Wildfire haze from B.C. wildfires raising air quality concerns across Alberta – Smoke blankets every region in the province

15 August 2018 (CBC News) – It’s going to be another suffocating day in Alberta as smoke from wildfires in B.C. drifts east. Much of the province is, once again, under a blanket of smoke and haze — and there is little relief in the forecast. Environment Canada expects the haze will last for several […]

Photo gallery: British Columbia wildfires turn day into night

By Clare Hennig 15 August 2018 (CBC News) – Nearly 600 fires are burning across British Columbia, covering the sky in flame-coloured haze and blanketing the air with smoke.A provincial state of emergency has been declared.Dozens of evacuation orders and alerts are in effect in the north and central regions, affecting more than 20,000 people.In […]

Afternoon skies look “like midnight” in British Columbia as more than 560 wildfires rage – State of emergency declared across entire province

By Imogen Birchard and John McGill 15 August 2018(CBC Radio) – Trevor Chapman was forced to abandon his trailer park in Fraser Lake, B.C., as the wildfires around his home grew.On Wednesday, the British Columbia government declared a state of emergency. Over 560 fires are burning across the province and thousands of people are under […]

POLITICO: Draft details Trump’s plan for reversing Obama climate rule – “Another, more official, sign that the government of the U.S. is not committed to climate policy”

By Emily Holden 14 August 2018 (POLITICO) – The Trump administration is preparing to unveil its plan for undoing Barack Obama’s most ambitious climate regulation — offering a replacement that would do far less to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, according to POLITICO’s review of a portion of the unpublished […]

Cliff Mass: Seattle’s worst 24-hour air quality on record

By Cliff Mass 15 August 2018 (Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog) – Air quality in western Washington is very poor right now.Incredibly, in central Puget Sound it is probably the worst in the nearly two-decade observing record of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency for any time of the year.I have been here a […]

Halfway to boiling: the city at 50C – “The blast of furnace-like heat literally feels life-threatening and apocalyptic”

By Jonathan Watts and Elle Hunt 13 August 2018 (The Guardian) – Imagine a city at 50C (122F). The pavements are empty, the parks quiet, entire neighbourhoods appear uninhabited. Nobody with a choice ventures outside during daylight hours. Only at night do the denizens emerge, HG Wells-style, into the streets – though, in temperatures that […]

Florida Gov. Rick Scott declares state of emergency amid red tide crisis, calls it a “naturally-occurring phenomenon”

By Alexa Lardieri 14 August 2018 (U.S. News & World Report) – Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for several counties suffering from the impacts of a prolonged red tide. According to the governor’s declaration , red tide is a naturally occuring algae that appears almost every year on Florida‘s Gulf Coast. […]

Seattle Judge dismisses young activists’ climate lawsuit

SEATTLE, 14 August 2018 (AP) – A Washington state judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by young activists who argued the state is violating their rights by failing to protect them from climate change. In his ruling Tuesday, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Scott says the issues in the case are political questions that […]

How heat became a national U.S. problem – “The fact is, there’s not going to be enough refuge for everybody”

By Oliver Milman 14 August 2018 PHILADELPHIA (The Guardian) – On yet another day of roasting heat in Phoenix, elderly and homeless people scurry between shards of shade in search of respite at the Marcos De Niza Senior Center. Along with several dozen other institutions in the city, it has been set up as a […]

Red tide is devastating Florida’s sea life. Are humans to blame?

By Maya Wei-Haas 8 August 2018(National Geographic) – The first thing you notice is the smell. It’s not a scent, exactly, but a tingling in the nose that quickly spreads to the throat and burns the lungs. But then you see the carcasses. Thousands of sea creatures now litter many of southern Florida’s typically picturesque […]

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