Map showing Arctic temperature anomalies for December 2019, January 2020, and February 2020. Mainland Alaska and northwest Canada, along with parts of Greenland and Svalbard were the primary high latitude areas that were consistently colder than average during winter 2019/2020. Northern Eurasia was outlandishly mild. Graphic: Karsten Haustein / Twitter

Winter 2019/2020 warmest on record in Moscow, first winter to average above freezing – Temperature milestones set across Europe and North America – German ice wine harvest fails for first time on record

By Andrew Freedman 2 March 2020 (The Washington Post) – The meteorological winter of 2019-2020 shattered temperature records in Russia and France as well as other parts of Europe and the United States. In Moscow, this was the warmest winter in nearly 200 years of record-keeping, and the first winter there to have an average […]

Map showing land and ocean global temperature percentiles and departures from average for January 2020. The January 2020 global land and ocean surface temperature was the highest in the 141-year record at 2.05°F (1.14°C) above the 20th century average of 53.6°F (12.0°C). This value surpassed the previous record set in 2016 by only 0.04°F (0.02°C). Graphic: NOAA / NCEI

January 2020 was the warmest January on record for the globe

13 February 2020 (NCEI) – The globally averaged temperature departure from average over land and ocean surfaces for January 2020 was the highest for the month of January in the 141-year NOAA global temperature dataset record, which dates back to 1880. This monthly summary, developed by scientists at NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, is […]

Surface air temperature anomaly for January 2020 relative to the January average for the period 1981-2010. Data: ERA5. Graphic: Copernicus Climate Change Service / ECMWF

January 2020 warmest on record in Europe – Earth matched its warmest January on record – “The lack of snow and the warmth is really unheard of. Monthly records were not just broken, they were shattered with large margins.”

By Matthew Cappucci 4 February 2020 (The Washington Post) – Europe just concluded its warmest January on record, coming on the heels of a toasty December and making the 2019-2020 winter season a contender for the warmest Europe has observed. Although the calendar has flipped to a new decade, there has been no slowing in […]

Arctic surface temperature anomaly, 1958-2019, relative to the 1981-2010 baseline. Data: NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division (WRIT Tool: +67°N). Graphic: Zachary Labe

2019 was hottest year on record in Russia, 2nd hottest in Arctic Circle – Warmest New Year’s Eve on record in Anchorage

MOSCOW, 30 December 2019 (AFP) – This year was the hottest ever registered in Russia, the country’s weather chief said on Monday, as climate change pushes global temperatures to record highs. “This year in Russia was the hottest for the entire period of instrumental observations,” the head of the Gidromedtsentr weather service, Roman Vilfand, told […]

This is all the snow there is in Moscow on 28 December 2019. The snow was trucked in and is being guarded in the Red Square. Photo: mariksa_10 / Instagram

Moscow resorts to fake snow in warmest December since 1886 – “It’s not normal at all”

By Andrew Roth 29 December 2019 MOSCOW (The Guardian) – Moscow has been so warm this December that the government has resorted to sending trucks filled with artificial snow to decorate a new year display in the city centre. Videos of the delivery for a snowboarding hill went viral as observers noted the irony of […]

Number of journalists imprisoned per country on 1 December 2019. Data: Committee to Protect Journalists. China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt the world’s worst jailers of journalists. Graphic: A. Bhandari / Reuters

China imprisoned more journalists than any other country in 2019

By Gerry Doyle 10 December 2019 (Reuters) – China imprisoned at least 48 journalists in 2019, more than any other country, displacing Turkey as the most oppressive place for the profession, a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists report said on Wednesday. At least 250 journalists were imprisoned worldwide this year, according to the […]

Tree buds in the Apothecary Garden, also known as the Botanic Garden of Moscow State University, in Moscow, Russia, 18 December 2019. Photo: Shamil Zhumatov / REUTERS

Moscow wonders where winter has gone as temperatures hit 133-year high – “This is not our winter. It came from somewhere else.”

By Dmitry Antonov, Gennadiy Novik, and Dmitry Madorsky 18 December 2019 MOSCOW (Reuters) – Residents of Moscow are wondering where winter has gone as the highest December temperatures for 133 years deprive the Russian capital of its customary covering of snow. “This is not our winter,” said pensioner Ludmila Biryukova. “It came from somewhere else.” […]

Country-specific total CO2 emission shares GtC per year of the biggest 5 emitters. Graphic: Nauels, et al., 2019 / PNAS

Just 15 years of post-Paris emissions to lock in 20 cm of sea level rise in the year 2300 – “Emissions today will inevitably cause seas to rise a long way into the future. This process cannot be reversed. It is our legacy for humankind.”

5 November 2019 (PIK) – Unless governments significantly scale up their emission reduction efforts, the 15 years’ worth of emissions released under their current Paris Agreement pledges alone would cause 20 cm of sea-level rise over the longer term, according to new research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). […]

Summary of polar bear population status in 2019 by regional subpopulation, showing populations with decreasing trends. Graphic: IUCN / SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG)

Scientists update status of polar bear populations with 2019 data

By Dag Vongraven 20 September 2019 (PBSG) – At the last meeting of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) in Anchorage in 2016, the group agreed that there was a need for new and documented criteria for the assessment of status and trends of polar bear populations. Work to develop a new set of […]

A spotted seal (Phoca largha) trapped in discarded fishing net in the Sea of Japan. Kilometers of nets thrown overboard monthly, junked by North Korean poachers, kill marine life in Russian waters. Photo: Igor Katin

Fishing nets junked by North Korean poachers kill marine life in Russian waters – Kilometers of nets thrown overboard monthly, expert warns – “We are currently in the state of a permanent ecological catastrophe”

24 October 2019 (The Siberian Times) – Anthropogenic rubbish – most of which is left in the sea by North Korean fishermen – is making deadly impact on marine life in Russian Far East. A warning of a ‘permanently ongoing ecological catastrophe’ and a call for action comes from Igor Katin, researcher at the Far […]

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