10 January 2013 (The Kansas City Star) – The overwhelming number of scientists who believe in climate change scored another “victory” in 2012. Unfortunately, because of timid political leadership in the United States and around the world, the war against global warming is still being lost. Scientists have long warned that man-made greenhouse gases are […]
By Luke Harding 9 January 2013 (guardian.co.uk) – The tornadoes of fire came from two directions. They quickly engulfed the small Tasmanian fishing town of Dunally, and swept towards the home where Tim and Tammy Holmes were babysitting their five grandchildren. There was no escape. No way out. And so the family did the only […]
By Susan Osborne and Jake Crouch8 January 2013 (ClimateWatch Magazine) – According to the latest statistics from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, the average temperature for the contiguous United States for 2012 was 55.3° Fahrenheit, which was 3.2° Fahrenheit above the twentieth-century average and 1.0° Fahrenheit above the previous record from 1998. The year consisted […]
By Peter Hannam, Carbon economy editor9 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Australia’s “dome of heat” has become so intense that the temperatures are rising off the charts – literally. The Bureau of Meteorology’s interactive weather forecasting chart has added new colours – deep purple and pink – to extend its previous temperature range that […]
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer8 January 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) – America set an off-the-charts heat record in 2012. A brutal combination of a widespread drought and a mostly absent winter pushed the average annual U.S. temperature last year up to 55.32 degrees Fahrenheit, the government announced Tuesday. That’s a full degree warmer than the […]
Contact: Media Relations Munich, Michael Able, Tel.: +49 (89) 3891-2934Media contact in Asia, Nikola Kemper, Tel.: +852 2536 6936 Media Relations USA, Beate Monastiridis-Dörr, Tel.: +1 (609) 243-4622 3 January 2013 Munich (Munich Re) – The USA accounted for a higher proportion of global natural catastrophe losses than usual in 2012, due to a series […]
By Caroline Stauffer, with additional reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by Brian Winter and Vicki Allen4 January 2013 SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s Northeast is suffering its worst drought in decades, threatening hydro-power supplies in an area prone to blackouts and potentially slowing economic growth in one of the country’s emerging agricultural frontiers. Lack of […]
By Kevin Murphy, with additional reporting by Greg McCune and Christine Stebbins; Editing by Claudia Parsons31 December 2012 LIBERAL, Kansas (Reuters) – Real estate agent Mark Faulkner recalls a day in early November when he was putting up a sign near Ulysses, Kansas, in 60-miles-per-hour winds that blew up blinding dust clouds. “There were places […]
6 January 2012 (BBC) – Australian police are searching fire-ravaged towns in southern Tasmania looking for 100 unaccounted people. Tasmania’s police commissioner said he feared lives may have been lost in the wildfires which swept through parts of the island in recent days. Almost 3,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, many stranded in […]
By Stephanie Gardiner7 January 2013 THE heatwave Sydney has managed to avoid is due to hit on Tuesday, as firefighters prepare for the most dangerous bushfire conditions in years in the city and around the state. […] Some of the hottest areas in the state at the weekend were in the far west and the […]