Just a few days' headlines

Climate chaos and extreme weather update - 4 July, 2019

Magnitude 6.4 quake hits southern California on Independence Day

12 hours earlier

6.5-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Northwest Off Canada's Vancouver Island – USGS

According to the United States Geological Survey, a strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake rocked Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia.


The epicentre was about 225 km northwest of Port Hardy at a depth of 10 km.

A giant heat dome over Alaska is set to threaten all-time temperature records

All-time heat records are at risk in Alaska in coming days as a massive and abnormally intense area of high pressure locks in and strengthens over the region.


This heat dome is expected to produce temperatures near and above the highest values ever recorded for multiple days, particularly in southern parts of the state. It’s the latest in a slew of record-shattering heat events in Alaska.


Anchorage is predicted to test or best its highest-temperature ever recorded of 85 degrees (set in 1969) on five straight days between July 4 and 8. It could even flirt with 90 degrees.

Flooding and Landslide Warnings in Japan Force More Than a Million People to Evacuate

Over 1.24 million residents of the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu received an emergency evacuation order on Wednesday due to the threat of landslides and floods caused by heavy rains, according to Kyodo News.

The entire population of the cities of Kagoshima, Amakusa and Ira on the island of Kyushu, nearly 760,000 people, were directed on Wednesday to evacuate their homes.

Scientists baffled as Antarctic ice hits record low, wiping out three decades of‘gains’

The amount of ice circling Antarctica is suddenly plunging from a record high to record lows, baffling scientists.

Floating ice off the southern continent steadily increased from 1979 and hit a record high in 2014. But three years later, the annual average extent of Antarctic sea ice hit its lowest mark, wiping out three-and-a-half decades of gains — and then some, a NASA study of satellite data shows.

In recent years, “things have been crazy,” said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center. In an email, he called the plummeting ice levels “a white-knuckle ride.”

Satellite data shows shrinking reservoirs that may spark major water crisis globally

Chennai runs out of water, 9 million people pray for rain in Indian city

Are parts of India becoming too hot for humans?

Intense heat waves have killed more than 100 people in India this summer and are predicted to worsen in coming years, creating a possible humanitarian crisis as large parts of the country potentially become too hot to be inhabitable.

Heat waves in India usually take place between March and July and abate once the monsoon rains arrive. But in recent years these hot spells have become more intense, more frequent and longer.

India is among the countries expected to be worst affected by the impacts of climate crisis, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say that even if the world succeeds in cutting carbon emissions, limiting the predicted rise in average global temperatures, parts of India will become so hot they will test the limits of human survivability.

NZ: Almost record warm temperatures in South Island for July

NZ: First half of the year the fifth warmest on record, according to NIWA

The first half of the year is the fifth warmest on record for New Zealand and the driest on record for Auckland, according to NIWA.

"During summer, heatwave conditions scorched our seas for the second consecutive year, while several areas of the country suffered ongoing drought conditions, including Nelson-Tasman where prolonged wildfires occurred and a state of emergency was declared,” says NIWA meteorologist Ben Noll in a statement.

Australia posts hottest January-June for days as big dry rolls on

Australia's hottest start to any year extended to a sixth month for day-time temperatures even as conditions moderated in June, while rainfall continued to be very much below average for large parts of the country.

Average maximum temperatures for the first half of 2019 were 1.78 degrees above the 1961-90 baseline used by the Bureau of Meteorology. That pipped the previous record set in 2005 in data that goes back more than a century, said Blair Trewin, senior climatologist at the bureau.

Brutal heatwave strikes China's Guangdong, Hebei provinces

Sprinkler trucks have sprayed water to help reduce the scorching temperatures in Handan City.

Depleted reservoir leaves Manila dry

June 2019 was the hottest ever recorded on Earth: European satellite agency

Unprecedented Arctic megafires are releasing a huge amount of CO2

Alaska's heat wave fuels dangerous smoke, melts glaciers

Record warmth and near-record warmth in most of the state has created flammable conditions from the Canadian border in the east to the Bering Sea coast in the west

Multi-year drought caused massive forest die-off in Sierra Nevada

The most extreme drought event in hundreds of years caused a catastrophic die-off of the Sierra Nevada's mature trees in 2015-2016.


A study published today in Nature Geoscience details how UC Merced Professor Roger Bales and his colleague Professor Michael Goulden from UC Irvine tracked the progress of the devastation caused by years of dry conditions combined with abnormally warm temperatures.


The researchers warn that matters are expected to get worse as global mean temperatures increase.

"Parts of the Sierra Nevada reached a 'tipping point' in 2015, where annual precipitation plus stored subsurface water were not enough to meet the water demand of the forest," Bales said

90 % Of Sri Lanka's Live Coral Reefs Dead: Marine Protection Agency

Sri Lanka's state owned marine environment protection authority on Wednesday warned that the country only had 10 percent of live coral reefs in its oceans as 90 percent had died due to pollution, illegal fishing methods and excessive climate change.

German bug watchers sound alarm over 'massive extinction' of insects

Thousands of whales are dying. Scientists have run out of public beaches for the carcasses to rot

Scientists sound alarm after 6 rare whale deaths in a month

Lithuania declares emergency as drought hits farmers

More rain aims at Japan after 1-day rain totals exceeding 16 inches trigger deadly mudslides, flooding

Mumbai rains: 550 mm in 48 hours was too much to handle, says BMC

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Pravin Pardeshi claimed, "Mumbai has already witnessed a total of 85 per cent rain in last four days, which is the usual rainfall for the entire month of June."

Jamaica

Prolonged drought affecting farmers, produce sellers

Jamaica did not experience the normal “May rains” this year, and is currently going through a period of drought which is affecting everyone, especially those who farm or sell in markets for a living.

China now owns 10 times the amount of Australian land it did last year

The amount of Australian farm land owned by Chinese interests has surged tenfold in the past year, climbing above 14 million hectares or 2.5 per cent of all agricultural land.

The findings from the Australian Tax Office's Agricultural Land Register, released this week, show the UK and China are the largest owners of foreign-held land in Australia, owning 27 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.

FOOD SHORTAGES BEGIN IN U.S.A

Siberia hit by worst flooding in a century, 14 people killed, 13 remain missing, Russia

He puts it down to a solar minimum (sic), but he IS reporting on it whereas others aren't.

Look At This Map – It Shows Devastating Crop Losses Are Literally Happening All Over The Globe