Extreme Weather

Floods, tornadoes, snow in May: Extreme weather driven by climate change across US

USA Today 06/01/2019

Flooding along the Mississippi River is the worst it’s been since 1927. More than 50 tornadoes touched down during the Memorial Day weekend. In Denver, it snowed more than three inches last week. 
Climate scientists say this is only the beginning of what will be decades of increasingly dangerous and damaging extreme weather – and there’s no question that much of it’s being driven by global warming.

Are hurricanes getting stronger – and is the climate crisis to blame?

Guardian 5/20/2019

The proportion of tropical storms that rapidly strengthen into powerful hurricanes has tripled over the past 30 years, according to recent research. A swift increase in pace over a 24-hour period makes hurricanes less predictable, despite improving hurricane forecasting systems, and more likely to cause widespread damage.

Losing Clouds

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Losing-Marine-Stratocumulus-Clouds-Could-Create-Mega-Hothouse Climate Weather Underground 5/18/2019

If humanity maintains its current business-as-usual emissions path for the next 100 years, the resulting 4°C (7°F) of warming may be enough to cause highly reflective stratocumulus clouds over the subtropical and tropical oceans to disintegrate, resulting in an additional 8°C (14°F) of warming, according to research published in February. The resultant “Hothouse Earth” climate, 12°C (22°F) warmer than pre-industrial levels, would be enough to melt all ice on the planet, raise sea levels by over 200 feet over a period of centuries, and produce heat waves too hot for humans to endure outdoors for over half of Earth’s population (as currently distributed.)

Climate Change Bites in the Midwest

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/12/as-climate-change-bites-in-americas-midwest-farmers-are-desperate-to-ring-the-alarm The Guardian- Midwest Agriculture 12-2018

Richard Oswald did not need the latest US government report on the creeping toll of climate change to tell him that farming in the midwest is facing a grim future, and very likely changing forever.

Extreme Canadian Flooding

Guardian- Canada Flooding 4/30/2019

But Canada has done little to prepare for flooding that is likely to become even more common as the planet continues to warm, she said. “Responding to disaster is going to be a lot more expensive than being proactive in vulnerable sites.”

A World Without Clouds

Quanta magazine a World without Clouds 2/25/2019

A state-of-the-art supercomputer simulation indicates that a feedback loop between global warming and cloud loss can push Earth’s climate past a disastrous tipping point in as little as a century.

Heat Wave Grips Japan after Deadly Floods

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/20/heatwave-grips-japan-after-deadly-floods (Climate Change) 7/2018

A heatwave in Japan has killed more than 30 people and complicated recovery efforts after recent flooding. In three prefectures that bore the brunt of the deadly floods and landslides – Hiroshima, Okayama and Ehime – 145 people were hospitalised with heatstroke symptoms on Thursday as temperatures soared above 35C. The tourist hotspot of Kyoto reached a record 39.8C on Thursday and recorded a high of 38.6C on Friday.