Firefighters from across Europe came to France's rescue on Friday to battle a massive wildfire, while fire also raged in Portugal and parts of England faced a severe drought, as successive heatwaves renewed the focus on climate change risks. Much of Europe has faced weeks of baking temperatures that have also depleted water levels of the Rhine River in Germany and seen the source of Britain's River Thames dry up further downstream than in previous years. A firefighting aircraft drops flame retardant to extinguish a wildfire near Hostens, as wildfires continue to spread in the Gironde region of southwestern France, in this handout photograph released on August 12, 2022. Courtesy SDIS 33/Handout via REUTERS High temperatures and a worsening drought brought a high risk of new fires...
Read MoreTag: extreme temperature
A lose-lose game: animals are under threat as the climate gets warmer and more variable
How has climate change affected your life? Maybe torrential rains have flooded part of your town, or your city has had to contend with longer heat waves every year. Maybe you kept your attention on the news for days at a time to find out if a wildfire would change its direction and come toward you, or if a hurricane would be strong enough that you should evacuate. Climate change will continue to affect the world around us in complex and tragic ways. Increasing temperatures are causing rising ocean levels, shifting weather patterns, and threatening the survival of animals and plants. But along with increasing temperatures, the climate is also becoming more variable, and more extreme. The brown anole (Anolis sagrei) is one of the species studied by the Logan Lab and could provide valu...
Read MoreBritain shattered its record for highest temperature ever registered Tuesday amid a heat wave that has seared swaths of Europe, as the U.K.’s national weather forecaster said such highs are now a fact of life in a country ill-prepared for such extremes. The typically temperate nation was just the latest to be walloped by unusually hot, dry weather that has triggered wildfires from Portugal to the Balkans and led to hundreds of heat-related deaths. Images of flames racing toward a French beach and Britons sweltering — even at the seaside — have driven home concerns about climate change. A man shields his eyes from the sun as he sunbathes backdropped by Tower Bridge in London, Tuesday July 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Tony Hicks) The U.K. Met Office weather agency registered a provisional r...
Read MoreSouthern Europe battles wildfires as heatwave spreads north A heatwave sweeping southern Europe that has caused hundreds of deaths and huge wildfires showed some signs of abating on Monday but continued to move north, including towards Britain where authorities issued an extreme weather warning. Much of Europe is baking in a heatwave that scientists say is consistent with climate change and has pushed temperatures into the mid-40s Celsius (over 110 Fahrenheit) in some regions, with wildfires raging across tinder-dry countryside in Portugal, Spain and France. This photo provided by the fire brigade of the Gironde region (SDIS 33) shows firefighters fighting wildfire near Landiras, southwestern France, Sunday July 17, 2022 . (SDIS 33 via AP) Temperatures in some parts of souther...
Read MoreFires rage in France and Spain, UK gets first ever red ‘extreme heat’ warning Wildfires raged in southwestern France and Spain on Saturday, forcing thousands of people to be evacuated from their homes as blistering summer temperatures put authorities on alert in parts of Europe. More than 12,200 people had been evacuated from France's Gironde region by Saturday morning as more than 1,000 firefighters battled to bring the flames under control, regional authorities said in a statement. A view of trees burning amid a wildfire near Landiras, France, July 13, 2022 in this picture obtained from the fire brigade of the Gironde region (SDIS 33). SDIS 33/Handout via REUTERS "We have a fire that will continue to spread as long as it is not stabilised," Vincent Ferrier, deputy prefect fo...
Read MoreExtreme weather events – from scorching heatwaves to unusually heavy downpours – have caused widespread upheaval across the globe this year, with thousands of people killed and millions more displaced. In the last three months, monsoon rains unleashed disastrous flooding in Bangladesh, and brutal heatwaves seared parts of South Asia and Europe. Meanwhile, prolonged drought has left millions on the brink of famine in East Africa. Much of this, scientists say, is what's expected from climate change. Trees burn as flames and smoke engulf the top of a hill in a forest fire in Artazu, northern Spain in the early hours of Sunday, June 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses) On Tuesday, a team of climate scientists published a study in the journal Environmental Research: Climate. The resear...
Read MoreClimate crisis is driving cousins of The Lion King character to local extinction
The yellow-billed hornbill, cousins of fan-favorite Zazu from The Lion King, faces local extinction due to the climate crisis. Researchers investigated the effects of high air temperature and drought on the breeding success of southern yellow-billed hornbills in the Kalahari Desert between 2008 and 2019. This study is one of the first to research the impact of the climate crisis on population-level breeding success over a longer timescale. The climate crisis is worsening the harsh conditions of extreme climates, such as the high temperatures and the frequency and intensity of drought periods associated with arid regions. Southern yellow-billed hornbill at study site. Credit: Nicholas Pattinson The animals that inhabit these regions are already suffering the consequences. For exam...
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