Why has extreme weather failed to heat up climate debate? | Bill McKibben | Environment. We've had so much record heat around the world lately that the records themselves are setting records: 17 nations have reached new temperature highs, a new record for records in a year. Pakistan hit (129F) 54C, a new record for all of Asia. Moscow had never hit 100F (38C) before; lately it's been a rare day when the mercury settles lower. Now scientists have confirmed what's been pretty obvious: the entire world has just come through the warmest six months, the warmest year, and the warmest decade on record.
Following the hottest June ever, AccuWeather.com yesterday said July was the second hottest July recorded – and the warmest ever for land temperatures alone. Just in case those feel like abstractions, here's what they mean in practice: because warmer air holds more water vapour than cold, deluge increases. Hence, Pakistan has seen the worst flooding in its history. In fact, the only thing that defies common sense this brutal summer is how little political reaction there's been. U.S. Drought Damage: Homes See Cracking Due To Parched Soil. ST. LOUIS (AP) — Carol DeVaughan assumed her suburban St. Louis home was simply settling when cracks appeared in the walls.
When she noticed huge gaps between her fireplace and ceiling, and that her family room was starting to tilt, she knew she had bigger problems. Like thousands of other Americans getting stuck with huge repair bills, DeVaughan learned that the intense drought baking much of the country's lawns, fields and forests this summer has also been sucking the moisture from underground, causing shifting that can lead to cracked basements and foundations, as well as damage aboveground. Repairs often cost tens of thousands of dollars and can even top $100,000, and they are rarely covered by insurance, as shocked homeowners have been discovering.
DeVaughan, a retired Presbyterian minister, said she expects it will cost more than $25,000 to fix the split-level home in Manchester, Mo., where she's lived for 27 years. "We called it the funhouse," Knoche said. Also on HuffPost: Drought has Mississippi River barge traffic all choked up. Northeast Storms 2012: Destructive July Weather Threatens New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio. Climate Change, Extreme Weather. Environmental Issues > Health Main Page > All Health Documents (January - December 2012) 2188 RecordHeat Days FEMA News Photo 1094 Days of Record Rainfall FEMA/Aaron Skolnik 245 Days of Record Snowfall Brace yourself for more weird and wild weather, because 2012 may well outdo 2011 when it comes to shattering extreme weather records. This endless cycle of wildfires, droughts, rainstorms and floods leaves a trail of death, injury and destruction that hurts communities, damages our health and undermines our economy. 2011's severe weather events struck communities all over the US, breaking 3,251 monthly weather records.
We can take two steps right now to protect our families and future generations: Methods: The data used to develop the online tool comes from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NOAA-NCDC) for 2012 US weather data. NRDC Gets Top Ratings from the Charity Watchdogs Charity Navigator awards NRDC its 4-star top rating. Worth magazine named NRDC one of America's 100 best charities. Arctic Warming is Altering Weather Patterns, Study Shows. EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was originally published April 3. Given recent news that Arctic sea ice set a record low, it's a reminder that changes in the Arctic can affect the U.S. and Europe. By showing that Arctic climate change is no longer just a problem for the polar bear, a new study may finally dispel the view that what happens in the Arctic, stays in the Arctic.
The study, by Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University and Stephen Vavrus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, ties rapid Arctic climate change to high-impact, extreme weather events in the U.S. and Europe. The study shows that by changing the temperature balance between the Arctic and mid-latitudes, rapid Arctic warming is altering the course of the jet stream, which steers weather systems from west to east around the hemisphere. The jet stream, the study says, is becoming “wavier,” with steeper troughs and higher ridges. The strong area of high pressure shunted the jet stream far north into Canada. Drought Reaches Record 56% of US | Extreme Weather. The United States is parched, with more than half of the land area in the lower 48 states experiencing moderate to extreme drought, according to a report released today (July 5). Just under 56 percent of the contiguous United States is in drought conditions, the most extensive area in the 12-year history of the U.S.
Drought Monitor. The previous drought records occurred on Aug. 26, 2003, when 54.79 percent of the lower 48 were in drought and on Sept 10, 2002, when drought extended across 54.63 percent of this area. When including the entire nation, the monitor found 46.84 percent of the land area meets criteria for various stages of drought, up from 42.8 percent last week. Previous records: 45.87 percent in drought on Aug. 26, 2003, and 45.64 percent on Sept. 10, 2002. "The recent heat and dryness is catching up with us on a national scale," Michael Hayes, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said in a statement. The U.S. The United States Just Experienced The Warmest 12 Months On Record. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released its latest State of the Climate data, and the results are pretty compelling and dramatic.
According to the data gathered, the last twelve months have been the hottest period for the United States since record-keeping began in the late 1800s. Last summer was the second hottest on record, last winter was the fourth warmest, and last March was the hottest. The average temperature for the lower-48 states was 55.7 degrees Fahrenheit, 2.8 degrees above the average for last century.
Over the past year, 22 states saw record-breaking warm temperatures, and 19 more saw some of their top-10 warmest temperatures. January through April 2012 have run about 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit above average, a new record, and 17 more states had temperatures that made it into their top 10 records. NOAA also records precipitation trends, noting it was drier than usual in most places, but nothing dramatic or record-breaking.
Extreme weather will strike as climate change takes hold, IPCC warns | Environment. Heavier rainfall, fiercer storms and intensifying droughts are likely to strike the world in the coming decades as climate change takes effect, the world's leading climate scientists said on Friday. Rising sea levels will increase the vulnerability of coastal areas, and the increase in "extreme weather events" will wipe billions off national economies and destroy lives, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the body of the world's leading climate scientists convened by the United Nations.
Scientists have warned of these effects for years, but yesterday's report – the "special report on extreme weather" compiled over two years by 220 scientists – is the first comprehensive examination of scientific knowledge on the subject, in an attempt to produce a definitive judgment. Chris Field, co-chair of the IPCC working group that produced the report, said the message was clear – extreme weather events were more likely. Arctic ice melt 'alarming' - Europe. Ice in Greenland and the rest of the Arctic is melting dramatically faster than was earlier projected and could raise global sea levels by as much as 1.6 metres by 2100, says a new study. The study released on Tuesday by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) said there is a "need for greater urgency" in fighting global warming as record temperatures have led to the increased rate of melting.
The AMAP report said the correspondending rise in water levels will directly threaten low-lying coastal areas such as Florida and Bangladesh, but would also affect islands and cities from London to Shanghai. The report says it will also increase the cost of rebuilding tsunami barriers in Japan. "The past six years (until 2010) have been the warmest period ever recorded in the Arctic," said the report. The rises had been projected from levels recorded in 1990. Dramatic rise from projections The AMAP is the scientific arm of the eight-nation Arctic Council. Arctic could be ice-free. UN in Rome talks over Horn of Africa drought - Africa. As the drought crisis deepens in the Horn of Africa the UN's food agency is holding emergency talks in Rome. At the top of the agenda will be plans to ensure food packages and aid is delivered into Somalia, which is affected most by the drought. More than 12 million people are affected by the worst drought in 60 years, which has wreaked havoc on war-torn Somalia and parts of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.
UN officials say the drought has killed tens of thousands of people over the past few months, forcing desperate survivors to walk for weeks in search of food and water. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which is hosting the talks in Italy's capital, has warned the situation will deteriote further unless action is taken soon. Despite recent EU fund pledges, aid agencies say more money needs to be raised quickly. Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher, reporting from Rome, said: "The UN wants firm commitments from anyone who is saying, 'yes we will pledge money'. "