“Ice losses are rapidly spreading deep into the interior of the Antarctic, new analysis of satellite data shows.
“The warming of the Southern Ocean is resulting in glaciers sliding into the sea increasingly rapidly, with ice now being lost five times faster than in the 1990s. The West Antarctic ice sheet was stable in 1992 but up to a quarter of its expanse is now thinning. More than 100 metres of ice thickness has been lost in the worst-hit places.
“A complete loss of the West Antarctic ice sheet would drive global sea levels up by about five metres, drowning coastal cities around the world. The current losses are doubling every decade, the scientists said, and sea level rise are now running at the extreme end of projections made just a few years ago.”
“Britain is basking in glorious spring sunshine today while Corsica shivers under a thick blanket of snow. Scotland has already had its hottest day of the year with the mercury hitting 77F (25.2C) this afternoon, while large parts of northern England enjoy warmer-than-usual temperatures too…
“Meanwhile parts of the Mediterranean are covered in snow, with popular summer holiday destination Corsica battling temperatures of just 37F (3C).”
“Swimmers at the Lusshardtsee lake about 60 miles south of Frankfurt in Germany thought they’d found respite from the blazing sun one Sunday afternoon last summer.
“Unknown to them, however, sweltering ground temperatures were forcing a column of moist air upwards to feed a weather phenomena scientists call a convective storm.
“Just before 4 p.m. on July 15, thunder, lighting bolts and torrential rain hit and sent startled bathers dashing for shore.”
“Rain and thunderstorms will spread over much of Italy and the Balkans into Thursday as a slow-moving storm system moves over the region.
“Flooding was reported in parts of eastern Italy, Slovenia and Croatia as downpours struck the region on Monday.
“Damaging winds downed trees and caused power cuts in Zagreb, Croatia, Sunday night into Monday. Strong winds also blasted the port city of Split, Croatia, according to Aljazeera.”
“A series of deadly attacks across northern Mozambique has shaken the region in the aftermath of a cyclone disaster.
“According to the local anti-corruption NGO, Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), at least 13 people have been killed in attacks this month in remote villages across Cabo Delgado province, which was badly damaged by flooding after Cyclone Kenneth hit the coastal nation in late April.”
“Already under the whip from a perfect storm of rampant inflation, cash and fuel shortages, higher taxes, collapsing domestic demand, lower global commodity prices, and severe drought…
“…business in Zimbabwe is now being forced to grapple with a new crisis — load-shedding.
“In part, this is drought-induced with generation from Kariba Dam…”
“The more interesting point that should be mentioned here is this that spring rainfalls in the current year (started March 21, 2019) broke the record the same as in the year 2016.
“This time, more destructive flash floods happened that turned into a national crisis across the nationwide.”
“With 40 percent of India facing drought conditions and 500 million people severely affected this summer, an alarm is being sounded by the media, academia, environmental activists, and even politicians…
“…India is on the brink of an acute water crisis.”
“A severe drought is affecting southwest China’s Yunnan Province, with swathes of crops damaged. Bad meteorological conditions have brought much less precipitation in Yunnan.
“As of Tuesday, 273,280 hectares of crops had been affected, with 91,160 hectares suffering damage. Drought has been reported in 110 monitored sites in Yunnan, meteorological authorities said. The northwest, middle and south of Yunnan are in severe drought.”
“These high intensity storms have been tied to the very warm sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean.
“Temperatures of 30°C are occurring more often and over longer periods of time. This is a result of gradual warming on a global scale, which has resulted in a net increase in ocean temperatures.”
“This year’s first heat advisory was issued for Gwangju [Korea] on Wednesday, the earliest on record. The Korea Meteorological Administration issued the advisory at 3 p.m. as temperatures hit 33 degrees Celsius…
“The previous earliest heat wave advisory was issued for the northeastern part of Gyeonggi Province on May 19, 2016. The early heat wave suggests that another record summer lies ahead.”
“Health authorities in Montreal are adding 13 more people to the list of victims of last summer’s heat wave, and are urging the city to do more to diminish heat across the densely populated urban neighbourhoods that are home to the most vulnerable.
“At least 66 people died as a result of extreme heat on the island of Montreal between June 30 and July 8, 2018…”
“It might be May but there is a winter storm warning for part of California, where up to 3 feet of snow might fall. In what is more like a January weather pattern, a strong storm will push through California over the next couple of days.”
“The historic second opening in a year of the Bonnet Carré Spillway last week has sparked concern about the effects it will have on Lake Pontchartrain, after marine wildlife washed ashore following the first opening…
“Officials in Mississippi and Louisiana have been debating whether that contributed to the deaths of 45 dolphins and 25 turtles that washed ashore earlier this year.”
“Yesterday, the National Meteorological Service warned of a heat wave in a large part of the Mexican Republic with hot to extremely hot daytime temperatures, such as those registered in the states of Michoacán and Guerrero that reached 45 ℃ and, in the specific case of Puebla, During this week there was a record of maximum temperatures that reached 40 ℃.”
“Thawing glaciers are contributing to a rise in global sea levels and scientists are making clear how rapid and disastrous the consequences could be.
“According to the latest research published in the journal “Nature,” scientists from the University of Zurich found that ongoing glacial mass loss accounts for 25 to 30 percent of the total observed sea level rise in recent times.
“The data indicates that between 1961 and 2016 global glaciers lost more than 9,000 billion tons of ice…”
“Donald Trump’s interior secretary hasn’t “lost sleep over”, the record-breaking levels of pollution heating the planet, he told US lawmakers in an oversight hearing”
“Huawei has hit back at the Trump administration after it declared a national emergency to ban technology from “foreign adversaries” and subjected the Chinese telecommunications company to strict export controls.
“An executive order issued by the US president, Donald Trump, on Wednesday declared a national economic emergency that empowers the government to ban the technology and services of “foreign adversaries” deemed to pose “unacceptable risks” to national security, including from cyber-espionage and sabotage.”
“Serious auto-loan delinquencies – 90 days or more past due – jumped to 4.69% of outstanding auto loans and leases in the first quarter of 2019, according to New York Fed data. This put the auto-loan delinquency rate at the highest level since Q4 2010 and merely 58 basis points below the peak during the Great Recession in Q4 2010 (5.27%).
“These souring auto loans are going to impact banks and specialized lenders and the real economy…”
“U.S. flights to Venezuela are being suspended due to safety and security concerns, officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.
“The decision was made “based on the ongoing political instability and increased tensions in Venezuela and associated inadvertent risk to flight operations,” officials said.”
“Tens of thousands of students, teachers and researchers across Brazil took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against government cuts and spending freezes to the education budget.
“Brazil’s National Student Union called for protests after the Ministry of Education said it was freezing nearly a quarter of discretionary spending due to budget restrictions across public services because of the current financial crisis in the country.”
“With the economy deep in recession, poverty levels have also spiked along with the unemployment rate [in Argentina]. At the same time, the inflation rate has spiralled.”
““There is an imminent crisis in [India’s] non-banking financial companies (NBFC) sector,” Injeti Srinivas, corporate affairs secretary told the Press Trust of India in an interview on May 12.
““There is a credit squeeze, over-leveraging, excessive concentration, and massive mismatch between assets and liabilities, coupled with some misadventures by some very large entities, which is a perfect recipe for disaster.”
“Iran is on the “cusp of a full-scale confrontation with the enemy”, an Iranian military commander has claimed, as sabre-rattling between Washington and Tehran intensified.
“As US politicians from both major parties urged Donald Trump to descalate tensions between the countries, a commander of Iran’s highly-trained Revolutionary Guards warned that Tehran was prepared for any conflict that may arise.”
“Japan’s three largest banks all reported lower annual profits on Wednesday, highlighting the challenges faced by the banking industry as the world’s third-largest economy looks to be headed for another downturn…
“Japanese banks have had to cope for years with an ageing and shrinking population and massive central bank stimulus that has left them with razor-thin profit margins.
“Now, there are signs of economic weakness on the horizon.”
“The escalating U.S.-China trade war is threatening to upend the global economy’s much-anticipated rebound and could even throw its decade-long expansion into doubt if the conflict spirals out of control.”
“Over the weekend, the climate system sounded simultaneous alarms. Near the entrance to the Arctic Ocean in northwest Russia, the temperature surged to 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eclipsed 415 parts per million for the first time in human history.
“By themselves, these are just data points. But taken together with so many indicators of an altered atmosphere and rising temperatures, they blend into the unmistakable portrait of human-induced climate change.
“Saturday’s steamy 84-degree reading was posted in Arkhangelsk, Russia, where the average high temperature is around 54 this time of year. The city of 350,000 people sits next to the White Sea, which feeds into the Arctic Ocean’s Barents Sea.
“In Koynas, a rural area to the east of Arkhangelsk, it was even hotter on Sunday, soaring to 87 degrees. Many locations in Russia, from the Kazakhstan border to the White Sea, set record-high temperatures over the weekend, some 30 to 40 degrees above average.”
“Kinlochewe in Wester Ross [Scotland] recorded the UK’s highest temperate of the day, at 23.7 degrees.
“It was accompanied by 23.3 degree readings in both Aviemore and Drumnadrochit, while in Auchengatt in Aberdeenshire, temperatures touched 23.1 degrees, the fourth highest recorded…
“Marco Petagna, from the Met Office, said: “Usually we would record the highest temperatures in the south of the country…””
“France is already preparing for the threat of drought this summer, with 11 departments having already taken water restriction measures…
“At surface level, the earth appears to be damp and vegetation is flourishing. Yet, on a deeper level – under the ground, which is sometimes referred to as the “water table” or “groundwater” – there is not enough.”
“If you’re in Dalmatia and have said this is the “coldest May of your life”, you’re absolutely right – and thanks to official data measured at the DHMZ Split Marjan station, your claim can be confirmed.
“Namely, Dalmacija Danas reports that the first 13 days of May had an average air temperature of 14.6°C, while the average from 1948 to 2018 was 19.1°C. At the moment, we are experiencing temperatures in Dalmatia 4.5°C cooler than the monthly average, which is an extreme temperature deviation.”
“Due to the severity of the drought conditions in the capital city Windhoek [Namibia], the municipality on Monday announced that it will commence with water restrictions which will come into effect as from July 1…
““A severe water scarcity condition is therefore declared, and subsequently water restrictions must be implemented accordingly,” the city furthers said.”
“With the effects of drought beginning to tell on cities in western Maharashtra [India], the State irrigation department has decided to stall the release of water from Khadakwasla dam to meet Pune’s potable water demands.
“With the cumulative water stocks in the four major dams constituting the city’s potable water lifeline — Khadakwasla, Panshet, Varasgaon and Temghar – down to an alarming 4.75 tmc (thousand million cubic feet), the department is left with no choice but to stop water for crops and irrigation in the district’s outlying areas.”
“A statement issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority [India] on Tuesday said 10 people died due to storms while lightning killed 13 others.
“It said five districts — Golaghat, Sivasagar, Dhubri, Sonitpur and Cachar were mostly affected…”
“Strong wind, coupled with torrential rain, has destroyed some 800 houses in two townships of Myanmar’s Sagaing region, according to the Disaster Management Department Wednesday.
“The two townships, struck by the disaster on Monday evening, are Pale and Kani townships, of which Kani was worst affected with 780 house being destroyed. Some villages were battered by hailstones.”
“Officials from North Korea’s Red Cross Society are in China this week, a sign the Kim Jong Un regime could be preparing to request food aid from the world’s second-largest economy.
“Pyongyang’s state-controlled news agency KCNA reported the group left for China on Tuesday.”
“Australia is planning to import wheat for the first time in 12 years after drought across the eastern states saw grain production fall 20% last year.
“The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources confirmed this week it had issued a bulk import permit to allow wheat to be brought in from Canada to be processed for the domestic market.”
“Puerto Rico currently experiences the strongest heat wave in history… In statements the meteorologist Emanuel Rodriguez explained that the island “has a high pressure, dominating the environment and a mass of dry air.”
“Adding further that “On the north coast the heat index will be above 100 degrees.””
“The direction of Ecology confirmed this through a statement, which details that the heat wave that plagues this state [San Luis Potosi, Mexico]
“…has caused species such as “pigeons and “huastecos” to die because of the high temperatures and the fires that have arisen in the state in recent days.”
“Mexico City has declared a pollution emergency after smoke from brushfires cast a pall over the city of 21 million people.
“The alert over high levels of soot particles led to the postponement of a semifinal match in the Mexican football league and a baseball game in the capital.
“City officials suspended activities that raise dust, like street sweeping and movement of construction materials.”
“A storm system barreling down on the Central Coast [California] is expected to drop between 1 and 2 inches of rain from Wednesday into Thursday — and it’s the first in a storm series that could break the area’s May rainfall record. “It could be one of the heaviest May rainfalls we’ve seen if it (the forecast) verifies, which I think it might,” PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey said of Wednesday’s storm.”
“An 800,000-square-mile swath of the central United States will be at risk for rounds of severe thunderstorms, including the potential for tornadoes, starting late this week and continuing well into next week.”
“A historic tree that predates the dedication of the Washington Monument toppled outside of the iconic structure this weekend… The National Park Service said Monday that the saturated ground caused the mulberry tree on the grounds of the Washington Monument to topple…
“The fall comes after heavy weekend rainfall in D.C. The past year, 2018, also was the wettest year on record in the nation’s capital, with 66.28 inches of year.”
“… the all-time low high temperature of 49 F for May 13, set way back in 1914, was shattered on Monday when the mercury in Central Park only climbed to 48 F. Temperatures on Monday in the Big Apple were about 15-20 degrees below average…
“Meanwhile, some residents in the northernmost states woke up to find a blanket of snow outside their windows on Tuesday morning.
“Areas in upstate New York, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine received several inches of snow.”
“Early summer heatwaves in Western Europe and North America set new temperature records in 2018, while other regions of the northern hemisphere were hit with torrential rain and severe flooding.
“Now researchers in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands say that these events were linked by a pattern of stalled waves in the jet stream.
“They add that this wave pattern appears to have increased in frequency and persistence in recent years and may occur more frequently in the future due to climate change.”
“A new rainfall record was set in Japan on Monday as Yonaguni Island reported 276.5 millimeters of rain over the three-hour period [nearly 11 inches].
“Rainfall rates of this magnitude are almost impossible to image, as many locations in the United States would only expect to see that magnitude of rainfall in 3 months, not 3 hours.
“Over a one-hour period, rainfall of 109.5 mm (4.31 inches) was reported, the highest ever recorded in the month of May.
“In total 442 mm (17.4 inches) of rain fell during the cloudburst causing significant flooding and elevating the risk for mudslides.
“The Japan Meteorological Agency has declared the event a once in 50-year event.
“Yonaguni Island is prone to impacts from tropical cyclones which makes this new record even more astounding considering there was no tropical system in the area.”
“Fears are growing for young children and other vulnerable groups as a drought in North Korea threatens to worsen food shortages in the isolated country… Four in 10 people in North Korea are estimated to be in urgent need of food assistance…
“North Korea’s state-run media reported that rainfall was at record lows for the first five months of the year, without saying when data collection began.”
“Torrential rains triggered a landslide that has buried at least 20 traditional gold miners in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, or BNPB, announced on Monday.
“The disaster occurred early on Saturday morning at a traditional gold mining site near Mount Pongkor in Bantar Karet, a village in Bogor, BNPB spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said in a statement.”
“The rainy weather that hit Asunción, Paraguay on Friday , and the fall in temperatures have put in check the thousands of families who for several months have lived in wooden and sheet metal boxes in the center of the Paraguayan capital because their houses were left flooded by the floods caused by the flood of the Paraguay River…
“The storm caused an increase of 20 centimeters in the level of the river, which this Sunday reached 6.98 meters in height, which keeps it above the “critical” level, established at 5.50 meters.”
“The rains in the village of Tizamarte in the eastern Guatemalan department of Chiquimula no longer arrive as they did in the past. “Before it was beautiful, we used to have two harvests a year,” Transito Gutierrez told Al Jazeera.
“”Now not one [crop] survives,” she said. “Now we cannot do anything. This drought does not end.”
“Massive wildfires in southern Mexico have sent smoke streaming over Mexico City, turning the sunsets blood red and sending pollution levels skyrocketing.
“The city’s environment commission has warned residents to stay indoors, and pollution levels could spike further in the coming days. The U.S. National Weather Service has already detected smoke aloft in U.S. skies because wildfires don’t care about borders.”
“A plan by California’s biggest utility to cut power on high-wind days during the onrushing wildfire season could plunge millions of residents into darkness. And most people aren’t ready…
“While the plan may end one problem, it creates another as Californians seek ways to deal with what some fear could be days and days of blackouts.”
“After sunshine and pleasant weather grace California early this week, a powerful storm system will barrel into the state during the middle to latter part of the week. The return of a March-like weather pattern, driven by a large dip in the jet stream, will be the culprit for driving this rare storm into the West Coast.”
“Anyone who’s lived in Upstate NY for a while knows that just when they think “Ok, it can’t possibly snow any more this year,” it’s almost definitely going to snow at least one more time. Sure enough, winter gave another “hurrah!” on Mother’s Day in parts of the Hudson Valley, where befuddled residents shared photos of snowfall on social media.”
“Kelp forests have been observed throughout the Arctic by Inuit, researchers and polar explorers.
“The Canadian Arctic alone represents 10 per cent of the world’s coastlines, but we know little of the hidden kelp forests there.
“Today, climate change is altering marine habitats such as kelp forests on a global scale. In western Australia, eastern Canada, southern Europe, northern California and eastern United States, kelps are disappearing due to warming temperatures.”
“A bizarre weather phenomenon has pushed temperatures to three times what they should be in a part of north western Russia.
“Normally around this time of year, temperatures in the city of Arkhangelsk are around 12°C, but on Saturday the mercury hit 29°C. Meteorologist Mika Rantanen explained that the rare occurrence was as result of jet streams.”
“The storm has already brought significant amounts of rain to the region. In Croatia, the city of Ogulin picked up 93.7 millimetres in just 24 hours, almost its monthly May average…
“More heavy rain is likely in coming days and that means flooding and flash flooding likely along the eastern coast of Italy and the higher elevations of Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia. Another 150mm of rain is expected in the next three days.”
“The price of a box of teabags could be set to rise by up to 40 per cent due to a tea shortage in Kenya, experts have warned… droughts in plantations zones in Kenya have caused damage to crops which, in turn, has impacted on harvest volumes, causing them to be 12 per cent smaller than predicted this year.
“The drought has meant the price of ingredients could see a hike, with costs of Kenyan tea expected to rise by up to 20 per cent. The knock-on eff.”
“Poor farmers from Kundgol, Kalaghatagi, Dharwad and Hubballi taluks [India].flocked to Noolvi only to be dejected as their livestock were sold for much lesser than the expected price.
“”We are not getting even a potful of water for ourselves, then how can we maintain the livestock?” they asked.”
“The expedition to Thwaites is part of the race to discover how fast the massive glacier is melting and what that will mean for global sea level rise over the next century.
“Scientists’ ultimate goal is to develop more accurate global sea level rise models so coastal residents and governments have enough time to plan for future changes. In cities like Miami, possibly the American city most vulnerable to rising seas, infrastructure decisions are made as early as 50 years out.”
“Scientists in the US have detected the highest levels of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere since records began.
“For the first time in human existence, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii – which has tracked atmospheric CO2 levels since the late 1950s – detected 415.26 parts per million (ppm) on Saturday.”
“B.C.’s wildfire season has arrived in force, and officials have been caught off guard…
“…regional district board chair Gerry Thiessen said preparations made over the winter are already being tested.
“It’s way too early,” he said. “After what we went through last year, we have made sure we are as well prepared as we possibly can be. But we certainly thought we would get a lot more moisture this spring and we haven’t received that.”
“Large parts of B.C. are in the grips of a spring heat wave, with several May temperature records crumbling every day of the weekend… dry weather — coupled with a low snowpack and drought concerns — have created perfect conditions for wildfires to spark, with the fire danger rating reaching high to extreme in some pockets.
“Thiessen said he’s growing concerned about the dry weather arriving earlier.
““It used to be July, August when we would have fires and see the dry part of the year,” he said Sunday. “Now, we’re seeing it in June, a bit into May, and now it’s early May.””
“For the third day in a row, Seattle broke a heat record.
“The temperature in Seattle reached 83 degrees Saturday, after Seattle-Tacoma International Airport reached 86 degrees Friday, breaking the old record of 80 degrees set in 1993, according to meteorologists with the National Weather Service.”
“Heavy rains hit New Orleans and Houston over the weekend, flooding areas in and around the cities less than a month before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season.”
“In the last hours, the thermometer has shot up surprisingly and has reached close to 50 degrees [122f], in some regions of the state [Oaxaca, Mexico]…
“According to the National Water Commission , the highest temperature recorded in history in the state of Oaxaca has been 48 degrees in the shade, also in the region of the Papaloapan Basin , nine years ago.”
“The levels of the Paraguay River rose between 10 and 17 centimeters in just a few hours, after the storm that hit much of the country. The most punished cities are Asunción and Pilar, 300 kilometers south of the capital…
“The heavy rains that fell between Friday and Saturday in Paraguay left one dead and aggravated the extraordinary flood that registers the river of the same name since last April, according to the authorities.”
“Torrential rain on Friday and Saturday saw almost the entire monthly average of rainfall for May in just 24 hours. In total, since the beginning of the month, nearly 80mm of rain has fallen in Paris [France]. Combs-la-ville in the Seine-et-Marne department recorded an all-time high for May rainfall on Saturday, with 59.6mm recorded in 24 hours.”
“Wildfires have scorched a total area of over 41,400 hectares throughout Russia, the Federal Aerial Forest Protection Service reported on Monday…
“A state of emergency is currently in effect in the Kurgan Region, the Trans-Baikal Region, two districts of the Chelyabinsk Region, two districts of the Irkutsk Region, one district of the Krasnoyarsk Region and one district in the Tuva Region.”
“The death toll from a major cyclone that hit eastern India and Bangladesh in early May has risen to 77 as anger grew over millions of people still without power and water.
“Cyclone Fani, the first summer cyclone to hit India’s Bay of Bengal coast in 43 years, made landfall in Odisha state on May 3, packing winds up to 200 kilometres an hour.”
“…the jungles of Almora and Nainital in Uttarakhand have been caught in a massive forest fires.
“Bhimtal, Sattal and Devidhura areas of Nainital district are affected the most. Dehradun itself has seen 32 cases of forest fires in the last eleven days.
“The state in total has seen 595 cases of wildfires till May 12th. In Almora district about 189.25 hectares of forest land has been destroyed in 76 incidents, whereas Nainital has seen 170 wildfire incidents ruining 168.28 hectares of land.”
“A day after exclusive data accessed by Mirror Now revealed that 610 farmers have committed suicide in the state of Maharashtra in the first three months of this year, yet another disturbing state of affairs has emerged from the state…
“…fish are dying due to an alarming drop in the water level of the Godavari river.”
“Indian officials Sunday said (May 12) that at least 300 yaks starved to death in a remote Himalayan valley after a bout of unusually harsh winter weather. Officials in the northeastern state of Sikkim said they received the first distress call from around 50 people cut off in the remote Mukuthang Valley in December…
“A few yaks die because of extreme conditions in the region each year, but the authorities say that this year’s toll is unprecedented.”
“The warming temperatures in the far northeastern region of China are helping larch trees grow – for now. But in the long run, it could mean disaster for the hardy forests. The trees, which also grow in Siberia and Mongolia, are Earth’s northernmost tree species and need the permafrost to thrive.”
“Drought is gripping North Korea, with Pyongyang’s state TV reporting that the average precipitation across the country in the January-May period is expected to be the lowest since it began compiling data…
“The drought is expected to further aggravate the worsening food shortages in the country.”
“Heavy rains are expected to soak Queensland later this week as a tropical cyclone forms off the state’s coast. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a warning of a late season tropical cyclone that has formed in the Coral Sea.
“Tropical Cyclone Ann has developed in the Far Eastern Coral Sea, located approximately 1400km east of Cairns, and is moving slowly west-northwest.”
““April reached a new record Arctic low sea ice extent. Sea ice loss was rapid at the beginning of the month because of declines in the Sea of Okhotsk.
“The rate of ice loss slowed after early April, due in part to gains in extent in the Bering and Barents Seas.
“However, daily ice extent remained at record low levels throughout the month.””
“UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the political will to fight climate change has faded at the same time as it is getting worse for those feeling its effects.
“Guterres made the comments after arriving in New Zealand on Sunday where addressed the media alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in Auckland.”
“In just over a year’s time, the nation’s rainfall fortunes have shifted suddenly and dramatically. Rainfall famine has turned to rainfall feast.
“Thanks to its wettest 12-month period in recorded history, the amount of U.S. real estate covered by drought has plunged to its lowest level in recent decades, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday. But at the same time, excessive rainfall and flooding plague large areas of the country.
“Precipitation over the last year (May 2018 to April) in the United States has been extraordinary…”
“Recent rainfall has already-high water levels surging in the Great Lakes, contributing to flooding along the lakeshores in parts of Ohio and Michigan, and New York is expected to follow suit in the days ahead.
“Areas along the Lake Ontario shoreline are “at the precipice of a disaster,” according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as forecasts for additional rain threaten to push water levels past flood level.”
“It’s May. But the calendar has never been a deterrent when it comes to a Duluth, Minnesota snowstorm. Wednesday and Thursday the area got hit with over 10 inches of snow.
“That total is good for the largest May snowfall in the city’s distinctive weather history and also made May 2019 their snowiest May on record.”
“After a slow-moving storm moved through the area, Jackson, Mississippi, declared a state of emergency due to flash flooding Thursday afternoon. Torrential rain in the Greenville, Mississippi, area Thursday morning caused significant flooding of businesses and prompted water rescues. As of 2:40 p.m. CDT, the city had reported 7.25 inches of rain. This is well above the 4.42 inches of rain that the town typically receives in the entire month of May.”
“In a week that’s already seen Houston and surrounding areas in southeast Texas face some of the most severe rainfall since Hurricane Harvey, heavy storms again pounded the city late Thursday, leaving at least three bayous flowing over the top of their banks, nearly 90,000 residents without power and dozens reportedly trapped for a time in floodwater on Interstate-10…
“Earlier in the week, the city faced as much as six to 10 inches of rain in just a few hours. As The Washington Post’s Ian Livingston reported, at least one location in Houston saw water rise higher than it did during Harvey.”
“Many researchers believe a faster snowmelt and a drier summer landscape may also worsen the fire season in some areas [of the western US], leading to bigger, hotter blazes.
“The whole process offers the possibility of a climate feedback cycle, said researcher Kelly Gleason of the Desert Research Institute in Nevada. Wildfires lead to faster melting, and faster melting in turn leads to more wildfires.”
“Record high temperatures are in the forecast for Friday in the northwest for even more cities within the region [Pacific NW].
“A building ridge of high pressure is going to allow for the heat to also build and temperatures to climb. Especially along the Pacific coast line, temperatures are looking to reach upwards of 20 degrees above average.”
“Kotzebue [Alaska] experienced its warmest April on record. The Tanana and Kuskokwim Rivers saw the earliest ice break-ups on record as well… The year so far is… trending warmer than normal.
“The statewide average temperature for January through April was 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit which is more than 9 degrees above the long-term average.
“This makes the first four months of 2019 the second warmest on record.”
“Climate change has already increased the spread and severity of a fatal disease caused by Ranavirus that infects common frogs (Rana temporaria) in the UK, according to research led by ZSL’s Institute of Zoology, UCL and Queen Mary University of London published today in Global Change Biology.”
“A newly-developed measurement method has revealed that Austria’s glaciers are losing about a meter of thickness every year, the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) revealed on Thursday…
“The resulting calculation method has not only confirmed that glacial retreat has occurred, but that Austria’s glaciers lost one-fifth of their ice mass between 2006 and 2016…”
“An African air mass will cause an extraordinary rise in temperatures from Friday to next Tuesday and will lead to the first episode of intense heat in 2019, according to [Spain’s] State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), which points out that more values will be achieved. own of end of June and principles of July, because they will arrive to register until 15ºC more of the normal for these dates.”
“As the heatwave alert in Andhra [India] continues to be in place till May 12, parts of the state recorded a temperature of 47 degree Celsius [117f] on Thursday.
“According to data from the AP State Development Planning Society’s automatic weather stations, the temperature hit 47 degrees in Kurichedu Mandal of Prakasam district on Thursday.”
“Cyclone Fani was the longest-lived cyclone in the Bay of Bengal ever observed.
“The elongated time period of the storm went on for 11 days in the sea and land put together. What made it even more surprising was the fact that it had formed in the pre-monsoon season, that too in April.”
“The National Disaster Mitigation Agency [of Indonesia] said on Thursday that a tropical cyclone emerging from the Banda Sea in Maluku, called Lili, had just hit several villages hard in the form of severe rain and strong wind.
“Water as deep as 1.5 meters on average had reportedly inundated three villages in three separate districts in the province…”
“As far as I know, your work is unique in pulling together stories from all over the world. Very sobering but a better and more complete view. Terrific and necessary work. Thank you!” – Simon
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Weekday updates on both climate change and the global economy. Stay current with what’s happening around the world with a quick scan of top news.
“Ice losses are rapidly spreading deep into the interior of the Antarctic, new analysis of satellite data shows.
“Britain is basking in glorious spring sunshine today while Corsica shivers under a thick blanket of snow. Scotland has already had its hottest day of the year with the mercury hitting 77F (25.2C) this afternoon, while large parts of northern England enjoy warmer-than-usual temperatures too… 
“Swimmers at the Lusshardtsee lake about 60 miles south of Frankfurt in Germany thought they’d found respite from the blazing sun one Sunday afternoon last summer. 
“Rain and thunderstorms will spread over much of Italy and the Balkans into Thursday as a slow-moving storm system moves over the region. 
“A series of deadly attacks across northern Mozambique has shaken the region in the aftermath of a cyclone disaster. 
“Already under the whip from a perfect storm of rampant inflation, cash and fuel shortages, higher taxes, collapsing domestic demand, lower global commodity prices, and severe drought… 
“The more interesting point that should be mentioned here is this that spring rainfalls in the current year (started March 21, 2019) broke the record the same as in the year 2016. 
“With 40 percent of India facing drought conditions and 500 million people severely affected this summer, an alarm is being sounded by the media, academia, environmental activists, and even politicians… 
“A severe drought is affecting southwest China’s Yunnan Province, with swathes of crops damaged. Bad meteorological conditions have brought much less precipitation in Yunnan. 
“These high intensity storms have been tied to the very warm sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean. 
“This year’s first heat advisory was issued for Gwangju [Korea] on Wednesday, the earliest on record. The Korea Meteorological Administration issued the advisory at 3 p.m. as temperatures hit 33 degrees Celsius… 
“Health authorities in Montreal are adding 13 more people to the list of victims of last summer’s heat wave, and are urging the city to do more to diminish heat across the densely populated urban neighbourhoods that are home to the most vulnerable. 
“Chilly temperatures just won’t go away this year in some areas of the U.S. 
“The historic second opening in a year of the Bonnet Carré Spillway last week has sparked concern about the effects it will have on Lake Pontchartrain, after marine wildlife washed ashore following the first opening… 
“Smoke from a series of wildfires have reached Mexico City…
“Thawing glaciers are contributing to a rise in global sea levels and scientists are making clear how rapid and disastrous the consequences could be. 
“Donald Trump’s interior secretary hasn’t “lost sleep over”, the record-breaking levels of pollution heating the planet, he told US lawmakers in an oversight hearing”
“Huawei has hit back at the Trump administration after it declared a national emergency to ban technology from “foreign adversaries” and subjected the Chinese telecommunications company to strict export controls.
“Serious auto-loan delinquencies – 90 days or more past due – jumped to 4.69% of outstanding auto loans and leases in the first quarter of 2019, according to New York Fed data. This put the auto-loan delinquency rate at the highest level since Q4 2010 and merely 58 basis points below the peak during the Great Recession in Q4 2010 (5.27%). 
“The yield curve isn’t the only sign recession is coming. Rising corporate misconduct says the same. 
“U.S. flights to Venezuela are being suspended due to safety and security concerns, officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. 
“Tens of thousands of students, teachers and researchers across Brazil took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against government cuts and spending freezes to the education budget. 
““There is an imminent crisis in [India’s] non-banking financial companies (NBFC) sector,” Injeti Srinivas, corporate affairs secretary told the Press Trust of India in an interview on May 12. 
“Iran is on the “cusp of a full-scale confrontation with the enemy”, an Iranian military commander has claimed, as sabre-rattling between Washington and Tehran intensified. 
“Chinese data shows a slowdown in the economy. 
“Japan’s three largest banks all reported lower annual profits on Wednesday, highlighting the challenges faced by the banking industry as the world’s third-largest economy looks to be headed for another downturn… 
“The escalating U.S.-China trade war is threatening to upend the global economy’s much-anticipated rebound and could even throw its decade-long expansion into doubt if the conflict spirals out of control.”
“Over the weekend, the climate system sounded simultaneous alarms. Near the entrance to the Arctic Ocean in northwest Russia, the temperature surged to 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eclipsed 415 parts per million for the first time in human history.
“Kinlochewe in Wester Ross [Scotland] recorded the UK’s highest temperate of the day, at 23.7 degrees. 
“France is already preparing for the threat of drought this summer, with 11 departments having already taken water restriction measures… 
“If you’re in Dalmatia and have said this is the “coldest May of your life”, you’re absolutely right – and thanks to official data measured at the DHMZ Split Marjan station, your claim can be confirmed. 
“Due to the severity of the drought conditions in the capital city Windhoek [Namibia], the municipality on Monday announced that it will commence with water restrictions which will come into effect as from July 1… 
“With the effects of drought beginning to tell on cities in western Maharashtra [India], the State irrigation department has decided to stall the release of water from Khadakwasla dam to meet Pune’s potable water demands. 
“A statement issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority [India] on Tuesday said 10 people died due to storms while lightning killed 13 others. 
“Strong wind, coupled with torrential rain, has destroyed some 800 houses in two townships of Myanmar’s Sagaing region, according to the Disaster Management Department Wednesday. 
“Officials from North Korea’s Red Cross Society are in China this week, a sign the Kim Jong Un regime could be preparing to request food aid from the world’s second-largest economy. 
“Australia is planning to import wheat for the first time in 12 years after drought across the eastern states saw grain production fall 20% last year. 
“To date, three children and two adults died after not receiving assistance in the Chaco because they were isolated because of the floods… 
“Puerto Rico currently experiences the strongest heat wave in history… In statements the meteorologist Emanuel Rodriguez explained that the island “has a high pressure, dominating the environment and a mass of dry air.” 
“The direction of Ecology confirmed this through a statement, which details that the heat wave that plagues this state [San Luis Potosi, Mexico] 
“Mexico City has declared a pollution emergency after smoke from brushfires cast a pall over the city of 21 million people. 
“Hard, steady rainfall in February drenched the valley and has catapulted the year toward the record books. 
“Two months after record floods swept down the Missouri River, closed bridges are still making life hard for people like Mary Grace Thiltges. 
“A historic tree that predates the dedication of the Washington Monument toppled outside of the iconic structure this weekend… The National Park Service said Monday that the saturated ground caused the mulberry tree on the grounds of the Washington Monument to topple… 
“… the all-time low high temperature of 49 F for May 13, set way back in 1914, was shattered on Monday when the mercury in Central Park only climbed to 48 F. Temperatures on Monday in the Big Apple were about 15-20 degrees below average… 
“Early summer heatwaves in Western Europe and North America set new temperature records in 2018, while other regions of the northern hemisphere were hit with torrential rain and severe flooding. 
“A new rainfall record was set in Japan on Monday as Yonaguni Island reported 276.5 millimeters of rain over the three-hour period [nearly 11 inches].
“Fears are growing for young children and other vulnerable groups as a drought in North Korea threatens to worsen food shortages in the isolated country… Four in 10 people in North Korea are estimated to be in urgent need of food assistance… 
“Torrential rains triggered a landslide that has buried at least 20 traditional gold miners in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, or BNPB, announced on Monday. 
“The rainy weather that hit Asunción, Paraguay on Friday , and the fall in temperatures have put in check the thousands of families who for several months have lived in wooden and sheet metal boxes in the center of the Paraguayan capital because their houses were left flooded by the floods caused by the flood of the Paraguay River… 
“The rains in the village of Tizamarte in the eastern Guatemalan department of Chiquimula no longer arrive as they did in the past. “Before it was beautiful, we used to have two harvests a year,” Transito Gutierrez told Al Jazeera. 
“Thermal sensation of 52 degrees Celsius [125.6f] was registered in the city of Merida [Yucatan, Mexico]… 
“A plan by California’s biggest utility to cut power on high-wind days during the onrushing wildfire season could plunge millions of residents into darkness. And most people aren’t ready… 
“Kelp forests have been observed throughout the Arctic by Inuit, researchers and polar explorers. 
“A bizarre weather phenomenon has pushed temperatures to three times what they should be in a part of north western Russia. 
“The storm has already brought significant amounts of rain to the region. In Croatia, the city of Ogulin picked up 93.7 millimetres in just 24 hours, almost its monthly May average… 
“The price of a box of teabags could be set to rise by up to 40 per cent due to a tea shortage in Kenya, experts have warned… droughts in plantations zones in Kenya have caused damage to crops which, in turn, has impacted on harvest volumes, causing them to be 12 per cent smaller than predicted this year. 
“Poor farmers from Kundgol, Kalaghatagi, Dharwad and Hubballi taluks [India].flocked to Noolvi only to be dejected as their livestock were sold for much lesser than the expected price. 
“The expedition to Thwaites is part of the race to discover how fast the massive glacier is melting and what that will mean for global sea level rise over the next century. 
“Scientists in the US have detected the highest levels of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere since records began. 
“B.C.’s wildfire season has arrived in force, and officials have been caught off guard…
“For the third day in a row, Seattle broke a heat record. 
“Golfball-size hail, floods and stranded drivers. This is what May in Houston is looking like… 
“In the last hours, the thermometer has shot up surprisingly and has reached close to 50 degrees [122f], in some regions of the state [Oaxaca, Mexico]… 
“Users of social networks shared images of the flooded roads [in Quetzaltengo, Guatemala]. 
“The levels of the Paraguay River rose between 10 and 17 centimeters in just a few hours, after the storm that hit much of the country. The most punished cities are Asunción and Pilar, 300 kilometers south of the capital… 
“Wildfires have scorched a total area of over 41,400 hectares throughout Russia, the Federal Aerial Forest Protection Service reported on Monday… 
“The death toll from a major cyclone that hit eastern India and Bangladesh in early May has risen to 77 as anger grew over millions of people still without power and water. 
“…the jungles of Almora and Nainital in Uttarakhand have been caught in a massive forest fires. 
“A day after exclusive data accessed by Mirror Now revealed that 610 farmers have committed suicide in the state of Maharashtra in the first three months of this year, yet another disturbing state of affairs has emerged from the state… 
“Indian officials Sunday said (May 12) that at least 300 yaks starved to death in a remote Himalayan valley after a bout of unusually harsh winter weather. Officials in the northeastern state of Sikkim said they received the first distress call from around 50 people cut off in the remote Mukuthang Valley in December… 
“Drought is gripping North Korea, with Pyongyang’s state TV reporting that the average precipitation across the country in the January-May period is expected to be the lowest since it began compiling data… 
“Heavy rains are expected to soak Queensland later this week as a tropical cyclone forms off the state’s coast. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a warning of a late season tropical cyclone that has formed in the Coral Sea. 
““April reached a new record Arctic low sea ice extent. Sea ice loss was rapid at the beginning of the month because of declines in the Sea of Okhotsk. 
“UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the political will to fight climate change has faded at the same time as it is getting worse for those feeling its effects. 
“In just over a year’s time, the nation’s rainfall fortunes have shifted suddenly and dramatically. Rainfall famine has turned to rainfall feast.
“Recent rainfall has already-high water levels surging in the Great Lakes, contributing to flooding along the lakeshores in parts of Ohio and Michigan, and New York is expected to follow suit in the days ahead. 
“…the [Pine Ridge] reservation is wracked by rampant poverty, lack of resources and poor infrastructure… 
“It’s May. But the calendar has never been a deterrent when it comes to a Duluth, Minnesota snowstorm. Wednesday and Thursday the area got hit with over 10 inches of snow. 
“In a week that’s already seen Houston and surrounding areas in southeast Texas face some of the most severe rainfall since Hurricane Harvey, heavy storms again pounded the city late Thursday, leaving at least three bayous flowing over the top of their banks, nearly 90,000 residents without power and dozens reportedly trapped for a time in floodwater on Interstate-10…
“Kotzebue [Alaska] experienced its warmest April on record. The Tanana and Kuskokwim Rivers saw the earliest ice break-ups on record as well… The year so far is… trending warmer than normal. 
“The permafrost may be about to spring an unwelcome surprise, with Arctic soils thought to be thawing faster than anyone had predicted. 
“A newly-developed measurement method has revealed that Austria’s glaciers are losing about a meter of thickness every year, the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) revealed on Thursday… 
“As the heatwave alert in Andhra [India] continues to be in place till May 12, parts of the state recorded a temperature of 47 degree Celsius [117f] on Thursday. 
“As mercury rises, a number of forest fires have been reported from Uttarakhand [India] in the last 24 hours. 
“Cyclone Fani was the longest-lived cyclone in the Bay of Bengal ever observed. 
“The National Disaster Mitigation Agency [of Indonesia] said on Thursday that a tropical cyclone emerging from the Banda Sea in Maluku, called Lili, had just hit several villages hard in the form of severe rain and strong wind. 
“The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit 415 parts per million last week for the first time in 800 000 years. 