Climate 19 Dec 2018 Wettest Ever Year for 8 US States
“For many in the eastern half of the United States, rain boots, rain jackets and umbrellas have been in regular wardrobe rotation this year.
“Places like Washington, DC, have seen the most rain they have ever seen in a calendar year.
“In fact, 78 cities across the United States are on track to have their wettest years on record. At least 16 of those have already broken their yearly records, according to data from NOAA Regional Climate Centers…
“Much of the Mid-Atlantic has observed 20 inches above what they get in an average year.
“Some places, like Wilmington, North Carolina, have seen more than 40 inches above the yearly average. Not only has Wilmington shattered its previous yearly record of 83.65 inches, set back in 1877, but it also surpassed 100 inches of rain in a single year.
“That’s about the same height as a standard deep end in a backyard swimming pool.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/18/us/record-yearly-rainfall-washington-wilmington-wxc/index.html
“What we have brewing is a very anomalous setup. A disturbance will once again dive DEEP into the south, setting up a strong meridional flow. This means that we’ve got a formidable S-N flow which will be capable of sending lots of tropical air northward into New England. One measure of how much water vapor is in the column of air above you is ‘precipitable water’ or PWAT for short. On Friday, we’ll be running about 400% of normal and near all-time marks for December in the Boston area.
“That air will be juicy!”
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/12/18/tropical-rain-record-warmth-visit-for-one-last-time-in-2018/
“Climate scientists are warning that a polar vortex disruption could inflict one of the harshest winters for years as it sweeps the US East coast later this month. Judah Cohen, a climate researcher at Atmospheric and Environmental Research that a polar vortex disruption, which could hit by the end of December or start of January, would be the “single most important determinant of weather this winter”.”
“Expect more storms with heavy rain, heavy mountain snow and rough seas to lash the West Coast of the United States into Christmas Day.
“The main focus of the storms has been and will continue to be the Northwest into this weekend.
“The storm train over the northern Pacific has seas greatly agitated.”
“The president of the Federation of Neighborhood Councils (Fejuve), Samuel Mendizábal, today asked the Mayor’s Office to declare the municipality of Oruro [Bolivia] in a state of emergency due to the floods that are registered in many neighborhoods of that city, as a result of the rains of the last two days.”
One to keep an eye on: “A low pressure area off the Pacific Ocean is unlikely to intensify into a storm less than a week ahead of Christmas, the state weather bureau said Wednesday. The weather disturbance, spotted 1,000 kilometers east of Mindanao, may enter the Philippine area of responsibility in the next 24 hours, said PAGASA weather forecaster Lorie Dela Cruz.”
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/19/18/lpa-off-mindanao-unlikely-to-become-storm-before-christmas
“Parts of Sydney still mopping up from last week’s intense storm activity have been battered again, as severe thunderstorms hit the Sydney basin on Wednesday night, set to return on Thursday.
“Large storm cells tracking over the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Sydney’s northern and western suburbs brought hailstones, strong wind gusts and heavy rain.”
“Walgett literally means “the meeting of the two waters” — the Namoi and Barwon rivers. But neither is providing drinking water to this town in north-west New South Wales.
“”It looks bloody shocking to see our rivers like this. But what can we do if we’ve got no rain?” Lewis Beale, a Kamilaroi elder, said… he dam is currently at 0.3 per cent capacity and has had to be shut down.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-19/walgett-has-two-rivers-but-no-water-left-to-drink/10558428
“An extreme heatwave in far north Queensland last month is estimated to have killed more than 23,000 spectacled flying foxes, equating to almost one third of the species in Australia.
“The deaths were from colonies in the Cairns area where the mercury soared above 42 degrees Celsius two days in a row, breaking the city’s previous record temperature for November by five degrees.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-19/heat-wipes-out-one-third-of-flying-fox-species/10632940
“An intense heatwave, which saw temperatures soar to above 40 degrees Celsius in the northeastern parts of KZN [South Africa] on Tuesday, has ended with severe thunderstorms across the province. East Coasters and holidaymakers alike had to pack away their cooler boxes and find shelter following a thunderstorm warning which was issued by the South African Weather Service on Tuesday afternoon.”
“From freak dust storms to the once-in-a-century Kerala floods, Indian states were battered by extreme weather throughout 2018. Weather events claimed the lives of hundreds of people, besides causing millions of dollars worth of damage to houses, roads, and other infrastructure.
“But what’s worse is that researchers suggest they could become the new normal, a sign of how the dark side of climate change is already here.”
https://qz.com/india/1499410/kerala-floods-to-cyclone-phethai-india-saw-bad-weather-in-2018/
“One of the world’s coldest inhabited cities, Yakutsk, the capital of Russia’s Sakha Republic is warming up, damaging the city’s settlements which were built on permafrost that currently face the risk of melting, experts say…
“”As a result of global warming we are witnessing the degradation and the destruction of our permafrost,” regional lawmaker Vladimir Prokopyev told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.”
“According to research unveiled last week, mega-droughts may no longer be history.
“On Thursday, a team of climate scientists argued that the American West may currently be experiencing its first mega-drought in more than 500 years. A record-breaking period of aridity set in around the year 2000 and continues to this day, they said.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/us-southwest-already-mega-drought/578248/
“The rapidly warming Arctic is no stranger to loss. Climate change is gradually claiming some of its most iconic features, from melting glaciers in Greenland to shrinking sea ice in the ocean. But some casualties may be more surprising than others. Research suggests that small lakes and ponds across the Arctic tundra are also steadily disappearing. Hundreds, in fact, have vanished from the landscape in the last few decades alone.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/arctic-lakes-are-vanishing-by-the-hundreds/
“If it holds up, the finding would confirm that “the West Antarctic Ice Sheet might not need a huge nudge to budge,” says Jeremy Shakun, a paleoclimatologist at Boston College. That, in turn, suggests “the big uptick in mass loss observed there in the past decade or two is perhaps the start of that process rather than a short-term blip.” If so, the world may need to prepare for sea level to rise farther and faster than expected…”
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“Climate change could have devastating effects on vulnerable residents in the Andes mountains and the Tibetan plateau, according to researchers at The Ohio State University who have been studying glaciers in those areas for decades.
“A new analysis of over 70 years’ worth of shorebird population data suggests that climate change has altered the migratory birds’ Arctic safe haven to such a degree that it is now helping drive rapid declines in their numbers.”
“A giant two metre long Atlantic bluefin tuna has been found washed up on a beach in the far north of Scotland… 
“According to the forecasts of Aemet, the storm could leave today in the Coruña coast [Galicia] up to 40 liters per square meter in twelve hours. 
“Drought killed around a million trees in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia last summer, putting pressure on Christmas tree farmers… 
…temperatures north of the Alps in the current year were 2.5 degrees Celsius (36.5 degrees Fahrenheit) above the average of the years 1961 to 1990. Except for February and March, every month of the year was hotter in regions north of the Alps than normal. 2018 is the fourth time over the past decade that new records were set… The current year was also marked by long periods without rain but also a series of violent storms.”
“For several seasons now, the entire southern part of Madagascar has been caught up in a drought that has made water increasingly scarce, wrecking even efforts to grow rice — the staple food. “Today, 1.2 million people are food insecure,” said Maman Bashir Yacouba, head of the World Food Programme in Madagascar.
“The farmers in the district suffered a huge loss as the cyclone Phethai inundated standing crops, paddy, chilli, cotton, maize, pulses and horticulture crops in thousands of acres in Guntur. 
“Floods have ravaged three southern provinces [of Thailand] over the past few days, leaving behind widespread damage and one person missing… 
“The National Meteorological Service [of Argentina] had warned of strong storms with heavy rains but during the early morning a warning was added by strong winds that affected 10 provinces . 
“Accordingly to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate change will lead to tropical cyclones with higher rainfall, greater intensity, and greater proportion of high intensity (Category 4-5) storms. These changes are largely caused by warming ocean temperatures, which drive cyclonic storm activity. But sea level rise also increases the damage caused by the storms by exacerbating the effects of storm surge, where waves generated by high winds inundate coastal areas.”
“Civil society groups have pledged growing international protests to drive rapid action on global warming after the UN climate summit in Poland.”
“The tiny hamlet of Halifax in North Queensland received the highest daily rainfall ever recorded in Australia in December as ex-tropical cyclone Owen crossed the region on Saturday.
“More than 30,000 Sydney homes remained without power on Sunday after a “devastating” storm ripped through the city a day earlier. Hail and heavy rains brought trees crashing to the ground, downed power lines and caused extensive damage to homes and electricity networks, with suburbs in the city’s north-west the hardest hit.”
“Holidaymakers have been evacuated from a resort in South Africa after huge storms flooded a hotel complex with dirty running water. Ceilings came crashing down and hotel rooms were swamped at the Sun City resort and casino complex near Pretoria last week. The restaurants and entertainment areas were also severely damaged by flash flooding, meaning guests have been asked to pack their bags and go home.”
“Cyclone Phethai made landfall at Katrenikona in East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh at around 12:25 pm on Monday, as per Real-Time Governance Society, Andhra Pradesh. Heavy rains lashed Andhra Pradesh on Monday, hours ahead of Cyclone Phethai making landfall across its coast later in the afternoon.”
“Temperatures climbed to near 50 degrees in northern Minnesota on Saturday, with several communities setting record highs for the date. 
“Friday night’s rainfall in Washington, D.C., has elevated 2018 to the wettest year on record for the nation’s capital, and the rain is expected to continue throughout the weekend… Washington is not alone in experiencing heavy rainfall this year. Dozens of other locations have reported record-breaking precipitation, including the cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Wilmington, North Carolina. The rainfall also caused devastating floods in Ellicott City and Frederick, Maryland earlier this year.”
“Plankton and high sea temperatures resulted in 52.8% of salmon being lost at Wester Ross Fisheries’ Ardessie Farm in Little Loch Broom in August, figures from the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation have revealed… Managing director Gilpin Bradley described it as “soul destroying for all our farmers”. Bradley said: “This has been a catastrophic event for Wester Ross, in over 40 years of salmon farming. Our dedicated farmers have never had to manage such severe mortality in a very short period of time.”
“The festive dinner plate may offer a little less than usual this year as supermarkets stock their shelves with Brussels sprouts closer to the size of a pea. The tiny vegetable, which is already being sold in supermarkets such as Waitrose, measure about 15mm compared to their usual size of up to 40mm. As demand for the green vegetable rises over the Christmas period, the unusual sprouts, which have come about to a lack of rain during the summer’s heatwave, may leave some buyers disappointed.”
“The swelteringly hot summer of 2018 has long since given way to the early chills of winter in Germany but the effects of the damaging drought that gripped the country from May to August are still being felt by the country’s farmers. 
“In 2017 alone, nearly 19 million new internal displacements were recorded in more than 130 countries worldwide, largely triggered by extreme weather events such as floods and tropical cyclones, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. 
“The world has been put on notice that its best efforts so far will fail to halt the devastation of climate change, as countries came to a partial agreement at UN talks that failed to match up to the challenges faced. 
Following on from an unprecedented heatwave and unprecedented bushfires: 
“A thunderstorm sweeping across Melbourne on Friday caused widespread flash-flooding prompting numerous calls for assistance. Sydneysiders were also dealing with traffic chaos as residents along the length of the New South Wales coast were being told to prepare for heavy rainfall, damaging winds and large hailstones… Dungong in the Hunter region received 40mm in just 30 minutes during the afternoon as heavy rains drenched much of NSW.”
“”We’re now at the tipping point — whether we start selling now [or] we don’t really know what we should do,” Jess Moody, a fourth generation grazier said. 
“With 46.6mm rainfall recorded up to 8.30am on Friday, Hyderabad broke a 100-year-old record of highest rainfall received during 24 hours for December.”
“The consequences for the Middle East were spelled out in one of the 6,000 scientific papers referenced in the IPCC report, published originally in the journal Nature Climate Change in 2016. Under the “business-as-usual scenario of future greenhouse gas concentrations”, it concluded, the environment in and around the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea and the Arabian Sea would come to “exceed a threshold for human adaptability”.
“Lead author Jascha Lehmann told the Thomson Reuters Foundation the researchers had been “a little bit surprised by the very strong signal” on drying in Africa. 
“The rains that affect the center and north of the province of Buenos Aires caused flooded streets and other inconveniences in several cities. In Pehuajó, 100 mm fell in less than three hours.”
“Hurricane Maria inflicted “unprecedented” and “fundamental” changes to Puerto Rico’s ecosystem, according to new studies conducted by NASA scientists and other experts… 
“Alaska is warming at twice the rate of the global average. And as air and sea temperatures warm at record-breaking speeds, sea ice forms much more thinly and much later into the year. According to the Arctic Report Card, during the winter of 2017 and 2018 when ice historically accumulates, the Bering Sea lost a section of ice the size of Idaho. With no ice, Teller has no natural defense from increasingly intense storm surges…”
“The Arctic is in the throes of what sea-ice scientist Peter Wadhams called a “death spiral.” 
“As temperatures rise in the Arctic, permafrost, or frozen ground, is thawing. As it does, greenhouse gases trapped within it are being released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, leading to previously underestimated problems with ocean acidification and potential mercury poisoning.
“Another round of heavy rain, combined with melting snow, might trigger flash flooding and additional river flooding Friday in parts of the Southeast, adding another chapter to one of the wettest years on record for some… Over the first weekend of December, up to 11 inches of rain triggered major flooding in parts of North Florida and South Georgia. Flooding reached the doors of homes in Waycross, Georgia… The end result: most of the South and Southeast can’t absorb additional heavy rain.”
“No, we don’t need anymore rain, but it’s coming anyway. “For right now, from late Thursday night through Sunday morning, you’re looking at maybe around a little over an inch for the Asheville area,” said Sandy LaCorte, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. 
“On average, winters in the Albany area have been getting warmer over the last century (plus). 
“A day of torrential rain sparked localized flooding across Metro Vancouver on Tuesday, causing no end of headaches for drivers. Catherine Urquhart reports. 
“Nearly 20 years of drought conditions combined with increased usage in those states have shrunk reservoirs and generally depleted the water supply to the point where drastic—and, very likely, painful—collective action has become immediate and vital… 
“Extreme weather has cost insurers over $220 million this year – the second highest payout on record since 1969. The staggering cost comes with a warning that New Zealand needs to be better prepared to cope with the increasing frequency and intensity of storms. It’s one thing to hear about climate change, but it’s another thing to see it. In 2018 New Zealand has seen climate change in action – with tornados, cyclones, heavy rain and gale force winds pummelling all corners of the country.”
“A severe cyclone expected to hit Queensland on Friday could also spark flooding and landslides in other parts of the state. Queensland is still recovering from its recent bushfire crisis but is once again on emergency footing as Cyclone Owen builds in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The category three storm is expected to grow into a destructive category four before it crosses the Queensland coast on Friday.”
“Seventeen people have been rescued by helicopter and 100 people are stranded in their cars on a flooded Hume Highway in northeast Victoria. 
“Gauteng residents must brace for yet another scorching day on Thursday as temperatures could reach 34°C in Johannesburg, 35°C in Vereeniging, while Pretoria could reach a maximum of 37°C, the South African Weather Service said. 
“Torrential rain brought flooding and damaged several bridges in Padang Pariaman Regency in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province on Monday, December 10, Antara news agency reported.
“Tamil Nadu is set to hit by another cyclonic storm, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned. This would be the second storm to hit the southern state of India within a period of 30 days. 
“The United Nations formally recognized climate migration for the first time this week and laid out a plan to manage the impending crisis. 
“Snowy mountain winters are being “squeezed” by climate change, according to scientists in California. 
“Heavy rainfall events, with severe flooding, are occurring more often in the central and Eastern United States, Northern Europe and northern Asia. 
“Mental-health researchers around the world are taking notice of what people feel when the world they’ve always known changes gradually or suddenly from climate change. 
“Persistent warming in the Arctic is pushing the region into “uncharted territory” and increasingly affecting the continental United States, scientists said Tuesday.
“NOAA has released its annual report card on the Arctic, highlighting that the region experienced the second-warmest air temperatures ever recorded [in 2018]; the second-lowest overall sea-ice coverage; the lowest recorded winter ice in the Bering Sea…
“…the populations of reindeer, a.k.a. caribou, near the North Pole have been declining dramatically in recent years. Since the mid-1990s, the size of reindeer and caribou herds has declined by 56 percent. 
“Regional temperatures are a big deal because Y-K Delta residents can only travel to other villages by water or by plane. In the past the river usually froze thick enough before December to allow for an ice road, but that hasn’t been the case for the last couple of years. 2017 was the warmest December on record for Alaska, and this year is still not cold enough to for thick ice to build up on the river. Bethel has substantial weather data from the airport dating back to the 1920s.”
“Precipitation was just 44 percent of average July through October in Ketchikan. Average precipitation in that time is 49.39 inches, but Ketchikan fell well short of that mark with 22.08 inches. Southeast Alaska was also classified as abnormally dry or moderate drought in much of the first half of 2018, so the dryness has even longer-term roots. The drought had major impacts in late-September, according to a drought monitor report.”
“Hannele Arvonen, the owner of one of Sweden’s largest lumber yards, is spending the winter months planning for a new and unexpected threat to her business: regular wildfires raging just south of the Arctic Circle. Her business, Setra Group AB, had a tense summer as firefighters fought back fires raging through Sweden’s densely-forested Gaevleborg region during a drought that lasted months. Workers there are still painstakingly trying to recover sellable wood from the charred remains of tree stumps.”
“Richard Oswald did not need the latest US government report on the creeping toll of climate change to tell him that farming in the Midwest is facing a grim future, and very likely changing forever. For Oswald, the moment of realisation came in 2011…”
“Ge Chili,director of the Russian-Chinese Strategic Investment Foundation…
“Providing water for drinking, irrigation and power, glaciers in the world’s highest mountains are a lifeline for more than a billion people. 
“The death toll from flooding in central Vietnam has risen to 14, state media reports say… 
“Japan on Wednesday selected the Chinese character for “disaster” as its “defining symbol” for 2018, a year that saw the country hit by deadly floods, earthquakes and storms. 
“A tropical cyclone will hit Queensland this weekend, and rain and flooding will affect New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania as extreme weather sweeps over nearly all of eastern Australia. 
“Antarctic fauna could be in danger due to pathogens humans spread in the southern ocean, according to a study… The new study, which detected bacteria from humans in the genus Salmonella and Campylobacter in Antarctic and subantarctic marine birds, reveals the fragility of polar ecosystems and warns about the risk of massive deaths and extinctions of local fauna populations due to pathogens.”
“One of the unequivocal signs of climate change is actually the occurrence of heat waves that extend over longer than usual periods of time. The intense heat episodes observed over northwest Europe this past summer was a result of heat accumulation during a two month period. A weak displaced jet stream had a lot to do with the heat pattern observed, and scientists have associated this extreme event directly with climate change.”