Extreme Heat

Climate Crisis: North America gets its own Mideast-Style Khamsin, courtesy Freak Canadian Smokestorm

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Not only Toronto in Canada but New York, Washington, D.C. and other cities of the US northeast got a taste of the Middle Eastern Khamsin on Wednesday. Of course, we had our own, North American twist on it, since ours was not a sandstorm but a “smokestorm.” Some 400 wildfires […]

CO2

Carbon Dioxide in our Atmosphere hits High not seen for Millions of Years, threatening Accelerated Global Heating

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Monday that parts per million of carbon dioxide in our planet’s atmosphere averaged 424 ppm in the month of May, reaching a level not seen for millions of years. In May 2022 it was only 421 ppm so this is a tremendous […]

Arctic

Arctic Ocean could be Ice-Free in summer by 2030s, with Global, Damaging and Dangerous Consequences

The Conversation

By Jonathan Bamber, University of Bristol | – (The Conversation) – The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a new study in Nature Communications. Predictions of an ice-free Arctic Ocean have a […]

Climate Crisis

Why is 104 °F (40°C) is bearable in a Desert but Lethal in the Tropics

The Conversation

By Alan Thomas Kennedy-Asser, University of Bristol; Dann Mitchell, University of Bristol; and Eunice Lo, University of Bristol | – (The Conversation) – This year, even before the northern hemisphere hot season began, temperature records were being shattered. Spain for instance saw temperatures in April (38.8°C [101.8 °F]) that would be out of the ordinary […]

Afghanistan

The Water Wars Begin: Did Climate Change contribute to Saturday’s Deadly Iran-Afghan Border Clash over Helmand River?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reports that on Saturday deadly clashes broke out between Iranian border guards in the Zabul district of Sistan and Baluchistant Province and their opposite numbers on the Afghanistan side in the Keng District of Nimruz Province. Tasnim wrote, “Conscript “Mehdi Ahmadi” was martyred while guarding the […]

Climate Crisis

Global Heating could make it too Hot for a Third of Humanity by 2080 – 2100

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A lot of studies have focused on the economic cost of global heating, caused by humans burning fossil fuels. A new study in Nature Sustainability “Quantifying the human cost of global warming,” by Timothy M. Lenton et al. instead concentrates on what heating will mean for the lives of human […]

Climate Crisis

The Hottest Days are warming twice as fast as the Average Summer Temperature in Northwest Europe

The Conversation

By Matthew Patterson, University of Oxford | – (The Conversation) – On July 19 2022, the UK experienced its highest ever temperature. At 40.3℃ [104.5°F] (Coningsby, Lincolnshire), the temperature surpassed the previous record of 38.7℃ [101.6°F] (Cambridge) – a record that had been set a mere three years previously. My new study shows that this […]

Climate Crisis

Global Heating to Bring a Record-Breaking Hot Year by 2028 — Probably our First above the 2.7F /1.5C Threshold

The Conversation

By Andrew King, The University of Melbourne | – One year in the next five will almost certainly be the hottest on record and there’s a two-in-three chance a single year will cross the crucial 1.5℃ global warming threshold, an alarming new report by the World Meteorological Organization predicts. The report, known as the Global […]

Climate Crisis

EPA Again Proposes Restrictions on Power Plant Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Wisconsin Examiner

By: Robert Zullo ( The Wisconsin Examiner ) – The Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan — intended to cut carbon emissions from power plants — was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Trump administration’s much-criticized replacement, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, derided as a “tortured series of misreadings” of the […]