Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick unveils climate change prep plan

BOSTON, 14 January 2014  (Associated Press) – Gov. Deval Patrick took the wraps off a $50 million plan Tuesday that he says will help prepare Massachusetts for the challenges posed by climate change on public health, energy, transportation and basic infrastructure. The initiatives, unveiled by the governor at the New England Aquarium, include a $40 […]

Climate change is ‘killing Argentina’s Magellanic penguin chicks’

By Matt McGrath29 January 2014 (BBC News) – Penguin chicks in Argentina are dying as a direct consequence of climate change, according to new research. Drenching rainstorms and extreme heat are killing the young birds in significant numbers. The study, conducted over 27 years, looked at climate impacts on the world’s biggest colony of Magellanic […]

Flooding experts say Britain will have to adapt to climate change, and fast – ‘We have to realise we cannot defend at all costs’

By Damian Carrington   30 January 2014 (theguardian.com) – “You are looking at retreat,” says Prof Colin Thorne, a flooding expert at the University of Nottingham. “It is the only sensible policy – it makes no sense to defend the indefensible.” This assessment of how the UK will have to adapt to its increasing flood risk […]

Study finds sea levels rising fast – New Jersey Shore is one of the regions of highest concern in the U.S.

By Sandy Bauers8 January 2014 (Philadelphia Inquirer) – As the planet warms, one of the biggest questions is how fast sea level will rise. A team of Rutgers University researchers has attempted to answer that question and localize it by studying past sea-level rise along the East Coast, as well as other factors that could […]

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 […]

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 […]

Graph of the Day: Total number of disasters and losses worldwide, 1980-2012

18 November 2013 (World Bank) – Since the 1980s, there has been an upward trend in disaster losses. During the 1980–2012 period, estimated total reported losses due to disasters amounted to US$3.8 trillion. Weather-related or hydro-meteorological disasters accounted for 74% (US$2.6 tril- lion) of total reported losses, 87% (18,200) of total disasters, and 61% (1.4 […]

Graph of the Day: Philippines disaster-induced displacement, 2009-2013

Desdemona updated the IDMC graph from here with the number of Filipinos displaced by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013: 4 million people. Des also added a parabolic curve (red) with a pretty good fit (R2 = 0.89). cf. Philippines: 4 million people remain displaced after Typhoon Haiyan and Graph of the Day: Philippines internal displacement […]

U.S. military wraps climate change response into master plans – ‘We are going to integrate climate change considerations into the normal processes, the day-to-day jobs of everybody’

By Cheryl Pellerin26 November 2013 WASHINGTON (American Forces Press Service) – The effects of climate change are already evident at Defense Department installations in the United States and overseas, and DOD expects climate change to challenge its ability to fulfill its mission in the future, according to the first DOD Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap [pdf]. […]

Record high temperatures in New York, Philadelphia – Washington D.C. ‘about 40 degrees warmer than normal’

By Victoria Cavaliere and Edith Honan in New York, Tim Ghianni in Nashville, and Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Missouri; editing by G Crosse23 December 2013 (Reuters) – A band of severe weather from tornadoes to icy blasts left at least seven people dead as winter storms and severe weather pushed up the East Coast […]

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