Massive disaster relief bill at risk of stalling as Trump, Democrats fight over help for Puerto Rico

By Erica Werner and Jeff Stein 29 March 2019 (The Washington Post) – President Trump’s opposition to aid for Puerto Rico has sparked a partisan standoff over a major disaster bill covering much of the United States, threatening to derail the legislation when it faces a critical Senate vote Monday. The stalemate has caused days […]

Destruction from sea level rise in California could exceed worst wildfires and earthquakes – “These are significant events that are going to recur and be ten times the scale of the worst wildfires and earthquakes that we’ve experienced in modern California history”

By Rosanna Xia 13 March 2019 (Los Angeles Times) – In the most extensive study to date on sea level rise in California, researchers say damage by the end of the century could be far more devastating than the worst earthquakes and wildfires in state history. A team of U.S. Geological Survey scientists concluded that […]

From Global North to Global South, a winter and summer of record temperature extremes – Only small portions of Earth saw record cold weather

By Christopher C. Burt 8 March 2019 (Weather Underground) – On 2 March 2019, Dover, Tasmania, attained an all-time record high of 40.1°C (104.3°F), the hottest reading ever observed in that Australian state during the month of March. Just the next day (March 4 in the U.S.) a temperature of -46°F was measured at Elk […]

California is stuck fighting climate change with a bankrupt, distrusted company

By Drake Bennett and Mark Chediak 28 February 2019 (Bloomberg Businessweek) – Laine Mason arrived at work on Nov. 8 expecting a busy day: Strong winds were forecast, which meant falling branches and toppled trees, and with them the possibility of downed power lines. Mason, who lives in the Northern California town of Corning, works […]

Saddleworth Moor burns again after days of dry weather – “These kind of temperatures, 18C or 19C, are what you would normally see in early June”

By Wayne Ankers, Nick Lavigueur, and Susie Beever 27 February 2019 (Examiner Live) – A huge moorland fire has broken out on moorland above Huddersfield closing a major road. […] West Yorkshire Fire have issued a warning about basic fire safety tips after last night’s moorland blaze. Dale Gardiner said “While we have not yet […]

Australia breaks weather records with hottest ever summer – Brisbane had record run of 16 days straight at or above 32°C

By Naaman Zhou 28 February 2019 (The Guardian) – Australia has endured its hottest summer ever, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, breaking the previous record set six years ago. The 2018-19 summer, which produced near 50C days and topped temperature highs across the country, has officially exceeded the previous record set in 2012-13, which […]

Lawmakers tell Pentagon: Revise and resubmit your climate-change report

By Paulina Glass 5 February 2019 (Defense One) – The Pentagon’s latest climate-change report was so bad that it didn’t even meet legal requirements, say House lawmakers who on Wednesday ordered the military to redo the document by 1 April 2019.The report “lacks key deliverables,” according to the 25 January 2019 letter from House Armed […]

Could climate change make it harder to get insurance in Australia? “There’s $88 billion at risk in terms of damage from coastal erosion in Australia”

By Ange Lavoipierre and Stephen Smiley 5 February 2019 (The Signal) – At the moment, Townsville is more or less underwater and large parts of Tasmania are on fire.Summer in Australia has always been extreme, but some corners of the country are experiencing climate-driven disasters that are worse than ever — and more of them […]

Monarch butterfly numbers plummet 86 percent in California – “It’s been the worst year we’ve ever seen”

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett 7 January 2019 (Ventura County Star) – 2018 was a tough year for monarch butterflies.Each year, monarchs in the western United States migrate from inland areas to California’s coastline to spend the winter, usually between September and February. But the number of butterflies turning up at overwintering sites this year — including […]

Earth’s 39 billion-dollar weather disasters of 2018: 4th-costliest on record

By Dr. Jeff Masters23 January 2019 (Weather Underground) – Earth was besieged by 39 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2018, the fourth-highest inflation-adjusted number of billion-dollar weather events on record, said insurance broker Aon (formerly called Aon Benfield) in their annual report issued 22 January 2019. Only 2011, with 44 billion-dollar weather disasters, and 2010 and […]

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