Foliage season under fire from climate change – ‘A lengthening growing season could open up the door for invasive species’

By Brian Kahn14 October 2013 (Climate Central) – Clocks aren’t the only things falling back at this time of year. The start to foliage season is also on the move, with the season starting later and later in the U.S. since 1982. Other threats from climate change could also cost states that rely on the […]

Fear of super-fire in Australia may force mass evacuations affecting tens of thousands of people – ‘The reality is these conditions are a whole new ball game and in a league of their own’

By Rick Feneley and Judith Whelan21 October 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Hundreds of thousands of people face a growing bushfire calamity, with the entire Blue Mountains area as well as Penrith and Richmond in danger of burning over the next few days. Premier Barry O’Farrell on Sunday took the extraordinary step of declaring a […]

New South Wales declares fire emergency as ‘nightmarish weather conditions’ close in – ‘Unparalleled in terms of risk and exposure to the Blue Mountains throughout this week’

[NSW bushfires: live updates] 20 October 2013 (BBC News) – A state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales as Australian firefighters battle bushfires that have already destroyed more than 200 homes. The announcement comes as conditions look set to deteriorate with soaring temperatures and strong winds expected to fan the flames in […]

South Dakota cattle cataclysm: Why isn’t this horror news?

By Carrie Mess  14 October 2013 (theguardian.com) – If you aren’t in the agriculture world, you most likely haven’t heard about the devastating loss that ranchers in western South Dakota are struggling with after being hit by winter storm Atlas. For some reason the news stations aren’t covering this story. I don’t understand why they […]

Global warming is already causing animals to evolve and migrate – ‘'The chipmunks’ poor prospects are evident in their genes’

By Sarah Griffiths17 October 2013 (Daily Mail) – From chipmunks to Mediterranean spiders, animals are evolving to cope with the effects of hotter temperatures, a scientist has claimed. DNA evidence suggests the European wasp spider is evolving into a new form and is moving to cooler regions to set up home in parts of northern […]

Worst bushfires in more than a decade erupt across New South Wales – Orange haze descends on Sydney as dozens of fires rage outside city

17 October 2013 (Canberra Times) – Hundreds of homes may have been lost in Thursday’s fires, the worst in more than 10 years, said the Premier Barry O’Farrell. “It’s suspected that by the time we’ve finished counting it [the loss of homes] will at least be in the hundreds,” he said. It would take days […]

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 […]

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