U.S. cold snap inspires climate change denial, while scientists see little room for doubt – ‘The real story is that people have forgotten what cold weather is like. It was common 20 years ago.’

By Brian Clark Howard8 January 2014 (National Geographic News) – The most severe cold snap in the U.S. in 20 years (see pictures) has some people questioning whether the Earth’s climate is in fact warming. The conservative website Breitbart.com has called the cold snap evidence of a global warming “hoax,” while Donald Trump recently tweeted: […]

About 100,000 bats dead after Australia heatwave – ‘The heatwave was basically a catastrophe for all the bat colonies in south-east Queensland’

[“We were all sitting around having lunch, and it flew into the tree next to the back deck, and it took its last breath and screamed and fell on the deck in front of everybody.” Desdemona remembers when thousands of birds fell from the sky in Australia during the record heatwave of 2009.] By Josh […]

Severe fire warnings issued in Queensland, Western Australia amid record-breaking heat wave

By Reissa Su  7 January 2014 (IBT) – Western Australia continues to experience rising temperatures due to a record-breaking heat wave that began in the later weeks of December before creeping towards South Australia. Queensland and New South Wales were not spared from the sweltering heat with temperatures peaking across Queensland on Jan. 3. According […]

Colorado River: 14 years of drought nearly unrivaled in 1,250 years – ‘If Lake Mead goes below elevation 1000, we lose any capacity to pump water to serve the municipal needs of seven in 10 people in Nevada’

By MICHAEL WINES5 January 2014 LAKE MEAD, Nevada (The New York Times) – The sinuous Colorado River and its slew of man-made reservoirs from the Rockies to southern Arizona are being sapped by 14 years of drought nearly unrivaled in 1,250 years. The once broad and blue river has in many places dwindled to a […]

Graph of the Day: Record heat wave in Argentina, December 2013

By Holli Riebeek8 January 2014 (NASA) – A deadly heatwave left its signature on the land in Argentina. This image is a compilation of land surface temperatures observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite between December 19 -26, 2013, compared to average temperatures for the same period in 2000-2012. Nearly […]

Historic ‘black swell’ hits Europe with 60-foot waves – ‘The biggest storm I have seen on maps’

6 January 2014 (Surfer Today) – The “Black Swell” is hitting UK, Ireland, and Portugal. Huge waves have been spotted, as the storm passes through the Azores Islands and heads to Continental Europe. The black fetch is wide, fast and furious. The swell charts don’t lie. The eye of the storm is larger than the […]

Argentina sanctions power companies for repeated outages that affected millions during record heat wave

4 January 2013 (MercoPress) – Argentina sanctions power companies for repeated outages that affected millions Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido said the government of President Cristina Fernandez will not give in to “companies’ pressure’ that seek to reach a tariff hike. “The system failed where there was no investment,” the minister affirmed accusing Edenor […]

Climate scientist Ralph Keeling in crowdfunding plea to back key research as government funding for global warming research dries up

[University of California at San Diego, home of the Scripps program, is accepting donations here.] By John H. Cushman Jr.2 January 2014 (InsideClimate News) – Ralph Keeling, the director of an acclaimed Scripps program that keeps track of the amounts of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere, has renewed his plea for public support […]

Record tides and floods as severe storms lash Ireland, with more on the way – ‘Black Swell’ to hit UK, Ireland, and Portugal

By PATRICK COUNIHAN4 January 2014 (IrishCentral) – The latest storms to hit Ireland will cost the economy almost half a billion dollars – with more on the way over the weekend. Record tides and devastating flood and gales lashed the country on Friday with Ireland’s weather forecast service warning of a repeat on Sunday. Experts […]

2013 was hottest year on record in Australia – PM Tony Abbott urged to rethink climate policy

3 January 2014 (ABC) – Australia has just sweltered through its hottest year on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Average temperatures were 1.20 degrees Celsius above the long-term average of 21.8C, breaking the previous record set in 2005 by 0.17C, the bureau said in its Annual Climate Statement. All states and territories recorded […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial