Greece – Desdemona Despair

A man gets in his car in Dione to flee looming flames as huge wildfires bear down on the Greek capital of Athens on 12 August 2024. Photo: Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP

August 12, 2024

Wildfires engulf Greek mountain as they approach capital – People flee 80-foot flames near Athens as they spread “like lightning” – “It started from one point and suddenly the whole village was surrounded”

PENTELI, Greece, 12 August 2024 (AFP) – Thick grey smoke engulfed Mount Pentelicus that dominates Athens on Monday as the Greek capital battled the infernal fallout from what promises to be its hottest summer on record. A 30-kilometre (20-mile) long line of fires, some with flames more than 25 metres (80 feet) high, was moving […]

A polar bear cools down in ice that was brought to its enclosure on a hot and sunny day at the Prague zoo, Czech Republic, Wednesday, 10 July 2024. Photo: Petr David Josek / AP Photo

July 14, 2024

Sizzling heat wave in parts of southern and central Europe prompts alerts – “It’s hell outside”

By Jovana Gec 11 July 2024 BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Weather alerts, forest fires, melting pavement in cities: A sizzling heat wave has sent temperatures in parts of central and southern Europe soaring toward 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in some places. From Italy to Romania, authorities warned people to be cautious, drive carefully if […]

Map showing worldwide natural disasters in 2023. Worldwide, natural disasters in 2023 resulted in losses of around US$250 billion (previous year US$250 billion). Loss statistics were characterised by the large number of severe regional storms. Such high thunderstorm losses have never been recorded before in the USA or in Europe: assets worth around US$66 billion were destroyed in North America, of which US$50 billion was insured, while in Europe the figure was US$10 billion (€9.1 billion), of which US$8 billion (€7.3 billion) was insured. A large body of scientific research indicates that climate change favours severe weather with heavy hailstorms. Similarly, loss statistics from thunderstorms in North America and other regions are trending upward. Graphic: Munich Re

May 1, 2024

Munich Re: Record thunderstorm losses in 2023 – “The warming of the earth that has been accelerating for some years is intensifying the extreme weather in many regions, leading to increasing loss potentials”

9 January 2024 (Munich Re) – Worldwide, natural disasters in 2023 resulted in losses of around US$ 250bn (previous year US$ 250bn), with insured losses of US$ 95bn (previous year US$ 125bn). Overall losses tally with the five-year average, while insured losses were slightly below the average figure of US$ 105bn. Unlike in previous years, […]

Satellite view of burned area and wildfires in Greece, 19 August 2023 - 14 September 2023. More than 672 square miles had burned through September 2023. Photo: European Union / Copernicus Sentinel / EO Browser

October 9, 2023

Two months of fire and flood: Greece’s climate disasters in 2023, visualized – “An unprecedented weather event, a catastrophe of immense proportions”

By Mithil Aggarwal and Jiachuan Wu 8 October 2023 (NBC News) – Greece is at war with climate change. Wildfires and record rainfall devastated the country this summer, first scorching entire forests then flooding complete towns. Here’s a look at two months of disasters that will leave the country changed for years. The fires The blaze […]

Heavy rainfall caused catastrophic flooding in Derna, northeastern Libya, on 11 September 2023. Photo: AFP / Getty Images

September 30, 2023

Horrific Libya flooding made up to 50 times more likely by planet-warming pollution, scientists find – “Through these events we are already seeing how climate change and human factors can combine to create compounding and cascading impacts”

By Laura Paddison 19 September 2023 (CNN) – The deadly rainfall which caused catastrophic flooding and destruction in Libya, as well as other parts of the Mediterranean, this month was made much more likely and worse by the human-caused climate crisis, in addition to other human factors, according to a new scientific analysis [Interplay of climate change-exacerbated […]

Map showing the heat index forecast in the United States on 24 August 2023. 110 million people in the U.S. were exposed to dangerous heat today. Graphic: The Washington Post

August 24, 2023

Heat dome shatters all-time U.S. records as Europe roasts – “Brutal” heat wave brings triple-digit temperatures from Chicago to New Orleans – 110 million people exposed to dangerous heat

By Andrew Freedman 24 August 2023 (Axios) – In a summer featuring countless heat domes and record-high temperatures and heat indices, the season appears to have saved the worst for last. The big picture: A sweltering, stagnant air mass is draped across the Central U.S., resulting in “dangerous,” “searing” and “brutal” heat. Meanwhile, southern Europe is also seeing another bout of […]

Maximum July temperatures averaged over the length of the heat events defined for the WWA study published on 25 July 2023 (left-hand side) and the same but expressed in anomalies with respect to 1950-2023 (right-hand side). The first row shows the Western USA and Mexico, the second Southern Europe and the third row China. Graphic: World Weather Attribution

August 5, 2023

Extreme heat in North America, Europe, and China in July 2023 made much more likely by global warming – Without human-induced climate change these heat events would have been extremely rare: China heatwave would have been a 1 in 250-year event, and max heat like in July 2023 would have been virtually impossible in the U.S./Mexico region and Southern Europe

25 July 2023 (World Weather Attribution) – Following a record hot June, large areas of the US and Mexico, Southern Europe and China experienced extreme heat in July 2023, breaking many local high temperature records. July 2023 saw extreme heatwaves in several parts of the Northern Hemisphere, including the Southwest of the US and Mexico, […]

Clouds of smoke from a forest fire rise to the sky on the island of Rhodes, Greece, Saturday, 22 July 2023. A large blaze burning on the Greek island of Rhodes for the fifth day forced authorities to order an evacuation of four locations, including two seaside resorts. Photo: Rhodes.Rodos / AP

July 23, 2023

2,000 people including tourists evacuated as a wildfire rages on the Greek island of Rhodes

By Demetris Nellas 22 July 2023 ATHENS, Greece (AP) – A large wildfire burning on the Greek island of Rhodes for a fifth day has forced authorities to order an evacuation of four locations, including two seaside resorts. About 2,000 people, including tourists, were evacuated by sea, fire department spokesman Yannis Artopios said Saturday evening. […]

Map of regional temperature anomaly and heat-related mortality rate in Europe during the summer of 2022. a, Regional temperature anomaly (°C) averaged over the summer. b–f, Regional heat-related mortality rate (summer deaths per million) aggregated over the summer for the whole population (b), women aged 65–79 years (c), men aged 65–79 years (d), women aged 80+ years (e) and men aged 80+ years (f). Summer refers to the 14-week period between 30 May and 4 September 2022 (weeks 22–35). Graphic: Ballester, et al., 2023 / Nature Medicine

July 23, 2023

Study finds possibility that more Europeans died because of heat in 2022 than any year in recorded history

By Alice Park 10 July 2023 (TIME) – As the Earth continues to warm, the rising temperatures are contributing to a number of health conditions that are in turn driving up mortality. And for the first time, scientists have figured out a more detailed way to estimate how many deaths can be attributed to heat. […]

State of press freedom worldwide 2013-2023. Changes in 180 countries and territories evaluated by RSF since 2013. In 2023, the situation was “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In other words, the environment for journalism was “bad” in seven out of ten countries, and satisfactory in only three out of ten. Graphic: RSF

May 9, 2023

2023 World Press Freedom Index – Journalism threatened by fake content industry – The environment for journalism is “bad” in seven out of ten countries, satisfactory in only three out of ten

3 May 2023 (RSF) – According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index – which evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and is published on World Press Freedom Day (3 May) – the situation is “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In […]