Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Strong heat wave predicted for much of Europe next week

14 September 2018 (Severe Weather Europe) – Mid-range model trends are confirming a new heat wave across Europe next week: temperatures will likely be 8-10°C higher than average for mid to late-September in central, western, eastern, and southeastern Europe. This means temperatures in the upper 20s and low 30s again! The heat wave comes as […]

Death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria: the facts about excess mortality – “Thousands of our fellow American citizens lost their lives”

15 September 2018 (Desdemona Despair) – On Thursday, Trump took time from his busy schedule to tweet that the official death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria “was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible”.It’s hard to decide where to start with such a cockamamie claim, so […]

Hurricane Florence’s 1-in-100-year storm surge breaks all-time records

Dr. Jeff Masters 14 September 2018             (Weather Underground) –  Hurricane Florence was only a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale when it struck, but the hurricane’s massive wind field brought a huge storm surge to the coast that broke all-time high-water records as much as 65 years old. Two of the three tide […]

This is how the world ends: Will we soon see Category 6 hurricanes?

By Jeff Nesbit 15 September 2018 (The Guardian) – There is no such thing as a category 6 hurricane or tropical storm – yet. The highest level – the top of the scale for the most powerful, most devastating hurricane or tropical storm capable of destroying entire cities like New Orleans or New York – […]

At least 14 dead as Typhoon Mangkhut hits the Philippines – Most powerful storm of 2018 so far targets Hong Kong and Hanoi

15 September 2018 (BBC News) – Some 14 people have been killed in a massive storm which brought destruction to the northern Philippines, a presidential adviser says. Typhoon Mangkhut ripped through the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, and is now moving west towards China. Almost all buildings in the city of Tuguegarao sustained some damage, […]

Scientists urge immediate, decisive action to tackle deoxygenation in world’s oceans – “The ocean is in a global crisis”

KIEL, 7 September 2018 (UNESCO) – This week, more than 300 scientists from 33 countries met in Kiel, Germany, at an international conference to discuss the decline of oxygen in the ocean, the causes and the consequences. At the conclusion of the conference, the scientists published a haunting appeal, the “Kiel Declaration”, in which they […]

“Shadow” of persistent inequality is growing, key UN human development report reveals

14 September 2018 (UN News) – While health, education, and income levels have improved overall across the globe, “wide inequalities” both among and within countries, are casting a shadow on sustained human development, a new United Nations report shows.Looking at the widening gap in real terms, a child born in Norway today – the country […]

Democracy “showing greater strain” than at any time in decades, says UN chief on International Day of Democracy

14 September 2018 (UN News) – Tackling economic and political inequality is at the root of strengthening democratic institutions at a time when they are under huge strain, said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday, marking the official International Day of Democracy.“It means making our democracies more inclusive, by bringing the young and marginalized […]

Samoa PM: World leaders who deny climate change should go to mental hospital

By Kate Lyons 30 August 2018 (The Guardian) – The prime minister of Samoa has called climate change an “existential threat … for all our Pacific family” and said that any world leader who denied climate change’s existence should be taken to a mental hospital.In a searing speech delivered on Thursday night during a visit […]

North Carolina didn’t like science on sea levels … so passed a law against it in 2012

By Erin Durkin 12 September 2018 (The Guardian) – When North Carolina got bad news about what its coast could look like thanks to climate change, it chose to ignore it.In 2012, the state now in the path of Hurricane Florence reacted to a prediction by its Coastal Resources Commission that sea levels could rise […]

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