Aerial view of the Paso Severino reservoir that supplies water to Montevideo, Uruguay, in July 2023. It is nearly completely empty and currently only holds only 3 percent of its normal capacity due to three consecutive years of drought. Uruguay is facing the worst water crisis in its history due to the prolonged drought. Photo: Guardian News

Three consecutive years of drought leave millions in Uruguay without tap water fit for drinking – Main reservoir for capital at 3 percent of capacity

By Martín Tocar 15 July 2023 (The Guardian) – More than half of Uruguay’s 3.5 million citizens are without access to tap water fit for drinking, and experts say the situation could continue for months. Some had predicted the crisis years ago when pointing out the vulnerability of the single reservoir supplying water to the […]

Meridional winds in m/s (contours; purple: southerly, orange: northerly winds, in (a–c, e–g) contours start at an absolute value of 3 m/s and increase/decrease by 3 respectively, in (d, h) contours start an absolute value of 0.5 and increase/decrease by steps of one) and near surface temperature anomalies filled contours during (a–c) wave-7 and (e–g) wave- 5 events relative to the respective climatology in the northern hemisphere summer (JJA) based on (a, e) ERA5 reanalysis (1960–2014), (b, f) historical (1960–2014) and (c, g) future (SSP5-8.5, 2045–2099) bias-adjusted output from CMIP6 simulations (four models). d, h) Difference in meridional winds and temperature response during wave events comparing historical and future patterns in four bias-adjusted CMIP6 models (for twelve non adjusted models see Fig. S6). Hatching shows statistical significance on a 95% confidence level (a, d, e, h) or 100% model agreement in sign (4 out of 4 models, b, c, f, g) While the phase positions and intensity of the wave patterns (line contour) are well represented in the models their surface imprint are considerably underestimated in historical simulations. Changes in the temperature response are identified over North America, Eurasia and East Asia (d, h). Graphic: Kornhuber, et al., 2023 / Nature Communications

Study finds climate risk to crops greater than thought – Simultaneous harvest failures across major crop-producing regions threaten global food security – “These types of concurring events are really largely underestimated”

By Kelly Macnamara 4 July 2023 (AFP) – The risks of harvest failures in multiple global breadbaskets have been underestimated, according to a study Tuesday that researchers said should be a “wake up call” about the threat climate change poses to our food systems. Food production is both a key source of planet-warming emissions and […]

An aerial view shows the normally submerged colonial-era Dominican church in Quechula, Mexico, in June, 2023. The 16th-century construction emerged from reservoir waters amid a drought. Photo: Raul Vera / AFP / Getty Images

Drowned 16th-century church emerges from bottom of Mexico reservoir after drought – “What do I support my family with? Right now, I have nothing.”

By Aristos Georgiou 19 June 23 (Newsweek) – A 16th-century church has emerged from the waters of a reservoir in Mexico amid a drought. The colonial-era Dominican church is located in Quechula in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The building had been almost entirely submerged since 1966 when a dam was built on a […]

Plaintiffs Mica, 14; Badge 15, Lander 18, and Taleah, 19, listen to arguments during a status hearing on 12 May 2023, in Helena, Montana, for a case that they and other Montana youth filed against the state arguing Montana officials are not meeting their constitutional obligations to protect residents from climate change. The first-of-its-kind trial began Monday, 12 June 2023, before District Court Judge Kathy Seeley in Helena. Photo: Thom Bridge /Independent Record / AP

Youth environmentalists bring Montana climate case to trial after 12 years, seeking to set precedent – “We’ve seen repeatedly over the last few years what the Montana state Legislature is choosing. They are choosing fossil fuel development. They are choosing corporations over the needs of their citizens.”

By Matthew Brown and Amy Beth Hanson 10 June 2023 HELENA, Montana (AP News) – Whether a constitutional right to a healthy, livable climate is protected by state law is at the center of a lawsuit going to trial Monday in Montana, where 16 young plaintiffs and their attorneys hope to set an important legal precedent. It’s the first […]

Smoke billows upward from a planned ignition by firefighters tackling the Donnie Creek Complex wildfire south of Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada on 3 June 2023. Photo: B.C. Wildfire Service / REUTERS

Canada on track for its worst-ever wildfire season in 2023 – “Over the last 20 years, we have never seen such a large area burned so early in the season”

OTTAWA, 5 June 2023 (Reuters) – Canada is on track for its worst-ever year of wildfire destruction as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist through to the end of the summer after an unprecedented start to the fire season, officials said on Monday. Blazes are burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories, […]

Smoke billowed from a fire near the town of Shelburne on 29 May 2023, when an astronaut on the International Space Station took this photograph. By the morning of 31 May 2023, after four days of burning, the fire had scorched 17,000 hectares (66 square miles) near the southern tip of Nova Scotia. It became the largest forest fire in the province’s history, according to CBC Nova Scotia, exceeding the area burned (13,000 hectares) by a fire in Guysborough County over six days in June 1976. Photo: Wanmei Liang / NASA Earth Observatory

How climate change factored into Nova Scotia’s wildfires – “All our infrastructure was built for a climate that doesn’t exist anymore”

By Nathan Coleman 7 June 2023 (The Weather Network) – Wildfires raging across Canada have already scorched more than 10 times the land than usual, causing a massive amount of damages in multiple provinces as dangerous air quality lingers overhead. “All our infrastructure was built for a climate that doesn’t exist anymore,” University of Toronto atmospheric physics […]

Kansas wheat farmers in 2023 expected the worst harvest in 60 years due to ongoing drought. Photo: KCTV 5

Kansas wheat harvest in 2023 expected to be historically small due to two-year drought

By Morgan Mobley 5 June 2023 (KCTV) – Kansas has been called the country’s breadbasket. Now, wheat farmers in the state will reap their smallest harvest in more than 60 years. This will go directly down the chain, from farmers to consumers at the grocery store. Kansas flour mills will likely have to buy wheat […]

Map showing early warning hunger hotspots, June-November 2023. Hunger was set to worsen in 18 “hotspots” worldwide including Sudan, where fighting put people at risk of starvation, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warned in a report published on Monday, 29 May 2023. Sudan, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Mali were elevated to the highest alert level, joining Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. Graphic: UN FAO

UN agencies warn of rising hunger risk in 18 “hotspots” – “Not only are more people in more places around the world going hungry, but the severity of the hunger they face is worse than ever”

29 May 2023 (UN News) – Hunger is set to worsen in 18 “hotspots” worldwide including Sudan, where fighting is putting people at risk of starvation, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warned in a report published on Monday. Sudan, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Mali have been elevated to the highest alert level, joining Afghanistan, Nigeria, […]

A worker uses a digital thermometer to record a surface temperature of 42.6°C (108.7°F) in Beijing, China on 15 May 2023. Photo: China Central Television / SCMP

Southern China swelters, power grids struggle under “relentless” heatwaves – Pigs, rabbits, and fish dying from searing temperatures – “It’s just been week on week on week of these records being shattered”

By David Kirton 2 June 2023 BEIJING (Reuters) – Heatwaves tormenting parts of southern and eastern China are set to persist through June, putting power grids under strain as air conditioners are turned on full blast at homes, offices and factories in mega-cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen. In the next three days, most of southern […]

A water meter stands in dry wetland in Donana natural park, southwest Spain as unprecedented drought hits the nation in 2023. Photo: Bernat Armangue / Africanews / AP Photo

“Murderers” and “criminals”: Meteorologists face unprecedented harassment from conspiracy theorists – “It was one of the hardest experiences in social media in my life”

By Laura Paddison 27 May 2023 (CNN) – “Murderers.” “Criminals.” “We are watching you.” These are just a handful of the threats and abuse sent to meteorologists at AEMET, Spain’s national weather agency, in recent months. They come via social media, its website, letters, phone calls – even in the form of graffiti sprayed across […]

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