“The gases heating the planet in 2018 were higher than humans have ever recorded, according to an authoritative new report from the American Meteorological Society and the US government.
“Greenhouse gas levels topped 60 years of modern measurements and 800,000 years of ice core data, the study found. The data used in the 325-page report is collected from more than 470 scientists in 60 countries.
“The global annual average for carbon dioxide – which is elevated because of human activities like driving cars and burning fuel – was 407.4 parts per million, 2.4 ppm higher than in 2017.
“The report finds 2018 was the fourth-warmest on record since the mid-to-late- 1800s. Temperatures were .3C to .4C higher than the average between 1981 and 2010.
“Sea levels were the highest on record, as global heating melted land-based ice and expanded the oceans. Sea surface temperatures were also near a record high.”
“Multiple lightning strikes have been detected within 300 miles of the North Pole, in the latest extraordinary weather event amid an escalating climate change emergency…
“…polar lightning is so rare, due to temperatures usually being too low to allow the phenomenon, that the NWS decided to issue a public information statement over the weekend.”
“A cloud of smoke and soot bigger than the European Union is billowing across Siberia as wildfires in the Arctic Circle rage into an unprecedented third month.
“The normally frozen region, which is a crucial part of the planet’s cooling system, is spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and worsening the manmade climate disruption that created the tinderbox conditions.”
“On Friday morning residents of the Verkhoyansk area of Siberia awoke to pitch darkness hours after the sun should have risen. By 8am, more than four hours after dawn should have broken, an area the size of Italy was reportedly still under entirely black skies and air temperatures had fallen…
“Weather experts said this time the unexpected blackout was likely to be due to a mixture of thick rain clouds combining with smoke from wildfires raging amid soaring temperatures.”
“Denmark will send 38 firefighters to Greenland to help extinguish a wildfire near Sisimiut, in the western part of the island. The fire started in early July and is now approaching inhabited areas.”
“Last month marked the hottest, driest July in the Aleutian Islands in 95 years. The conditions matched the larger trend across Alaska, which experienced below-average rainfall and record-breaking heat…
“”The oceans all around the state — the Gulf of Alaska, the North Pacific, the Bering Sea, and then north of the Bering Strait in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas — temperatures are significantly warmer than normal…””
“American farmers planted a lot more corn than expected this year. But at the same time, they also left way more acres unplanted than analysts predicted. Wait, what?
“If you’re confused, join the rest of the crop market. The U.S. Department of Agriculture put out two reports Monday that seem to be muddying the waters even more after record spring rainfall in the U.S. created widespread uncertainty over crop plantings.”
“Yesterday’s high temperature of 98 degrees in Jacksonville [Florida] tied its daily record for August 11 set in 2011. This is a type of record one would normally expect during a heat wave. However, high levels of humidity have prevented the mercury from falling as much as it normally does overnight. The morning lows have been so warm, they’ve also broken a few records across the state.”
“It was a hot weekend, with several record temperatures set in Honolulu, Lihue and Kahului… Hot and humid conditions are expected to continue…
“Since the start of August, temperatures have either tied or broken previous record highs every day in Hilo, Kahului, Honolulu and Lihue, except for Monday, Aug. 5.”
“Japan is bracing for significant impacts from Severe Tropical Storm Krosa, as the storm churns over the west Pacific to the south of the country.
“As Japan recovers from the impacts of Typhoon Francisco and Tropical Storm Nari, Krosa is expected to bring impacts ranging from flooding to mudslides and damaging winds as early as Wednesday.”
“Heavy rain swept through eastern China after Typhoon Lekima made landfall in the coastal province of Zhejiang on Saturday.
“The powerful storm left a trail of destruction after a landslide backed up a river that broke through debris and inundated homes. The death toll from Lekima rose to 44 on Monday morning, according to state media.”
“From heat waves to flash floods, India has witnessed extreme weather conditions this year.
“While parts of northern and southern India were struggling with drought-like conditions in the summer, the Northeast and western coastal areas have been battered with torrential downpour lately… climate crisis is a reality and being faced in the form of multi-decade rain deficit and flash floods.”
“Up to 165 people are feared to have died and nearly a million others have been forced to leave their homes following floods in southern India.
“But the total number of dead is likely to increase as rescue workers search through debris after rivers flooded and buildings collapsed due to torrential monsoon rains.”
“A total of 161 people have been killed and 137 others injured in rain-related incidents since July across the country due to the current monsoon-triggered heavy rains, confirmed an official from Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.”
“Santiago, Chile, Aug 12 (Prensa Latina) More than one million Chilean residents in rural areas are currently suffering the serious effects on the water service as a result of the severe drought affecting the country…
“…the weather phenomenon prevents the recovery of wells that are drying up, as denounced by the mayors of municipalities from the Arica Parinacota (north) to Biobio(south central)regions.”
“Farmland water supply [in E Australia] is dangerously low, and because of that there has not been much, if any, dryland planting of wheat, barley or canola in eastern Australia this season.
“A general decline in irrigated plantings of sorghum, cotton and other crops also occurred during the summer. In late July the water supply in most of the key water catchment basins in eastern agricultural areas of Australia reported storage levels of 5% to 26% with two exceptions.”
“Britain is facing a cauliflower shortage after this year’s crop was ruined by the extreme summer weather.
“Heavy rains in June followed by last month’s heatwave affected yields in the UK and Europe so badly that supermarkets are running out of the now trendy vegetable, while prices have soared up to fivefold, with the wholesale cost of a cauliflower reaching £3. Other brassica – such as cabbage and broccoli – have also been hit, while Brussels sprouts could be in short supply for Christmas.”
“Tourists are being warned after a German pensioner died when she contracted a killer Vibrio infection whilst swimming.
“The elderly woman reportedly cut herself and developed the dangerous infection as she bathed at a beach in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the German Baltic coast. Four others are now infected by the bug which thrives in hot weather.”
“Two people are still missing in Chamoson, Switzerland after two cars were carried away by a mudslide. A violent storm had caused extensive damage in the area. The municipal and cantonal police, the rescue services, and many firemen were mobilised.”
“A large wildfire fanned by strong winds destroyed tracts of forest on the Greek island of Evia, firefighters said on Tuesday (Aug 13), as authorities prepared to evacuate two villages potentially in the path of the flames.
“Wildfires raged uncontrolled in at least four other Greek regions, and the fire brigade said it had been called to put out 182 fires in the last three days.”
“…a team has unraveled evidence of that human influence. In a study published Monday in Nature Geoscience, a team of scientists showed that over the past century, human-driven global warming has changed the character of the winds that blow over the ocean near some of the most fragile glaciers in West Antarctica.
“Sometimes, those winds have weakened or reversed, which in turn causes changes in the ocean water that laps up against the ice in a way that caused the glaciers to melt.”
“Over the past four days, vigorous monsoon conditions over the region have produced an unprecedented rainfall of nearly 2500 mm [nearly 100 inches] over this lake area.
“The 24-hour rainfall accumulation in Avalanche till Friday morning was a whopping 911 mm— more than 1.5 times the average rainfall Coimbatore receives in a year. It was reportedly the wettest 24-hour rainfall ever recorded in Tamil Nadu.”
“Monsoon flooding in southern and western India has led to more than 140 deaths, state officials say, with hundreds of thousands of people evacuated from their homes.
“Nearly half the reported deaths have occurred in the south-western state of Kerala.”
“Torrential rains and flash floods have killed at least 24 people in southern and northwestern Pakistan over the last 24 hours, officials and local media said on Sunday.
“The massive downpour struck the southern port city of Karachi on Saturday night, which lasted next 16 hours with short intervals.”
“An additional 12 people were recorded dead from the storm, including seven from Zhejiang province and five from Shandong, with 16 people missing, according to data from provincial emergency bureaus and state media…
“The latest update from Shandong brings the total estimated economic toll of the storm to 18 billion yuan ($2.55 billion) in China, including damage to 364,000 hectares of crops and more than 36,000 homes.”
“Amid the current heatwave, there have been widespread concerns about next year’s games, which are scheduled for late July through early August.
“When Tokyo hosted the summer games in 1964, the event was shifted to October, to avoid the worst of the summer heat. As Reuters pointed out, that’s no longer an option, because it would conflict with other major sports like football and soccer…”
“The New South Wales government [Australia] has begun preliminary planning to boost output at Sydney’s desalination plant, in a bid to secure the city’s water supply as dam levels continue to drop…
“The water minister, Melinda Pavey, said on Sunday [the plant] was playing a significant role in maintaining the city’s water supply during “one of the worst droughts in living memory”.”
“Authorities are preparing emergency response teams as scientists warn that fish kills are looming in the state’s waterways on a scale that could dwarf the mass die-offs last summer.
“Governments “hold grave concerns for communities and rivers across the northern basin which remain under considerable stress because of the drought,” a Murray-Darling Basin Authority spokeswoman said.”
“Australians have endured a bizarrely wintery weekend, with parts of the country’s southeast seeing snow for the first time in decades as an Antarctic vortex brought frigid conditions from the south.
“The State of New South Wales’ (NSW) iconic Blue Mountains ranges, just 50 kilometres west of Sydney, were blanketed in white on Saturday with shocked residents in Katoomba, Goulburn and the Central Tablelands waking to the unusual sight.”
“Wild weather has ripped through New Plymouth [NZ], with a tornado crossing State Highway 3 just north of the city and another downing trees in South Taranaki.”
“Galveston failed to drop below 86 degrees Thursday, marking its warmest all-time low temperature on record. Records there date back to 1874. Galveston also set a daily record high Thursday, hitting 96 degrees.
“The heat index rose as high as 117 and hasn’t fallen below the upper 90s in days.”
“Ladybird spiders and puffins are among 80 animals at risk of extinction identified by conservation charities after [UK] Government biodiversity spending was cut almost in half in three years.
“The RSPB and Buglife have criticised Defra after the funding for the department as a whole was increased by 11 per cent but biodiversity investment was slashed.”
“A lightning strike in southern Germany has injured 15 football players, while thousands were asked to leave a concert early and a circus tent collapsed as storms hit across northern Europe. German news agency DPA reported Saturday that the lightning struck the field in Rosenfeld-Heiligenzimmern where the players were exercising…”
“Mass evacuations are taking place on popular tourist island Gran Canaria after a blaze thpught to have been started by a soldering iron grew into a raging wildfire in the early hours of Sunday.
“Firefighters said they were “overwhelmed” by the inferno estimated to have ravaged 900 hectares since 6pm on Saturday, forcing emergency services to evacuate hundreds of people in more than a dozen neighbourhoods.”
“More than 50 forest fires are raging in Greece in conditions of heat, drought and high winds, the France press reported. More than 450 firefighters and 23 aircraft have been mobilized to fight the fire…
“Today, temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country, with strong winds.”
“On Sunday, some parts of Dalmatia measured uncomfortably high temperatures. For example, the highest daily air temperature in Knin was 39.3°C, Ploče and Resnik 38°C, and Zemunik 37°C.
“However, the new week begins with a warning from DHMZ, who issued a red alert for the entire Adriatic due to the heat. Namely, this is the highest warning level within the MeteoAlarm system.”
“Cyprus’s meteorological service issued heat wave warning number 42 on Sunday, marking the highest ever number of warnings in any year so far…
“Such weather warnings have been issued since the start of June, meaning that more than half of the summer days so far were marked by temperatures higher than the median average for the season…”
“Last July, the Mediterranean Sea broke record temperatures, up 8 degrees higher than usual…
“Unfortunately, this process has increased in recent weeks as temperatures have risen again during the month of August (with a record of 26.6° Celsius).”
“The climate crisis is causing unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety to people in Greenland who are struggling to reconcile the traumatic impact of global heating with their traditional way of life…
“The island faces some of the most acute social issues in the world with high levels of alcoholism and historically disproportionate rates of suicide.”
“As Phu Quoc Island experiences the worst flood in its history, officials point fingers at climate change and urbanization.
“On Friday morning, hundreds of local families were evacuated to schools, government offices and relatives’ houses after heavy downpours hit the island district in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.
“Phu Quoc had already been battered by continuous heavy rains from August 2 to 5. The rainfall recorded in four days by the province’s Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting was 501.2 mm [nearly 20 inches], a record. Rainfall of 180mm a day is considered heavy.
“The island had 34 km of its roads submerged in 0.6 – 1.5 meters. Nearly 3,900 houses were flooded…
“Friday’s evacuation was the second of the week. On Tuesday, many families were forced to move to safer areas after many parts of the island were inundated… As of Friday afternoon, the rains hadn’t stopped, and heavy flooding has isolated many communes.”
“Raging floods across Myanmar have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes in recent weeks, officials said Thursday, as monsoon rains pummel the nation.
“”There are currently over 30,000 people (across the country) displaced by floods,”
…said director general of disaster management Ko Ko Naing.”
“On August 8, Karnataka [India] received nearly five times the rainfall it normally does, adding to the severity of the ongoing floods in at least 12 districts that have killed 20 people by August 9, 2019.
“The rain has come at a time it normally does not. In some districts it has been multiple times more than the normal for this time of the year.”
“The Avalanche region in Nilgiris district has now recorded the wettest 24 hours ever to be seen in Tamil Nadu, according to Tamil Nadu Weatherman Pradeep John.
“On Friday morning, over a period of 24 hours, the area had recorded 911 millimetres of rain [nearly 36 inches]. This comes a day after heavy rainfall as well, as on Thursday, the area had recorded 820 millimetres of rain, breaking a 76-year-old record in the state.”
“The British government urged Zambia to declare a food emergency to allow donors to provide assistance after the worst drought in nearly four decades hit farm output and left millions of people facing hunger. A Southern Africa Development Community report last month forecast 2.3 million Zambians will be food insecure by March…”
“Drought has left more than a million people on the brink of starvation in northern Kenya. Communities of herders are competing for water and pasture in many of the affected areas.”
“The European summer heatwave which saw record-breaking temperatures across the continent may have killed 400 people in the Netherlands in a single week, official figures suggest.
“Dutch national statistics agency, CBS, said a total of 2,964 people died during the week commencing July 22.”
“Electric demand in Texas will reach record levels on Thursday as consumers crank up their air conditioners to escape a heat wave baking much of the state, according to projections by the state’s power grid operator. High temperatures in Houston, the biggest city in Texas, were expected to near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) every day through Aug. 14…”
“A worker at a Tokyo Olympics construction site died on Thursday after being found unconscious while working outside, organisers said on Friday (Aug 9), with media saying heatstroke was suspected as the Japanese capital swelters through a deadly heatwave.
“Soaring temperatures have killed at least 57 people across Japan since late July, just a year before Tokyo hosts the 2020 Games…”
“We looked at tropical cyclones, which have already caused the biggest blackouts on Earth, with the months-long power failure in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria among the most serious.
“We found that as the climate warms it becomes ever more likely that these powerful cyclones would be followed by dangerous heat, and that such compound hazards would be expected every year if global warming reaches 4°C. During the emergency response to a tropical cyclone, keeping people cool would have to be as much a priority as providing clean drinking water.”
“China’s weather bureau issued a red alert as super typhoon Lekima approaches Zhejiang province on the eastern coast, after forcing flight cancellations in Taiwan and shutting markets and businesses.
“The National Meteorological Centre said the typhoon, the strongest since 2014, was expected to hit the mainland in early on Saturday and then turn north.”
“Major inland cities are at risk of running out of water as the severe drought affects the Outback, with some left with limited time before their water runs out. Regional towns in New South Wales and southern Queensland are in danger of running out of water within the coming year.”
“In July, Alexander Uss, governor of the vast Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk, said it was simply “pointless and maybe even harmful” to attempt to fight the wildfires…”
“Two years ago, British Columbia suffered one of the worst wildfires in the Canadian province’s history, which consumed 1.2 million hectares and displaced 65,000 people.
“The 2017 blaze was so intense that scientists are using it to model the climate conditions that might be created in the fallout of nuclear war, according to a study published on Thursday in Science.”
“The extreme weather event that caused widespread melting across the Greenland ice sheet last week, sending temperatures soaring above the freezing mark at the highest point on the island, may have ended, but the melt season overall — which has about 35 to 40 days to go — is poised to set a new and more significant record.”
“A new UN climate report is highlighting the importance of sustainable agriculture and reforestation for stabilizing our climate, and just how vulnerable the global food web is to the increase in extreme weather events.”
“What does it mean that July was the hottest month ever recorded? One could explain it away as a blip — if it did not come in the context of steadily warming average global temperatures over the course of decades…
“The warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”
“Sarah Das, a glaciologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who’s used ice core records to reconstruct Greenland’s recent melt history, described the 2012 melt event that enveloped nearly the entire ice sheet’s surface as “unprecedented” in the last few centuries, perhaps within the last several thousand years.
“This summer, she said, “would be up there with [2012] if not eclipsing it.””
“With sea ice at a record low, the usual buffer that helps keep Alaska cool is gone, said Karin Gleason, a climate scientist with NOAA.
“”That exacerbates temperatures, because when you don’t have sea ice near the coastlines, then the temperature of the continent can warm sooner and earlier than it typically would.””
“The mercury in Kamloops is expected to reach highs of 35 C on Wednesday, 35 C on Thursday and 36 C on Friday…
“The heat may bring a sense of deja vu to Kamloops residents as it was exactly a year ago this week that the Tournament Capital and the South Thompson were basking in record-setting temperatures.”
“January through July 2019 was the wettest such period in the U.S. on record, keeping the country on track to see the wettest year on record. This record was set despite July experiencing near-average precipitation, the first month this year to do so.”
“A tornado ripped past a New Jersey office, Baltimore has been hit with flash flooding and more than 700 flights have been cancelled at the three airports in the New York metropolitan area, as thunderstorms batter the East Coast…
“Dramatic video footage from Springfield, New Jersey – about 10 miles away from Newark Airport shows office workers watch in disbelief as a twister passes.”
“Mike Karbo’s neighbor woke him up about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, asking for his help rescuing two people from a collapsed garage.
“But Karbo, information director for the town of Burke, South Dakota, said that was only the beginning of the damage from a tornado that rolled in overnight.”
“Climate warming and the expansion of human settlements across the southern states of the US has led to a dramatic increase in the number of people bitten during encounters with venomous snakes, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.”
“Dangerous heat gripped the western United States on Monday and Tuesday, toppling several longstanding high temperature records that were well into the triple digits…
“The main cause of the higher-than-average temperatures at the start of this week has been due to a northward bulge in the jet stream.”
“Tamaulipas [Mexico] burns; by heat wave and cannula that cause temperatures 42 degrees Celsius; So citizens are called to take precautions in the face of intense weather. It is recommended to stay hydrated mainly older adults and children, wear sunscreen and appropriate clothing. Try to avoid the sun at noon, heat stroke and heat stroke.”
“Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest increased by 278% in July 2019 compared with July 2018…
“…resulting in the destruction of 870 square miles (2,253 square kilometers) of vegetation, new satellite data from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show.
“That’s an area about twice the size of the city of Los Angeles.”
“Stanthorpe and Warwick [Queensland, Australia] are in the grips of a drought so severe, their water supply will dry up entirely if there is no rain by Christmas.
“The last real rainfall in the Southern Downs region was more than two years ago and it’s one of five councils currently on water restrictions across Queensland. Morale is low and businesses are struggling to stay afloat as residents tighten their purse strings.”
“Trains carrying 725,000 litres of water a day are the latest weapon to keep a drought-affected mine in inland New South Wales in production and keep jobs secure…
“The Southern Shorthaul Railroad [SSR] company has started carting water between Centennial Coal’s Charbon and Airlie mines near Lithgow on a 40-kilometre route.”
“A strong typhoon lashed south-western Kyushu on Tuesday and another two might yet hit Japan by this weekend, bringing more weather misery as the country sweats through a relentless heatwave…
“The Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) on Tuesday said 57 people had died and another 18,290 were taken to hospital for heat-related causes in the week ending the past Sunday.”
“The Central Weather Bureau [of Taiwan] on Thursday issued a warning for residents of Yilan, as well as Taipei and surrounding areas in the north and along the east coast in advance of Typhoon Lekima.
“Strong winds and heavy rain were expected during the day, with the typhoon packing maximum sustained winds of 184 kilometres per hour gusting up to 227km/h [141mph]. It was forecast to edge towards mainland China on Friday.”
“Torrential rain caused chaos in some areas of Yangon [Myanmar] on August 7 due to the record-breaking rainfall in 72-year time, according to Yangon residents.
“New rainfall records in Yangon (Mingaladon) and Yangon (Kabaraye) are 144 millimeters (5.67 inches) and 149 millimeters (5.86 inches) respectively, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH).”
“Floods have washed away crops in Bangladesh that would have yielded nearly 400,000 tonnes of rice, according to estimates from the agriculture ministry.
“This could be a major blow to the South Asian country, which has historically relied on imports to cope with shortages caused by natural disasters such as floods or drought.”
“Parts of western India, including Mahabaleshwar and Tamhini Ghats, received record rainfall over the past week, during which 16 people were killed and 140,000 people in five districts of the western state of Maharashtra were evacuated.
“According to officials in India Meteorological Department, Tamhini Ghats recorded 5,939 mm of rainfall while Mahabaleshwar recorded 5,755 mm of rainfall from June 1 to Aug. 6.”
“Five members of one family have gone missing after their car was hit by torrential rains in a Saudi region, civil defence sources said on Wednesday.
“The region of Jizan, in south-western Saudi Arabia, was inundated for hours on Tuesday after heavy rainfall pounded parts of the region sparking a power outage and submerging roads under water.”
“The United Nations has warned that more than two million people may face famine by the end of the summer in Somalia, as a result of devastating drought following a disappointing spring rainy season.
“Disturbing as that is, there’s a bigger long-term concern: this is the third severe drought the country has faced in less than a decade…”
“The suffocating heat returns to Castellón [Spain]. The territorial delegation of the Valencian Community of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has activated the yellow alert inside the province for Friday day 9.
“The temperatures will reach that day maximum of up to 42 degrees [107.5f] in points such as Segorbe.”
“A major clear-up operation is under way after torrential rain caused severe disruption to commuters [in Scotland]. The main rail line from Edinburgh to Glasgow was shut after flooding at Winchburgh tunnel in West Lothian resulted in passengers on five trains being trapped for several hours…
“The heavy rain also caused problems around Edinburgh Airport on Wednesday evening, with access roads flooded and cars stuck in floodwater.”
“Siberia’s wildfires are not decreasing – they are only getting bigger despite Russian airforce intervention, Greenpeace Russia warned this week.
“In a situation update released on Tuesday, the environmental group said the area of existing forest fires reached 4.5 million hectares, compared to 4.3 million on Monday.
“”The area of forest fires in Siberia continues to grow despite the statement by the governor of the Krasnoyarsk territory, Alexander Uss, claiming that in his region ‘there was a radical turning point in the fight against fires’,” Greenpeace Russia said Tuesday in a statement.
“Reached by Euronews, Greenpeace fire expert Anton Beneslavsky pointed to the slow response of authorities.
“”The size is now hardly manageable. The fire is already too big,” Beneslavsky said. He added that the situation could potentially turn dangerous for local populations, as fires could develop unpredictably towards inhabited areas. Even from a far distance, exposure to smoke could pose a danger to health, the expert said.
“NASA also released data showing how the fire was spreading in some areas.”
“The scale of the melt in Greenland during the heatwave last week is difficult to comprehend but satellite imagery has shown the true extent of the thaw. Experts have set to work to put the event into context using high-definition pictures from the European satellite network Sentinel.”
“A handful of US states – including New Mexico and California – are facing significant strains on their water supplies that will only intensify with global heating, according to new rankings.
“New Mexico tops the list and is the only state with “extremely high” pressures on its water availability. The state’s score is on par with the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East and Eritrea in Africa, the World Resources Institute (WRI) found.”
“Torrential rains last night brought flooding in two municipalities in México state, damaging property and leaving vehicles under water.
“Intense rains accompanied by hail began at 6:00pm in Atizapán de Zaragoza and lasted for an hour and a half, dumping 50 milliliters per hour of water onto the municipality.”
“The Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker, has shown the government’s concern about the exceptional drought situation that is taking place in the region of Coquimbo –
“”We are seeing a harsh reality in Coquimbo, there is an emergency in the region because we have a deficit of 88% rainfall. There is a very serious emergency and the ministry is going to face it,” said Minister Walker.”
“Fiji will introduce one of the world’s most ambitious legislative programs to tackle the climate crisis, and has labelled the global community’s decision to set aside the call for global heating to be capped at 1.5C “grossly irresponsible and selfish…
“Sayed-Khaiyum outlined the impact the climate crisis was already having around the world, including the Arctic ice melt, record high temperatures, droughts, floods and wildfires.””
“Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate fell one percentage point to 37 pct on a calorie basis in fiscal 2018 from the previous year, tying the lowest level on record, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday. The lowest record was last marked in fiscal 1993, when Japan was hit by a historically poor rice harvest amid unstable weather.”
“Soaring temperatures in Japan have killed at least 57 people since late July, authorities said on Tuesday, highlighting the health threat to athletes and fans that Olympics organisers must tackle before next year’s Tokyo games.
“Temperatures have been stuck above 31C in and around Tokyo since 24 July, the date the Summer Games will open next year in Japan’s capital and run for 17 days.”
“As Europe’s latest heat wave showed, climate change is scorching the Earth. The World Meteorological Organization suspects the period from 2015 to 2019 will be the warmest five years on record.
“China is particularly in trouble. As temperatures soar across the world, heat waves are expected to happen more often there.”
“Today, what is commonly known as the Fertile Crescent — the cradle of civilization and the Garden of Eden — is not so fertile anymore.
“The region that extends from the Nile Valley, through the Levant and along the Tigris-Euphrates river system is facing unprecedented pressure stemming from a toxic combination of global climate change and localized poor environmental management.”
“Temperatures during Hajj season this year are expected to reach 50 degrees Celsius on some days, Saudi officials said Sunday. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental protection also expects humidity to reach 85 percent, making the climate feel even hotter.”
“Saudi: Torrential rain lashed the province of Jazan, bringing life in many areas to a standstill. The rain fell heavily for more than nine hours, which blocked many roads and caused damages to houses and the electricity-distribution network.
“The civil defence units are looking for a number of people whose cars were swept away…”
“Zimbabwe is seeking $331.5 million in humanitarian aid as the southern African nation battles the “twin shocks” of a sustained drought and a cyclone earlier this year, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said.
““We have to protect the vulnerable from everyday shocks,” Ncube told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Harare.”
“Some 1.6 million people are currently facing hunger in Mozambique, with that number set to rise to 1.9 million between October and February next year, according to WFP estimates.
“The country was struggling to feed itself even before cyclones Idai and Kenneth in March and April, because of a long-running drought affecting the whole of Southern Africa.”
“At least 80 people had to be evacuated from mountain areas above Lake Como after severe storms triggered mudslides and flash flooding…
“A state of emergency was declared on Tuesday night in Casargo, a comune in the mountains to the east of Como, after heavy rain caused the Varrone river to burst its banks for at least the second time this summer.”
“Scientists know of only three prior occasions during the past 800 years when there has been melting at the very top of the ice cap, which is kept chilled by the large volume of ice beneath. But… it is now the second time this decade it has happened.
“The last time we saw melting at the summit, in 2012, we thought it was the extreme of the extremes, and wouldn’t happen again so quickly,” says Konrad Steffen, a professor of climate and cryosphere at ETH Zurich, who operates a network of 18 monitoring stations across the ice sheet. “But now we are facing more of these extremes.”
“Prof Steffen’s data shows that between July 30 and August 2 a heatwave in Greenland produced several record highs across the ice sheet, including at East Grip, the second highest monitoring station. “If you start melting at the top of the ice sheet, we are going to lose [the] Greenland ice sheet long term,” he adds.
“The immediate trigger for the heatwave was a shift in atmospheric currents high above the earth’s surface: the North Atlantic Jet Stream, a fast current of wind that blows from west to east, had formed a buckle that was trapping warm air over Greenland. The same pattern had caused a record-setting heatwave in Europe a few days earlier, before shifting over to sit on top of the Greenland ice sheet.”
“Mass losses from Greenland this past week were already approaching levels not expected until 2070 based on the best available models.
“It is still too early to tell if the ice losses for the summer will exceed the losses in 2012, but it is clear that the Greenland ice sheet is rapidly responding to climate change, even faster than many scientists expected. “
“In the continually warming Arctic, sea ice has completely melted around the Alaskan coast before, notably during 2017’s melt season, but never this early.
“”It’s cleared earlier than it has in any other year,” said Thoman…
“”I’m losing the ability to communicate the magnitude [of change],” Jeremy Mathis, a longtime Arctic researcher and current board director at the National Academies of Sciences, told Mashable…”
“More than four inches of rain fell in a single day late last week in some areas [of Alaska], equivalent to more than a month’s worth of precipitation, causing flooding and establishing new rainfall records.”
“The worst of the fires are burning in Siberia, where almost 12,000 square miles are ablaze, sending thick smoke across roughly 800 cities in northeastern Russia, including Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Chita.
“Upper level winds have carried some of that smoke across the Pacific Ocean and into North America, says NASA, covering parts of Alaska and Canada in addition to our neck of the woods.”
“The mercury soared to 121 degrees Monday in Palm Springs, toppling a 50-year-old maximum temperature record, amid two heat warnings covering the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley, the National Weather Service reported.”
“The wildfires which hit northern California have become “too extreme” even for the black-backed woodpecker which thrives in burned out forests, according to scientists.
“The bird, which lives in the mountainous areas of the western U.S., favors recently burned trees where it can feast on the larvae of wood-boring beetles that inhabit dead wood.”
“The summer in the islands [of Hawaii] started out hot, with lots of broken heat records in May and June. And that trend has continued. From July 6 to August 4, high temperatures in Hawaii broke or tied previous records at least 35 times…
“…last month, Hawaii saw record highs almost daily.”
“An observation of satellite imagery around the world shows a tale of two basins with an abundance of tropical systems prowling through the western Pacific, while the Atlantic Ocean remains devoid of any organized tropical storms.”
“Fifty-seven people died due to heat-related medical issues in Japan over the week starting July 29, the government said Tuesday, with the number of those taken to hospitals more than tripling from the previous week’s 5,664 to 18,347.
“The weekly figure of those sent to hospitals was the second highest since tallies began in 2008, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.”
“Thousands are flocking to see a Buddhist temple in central Thailand exposed after drought drove water levels to record lows in a dam reservoir where it had been submerged.
“As the reservoir reaches less than 3% of capacity, the remains of Wat Nong Bua Yai, a modern temple submerged during construction of the dam 20 years ago, have became visible in the middle of dry ground.”
“Chennai is not the only Indian city experiencing the possibility of a waterless future. A total of 21 major cities are poised to run out of groundwater next year, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, a government think tank, warned in a 2018 report. “In view of limitations on availability of water resources and rising demand for water, sustainable management of water resources has acquired critical importance,” the report said.”
“The Kariba dam that straddles Zambia and Zimbabwe, the world’s biggest man-made reservoir, is emptying fast, sparking fears the countries may have to cut hydropower production there completely.
“For the two southern African nations already suffering daily blackouts and growing economic pressures… a total shutdown at Kariba would be crippling. Zambia gets about a third of its supply from the dam, Zimbabwe almost half.”
“Nearly a quarter of the world’s population lives in 17 countries facing extremely high water stress, close to “day zero” conditions when the taps run dry, according to a report released Tuesday…
“Qatar, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, UAE, San Marino, Bahrain, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Oman and Botswana made up the top 17.”
“According to initial findings from the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network, Swiss glaciers experienced unusually high melt rates during the last heat wave, which occurred in late July, and an earlier heat wave that struck the continent in late June…
“Across the European Alps, other regions have also been feeling the heat this summer.”
“Last year, a combination of shrinking alpine glaciers and prolonged summer drought choked off the Rhine transport artery for nearly a month for the first time in living memory…
“Extreme heat in July 2019 caused water levels at Kaub choke point to fall to 150 cm, half the depth from June, disrupting the heaviest barges transportation. All river cargo could cease if the level falls below 50 cm.”
“Massive flooding plaguing several regions in Russia’s Far East is affecting people and animals alike. Apart from reinforcing dams and shielding crucial infrastructure from the rising waters, rescuers also seek to save the animals. Russia’s Far East is facing flooding which is expected to affect several regions.
“At least 37 settlements are already partially flooded in Amur Region and the Jewish Autonomous Region.”
“July this year was the warmest month ever recorded worldwide, satellite data has confirmed. The assessment was carried out by researchers at the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
“Scientists say it’s the latest sign that Earth is experiencing unprecedented warming.”
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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.
“The gases heating the planet in 2018 were higher than humans have ever recorded, according to an authoritative new report from the American Meteorological Society and the US government.
“The report finds 2018 was the fourth-warmest on record since the mid-to-late- 1800s. Temperatures were .3C to .4C higher than the average between 1981 and 2010.
“Multiple lightning strikes have been detected within 300 miles of the North Pole, in the latest extraordinary weather event amid an escalating climate change emergency… 
“A cloud of smoke and soot bigger than the European Union is billowing across Siberia as wildfires in the Arctic Circle rage into an unprecedented third month. 
“On Friday morning residents of the Verkhoyansk area of Siberia awoke to pitch darkness hours after the sun should have risen. By 8am, more than four hours after dawn should have broken, an area the size of Italy was reportedly still under entirely black skies and air temperatures had fallen… 
“Last month marked the hottest, driest July in the Aleutian Islands in 95 years. The conditions matched the larger trend across Alaska, which experienced below-average rainfall and record-breaking heat… 
“American farmers planted a lot more corn than expected this year. But at the same time, they also left way more acres unplanted than analysts predicted. Wait, what? 
“Roads, cars and homes were partially submerged in water as flash flooding hit Granite City, Illinois.”
“It was a hot weekend, with several record temperatures set in Honolulu, Lihue and Kahului… Hot and humid conditions are expected to continue… 
“Japan is bracing for significant impacts from Severe Tropical Storm Krosa, as the storm churns over the west Pacific to the south of the country. 
“Heavy rain swept through eastern China after Typhoon Lekima made landfall in the coastal province of Zhejiang on Saturday. 
“From heat waves to flash floods, India has witnessed extreme weather conditions this year. 
“Up to 165 people are feared to have died and nearly a million others have been forced to leave their homes following floods in southern India. 
“Santiago, Chile, Aug 12 (Prensa Latina) More than one million Chilean residents in rural areas are currently suffering the serious effects on the water service as a result of the severe drought affecting the country… 
“Farmland water supply [in E Australia] is dangerously low, and because of that there has not been much, if any, dryland planting of wheat, barley or canola in eastern Australia this season. 
“Bones were washed out onto a public street after a church wall collapsed following heavy rain over the weekend. 
“Britain is facing a cauliflower shortage after this year’s crop was ruined by the extreme summer weather. 
“Tourists are being warned after a German pensioner died when she contracted a killer Vibrio infection whilst swimming. 
“A large wildfire fanned by strong winds destroyed tracts of forest on the Greek island of Evia, firefighters said on Tuesday (Aug 13), as authorities prepared to evacuate two villages potentially in the path of the flames. 
“…a team has unraveled evidence of that human influence. In a study published Monday in Nature Geoscience, a team of scientists showed that over the past century, human-driven global warming has changed the character of the winds that blow over the ocean near some of the most fragile glaciers in West Antarctica. 
“Over the past four days, vigorous monsoon conditions over the region have produced an unprecedented rainfall of nearly 2500 mm [nearly 100 inches] over this lake area.
“Monsoon flooding in southern and western India has led to more than 140 deaths, state officials say, with hundreds of thousands of people evacuated from their homes. 
“Torrential rains and flash floods have killed at least 24 people in southern and northwestern Pakistan over the last 24 hours, officials and local media said on Sunday. 
“A landslide in a village in Myanmar has left at least 53 people dead, authorities said. 
“An additional 12 people were recorded dead from the storm, including seven from Zhejiang province and five from Shandong, with 16 people missing, according to data from provincial emergency bureaus and state media… 
“Amid the current heatwave, there have been widespread concerns about next year’s games, which are scheduled for late July through early August. 
“The New South Wales government [Australia] has begun preliminary planning to boost output at Sydney’s desalination plant, in a bid to secure the city’s water supply as dam levels continue to drop… 
“Authorities are preparing emergency response teams as scientists warn that fish kills are looming in the state’s waterways on a scale that could dwarf the mass die-offs last summer. 
“Australians have endured a bizarrely wintery weekend, with parts of the country’s southeast seeing snow for the first time in decades as an Antarctic vortex brought frigid conditions from the south. 
“Galveston failed to drop below 86 degrees Thursday, marking its warmest all-time low temperature on record. Records there date back to 1874. Galveston also set a daily record high Thursday, hitting 96 degrees. 
“Ladybird spiders and puffins are among 80 animals at risk of extinction identified by conservation charities after [UK] Government biodiversity spending was cut almost in half in three years. 
“A tornado ripped through the city center of Amsterdam and was captured on video. It picked up debris and flew over a river. 
“Mass evacuations are taking place on popular tourist island Gran Canaria after a blaze thpught to have been started by a soldering iron grew into a raging wildfire in the early hours of Sunday. 
“On Sunday, some parts of Dalmatia measured uncomfortably high temperatures. For example, the highest daily air temperature in Knin was 39.3°C, Ploče and Resnik 38°C, and Zemunik 37°C. 
“Last July, the Mediterranean Sea broke record temperatures, up 8 degrees higher than usual… 
“The climate crisis is causing unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety to people in Greenland who are struggling to reconcile the traumatic impact of global heating with their traditional way of life… 
“Greenland glacier melt rate is six-times that of the 1980s.”
“As Phu Quoc Island experiences the worst flood in its history, officials point fingers at climate change and urbanization.
“Raging floods across Myanmar have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes in recent weeks, officials said Thursday, as monsoon rains pummel the nation. 
“On August 8, Karnataka [India] received nearly five times the rainfall it normally does, adding to the severity of the ongoing floods in at least 12 districts that have killed 20 people by August 9, 2019. 
“The Avalanche region in Nilgiris district has now recorded the wettest 24 hours ever to be seen in Tamil Nadu, according to Tamil Nadu Weatherman Pradeep John. 
“The British government urged Zambia to declare a food emergency to allow donors to provide assistance after the worst drought in nearly four decades hit farm output and left millions of people facing hunger. 
“The European summer heatwave which saw record-breaking temperatures across the continent may have killed 400 people in the Netherlands in a single week, official figures suggest. 
“Electric demand in Texas will reach record levels on Thursday as consumers crank up their air conditioners to escape a heat wave baking much of the state, according to projections by the state’s power grid operator. 
“Recent reports that July 2019 is the hottest month on record worldwide come as no surprise to meteorologists in Hawaii. 
“A worker at a Tokyo Olympics construction site died on Thursday after being found unconscious while working outside, organisers said on Friday (Aug 9), with media saying heatstroke was suspected as the Japanese capital swelters through a deadly heatwave. 
“We looked at tropical cyclones, which have already caused the biggest blackouts on Earth, with the months-long power failure in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria among the most serious. 
“China’s weather bureau issued a red alert as super typhoon Lekima approaches Zhejiang province on the eastern coast, after forcing flight cancellations in Taiwan and shutting markets and businesses. 
“Major inland cities are at risk of running out of water as the severe drought affects the Outback, with some left with limited time before their water runs out. 
“Increasingly frequent marine heatwaves can lead to the almost instant death of corals, scientists working on the Great Barrier Reef have found. 
“In July, Alexander Uss, governor of the vast Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk, said it was simply “pointless and maybe even harmful” to attempt to fight the wildfires…”
“The extreme weather event that caused widespread melting across the Greenland ice sheet last week, sending temperatures soaring above the freezing mark at the highest point on the island, may have ended, but the melt season overall — which has about 35 to 40 days to go — is poised to set a new and more significant record.”
“A new UN climate report is highlighting the importance of sustainable agriculture and reforestation for stabilizing our climate, and just how vulnerable the global food web is to the increase in extreme weather events.”
“What does it mean that July was the hottest month ever recorded? One could explain it away as a blip — if it did not come in the context of steadily warming average global temperatures over the course of decades… 
“With sea ice at a record low, the usual buffer that helps keep Alaska cool is gone, said Karin Gleason, a climate scientist with NOAA. 
“The mercury in Kamloops is expected to reach highs of 35 C on Wednesday, 35 C on Thursday and 36 C on Friday… 
“January through July 2019 was the wettest such period in the U.S. on record, keeping the country on track to see the wettest year on record. 
“A tornado ripped past a New Jersey office, Baltimore has been hit with flash flooding and more than 700 flights have been cancelled at the three airports in the New York metropolitan area, as thunderstorms batter the East Coast… 
“Mike Karbo’s neighbor woke him up about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, asking for his help rescuing two people from a collapsed garage. 
“Dangerous heat gripped the western United States on Monday and Tuesday, toppling several longstanding high temperature records that were well into the triple digits… 
“Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest increased by 278% in July 2019 compared with July 2018…
“Stanthorpe and Warwick [Queensland, Australia] are in the grips of a drought so severe, their water supply will dry up entirely if there is no rain by Christmas. 
“Trains carrying 725,000 litres of water a day are the latest weapon to keep a drought-affected mine in inland New South Wales in production and keep jobs secure… 
“The Central Weather Bureau [of Taiwan] on Thursday issued a warning for residents of Yilan, as well as Taipei and surrounding areas in the north and along the east coast in advance of Typhoon Lekima. 
“Torrential rain caused chaos in some areas of Yangon [Myanmar] on August 7 due to the record-breaking rainfall in 72-year time, according to Yangon residents. 
“Floods have washed away crops in Bangladesh that would have yielded nearly 400,000 tonnes of rice, according to estimates from the agriculture ministry. 
“Parts of western India, including Mahabaleshwar and Tamhini Ghats, received record rainfall over the past week, during which 16 people were killed and 140,000 people in five districts of the western state of Maharashtra were evacuated. 
“Five members of one family have gone missing after their car was hit by torrential rains in a Saudi region, civil defence sources said on Wednesday. 
“The United Nations has warned that more than two million people may face famine by the end of the summer in Somalia, as a result of devastating drought following a disappointing spring rainy season. 
“The suffocating heat returns to Castellón [Spain]. The territorial delegation of the Valencian Community of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has activated the yellow alert inside the province for Friday day 9. 
“A major clear-up operation is under way after torrential rain caused severe disruption to commuters [in Scotland]. The main rail line from Edinburgh to Glasgow was shut after flooding at Winchburgh tunnel in West Lothian resulted in passengers on five trains being trapped for several hours… 
“Siberia’s wildfires are not decreasing – they are only getting bigger despite Russian airforce intervention, Greenpeace Russia warned this week.
“”The size is now hardly manageable. The fire is already too big,” Beneslavsky said. 
“The scale of the melt in Greenland during the heatwave last week is difficult to comprehend but satellite imagery has shown the true extent of the thaw. 
“A handful of US states – including New Mexico and California – are facing significant strains on their water supplies that will only intensify with global heating, according to new rankings. 
“Torrential rains last night brought flooding in two municipalities in México state, damaging property and leaving vehicles under water. 
“The Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker, has shown the government’s concern about the exceptional drought situation that is taking place in the region of Coquimbo – 
“Fiji will introduce one of the world’s most ambitious legislative programs to tackle the climate crisis, and has labelled the global community’s decision to set aside the call for global heating to be capped at 1.5C “grossly irresponsible and selfish… 
“Soaring temperatures in Japan have killed at least 57 people since late July, authorities said on Tuesday, highlighting the health threat to athletes and fans that Olympics organisers must tackle before next year’s Tokyo games. 
“As Europe’s latest heat wave showed, climate change is scorching the Earth. The World Meteorological Organization suspects the period from 2015 to 2019 will be the warmest five years on record. 
“Today, what is commonly known as the Fertile Crescent — the cradle of civilization and the Garden of Eden — is not so fertile anymore. 
“Temperatures during Hajj season this year are expected to reach 50 degrees Celsius on some days, Saudi officials said Sunday. 
“Saudi: Torrential rain lashed the province of Jazan, bringing life in many areas to a standstill. The rain fell heavily for more than nine hours, which blocked many roads and caused damages to houses and the electricity-distribution network. 
“Zimbabwe is seeking $331.5 million in humanitarian aid as the southern African nation battles the “twin shocks” of a sustained drought and a cyclone earlier this year, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said. 
“Some 1.6 million people are currently facing hunger in Mozambique, with that number set to rise to 1.9 million between October and February next year, according to WFP estimates. 
“At least 80 people had to be evacuated from mountain areas above Lake Como after severe storms triggered mudslides and flash flooding… 
“Scientists know of only three prior occasions during the past 800 years when there has been melting at the very top of the ice cap, which is kept chilled by the large volume of ice beneath. But… it is now the second time this decade it has happened.
“In the continually warming Arctic, sea ice has completely melted around the Alaskan coast before, notably during 2017’s melt season, but never this early. 
“The worst of the fires are burning in Siberia, where almost 12,000 square miles are ablaze, sending thick smoke across roughly 800 cities in northeastern Russia, including Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Chita. 
“The wildfires which hit northern California have become “too extreme” even for the black-backed woodpecker which thrives in burned out forests, according to scientists. 
“The summer in the islands [of Hawaii] started out hot, with lots of broken heat records in May and June. And that trend has continued. From July 6 to August 4, high temperatures in Hawaii broke or tied previous records at least 35 times… 
“Thousands are flocking to see a Buddhist temple in central Thailand exposed after drought drove water levels to record lows in a dam reservoir where it had been submerged. 
“Chennai is not the only Indian city experiencing the possibility of a waterless future. A total of 21 major cities are poised to run out of groundwater next year, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, a government think tank, warned in a 2018 report. 
“The Kariba dam that straddles Zambia and Zimbabwe, the world’s biggest man-made reservoir, is emptying fast, sparking fears the countries may have to cut hydropower production there completely. 
“Nearly a quarter of the world’s population lives in 17 countries facing extremely high water stress, close to “day zero” conditions when the taps run dry, according to a report released Tuesday… 
“According to initial findings from the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network, Swiss glaciers experienced unusually high melt rates during the last heat wave, which occurred in late July, and an earlier heat wave that struck the continent in late June… 
“Last year, a combination of shrinking alpine glaciers and prolonged summer drought choked off the Rhine transport artery for nearly a month for the first time in living memory… 
“Massive flooding plaguing several regions in Russia’s Far East is affecting people and animals alike. Apart from reinforcing dams and shielding crucial infrastructure from the rising waters, rescuers also seek to save the animals. Russia’s Far East is facing flooding which is expected to affect several regions. 
“A flash flood triggered by heavy rains at a popular scenic site in central China has left 12 people dead and one missing. 