Global warming will increase intensity of El Niño, scientists say – ‘ENSO-induced droughts and floods will be more intense in the future’

By Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent13 October 2013 (BBC News) – Scientists say they are more certain than ever about the impact of global warming on a critical weather pattern. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) occurs in the Pacific Ocean but plays an important part in the world’s climate system. Researchers have until now been unsure […]

More than 500 million people might face increasing water scarcity – ‘This is not about ducks and daisies, but the very basis of life’

Contact: Press Officepress@pik-potsdam.de49-331-288-2507Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)8 October 2013 More than 500 million people might face increasing water scarcity This is shown by complementary studies now published by scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) [Comparing projections of future changes in runoff from hydrological and biome models in ISI-MIP, Asynchronous […]

Graph of the Day: Projected timing of climate departure from recent variability

a, Mean annual temperatures of an example grid cell (small square on map) exceed historical climate bounds (grey area) for three consecutive years starting in 2012 (blue arrow) and for 11 consecutive years after 2023 (green arrow); after 2036 (red arrow) all subsequent years remained outside the bounds (data from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Earth […]

Cost of flood insurance rises, along with worries – ‘The flood insurance program is one big storm away from not existing at all’

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ and CAMPBELL ROBERTSON12 October 2013 MIAMI (The New York Times) — Sharp increases in federal flood insurance rates are distressing coastal homeowners from Hawaii to New England and are starting to hurt property values and housing sales in areas just beginning to recover from the recession, according to residents and legislators. In […]

Cyclone Phailin leaves widespread damage in India – Hundreds of thousands of homes washed away – ‘There are no farms left. Everything has disappeared into the water.’

13 October 2013 (AP) – People in India began sorting through the wreckage Sunday after Cyclone Phailin roared ashore, flooding towns and villages and destroying tens of thousands of thatch homes, but officials said the country had been spared the widespread loss of life that many had feared. About 18 hours after the storm — […]

After the flood: Colorado making tough decisions about how to rebuild – ‘Mother Nature has reset the playing field for us’

By Amanda Paulson12 October 2013 Lyons, Colorado (Christian Science Monitor) – When the waters of the St. Vrain came pouring over its banks one night last month, they ripped out huge trees, tore through homes along Apple Valley Road, cut new channels through parks and yards, and rushed through some downtown neighborhoods in Lyons, Colo., […]

Cyclone Phailin battering India, turns deadly – 600,000 people evacuated, 12 million people likely to be affected

By Eric Leister, Meteorologist12 October 2013 (AccuWeather) – Tropical Cyclone Phailin has made landfall in northeastern India, where a catastrophe threatens to unfold and deaths are already being reported. Destructive winds well over 160 kph (100 mph) and flooding rain of at least 100-200 mm (4-8 inches) is expected across a wide area. There will […]

Map: These are the cities that climate change will hit first – ‘The boundary of passing from the climate of the past to the climate of the future happens surprisingly soon’

By Max Fisher9 October 2013 (Washington Post) – Climate scientists sometimes talk about something called “climate departure” as a way of measuring when climate change has really changed things. It’s the moment when average temperatures, either in a specific location or worldwide, become so impacted by climate change that the old climate is left behind. […]

Typhoon Phailin bearing down on India with winds and rain – ‘It’s going to cause pretty complete devastation on the coast where it hits’

KENDRAPARA, India, 11 October 2013 (UPI) – Rough seas forced fishing vessels to return to port Friday as Typhoon Phailin bore down on India’s Bay of Bengal, officials said. Four fishermen were rescued a day after their ship capsized near the Gahirmatha and Bhitarkanika marine sanctuaries, Paradip marine fisheries officer Ranjit Keshari Dash told Press […]

Study: U.S. media sowed doubt in coverage of UN climate report

By Max Greenberg, Denise Robbins, and Shauna Theel10 October 2013 (Media Matters) – A study of coverage of the recent United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report finds that many mainstream media outlets amplified the marginal viewpoints of those who doubt the role of human activity in warming the planet, even though the […]

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