The world’s oceans have suddenly spiked much hotter and well above record levels in the last few weeks, with scientists trying to figure out what it means and whether it forecasts a surge in atmospheric warming. Some researchers think the jump in sea surface temperatures stems from a brewing and possibly strong natural El Nino warming weather condition plus a rebound from three years of a cooling La Nina, all on top of steady global warming that is heating deeper water below. If that’s the case, they said, record-breaking ocean temperatures this month could be the first in many heat records to shatter. From early March to this week, the global average ocean sea surface temperature jumped nearly two-tenths of a degree Celsius (0.36 degree Fahrenheit), according to the University of M...
Read MoreTag: extreme weather
Italy’s largest river is already as low as it was last summer, with the winter snow fields that normally save it from drying up over the warmer months having receded by 75%, according to the Bolzano climate and environment agency. It’s already causing some reliant on the Po to course correct. Boats lie on the dried shipyard on the Po River in Torricella, near Cremona, Italy, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) “In a few days I will have to cancel all bookings for our Po River cruises because of the shallow water,” said captain Giuliano Landini as he shook his head, his arms stretched wide on the command deck of the Stradivari ship docked under the Boretto bridge and surrounded by long stretches of sand. His 60-meter (196-foot) long vessel used to transport up to 4...
Read MoreA relentless series of ‘rivers in the sky’ is creating extreme conditions across the state, but a role for climate change is unclear Not again! Earlier this week, California was battered by heavy rain, strong winds and thick snow — the latest in a seemingly unending procession of strong storms. Wild weather has afflicted the previously drought-stricken state for three months, resulting in devastating floods, paralysing blizzards and dozens of deaths. Data released Thursday show that the snowpack is the biggest on record. Nature spoke to atmospheric and climate scientists about what’s driving the surge in wet weather and what the state could look like in a warmer future. Why are so many storms hitting California? California’s recent parade of storms is driven by atmospheric rive...
Read MoreA powerful arctic blast swept into the U.S. Northeast on Friday, threatening to push temperatures to record lows in many spots, including New Hampshire's Mount Washington, where the wind chill could drop to -110 degrees Fahrenheit (-79 Celsius), forecasters said. The National Weather Service said in an advisory that the mass of frigid air would keep temperatures at life-endangering levels through Saturday, warning of "extremely dangerous" conditions from the "short-lived blast." Boston and Worcester, the two largest cities in New England, were among the school districts to close on Friday as administrators worried about the risk of hypothermia and frostbite as children waited for buses or walked to school. People walk in Washington Square Park in Manhattan as bitter cold temperat...
Read MoreExtreme cold, travel chaos: Woes from deadly storm continue The deep freeze from a deadly winter storm that walloped much of the United States will continue into the week as people in western New York deal with massive snow drifts that snarled emergency vehicles and travelers across the country see canceled flights and dangerous roads. Road and utility crews faced the task on Monday of digging out and restoring some normalcy around Buffalo, New York, where a blizzard considered the area's worst in 45 years buried snow plows, stranded motorists in cars and killed at least 13 people. Vehicles are left stranded on the road following a winter storm that hit the Buffalo region in Amherst, New York, U.S., December 25, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid The lethal blizzard took form late...
Read MoreJust months after enduring floods that destroyed crops and submerged entire communities, thousands of families in the Brazilian Amazon are now dealing with severe drought that, at least in some areas, is the worst in decades. The low level of the Amazon River, at the center of the largest drainage system in the world, has put dozens of municipalities under alert. The fast-decreasing river water level is due to lower-than-expected rainfall during August and September, according to Luna Gripp, a geosciences researcher who monitors the western Amazon’s river levels for the Brazilian Geological Survey. A man walks in an area impacted by drought near the Solimões River, in Tefe, Amazonas state, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros) As most of Amazonas state is not ...
Read MoreNew Zealand’s Tūroa ski area is usually a white wonderland at this time of year, its deep snowpack supporting its famed spring skiing. This season, it’s largely a barren moonscape, with tiny patches of snow poking out between vast fields of jagged volcanic boulders. The ski area was forced to close for the season this week, three weeks earlier than planned. Rain repeatedly washed away the snow, and the ski area’s 50 snowmaking machines proved no match against balmy temperatures. Climate change appears to be a significant factor, after New Zealand experienced its warmest winter on record — for the third year in a row. The ski slopes are almost devoid of snow at the Tūroa ski field at Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand on Sept. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Nick Perry) The disastrous snow season co...
Read MoreThe intensifying crisis facing the Colorado River amounts to what is fundamentally a math problem. The 40 million people who depend on the river to fill up a glass of water at the dinner table or wash their clothes or grow food across millions of acres use significantly more each year than actually flows through the banks of the Colorado. In fact, first sliced up 100 years ago in a document known as the Colorado River Compact, the calculation of who gets what amount of that water may never have been balanced. Fisherman on a boat float on the Colorado River, June 27, 2021, near Burns, Colo. (Hugh Carey/The Colorado Sun via AP) “The framers of the compact — and water leaders since then — have always either known or had access to the information that the allocations they were mak...
Read MoreThe eastern Mediterranean and Middle East are warming almost twice as fast as the global average, with temperatures projected to rise up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century if no action is taken to reverse the trend, a new report says. The region will experience “unprecedented” heat waves, more severe and longer-lasting droughts and dust storms and rainfall shortages that will “compromise water and food security” for the region’s 400 million people, according to a summary of the report released Tuesday. The eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East are more susceptible to warming trends because of their unique natural characteristics, like large desert expanses and lower water levels, the study said. FILE PHOTO: A couple walk at the salt lake dur...
Read MoreParts of northern Texas, mired in a drought labeled as extreme and exceptional, are flooding under torrential rain. In a drought. Sound familiar? It should. The Dallas region is just the latest drought-suffering-but-flooded locale during a summer of extreme weather whiplash, likely goosed by human-caused climate change, scientists say. Parts of the world are lurching from drought to deluge. The St. Louis area and 88% of Kentucky early in July were considered abnormally dry and then the skies opened up, the rain poured in biblical proportions, inch after inch, and deadly flooding devastated communities. The same thing happened in Yellowstone in June. Earlier this month, Death Valley, in a severe drought, got a near record amount of rainfall in one day, causing floods, and is still in...
Read More
You must be logged in to post a comment.