The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, built a model of sea surface temperatures since 1940 that removed the heating the climate crisis has caused. The…Continue readingClimate crisis has tripled length of deadly ocean heatwaves
Tag: heat
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 National Science and Technology Council and Ministry of Environment report projected that Taiwan could stop experiencing winters by 2060 due to climate change. Taiwan summers could extend to over 150…Continue readingClimate change could erase winters in Taiwan by 2060
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 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
Waters off WA have been affected by prolonged marine heatwaves since September. Regions off the north-west coast were hottest, with ocean temperatures 1.5˚C higher than average over a five-month period and…Continue readingDeaths of 30,000 fish off WA coast made more likely by climate change
The number of monarch butterflies spending the winter in the western United States has dropped to its second-lowest mark in nearly three decades as pesticides, diminishing habitat and the climate crisis…Continue readingMonarch butterfly numbers plummet in US west coast winter habitats
Extreme weather disrupted the schooling of about 242 million children in 85 countries last year—roughly one in seven students, the UN children’s agency reported Thursday, deploring an “overlooked” aspect of the…Continue reading242 million children’s schooling disrupted by climate shocks in 2024: UNICEF
Climate breakdown drove the annual global temperature above the internationally agreed 1.5˚C target for the first time last year, supercharging extreme weather and causing “misery to millions of people”. The average…Continue readingHottest year on record sent planet past 1.5˚C of heating for first time in 2024
By David Spratt at Climate Code Red If an unexpected leap in the global average temperature in 2023 was described by one scientist as “gobsmackingly bananas”, are there even words to…Continue readingA(nother) year of scientific shock and awe
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
Our new research published in Nature Climate Change shows the upper limits of human heat tolerance were breached for a total of 43 hours over the six days of Hajj. During…Continue readingMore than 1,300 Hajj pilgrims died this year when humidity and heat pushed past survivable limits—it’s just the start
The Middle East and North Africa, which already include some of the hottest and driest spots on Earth, are undergoing accelerated climate change and will reach warming thresholds two to three…Continue readingStaggering temperature rise predicted for the Middle East and North Africa
We are seeing unprecedented rapidly intensifying tropical storms such as Hurricane Helene in the eastern United States and Super Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam. Unprecedented fires in Canada have destroyed towns. Unprecedented…Continue readingUnprecedented peril: Disaster lies ahead as we track towards 2.7°C of warming this century, researchers warn
An international coalition led by Oregon State University scientists concludes in its annual report published in BioScience that the Earth’s worsening vital signs indicate a “critical and unpredictable new phase of…Continue readingClimate report warns of escalating crisis, urges immediate action as UN summit nears
Many of Earth’s “vital signs” have hit record extremes, indicating that “the future of humanity hangs in the balance”, a group of the world’s most senior climate experts have said. More…Continue readingEarth’s ‘vital signs’ show humanity’s future in balance
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
More than 16 million people in the US were under heat alerts on Friday, according to the National Weather Service, mostly clustered in the southern tips of Nevada, Arizona and California.…Continue readingGrim new death records amid brutal heat plaguing south-west US
The 2024 northern summer saw the highest global temperatures on record, beating 2023’s high and making this year likely Earth’s hottest ever recorded. The data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service…Continue readingJune-August 2024 were hottest ever recorded: EU monitor
South Korea experienced its highest average summertime temperature since such records began half a century ago, nearly two degrees higher than the historic average. From June to August, the average temperature…Continue readingSouth Korea sees highest average summer temperature on record
Phoenix, Arizona, saw its 100th straight day of 100˚F (37.8˚C) heat this week. The hottest large city in the United States broke its previous record of 76 consecutive 100˚F days set…Continue readingPhoenix, Arizona, hits its 100th consecutive day of 100˚F (37.8˚C) weather
Bureau of Meteorology data showed average temperatures across the nation in August were 3.03˚C above the long-term average, easily beating the previous 2.56˚C record set in 2009. The 2024 winter also…Continue readingAustralia sweats through hottest August on record with temperatures 3˚C above average
A climate assessment report published in November 2022 by the Centre for Science and Environment, a public-interest research and advocacy organization based in New Delhi, analysed the first nine months of…Continue readingThe climate disaster strikes: what the data say
The time has come to accept that climate policy has failed, and that the 2015 landmark Paris agreement is dead. We let it die by pretending that we could both continue…Continue readingThe overshoot myth: you can’t keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C
According to the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the number of days with temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius in the world’s largest capital cities has surged by 52 percent…Continue readingSeoul residents sweating with record ‘tropical nights’ weather
Under a federal government scheme, people and businesses can undertake projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or store carbon, in exchange for financial rewards known as carbon credits. The government has…Continue readingIndustry push to earn carbon credits from Australia’s native forests would be a blow for nature and the climate
A massive wildfire blazed its way into Athens’ northeastern suburbs on Monday as hundreds of firefighters battled to contain it, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes and sparking a…Continue readingAthens suburbs on fire as Greece calls on EU for help
Greece on Sunday was battling a spate of wildfires which have forced the evacuation of hundreds of people, as experts warn of more extreme weather conditions to come next week. Firefighters…Continue readingGreece wildfires force hundreds to evacuate
Hot weather inflamed by carbon pollution killed nearly 50,000 people in Europe last year, with the continent warming at a much faster rate than other parts of the world. Heatwaves have…Continue readingHeat aggravated by carbon pollution killed 50,000 in Europe last year
Seasonal change in the north is rapid and, for local people, summer marks a brief reprieve from months of bitter cold. But a heatwave that is currently hovering over the community…Continue reading‘It’s devastating’: summer in Canada’s Arctic region brings severe heatwaves
A world where global mean surface temperature has increased 3°C will be characterized by widespread and intense heat stress, extreme weather events, ruptured and unproductive marine and terrestrial ecosystems, broken food…Continue readingEarth at risk: An urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just & sustainable future
As global temperatures continue to rise, India is grappling with increasingly severe heat waves. As early as April, many Indian cities, including New Delhi, the capital, have experienced record temperatures above…Continue readingExtreme heat in India: A crisis on the rise
Torrential rains in China have killed at least 30 people and left dozens more missing, state media said Thursday, as the country grinds through another summer of extreme weather. Confirmation of…Continue reading30 dead, dozens missing after torrential rain in central China
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
The punishing heat experienced around the Mediterranean in July would have been “virtually impossible” in a world without global warming, a group of climate scientists said Wednesday. A deadly heat wave…Continue readingMediterranean heat wave ‘virtually impossible’ without climate change: Scientists
For the 2.3 million people who call this valley home, the dangerous elements are harder to ignore. When temperatures climb, shadeless streets are hot enough to cause second-degree burns in seconds.…Continue readingLife at 115˚F (46˚C): a sweltering summer pushes Las Vegas to the brink
Unrelenting heat is blanketing swathes of southern and eastern Europe, with dozens of cities on red alert as scorching temperatures fuel wildfires, strain power grids, and make daily life unbearable. Greece,…Continue reading‘It’s unbearable’: heat waves scorch southern and eastern Europe
Las Vegas set a new record on Wednesday as it marked a fifth consecutive day over 115˚F (46˚C). The brutal milestone marks yet another record for the Nevada desert city this…Continue readingLas Vegas sets record for number of days over 115˚F amid its ‘most extreme heatwave in history’
Flash flooding and landslides swept away cars and houses, with at least one person known to have died, alongside widespread damage to transport infrastructure. Unsettled conditions persisted around the Alpine region…Continue readingHeavy rain in Switzerland and Italy causes flooding
Government scientists say rising seas driven by climate change are drowning Bangladesh’s densely populated coast at one of the fastest global rates, and at least a million people on the coast…Continue readingSea swamps Bangladesh at one of world’s fastest rates
Exposure to extreme weather events can make people more aware of environmental changes; however, it remains unclear how such events influence politicians’ behaviour. Combining supervised learning algorithms on over 260,000 press…Continue readingExtreme weather events do not increase political parties’ environmental attention
An 80% reduction in sulfur dioxide shipping emissions observed in early 2020 could be associated with substantial atmospheric warming over some ocean regions, according to a modeling study published in Communications…Continue readingReduced sulfur content in shipping fuel associated with increased maritime atmospheric warming
Authorities in India are investigating whether a faulty sensor may have been behind a reading that showed temperatures in Delhi soaring past 50 degrees for the first time, amid a scorching…Continue readingDelhi heatwave: officials investigating if temperature of 52.9˚C due to faulty sensor
Waves wash over abandoned homes in a Mexican village slowly being swallowed by the sea—a symbol of the climate change effects being felt by the major fossil fuel producer. The school…Continue readingSubmerged homes, heat waves fuel Mexico climate angst
Delhi city officials asked schools to shut with “immediate effect” due to the blistering heat, according to a government order quoted by the Hindustan Times Tuesday, cutting short the term by…Continue readingIndia shuts schools as temperatures soar
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
It’s so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from the trees. At least 83 of the midsize primates, who are known for their roaring vocal calls, were found…Continue readingMonkeys ‘falling out of trees like apples’ in Mexico amid brutal heatwave
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
The largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide laden in the world’s atmosphere has just occurred, according to researchers who monitor the relentless accumulation of the primary gas…Continue readingRecord-breaking increase in CO2 levels in world’s atmosphere
Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5˚C (4.5˚F) above preindustrial levels this century. Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative…Continue readingWorld’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5˚C target
The climate emergency is already here. Even just 1˚C of heating has supercharged the planet’s extreme weather, delivering searing heatwaves from the US to Europe to China that would have been…Continue reading‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair
Extreme heat has gripped much of south and south-east Asia over recent weeks, killing dozens of people, forcing millions of students to miss school and destroying crops. In Thailand, at least…Continue reading‘Inside an oven’: sweltering heat ravages crops and takes lives in south-east Asia
Europeans are suffering with unprecedented heat during the day and are stressed by uncomfortable warmth at night. The death rate from hot weather has risen 30% in Europe in two decades,…Continue readingEurope baked in ‘extreme heat stress’ pushing temperatures to record highs
From April 1 to April 5, temperatures in Mali exceeded 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and peaked at a record 48.5˚C in the western city of Kayes. Ranked among the…Continue readingMalians struggle to cope after deadly heat wave
The deadly protracted heatwave that filled hospitals and mortuaries in the Sahel region of Africa earlier this month would have been impossible without human-caused climate disruption, a new analysis has revealed.…Continue readingLethal heatwave in Sahel worsened by fossil fuel burning
Thousands of schools in the Philippines have stopped in-person classes due to unbearable heat. In Indonesia, prolonged dry weather has caused rice prices to soar. In Thailand’s waters, temperatures are so…Continue readingSchools close and crops wither as ‘historic’ heatwave hits south-east Asia
On 18 March, 2022, scientists at the Concordia research station on the east Antarctic plateau documented a remarkable event. They recorded the largest jump in temperature ever measured at a meteorological…Continue reading‘Simply mind-boggling’: world record temperature jump in Antarctic raises fears of catastrophe
A searing heatwave that struck west Africa in February was made 4˚C hotter and 10x more likely by human-caused global heating, a study has found. The heat affected millions of people…Continue readingWest Africa heatwave was supercharged by climate crisis
In recent years, Antarctica has experienced a series of unprecedented heat waves. On 6 February 2020, temperatures of 18.3°C were recorded, the highest ever seen on the continent, beating the previous…Continue readingClimate change is speeding up in Antarctica
The annual State of the Climate report by the UN weather and climate agency confirmed preliminary data showing 2023 was by far the hottest year ever recorded. And last year capped…Continue readingPlanet ‘on the brink’, with new heat records likely in 2024: UN
Six leading international datasets used for monitoring global temperatures and consolidated by WMO show that the annual average global temperature was 1.45 ± 0.12 °C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) in 2023.…Continue readingWMO confirms that 2023 smashes global temperature record
Many traditional Malaysian fishermen have found themselves increasingly affected by the climate crisis, which is changing weather patterns that have long governed when and where they can fish. Such fishermen are…Continue readingClimate change pushes Malaysia’s coastal fishermen away from the sea
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
While ice cover across the Great Lakes – a network of five freshwater lakes about the size of the United Kingdom – has been declining since the early 1970s, this year…Continue readingVanishing ice and snow: record warm winter wreaks havoc across US midwest
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
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 vast amount of electricity that India’s growing number of ACs will require presents a significant challenge. Already during peak summertime hours, ACs have accounted for 40% to 60% of total…Continue reading‘A matter of survival’: India’s unstoppable need for air conditioners
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
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
Heat waves have always been part of summer, but the familiar short periods of oppressive conditions have grown into weeks to months of sweltering heat. Research has shown that heat waves…Continue readingHere are the places that could become too hot for humans due to climate change
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
The Interconnected Disaster Risks Report identifies thresholds it calls “risk tipping points,” defined as “the moment at which a given socioecological system is no longer able to buffer risks and provide…Continue readingUN report warns of catastrophic risks to Earth systems
Earth’s vital signs have worsened beyond anything humans have yet seen, to the point that life on the planet is imperiled. William Ripple, a distinguished professor in the Oregon State University…Continue readingClimate report: ‘Uncharted territory’ imperils life on Earth
Parts of Malawi saw a maximum temperature of 43˚C (109˚F), compared with an average of nearly 25˚C (77˚F) for the time of year. The temperatures had dropped by Monday, but in…Continue readingMalawi swelters in record heat with temperatures nearly 20˚C above average
The deadly heat in central South America over the past two months was made 100 times more likely by human emissions that disrupted the climate, scientists have shown. Temperatures have exceeded…Continue readingHuman emissions made deadly South American heat 100 times more likely
If global temperatures increase by 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the 2.2 billion residents of Pakistan and India’s Indus River Valley, the one billion people living in eastern China and the 800…Continue readingClimate-driven extreme heat may make parts of Earth too hot for humans
North Dhaka is particularly vulnerable to the urban heat-island effect due to its densely populated city centre, with some urban hotspots more than 10˚C (18˚F) higher than the surrounding countryside. With…Continue reading‘Only the rich can bear this heat’: how Dhaka is battling extreme weather
The carcasses of 120 river dolphins have been found floating in a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil over the last week in circumstances that experts suspect were caused by…Continue readingDeaths of 120 Amazon dolphins linked to severe drought, high temperatures
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
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
Dressed in a full-body protective suit, an elderly pest control worker could last no more than 15 minutes spraying pesticide along a Hong Kong pavement before the summer heat became too…Continue reading‘In a sauna’: Hong Kong’s laborers swelter as temperatures rise
A huge wildfire in northern Canada is moving closer the city of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, and authorities have ordered the city’s 20,000 residents to evacuate. Canada is…Continue readingHuge wildfire forces evacuation of Canada’s Northwest Territories capital
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
Canada’s military deployed to far north Sunday in the fight against hundreds of out-of-control wildfires as residents of several remote communities fled the advancing blazes. This season, megafires have spread across…Continue readingMilitary joins wildfire fight in Canada’s far north