global warming – Page 52 – Desdemona Despair

Lake Mead end of month elevations, projections from the February and March 2022 24-month study inflow scenarios. Water year 2022 got off to a promising start in the Colorado River Basin with a wetter-than-normal October, but it was followed by the second-driest November on record and resulted in a loss of 1.5 million acre-feet of inflow for Lake Powell compared to the previous month’s projections. December projections showed the reservoir dropping below the target elevation of 3,525 feet as early as February 2022. As defined in the Drought Response Operations Agreement, the target elevation provides a sufficient buffer to allow for response actions to prevent Lake Powell from dropping below the minimum power pool elevation of 3,490 feet, the lowest elevation that Glen Canyon Dam can generate hydropower. Graphic: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

April 4, 2022

Empty canals, dead cotton fields: Arizona farmers are getting slammed by 2022 water cuts in the U.S. West – “We’re not making one dime off this farm right now”

By Emma Newburger 3 April 2022 CASA GRANDE, Arizona (CNBC) – On the drought-stricken land where Pinal County farmers have irrigated crops for thousands of years, Nancy Caywood stopped her pickup truck along an empty canal and pointed to a field of dead alfalfa. “It’s heart wrenching,” said Caywood, a third-generation farmer who manages 247 […]

Afghan children play in the mud at an unofficial camp for internally displaced people in Herat, Afghanistan, May 2021. Photo: Charlie Faulkner

April 4, 2022

Devastated by worst drought in decades and economic turmoil, many in Afghanistan near starvation – “It is the speed, scale and source of the crisis that is so extreme”

By Holly Rosenkrantz 3 April 2022 (USA TODAY) – Afghanistan has faced grave hunger crises before. Two decades ago, people in the country were so hungry they resorted to eating wild grass. But the situation in the country now is unprecedented. Exacerbated by an unusually cold winter and the worst drought in decades, the economic […]

Antarctic sea ice extent for 25 February 2022, was 1.92 million square kilometers (741,000 square miles). The orange line shows the 1981 to 2010 average extent for that day. Graphic: National Snow and Ice Data Center

April 3, 2022

WMO: Antarctic heat, rain, and ice prompt concern – “This event is rewriting record books and our expectations about what is possible in Antarctica”

1 April 2022 (WMO) – Record high temperatures, rain and the collapse of an ice shelf in East Antarctica have prompted questions and concern about the possible role of climate change in the coldest and driest part of the world. Record high temperatures, rain and the collapse of an ice shelf in East Antarctica have […]

A woman uses a candle inside her house during a power cut in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 30 March 2022. Many parts of the crisis-hit country faced up to 13 hours without electricity due to a shortage of foreign currency to import fuel. Photo: AFP

April 3, 2022

Power cuts in Sri Lanka could continue into May 2022 – Nation experiencing worst economic spiral since independence in 1948

COLOMBO, 31 March 2022 (The Straits Times) – Sri Lanka’s power minister said on Thursday (31 March 2022) that power cuts could continue into May, as many parts of the crisis-hit country currently face up to 13 hours without electricity due to a shortage of foreign currency to import fuel. Pavithra Wanniarachchi said that a […]

Number of March tornadoes across the United States, 2013-2022. March 2022 saw more tornadoes in the U.S. than any March on record. Data: NCDC / Storm Prediction Center Graphic: CNN

April 3, 2022

March 2022 set new U.S. tornado record for second year in a row – Scientists are seeing a dangerous shift in early-spring tornadoes

By Caitlin Kaiser and Brandon Miller 31 March 2022 (CNN) – This month has seen more tornadoes in the US than any March on record following this week’s severe weather outbreak. It’s the second year in a row the country has endured a record number of tornadoes in March, solidifying a trend toward more severe weather […]

John Lawrence and Payton Campbell (unseen at rear) with their children Harlow and Aria inspect a flooded road near their home on 2 March 2022 in Dungay, Australia. Several northern New South Wales towns were forced to evacuate as Australia faced unprecedented storms and the worst flooding in a decade. Photo: Dan Peled / Getty Images

March 29, 2022

Coastal home buyers are ignoring rising flood risks, despite clear warnings and rising insurance premiums

By Risa Palm and Toby W. Bolsen 25 March 2022 (The Conversation) – Apollo Beach, Florida, is a maze of canals lined with hundreds of houses perched right near the water’s edge. The whole community, just south of Tampa, is only about 3 feet above sea level, meaning it’s at risk from storm surge as […]

Tokyo Tower is illuminated only in the lower-half part in response to the government’s request to save electricity in Tokyo, Japan on 22 March 2022. Photo: Issei Kato / REUTERS

March 27, 2022

The future of energy will require bigger sacrifices from citizens – “If you don’t want to act on going 1 degree lower for climate change, do it against Putin”

By Stephen Stapczynski and Shoko Oda 25 March 2022 (Bloomberg News) – Not since the late 1970s have governments around the world been under so much pressure to ask their citizens to cut energy consumption for the greater good. The need for more energy conservation has snowballed: The war in Ukraine is forcing Europe to curb […]

Lismore, Australia residents Tim Fry and Zara Coronakes and son Ezekiel stand outside the remains of their flooded home on 11 March 2022. Photo: Jason O'Brien / AAP

March 27, 2022

After the Australia floods, the distressing but necessary case for managed retreat – “Is it fair for taxpayers to carry the huge burden of paying for future rescue and relief costs?”

By Antonia Settle 13 March 2022 (The Conversation) – From Brisbane to Sydney, many thousands of Australians have been reliving a devastating experience they hoped – in 2021, 2020, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2012 or 2010/11 – would never happen to them again. For some suburbs built on the flood plains of the Nepean River in […]

This photo from 7 March 2022 shows coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef experienced its sixth massive bleaching event in 2022 as climate change has warmed the ocean, raising concerns over whether one of the world’s natural wonders is nearing a tipping point. Photo: Glenn Nicholls / AFP / Getty Images

March 27, 2022

Global warming deals another blow to the Great Barrier Reef – “This is a first mass bleaching event during a La Niña”

By Darryl Fears 26 March 2022 (The Washington Post) – Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its sixth massive bleaching event as climate change has warmed the ocean, raising concerns over whether one of the world’s natural wonders is nearing a tipping point. Reef managers confirmed Friday that aerial surveys detected catastrophic bleaching on 60 […]

Aerial view of a coal waste operation in Russelton, Pennsylvania that uses waste coal to power bitcoin mining. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that although waste coal is burned using a different process, it still releases carbon dioxide that contributes to warming the atmosphere. The coal waste in Pennsylvania also releases more acid gas and sulfur dioxide than other types of coal. Photo: SCMP

March 27, 2022

Video: U.S. company plans to burn coal waste for bitcoin mining

By Evanne Yu 25 March 2022 (SCMP) – A company in Pennsylvania has an unusual plan to deal with coal waste – crypto mining. Stronghold Digital Mining uses waste left behind by decades-old coal power plants to generate the electricity for hundreds of supercomputers working to mine bitcoin. The US Environmental Protection Agency says that […]