The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 232 points in April 2011, virtually unchanged from the revised March estimate, 36 percent above April 2010, but 2 percent below its peak in February 2011. A sharp increase in international grain prices in April more than offset declines in dairy, sugar, and rice, while oils and meat […]
By Jeff MastersMay 05, 2011 The largest tornado outbreak and greatest one-day total for tornadoes in history occurred during last week’s historic super tornado outbreak, said NOAA in a press release on Wednesday. They estimate 190 tornadoes touched down during the 24-hour period from 8:00 a.m. EDT April 27 to 8:00 a.m. EDT April 28 […]
By MARK KAPCHANGA4 May 2011 The International Monetary Fund is warning that poverty levels will rise in Africa, unless the current spike in food and fuel prices is arrested. In its latest world economic outlook on Africa, the Washington-based institution says the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be probably be delayed as […]
Date of freeze-up (day of year) for Wales/Bering Strait from passive microwave satellite data (Kapsch and Eicken, unpublished data). The time series shows a delay in onset of freeze-up (statistically significant at the 95% level) parallel to the substantial changes in summer minimum ice extent observed over the same time period. State of the Arctic […]
Contact: Rob GutroRobert.j.gutro@nasa.gov443-858-1779NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center28-Apr-2011 The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite again flew over severe thunderstorms that were spawning tornadoes over the eastern United States on April 28 and detected massive thunderstorms and very heavy rainfall. TRMM, a satellite managed by both NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, captured the rainfall rates […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com27 April 2011 The Asian Development Bank has warned that high food prices on the continent could push 64 million people in developing countries into extreme poverty, reports the AFP. On average food prices are up 10% since the beginning of the year with staple prices significantly higher than last year. For […]
Contact: Kendra Barkoff (DOI) (202) 208-6416Dan DuBray (Reclamation) (202) 513-057425 April 2011 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released a report that assesses climate change risks and how these risks could impact water operations, hydropower, flood control, and fish and wildlife in the western United States. The report to Congress, prepared […]
By Jeff Masters26 April 2011 According to the Interagency Fire Center, wildfires in 2011 have already burned nearly 2.3 million acres in the U.S. This is the greatest acreage on record so early in the year, and is more area than burned all of last year. The largest U.S. acreage to burn since 1960 was […]
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY 26 April 2011 Americans depended more on government assistance in 2010 than at any other time in the nation’s history, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds. The trend shows few signs of easing, even though the economic recovery is nearly 2 years old. A record 18.3% of the […]
Measured distribution of radioactive contamination at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in millisieverts/hour. Asahi Shimbun / www.ex-skf.blogspot.com The official TEPCO map of radioactive contamination at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in millisieverts/hour, 24 April 2011. Sankei Shinbun / www.ex-skf.blogspot.com #Fukushima I Nuke Plant “Contamination Map” Emerges, Sort Of… Technorati Tags: Fukushima,Japan,Asia,pollution,infrastructure failure
