Aerial view of flooding in Kingfisher, Oklahoma on 21 May 2019. Photo: Bloomberg

Wettest weather in 124 years has U.S. farmers speeding crops – “It’s hard to imagine that climate change did not rest a heavy thumb on the scale”

By Denitsa Tsekova and Brian K. Sullivan 1 July 2019 (Bloomberg) – After suffering through the wettest 12 months since at least 1895, U.S. farmers have plans to adapt next year to what some forecasters say may be an increasingly soggy new normal for the nation’s midsection. The plans include bigger and faster tractors to […]

Residents get water from a community well in Chennai after reservoirs for the city ran dry in June 2019. The bustling capital of Tamil Nadu state usually receives 825 million litres of water a day, but authorities are currently only able to supply 60 percent of that. With temperatures regularly hitting 40 degrees Celsius, reservoirs have run dry and other water sources are dwindling each day. Photo: Arun Sankar / AFP

Why India’s Chennai has run out of water

By Nityanand Jayaraman 1 July 2019 (BBC News) – As I write this, it has rained in Chennai – the first real welcome shower, but one that lasted only 30 minutes. But, still, that has been enough to flood the streets and stall traffic. The irony is that Chennai’s vulnerability to floods and its water […]

Aerial view of people cooling off at a lake in Haltern am See, western Germany, on 26 June 2019. Temperatures in Gemany reached as high as 38.6°C that day, setting a new all-time German heat record for June that had stood since 1947. That record was beaten again on Sunday, 30 June 2019, with a 39.6°C reading at river Saale. Photo: Ina Fassbender / AFP / Getty Images

European heat wave shifts east, all-time heat records tumble in Germany – “For all practical purposes, the heat wave is caused by human-made global warming”

By Dr. Jeff Masters 1 July 2019 (Weather Underground) – More than 30 locations in Central Europe—including towns and cities in Denmark, France, Germany, and Poland—set all-time heat records on Sunday as the continent’s historic June heat wave of 2019 shifted eastward. Three nations set all-time heat records for the month of June on Sunday: […]

A policeman stands next to vehicles buried in hail in the eastern area of Guadalajara, Mexico, on 30 June 2019. Photo: Ulises Ruiz / AFP / Getty Images

Guadalajara, Mexico, covered in ice after a freakish summer hailstorm – “Hail more than a meter high, and then we wonder if climate change exists”

By Christina Maxouris 1 July 2019 (CNN) – Guadalajara had been enjoying a sweaty summer for the past few weeks until the weekend brought a shocking surprise. The Mexican city woke up Sunday morning to more than 3 feet of ice in some areas after a heavy hailstorm swept through the region. As government officials […]

Screenshot showing the Akademik Lomonosov, Russia’s floating nuclear power plant. Photo: CNN

Russia plans to tow a nuclear power station to the Arctic. Critics dub it a “floating Chernobyl”

By Mary Ilyushina 30 June 2019 Murmansk, Russia (CNN) – Next month, a floating nuclear power plant called the Akademik Lomonosov will be towed via the Northern Sea Route to its final destination in the Far East, after almost two decades in construction. It’s part of Russia’s ambition to bring electric power to a mineral-rich region. The 144-meter […]

Triathlete Jan Frodeno of Germany tries to cool down on his way to win the Ironman triathlon European Championships in Frankfurt, Germany, 30 June 2019. Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach / REUTERS

Europe heatwave burns on, two cyclists die from record temperatures – “It felt like a race against global warming. You could have fried an egg on my head.”

By Gus Trompiz and Joan Faus 30 June 2019 PARIS/MADRID (Reuters) – A four-day heatwave across western Europe that killed seven people began to ease slightly on Sunday, as temperature alerts were cut back and wildfires slowly brought under control. Most of the fires that had broken out Spain in recent days were stabilized, but […]

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks with the media on the opening day of the parliament session in New Delhi, India, 17 June 2019. Photo: Adnan Abidi / REUTERS

India PM calls for water conservation push as drought hits crops

By Devjyot Ghoshal 30 June 2019 NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday pushed for greater grassroots water conservation efforts amid concerns weak monsoon rains would push millions of drought-hit people to the edge and hammer agricultural production in Asia’s third-biggest economy. The monsoon season is responsible for around 70% of […]

A 3,400-year-old palace of the Mittani Empire emerged from a reservoir in the Kurdistan region of Iraq after water levels dropped because of drought in June 2019. The Mittani Empire is one of the least researched civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Clay tablets found at the site have been sent to Germany for translation. Photo: University of Tübingen eScience Cente / Kurdistan Archaeology Organization

Ancient palace emerges from drought-hit Iraq reservoir

By Jack Guy 28 June 2019 (CNN) – A 3,400-year-old palace has emerged from a reservoir in the Kurdistan region of Iraq after water levels dropped because of drought. The discovery of the ruins in the Mosul Dam reservoir on the banks of the Tigris River inspired a spontaneous archeological dig that will improve understanding […]

A motorist drives on top of the Kariba Dam wall in Kariba, Zimbabwe, 19 February 2016. Photo: Philimon Bulawayo / REUTERS

Too much water or too little: Hydropower fights wild weather as climate changes rapidly

By Gerald Porter Jr. and Jeremy Hodges 22 June 2019 (Bloomberg) – The Kariba Dam has towered over one of Africa’s mightiest rivers for 60 years, forming the world’s largest reservoir and providing reliable electricity to Zambia and Zimbabwe. But as drought grips the region, flow on the Zambezi river has dwindled to a third of what […]

Ice extent for selected glaciers in Glacier National Park in 1966 and 2015. Graphic: The New York Times

Glacier National Park’s name will outlive its glaciers – “It’s just kind of sad to see”

By Doug Struck 18 June 2019 GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA (The Christian Science Monitor) – Maria Clemens took time off from her post-college summer job on a Montana ranch to hike into this national park to see a glacier. “I don’t like it,” she pronounced on the trail as she returned. “It’s just kind of […]

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