plant where the disaster originated.
“It is the largest ever to have hit the Arctic, say environmentalists.”
“…the environmental catastrophe happed after the concrete foundation on which the reservoir rests began to sink. Following the sinking, the bottom of the reservoir detached from its walls whereupon the diesel oil spilled into the surroundings…
“…the environmental watchdog now warns that the remaining reservoirs could ultimately get the same fate as the first collapsed tank.”
“Since 22 May, the Zagros mountain range in southwestern Iran has been ravaged by forest fires spreading across thousands of hectares.
“Iran is woefully underprepared to deal with the country’s hot season because of a lack of resources and budget, and so extinguishing the fire falls to volunteers.”
“Global warming is making Mediterranean’s signature climate harsher…
““By 2050, many parts of the Mediterranean, including agricultural lands, are expected to see drought condition for at least six months of the year on average and the number of days considered too hot for a beach holiday are projected to increase, which could put tourism at risk,” says Hauke Engel…”
“In a new study led by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Munich (LMU), experts have determined that a spring heatwave contributed to the severity of the summer 2018 drought in Europe.
“Unusually warm spring temperatures accelerated the timing and rate of plant growth, which depleted soil moisture.”
“Asturias [Spain] will be between Thursday and Friday one of the coldest spots in all of Europe. The drop in temperatures, which include an explosive cyclogenesis phenomenon , will be reflected in thermometers with highs of between 11 and 13 degrees in Cangas del Narcea and lows of eight.
“The atmosphere has put the time just the opposite of what is usual. Low temperatures are recorded in southern Europe and highs in the far north, in the Arctic…
“This configuration is a consequence of the dynamics of the jet stream, which by moving increasingly frequently in a southern way is altering the natural order of the distribution of hot and cold air…
“The contrast is so extreme that it favors that in the regions of the Arctic Circle the maximums are much higher.”
“There were more melting permafrost problems for Russia’s energy infrastructure after the TGK1 power station on the Far Northwest coast reported on June 9 that two of its hydropower units were flooded with “abnormal water inflow” due to melting snow…
“The water levels [rose] rapidly to unseasonal highs after snow at the Lovozero lake melted – something which occurs once in 1,000 years, according to the company.”
“A massive fuel spill in northern Siberia has reached an Arctic glacial lake after seeping through floating barriers installed to stop the leak, regional officials said Tuesday…
““The fuel got into Lake Pyasino,” said Alexander Uss, the governor of the Krasnoyarsk region, referring to the Arctic body of water 20 kilometers from the site of the spill.”
“Swarms of the Siberian silk moth, whose larvae eat away at conifer trees in the region’s forests, have grown rapidly amid the rising temperatures…
“”In all my long career as a specialist, I’ve never seen moths so huge and growing so quickly,” said Vladimir Soldatov, a moth expert, who warns of “tragic consequences” for forests.”
“More residents in southeastern Manitoba were ordered to evacuate due to flooding and washed out roads late Tuesday evening.
“The Rural Municipality of Stuartburn said in a Facebook post that Arbakka residents living between roads 41E and 54E, south of Provincial Road 201, must leave their homes and farms.”
“Strong Santa Ana winds — weather that rarely occurs in June — sent temperatures soaring more than 20 degrees above normal Tuesday across San Diego County, smashing or tying records from the coast to the foothills.
““The numbers were amazing,” said Mark Moede, a forecaster at the National Weather Service.”
“In case 2020 wasn’t a strange enough year already, Tuesday marked the ninth day of the official Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1, and it is already shaping up to be one of the fastest-starting Atlantic seasons in history…
“Looking ahead, records for this already historic season may continue to be set with the name Dolly on deck.”
“Irish authorities have imposed a six-week garden-hose ban… Ireland’s weather office, Met Eireann, says the country experienced its driest May since 1850.
“Some areas had the driest spring ever recorded, with the capital, Dublin, receiving less than a third of its usual spring rainfall.”
“Record breaking May temperatures [UK] have led to the largest number of early butterfly sightings in a century…
“Dr Richard Fox, Associate Director of Recording and Research at the charity Butterfly Conservation, who compiled the figures, said that over the past 20 years he had typically received reports of 39 species by the end of May
“Flooding in south and central China has caused more than a dozen deaths and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, the government said Wednesday.
“About 228,000 people have been forced to seek emergency shelter due to flooding since June 2, the country’s Ministry of Emergency Management said.”
“Parts of South Australia turned white with frost overnight — and the surface of the River Torrens froze over — as Adelaide’s CBD shivered through its coldest morning in 76 years.
“The mercury dropped to 0.9 degrees Celsius at Adelaide’s central West Terrace weather station about 5:20am — the coldest temperature in the city since June 24, 1944.”
“Donald Trump has ordered the construction of a fleet of icebreakers and bases to pursue US interests in the Arctic and Antarctic by the end of the decade in a signal that his administration is going to take a more aggressive approach to the contest with Russia and China for polar resources.”
“Weather swings in Siberia as extreme heat is followed by June snow, tornadoes and floods.
“‘This spring the nature at the Taymyr Peninsula broke all climate records and really surprised old-timers’, wrote geographer Vasily Sarana, researcher at the scientific team of the Putoransky Nature Reserve.”
“Russia said on Monday it had successfully put out a fire at a Siberian oil well after officials called in the military to shoot anti-tank artillery shells at the wellhead from a distance in order to quell the flames.
“The well in Siberia’s Irkutsk region, operated by a subsidiary of the Irkutsk Oil Company, caught fire on May 30 and authorities called in the army on Friday.”
“Scientists at the Finnish Environment Institute have said that the intense flooding in Lapland, which is some of the most extreme in recent memory, has now reached its peakand will likely subside in the coming days.”
“…an unusually intense and historic line of damaging thunderstorms slammed parts of the western U.S., tearing down trees and power lines for a continuous 750-mile span.
“The fast-moving destructive storm complex, known as a derecho, unleashed winds in excess of 100 mph
“It took seven hours for rescue workers to evacuate about 100 employees from a southern Mississippi casino that was inundated with floodwaters caused by a 5ft surge whipped up by Tropical Storm Cristobal on Sunday.
“Dramatic video filmed by an employee of Silver Slipper Casino in Bay St. Louis shows one of the evacuations of stranded workers who were loaded onto high-water vehicles.”
“Tropical Storm Cristobal could soon renew its strength by uniting with another storm system coming from the west to form one giant cyclone, forecasters say.
“After drenching much of the South, forecasters now expect the remnants of Cristobal to bring fierce winds, heavy rain and thunderstorms to much of the Midwest by Tuesday.”
“After an abnormally dry rainy season, South America’s world-renowned Iguazu Falls, a World Heritage site, is rumbling with life once more. The flow of the 275 waterfalls dramatically slowed at a time when it typically reaches its peak.
“The tourist attraction sits on the Brazil-Argentina border, and is second only in height to Victoria Falls…”
“Despite the COVID-19 health crisis and its effect on the mining sector worldwide, Chile’s copper production has been relatively unscathed, although mines are facing problems due to a drought.
“State copper miner Codelco confirmed to daily El Mercurio the restriction on copper processing at the El Teniente mine near Rancagua in central Chile.”
“Efforts to keep the Amazon rainforest standing and reduce Brazil’s planet-warming emissions are being hampered by budget cuts for the country’s environmental watchdog and its main climate change programme, researchers have said…
“Funding for activities under Brazil’s national climate change plan has also been cut, from R$436 million for 2019 to R$247 million for 2020…”
“Ireland’s tillage farmers are facing an “impending disaster” due to the continuing drought, Teagasc has warned.
“Dairy farms are also struggling in the savagely dry conditions. Slower grass growth in the midlands, east and southeast has forced many milk suppliers to buffer feed cows with baled silage and straights.”
“River levels in Wales are at record low levels with experts “increasingly concerned” if the hot weather continues, following Wales’ driest May since 1910…
“Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said they are “growing increasingly concerned” about river levels…”
“Residents on the Costa Blanca have been posting pictures of lightning strikes and videos of torrential rain on Spain’s Costa Blanca after a storm warning for the Valencia Community today.
“In one clip shared to Benidorn Seriously Facebook page, Benidorm is barely visible as the resort takes a lashing from a huge downpour, together with thunder and lightning.”
“South Sudan has had rampant deforestation taking place… So far, the country’s forests that cover an estimated 191,667 square km, have been shrinking at a rate of 2% per year…
“…99% of the population depends on forest as their main source of energy that is charcoal, firewood and timber for construction and furniture.”
“Seven people were killed and one went missing after a rainstorm-triggered flood battered Jianghua Yao Autonomous County in central China’s Hunan Province, local authorities said on Monday.
“The bodies of the seven people have been found and search and rescue efforts are underway.”
“The countries that signed the Paris Agreement have agreed to limit CO2 emissions in an effort to mitigate climate change, but the framework does not establish any guidelines for CO2 removal.
“According to a team of experts led by Imperial College London, plans for CO2 removal must be urgently addressed.”
“Sunbathing is not the first thing that comes to mind when considering Siberia, the vast, sparsely populated Russian region stretching up to the Arctic that is, for much of the year, covered in snow.
“Yet recently this icy realm of birch forests and prison camps has been baking under an unprecedented heatwave – and people have been soaking up the rays on their rooftops.
““I’m Siberian-born and lived here for 60 years. I don’t remember a single spring like this,” said journalist Sergey Zubchuk.
“Europeans were not alone, it turns out, in their enjoyment of a meteorological aberration that brought them one of the sunniest springs ever recorded. From the coast of California to innermost India, temperatures have soared to unusual levels.
“Record temperatures have been registered across Canada, the Arctic and Mediterranean, and the trend is mirrored in the southern hemisphere where, despite creeping towards winter, New Zealand’s South Island continued to enjoy temperatures of up to 26C in May, about 10 degrees above the average daytime high….
“In California, where longstanding records were broken at various locations in May, governor Gavin Newsom angered locals by closing beaches as the heat drew large crowds trying to cool off…
“As a heatwave swept the Mediterranean from end to end, Israel prematurely eased its lockdown and reopened the seafront. Beaches remained shut, however, in neighbouring Lebanon, forcing sweating Beirutis to install inflatable pools on balconies and rooftops.
“Cyprus turned into a crucible, with the hottest May day ever recorded there (42.5C). Police handed out fines to islanders who stayed on the beaches — after their permitted swimming — in order to sunbathe.
“Perhaps the most brutal impact of the pandemic combined with the heat, however, was seen in India, as thousands of migrant workers were forced to walk miles on foot to return home in high temperatures — proving lethal for some. As May drew to a close, Delhi swooned under an extraordinary 47.6C, breaking an 18-year record for that month.”
“Investigators have determined that the leakage of of 20,000 tons of diesel (about 150,000 barrels) from a reservoir at a power plant in Russia’s Far North was caused by damage from thawing permafrost…
“…just the latest sign of the catastrophic effects climate change is having in the Arctic.”
“Tentative plans to fix Iqaluit’s flood-prone cemetery in Apex were recently presented during the first meeting of the city’s cemetery advisory committee…
“Since the cemetery’s opening in 2014, residents have raised concerns about having to bury loved ones in muddy, water-filled graves.”
“May of 2020 was no ordinary month for many reasons in Westmeath [Ireland], one of which was the weather.
“Remarkably, the month saw both the hottest and the coldest May temperatures ever recorded in the 70-year history of Met Eireann’s Mullingar weather station.”
“Roman forts, roads, military camps and villas have been identified by a new analysis of aerial photographs taken in the 2018 heatwave across Wales.
“After the driest May on record, Dr Driver hopes he will be able to get back in the air as soon as coronavirus lockdown measures allow, to see if he and his teams can find more pieces of the Roman puzzle in Wales.”
“Germany’s Rhine River is entering dry summer months with water levels at their lowest in two decades, prompting fears of shipping disruption on Europe’s most important inland waterway.
“After spring showers failed to show in Germany, the official water level at Kaub — a key chokepoint near Frankfurt — dropped to around 1 meter on June 3.”
“One person died, another is missing and dozens were rescued amid flash flooding in the northeastern Czech Republic, rescuers said Monday.
“Several towns and villages north of the city of Olomouc, 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of Prague, were flooded by 1 meter (3.3 feet) of water following thunderstorms that were accompanied by torrential rains overnight.”
“The Northern Cape needs a whopping R22 billion for water infrastructure, while another R5 billion is needed to ensure decent access to sanitation…
“The province is one of the worst hit by an ongoing drought which has led to the death of thousands of head of livestock – the primary source of income in the area.”
“You name it, and Ethiopia has faced it in the last several weeks.
“Floods, economic crises, the everpresent coronavirus, and even locusts have hit Ethiopia, and communities already suffering from poverty are ill-equipped to respond.
“That’s especially true for Korah, a former leper community turned urban slum.”
“With more than 7,000, Pakistan has more glaciers than anywhere except the polar regions. But climate change is “eating away Himalayan glaciers at a dramatic rate”, a study published last year in the journal Science Advances noted.
“As glacier ice melts, it can collect in large glacial lakes, which are at risk of bursting their through banks and creating deadly flash floods downstream, in places like Hassanabad.”
“A 17-year-old boy from Kerala’s Kozhikode district [India], is suspected to have been washed away by the force of a stream in Koodaranji on Saturday after heavy rainfall resulted in flash floods in the area.
“The Kozhikode Police are currently searching for the missing boy. “
“About 45 percent of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has been affected by an increasing drought, local authorities said on Sunday.
“According to the regional meteorological bureau and the regional department of agriculture and animal husbandry, the drought area in the region has reached 44.36 million hectares.”
“One of the strongest high pressure systems on the planet is about to move over to New Zealand, bringing freezing temperatures that could plunge as low as -15C in some parts of the south this weekend.
“The pattern is expected to coincide with another period of dry weather for Auckland – hardly welcome news for local drought-hit farmers needing rain to battle back from a 240mm deficit.”
“Homes, roads and petrol stations in Louisiana have been flooded by heavy rain from tropical storm Cristobal.
“Strong winds and heavy rain hit the US Gulf coast as tropical storm Cristobal made landfall in Louisiana, where downpours and rising waters swamped roads and prompted evacuations.”
“Dramatic video has captured a tornado over downtown Orlando on Saturday evening.
“Those nearby describe extremely windy and turbulent conditions as the storm passed through the downtown area after the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning.”
“The Earth had its hottest May ever last month, continuing an unrelenting climate change trendas 2020 is set to be among the hottest 10 years ever, scientists with the Copernicus Climate Change Service announced on Friday.
“It’s virtually certain that this year will be among the top hottest years in recorded history with a higher than 98% likelihood it will rank in the top five, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
“Temperatures soared 10 degrees Celsius above average last month in Siberia, home to much of Earth’s permafrost, as the world experienced its hottest May on record, the European Union’s climate monitoring network said Friday.”
“In the last week of May, parts of the Arctic Circle recorded temperatures on par with the average monthly temperature in Hong Kong…
“Scientists have raised concerns about thawing Arctic permafrost that will release stored greenhouse gases, further accelerating the rate of global heating.”
“Russian emergency workers and marine clean-up specialists on Thursday intensified efforts to clean up a major fuel spill that environmentalists say is the first such accident in the Arctic polar region…
“The Ambarnaya River, which is the worst-affected by the spill, feeds into Lake Pyasino, a major body of water and the source of the Pyasina River that is vitally important to the entire Taimyr peninsula.”
“Governments must rebuild their economies after the coronavirus crisis to withstand the next shock heading their way – climate change, the central bank governors of Britain and France have said.
““Unless we act now, the climate crisis will be tomorrow’s central scenario and, unlike COVID-19, no one will be able to self-isolate from it.””
“[Northern Europe’s] Farmers have yearned for showers after one of the warmest French springs on record and the U.K.’s driest May in a century, while parts of Germany still need more rain.
“The drought further hurt the region’s production prospects after relentless autumn rains hampered plantings.”
“South Africa has extended the national state of disaster it declared for a drought that’s been going on for more than seven years in some parts of the country.
“The state of disaster that was initially announced for three months on March 4 has been extended to July 4…”
““In 2018, two cyclones dumped heavy rain on the uninhabited portion of the Arabian Peninsula known as ‘The Empty Quarter.’ There, locusts can breed and reproduce freely, undisturbed by humans.
“The locusts bred in the Empty Quarter for nine months, over three generations. That is the original source of the East Africa upsurge we are seeing now,” Williams told Mongabay.”
“Nisarga turned deadly as it battered western India with torrential rainfall and damaging winds into Thursday morning.
“The Business Standard reported on Thursday that Nisarga killed at least four people across two districts in western India, and injured at least eight others.”
“As March turned to April, a devastating cyclone gathered force over the Pacific Ocean and began to bear down on the island nations of Vanuatu, Fiji, and Tonga, among others.
“The storm was eventually rated category 5—as high as the scale goes—and it struck just as the world was attempting to adjust to the dislocation caused by Covid-19…
“The aftermath holds important warnings for the rest of what’s predicted to be a busy storm season in both the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.”
“Tropical Storm Cristobal is currently meandering over Mexico but will head for populated regions of the Gulf Coast this weekend just as many people escape to the beaches to decompress from the coronavirus pandemic…
“NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center predicts a significant amount of rainfall from June 4th to June 11th in the Gulf States and Lower Mississippi River valley…”
“Humans have spread to most parts of the planet, and now researchers have calculated that only a fifth of ice-free land on Earth is free of our influence…
“Most of the low human influence areas on the planet are really cold, high or dry areas of land, such as arctic landscapes, montane areas or deserts.”
“From Amazon to India, nature has suffered enough in one year.
“Bush fires, earthquakes, cyclones and more, 2019-2020 has seen various natural disasters. These disasters have caused major structural damages and has destroyed wildlife, forests, indigenous species and has taken thousands of lives.”
“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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“A period of punishing heat may envelop much of the Lower 48 and potentially extend to parts of Canada and Alaska. Soaring temperatures could swallow much of the contiguous United States toward the end of June, arriving just in time for calendar-year summer and potentially lingering for weeks…
“Residents in an area of the Catalina Foothills near Tucson, Arizona, were told to evacuate and others were put on alert as a raging wildfire sparked by lightning and fueled by hot, dry conditions grew larger Thursday morning…
“Multiple floods and low commodity prices are making it nearly impossible for Mississippi Delta farmers to make a profit in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.”
“At least $67bn of the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 can be attributed directly to climate breakdown, according to research that could lead to a radical reassessment of the costs of damage from extreme weather.
“The territory [Virgin Islands] has battled various droughts over the decade, some years more severe than others, but even after significant rainfall over the last couple weeks the territory is now considered to be in a severe drought according to the United States Drought Monitor Map.
“Small island states will be hit by a “perfect storm” in the coming months as the Covid-19 pandemic and extreme weather conditions strike simultaneously, the head of the Commonwealth has warned…
“It’s set to park itself over New Zealand’s South Island and potentially plunge weekend temperatures down to record lows. So what’s created this incoming monster high-pressure system?
“The Bone River in Gorontalo [Sulawesi, Indonesia] breached its banks on Thursday, inundating swaths of Bone Bolango regency as well as the northern part of Gorontalo city.
“Parts of southern China still cleaning up today after floods left at least 20 people dead or missing are forecast to be hit by more rain in the coming days. 
“Mangrove forests are under threat across Southeast Asia.
“Drought-prone Parbhani in Marathwada recorded 190mm rainfall in 24 hours… 
“Because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time in years poverty is rising in Madagascar, already one of the poorest countries in the world. 
“The Mayor of Orihuela [Valencia, Spain] has issued a stark flood warning to Ximo Puig, The Valencian President. Emilio Bascunana warned that his town could bear the brunt of another devastating Gota Fria (storm) in less than three months.”
“An abundance of spring flowers, such as daffodils, crocuses and tulips, could be fuelling summer droughts [in the UK], scientists claim, based on new computer simulations. 
“A Russian city nestled in the vast Siberian forest — 2,000 miles and four times zones east of Moscow — has air so bad that the authorities regularly warn people to stay inside.
“Russian Diesel Spill Threatens Arctic Ocean… The disaster sent millions of gallons of diesel fuel into a river where it’s threatening a nature reserve.”
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“The contrast is so extreme that it favors that in the regions of the Arctic Circle the maximums are much higher.”
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“Europeans were not alone, it turns out, in their enjoyment of a meteorological aberration that brought them one of the sunniest springs ever recorded. From the coast of California to innermost India, temperatures have soared to unusual levels.
“As a heatwave swept the Mediterranean from end to end, Israel prematurely eased its lockdown and reopened the seafront. Beaches remained shut, however, in neighbouring Lebanon, forcing sweating Beirutis to install inflatable pools on balconies and rooftops.
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“About 45 percent of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has been affected by an increasing drought, local authorities said on Sunday
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I am wondering if this is related to higher temperatures? Permafrost melt, possibly? Sea-level rise? 
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