“Heavy snowfalls brought chaos to parts of Germany and Sweden on Friday, leaving roads blocked, trains halted and schools shut.
“The Red Cross helped drivers stuck on a motorway in the southern German state of Bavaria as schools and rail services were also hit. A nine-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree on Thursday.
“Northern Sweden was hit by a storm that made roads impassable.
“Austrian rescuers had to battle through chest-deep snow to reach a snowboarder…
“”Such quantities of snow above 800m altitude only happen once every 30 to 100 years,” said Alexander Radlherr from Austria’s Central Institution for Meteorology and Geodynamics.
“Swedish reports spoke of hurricane force winds in parts of the north. One area recorded winds of 49.7m per second (111mph) as Storm Jan ravaged Stekenjokk near the Norwegian border.
“Conditions on Friday were particularly treacherous in Bavaria, where the local broadcaster said snowfalls were paralysing public life.”
“Had enough of the freezing temperatures, rainy days and bouts of hail that have been hitting Malta in the last couple of weeks? Well, tough luck. Numerous weather forecasts are predicting “large amounts of hail” might fall in some places in Malta and Gozo this weekend, particularly tonight.”
“More than 11,000 children living in camps in northern Syria have been affected by torrential rains that have caused floods and washed away tents.
“Severe winter weather has caused misery in Idlib province, which is home to around 1.5 million Syrians who have been displaced from other parts of the country.”
“A shortage of rain and snow, a booming population and wasteful consumption have drained the Afghan capital’s water basin and sparked a race to the bottom as households and businesses bore deeper and deeper wells in search of the precious resource…
“Every year 80 million cubic metres (2.8 billion cubic feet) of water are extracted from Kabul’s aquifers – nearly double the natural recharge rate through precipitation.”
“The Langmale research group commented that hundreds of glacial lakes have formed in the Nepal Himalayas in recent decades due to the rapid glacial recession caused by the warming climate.
“An increase in glacial lakes could lead to increased frequency of glacial lake outburst floods.”
“Warmer temperatures, combined with less cloud cover and rain, contributed to the rise in Hong Kong’s hazardous ozone, says the Environmental Protection Department… “Clocking in at 52 micrograms per cubic metre, the ozone figure was slightly up on 2017’s record high of 51mcg.”
“Brollies and bathers are set to be in equal demand across Australia this weekend, with heatwaves and thunderstorms forecast to sweep the country. South Australia is bracing for six days of high temperatures, with the heatwave set to challenge the state’s electricity network. The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast very hot conditions across the state from today until at least next Wednesday, with maximums for Adelaide likely to peak in the low 40s…. Birdsville near the Northern Territory border is predicted to reach 46 degrees next week…”
“Bolivia’s National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology (Senamhi) declared a red alert for flood risk with agricultural impact due to overflows in rivers of Santa Cruz, Beni and the Cochabamba tropics.
“It is foreseen the possible affectation in crops of banana, banana, citrus, rice, beans, cereals, corn and cassava.”
“If it seems like it has been unusually wet lately, it’s not your imagination. The last four years is the wettest on record at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the official reporting station.
“A total of 190.68 inches fell between Jan. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2018, besting the previous 4-year record that ended in 1992 by almost eight inches.”
“The oceans are warming faster than previously estimated, setting a new temperature record in 2018 in a trend that is damaging marine life, scientists said on Thursday.”
“The year 2019 has already begun and scientists had warned since last year itself that 2019 may be the hottest year ever recorded. All thanks to two factors, one of them being an El Nino year along with global warming at its peak.”
Devastating floods and near-freezing temperatures bring death and more chaos to Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Bekaa Valley, Lebanon – “Mohamed Kassaf, 32, was in his tent with his four children when a storm hit. The river outside Hoor refugee camp overflowed. Rain and sewage water seeped through the tent’s tarpaulin sheets.
“The water went from tent to tent. We kept moving from room to room until I couldn’t take it anymore. I had the kids sent somewhere else,” recalls Kassaf. He spent the night in his bed soaked and waiting for the storm to pass.
“The water rose to nearly half a meter at many of the Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley this week. Aid workers in the area say that some 600 refugee families were forced to evacuate their homes, braving rain, sleet and strong winds to find shelter. They trudged through sewage water that burst through the drainage system to get to shelter.
“In the northern town of Minyeh, an 8-year-old Syrian girl died during the storm after she fell into a river and drowned.
“Rahma Mohammed Ali, 60, is visually impaired and lives in a tent on her own. When the storm that meteorologists called Norma struck on Monday, her neighbors helped her get out. “It was chaotic and completely humiliating. And the smell of the sewage was just deadly,” says Ali.”
“Most of the rain fell in the north, revitalizing the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) the main source of Israel’s drinking water. The level of the Kinneret on Wednesday was recorded at 214.24 meters, up 22cm (8.66 inches) in the past week.
“Israel is an arid country with about 70 percent of the average rain falling between November and March. Rainfall in December broke a 30-year record…”
“Record rainfall during the last few days has nearly doubled water levels in Cyprus dams, with some reservoirs reaching capacity and overflowing, while others had excess water diverted to the giant Kouris dam, near Limassol, music to the ears of farmers…
“Combined with the rapid drop in temperatures, due to a cold front moving eastward from Greece, a lot of the rain has become snow, with snowfall reported on Wednesday morning at 70cm on the island’s highest peak of Mt Olympus…”
“Austria could face 10 feet of snow in the next few days as fierce winter weather continues to strike central Europe this week. Parts of Austria have already had more snow this month than they usually do in the whole of January, with more snow expected before the weekend.
“The tourist season in the Alps has also been hit with more than 1,000 miles of ski slope and 450 ski lifts closed because of the weather.”
“Only the seventh recorded January tornado for Pennsylvania, an EF-1 bounced along Smith Road just north of New Lebanon around 11:30 Tuesday morning.
“”January is the month when you think of salt for your driveway and snow shovels, not clean up tree damage from a tornado. This was, again, a rare event,” said Fred McMullen, a NWS Pittsburgh meteorologist.
“Wind gusts of 95 mph tore apart trees along a nearly three-mile stretch.”
“Mover over Waseca. It appears Harmony, Minnesota set a brand new all-time state of Minnesota precipitation record in 2018. The National Weather Service cooperative weather observer in Harmony recorded an astounding 60.21″ of precipitation last year… That 60.21″ total smashes the previous all-time state record of 56.24″ set in Waseca just two years ago in 2016.”
“Floodwater is over the Bruce Highway south of Townsville [Australia] this morning, after more than 400mm of rain has fallen in parts of the Burdekin region.
“Strathbogie, south of Ayr, recorded 130mm [5.2 inches] in the three hours to 3am while Groper Creek copped 108mm. Strathbogie has had a total of 432mm [17 inches] in the 24 hours to 9am.”
“You’ve probably heard warnings about box jellyfish that swarm off Hawaii beaches from time to time, but there’s a different species of box jellyfish now in the waters off Australia with venom 100 times more powerful than a cobra.
“The heat wave that’s caused record temperatures in Australia has warmed the waters offshore as well, and jellyfish are responding. Last week, more than 13,000 people were stung by a record surge of bluebottles.”
“Australia had its third warmest year on record in 2018, a year marked by severe drought in parts of the country and a prolonged bushfire season, the Bureau of Meterology said, with the dry conditions expected to persist in coming months.
“Maximum temperatures across Australia were the second-warmest on record at 1.55 degrees C (2.8 degrees F) above average, just behind the hottest year in 2013.”
“Up to a million fish, including huge stocks of large freshwater cod, have died in Australia’s largest river system as a crippling drought and heatwave threaten ecological catastrophe.
“The mass death near the mining centre of Broken Hill, 700 miles west of Sydney, is the latest in a series of similar events along parts of the 1,800-mile Murray-Darling river network which experts said were unprecedented.”
“Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest, deepest lake, is feeling the temperature of human-induced climate change.
“Situated in southern Siberia, Baikal occupies one of the fastest warming regions on the planet and, as a result, the lake itself has got warmer, seasonal ice is present for a shorter period of time and has got thinner, and its waters have become stratified for longer periods. These changes have already had an impact on the lake’s microscopic life…”
“Planet Earth is alive. Deep beneath its skin, its life blood — rivers of molten iron — pulse around its core. And this mobile iron is what generates the magnetic field that causes auroras — and keeps us alive.
“But, according to the science journal Nature, something strange is going on deep down below.
“It’s causing the magnetic North Pole to ‘skitter’ away from Canada, towards Siberia.
““The magnetic pole is moving so quickly that it has forced the world’s geomagnetism experts into a rare move,” Nature reports.”
“It rained all day on Sunday in Port Blair in South Andaman Island, as the remnants of cyclone Pabuk spread over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
“Pabuk was already unusual in being the first cyclone to make landfall in Thailand in 30 years, but maybe more unusually, the first ever recorded in the Gulf of Thailand in January.
“January, February and March are climatologically dry months for most of Southeast Asia…
“It has been raining in Sittwe and Mandalay, both in Myanmar, since Monday afternoon. It started in the borderlands of Thailand, Laos and China early on Tuesday.
“It is so unusual that, for example, in the Chinese city of Mengla, on the border with both Myanmar and Laos, the 88mm of rain that has fallen so far make up more than the expected rainfall for the first six months of the year…
“Chiang Rai in northern Thailand should be reliably dry – this is the time for honeymooners to come to Thailand – and yet 38mm of rain fell on Tuesday.
“January’s average is 7.5mm. Chiang Mai, further south but still in northern Thailand lists a mere 4.2mm of rain in a usual January. On Tuesday, as the rare thunder rumbled, 35mm of rain poured down.
“Huay Xai, on the Lao side of the upper reaches of the Mekong, records one day with rain in an average January. Well that’s just happened with a surprising 63mm of thundery rain. Buon Neu, also in northern Laos has reported 92mm in 33 hours, and it’s still raining. The average for January is 15mm.
“Over these three days, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the forecast total rainfall is somewhere between 100mm and 200mm. That amount would set new records in most places and is likely to cause landslides.”
“Last year was Hong Kong’s third warmest year, with the hottest May since records began, the Observatory said on Tuesday.
“The Observatory said the city’s warm weather in 2018 was part of a global phenomenon, with the year on course to be the world’s fourth warmest recorded year.”
“A treacherous cyclone is set to wreak havoc across Queensland over the next few days, as it nears closer to the coast. Experts have warned Cyclone Penny could cause over one month’s worth of rain, 200mm, in a matter of days – with the average monthly rainfall for the Tropical North at just 168mm per month.”
“A major dust storm swept over parts of New South Wales on Tuesday afternoon, with hundreds of homes losing power…
“…as the incredible red dust clouds engulfed Riverina towns. Temora, Ariah Park and Barellan were hit by the huge clouds that turned the skies a deep red.”
“”The last two years, we’ve had very warm ocean temperatures around New Zealand …
“…because we are an island: as the seas go, we go.” Warm north-easterly winds blew over land into Wellington on Wednesday, bringing with it the high temperature.”
“Zimbabwe’s farmers are urging authorities to undertake cloud seeding to ease an early-season drought that’s hurting crops and destroying cattle pastures…
“In neighboring South Africa, farmers’ lobby group Grain SA warned late last month that the window for planting corn and soybeans in South Africa had passed. With hardly anything planted in western growing areas because of drought, the likelihood of the need for imports had increased, it said.”
“…dam levels in the region [Cape, South Africa] have continued to drop. Part of the reason for this drop has been the heatwaves experienced across the country during the holiday season.
“According to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), dam levels in November 2018 decreased by an alarming 4.8%, a direct result of the heatwave affecting most parts of the country, causing increased water evaporation and water consumption.”
“An impressive thunderstorm hit the provinces of Chaco and Corrientes [Argentina]. In addition to provoking floods in the main cities of the coast, it caused numerous falls of trees that caused destruction.
“The images came to TN and the People. From the municipality of Resistencia informed TN that in the capital of Chaco accumulated 140 millimeters of water… in a short period of time.”
” A winter storm packing heavy rain and snow on Tuesday turned streets in Lebanon into rivers of water and mud and paralyzed parts of the country. Among those affected were tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, many of whom live in tent settlements.”
“As the storm system that hit Israel at the beginning of the week enters its final stage, the cold temperatures plummeted Wednesday to this winter’s record low. Nearly a meter of snow has accumulated on Mt. Hermon and the water levels in the Sea of Galilee [which is handy as its level was at a record low] have risen by at least 19.5 cm over the past 48 hours, according to meteorological services.”
“Wildfires that scorched vast tracts of southern British Columbia and led to forced evacuations in the summer of 2017 were stoked by climate change and are likely to become more common as global temperatures edge up, federal scientists warn in a new study.
“Fires consumed a record 1.2 million hectares that year – an area seven to 11 times larger than would have been expected without human influences on the climate…”
“Grab a parasol and put on your short shorts, the heat wave is upon us!
“Okay, maybe not quite. But the heat in Iceland could reach temperatures over 20 degrees Celsius today and tomorrow according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.”
“Most people are familiar with the sudden appearance of bubbles in a bottle of soda after the lid is opened. The explanation for why that happens is that, with the lid on, the pressure inside the bottle keeps the carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the liquid soda. Open the lid, and the pressure falls. The fizziness is the carbon dioxide as it escapes from the now effervescent soda.
“Two papers published at the end of 2018 and a third, published this week, appear to draw a picture of the same phenomenon taking place on a much larger scale when it comes to methane trapped under ice sheets and large glaciers.”
“Global warming has heated the oceans by the equivalent of one atomic bomb explosion per second for the past 150 years, according to analysis of new research.
“More than 90% of the heat trapped by humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed by the seas, with just a few per cent heating the air, land and ice caps respectively. The vast amount of energy being added to the oceans drives sea-level rise and enables hurricanes and typhoons to become more intense.
“Much of the heat has been stored in the ocean depths but measurements here only began in recent decades and existing estimates of the total heat the oceans have absorbed stretch back only to about 1950. The new work extends that back to 1871. Scientists have said that understanding past changes in ocean heat was critical for predicting the future impact of climate change.”
“Last year was the fourth warmest on record, extending a scorching streak driven by a build-up of man-made greenhouse gases, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said yesterday…
“The last four years have seen the highest average temperatures since records began in the 19th century – 2016 was the hottest, boosted by an El Nino event that warmed the surface of the Pacific Ocean, and then 2017 and 2015.”
“Several people have been killed by extreme weather conditions in Europe, including a 44-year-old man in the German town of Wackersberg in Bavaria and a young woman on the Teisenberg in the Berchtesgaden region…
“While conditions have improved in some parts, meteorologists predict it’s just the calm before the next storm.”
“The ancient monuments in Athens got a rare dusting of snow on Tuesday as temperatures across Greece hit record lows, bringing transport to a standstill in some areas…
“In northern Greece… an all-time low of -23 degrees Celsius (-9 Fahrenheit) was recorded in the city of Florina…”
“2018 was the hottest year in Hungary since records began in 1901, the National Meteorological Service (OMSZ) announced on Monday.
“”Last year’s national average temperature was 11.99 degrees Celsius,” OMSZ reported. “This exceeds the normal value registered between 1981 and 2010 by 1.66 degrees Celsius.””
“The year of 2018 was the hottest on record in Italy since 1800, the National Research Council (CNR) said in a statement Monday… “Viewed within the context of the last 220 years of Italy’s climate history, this is the umpteenth confirmation of the fact that we are witnessing significant climate change in our country,” the CNR statement said.
“”Of the 30 hottest years since 1800 to date, 25 (of those hottest years) occurred after 1990.””
“A federal prison here in Florida’s rural Panhandle lost much of its roof and fence during Hurricane Michael in October, forcing hundreds of inmates to relocate to a facility in Yazoo City, Miss., more than 400 miles away.
“Since then, corrections officers have had to commute there to work, a seven-hour drive, for two-week stints. As of this week, thanks to the partial federal government shutdown, they will be doing it without pay — no paychecks and no reimbursement for gas, meals and laundry, expenses that can run hundreds of dollars per trip.”
“If you thought 2018 was rather warm, then you were right – it was New Zealand’s second warmest year on record. It is part of an overall warming trend, which a leading climate scientist says is a “wake-up call” for politicians to take action…
“January was New Zealand’s warmest month – ever, at 3.1C above average.”
“Residents in northern Queensland are being urged to prepare for wild weather and flooding, with ex-Tropical Cyclone Penny expected to dump hundreds of millimetres of rain across coastal communities north of Rockhampton over the next few days…
“Mr Banks said flooding was mostly likely to occur in parts of northern Queensland that had already experienced record-breaking rain last month, brought on by ex-Tropical Cyclone Owen.”
“Insurance claims for Sydney’s catastrophic December hail storm has reached $670 million and are still expected to rise. Over 80,000 claims had been lodged as of 4pm on Monday, the Insurance Council of Australia said.
“About 60,000 of the claims were related to severely damaged motor vehicles, some with completely smashed windshields.”
“Two more deaths of children have been reported in Central Province bringing the death toll to six from the current wild weather experienced in Papua New Guinea.
“The two children were reported to have drowned while playing in flood waters with friends.”
“A glacier is essentially suspended energy, suspended force. It is, in a sense, life frozen in time. But now they are themselves running out of time. The planet’s ecosystems, pushed far beyond their capacity to adapt to human-generated traumas and stresses, are in a state of freefall.
“Just as I watched hundreds of years of time compressed into glacial ice flash before my eyes in a matter of seconds as I fell into the crevasse, swathes of the natural world are, in the blink of a geological eye, falling into oblivion.”
“Temperatures are rising faster in the Arctic than any other place on Earth. If these changes continue, it is likely that the unique and diverse Arctic tundra will change into a more uniform vegetation dominated by shrubs…
“This whole ecosystem is in danger of change when the temperature rises. But climate changes does not only affect the temperature. The amounts of snow and rain also change and the permafrost becomes less stable.”
“Sections of the Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles have been shut down due to mudslides and flooding over the weekend, the California Department of Transportation said.
“Parts of the state’s iconic coastal highway will be closed until at least Monday as crews work to unearth a 40-foot-wide debris flow, according to NBC affiliate KNBC in Los Angeles.
“The department tweeted images from the city of Malibu showing cars and roads buried under rocky sludge.
“The slides occurred after heavy rains swept across stretches of Southern California on Saturday. The rains were especially dangerous after last year’s Woolsey Fire — a blaze that scarred nearly 100,00 acres, destroyed 1,600 structures and killed three people in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
“The National Weather Service said at an automated rain gauge in the Santa Monica Mountains — which rise just east of Southern California coastline — measured nearly three-quarters of an inch in an hour on Saturday night and nearly half an inch in 30 minutes.
““These are heavy rain rates!” the agency tweeted.”
“Last year marked the second-warmest year in nearly a century of record keeping for a western Alaska city.
“Alaska climate scientist Rick Thoman tells KYUK-AM that 2018 was the fifth year in a row that the average temperature in Bethel has been above freezing. He says Bethel has never had a “five-year period with the average temperature above freezing in the past century until now.””
“”When it’s fire season you can taste the smoke in the water. It’s a bit of a bummer, because you look forward to this crisp cold water, but it has this funky taste,” said Pelto, who has been monitoring glaciers, like the Conrad, south of Golden, B.C., for the last five years, as part of a research project at the University of Northern British Columbia…
“The surface of the glaciers was the dirtiest I’ve ever seen it,” Pelto said.”
“Loti Yates, the director of the Solomon Islands Disaster Management Office, is used to dealing with floods. But even he’s getting worried with what he has to deal with – and how often…
“For two weeks, much of the country has been drenched by heavy rain that’s caused flooding and landslides across the country. Two people have died and as many as 22,000 have had their homes or food crops destroyed, the office estimates.”
“It’s the largest of four recent fish kills in NSW after one in the same region at Christmas and two others on the Namoi and Lachlan rivers amid on-going drought and record heat. “Unfortunately, this won’t be the last,” Niall Blair, NSW’s fisheries minister, said. “There’s just nothing coming into the system…
“Rob McBride, whose Tolarno grazing station lies to the south of the main fish kill region, said 250,000 livestock and millions of native animals are at risk from the increasingly toxic water in the river.””
“The death toll from a storm that devastated the Philippines shortly after Christmas rose to 126, authorities said Sunday, adding landslides caused by torrential rain were the top cause.
“The storm hit central and eastern Philippine islands on December 29 and caused massive flooding and landslides. More than 100 people died in the mountainous Bicol region southeast of Manila, regional disaster officials said.”
“Tropical storm Pabuk has exited Nakhon Si Thammarat towards the Andaman Sea, leaving behind a trail of destruction. Numerous houses were damaged and also public infrastructure such as electric poles and roads among others.”
“Heavy snow caused travel chaos in parts of Germany and Austria as authorities closed roads and train routes because of avalanche danger and airports reported weather-related cancellations on Saturday…
“Significant snowfall is forecast for southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland in coming days.”
“Temperatures in Israel dip to record lows this winter as rain spreads from the north to the center of the country; Mount Hermon closes for visitors as the site is hit by snowstorms.”
“Right now, on the shores of Antarctica, there’s open water crashing against the largest ice shelf in the world. The annual ice-free season has begun at the Ross Ice Shelf — a month ahead of schedule.
“The frozen region of freshwater ice the size of France partially protects the West Antarctic Ice Sheet from collapsing into the sea. In recent years, the ice-free season in the Ross Sea has become a routine event — but it happened this year on New Year’s Day, the earliest time in history.”
“Near-record high temperatures will hit around the world in 2019, Met Office scientists have predicted.
“The average global temperature next year is expected to be around 1.1C above pre-industrial levels, bringing it close to the record-breaking heat seen in 2016 when temperatures peaked at 1.15C above the 1850-1900 period used as a baseline for global warming.
“The rise will be the result of human-driven climate change combined with modest warming from the El Nino weather phenomenon in the Pacific, which pushes up temperatures further, the scientists said.”
“Choking from smoke, sweltering in the heat or cursing early or late snow, Canadians could be forgiven for asking just what the heck happened to the weather in 2018.
“”It was almost a smorgasbord of everything that could go wrong,” said David Phillips, senior climate scientist for Environment Canada. “I don’t think there was anything missing.””
“In 2018, natural disasters touched nearly every part of the country. Hurricanes Michael and Florence hit the East Coast, killing at least 89 people and causing more than $21 billion in damage. Wildfires engulfed large parts of California, driving thousands of people out of their homes and killing at least 44. And in June, parts of North Texas got tennis ball-sized hail resulting in about $1 billion in damages. As of October, there’ve been 11 disasters nationwide that cost more than $1 billion this year, including the hail storm in Texas.”
“The human tide streaming to America’s southern border may only grow in coming years as the impacts of climate change push northward migration… weather patterns resulting from climate change are contributing to the movement of people north. The extreme weather includes a severe years-long drought along a large swath of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua known as the Dry Corridor.”
“Frequent droughts are changing the assortment of trees in Amazon basin ecosystems, with water-loving varieties slowly being replaced by more drought-resistant species. However, the forests are not adapting fast enough, and are failing to keep pace with the rate with which the basin’s climate is changing.”
“Extreme high temperatures in Paraguay, with thermometers reaching 40 degrees Celsius in some areas, and high humidity have led to record demand for electricity.”
“A joint assessment by two government agencies on Super Typhoon Yutu found that the storm brought gusts up to 200 miles per hour.
“The National Weather Service Forecast Office on Guam and the University of Guam Water and Environmental Research Institute, or WERI, conducted a wind assessment of the storm.”
“Battered Sydney residents are assessing the damage after multiple severe thunderstorms rolled across the city on Thursday evening, raining down cricket ball-sized hailstones that dented cars and smashed through windows across the city.
“The Insurance Council of Australia declared a “catastrophe” after the storm “with a large number of claims already lodged”.”
“Scorching weather has been predicted over the next four days in Queensland, with temperatures set to soar over 40 degrees Celsius in the state’s western interior.
“The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted north-west and central-west Queensland will see temperatures of up to 43C, while the south-west of the state will reach close to 50C.”
“Torrential rain has continued to pound much of the South [of Thailand], killing one man in a road accident and affecting more than 2,000 residents in Phatthalung. Up to 69 villages in five of the province’s districts are inundated…
“More downpours were forecast in many areas of the South.”
“Cilida has strengthened into an Severe Tropical Storm and will track dangerously close to the island of Mauritius in the southern Indian Ocean this weekend. Cilida is expected to become even more intense over the warm waters of the southwestern Indian Ocean as it churns east of northern Madagascar late this week.
“”By the start of the weekend, Cilida can be an intense tropical cyclone (the equivalent of a Category 3 major hurricane in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific oceans),” said AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys.”
“Between 2015 and 2017 South Africa’s South Western Cape region experienced three of its lowest rainfall years on record. This led to the progressive depletion of water supply reservoirs and by the summer of 2017/18 there was a real danger that – without drastic reductions in water use – the region, and especially the city of Cape Town, would run out of water… the risk of drought has increased substantially because of global warming. Our best estimate is that the risk of a drought of this size has increased by a factor of just over three.”
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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.
“Heavy snowfalls brought chaos to parts of Germany and Sweden on Friday, leaving roads blocked, trains halted and schools shut.
“More than 11,000 children living in camps in northern Syria have been affected by torrential rains that have caused floods and washed away tents. 
“A shortage of rain and snow, a booming population and wasteful consumption have drained the Afghan capital’s water basin and sparked a race to the bottom as households and businesses bore deeper and deeper wells in search of the precious resource… 
“The Langmale research group commented that hundreds of glacial lakes have formed in the Nepal Himalayas in recent decades due to the rapid glacial recession caused by the warming climate. 
“Nine people have been confirmed dead and one missing following heavy floods in Papual New Guinea’s Central Province. 
“Bolivia’s National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology (Senamhi) declared a red alert for flood risk with agricultural impact due to overflows in rivers of Santa Cruz, Beni and the Cochabamba tropics. 
“The storm [NW Argentina] registered on Wednesday night and continued until early Thursday… 
“If it seems like it has been unusually wet lately, it’s not your imagination. The last four years is the wettest on record at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the official reporting station. 
“The year 2019 has already begun and scientists had warned since last year itself that 2019 may be the hottest year ever recorded. All thanks to two factors, one of them being an El Nino year along with global warming at its peak.”
Devastating floods and near-freezing temperatures bring death and more chaos to Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon.
“Most of the rain fell in the north, revitalizing the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) the main source of Israel’s drinking water. The level of the Kinneret on Wednesday was recorded at 214.24 meters, up 22cm (8.66 inches) in the past week. 
“Record rainfall during the last few days has nearly doubled water levels in Cyprus dams, with some reservoirs reaching capacity and overflowing, while others had excess water diverted to the giant Kouris dam, near Limassol, music to the ears of farmers… 
“Austria could face 10 feet of snow in the next few days as fierce winter weather continues to strike central Europe this week. Parts of Austria have already had more snow this month than they usually do in the whole of January, with more snow expected before the weekend. 
“Only the seventh recorded January tornado for Pennsylvania, an EF-1 bounced along Smith Road just north of New Lebanon around 11:30 Tuesday morning.
“Floodwater is over the Bruce Highway south of Townsville [Australia] this morning, after more than 400mm of rain has fallen in parts of the Burdekin region. 
“You’ve probably heard warnings about box jellyfish that swarm off Hawaii beaches from time to time, but there’s a different species of box jellyfish now in the waters off Australia with venom 100 times more powerful than a cobra. 
“Australia had its third warmest year on record in 2018, a year marked by severe drought in parts of the country and a prolonged bushfire season, the Bureau of Meterology said, with the dry conditions expected to persist in coming months. 
“Up to a million fish, including huge stocks of large freshwater cod, have died in Australia’s largest river system as a crippling drought and heatwave threaten ecological catastrophe. 
“Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest, deepest lake, is feeling the temperature of human-induced climate change. 
“Planet Earth is alive. Deep beneath its skin, its life blood — rivers of molten iron — pulse around its core. And this mobile iron is what generates the magnetic field that causes auroras — and keeps us alive.
“It rained all day on Sunday in Port Blair in South Andaman Island, as the remnants of cyclone Pabuk spread over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
“It is so unusual that, for example, in the Chinese city of Mengla, on the border with both Myanmar and Laos, the 88mm of rain that has fallen so far make up more than the expected rainfall for the first six months of the year…
“Last year was Hong Kong’s third warmest year, with the hottest May since records began, the Observatory said on Tuesday. 
“A major dust storm swept over parts of New South Wales on Tuesday afternoon, with hundreds of homes losing power…
“”The last two years, we’ve had very warm ocean temperatures around New Zealand … 
“Zimbabwe’s farmers are urging authorities to undertake cloud seeding to ease an early-season drought that’s hurting crops and destroying cattle pastures… 
“…dam levels in the region [Cape, South Africa] have continued to drop. Part of the reason for this drop has been the heatwaves experienced across the country during the holiday season. 
“An impressive thunderstorm hit the provinces of Chaco and Corrientes [Argentina]. In addition to provoking floods in the main cities of the coast, it caused numerous falls of trees that caused destruction. 
“A storm surge has inundated parts of northern Germany, including Hamburg’s world-renowned fish market. 
“Deadly winter weather blasted Europe for yet another day Tuesday… 
” A winter storm packing heavy rain and snow on Tuesday turned streets in Lebanon into rivers of water and mud and paralyzed parts of the country. Among those affected were tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, many of whom live in tent settlements.”
“Wildfires that scorched vast tracts of southern British Columbia and led to forced evacuations in the summer of 2017 were stoked by climate change and are likely to become more common as global temperatures edge up, federal scientists warn in a new study. 
“Grab a parasol and put on your short shorts, the heat wave is upon us! 
“Most people are familiar with the sudden appearance of bubbles in a bottle of soda after the lid is opened. The explanation for why that happens is that, with the lid on, the pressure inside the bottle keeps the carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the liquid soda. Open the lid, and the pressure falls. The fizziness is the carbon dioxide as it escapes from the now effervescent soda.
“Global warming has heated the oceans by the equivalent of one atomic bomb explosion per second for the past 150 years, according to analysis of new research.
“Last year was the fourth warmest on record, extending a scorching streak driven by a build-up of man-made greenhouse gases, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said yesterday… 
“The ancient monuments in Athens got a rare dusting of snow on Tuesday as temperatures across Greece hit record lows, bringing transport to a standstill in some areas… 
“2018 was the hottest year in Hungary since records began in 1901, the National Meteorological Service (OMSZ) announced on Monday. 
“The year of 2018 was the hottest on record in Italy since 1800, the National Research Council (CNR) said in a statement Monday… “Viewed within the context of the last 220 years of Italy’s climate history, this is the umpteenth confirmation of the fact that we are witnessing significant climate change in our country,” the CNR statement said. 
“Record rainfall helped tick up levels of two widespread pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in 2018… 
“A federal prison here in Florida’s rural Panhandle lost much of its roof and fence during Hurricane Michael in October, forcing hundreds of inmates to relocate to a facility in Yazoo City, Miss., more than 400 miles away.
“The northwest of the province of Santa Fe [Argentina] is suffering one of the worst floods in its history. 
“If you thought 2018 was rather warm, then you were right – it was New Zealand’s second warmest year on record. It is part of an overall warming trend, which a leading climate scientist says is a “wake-up call” for politicians to take action… 
“Residents in northern Queensland are being urged to prepare for wild weather and flooding, with ex-Tropical Cyclone Penny expected to dump hundreds of millimetres of rain across coastal communities north of Rockhampton over the next few days… 
“Insurance claims for Sydney’s catastrophic December hail storm has reached $670 million and are still expected to rise. Over 80,000 claims had been lodged as of 4pm on Monday, the Insurance Council of Australia said. 
“A glacier is essentially suspended energy, suspended force. It is, in a sense, life frozen in time. But now they are themselves running out of time. The planet’s ecosystems, pushed far beyond their capacity to adapt to human-generated traumas and stresses, are in a state of freefall. 
“Temperatures are rising faster in the Arctic than any other place on Earth. If these changes continue, it is likely that the unique and diverse Arctic tundra will change into a more uniform vegetation dominated by shrubs… 
“Sections of the Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles have been shut down due to mudslides and flooding over the weekend, the California Department of Transportation said.
“Last year marked the second-warmest year in nearly a century of record keeping for a western Alaska city. 
“”When it’s fire season you can taste the smoke in the water. It’s a bit of a bummer, because you look forward to this crisp cold water, but it has this funky taste,” said Pelto, who has been monitoring glaciers, like the Conrad, south of Golden, B.C., for the last five years, as part of a research project at the University of Northern British Columbia… 
“Loti Yates, the director of the Solomon Islands Disaster Management Office, is used to dealing with floods. But even he’s getting worried with what he has to deal with – and how often… 
“It’s the largest of four recent fish kills in NSW after one in the same region at Christmas and two others on the Namoi and Lachlan rivers amid on-going drought and record heat. “Unfortunately, this won’t be the last,” Niall Blair, NSW’s fisheries minister, said. “There’s just nothing coming into the system… 
“The death toll from a storm that devastated the Philippines shortly after Christmas rose to 126, authorities said Sunday, adding landslides caused by torrential rain were the top cause. 
“Tropical storm Pabuk has exited Nakhon Si Thammarat towards the Andaman Sea, leaving behind a trail of destruction. Numerous houses were damaged and also public infrastructure such as electric poles and roads among others.” 
“The Czech capital Prague has experienced its hottest year since records started in 1775, the weather institute said… 
“Heavy snow caused travel chaos in parts of Germany and Austria as authorities closed roads and train routes because of avalanche danger and airports reported weather-related cancellations on Saturday… 
“Near-record high temperatures will hit around the world in 2019, Met Office scientists have predicted.
“Choking from smoke, sweltering in the heat or cursing early or late snow, Canadians could be forgiven for asking just what the heck happened to the weather in 2018. 
“The human tide streaming to America’s southern border may only grow in coming years as the impacts of climate change push northward migration… weather patterns resulting from climate change are contributing to the movement of people north. The extreme weather includes a severe years-long drought along a large swath of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua known as the Dry Corridor.”
“Frequent droughts are changing the assortment of trees in Amazon basin ecosystems, with water-loving varieties slowly being replaced by more drought-resistant species. However, the forests are not adapting fast enough, and are failing to keep pace with the rate with which the basin’s climate is changing.”
“A joint assessment by two government agencies on Super Typhoon Yutu found that the storm brought gusts up to 200 miles per hour. 
“Battered Sydney residents are assessing the damage after multiple severe thunderstorms rolled across the city on Thursday evening, raining down cricket ball-sized hailstones that dented cars and smashed through windows across the city. 
“Scorching weather has been predicted over the next four days in Queensland, with temperatures set to soar over 40 degrees Celsius in the state’s western interior. 
“Torrential rain has continued to pound much of the South [of Thailand], killing one man in a road accident and affecting more than 2,000 residents in Phatthalung. Up to 69 villages in five of the province’s districts are inundated… 
“Cilida has strengthened into an Severe Tropical Storm and will track dangerously close to the island of Mauritius in the southern Indian Ocean this weekend. Cilida is expected to become even more intense over the warm waters of the southwestern Indian Ocean as it churns east of northern Madagascar late this week.
“Between 2015 and 2017 South Africa’s South Western Cape region experienced three of its lowest rainfall years on record. This led to the progressive depletion of water supply reservoirs and by the summer of 2017/18 there was a real danger that – without drastic reductions in water use – the region, and especially the city of Cape Town, would run out of water… the risk of drought has increased substantially because of global warming. Our best estimate is that the risk of a drought of this size has increased by a factor of just over three.”