Sydney’s bushfire season now starts in winter – “We may have to rethink how we live”

By Lisa Cox 15 August 2018 SYDNEY (The Guardian) – At first the smoke on the horizon “didn’t look like anything major,” says Joe Mercieca of that day in 2013. But then the wind picked up. His house in the Blue Mountains, an hour and a half out of Sydney, was soon surrounded by the […]

“Devastating” dolphin loss in Florida red tide disaster – More than 100 tons of dead sea creatures have been shoveled up from smelly, deserted beaches

16 August 2018 (AFP) – A state of emergency has been declared in Florida as the worst red tide in a decade blackens the ocean water, killing dolphins, sea turtles and fish at a relentless pace. More than 100 tons of dead sea creatures have been shoveled up from smelly, deserted beaches in tourist areas […]

Greenhouse gas feedback discovered in freshwater lakes – “The warming climates that promote the growth of aquatic plants have the potential to trigger a damaging feedback loop in natural ecosystems”

4 May 2018 (University of Cambridge) – Latest research finds plant debris in lake sediment affects methane emissions. The flourishing reed beds created by changing climates could threaten to double the already significant methane production of the world’s northern lakes. A new study of chemical reactions that occur when organic matter decomposes in freshwater lakes […]

Wildfire haze from B.C. wildfires raising air quality concerns across Alberta – Smoke blankets every region in the province

15 August 2018 (CBC News) – It’s going to be another suffocating day in Alberta as smoke from wildfires in B.C. drifts east. Much of the province is, once again, under a blanket of smoke and haze — and there is little relief in the forecast. Environment Canada expects the haze will last for several […]

Photo gallery: British Columbia wildfires turn day into night

By Clare Hennig 15 August 2018 (CBC News) – Nearly 600 fires are burning across British Columbia, covering the sky in flame-coloured haze and blanketing the air with smoke.A provincial state of emergency has been declared.Dozens of evacuation orders and alerts are in effect in the north and central regions, affecting more than 20,000 people.In […]

Afternoon skies look “like midnight” in British Columbia as more than 560 wildfires rage – State of emergency declared across entire province

By Imogen Birchard and John McGill 15 August 2018(CBC Radio) – Trevor Chapman was forced to abandon his trailer park in Fraser Lake, B.C., as the wildfires around his home grew.On Wednesday, the British Columbia government declared a state of emergency. Over 560 fires are burning across the province and thousands of people are under […]

POLITICO: Draft details Trump’s plan for reversing Obama climate rule – “Another, more official, sign that the government of the U.S. is not committed to climate policy”

By Emily Holden 14 August 2018 (POLITICO) – The Trump administration is preparing to unveil its plan for undoing Barack Obama’s most ambitious climate regulation — offering a replacement that would do far less to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, according to POLITICO’s review of a portion of the unpublished […]

Cliff Mass: Seattle’s worst 24-hour air quality on record

By Cliff Mass 15 August 2018 (Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog) – Air quality in western Washington is very poor right now.Incredibly, in central Puget Sound it is probably the worst in the nearly two-decade observing record of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency for any time of the year.I have been here a […]

New probabilistic model predicts 2018-2022 will be abnormally hot years

PARIS, 14 August 2018 (CNRS) – This summer’s world-wide heatwave makes 2018 a particularly hot year. As will be the next few years, according to a study led by Florian Sévellec, a CNRS researcher at the Laboratory for Ocean Physics and Remote Sensing (LOPS) (CNRS/IFREMER/IRD/University of Brest) and at the University of Southampton, and published […]

Halfway to boiling: the city at 50C – “The blast of furnace-like heat literally feels life-threatening and apocalyptic”

By Jonathan Watts and Elle Hunt 13 August 2018 (The Guardian) – Imagine a city at 50C (122F). The pavements are empty, the parks quiet, entire neighbourhoods appear uninhabited. Nobody with a choice ventures outside during daylight hours. Only at night do the denizens emerge, HG Wells-style, into the streets – though, in temperatures that […]

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