Climate 30 Oct 2018 unprecedented Yukon glacier shrinkage
“Scientists in Canada have warned that massive glaciers in the Yukon territory are shrinking even faster than would be expected from a warming climate – and bringing dramatic changes to the region…
“The rate of warming in the north is double that of the average global temperature increase, concluded the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in its annual Arctic Report Card, which called the warming “unprecedented”.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/canada-glaciers-yukon-shrinking
“Severe flooding in parts of Mexico DF: The heavy rain began to fall at approximately 18:00 hours and for almost an hour lashed the area, which in a matter of minutes flooded all the overpasses of Avenida Insurgentes, which caused the vehicles could not pass… the line of cars now reaches five kilometers on Insurgentes.”
“The population of Port-au-Prince, one of the colonies of New Guinea, in the Autonomous Region of the South Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, located 40 kilometers from the municipal seat, is alarmed due to the flooding caused by the flooding of the Chiquito River. for the rains that have fallen in the last hours.”
“A strong storm system will bring the potential for heavy rain, thunderstorms and flash flooding for the main Hawaiian islands starting Monday night through Wednesday, with a flash flood watch taking effect at 6 p.m. Monday and running through late Tuesday night.”
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2018/10/29/heavy-rain-flash-flooding-threaten-entire-state/
“Yutu, the 18th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, swept across the main island of Luzon on Tuesday morning with wind speeds of 140 km per hour (87 mph) and gusts of up to 230 kph (142 mph), and was expected to exit in the afternoon. The typhoon, named Rosita by Philippine authorities, comes just six weeks after super typhoon Mangkhut dumped massive rains on Luzon, triggering landslides that killed more than 70 people. Thousands of people were preemptively evacuated on Monday.”
“Canberra is set for a burst of record-setting hot weather, as temperatures push into the mid-30s in the first week of November…
“If the forecast holds, it will mark the hottest temperature recorded at this time of year since the bureau started taking observations at Canberra Airport in 2007.”
“The rainfall has deceived major parts of the western state of Maharashtra [India] this season.
“The return showers expected in September before closing out the monsoon never arrived. “My soyabean crop dried up,” says Khilche.
“Gale force winds were the order of the day along the Port Elizabeth coast [South Africa] on Tuesday, but Monday yielded some record temperatures over the interior… “At the last three stations, the temperatures were a record for the month October.””
“The death toll in the Southern Cape fires has increased to eight. Two women and six children burnt to death in Farleigh outside Knysna. Some of the victims are related. Meanwhile, hundreds of people have been evacuated overnight after fires engulfed parts of George and Karatara in the southern Cape.”
https://www.enca.com/news/update-death-toll-southern-cape-fires-increases-8
“Ten people have been confirmed killed… by flood in Nigeria’s southern state of Anambra, according to a local government official on Monday. Arinze Awogu, head of the Ogbaru local government area of the state, told reporters that a three-year-old child was among those killed by the devastating flood in the area since last Friday. A total of 16 communities were submerged by the flood caused by heavy rains, he said.”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-10/30/c_137567392.htm
Strong winds and heavy rain have battered parts of Italy, causing nine deaths… Schools have been closed around the country and the authorities have warned against non-essential travel as the Civil Protection Agency issued multiple weather warnings… The water rose 160 centimeters (five feet, three inches) above sea level at high tide, meaning that at least 77% of the city was under water. If the tide levels are verified, the reading will be the highest since December 1979.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/30/europe/venice-flooding-intl/index.html
“Lithuania’s economy contracted for the first time in eight years on quarterly basis as a severe drought hurt the harvest.
“A heatwave that swept across Europe this summer damaged Lithuanian grain production, prompting authorities to declare a state of national disaster.”
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The unusually warm temperatures that bathed much of the United States for the first half of autumn had another effect aside from keeping us comfortable for a few extra weeks. The abnormal warmth kept the trees from changing colors, delaying the appearance of much-revered fall foliage for a few weeks and muting the colors that have shown up.”
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“In Lake Constance, a new island has emerged. In Berlin, a river is flowing backward. A large number of lakes and ponds are seeing dead fish along their banks. Barges are hardly being loaded so they don’t run aground.
“Apparently a low pressure system from the south will bring heavy rain followed by unseasonably warm air to Denmark on Tuesday, pushing temperatures up to 18 degrees in the south, and to 16 in Copenhagen. Should it exceed 19.1, it will set a new record for October 30 (recorded in 2005), and if the system hangs around, it will have the all-time November record of 18.5 (2 Nov 1968) in its sights.”
“Four people died overnight in a landslide due to a wave of adverse weather that swept Italy from north to south at the weekend, local media reported Sunday. 
““According to new information, 66 people were injured, six of them died, two are missing,” a spokesperson said, adding that nine people were sent to hospital.”
“The current flooding in some parts of [Nigeria] may lead to severe food shortages with attendant implications on the economy. Following the torrential rains and severe flooding in parts of the Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency recently declared a national disaster as flood ravaged many states including Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Edo, Kogi, Anambra, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, Taraba, Benue and Adamawa.”
“Authorities have started evacuating residents in parts of Luzon [Philippines] as typhoon Rosita churned towards the region on Monday, threatening to unleash possible floods, landslides and storm surges. 
“Australia’s north is continuing to endure a monstrous heatwave, with no relief in sight. Central Queensland registered 40C temperatures for the tenth consecutive day on Sunday, but the area will see extreme heat until Thursday. 
“Saipan International Airport reopened with limited service Sunday after Super Typhoon Yutu slammed the Northern Mariana Islands this week as a Category 5 storm.”
“”Did the water come strong? Yes, look, a meter. Did the water get into your houses? Yes it came to the top. Did the furniture get wet? Everything, everything is flooded. The chairs danced, “said Miguel Ángel Sánchez. 
“An intense storm of heavy rains and winds left this Saturday morning flooded streets in the Federal Capital and Greater Buenos Aires [Argentina], where the National Meteorological Service kept the warning alert for hail fall. 
“2018 is on track to be the wettest year on record in Louisville, according to the National Weather Service. 
“Florida authorities have linked six more deaths to Hurricane Michael, raising the state’s death toll to 35. The storm’s overall death toll now stands at 45, with 10 deaths in other states.”
“…heavy rain that hit the area of Portalegre [Portugal] had caused sudden floods. Several vehicles of the Baja Portalegre 500 race were practically submerged…”
“The bodies of 19 people — many of them schoolchildren — who were swept to their deaths by flash floods near Jordan’s Dead Sea area have been recovered.
“A four-year-old boy drowned in a flash flood caused by heavy rainfall in Israel’s south on Thursday… 
“Turkey’s state-run news agency says six migrants have drowned after being swept away by floodwaters as they tried to illegally cross into Turkey from Syria. Anadolu Agency said paramilitary police and rescuers recovered the bodies of six people Thursday near the border town of Yayladagi, in Hatay province, following severe flooding. The agency said the victims were Syrians.”
“Of all the problems faced by Qatar’s World Cup, rainfall was probably the very last issue tournament organizers in the desert state expected to deal with. 
“At least six people have been killed in Russia’s southwestern Krasnodar Krai region during flooding caused by heavy rain. 
“Thousands of gold and silver coins were discovered. The find was not only comprised of coins but also various weapons dating back to the 1600’s and 1700’s…. 
“With 155 deaths already confirmed since Ebola was declared in the country’s North Kivu region on August 1, fears of a cross-border epidemic are rising with new cases reported close to the Ugandan frontier. But local and international efforts to contain the spread of what is seen as the most dangerous Ebola outbreak in the country’s history have suffered repeated setbacks in conditions one Western aid worker described as “close to impossible”.”
“As well as helping scientists better understand the ice ages, the new findings also provide context to current CO2 rise and climate change. 
“Australians should brace for a dry, hot summer… The bureau’s climate outlook for November to January, released on Friday, says there is an 80% chance temperatures will be higher than average for most of the mainland. 
“The Northern Mariana Islands are just beginning to pick up the pieces after Super Typhoon Yutu made a direct hit on the islands early Thursday morning as a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 180 mph… 
“Two weeks before Yutu struck, Hurricane Michael became the fourth Atlantic Category 4 to make landfall in the United States since August 2017… Michael was the third-most-intense continental U.S. landfall by pressure and fourth-strongest by maximum sustained winds on record. It was also the most-intense Florida Panhandle landfall on record, the first Category 4 hurricane to do so in records dating to the mid-19th century.”
“Oregon is known by many as a wet place, with persistent rain and forests enveloped in fog. This year is different… 
“It’s officially the wettest October in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since records have been kept, and more rain could be on the horizon. The National Weather Service in Fort Worth reported Thursday morning that 14.51 inches of rain had fallen at DFW Aiport through Wednesday, beating the previous record of 14.18 inches set in 1981. That comes in the midst of the wettest fall on record in North Texas.”
“Climate change is coming like a freight train, or a rising tide. And our food, so dependent on rain and suitable temperatures, sits right in its path… 
“In April 2017, scientists from Climate Central—an international association of scientists and journalists reporting and researching climate change—released a stunning chart depicting a month by month temperature rise since 1880. 
“Footage from the Northern Mariana Islands shows roofs ripped off houses, flooding and what looks like a shipping container flung on top of a row of cars. NASA estimates that Super Typhoon Yutu struck the U.S. territory with wind gusts up to 219 miles per hour…
“Emergency workers struggled to reach beach towns left incommunicado by a blow from Hurricane Willa on Wednesday, and the storm continued to force evacuations due to fear of flooding even as it dissipated over northern Mexico.”
“It’s as if Hurricane Maria had happened again.”
“Venezuela is being ravaged by heavy rain and flooding which have led to landslides and the collapse of sewer systems in different parts of the country. The director of Venezuela’s Civil Protection — Randy Rodríguez — said Tuesday that 47 shelters have been enabled in the most affected states… The Venezuelan capital of Caracas has suffered substantial damage, as the city’s Guaire River has severely over flooded.”
“The Municipal Board of Asunción agreed in its ordinary session to declare the city in a state of integral emergency for 90 days as a result of the floods suffered in the Paraguayan capital in recent days.”
“In the early 2000s, Wendy Foden discovered one of the first examples of the impact of climate change on nature: the iconic, long-lived quiver trees of the Northern Cape and Namibia were dying off from regional warming and water constraints. 
“…in some inland areas [of Queensland], heat records that have stood for more than 120 years may about to be shattered… It comes after a tumultuous few weeks of weather in the state with flooding rains followed by heatwaves. On Wednesday, Toowoomba was on the receiving end of a short but intense hailstorm.”
“The same energy in the atmosphere which created the severe thunderstorms and tornadoes also fueled several separate water spouts over the Rhode Island and Massachusetts waters. 
“With pastureland scorched, feed costs have skyrocketed. The past decade of setbacks has shrunk Canadian herd to 30-year low. 
“Scotland is set to face a ‘white Halloween’ next week, with snow and Arctic winds expected to last until next month. Forecasters are warning Scots to prepare for the coldest Halloween in almost 100 years, as temperatures drop to -5C in remote spots, with potential to reach below -8C as snow covers Scottish hills. But the already freezing temperatures will be made to feel even colder as bitter Arctic winds and snow sweep in from Friday.”
“French president Emmanuel Macron has promised 80 million euros of aid to the inhabitants of the Aude region in France’s Languedoc-Roussillon, where 14 people have been reported killed and some early estimates suggest total damage to property could be up to 200 million euros… On Monday, president of the Aude Winegrowers Union (Syndicat des Vignerons de l’Aude) estimated that 40% to 50% of the region’s vineyards were affected by the floods.”
“From the Andes to the Alps, the Himalayas to the Antarctic, the overwhelming majority of the Earth’s glaciers are melting at a rate unprecedented – at least since records were first made. But the thaw is particularly intense in the Pyrenees where it is causing more of a wholesale disappearance than a mere retreat. Thirty-three of the 52 glaciers that were here in 1850 have gone, most of them after 1980.”
“The Russian city of Tuapsé, on the coast of the Black Sea, has been strongly affected by the intense floods that hit southwest Russia on Wednesday, so authorities have declared a state of emergency in the region, local media reported. It is detailed that many inhabitants had to be evacuated due to the increase in water level, which reached the height of the windshield of the vehicles.”
“A nightlong downpour has flooded parts of Mombasa city [Kenya], causing huge traffic snarl-ups. The heavy rains, which started on Wednesday night, have caused flooding and poor visibility. 
“The oceans near North America have been angry this year – “When all the hurricanes and tropical storms that have formed in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans this year are added together, the 2018 hurricane season is the most active season ever recorded, Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach announced Tuesday…
“Hurricane Willa has swept onto Mexico’s Pacific mainland with 120mph (195km/h) winds, hitting beach towns, fishing villages and farms after roaring over an offshore penal colony… Forecasters said the hurricane could bring six to 12 inches (15 to 30cm) of rain – with up to 18in (45cm) in some places – to parts of Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa states, with flash flooding and landslides possible in mountainous areas.”
“Important nesting grounds for threatened green sea turtles are now fully submerged after a direct hit by a powerful hurricane on one of Hawaii’s largest atolls earlier this month. About 96 per cent of Hawaiian green sea turtles use the atoll, and about half of them nest on East Island. East Island, the second-largest island of the French Frigate Shoals, approximately 800 kilometres north-west of Honolulu, is also a crucial pupping ground for endangered monk seals.”
“Super Typhoon Yutu is nearing a strike on parts of the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, potentially the strongest super typhoon of record to pass near the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota. The center of Yutu is now less than 100 miles southeast of the islands of Saipan and Tinian… Maximum sustained winds are now solidly Category 5 intensity, 165 mph, as of the latest advisory from the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center.”
“Ocean heat content (OHC) set a new record in the first half of 2018, with more warmth in the oceans than at any time since OHC records began in 1940… Moderate El Niño conditions are expected to develop during November, which will contribute to a slightly warmer finish to 2018. However, as El Niño’s warming impact on surface temperatures tends to lag by a few months this event will mostly affect 2019.”
“Farmers are culling animals and failing to cover the cost of production as grain prices skyrocket due to drought. South Australian dairy farmer Rick Gladigau said the price of grain to feed his cows had doubled over the past year. 
“The last place on Earth that’s home to wild tigers, rhinos, orangutans and elephants may lose these and countless other species to make way for a $3 billion hydropower project. That’s the warning from a new study looking at the potential impact of the plant on the Leuser Ecosystem in Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, an ecological hotspot and one of the world’s largest remaining expanses of pristine tropical rainforest.”
“The Cape Town weather forecast has been utterly brutal for the start of this week, and it is far from finished with the locals. Projections from Accuweather and Ventusky predict that the heat is set to go up a notch, for both the Mother City and Western Cape… 
“It’s a desperate situation in Beaufort West, as the Western Cape town faces a day zero scenario that the Mother City was able to avoid. 
“Since the middle of last week, intense rains have been hitting the extreme northwest of Argentina (NOA). 
“Frustration, flooded roads and buildings, city-wide gridlock, hours in stand-still traffic, and stranded at bus stops were some of the horror many persons experienced in the Corporate Area yesterday… “It was a nightmare. I’ve never seen anything like this. The entire city seems to be practically locked down,” one woman in downtown Kingston [Jamaica] declared, who had been stuck in traffic for more than three hours trying to get home.”
“Onlookers were amazed to see large hail across portions of Arizona on Tuesday. 
“It was the warmest year in 124 years of records in Colorado and the second driest, too. A new report from the Colorado Climate Center examined temperature and precipitation records for the 2017-2018 water year, which ended Sept. 30. “We live in a climate where we’re going to be limited for water. That will happen from time to time. But what set this year apart is the combination of heat and dryness,” says Russ Schumacher, the Colorado state climatologist.”
“Parts of the US have reported record numbers of West Nile virus infections, with experts warning that warming temperatures and flooding driven by climate change is heightening the risk of Americans contracting the debilitating disease. 
“The docks are eerily quiet at Cologne’s main port on the mighty River Rhine, with hundreds of containers piled up and awaiting their journey north on one of Europe’s busiest commercial arteries. 
“Video footage from southern Italy shows a bridge, transformed by recent heavy rain, take on the characteristics of a waterfall… It comes during a wave of extreme weather across the country where flooding has brought some areas to a total standstill… Videos posted on social media showed water pouring down the stairs of metro stations in Rome. Six stations were closed in the nation’s capital, with water reaching one-metre deep in some places.”
“Theresa May has drawn up a drastic plan for ensuring Britain has supplies if there’s a no-deal Brexit: Chartering ships to create a government-run flotilla.
“Patients should consider stockpiling their own drugs if it looks likely the UK will leave the EU with no deal, the pharmaceuticals industry has said, telling MPs that such a scenario could be “catastrophic” for medicine supplies and necessitate emergency powers.
“Britain has left it too late to prepare its borders for a no-deal Brexit, which would be a gift for organised criminals and chaotic for traders, the UK’s spending watchdog warns Theresa May today… And the problem will be made worse by the UK losing full access to EU security databases after Brexit, which police chiefs have already warned will weaken the fight against crime… Meanwhile, firms would be hit with delays for goods crossing the border while rogue operators would escape tax and regulatory checks, the report predicts.”
“The driving force in the government, Matteo Salvini—the bellicose interior minister, deputy prime minister, and head of the League party—came to power spoiling for a fight with Europe. His senior coalition partner (who comes across as junior), the Five Star Movement’s Luigi Di Maio, also got elected on promises of redefining Italy’s relationship to Europe. Together, they form a government that needs enemies in order to justify its existence. Europe, with its irritating sovereignty-straining rules and austerity measures, is an enemy.”
“Italian banks own huge amounts of the government’s $2.6 trillion of debt, and investors have punished the sector this year as the value of those bonds has dropped. 
“The total of corporate leveraged loans has hit $1.6 trillion globally, far exceeding the records set before the crisis of 2008. The loans ballooned after the Trump administration reversed a stricter Obama-era policy discouraging high leverage. Now leverage is increasing, while underlying covenant quality is decreasing.”
“Global stocks are falling precipitously once again, and banking stocks are leading the way. If this reminds you of 2008, it should, because that is precisely what we witnessed back then. Banking stocks collapsed as fear gripped the marketplace, and ultimately, many large global banks had to be bailed out either directly or indirectly by their national governments as they failed one after another.”