Category: Drought Horn of Africa

Climate Shock Events April 2022 Update

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

Spring Global Warming Update

“I’m not ready for this. Not this early…”*

Louisiana: New Climate Refugees As Waters Close In

Only 15 miles south of New Orleans, the waters around Grand Island, Barataria,  Crown Pointe, and Jean Lafitte are continuing to rise, threatening long time residents of the bayou area.  About a football field worth of wetland disappears every two hours.

South Africa: Over 400 dead in “unprecedented” flooding:

Horrendous rains have brought lethal flooding and landslides that have displaced thousands the Durban, South Africa region. The humanitarian disaster, as always, is magnified by malfeasance on the part of the powers what is. More than a decade ago, poor families were relocated away from a new soccer stadium and dumped in a flood prone area, where they remain. Damages are currently estimated at $684 million and rising. The death toll will climb. 

Bering Sea: Warming Ocean Threatens Crab Fisheries

Add Alaskan snow crab to the growing list of marine animals  threatened by rapidly changing conditions on the ground, or, in this case, in the Bering Sea. Extreme ocean warming in the area around the Pribilof Islands  (between Siberia and Alaska) has crashed the population down nearly 90% from 2021 levels. Read the Article.

Siberia/Alaska: Methane / Permafrost Thaw Reshapes the Arctic

There is a lot of CH4 trapped beneath the surface of the planet, particularly under the permafrost in Siberia, Alaska and other Arctic regions. As the permafrost thaws, the gases trapped below it spew into the atmosphere, creating a climate feedback cycle with results that are observable in something close to real time. Visit the Page.

The Poles: Insane Temps At Both Poles

Late winter in the Arctic temperatures were about 70°F above the normal average at some measurement stations. Some near North Pole stations reported the beginning of melt. New heat records were also established in Antarctica with temperatures of over 50°F above the normal average in March. Visit the Page.

Great Barrier Reef: New Mass Bleaching Event

Another widespread die-off at the World Heritage site off the northern coast of Australia marks the sixth such catastrophe since 1998. This ongoing environmental disaster is driven by warming oceans and pollution. The most recent aerial survey shows almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch unaffected by the elevated water temperatures.  See Australia’s New Normal video.

Great Salt Lake: Toxic Dust Events Loom In Utah

The inland sea that forms the iconic core of Utah’s Latter Day culture is in danger of disappearing as it reaches its lowest level. About half of the original lakebed area is now dry land  In the process, thousands of square miles of dry lake bed is exposed, laying open vast expanses of toxic dust.

India: Record Deadly Heat Begins The Year

Life-threatening heat waves are shattering temperature records, with highs reaching over 100°F. High temperatures are expected to climb to 10°F to 15°F above normal. 

Antarctica: Another Major Ice Shelf Collapse

East Antarctica’s Conger ice shelf – a floating platform the size of Rome – broke off the continent on March 15, 2022.

American West: Mega Drought Driving Water Emergencies

Lake Mead has dropped to an unprecedented low and other regional reservoirs have reached emergency levels as the western drought continues. Hydropower is likely to be curtailed and blackouts are expected. Read the Article.

Afghanistan: 5 Million Children At Risk of Starvation As Crops Fail In Historic Drought

Five million children near are starvation in Afghanistan amid the worst drought since records began. “When there is no rain the land is dry and we can’t grow anything … The drought has completely devastated our land.”

*Flagstaff, AZ resident watching her neighborhood go up in smoke, quoted April 21, 2022 in the New York Times.

Bordeaux: Wine Regions Scramble As Heat Threatens Grapes

Violent weather events—frost, hail, storms, rain at harvest, dry summers—have become more frequent. Slow to acknowledge the creeping disaster, French wine authorities have authorized planting of new varieties. 

Iceland: Land Mass Rising As Huge Glaciers Melt Away

Coastal water levels are dropping even as melting land glaciers dump tons of fresh water into the North Atlantic. As the immense weight of Iceland’s glacial ice mass disappears into the North Atlantic, the land beneath it is “bouncing back”, more or less springing up as the burden is removed. So seas seem to be dropping lower on the coasts of Iceland even though water level is relative to the land mass. Read the Article.

Australia: The Relentless Onslaught of the New Normal

The reality of calamitous sea level rise smashes into Sidney as tidal onslaught tears boats their moorings. Bondi and Clovelly beach clubs and hotels took a pounding from huge wind driven swells. The second major cleanup follows a major flooding event only three weeks ago.  It’s all part of Australia’s New Normal (see our video). 

Syria: Lethal Drought Continues Into Third Decade

The root cause of the so war in Syria was an unrelenting drought that brought farmers to their knees. It moves into its third decade as the worst in the Middle East for at least 1,000 years. Conditions have worsened in the past two years: Herds have been culled and crops are generally devastated. The iconic Khabur river is at record lows.. 

Argentina: Wildfires & Serial Heat Waves

After a scorching heatwave, Argentina is suffering another round  of raging wildfires that torched forests and farms across its northern region. Authorities estimate early losses at a quarter billion dollars with 2 million acres torched. The region has been experiencing record heat this year, baking in unprecedented temperatures up to 113°F.

Kenya: Water Shortages, Dead Livestock and Ruined Harvests as Desertification Moves In

Kenya and the Horn of Africa are in the third year of failed rainy seasons as the desert takes back the land. 5.5 million children in the region are threatened by acute malnutrition. Millions of head of livestock have died of malnutrition and in Kenya, Forecasts indicate that below average rainfall will continue into the foreseeable future.

Brazil: Mass Rainforest Ecocide

The far right Brazilian administration has accelerated the plundering of indigenous lands; what environmental regulations remain are essentially gone. Many scientists now believe the critical forest carbon sink has crossed the final tipping point in terms of climate effects. When forests are cleared, another climate feedback cycle is triggered. 

Sahel: Sahara Moving South To Claim Central Africa

Life-threatening heat waves are shattering temperature records, with highs reaching over 100°F. High temperatures are expected to climb to 10°F to 15°F above normal. 

Indonesia: Papua’s Last Glacier Almost Gone

Little remains of the ironically named Eternity Glacier in Papua’s Jayawijaya mountains. The once might ice formation is expected to be gone by 2025.

Gulf Stream: AMOC continues to slow

The Gulf Stream carries warmer waters north, where they serve to moderate the climate of northern Europe. Look at the latitude of Western Europe and you will see how far north the nations that invaded North America are located compared to the US east coast. The global ocean current is driven by salinity changes in the northern sea, which causes surface waters to change density and sink (that’s basically how it works). When this mechanical process is disrupted, weather becomes unpredictable and extreme, extended events more common.

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Snapshot Of Early 2022 Climate Shock

Posted on by rapidclimatechange_tfkjps

Humans are funny. As a certain segment of the population obsesses over ow expensive it is to fill up the ole completely necessary Escalade, climate shock marches on.  Yet most of the stories below barely make the news and if they do, hardly register.

Perhaps seeing the some snapshots from a global perspective may move a few people.  This is what’s going on in early 2022:

Australia floods

“Waves of Water Just Coming Down”

Australia’s new normal crashed the New Year with a rain bomb in the northeast, followed by cataclysmic flooding that has killed dozens and caused the evacuation of tens of thousands. Another 500,000 were under warning in New South Wales.

This disaster is the worst since 2011, which was described as “once in a thousand year flooding.” But clearly that description is wishful thinking.

For perspective, Shane Stone, the coordinator general of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency told the Sydney Morning Herald that “the taxpayer and the ratepayer cannot continue to pick up the bill for these huge, catastrophic damage events”. Stone is a buddy of Scott Morrison, and offers a pithy perspective from a right winger who is supposed to be helping them. Although, in a sick way he is correct.

See our video Australia’s New Normal.

Argentina Wildfires

After a scorching heatwave, Argentina is suffering another round  of raging wildfires that torched forests and farms across its northern region. Eight separate fire zones in Argentina’s Corrientes province have devastated 2 million acre so far.

Authorities estimate early losses at a quarter billion dollars and the counting has not yet begun in earnest. Argentina has already limited exports of beef this year because of the rain shortfall.

The region has been experiencing record heat this year, baking in unprecedented temperatures up to 113°F.

Kenya: Water Shortages, Dead Livestock and Ruined Harvests as Desertification Moves In

“People are still dying by the day.”

Kenya and the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia and Somalia) are in the third year of failed rainy seasons as the desert takes back the land. 5.5 million children in the region are threatened by acute malnutrition and an estimated 1.4 million by severe acute malnutrition. Millions of head of livestock have died of malnutrition and in Kenya, 62 elephants have starved to death.

And the people are using their flagging strength to fight over resources. The other bookend to climate migration is climate conflict. This is especially true in semi-nomadic pastoral economies as people and animals compete for dwindling water supplies. The results do not generate excellent TV news footage in the way that major wars and missile strikes do. But the results are the same.

Forecasts indicate that below average rainfall will continue into the foreseeable future.

“We are most definitely now sitting on the brink of catastrophe. “We saw animals dying together with their farmers, and the numbers I think are quite shocking.”

– Rein Paulsen

Food and Agriculture Organization Director of Emergencies and Resilience

Things Not Great At Great Salt Lake As Toxic Dust Events Loom

The inland sea that forms the iconic core of Utah’s Latter Day culture is in danger of disappearing as it reaches the lowest level since the Mormons arrived. About half of the original lakebed area is now dry land  In the process, thousands of square miles of dry lake bed is exposed, laying open vast expanses of toxic dust. The dust poses problems for human health but also for threatens natural systems in the area and mountain snowpack. 

 

As is the case with most climate related scenarios, the rapid decline of lake levels is caused by a combination of squabbling stakeholders, diversions and global warming driven drought. 

The ongoing disaster also creates another feedback loop, similar to the sea ice albedo scenario at the poles. It works like this:

“The dust darkens the snow surface and causes it to melt earlier.”

As the lake surface area decrease, it has less and less impact on critical lake effect winter storms. Fewer storms means less total moisture in the region, increasingly drier conditions; which in turn nurtures the ongoing drought.

Polar Ice At Both Poles Is Now Melting From Below

Sea levels continue to rise and when you read this summary it’s not hard to understand why. The trillions of tons of ice on Greenland and Antarctica are being dissolved from beneath the ice mass. One process is obvious, the other not so much, but equally alarming. Link here for this reporting.

Syrians Suffer Ongoing Famine As Drought Enters Its Third Decade.

The root cause of the so called civil war in Syria was an unrelenting drought that brought farmers to their knees. The uprising began when al-Assad’s government refused to offer aid.

Ten years later, the historic drought moves into its third decade and is reported to be the worst in the Middle East for at least 1,000 years.  Conditions have worsened in the past two years, exacerbated by war and poverty. Herds have been culled and crops are generally devastated.

The iconic Khabur river is at record lows, with irrigation for starving farmers limited. The depredations of a brutal Turkish government upstream have contributed to the disaster.

Winter Rains Were Not Enough As Record Heat Returns to California

 

The west coast had record heat combined with light-to-zero precipitation in early 2022, wiping out the modest gains from freak storms late last year. The temperatures averaged 15 to 25°F over normal. San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno and LA, along with some of the Sierra Nevada all recorded their driest January-February period on record.

Lake Shasta, the state’s largest reservoir, is at only 37 percent of its capacity. February ended with the news that water districts that supply Central Valley farms will allot no water from the Central Valley Project, further distressing critical agricultural areas.  The net result will be continued tapping into aquifers that are already being sucked dry.

Two decades ago, the critical Colorado River reservoir Lake Powell was full. Today it’s about 25% full. Once boat marina remains open.

The American West is in an extended megadrought, and it’s not the only region under water duress. This is what has been predicted and what is happening on the ground.