Prolonged drought causes Africa to slaughter elephants, zebras

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

Prolonged drought has driven southern African nations to slaughter iconic animals for food

Catastrophic drought has compelled desperate governments in southern Africa to resort to culling hundreds of iconic “safari” animals to feed their hungry people.
Persistent lack of rainfall has caused crop failure and livestock herd decline, resulting in 70 million people at daily risk of starvation. Namibia began slaughtering animals in late summer, ultimately culling 723. Zimbabwe also authorized the slaughter of 200 elephants. The elephants were taken from national parks where global warming is driving growing competition between humans and wildlife. As temperatures continue to rise, the region has seen steadily dwindling food and water resources.
Both Zimbabwe and Namibia have declared a national disasters. 
Although the animals are supposed to be killed humanely by professional hunters, there is plenty of opinion to go around. The overwhelming question is what this practice will lead to as millions are threatened with food scarcity. Authorities estimate that South African precipitation levels will fall by as much as 2% by the end of the century
Zimbabwe elephant slaughter to feed hungry population
Further south, the country of South Africa – the most developed nation on the continent – is struggling with an intractable water shortage. While the climate is one factor in this looming crisis, leaks and poor infrastructure maintenance are also to blame.

NO GOOD NEWS AS AUTUMN DISASTERS MULTIPLY

New Methane microbial feedback

neW methane feedback loop

warming releases more microbes

A disturbing new source of methane (CH4) appears to be creating a new feedback loop, adding to multiple existing sources of this dangerous gas.

Methane concentrations began to spike by 5 or 6 ppb per billion every year from 2007 onward. In 2020, the growth rate nearly doubled.

Simply put, the new methane emitters are the trillions of microbes found in wetlands and landfills. As the earth warms, they produce more methane.

Methane has also increased from oil and gas operations, cattle, landfills and marshes, and most recently (and most alarming) from thawing permafrost in the Arctic. 

CH4  is about 80 times more potent than CO2, although it breaks down faster. CO2 remains in the atmosphere for thousands of years.

Australia November heatwave

North Australia heat waves startiing early

ONE OF THE EARTHS HOTTEST PLACEs

It’s still Spring in Australia’s Northern Territories but temperatures are climbing well past 120F.  Heatwave warnings are in place for large parts of Queensland and the northern territory — with the northern half of the country expected to be one of the hottest places on the planet. 

 

Another Scary UN Climate Report

“The World Is Playing With fire” 

SECOND SCARY un REPORT

Another world changing report on the global climate disaster is being widely ignored because it’s no fun to read. The United Nations 2024 edition of UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report says our world has a “gargantuan task” ahead of it to avoid “unthinkable” consequences.

That’s why most people decide not to think about them.

Glaciers receding globally

global Glacier collapse photos

Christian Åslund

In 2002, Photographer Christian Åslund began documenting the stunning global retreat of glaciers in the past century. He has since returned to find the situation has deteriorated dramatically.

The comparison images are so shocking that when they were first published in 2002, people accused him of faking them. They said he had either doctored the new images or that he had visited in summer and the old pictures were taken in winter. People did not want to believe they were real.

“That has been going on since 2002 when it was first published. The pictures were criticised for being doctored with images or taken in the wrong season, but a glacier is not affected that much from a winter season to a summer season. It’s not like snow or ice where it melts away and comes back.”

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Greenhouse gas hitting new highs

mitigation IS A joke

Greenhouse gas levels continued climb to new records in 2023, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than than any time during human existence. Among the causes cited are wildfires, fossil fuel and other industrial emissions and a probable reduction in carbon absorption by forests.

Greenhouse gases include CO2, CH4, N2O.

All going up real fast.

 

 

Record rains produce Killer floods in Spain

mega Floods In SpaiN kill 250, wreck towns

“We were trapped like rats. Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to three meters”

Several dozen were killed in eastern Spain after flash floods smashed cars in village streets that had turned into swift moving torrents.
Onlookers described an onslaught of muddy water tossing cars and truck ahead of it. The state is describing the event as Spain’s worse natural disaster in memory. Scientists generally hesitate to attribute any single catastrophe to global warming for a number of reasons, but the science is hard to argue with.
“With every fraction of a degree of fossil fuel warming, the atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to heavier bursts of rainfall.” – Dr Friederike Otto, Imperial College, London.
“No doubt about it, these explosive downpours were intensified by climate change,” he said

Another Scary UN Climate Report

“The World Is Playing With fire” 

SECOND SCARY un REPORT

Another world changing report on the global climate disaster is being widely ignored because it’s no fun to read. The United Nations 2024 edition of UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report says our world has a “gargantuan task” ahead of it to avoid “unthinkable” consequences.

That’s why most people decide not to think about them.

Tree Species Going Extinct

1/3 of Tree Species Disappearing 

38% At risk

According to the first Global Tree Assessment, 38 percent of tree species are at risk of extinction.

The assessment, led by Botanical Gardens Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission Global Tree Specialist Group, is an initiative that looks at the conservation status assessments of all Earth’s tree species on the IUCN Red List.

“Today, we are releasing the global assessment of the world’s trees on the IUCN Red List, which shows that more than one in three tree species are threatened with extinction. 

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THWAITES GLACIER crash getting worse

losing 50 billlion tons

More bad news on the so called “Doomsday Glacier” as new research shows seawater moving beneath the ice shelf and eating it away from underneath. About the area of Florida, this massive ice form is already shedding 50 billion tons of ice each year, responsible for about 4% of global sea level rise. The water comes into direct contact with a larger amount of the glacier than previously thought.

 

Global warming is increasing toxic metals in the oceans

SEA LEVEL RISE RATE doubles in 10 years

NEW SATELLITE REPORT

The rate of sea level increase continues to climb, as indicated by new satellite measurements published in Nature. From 1993 until the end of 2023, global mean sea level has risen by about 4.3 in.

This represents an increase in yearly rate from ~2.1 mm/year to ~4.5 mm/year in 2023, more than double. This data is consistent with increases from IPCC, which mean a total of about 6.5 in. over the next three decades.  If this trajectory of sea level rise continues over the next three decades, sea levels will increase by an additional 169 mm globally, comparable to mid-range sea level projections from the IPCC AR6.

ADM Co2 plant leaking

CO2 sequestration is still bullshit 

another boondoggle

After two decades of blowing CO2 up our butts in the form of carbon sequestration mythology, the first actual commercial site in the US is reporting its second leak. Archer Daniels Midland’s heavily subsidized carbon dioxide sequestration well sits beneath Lake Decatur, this central Illinois’s primary source of drinking water. It has now reported its second leak.

The facility in central Illinois was the first permitted commercial carbon sequestration operation in the country, and is part of the fossil fuel multibillion dollar gold rush to steal more money pretending to fix the problem they created.

The leaks can lead to toxic metal contamination and  lower pH levels, making the water supply undrinkable.  

Fires burning in all South American countries

Amazon wildfire carnage worsens 

DROUGHT MAY BE ENDING

As rains finally end Brazil’s historic drought, the damage from wildfires shows and area the size of Switzerland destroyed.

“The data is exceptionally alarming, it’s a very abrupt surge,” Ane Alencar, science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute.

The surge in destruction comes a year before Belem will host the annual ccliamte conference joke known as  COP30. 

Deforestation in the Amazon usually begins with chainsaws. Wet, fallen trees are left lying on the ground until they’re dry enough to set afire. They’re not even used for lumber.

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lETHAL FLOODING IN NEW MEXICO

record rainfall

Roswell, NM recorded a record rainfall of 5.78 in. as the state declared a flood disaster area. Two people died in the sudden deluge.

Local authorities described the flash flooding as “extreme” as the National Guard rescued nearly 300 people from floodwaters.

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Global warming is increasing toxic metals in the oceans

TOXIC METALS INCREASING IN OCEANS

GLOBAL WARMING EFFECTS

A new study points to global heating-related factors combining to increase levels of toxic metals in the planet’s seas. These accumulations are in addition to the damage done by agricultural and industrial pollution. 

This uptick is due to melting glaciers, thawing permafrost, and coastal erosion. The trend is particularly true for mercury, which poses a risk to communities dependent on traditional fishing.

Niger floods kill hundreds and displace millions

UNRELENTING NIGER FLOODS 

MILLION ARE DIsPLACED

Floods caused by intense rains have resulted in 339 deaths and displaced more than 1.1 million people in Niger since June. Described by authorities as unprecedented, the floods have devastated the Sahel nation’s critical resources, cultural sites, and schools.

Over the last few months, heavy rains have flooded every Chad province, burst a Nigerian dam, wrecked infrastructure in the region while killing 1,460.

Wyoming wildfires

WILDFIRES TORCH WYOMING forests

about 200,000 acres

Two out of control wildfires have burned more than 147,000 acres in Wyoming, adding to the right wing conspiracy stockpile. In this case, the nuts are claiming that the government is burning up land because they need it for rare earth minerals. Surprisingly similar to a line of conspiracy being spread in North Carolina. 

More OBX beach homes collapse into the Atlantic

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

3 more NC beach homes crash into the Atlantic in 4 days

The very definition of insanity

After three more Outer Banks beach homes in the town of Rodanthe collapsed into the ocean in late September, the house surfing totals look like this:

  • 3rd collapse in 24 hours
  • 4th OBX house in the water in six weeks
  • 10 OBX beach home failure since 2020

The Outer Banks of North Carolina are experiencing some of most rapid sea level rise on the planet, while at the same time beach erosion has been an ongoing threat to vacation homes for many decades.

And yet an awful lot of people don’t seem to grasp (or want to grasp) the scale of the problem.

 

 

 

3 Outer Banks beach house collapse in 4 days
“People say hateful things and ask why we built our house in the middle of the ocean,” said one homeowner. Isn’t the larger question: why do you keep doing it?

Global Warming + 

Even the knuckle draggers who continue to insist that climate change is a hoax understand that sea levels are rising on coasts of the Carolinas faster than almost anywhere else in the world. That truth is the major contributing factor to the crisis on the OBX. nothing can change the fact that these are low lying sand bars that have never been stable, so building on them has always been a risk.
Which explains why many owners and developer seem believe that someone else should assume the risk.
Some OBX residents have sold off and retreated while the getting is good; others have elevated their homes in the hopes that they will stave off disaster, at least in their lifetime. But the majority stay put and demand that the beaches get restored (re-nourished – a great euphemism for Other People’s Money) get restored by state or the Feds (the Federal government they despise). Repeat as needed.
Government over-reach is really about where the government is reaching.
But the fact is, these barrier islands are doomed as the oceans slowly, and now more quickly claim them. The water is moving in at rates of 10 to 15 feet a year in some places…And the water always wins.
WHO PAYS FOR THIS MESS?
The ongoing issue for the Outer Banks, Miami Beach, the Gulf Coast the coastal Northeast as well as other disappearing barrier islands throughout the US is: who pays for the wealthy to continue to rebuild on the coasts even though it is clear that this process is unsustainable?
You do. In a lot of sneaky ways.
Government subsidies and disaster relief policies encourage risky coastal development, artificially inflating property values. Start with the National Flood Insurance Program, created by the U.S. Congress in 1968. Private insurance is in business to make profits, so they are hesitant to subsidize a losing bet. The NFIP offers flood insurance at below market insurance rates for homes in risky places. Guess who makes up the different in premium payments?
Congratulations if you said “Me?”

OPM FOR THE OBX

Most taxpayers don’t realize we are also subsidizing wealthy beach home owners and corporate real estate investors as we unwittingly and involuntarily pony up for “beach re-nourishment.” Bringing in sand from elsewhere and dumping until the next storm.
We also pay for building massive coastal infrastructure with Federal dollars. Local and state governments persuade the Federal Government (taxpayers) to foot the bill for rebuilding coastal development in dumb places. For example, the Army Corps of Engineers pumped nearly 2 million cubic yards of sand to restore beaches in Ocean City after Hurricane Sandy washed them away. The city paid $4 million and the Feds paid $14 million. This process takes place around the country.
And, how do you feel about spending millions to restore the beaches of Surfside, FL, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation?
Here’s another powerful trend that almost no one thinks of: The so called “financialization” of real estate. As a major driver of the housing shortage and high rental prices, this process is where the money men lock up vast swatches of real estate. They are the fund guys who swoop in after major devastation and force out the people who used to live there. is driving prices up across the country. (Watch what happens after major storms like Helene.)
They have no stake in the locality and most likely live somewhere else. The net effect is to drive the markets upward and provide leverage for more risky behavior.
These boys have political influence and that’s why they are entitled to your money.
Quite simply, human nature guarantees that when owners don’t personally bear the true costs of insuring and rebuilding, they have no reason to stop. As the seas rise, storms become more intense and flooding increases, private insurance companies will continue to pull out of these regions and the burden will increasingly fall on the public, until the public figures it out and put a stop to it. Keep an eye on the insurance crisis already brewing post Helene.
As a taxpayer, you paid about $15 billion to construct a new massive levee system for New Orleans following Katrina? These are the same people who sued the Army Corps of Engineers for adequately protecting a place that should not be there in the first place. A new $57 billion federal project is underway to keep the booming Galveston real estate market thriving. In 1930, Galveston newspaper triumphantly crowed: “We have defeated the seas once and for all.” But the seas did not stay defeated.
If this kind of money were going to single mothers in the ‘hood, it would be labeled socialism.

 

 

106 days over 100°F for Phoenix

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

Phoenix breaks new heat record with 106 days over 100°F

And 56 days over 110°F

South America & Amazon burning as never before

Half of Brazil is in an extended megadrought as other nations cut hydro

From Brazil’s Amazon rainforest to the world’s largest wetlands to super dry forests in Bolivia an unprecedented onslaught of wildfires  is smashing all time records. Brazil’s space research agency Inpe reports 346,112 fire hotspots so far this year in all 13 countries of South America. This alarming statistic breaks the 2007 record of 345,322 hotspots. Even the capital was threatened, as flame erupted in Brasilia, destroying almost 5,000 acres in Brasilia National Park. The city was covered in smoke, schools were canceled and hundreds of millions in crops were lost.

Ecuador has cut power to half the country due to extreme drought. Colombia was fighting out of control burns across seven states. Bolivia has declared a national emergency.

 “It’s a hurricane of flames!”

Fires burning in all South American countries

 

Flash glacier outburst flood in Juneau as GLOF events increase globally

In a repeat of a 2023 catastrophe, an “outburst flood” from the Mendenhall Glacier has sent millions of gallons of rock and water into a neighborhood in Juneau. About 100 homes were evacuated and a state of emergency was declared. According to authorities, shocked residents managed to swim out of their homes in the middle of the night.

Two miles from the end  of the Mendenhall Glacier, ice dams blocks Suicide Basin valley, an open space left after the glacier melted away. GLOFs originating from Suicide Basin have occurred annually but flooding has worsened in recent years. Record flood levels were set both last year and this year.

For the past decade, the valley has filled with rain and meltwater as the glacier recedes.  Then the water burrows a tunnel into the ice dam, which eventually breaks through and pouring into the city below.  

As glaciers melt at a frenetic pace new lakes back up behind newly formed ice dams in the Andes, Alps and Himalayas. When the dams break, the water rushes downstream, often in a cataclysmic flood. These floods have become more common as global warming causes rapid melting of glaciers around the world.

200,000 displaced in latest Nigeria flooding

Hundreds dead after weeks of torrential rains and floods

 Weeks of flooding have killed nearly 200 people in Nigeria and washed away homes and farmlands, the country’s disaster management agency said, further threatening food supplies, especially in the hard-hit northern region.

The floods have destroyed 107,000 hectares of essential in the north, the source of much of the country’s ag output. Nigeria has the highest number of hungry people in the world, with 32 million — 10% of the global burden — facing acute hunger.

Nigerian floods

107°F breaks record as Australian winter ends with large scale heat event

Hottest ever winter temperature recorded down under

The temperature is the hottest every recorded on the continent for any winter month (which as a reminder, is the seasonal opposite of the Northern Hemisphere).  

Records are also being broken in Queensland, Western Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales.

“It doesn’t matter how you slice and dice it…The temperature records have been gobsmacking.” –  Dr Linden Ashcroft,  the University of Melbourne.

Australia land hurricane turns deadly as winds top 100 MPH

Derecho, hurricane forces winds have killed at least one in Victoria State, a heat wave is driving bushfire in Queensland and Tasmania is under water as Australia undergoes a triple climate event. 

Monday saw with record flooding in Tasmania, an emergency bushfire in NSW, and more than 600 houses damaged by wind in Victoria.

In Queensland, firefighters are continuing to fight bushfires in the Scenic Rim in the state’s south-east. Residents near Kerry Road have been told to prepare to leave as hot and dry weather are creating “perfect” conditions for bushfires, the state firefighting service said.

Land continues collapsing in Rancho Palos Verdes as power is cut

Electricity has been cut to hundreds of residents of Rancho Pales Verdes, CA as landslides in the area continue to occur without warning.

“There is no playbook for an emergency like this one,”  –  L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

The moving land that is creating a danger to electrical equipment in the area, according to Southern California Edison. While hundreds of homes are affected, but most are expected to be temporary shut offs. However about 20 homes in Seaview will be losing power “indefinitely.” Gas company officials said the area continues to experience significant new land movement damaging roads, homes and further threatening the safety of SoCalGas’ infrastructure

The crisis is over a year old, as massive landslumps have accelerated on about 700 acres as a delayed reaction to heavy rains from spring 2023. 

“This is bigger than Rancho Palos Verdes. This land movement is so gigantic and so damaging, that one city should not have to bear the burden alone.“

Rancho Palos Verdes cuts

Climate threatens global food supply

Global food supply is fraying as heat looms

The accelerating climate emergency poses a significant threat to the global food supply, with both direct and indirect effects on crops, livestock, and fisheries.
Planet wide heating is already having far-reaching effects on the global food supply, impacting crop yields and increasing food insecurity. These impacts are shaped by rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, more frequent extreme weather events, and increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The climate emergency affects crop yields due to extended heat waves and water scarcity, extreme weather and unpredictable precipitation patterns. Often overlooked, nutrient content in staple crops may also be affected. Crop yields may even increase due to higher CO2 levels, but actual nutrients may decrease, resulting in more empty calories.
In addition, warming lake and ocean waters are stressing marine life, which affects fisheries and aquaculture. Increased CO2 levels in the ocean are causing fundamental changes to acidity.
The range of crop destroying insects and other pest is migrating toward the poles.
As luxury goods and basic stables become more expensive and then unavailable, it will become increasingly challenging for paid climate deniers to keep up the lies.

Summer ends with record breaking heat, floods, landslides and wind events

Link to more stories.

325 ft high wall of wildfire sweeps Jasper, Alberta

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

Wildfires devastate Jasper, Alberta and National Park

25,000 evacuated in Canadian Rockies

The town of Jasper, AB and surrounding national park were laid waste by a 328 ft. wall of fire that swept through, melting cars, torching buildings and infrastructure with apocalyptic heat.

Intense heat melted vehicles, torched buildings

As of late July, there are 48 wildfires burning “out of control” around the province of Alberta as the region sees the continuation of annual fire problem that seemingly has no end.

 

Wildfire devastates Japser, Alberta

wildfires melt car in Jasper, AB

Amped up megafires driven by climate-fueled cocktail of conditions.

Alberta has experienced significant wildfires in recent years, reflecting broader trends in increasing wildfire frequency and intensity due to climate change. The causes are warmer temperatures, prolonged droughts, and earlier snowmelt contribute to drier conditions, increasing the likelihood of wildfires.

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Western USA continues to burn as firenado is recorded in California

The cataclysmic Park Fire in Northern California was growing at a rate of 8 sq miles an hour and has burned more than 350,000 acres of land north-east of Chico. Hundreds of fires are out of control in Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

Communities elsewhere in the U.S. West and Canada also were under siege Saturday from fast-moving flames. More than 110 active fires covering 2,800 square miles (7,250 square kilometers) were burning in the U.S. on Friday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center

Firenado recorded amidst devastating wildfires

Summer 2024 brings it

Floods, record breaking cyclones, lethal heat waves and landslides happen simultaneously as the human species sleepwalks into oblivion.

Current update here

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Dubai hits 140F heat index

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

IS IT WARM OR IS IT JUST ME?

“The body doesn’t care what the instruments report, it only knows whether or not it can cool itself.”

This week has seen reports of heat index records in the Gulf and Near East that exceed 140°F, in some cases as high as 150°F. That level is well above what the human body can tolerate for long.

The most newsworthy event focused on Dubai, which measured a 144°F heat index and a “real” temperature of 113°F. Asaluyeh, Iran also reported a 149 °F heat index. But the parade of broken records is covering much wider swaths of the planet, including catastrophic heat waves in the US West and East coasts, Southern Europe, South Asia and Africa.

Most of these places are historically hot. But not this hot for this long. Real people are dying, including the barely reported June deaths of 1,300 Hajj pilgrims in Mecca in 120°F heat. They were going to throw stones at the devil.

Is the heat index – which accounts for air temperature and humidity – real?

Short answer: real enough to cook your internal organs, my friend.

In the context of effect on the human body, the heat index is EVEN MORE REAL than standard air temperatures as measured on the thermometer. The body doesn’t care what the instruments report, it only knows whether or not it can cool itself.

For example, Persian Gulf International Airport reported successive thermometer air temperature readings of “only” 108°F and 106°F, but heat indexes of 149°F. Why the big difference? Part of the answer is a lesser reported stat: a 95°F reading of Persian Gulf water temperatures, which generate massive amounts of humidity.

The body cools itself by sweating, but at those levels it is unable to do that because moisture doesn’t evaporate. The human body begins to shut down at a core temperature of around 109.4°F. At that point, we begin to heat from inside. Any heat index over 105°F is dangerous to the human body (new studies are concluding even lower levels can be lethal). Above 124°F is considered extremely dangerous.

Then you die.

“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”

In the US, most places experiencing this rapid increase in temperatures are in the Desert Southwest, which typically have lower humidity and also air conditioning. So those with the means can live inside during long heatwaves, going from air conditioned home to air conditioned car to air-conditioned restaurant. So for now, it’s mostly the poor and homeless who die.

The other under-reported stat is overnight lows, which are increasing even faster than daytime highs. If anything, these numbers are more critical to any environment, because humans and plants are unable to recover. Humans can migrate if they are able, but trees not so much.

In the Near East, nighttime lows have been in the 80s up to high 90s in places. The same trends are clear in other regions of the overheating planet.

As heat indexes become more widely reported, climate denialists are lining up to deride these statistics as woke science, not real, like birds. It is another conspiracy, although who benefits is a different question altogether.

After 20 years of covering the global climate disaster, I have divided denialist trolls into two camps: 1) those who are well paid to continue the multi-billion dollar, multi-decade gas lighting extravaganza brought to you by the fossil boys and 2) fools.

However, there is likely significant overlap between these groups.

Link to global updates

 

Florida Man Ron Cancels Water Pollution Alerts

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

If you don’t talk about it, it’s not real

A bi-partisan bill passed in the Florida legislature last week would have mandated the Department of Health to monitor polluted beaches and report the data to the public. Florida SB 165 authorized the Department to close coastal beaches and public bathing spaces if necessary “to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public.”
I say “would have” because Gov. DeSantis vetoed it.
The bill required counties and municipalities to warn the DOH within 24 hours of unsafe of fecal matter (shit) or enterococci bacteria levels in the water and post health advisory warning signs. There is a lot of water in Florida, and a whole lot of it is impaired by everything from toxic algae blooms, sewage, nitrogen and phosphorus. Ask any manatee.
Ron is no more concerned about dirty swimming water than he is about human rights, actual history or climate breakdown. Ron cares about tourist dollars and the effect that warning visitors about threats to their health might have on revenue. Ron cares about the money flowing into his campaign coffers from the people responsible for the pollution.
That’s why he vetoed this common sense law.
It’s also why he happily signed legislation that bans the use of “climate change” or similar terms in any official state document or communication
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This accounts for his popularity among the magical thinking segment of the public.

 

HOT WATER: KILLER HURRICANE BERYL THINKS IT’S SEPTEMBER

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

HOT HOT HOT CATEGORY 5 STORM IS BREAKING EVERY RECORD

After having leveled 90% of the buildings on Carriacou, Grenada, Cat 5 Hurricane Beryl has already broken lots of records as it barrels toward Jamaica. The rapid intensification of this storm is unprecedented for this time of year (and for most any time of year), a condition made possible by Atlantic surface temperatures that are historically high. Rapid Intensification (RI) is defined as an increase of 35 MPH or more in a storm’s wind speed over 24 hours. Beryl’s wind speed more than doubled to 160 MPH from Monday to Tuesday.
The year 2023 was the warmest globally on land, sea and air. According to Copernicus’ ERA5 data records from June, 2024 is already hotter, with global sea surface temperatures across most of the world’s seas at unprecedented levels even as the El Niño cycle slackens.
The current temperatures are typical of September, not early July. On average, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season tends to form during early to mid-August. The first Category 3 generally doesn’t usually occur until Sept. 1, records show. Beryl hit Cat 5 in early July.
Average daily sea surface temperature for the month of May hit a new all-time high of 69.67 F a monthly new record for the 14th month in a row. In a nutshell, the temperatures we are now seeing are decades ahead of what climate models predicted.

DEEPER LAYERS OF HOT WATER INHIBIT SELF MODERATION

It’s fairly easy to grasp how extreme heat and water vapor levels can contribute to radical spikes in a storm’s intensity. But there is another factor contributing to Rapid Intensification that is less intuitive: the DEPTH of the upper layer of warm ocean water. In the past, when a storm passed over very warm water it fed off of the energy stored in the water, but also churned up that top layer to allow cooler water to rise from below.
Up until a few years ago, the normal scenario was that mixing of the cooler layers lowered the over all temps at the surface, reducing the energy available to the storm and therefore the intensity. In a sense, there was some self-regulation built in to the systems. However, with warmer surface layers now extending deeper, the upper layers stay warmer, the system energy stays higher and storms continue to power up.
The planet’s seas have been absorbing heat and CO2 for decades, and we are now beginning to pay the price. Storms like Maria, Otis, Beryl and those that will follow this season are a preview of what is coming.

 

 

 

South Asia Climate Emergency Pushes Human Limits

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

 

126°F in India

“This isn’t heat, it’s a punishment, maybe from God.”

Courts, schools and government offices were closed in late May after the country broke its time high temperature record of 126° F (52.3C) registered in Delhi. More than 37 cities in the country reported temperatures over 113° F.

Initial heat related deaths were in the dozens but expected to climb. Meanwhile, forest fires are reported as the heat wave continues and foliage dries out. 

The ongoing regional water crisis was worsened by the heat wave, exacerbated by wanton waste of water by the wealthy. 

Midwest tornado onslaught driven by heat and moisture 

Town of Greenfield laid waste, 250 ft turbines toppled and Grandma Dixie was buried alive (but lived). 
Several tornadoes ripped a swath of destruction across Iowa leaving several people dead before tearing into parts of Illinois and Wisconsin. Four deaths have been reported and much of the town was laid waste.
“There is basically nothing left,” said Clel Baudler, a former Iowa state representative who lives a half mile from Greenfield.

Mexico heatwave causing howler monkeys to fall dead from trees

How hot is it? It’s so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from the trees.

Howler monkeys live in the steamy jungles of the Mexican Tabasco state and are uniquely adapted to their habitat. So when it stays so hot this long that they begin dying of dehydration, something is very wrong. Since early May, officials in Mexico have counted hundreds of monkeys lying dead on the ground beneath the trees. 

 

“They were falling out of the trees like apples,” Pozo said. “They were in a state of severe dehydration, and they died within a matter of minutes.” 

The monkey mortality event has multiple causes, including  heat, drought, forest fires and logging that deprives the monkeys of water, shade and the fruit they eat.

Temperatures in the region have reached 113F.

Sea levels are rising ever faster as Miami smashes May air and water records

As Miami and South Florida bake under record May heat, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that sea level rise is increasing at an accelerating rate.

Several records have been tied or broken across South Florida including Key West, which tied its highest heat index at a 115° F degrees and broke it’s “real” temperature record at 96° F,

“The oceans are running hot and they’re running high,” NOAA Oceanographer Dr. William Sweet said. “We’re melting more land-based ice out of Antarctica and Greenland and mountain glaciers, and the ocean is heating, especially in the Gulf of Mexico and the Southern Atlantic.

S has increased about a foot in the last 80 years, with 8 in. of that coming in the last 30.  The next ft. of inundation may take only 20 years. And NOAA reports that that rate is increasing quickly. 

Record ocean temps:

For two weeks, the water temperature measured at Virginia Key has hit record highs, reaching temperatures that are more common during the peak summer months of July and August. 
Water temperature in May was four degrees F. The 90F reading was a new record and bodes ill for the rest of the season. 

This will be the warmest May on record by at least 1.5 degrees F.

Evacuation orders in BC as fire season resurges

During Canada’s warmest ever winter, Zombie fires continued to burn, the drought dragged on and the snow didn’t come.. Now the smoking disasters of last summer seem doomed to repeat themselves as evacuation orders were issued to thousands in Mid-May in British Columbia and Alberta amidst a resurgence of wildfires. The government ordered thousands to leave Fort Nelson, BC as a resurgent zombie blaze threatened the town. A zombie fire means it smoldered over the winter and was never extinguished. 

Forty of the wildfires were listed as out of control on May 13h. In a repeat of last year’s apocalyptic smoke issues, Minnesota is reporting air quality issues 2,000 miles away. 

 

The province of Alberta is now in Stage Four of its five-stage water shortage management response plan. 

 

Exxon CEO: you are to blame for climate crisis

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

Exxon says the climate disaster is your fault

Darren Woods, CEO of the world’s largest oil company, says the world “waited too long” to develop carbon-free technologies. Wonder why we did that? 
For the past year I have been joking but not really joking, pondering at what point the fossil fuel boys and their hand maidens in the Republican Party would figure out a way to blame the Democrats for the climate catastrophe.
(They have pivoted seamlessly from denial to it isn’t really that bad to oh it’s cyclical to it isn’t human caused, to ok but we can’t afford to do anything about it, don’t you worry, we are going to just vacuum up all the carbon and put it underground somewheres. And on and on).
The story cited by the Guardian is the next stage in the plan as Exxon’s CEO blames Joe Citizen for using their products. The fact that these fucks have known more about the catastrophic effects of pouring CO2 and methane into the atmosphere than anyone else, and they have spent $ hundreds of millions and most likely billions hiding the truth from the gently snoring public is missing from his comments.
Since it was first reported, this story has gotten almost no coverage, what with MAGA world and the NFL draft sucking all the air out the room.

Global warming slowing Earth rotation

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

Melting ice drives global mass redistribution

If you don’t believe in global warming, then you most likely won’t be aware that one of its least obvious effects is a very small slowdown in the earth’s rotation. And unlike the lethal droughts, heat waves and floods currently sweeping the planet, this one second lapse has no harmful effects at this point.

The cause of the phenomenon is the shifting of huge masses of water as ice melts rapidly at both ends of the planet. The ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica are several miles thick, enough mass to exert a strong gravitational pull on the oceans. The global redistribution of weight is actually slowing Earth’s rotation minutely, which may result in the elimination of a “leap second” later this decade.

Greenland Is Shedding 33 Million Tons of Ice… Per Hour

None of this is shocking in the greater scheme of things: the planet’s rotation speed is also affected by natural phenomenon such as volcanos, earthquakes  tidal forces, and changes in wind patterns. 

Quoted in Scientific American, Geophysicist Duncan Agnew said: “This is another one of those ‘this has never happened before’ things that we’re seeing from global warming: the idea that this effect is large enough to change the rotation of the entire Earth.” Duncan is co-author of the research just reported by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

More immediate climate developments are summarized here.

“This is another one of those ‘this has never happened before’ things that we’re seeing from global warming: the idea that this effect is large enough to change the rotation of the entire Earth.”

– Geophysicist Duncan Agnew, Scripps.