Wildfire at about 64°N in the Mirninsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, 22 July 2019. Photo: Copernicus Sentinel-2 / Pierre Markuse

More than 100 Arctic wildfires burn in worst-ever fire season – Smoke plumes from huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia, and Alaska visible from space – “These are some of the biggest fires on the planet, with a few appearing to be larger than 100,000 hectares”

By Edward Helmore 26 July 2019 (The Guardian) – The Arctic is suffering its worst wildfire season on record, with huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia, and Alaska producing plumes of smoke that can be seen from space. The Arctic region has recorded its hottest June ever. Since the start of that month, more than 100 wildfires have […]

A woman walks past a window reflecting a thermometer showing a temperature of 41 degrees Celsius on 25 July 2019, in Paris, as a new heatwave hits the French capital. Photo: Dominique Faget / AFP / Getty Images

All-time heat records melt in Europe – Paris warmer than Singapore at 42.6°C (108.7°F) – National records broken on Wednesday fell again on Thursday – “‘If you’d have said five years ago we’d see temperature records fall this frequently, I wouldn’t have believed you”

By William Wilkes and Megan Durisin 24 July 2019 (Bloomberg) – Europe’s latest summer heatwave broke heat records just weeks after the continent had its hottest ever June, fueling concern that a shifting climate is triggering more extreme weather. Germany probably set a new all-time temperature record of 42.6 degrees Celsius (108.7 Fahrenheit) in the […]

A young man looks for mud crabs and snakehead fish as he walks on the parched bed of Chembarambakkam Lake, on the outskirts of Chennai, on 21 May 2019. Photo: Arun Sankar / AFP / Getty Images

In Chennai, water is now more expensive than petrol – 600 million people dealing with high to extreme water shortages – “I know what I am doing is wrong, but we are in a situation where you have to do what you can to survive”

By Karim Raslan 21 July 2019 (The Star) – Nearly four years ago, the south Indian city of Chennai (capital of Tamil Nadu) was under water. The worst floods in living history – the result of cyclones from the Bay of Bengal – had reduced this manufacturing and services powerhouse of eleven million to a […]

Map showing wildfires around the Batagai megaslump in Siberia, 16 July 2019. Graphic: The Siberian Times

Wildfires rage in Siberia around the “Mouth of Hell” – Scientist warns fires will accelerate growth of Batagai Depression, a giant gash in the tundra

16 July 2019 (The Siberian Times) – After a month of warm, dry weather and wildfires, the huge crater nicknamed ‘Mouth of Hell’ is now under direct threat. The fear is that flames burning on the rim of the depression will weaken the permafrost and cause a major enlargement of the Batagai or Batagaika ‘megaslump’, […]

Area burned by California wildfires in thousands of square kilometers, 1972-2018. Specific regions studied are at upper left. Graphic: Williams, et al., 2019 / Earth’s Future

Global warming drives 8X increase in California summer wildfires and 5X increase in area burned – “The ability of dry fuels to promote large fires is nonlinear”

By Kevin Krajick 15 July 2019 (Columbia University) – Against a backdrop of long-term rises in temperature in recent decades, California has seen ever higher spikes in seasonal wildfires, and, in the last two years, a string of disastrous, record-setting blazes. This has led scientists, politicians and media to ponder: what role might warming climate be […]

A kangaroo is seen stuck in drying mud in the drainage canal of lake Cawndilla, one of the four main lakes of the Menindee Lakes in New South Wales, Australia, 10 January 2019. Photo: Getty

Australia towns close to reaching “day zero” as drought dries up water supplies – “We could be looking at anything from $500,000 to $1.5 million per month to transport the water”

By Lucy Barbour 14 July 2019 (ABC News) – Across New South Wales and Queensland’s southern downs, country towns are approaching their own ‘day zero’, as water supplies dry up in the drought. Ten towns, including major centres, are considered to be at high risk of running out within six months, if it doesn’t rain […]

A woman wades through a flooded street during monsoon rain in Mumbai, July 2019. Photo: PTI

Deluge and drought: A tale of two Indian cities – Worst floods in 14 years cripple Mumbai while Chennai thirsts for a drop of water – “It’s scary and the problem persists every year despite government promises”

2 July 2019 (Gulf News) – Mumbai: Wall collapses in Mumbai and nearby towns, caused by the worst monsoon rains in a single day in 14 years, killed 30 people on Tuesday and disrupted rail and air traffic, prompting officials to shut schools and offices. Financial markets were open in the city of 18 million […]

A worker fills a tanker train with water, which will be transported and supplied to drought-hit city of Chennai, at Jolarpettai railway station in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India, 11 July 2019. Photo: P. Ravikumar / REUTERS

Water train set to relieve drought-hit Indian city – Doctors forced to buy water for surgery – “We won’t be able to supply water even to the people who can pay a huge sum for a tanker of water”

By P. Ravikumar 11 July 2019 JOLARPETTAI, India (Reuters) – Indian authorities on Thursday filled tanks with water and loaded them onto a train in the southern state of Tamil Nadu to supply its manufacturing capital Chennai where reservoirs have run dry. Technicians in the railway station at Jolarpettai, located over 135 miles (217 km) […]

Mannubai Chamariya at the check dam construction site in Sangvi village in Madhya Pradesh. Photo: Aarefa Johari / Quartz India

An investigation into how India dismantled its main defence against drought – “By shifting the focus to farm irrigation, the government is taking water conservation efforts back by 20 years”

By Aarefa Johari and Nithya Subramanian 1 July 2019 (Quartz) – At the height of the June summer in Madhya Pradesh, Mannubai Chamariya heaved boulders from the banks of a dry stream to a site where other workers arranged them in a tiled wall, filling the gaps with cement. The work was arduous but Chamariya […]

Spatial patterns of linear trends of the JJA DSL from four precipitation datasets for the period 1988–2013. Graphic: Jiang, et al., 2019 / Nature Climate Change

A longer dry season in the Congo Rainforest – “Dry season length is one of the most crucial climate limitations for sustaining rainforest”

By Kathryn Hansen 3 July 2019 (NASA) – It is the “rain” in the term “rainforest” that makes possible the diverse ecosystem teeming with plants and animals. That doesn’t mean a rainforest is always wet: tropical rainforests are known for having distinct wet and dry seasons. But new research shows that the summer dry season in the […]

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