MONTPELIER, Vermont, August 29 (AP) — Vermont towns battled floods of historic proportions, utility crews struggled to restore power to 5 million people along the East Coast, and big-city commuters coped with transit-system disruptions Monday as the rainy remnants of Hurricane Irene finally spun into Canada. The storm killed at least two dozen people, forced the […]
By Erik Jensen Health 29 August 2011 RATES of mental illnesses including depression and post-traumatic stress will increase as a result of climate change, a report to be released today says. The paper, prepared for the Climate Institute, says loss of social cohesion in the wake of severe weather events related to climate change could […]
By Nicky Phillips 29 August 2011 A THICK blanket of grass spanning the width of Australia will pose a significant bushfire threat this season, experts say. While the record-breaking rains that fell across the eastern states earlier this year replenished drought-depleted soil, they also spurred large amounts of vegetation growth, particularly grass, the likes of […]
By Julio Godoy26 August 2011 Paris (IPS) — The severe drought in the Horn of Africa, which has caused the death of at least 30,000 children and is affecting some 12 million people, especially in Somalia, is a direct consequence of weather phenomena associated with climate change and global warming, environmental scientists say. “The present […]
By KATE GALBRAITH26 August 2011 So, is this the result of climate change? Scientists hedge, particularly when it comes to the drought, because they are reluctant to pin any single weather event on climate change. They point to La Niña, an intermittent Pacific Ocean phenomenon that affects storms, as the immediate cause. “We can’t say […]
Writer: Steve Smith, University Communications, (402) 472-4226 Contact: Brian Fuchs, National Drought Mitigation Center climatologist, (402) 472-6775 The percent of contiguous U.S. land area experiencing exceptional drought in July reached the highest levels in the history of the U.S. Drought Monitor, said an official at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. […]
By John Burnett26 August 2011 The unfolding calamity that is the Texas drought has thrown nature out of balance. Many of the wild things that live in this state are suffering. Sections of major rivers — like the Brazos, the Guadalupe, the Blanco, Llano and Pedernales — have dried up. In many places, there aren’t […]
Relative sea level trends (millimeters/year) along the U.S. East Coast. The rate of annual sea level rise measured at Sewells Point in Norfolk is the highest of all stations along the U.S. East Coast at nearly 4.5 millimeters per year. Trends are shown for Key West, Florida; Mayport, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Sewells Point, Virginia; […]
By Tom Fowler24 August 2011 A number of Texas power plants may need to cut back operations or shut down completely if the state’s severe drought continues into the fall, an official with Texas’ main transmission manager told FuelFix. At least one North Texas power plant has had to reduce how much it generates because the […]
By Ed Ballard 19 August 2011 Emma Summerfield returned home on a rainy November evening in 2009 to find her vacuum cleaner afloat on a rising tide in her cellar. Hours later, her 18th century mill-house in Cumbria, northern England, was six feet deep in water. When the water receded, it left rooms wrecked, walls […]
