Last week, analysts at First Street, a financial research firm in Manhattan that models the future of property values in a climate-damaged world, issued a report suggesting that home values in…Continue readingLetter to the Sun Belt
Tag: drought
The home-wrecking storms and floods that swept Europe last year affected 413,000 people, a report has found, as fossil fuel pollution forced the continent to suffer through its hottest year on…Continue readingDeadly floods and storms affected more than 400,000 people in Europe in 2024
Nearly 2 million hectares of forests suitable for endangered koalas have been destroyed since the iconic species was declared a threatened species in 2011, according to analysis for Guardian Australia. The…Continue readingRevealed: nearly 2m hectares of koala habitat bulldozed since 2011 – despite political promises to protect species
A dry winter is intensifying wildfires in Nepal, experts said Wednesday, as the capital Kathmandu continued to suffer from hazardous air quality that ranks it among the most polluted cities globally.…Continue readingNepal fights wildfires and pollution amidst drier winter
Morocco is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on tapping northern rivers to supply water to parched cities farther south but experts question the sustainability of the project in the face…Continue readingMorocco ‘water highway’ averts crisis in big cities but doubts over sustainability
By Dan Drollette Jr March 12, 2025. Carlos Afonso Nobre is a Brazilian scientist and meteorologist who is mainly highlighted in global warming-related studies. For roughly 65 million years, the forests…Continue readingCarlos Nobre on tipping points in the Amazon rainforest
Today, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published its annual State of the Climate report, which found heat records kept being broken in 2024. It’s likely 2024 was the first year to…Continue readingSahara flooding, Amazon tributaries drying, warming tipping over 1.5°C—2024 broke all the wrong records
The WMO’s report on 2024, the hottest year on record, sets out a trail of destruction from extreme weather that took lives, demolished buildings and ravaged vital crops. More than 800,000…Continue readingMore than 150 ‘unprecedented’ climate disasters struck world in 2024, says UN
The study, published in The Journal of Climate Change and Health, reveals alarmingly high levels of anxiety, depression, and hopelessness among adolescents in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. In…Continue readingClimate change fueling mental health crisis in areas most affected by climate crisis
Water is vital to a city’s growth and stability and is the backbone to healthy societies. But the threat of too much or too little water puts everything at risk. Right…Continue readingWater and climate: Rising risks for urban populations
As Arctic ice melts, massive amounts of freshwater flow into the ocean. The seawater becomes diluted and less saline, a development that reduces its density and causes it to sink more…Continue readingLong-term costs of global warming: Weaker ocean circulation could cost trillions
A collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) would have disastrous consequences around the world, severely disrupting the rains that billions of people depend on for food in India, South…Continue readingTotal collapse of vital Atlantic currents unlikely this century, study finds
Dramatic rainstorms earlier this month brought more than 6in of rain to the California mountains – a full month’s worth of rain in little more than a day – but the…Continue readingCalifornia faces worsening drought despite recent heavy rainstorms
The climate crisis drove weeks of high temperatures in the west African region responsible for about 70% of global cacao production, hitting harvests and probably causing further record chocolate prices, researchers…Continue readingClimate crisis contributing to chocolate market meltdown
Human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the flames of the recent devastating Southern California wildfires, a scientific study found. But…Continue readingStudy says climate change made conditions that fed California wildfires more likely, more intense
More than 13,000 droughts spanning years have overwhelmed our planet across nearly four decades. These severe droughts are becoming hotter, longer and more devastating as our planet’s global temperature increases, new…Continue readingMultiyear droughts are worsening. Here’s where they have the most effects.
The 2024 Global Water Monitor Report was produced by an international team of researchers from universities in Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany and elsewhere. The team used data from thousands of…Continue readingClimate crisis ‘wreaking havoc’ on Earth’s water cycle
The world has endured a “decade of deadly heat”, with 2024 capping 10 years of unprecedented temperatures, the UN has said. The UN’s climate and weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation…Continue readingWorld endures ‘decade of deadly heat’ as 2024 caps hottest years on record
Bosnia may be one of Europe’s poorest countries but it has long been rich in one resource: water. The World Bank estimates Bosnia’s resources of renewable fresh water at nearly 10…Continue reading‘Scary’ drought empties one of Bosnia’s largest lakes
A new study published in Environmental Research Letters reveals that the severity of the state’s wildfires has rapidly increased over the last several decades, contributing to greater forest loss than would…Continue readingAs climate warms, California wildfires are becoming more severe, killing more trees
Ecuador has declared a 60-day state of emergency as the South American country has been hit by a severe drought and record wildfires that have razed large swaths of territory over…Continue readingEcuador declares 60-day state of emergency to help battle wildfires
Prolonged drought and extreme weather are forcing Canada to import electricity from the US after nearly two decades of exporting excess hydropower to its neighbour. Canada is the world’s third-largest producer…Continue readingCanada imports US electricity as droughts curb hydropower
For a while, it looked like Zambia had achieved a status that almost any nation would envy. Drawing hydropower from the massive Zambezi River and its tributaries, the country could meet…Continue readingWhy hydropower is failing this nation — and could fail others
An international team of scientists using observations from NASA-German satellites found evidence that Earth’s total amount of freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has remained low ever since. Reporting…Continue readingNASA satellites reveal abrupt drop in global freshwater levels
Every US state except Alaska and Kentucky is facing drought, an unprecedented number, according to the US Drought Monitor. A little more than 45% of the US and Puerto Rico is…Continue readingNearly all of US states are facing droughts, an unprecedented number
Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have all declared a state of national disaster in the past months as the drought has destroyed crops and livestock. Angola and Mozambique are also…Continue readingWorst drought in century devastates Southern Africa with millions at risk
More than half the world’s food production will be at risk of failure within the next 25 years as a rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet, unless urgent action is…Continue readingGlobal water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk in next 25 years
The boreal forests here in the Sami homeland take so long to grow that even small, stunted trees are often hundreds of years old. It is part of the Taiga –…Continue readingWhat happens to the world if forests stop absorbing carbon? Ask Finland
It begins each day at nightfall. As the light disappears, billions of zooplankton, crustaceans and other marine organisms rise to the ocean surface to feed on microscopic algae, returning to the…Continue readingTrees and land absorbed almost no CO₂ last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing?
The Amazon rainforest could be reaching an irreversible tipping point beyond which it will decline until “we’re just left with scrub,” conservationists have warned. WWF’s biennial Living Planet report said the…Continue readingAmazon rainforest near tipping point partly driven by UK consumers, WWF says
Rivers dried up at the highest rate in three decades in 2023, putting global water supply at risk, data has shown. Over the past five years, there have been lower-than-average river…Continue readingClimate warning as world’s rivers dry up at fastest rate for 30 years
Wildfires are burning through the carbon budget that humans have allocated themselves to limit global heating, a study shows. The authors said this accelerating trend was approaching – and may have…Continue readingWildfires are burning through humanity’s carbon budget
A year ago, Carlos Nobre, one of Brazil’s top climate scientists, was a rare voice of optimism about the future of the planet. The 73-year-old, one of the top experts on…Continue readingFires taking Amazon closer to ‘point of no return’: Expert
With as much as 80% of Brazil under a blanket of smoke from historic wild fires, face masks last used during the coronavirus pandemic are coming out again. South America’s biggest…Continue readingBrazilians choke as fire smoke blankets 80% of country
Water flows in mainland Australia’s most important river system, the Murray-Darling Basin, have been declining for the past 50 years. The trend has largely been blamed on water extraction, but our…Continue readingNew study reveals why the mighty Darling River is drying up—and it’s not just because we’re taking too much water
In July 2024, global temperatures reached unprecedented levels, breaking historical records with an average of 17.16°C. This extreme heat has led soil water to evaporate, leaving the vegetation and biodiversity more…Continue readingGlobal drought threatens food supplies and energy production
River Madeira’s waters have fallen to their lowest level since the 1960s and the skies overhead have filled with smoke from wildfires that are raging across Brazil. Vast, desert-like expanses of…Continue readingBrazil’s ‘Paradise’ on fire: ‘The forest is burning. Animals are burning. Everything’s burning’
Colombian authorities said Sunday they were fighting forest fires across seven departments, as a scorching drought fanned blazes across Latin America. From Ecuador to Brazil, many Latin American nations are gripped…Continue readingColombia battles fires as drought fuels Latin American flames
Millions of people in my country, Malawi, face unprecedented existential crises driven by climate breakdown. The frequency of extreme weather events and the massive impact they have on communities have left…Continue readingPeople must understand: we in Malawi are paying for the climate crisis with our lives
Brazil is burning. From the Amazon rainforest to the Pantanal wetlands, flames have consumed millions of hectares of forest and farmland in recent weeks. Nearly two-thirds of Latin America’s biggest country…Continue readingWhat we know about the fire ‘pandemic’ plaguing Brazil
South America is experiencing its worst forest fire season in nearly two decades, with millions of acres burning across several countries. The blazes come amid the region’s worst drought on record,…Continue readingNo one should be surprised that South America is burning
A new study from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering researchers, along with researchers from the Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris at the University of Paris Cité, has found…Continue readingDeserts’ biggest threat? Flooding
The Brazilian government wants to develop the upper 435 miles (700km) of the Paraguay River into the Paraguay-Paraná hidrovia (waterway). In 2022 and 2023, preliminary licences were issued for the construction…Continue readingPantanal waterway project would destroy a ‘paradise on Earth’, scientists warn
Butterfly numbers are the lowest on record in the UK. Butterfly Conservation, which runs the Big Butterfly Count, sounded the alarm after this year’s count revealed the worst numbers since it…Continue reading‘Warning sign to us all’ as UK butterfly numbers hit record low
A crushing drought in Sicily has withered fields of grain, deprived livestock of pasture land and fanned a spate of wildfires, causing damage already estimated at 2.7 billion euros this year.…Continue readingDrought in Sicily threatens grain fields, animal herds
A study conducted by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil and reported in an article published in Nature Communications shows that the Cerrado, Brazil’s savanna biome, is…Continue readingDrought in the Brazil’s Cerrado is the worst for at least seven centuries, study shows
The air quality in San Pedro Sula, the second-largest city in Honduras, as been classified as the most polluted on the American continent due to forest fires and weather conditions aggravated…Continue readingHonduran city’s air pollution is almost 50 times higher than WHO guidelines
More than a third of the Amazon rainforest is struggling to recover from drought, according to a new study that warns of a “critical slowing down” of this globally important ecosystem.…Continue readingMore than third of Amazon rainforest struggling to recover from drought, study finds
Hunger and disease are rising in Latin America after a year of record heat, floods and drought, a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown. The continent, which is…Continue readingDisease and hunger soar in Latin America after floods and drought, study finds
California in North America has ended up being at the frontline of the climate crisis in recent years, lurching between extreme drought and excessive rain. To understand what might have triggered…Continue readingWhat’s driving California’s extreme weather?
The temperature was minus 45 degrees F when Uuganaa, a 27-year-old nomad with a wife and two children, woke to the howling winds outside his “ger,” a felt-covered traditional Mongolian dwelling.…Continue readingIn Mongolia, a Killer Winter Is Ravaging Herds and a Way of Life
In January, the average temperature hit a record, “exceeding 3.8C (38.8F) above normal for the period 1991-2020,” said Houcine Youaabed, the head of communications for the meteorological department. It is the…Continue readingMorocco winter breaks heat records
A blanket of smog covers Milan, empty reservoirs bake in Sicily and wine production is down in Piedmont as a lack of rain across Italy exacerbates pollution and sparks droughts. Gas-guzzling…Continue readingLack of rain leaves Italy gasping
The European Drought Observatory’s map of current droughts in Europe shows the entire Spanish Mediterranean coast in bad shape, with red areas indicating an alert similar to those in north Africa…Continue readingWhat will Spain look like when it runs out of water? Barcelona is giving us a glimpse
The Amazon rainforest could approach a tipping point, which could lead to a large-scale collapse with serious implications for the global climate system. A new Nature study by an international research…Continue readingAmazon rainforest at a critical threshold: Loss of forest worsens climate change
The devastating drought in the Amazon River Basin that reported in October has continued into Northern Hemisphere winter, which is the heart of the wet season in the southern part of…Continue readingWhat’s causing the Amazon’s ongoing record drought?
AMOC, which encompasses part of the Gulf Stream and other powerful currents, is a marine conveyer belt that carries heat, carbon and nutrients from the tropics towards the Arctic Circle, where…Continue readingAtlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point
There’s no precedent in at least five centuries for how hot and dry the West has been in the last two decades, new research asserts using analysis of tree rings. The…Continue readingUS West’s ‘hot drought’ is unprecedented in more than 500 years
The climate crisis turned the drought that struck the Amazon rainforest in 2023 into a devastating event, a study has found. The drought was the worst recorded in many places and…Continue readingDevastating drought in Amazon result of climate crisis
Rainfall has been lower than the average in Catalonia for the past three years, with the drought lasting more than twice as long as the previous dry spell of 2008, the…Continue readingHeavens remain shut over Catalonia as three-year drought persists
Hundreds of thousands of people rely on the Amazon’s rivers and streams for food, transportation and income. But the historically low water levels have forced residents to reimagine their relationship to…Continue reading‘Everything is dead’: How record drought is wreaking havoc on the Amazon
Simultaneous episodes of extreme heat and drought could occur earlier and repeatedly in Europe, reports a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. Laura Suarez-Gutierrez and colleagues investigated how soon end-of-century…Continue reading‘End of century’ extreme heat and drought conditions in Europe could occur much earlier than previously thought
More than two million people across the Horn of Africa have been forced from their homes by torrential rains and floods, according to an AFP tally compiled Thursday from government and…Continue readingHorn of Africa floods displace more than two million
Extreme drought in northern Italy has doubled over the past two decades, creating a climate that increasingly mirrors that of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. The southern Shabelle region of…Continue readingExtreme drought in northern Italy mirrors climate in Ethiopia
Extreme droughts that have wrecked the lives of millions of people in Syria, Iraq and Iran since 2020 would not have happened without human-caused global heating, a study has found. The…Continue readingHuman-caused heating behind extreme droughts in Syria, Iraq and Iran
October, November and December are usually a period of transition. By now, the dry season would normally have peaked, and rivers and aquifers would start to replenish. But the rains refuse…Continue reading‘Everything is parched’: Amazon struggles with drought amid deforestation
By Christoper Ketcham The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has assumed Nordhaus is to be trusted. The integrated assessment models used at the IPCC are based on Nordhausian visions of adaptation…Continue readingWhen Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics
From the Great Lakes in the north to Louisiana in the south, the majestic Mississippi is a shadow of its former self. For the second straight year, water levels in North…Continue readingThe mighty Mississippi, America’s water highway, is dangerously low
A withering drought has turned the Amazonian capital of Manaus into a climate dystopia with the second worst air quality in the world and rivers at the lowest levels in 121…Continue readingDrought turns Amazonian capital into climate dystopia
The water level at a major river port in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has hit its lowest point in at least 121 years, as a historic drought upends the lives of hundreds…Continue readingWater level at Amazon port in Brazil hits lowest point in 121 years amid drought
The air was dry and warm and the skies over Dushanbe were gray without a hint of sun during another recent toxic sand storm that enveloped the capital of Tajikistan. Storms…Continue readingToxic storms blamed on climate change cloud Tajikistan
After the northern summer of extreme heat and disastrous fires, we’ve seen more exceptional autumn weather over Europe with record-breaking heat in the UK. Meanwhile, record-breaking rain and intense flash floods…Continue readingFaster disaster: Climate change fuels ‘flash droughts’, intense downpours and storms
Greenhouse gas concentrations, global sea level and ocean heat content reached record highs in 2022, according to the 33rd annual State of the Climate report. “People are causing the largest known…Continue readingInternational report confirms record-high greenhouse gases, global sea levels in 2022
The pace at which the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has jumped three-fold in five decades. Annual growth in global mean carbon dioxide averaged across the last decade has tripled…Continue readingPace of increase in CO₂ concentration has increased three-fold
At least three people have died and two are missing in Spain after heavy rains triggered flash floods and impacted transportation systems. The weekend storm affected almost the whole country. The…Continue readingRoads turned into rivers as torrential rains lash Spain
More than 450 fires have scorched parts of Louisiana amid weeks of record-breaking heat and severe drought conditions. The Tiger Island Fire, the largest wildfire in the state’s history, tore through…Continue readingLouisiana sees ‘unprecedented’ wildfires amid record heat, drought
The regional government for the Canary Islands said that 4,000 more people were ordered to evacuate on Saturday. Those were in addition to the 4,500 people who on Friday were forced…Continue readingTenerife: thousands more flee their homes as ‘out of ‘control’ wildfires rage
Iraqi merchant Mohamed has never seen such a grim tourist season: years of drought have shrunken the majestic Lake Habbaniyah, keeping away the holidaymakers who once flocked there during summer. “This…Continue reading‘No more water’: Iraq drought claims lakeside resort
The canal relies on rainwater to move ships through a series of locks that function like water elevators, raising the vessels up and over the continent between the Atlantic and Pacific…Continue readingDrought-hit Panama Canal must ‘adapt or die’ as water levels drop
The collapse of a glacier in the Dolomites and a landslide on the island of Ischia. Devastating floods, wildfires and record-breaking heatwaves. The worst drought of the Po, Italy’s longest river,…Continue readingClimatologist warns of Italy’s vulnerability to climate crisis
Ongoing droughts and an over-exploitation of land for both agriculture and industry have stoked fears in Spain over the creeping spread of “sterile soil” which could devastate Europe’s kitchen garden. “Spain…Continue readingSpain worries over ‘lifeless land’ amid creeping desertification
The Colorado River Basin provides freshwater to more than 40 million people within the semi-arid southwestern United States, including major cities such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles. However, between 2000…Continue readingColorado River Basin megadrought caused by massive 86% decline in snowpack runoff
“The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data,” the WMO said in a statement, after climate change and the early stages of the El Nino weather…Continue readingLast week the hottest worldwide on record: UN
Experts say the drought in the central U.S. is the worst since at least 2012, and in some areas, is drawing comparisons to the 1988 drought that devastated corn, wheat and…Continue readingCentral US is now getting worst of the drought. Corn crops are stressed, rivers are running low
France is being badly hit by climate change, is not prepared for its effects and is failing to sufficiently reduce its emissions, an independent climate body warned. The record heat and…Continue readingFrance badly hit by climate change and ill-prepared
To help extract oil, companies pump large quantities of water into the ground. For each barrel of oil, many of which are later exported to Europe, up to three barrels of…Continue readingIraq’s oil boom blamed for worsening water crisis in drought-hit south
The drought that has left some 4.35 million people in the Horn of Africa in dire need of humanitarian aid – with 43,000 in Somalia estimated to have died last year…Continue readingGlobal warming made Horn of Africa drought possible: WWA study
The United States is Earth’s punching bag for nasty weather. Blame geography for the U.S. getting hit by stronger, costlier, more varied and frequent extreme weather than anywhere on the planet,…Continue reading“Buckle up. More extreme events are expected,” says head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
A new report released by the Somalian government suggests that far more children died in the country last year due to the ongoing drought than previously realised. Half of the deaths…Continue readingDrought caused 43,000 ‘excess deaths’ in Somalia last year, half of them young children