“At least 14 people have been killed and seven others are missing following two landslides in Bolivia, according to the national police chief, Romulo Delgado.
“Torrential rain caused the landslides on the road linking the capital, La Paz, to the northern town of Caranavi, the gateway to the Amazon rainforest, over the weekend.
“President Evo Morales said on his Twitter account that helicopters were being used to transport 34 wounded to local hospitals…
“The National Hydrological and Meteorological Service issued an orange alert for various departments in the state, warning that this year’s rainy period has begun with unusually heavy precipitation.”
“Three regions in the south [of Chile] are in a state of catastrophe, and reached record high temperatures. While to the north, intense rains in the cordilleran areas that left two dead in a historically dry area: the Atacama desert.
“The Chilean government decreed Tuesday the state of catastrophe in three regions of the south of the country where 630 fires are registered, many of them intentional, while in the north intense mountain rains caused floods and road cuts.”
“Unusually warm temperatures in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province, an area called the gateway to the Antarctic region, led officials to declare Tuesday a holiday and residents to the shores for recreation.
“The area, which is undergoing summer, reached a temperature of 87 degrees Fahrenheit in Rio Grande Monday, about 1,400 miles south of Buenos Aires.”
“I have found in going through heaps of data back to 1879 for West Lafayette [Indiana] that when the temperature drops to -15 or less, it tends to stay quite cold for a while…
“The recent Arctic Outbreak was different & broke tradition with what normally occurs with cold of this magnitude… This outbreak was in & out in an unusually rapid fashion… A 73-degree rise from such cold is an extreme rarity.”
“Temperatures soared into the upper 60s and low 70s Tuesday afternoon, bringing record highs to several towns [in Pennsylvania].
“These Spring-like temperatures came less than a week after temperatures fell into the single digits, and felt like below 0. Trenton crushed their previous record of 64 degrees set in 1890.”
“Let’s hope you had a good umbrella. About 61 inches of rain fell on Massachusetts in 2018, the wettest year on record for the state, with 3 feet falling in the second half of the year.
“The 2018 mark was more than 16 inches above Massachusetts’ 20th-century average…”
“The remote town of Barrow, Alaska, home to more than 4,000 people, touts picturesque views of the Arctic Ocean as well as an unparalleled connection to the Alaskan wild, but underneath its stunning beauty lies a major global crisis—permafrost coastal erosion—causing Barrow to gradually slip into the sea.
“The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet…”
“Schools are off in several districts of the southern province of Antalya [Turkey] on Feb. 6 as experts warned of a “great risk” for deadly tornadoes…
“Three people had died in Antalya two weeks ago and another citizen went missing after storms and tornadoes hit the province, causing more than 100 million Turkish Liras worth of damage.”
“Townsville is underwater and large parts of Tasmania are on fire. As fires, floods and crazy weather become more frequent and severe, is Australia on its way to being uninsurable?
“Summer in Australia has always been extreme, but some corners of the country are experiencing climate-driven disasters that are worse than ever – and more of them every year.”
“Australian ranchers who struggled to keep their cattle alive during a prolonged drought last year are now battling to save herds from record-breaking floods inundating the northeast of the country, officials said on Wednesday.
“Australia’s military has been called in to drop fodder to cattle stranded by floodwaters in Queensland state to stop them from starving, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said, with their owners still marooned in their farmsteads.”
“Victorians are preparing for more than a month’s worth of rain in the span of an hour, but the torrential rain isn’t expected over regional areas where bushfires continue to rage. A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for the Melbourne and Geelong region…”
“Giant kelp forests once dominated Tasmania’s east coast, but 95 per cent has been lost over the past few decades…
“In Western Australia, a heatwave between 2010 and 2013 wiped out about 100 kilometres of kelp cover, replacing it with seaweed and other species associated with sub-tropical and tropical areas.”
“Growers are battling to keep crops alive on the Waimea Plains as the drought continues to bite in Tasman district, with no sign of a significant break in the prolonged dry spell.
“Irrigators this week saw the amount of water they were allowed to take from catchments on the plains cut by 50 per cent, as the Waimea River dropped to its lowest level for this time of year since the “Big Dry” in 2001.”
“Mother Nature can’t make up her mind in the Midwest and Northeast, where a number of locations have set record-high temperatures — just days after a polar blast brought a rash of record lows.
“The lobe of the polar vortex, which carried punishing cold air into the Midwest and Northeast Wednesday through Friday, swiftly retreated over the weekend, and a surge of unseasonably mild air took its place…”
“Both Cleveland and Akron-Canton on Monday smashed records for high temperatures on this date, with readings reaching the 60s Monday afternoon – about 25 degrees above normal.
“At Akron-Canton, the high of 60 topped the previous record of 55 degrees, set in 2016. The normal high for this date is 34 degrees. Last year it was 33.”
“Winter-weary Torontonians are getting a much-needed reprieve following a week of bone-chilling temperatures. At 12 Con Monday afternoon, Toronto set a new record high temperature for Feb. 4, beating the previous record of 11 C set back in 1991.
““The normal daytime high, to put it in perspective, is around – 2.2 C,” said CP24 Meteorologist Chris Potter. Last year on this day, the city sat at -1.5 C.”
“A small town in Northern California has sunk more than two feet in the last nine years, according to a recent survey from the California Department of Water Resources. The survey identified nearly 40 areas in the Sacramento Valley where land has started to sink as farmers pump groundwater from the region’s arid soil.”
“Kiwis have been feeling the heat – but last month was only the third hottest January with 2018 still holding the record for the hottest month ever… Niwa Auckland climate scientist Nava Fedaeff said last January was exceptionally warm and broke all records…
“Parts of the country were also extremely dry with rainfall well below normal in all parts of the country except Napier and Hastings. Masterton had just 6mm of rain and recording its driest month on records since its records began in 1926.”
“As I write this, fire is 500 metres from the largest King Billy pine forest in the world on Mt Bobs [Tasmania], an ancient forest that dates back to the last Ice Age and has trees over 1,000 years old.
“Fire has broached the boundaries of Mt Field national park with its glorious alpine vegetation, unlike anything on the planet.”
“Many parts of Queensland have been declared disaster zones and thousands of residents evacuated due to a 1-in-100-year flood.
“Townsville is at the epicentre of the “unprecedented” monsoonal downpour that brought more than a year’s worth of rain in just a few days, and the emergency is far from over with yet more torrential rain expected.”
“Surat [India], known as the “diamond city”, faces a triple flooding threat: from the Tapi and the Ukai dam upstream, from the Arabian Sea, and from the 19 miles of creeks that spread through the city.
“It constructed its first flood wall in 1664, and the battle to hold back water has been raging ever since. Climate change has only exacerbated the situation.”
“Heavy rainfall in northwest Syria has caused severe flash flooding in northwest Syria affecting more than 80,000 people… People in this part of Syria already are struggling to survive in an already volatile environment.
“The floods have swept away thousands of tents and caused concrete houses to collapse. Furthermore, one-quarter of the food stock in assessed locations was ruined in the flooding, causing many local shops and bakeries to close, increasing the price of the already limited food available.”
“Heavy rain and melting snow caused rivers to burst their banks and cause flooding across Bosnia, damaging houses and blocking roads. A bridge in the capital, Sarajevo, collapsed after the River Zeljeznica overflowed. Milder weather has been witnessed following last month’s sub-zero conditions.
“In the space of 24 hours, temperatures jumped from 0C to 15C, causing snow to melt rapidly and trigger floods in central parts of the country.”
“On Svalbard, the envisaged rise in temperatures would thaw the frozen ground underpinning many buildings, roads and airports, cause more avalanches, “slushflows” and landslides, melt glaciers and threaten wildlife such as polar bears and seals that rely on sea ice to hunt.
““A 10 degree warming, with the implications for Arctic nature, ice-dependent species, will be devastating,” Climate and Environment Minister Ola Elvestuen told Reuters.”
“Two recently published peer-reviewed studies make clear that the planet’s oceans are continuing to set hottest-yet temperature records nearly every year and, secondly, that the rate of ocean warming is in virtual lockstep with what modern climate models have projected…
“About 93 percent of global warming goes into heating the oceans, compared to about 2 percent warming the atmosphere. As the hottest year in the oceans, 2018 therefore was the hottest year ever recorded for the planet as a whole. And the amount of heat currently building up on Earth is equivalent to the amount of energy released by more than five atomic bomb detonations per second, every second.”
“The north Queensland coast is in the midst of an extreme rainfall event that has forced the Ross River Dam near Townsville to open its gates, adding to the flooding already under way.
“Here’s how it has happened – and why.
“It’s not over yet but, as of 9am local time on Monday, Townsville Airport had recorded more than one metre of rain in the past week.
“All up, that tally reached 1052 millimetres [41.1 inches], according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
“The total beat the previously weekly high from January 1998 of 886 millimetres although that event included the “night of Noah’ when a record daily tally of 548.8 millimetres fell.
“It’s a wet part of Australia, we know, but the past week has delivered almost Townsville’s entire annual average of 1157.9 millimetres [45.6 inches] at a site where the data goes back to 1940. In other words, a year’s rain in a week for the town.
“”This event is just an unprecedented monsoonal burst,” says Grace Legge, a senior meteorologist in the bureau’s extreme weather desk, adding that many stations are likely to set multiple-day records.
“To Townville’s west, the aptly named Upper Bluewater site clocked up 2068 millimetres [81.5 inches] in the week to Monday morning, according to Weatherzone.”
“Snakes and crocodiles have been spotted on residential roads in Australia after devastating floods hit the northern state of Queensland, following eight days of monsoon-level rain.
“Environment minister Leeanne Enoch issued a statement warning residents that the reptiles could turn up in unexpected places due to extreme weather conditions.”
“The drought situation in Namibia is fast becoming a disaster of epic proportions and in this regard the National Agriculture Union along with the Namibia Emerging Commercial Farmers Union asked for an urgent meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry to discuss critical interventions to assist farmers.
“The two unions also jointly drafted a drought action plan with various possible solutions to assist that the feel must be implemented in order to assist struggling farmers which they plan to present to the agriculture minister.”
“Scientists fear the future of the UAE’s reefs is in doubt after research found rising temperatures killed almost three quarters of Abu Dhabi’s coral. Record temperatures in the summer of 2017 left more than 90 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s coral cover bleached and struggling to survive, New York University Abu Dhabi found.
“Dr John Burt, associate professor of biology, said there was a remarkable amount of damage.”
“Spring-like temperatures arrived early in Croatia on Saturday and will hang around for part of Sunday as well. In the Croatian towns of Daruvar and Sisak, temperatures reached a high of 19 °C on Saturday afternoon, whilst in Maksimir in the capital Zagreb, it reached 17.1 °C.
“At Zagreb’s weather station Grič it measured 16.6 °C, making it one of the warmest starts to February in history for most of the country. Yesterday’s temperature in Zagreb was the warmest ever recorded on the 2nd of February since measurements began in 1881.”
“Four people drowned when a tourist boat capsized in strong winds on the Montenegrin side of Lake Skadar on Sunday, while heavy rain and melting snow caused flooding across neighboring Bosnia, damaging houses and blocking roads.
“A couple and their young daughter from the town of Zeta in Montenegro, drowned in the boat accident, along with a man who tried to help them…”
“St Mark’s square and alleyways in Venice’s historic centre were affected by flooding on Saturday, after heavy rains caused an unusually high tide. Tourists and residents were seen using wooden platforms to cross the square, while some braved the high flood levels, walking through the water in rubber boots.
“Elsewhere in Italy, firefighters used ropes and planks of wood to rescue three teenagers from a muddy river after their car swerved off the road in heavy rain.”
“The number of people killed in the powerful tornado that ripped through part of Havana last week has risen to six, authorities said on Sunday.
“Public Health Minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda said in state media that “sadly, two people have died among the 13 who were in critical condition.” The earlier death toll was four.”
“Following record-breaking chill across the Midwest and Northeast this past week, a surge of relatively balmy air is moving into the region.
“A steady flow of air pushing into the area from the south will usher milder conditions into the region through Monday, allowing temperatures to increase by as much as 40-60 degrees when compared to the recent cold outbreak.”
“Indianapolis is making a serious run at setting a new record high temperature for the date. The capital city has already tied the record set in 1992, 1937, and 1883, reaching 62° at 2:11 p.m. We aren’t done with the warmth just yet.”
“With only 6.2 inches of snow in January, Denver just completed its 25th-straight month with below average snowfall, the longest such streak in recorded history. Denver’s official records date back to 1882, and an analysis of climatological records shows that there’s been no such previous stretch in recorded history.”
“The federal government has moved closer to imposing water delivery cuts along the drought-depleted Colorado River…
“…after California and Arizona failed to meet a deadline for inking a broad agreement on how the seven states that depend on the river would cope with shortages.”
“The strongest Pacific storm of this winter season slammed California with heavy rain, significant snowfall, high winds and travel disruptions this past weekend…
“The heavy rain caused excessive runoff, with debris flows reported downstream of the Holy and Woolsey fire burn scars.”
“Siberia has seen a deep freeze since early February, with severe sub-zero temperatures plunging lower than minus 50 degrees.
“Forced holidays started in many schools where a regime of free attendance had been introduced before. Storm and emergency warnings were declared in some Siberian regions, and there were problems with aircraft and bus transportation.”
“The ocean will not look the same color in the future. It won’t turn pink or anything radically different; the change will be more apparent through optic sensors than though the human eye.
“But it serves as an early warning sign that global warming is significantly altering the planet’s ecosystems, according to a new study. Essentially, climate change will make the blues of the ocean bluer and the greens greener.”
January was not just Australia’s hottest ever January but its hottest ever month:
“It followed the hottest December on record for Australia — and there is no relief in sight for the months ahead.
“January was a truly record-breaking month across several fronts: the highest minimum, the highest maximum and the highest mean temperatures for Australia as a whole.
“The highest overnight minimum on record was broken multiple times with Wanaaring (Barrona Downs) in NSW currently holding the title at 36.6 degrees Celsius.
“The mean temperature for January averaged across the country exceeded 30C — the first time this had occurred in any month, the BOM said.”
“…where I live in drought-stricken Tasmania, the southern half of this island is, to put it bluntly, ablaze.
“Three huge out-of-control bushfires have consumed almost 2,000sqkm of the island’s wilderness areas. Natural Parks and precious World Heritage Sites are being razed. Towns and hamlets are at risk of incineration.”
“A western Queensland town has suffered through 43 consecutive days where the maximum temperature exceeded 40 degrees… Residents in the outback town of Birdsville endured 10 consecutive days of 45 degrees and above until Monday, January 21 – exceeding previous six-day runs in the town in 2004 and 2013.
“Last week, the road was so hot in a tiny north-western Queensland town the council thought residents could cook an Australia Day barbecue on it.”
“One hundred homes could be flooded in Townsville after the city’s mayor sanctioned the high-risk release of dam water to save the area from more widespread inundation following more than 1.1 metres of rain.
“Announcing the emergency measure for the Ross River dam on Friday, the mayor Jenny Hill said there were no guarantees the plan would work. Between 90 and 100 homes downstream from the dam were being evacuated, she added.
“Townsville has had a year’s worth of rain in the past week.”
“The recent abandonment of thousands of flamingo chicks by their mothers has been blamed on climate change that has caused a severe drought in Kimberley in the Northern Cape [South Africa].
“The rush to save the 2000 flamingo chicks turned into a countrywide race against time to save the birds. The drought hit the Kamfers Dam in Kimberley where the flamingo colony stayed. Due to the intensity and extremity of climate change, the dam dried up and the adult population left.”
“Thunder, lightning and rain came to Los Angeles in a major way this week, and many people were not ready. Hundreds of lightning strikes were recorded around Los Angeles County…
“”The thunder feels like an earthquake!! I actually had to think about it for a minute, it really felt like start of an earthquake. Am I really still in LA?” wrote Twitter user Nancy R. late Thursday morning.”
“The cold has shattered temperature records across the United States. Mason City, Iowa hit a record low of -28; nearby Albert Lea, Minnesota bottomed out at -29, with wind chills as low as the -50s.
“Rockford, Illinois broke its all-time cold record at -31, as did Moline (-33), Cedar Rapids, Iowa (-30), Mather, Wisconsin (-43), and Cotton, Minnesota (-56). Ponsford, Minnesota reportedly suffered a chilling -66 degrees.”
“The Okjökull glacier died in 2014. It wasn’t the first Icelandic glacier to pass away. Some estimates say that up to ten named bodies of ice have previously expired, along with countless more that were unnamed. But Okjökull was the biggest, so far.
“Over a period of years, Okjökull melted faster than snowfall could accumulate into new ice. The glacier became thinner each year until, eventually, the ice in the bowl of the shield volcano stopped moving.”
“Subsidence caused by an earthquake has created a snapshot of what life might be like for many more as sea levels continue to rise:
“The water laps above her ankles, and flows through her home, sending bottles bobbing gently on the high tide. But Maria Saavedra is unworried, and unmoving… The Cebu Strait quietly invades her house on the high tide for nearly four hours a day, more than 130 days a year. But Saavedra doesn’t want to leave the only home she’s known for an uncertain life on a larger island nearby.”
“North America is in the grip of a polar vortex, bringing freezing weather from North Dakota to Ohio. The cold snap has prompted predictably icy comments from climate change deniers. But the global picture tells a different story.
“So far, no weather stations have recorded all-time cold records in 2019 [this might change today] – which is unprecedented at this stage of the year, according to weather records compiler Maximiliano Herrera.
“In contrast, 33 stations in the southern hemisphere have recorded all-time highs. Among them were Noona in New South Wales, where the temperature at night remained above 35.9°C on 17 January – the hottest night in Australia’s history. Reunion and Christmas Island also experienced all-time hottest temperatures.”
“…Mathematical models predict that in a stable climate, the number of hot and cold records should be equal, and new records occur less frequently over time.
“In 2018, 430 stations worldwide saw all-time high temperatures and 40 saw all-time lows. Despite what many in the US are experiencing now, this ratio is as clear a sign as any that the planet is getting hotter.”
“The deadly polar vortex wreaking havoc across the United States has left at least 12 people dead, including a college student who was found in the freezing cold on the campus of the University of Iowa…”
“The polar vortex came on the heels of major Winter Storm Jayden that dumped up to a foot of snow on the region over the weekend and was to blame for at least five deaths.
“Officials have warned that the freezing temperatures will only become more life-threatening overnight on Wednesday.
“Forecasters advised against breathing deeply or talking while outside and warned that frostbite and hypothermia issues could occur within seconds.”
“The lowest temperature in the UK for seven years was recorded on Thursday as snowy and icy weather continued to hit Britain.
“Residents of Braemar in north-east Scotland were shivering in a temperature of -14.4C, the Met Office said – the lowest temperature in the UK since 2012 when it reached -15.6C at Holbeach, Lincolnshire.”
“Canberra has sweltered through its hottest January on record, in a month that has also seen ferocious storms strike the capital along with impressive displays of nighttime lightning.
“The city has also beaten the record for the most days above 40 degrees in a year, with five already recorded. The previous record of four days in a year was set in 1939 and equalled in the record-breaking heatwave earlier in January.”
“January 2019 is shaping up to be one of the driest on record for Toowoomba and the Darling Downs [SE Queensland, Australia].
“Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Vinord Anand said southern Queensland (which takes in Toowoomba, the Darling Downs, eastern Maranoa and Warrego and parts of the Central Highlands and Coalfields) had one of its lowest rainfall totals since records began.”
“North Queensland residents are on high alert for more flooding with up to 500mm [20 inches] of rain predicted to fall – including 200mm in just six hours – as a monsoon trough continues to cause chaos across the already drenched region.
“The severe weather system has already dumped more than 750mm [30 inches] of rain in parts, with homes inundated and cars washed away in Bluewater just north of Townsville yesterday.”
“Northland [New Zealand] in January had its lowest recorded rainfall for the month since 1947, and the regional council is urging residents to cut back on water usage.
“Water gauges from Doubtless Bay to Whangarei recorded between 5mm to 10mm of rain, 75mm below the January average. The dry spell doesn’t look like it will come to an end soon…”
“Hanmer Forest in north Canterbury has hit a record-breaking 38.4degC.
“NIWA posted on Twitter that the area had hit the wildly hot temperature on Thursday – the warmest it’s been since records began in 1906. NIWA says it’s also New Zealand’s fourth-equal highest temperature for January on record…”
“It’s official: The torrential rain that devastated parts of Kauai in April last year now holds the new national record for the most rainfall in a 24-hour period… The National Climate Extremes Committee validated the initial rain gauge data indicating that the area received 49.69 inches of rain in the 24-hour period between April 14 and April 15.
“The amount breaks the previous record of 43 inches in Alvin, Texas in July 1979.”
“A gigantic cavity two-thirds the area of Manhattan and almost 1,000 feet (300 meters) tall has been found growing at the bottom of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica.
“About the size of Florida, Thwaites Glacier is currently responsible for approximately 4 percent of global sea level rise. It holds enough ice to raise the world ocean a little over 2 feet (65 centimeters) and backstops neighboring glaciers that would raise sea levels an additional 8 feet (2.4 meters) if all the ice were lost.”
“Tens of millions of people in the United States are bracing for a potentially life-threatening deep arctic chill forecast to hit swaths of the country on Wednesday.
“Companies have told their workers to stay home, schools are closed and hundreds of flights have been canceled.
“The US Postal Service – known for its commitment to bringing the mail whatever the weather – has even reportedly suspended deliveries in Iowa due to the severe cold.
“Temperatures in almost a dozen states stretching more than 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) from the Dakotas to Ohio were forecast to be the coldest in a generation, if not on record.
“”One of the coldest arctic air mass intrusions in recent memory is surging south into the Upper Midwest before spreading across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country,” the National Weather Service said.
“”Expect frigid temperatures, bitterly cold and life-threatening wind chills, likely leading to widespread record lows and low maximum temperatures from the Upper Midwest to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley.”
“The cause is a swirl of arctic air that broke away from the polar vortex that usually encircles the North Pole.
“The National Weather Service forecast temperatures between -10 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 to -40 Celsius) by Wednesday across the Midwest, with wind chills making it seem as cold as -65 degrees Fahrenheit in one area of Minnesota.
“Chicago, America’s third largest city, was expected to be colder than parts of Antarctica.”
“A winter storm that began overnight and continued through the day Tuesday had the city snarled with vehicular collisions, transportation delays and non-stop snow removal.
“The storm allowed Ottawa to claim January 2019 as the snowiest on record with more than 97 centimetres, besting the January 1999 record…”
“Record rainfall in 2018 has had major impacts on cattle health in Kentucky and other parts of the country.
“Despite relatively mild temperatures this winter, submissions at the University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and telephone conversations with veterinarians and producers confirm cattle are losing body condition and some are dying of malnutrition.”
“Turbio Glacier is at the headwaters of Argentina’s Turbio River and flows into Lago Puelo… From 1986-2018 this glacier like many others nearby has retreated substantially leading to development of a new lake. Wilson et al. (2018) noted a substantial growth in the number of lakes in the Central and Patagonian Andes due to the ongoing rapid retreat.”
“Topping the list with the highest rainfall total in North Queensland is Whyanbeel Valley, about 40 kms north of Port Douglas, which recorded 766.2mm [more than 30 inches] of rain from January 23-29. Following close behind was the Daintree Village that recorded 646.5mm, contributing to a recording-breaking flood of the Daintree River for the first time in almost 120 years.
“Local Disaster Management Group chairman Councillor Terry James urged residents be prepared for more wet weather. He said the region could cop up to another 500mm of rain in the next week.”
“With no rain forecast for Thursday, Adelaide is facing its driest January in 62 years…
“It has been 42 days since rain fell over the city, and the stage is set for a 1957 throwback, which was the last time no rainfall was recorded at West Tce in the month of January.”
““With the hot days and dry weather, these snakes are trying to hydrate and stay cool just like us,” Huntley wrote on his Facebook page…
“As a polar vortex hits the U.S. Midwest, the extreme opposite is happening in Australia. The heat wave has parched landscapes, triggered damaging wildfires, pushed demand on the power grid to the brink and toppled significant records, Capital Weather Gang’s Angela Fritz wrote last week.”
“The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed that Kangaroo Island did indeed break its all-time high temperature records last Thursday, January 24.
“Kingscote recorded 45.4 degrees, beating the previous record of 43.8 over the past 59 years of recording. The previous record was 43.8 recorded on Feb. 2, 2014 and Jan. 29, 2009.”
“From powerline fires to sold out ice creams, Rotorua is seeing it all as the second hottest January on record comes to a close. MetService meteorologist Ben Noll said the mean maximum temperate this January was 25.6C which was 3.2C above the long-term average for January.
“Rotorua was on track for its second warmest January on record, and a lot drier than normal with only 44mm of rainfall.”
“Last summer’s heatwave gave New Zealand its warmest summer and the warmest January on record. It covered an area of four million square kilometres (comparable to the Indian subcontinent), including the land, the eastern Tasman Sea and the Pacific east of New Zealand to the Chatham Islands. In our research, we looked at what happened and why, and found that the heatwave affected many sectors, leading to early grape harvests and killing farmed fish in parts of the country.”
“Climate change is likely to push Europe’s critically endangered eels even closer to extinction, a new study have revealed…
“Numbers of the once abundant fish have dropped by over 90 per cent since the early 1980s and now rising temperatures and acidic waters are posing yet another existential threat.”
“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.
“At least 14 people have been killed and seven others are missing following two landslides in Bolivia, according to the national police chief, Romulo Delgado.
“Three regions in the south [of Chile] are in a state of catastrophe, and reached record high temperatures. While to the north, intense rains in the cordilleran areas that left two dead in a historically dry area: the Atacama desert. 
“Unusually warm temperatures in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province, an area called the gateway to the Antarctic region, led officials to declare Tuesday a holiday and residents to the shores for recreation. 
“I have found in going through heaps of data back to 1879 for West Lafayette [Indiana] that when the temperature drops to -15 or less, it tends to stay quite cold for a while… 
“Temperatures soared into the upper 60s and low 70s Tuesday afternoon, bringing record highs to several towns [in Pennsylvania]. 
“Let’s hope you had a good umbrella. About 61 inches of rain fell on Massachusetts in 2018, the wettest year on record for the state, with 3 feet falling in the second half of the year. 
“The remote town of Barrow, Alaska, home to more than 4,000 people, touts picturesque views of the Arctic Ocean as well as an unparalleled connection to the Alaskan wild, but underneath its stunning beauty lies a major global crisis—permafrost coastal erosion—causing Barrow to gradually slip into the sea. 
“Schools are off in several districts of the southern province of Antalya [Turkey] on Feb. 6 as experts warned of a “great risk” for deadly tornadoes… 
“Townsville is underwater and large parts of Tasmania are on fire. As fires, floods and crazy weather become more frequent and severe, is Australia on its way to being uninsurable? 
“Australian ranchers who struggled to keep their cattle alive during a prolonged drought last year are now battling to save herds from record-breaking floods inundating the northeast of the country, officials said on Wednesday. 
“Giant kelp forests once dominated Tasmania’s east coast, but 95 per cent has been lost over the past few decades… 
“Growers are battling to keep crops alive on the Waimea Plains as the drought continues to bite in Tasman district, with no sign of a significant break in the prolonged dry spell. 
“Mother Nature can’t make up her mind in the Midwest and Northeast, where a number of locations have set record-high temperatures — just days after a polar blast brought a rash of record lows.
“Both Cleveland and Akron-Canton on Monday smashed records for high temperatures on this date, with readings reaching the 60s Monday afternoon – about 25 degrees above normal. 
“Winter-weary Torontonians are getting a much-needed reprieve following a week of bone-chilling temperatures. At 12 Con Monday afternoon, Toronto set a new record high temperature for Feb. 4, beating the previous record of 11 C set back in 1991. 
“The precipitations began around the 13:00 hours of Saturday 2 February , with strong winds in great part of the city. 
“Kiwis have been feeling the heat – but last month was only the third hottest January with 2018 still holding the record for the hottest month ever… Niwa Auckland climate scientist Nava Fedaeff said last January was exceptionally warm and broke all records… 
“As I write this, fire is 500 metres from the largest King Billy pine forest in the world on Mt Bobs [Tasmania], an ancient forest that dates back to the last Ice Age and has trees over 1,000 years old. 
“Many parts of Queensland have been declared disaster zones and thousands of residents evacuated due to a 1-in-100-year flood. 
“Surat [India], known as the “diamond city”, faces a triple flooding threat: from the Tapi and the Ukai dam upstream, from the Arabian Sea, and from the 19 miles of creeks that spread through the city. 
“Heavy rainfall in northwest Syria has caused severe flash flooding in northwest Syria affecting more than 80,000 people… People in this part of Syria already are struggling to survive in an already volatile environment. 
“Heavy rain and melting snow caused rivers to burst their banks and cause flooding across Bosnia, damaging houses and blocking roads. A bridge in the capital, Sarajevo, collapsed after the River Zeljeznica overflowed. Milder weather has been witnessed following last month’s sub-zero conditions. 
“On Svalbard, the envisaged rise in temperatures would thaw the frozen ground underpinning many buildings, roads and airports, cause more avalanches, “slushflows” and landslides, melt glaciers and threaten wildlife such as polar bears and seals that rely on sea ice to hunt.
“Two recently published peer-reviewed studies make clear that the planet’s oceans are continuing to set hottest-yet temperature records nearly every year and, secondly, that the rate of ocean warming is in virtual lockstep with what modern climate models have projected… 
“The north Queensland coast is in the midst of an extreme rainfall event that has forced the Ross River Dam near Townsville to open its gates, adding to the flooding already under way.
“Snakes and crocodiles have been spotted on residential roads in Australia after devastating floods hit the northern state of Queensland, following eight days of monsoon-level rain. 
“The drought situation in Namibia is fast becoming a disaster of epic proportions and in this regard the National Agriculture Union along with the Namibia Emerging Commercial Farmers Union asked for an urgent meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry to discuss critical interventions to assist farmers. 
“Scientists fear the future of the UAE’s reefs is in doubt after research found rising temperatures killed almost three quarters of Abu Dhabi’s coral. Record temperatures in the summer of 2017 left more than 90 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s coral cover bleached and struggling to survive, New York University Abu Dhabi found. 
“Spring-like temperatures arrived early in Croatia on Saturday and will hang around for part of Sunday as well. In the Croatian towns of Daruvar and Sisak, temperatures reached a high of 19 °C on Saturday afternoon, whilst in Maksimir in the capital Zagreb, it reached 17.1 °C. 
“Four people drowned when a tourist boat capsized in strong winds on the Montenegrin side of Lake Skadar on Sunday, while heavy rain and melting snow caused flooding across neighboring Bosnia, damaging houses and blocking roads. 
“St Mark’s square and alleyways in Venice’s historic centre were affected by flooding on Saturday, after heavy rains caused an unusually high tide. Tourists and residents were seen using wooden platforms to cross the square, while some braved the high flood levels, walking through the water in rubber boots. 
“The number of people killed in the powerful tornado that ripped through part of Havana last week has risen to six, authorities said on Sunday. 
“Following record-breaking chill across the Midwest and Northeast this past week, a surge of relatively balmy air is moving into the region. 
“The federal government has moved closer to imposing water delivery cuts along the drought-depleted Colorado River…
“The strongest Pacific storm of this winter season slammed California with heavy rain, significant snowfall, high winds and travel disruptions this past weekend… 
“Siberia has seen a deep freeze since early February, with severe sub-zero temperatures plunging lower than minus 50 degrees. 
“The ocean will not look the same color in the future. It won’t turn pink or anything radically different; the change will be more apparent through optic sensors than though the human eye. 
January was not just Australia’s hottest ever January but its hottest ever month:
“On the back of a month of record high temperatures across Western Australia, parts of Perth are sweltering in 40 degree heat this afternoon. 
“…where I live in drought-stricken Tasmania, the southern half of this island is, to put it bluntly, ablaze. 
“It’s official! The Gold Coast has seen its driest January on record. Just 4.4mm of rain fell at the Gold Coast Seaway this month across seven days. 
“A western Queensland town has suffered through 43 consecutive days where the maximum temperature exceeded 40 degrees… Residents in the outback town of Birdsville endured 10 consecutive days of 45 degrees and above until Monday, January 21 – exceeding previous six-day runs in the town in 2004 and 2013. 
“One hundred homes could be flooded in Townsville after the city’s mayor sanctioned the high-risk release of dam water to save the area from more widespread inundation following more than 1.1 metres of rain.
“The recent abandonment of thousands of flamingo chicks by their mothers has been blamed on climate change that has caused a severe drought in Kimberley in the Northern Cape [South Africa]. 
“Thunder, lightning and rain came to Los Angeles in a major way this week, and many people were not ready. Hundreds of lightning strikes were recorded around Los Angeles County… 
“The cold has shattered temperature records across the United States. Mason City, Iowa hit a record low of -28; nearby Albert Lea, Minnesota bottomed out at -29, with wind chills as low as the -50s. 
“The Okjökull glacier died in 2014. It wasn’t the first Icelandic glacier to pass away. Some estimates say that up to ten named bodies of ice have previously expired, along with countless more that were unnamed. But Okjökull was the biggest, so far. 
“Subsidence caused by an earthquake has created a snapshot of what life might be like for many more as sea levels continue to rise: 
“North America is in the grip of a polar vortex, bringing freezing weather from North Dakota to Ohio. The cold snap has prompted predictably icy comments from climate change deniers. But the global picture tells a different story.
“The deadly polar vortex wreaking havoc across the United States has left at least 12 people dead, including a college student who was found in the freezing cold on the campus of the University of Iowa…”
“The lowest temperature in the UK for seven years was recorded on Thursday as snowy and icy weather continued to hit Britain. 
“Canberra has sweltered through its hottest January on record, in a month that has also seen ferocious storms strike the capital along with impressive displays of nighttime lightning. 
“January 2019 is shaping up to be one of the driest on record for Toowoomba and the Darling Downs [SE Queensland, Australia]. 
“North Queensland residents are on high alert for more flooding with up to 500mm [20 inches] of rain predicted to fall – including 200mm in just six hours – as a monsoon trough continues to cause chaos across the already drenched region. 
“Northland [New Zealand] in January had its lowest recorded rainfall for the month since 1947, and the regional council is urging residents to cut back on water usage. 
“Hanmer Forest in north Canterbury has hit a record-breaking 38.4degC. 
“It’s official: The torrential rain that devastated parts of Kauai in April last year now holds the new national record for the most rainfall in a 24-hour period… The National Climate Extremes Committee validated the initial rain gauge data indicating that the area received 49.69 inches of rain in the 24-hour period between April 14 and April 15. 
“A gigantic cavity two-thirds the area of Manhattan and almost 1,000 feet (300 meters) tall has been found growing at the bottom of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica.
“Tens of millions of people in the United States are bracing for a potentially life-threatening deep arctic chill forecast to hit swaths of the country on Wednesday.
“”Expect frigid temperatures, bitterly cold and life-threatening wind chills, likely leading to widespread record lows and low maximum temperatures from the Upper Midwest to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley.”
“A winter storm that began overnight and continued through the day Tuesday had the city snarled with vehicular collisions, transportation delays and non-stop snow removal. 
“Record rainfall in 2018 has had major impacts on cattle health in Kentucky and other parts of the country. 
“Saudi Arabia says 12 people have died and more than 170 have been injured this week due to flooding from heavy rain in the northwest. 
“Topping the list with the highest rainfall total in North Queensland is Whyanbeel Valley, about 40 kms north of Port Douglas, which recorded 766.2mm [more than 30 inches] of rain from January 23-29. Following close behind was the Daintree Village that recorded 646.5mm, contributing to a recording-breaking flood of the Daintree River for the first time in almost 120 years.
“Hervey Range resident Sue Atkins has lived on the bank of the Black River for 14 years and said she had never seen so much rain.
“With no rain forecast for Thursday, Adelaide is facing its driest January in 62 years… 
““With the hot days and dry weather, these snakes are trying to hydrate and stay cool just like us,” Huntley wrote on his Facebook page…
“The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed that Kangaroo Island did indeed break its all-time high temperature records last Thursday, January 24. 
“From powerline fires to sold out ice creams, Rotorua is seeing it all as the second hottest January on record comes to a close. MetService meteorologist Ben Noll said the mean maximum temperate this January was 25.6C which was 3.2C above the long-term average for January. 
“Climate change is likely to push Europe’s critically endangered eels even closer to extinction, a new study have revealed… 