Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Hurricane Florence pushes 100+ MPH gusts ashore – “Life-threatening, catastrophic flash flooding and prolonged significant river flooding are likely”

13 September 2018 (The Weather Channel) – Hurricane Florence is spreading heavy rain and strong winds into the Carolinas, with landfall possible either overnight tonight or on Friday, kicking off an agonizing crawl through the Southeast into early next week, producing catastrophic inland rainfall flooding, life-threatening storm surge and destructive winds. Happening Now As of […]

New data: Adult obesity rates top 35 percent in seven U.S. states – As recently as 2012, no state was over 35 percent

WASHINGTON, DC, 12 September 2018 (Trust for America’s Health) – Seven U. S. states had adult obesity rates at or above 35 percent in 2017, up from five states in 2016, and no state had a statistically significant improvement in its obesity rate over the past year, according to new national data reported in the […]

Ailing orca J50 declared dead by NOAA researcher – Only 74 southern resident killer whales remain in the Salish Sea

SEATTLE, 13 September 2018 (AP) – Efforts to find an ailing orca from a critically endangered population of killer whales off Washington state have come up empty, and a scientist who tracks them has declared her dead. Ken Balcomb, of the Center for Whale Research, confirmed Thursday that he had declared the orca known as […]

Video: What could happen in a world that’s 4 degrees warmer?

27 August 2018 (WIRED) – Comedian Aparna Nancherla explores how global warming and climate change will directly affect our lives 100 years from now when the average global temperature is projected to increase by 4 degrees Celsius, or 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Nancherla met with Professor of Atmospheric Science at UC Berkeley, Inez Fung, and Chief […]

Philippines starts massive evacuations as Super Typhoon Mangkhut closes in – “We’re worried for the 10 million people living in the path of this destructive storm”

MANILA, Philippines, 13 September 2018 (NBC News) – Philippine authorities began evacuating thousands of people Thursday from the path of the most powerful typhoon this year, closing schools, readying bulldozers for landslides and placing rescuers and troops on full alert in the country’s north. More than 4 million people live in areas at most risk […]

Rivers and wells in post-flood Kerala dry up – Kilometers-long cracks in earth cause depletion of groundwater reserves – Kerala state requests $655 million for relief funding

Thiruvananthapuram, 13 September 2018 (PTI) – With mercury levels rising and abnormal drying up of rivers and wells reported in flood-hit Kerala, the state government has decided to conduct scientific studies on the post-flood phenomenon in the state. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment to carry out […]

Without evidence, Trump rejects official Puerto Rico hurricane death toll of 2,975 victims – San Juan Mayor calls him “delusional, paranoid, and unhinged from any sense of reality”

By Catherine Lucey, Zeke Miller, and Jonathan Lemire 13 September 2018 WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected the official conclusion that nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico from last year’s Hurricane Maria, arguing without evidence that the number was wrong and calling it a plot by Democrats to make him “look […]

Amid ocean heatwave, Gulf of Maine experiences record temperatures in 2018 – “We’ve set 10 daily temperature records this summer, after setting 18 this winter”

By Patrick Whittle 30 August 2018 PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – The waters off of New England are already warming faster than most of the world’s oceans, and they are nearing the end of one of the hottest summers in their history. That is the takeaway from an analysis of summer sea surface temperatures in the […]

Yellowstone National Park hit by global warming, increased visitation

By Laura Zuckerman 10 September 2018 PINEDALE, Wyoming (Reuters) – Hotter, drier conditions have led to more severe wildfires in Yellowstone National Park, while growing numbers of visitors have harmed everything from prized hydrothermal features to its famed grizzly bears, the park said in a report on Monday. Average temperatures in Yellowstone, which has been […]

How Hurricane Florence may affect wildlife

By Jason Bittel 12 September 2018 (National Geographic) – Evacuations are already underway in North and South Carolina in anticipation of Hurricane Florence’s arrival this weekend. But what happens to the wild animals that aren’t set up for text alerts?Experience suggests it won’t be pretty, and stories abound from storms past. For example, in August […]

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