Graph of the Day: Increase in Total Annual Precipitation in the U.S. versus Storm Size, 1948-2011

This figure shows that the very largest storms are getting bigger, faster, than other storms. All storm categories are defined relative to the local climate at each weather station used in this analysis. For example, the far right column represents the change over time in the amount of total precipitation produced by the largest 0.1 […]

Hurricanes whip up faster in warming world, says new study

By Becky Oskin 7 September 2012 (LiveScience) – Global warming may fuel stronger hurricanes whose winds whip up faster, new research suggests. Hurricanes and other tropical cyclones across the globe reach Category 3 wind speeds nearly nine hours earlier than they did 25 years ago, the study found. In the North Atlantic, the storms have […]

Barack Obama swipes at Mitt Romney over climate change jibe

By Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk 7 September 2012 Barack Obama chose the biggest night of his re-election campaign to acknowledge the dangers of climate change – and to take a swipe at Mitt Romney for turning global warming into a laugh line in his convention speech. Obama thrilled Democrats when he accepted his […]

Natural disasters in North Korea trigger widespread food shortage – ‘Definitely people are dying. How many is the big question’

By Ben Blanchard, Reuters31 August 2012 North Korea could be heading toward a crisis similar to the 1990s when a million people are thought to have died after a series of natural disasters brought widespread famine, said an aid worker, just back from a tour of the impoverished state. North Korea has suffered heavy floods […]

British summer 2012 ‘wettest in 100 years’, Met Office figures show

30 August 2012 (BBC) – This summer is set to be the second wettest in the UK since records began – and the wettest summer in 100 years – provisional Met Office figures suggest. The wettest summer – defined as June, July and August – since national records began was in 1912. Figures up until […]

North Korea says Typhoon Bolaven ‘brought big damage’, left 48 dead, displaced more than 20,000

3 September 2012 (BBC) – Typhoon Bolaven has killed 48 people in North Korea and left more than 50 others injured or missing, state-run KCNA news agency reports. The typhoon “brought big damage” to North Korea and displaced more than 20,000 people, it said. Hundreds of trees were felled and power cut. The North was […]

‘Sunshade’ to fight climate change costed at $5 billion a year

[cf. So the leaders of men conceived of their most desperate strategy yet] By Alister Doyle and David Fogarty; editing by Andrew Roche30 August 2012 OSLO/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Planes or airships could carry sun-dimming materials high into the atmosphere for an affordable price tag of below $5 billion a year as a way to slow […]

Graph of the Day: Frequency of Extreme Downpours in the United States, 1948-2011

Global warming is happening now and its effects are being felt in the United States and around the world. Among the expected consequences of global warming is an increase in the heaviest rain and snow storms, fueled by increased evaporation and the ability of a warmer atmosphere to hold more moisture. An analysis of more […]

Storms, drought overshadow UN climate talks

By Apilaporn Vechakij30 August 2012 World climate change negotiators faced warnings Thursday that a string of extreme weather events around the globe show urgent action on emission cuts is needed as they opened new talks in Bangkok. The week-long meeting in the Thai capital, which was devastated by major floods last year, aims to prepare […]

Typhoon Bolaven hits Russian Far East, douses remaining forests fires

Typhoon Bolaven has helped firefighters to put out wildfires in the Khabarovsk Region, the local administration says. A total of 11 wildfires were raging in the region’s northeastern areas when the cyclone struck. The ensuing heavy rain enabled fire-fighting brigades to extinguish six wildfires and contain the remaining five within 24 hours. The last pockets […]

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