In its State of the Climate report for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) for 2021, the WMO said ecosystems, food and water, human health and welfare were all…Continue readingBattered by climate change, Latin America must brace for worse
Tag: drought
Wildfires and heatwaves wreaking havoc across swathes of the globe show humanity facing “collective suicide”, the UN secretary general has warned. António Guterres told ministers from 40 countries meeting…Continue readingHumanity faces ‘collective suicide’
Kenya’s remote Marsabit County, in the far north near the border with Ethiopia, is the land of pastoralists. The region has been dubbed the “Cradle of Mankind” – Kenya…Continue reading‘Everything is dry’- The droughts putting Kenya’s herding cultures at risk
No organism on Earth is known to live as long as the Great Basin bristlecone pine. The oldest documented tree, a well-hidden specimen nicknamed “Methuselah,” after the long-lived biblical…Continue readingScientists rush to save 1,000-year-old trees on the brink of death
Italy is facing an unusually early heatwave and a lack of rainfall, particularly in the northern agricultural Po valley, which has been hit by its worst drought in decades.…Continue readingItaly declares state of emergency in five regions over drought
Most rain on the Iberian peninsula (most of Spain and Portugal, as well as a small area of Southern France, Andorra, and Gibraltar) falls in winter as wet, low-pressure…Continue readingSpain and Portugal suffering driest climate for 1,200 years
When the U.S. Forest Service started an intentional fire in the Santa Fe National Forest in early April, the aim was to reduce the risk of a destructive blaze.…Continue readingForest Service says it failed to account for climate change in New Mexico blaze
In a study just released in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, Dr. Armineh Barkhordarian confirms that this systematic warming pool is not the result of natural climatic variations—but…Continue readingSystematic warming pool discovered in the Pacific due to human activities
Niger is on the frontline of the climate crisis. Increasingly erratic rainfall and longer dry seasons mean that many parts of the country have not had a good harvest…Continue readingNiger is in the eye of the climate crisis – and children are starving
Firefighters in Spain and Germany are struggling to contain wildfires amid a heatwave in Western Europe, unusual for this time of year. The worst damage in Spain has been…Continue readingSpain, Germany battle wildfires amid unusual heatwave in Europe
In just more than two decades, the continent has experienced its five hottest summers since 1500. 2021: Hottest ever Last year was Europe’s hottest summer on record. Greece endured…Continue readingEurope’s five hottest summers since 1500
The historic drought in the western United States is about to get worse. Much of the West is already experiencing severe to exceptional drought, but scorching summer temperatures will…Continue readingThese maps illustrate the seriousness of the western drought in the U.S.
Iraq temporarily closed Baghdad airport Monday as choking clouds of dust blanketed the capital, the latest crippling sandstorm in a country that has warned climate change poses an “existential…Continue readingIraq swept by tenth sandstorm in weeks
Almost the whole of Portugal was in severe drought at the end of May. The month of May was the hottest in the southern European country for the last…Continue reading97% of Portugal in severe drought
Basra, Iraq – Southern Iraq was once known as the “black land” – the vast swaths of palm trees blocking out everything else, and providing food, shelter, and shade.…Continue readingClimate change ravages Iraq as palm trees make way for desert
The summer monsoon, which typically arrives in June and continues till September, is life and livelihood. More than 75% of India’s annual rainfall occurs during this period. Monsoon rains…Continue readingIn India, waiting for the monsoon
Sandstorms across the Middle East have delayed flights, closed schools and hospitalised thousands—a phenomenon experts say could worsen as climate change warps regional weather patterns. The Middle East has…Continue readingMideast sandstorms snarl traffic, close schools, harm health
Jacobabad in Pakistan’s arid Sindh province is in the grip of the latest heatwave to hit South Asia—peaking at 51˚C (124˚F). Canals in the city—a vital source of irrigation…Continue readingExtreme temperatures compound poverty in Pakistan’s hottest city
Pakistan is in the grip of a blistering heatwave, with parts of the nation already scorched by temperatures of nearly 50˚C (122˚F) as officials warn of acute water shortages…Continue readingPakistan city hits nearly 50˚C (122˚F) as blistering heatwave grips nation
Humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating mitigation must be done “urgently, using every tool we can,” says a new report from the…Continue readingWorld ‘at a crossroads’ in management of droughts, up 29% in a generation and worsening, reports the UN
The relentless dry spell that is withering the American West is steadily warping normal life. Major reservoirs have baked down to record lows and are still dropping, threatening the…Continue readingFacing a new climate reality, Southern California lawns could wither
In the Horn of Africa as a whole, in an area stretching from northern Kenya to Somalia and swaths of Ethiopia, up to 20 million people could go hungry…Continue readingHorn of Africa ravaged by worst drought in four decades
As a punishing, record-breaking drought enters its 13th year, Chile has announced an unprecedented plan to ration water for the capital of Santiago, a city of nearly 6 million.…Continue readingChile announces unprecedented plan to ration water as drought enters 13th year
The study examined four possible scenarios for future carbon emissions, and found increased risk of El Niño events in all four. This means El Niño events and associated climate…Continue readingIncreasing frequency of El Niño events expected by 2040
The Amazon is approaching a tipping point, data shows, after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity. Novel statistical analysis shows…Continue readingAmazon rainforest tipping point is looming
Hundreds of residents in the US state of Florida were evacuated from their homes after a rash of wildfires that ignited dead vegetation swept through the area. Dry conditions…Continue readingFlorida wildfires force hundreds to evacuate their homes
Although Africa has contributed relatively little to the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions, the continent has suffered some of the world’s heaviest impacts of climate change. This will only get…Continue readingAfrica, already suffering from warming, will see worse
The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out…Continue readingUS west megadrought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years
The drought and heatwaves that seared eastern Australia in the lead-up to the 2019-20 black summer bushfires killed as much as 60% of the trees in some areas that…Continue readingDrought and heatwaves in Australia cause widespread tree death
Where civilization emerged between the Tigris and Euphrates, climate change is poisoning the land and emptying the villages.Continue readingAcross Iraq’s south, there is a sense of an ending
Global warming has pushed what would’ve been a moderate drought in southwestern North America into megadrought territory. 2000–2018 was the driest 19 year period since the late 1500s. Climate…Continue readingLarge contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought
Across the region, the price of historic dryness is being measured in lost crops, a slowdown in mining, surging transportation costs and shortages of energy in a region heavily…Continue readingIn South America, the climate future has arrived.
Unusually powerful sandstorms have left at least six people dead in Sao Paulo in recent weeks, local media said, as southeastern Brazil grapples with severe drought. Scenes of huge…Continue readingExtreme drought in Brazil triggers fatal sand storms
Climate change is amplifying war, civil unrest, displacement, poverty, hunger and water scarcity in Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria and Mali. Noor Ahmad Akhundzadah, a professor of hydrology at Kabul University:…Continue readingWar and Warming
The southern Murray-Darling Basin occupies the southern half of NSW and northern Victoria. It receives most of its water from rain in the cooler months that fills dams, with…Continue readingThe Murrumbidgee River’s wet season height has dropped by 30% since the 1990s, and the outlook is bleak
The Paraná River, one of the main commercial waterways in South America, has reached its lowest level in nearly 80 years due to a prolonged drought in Brazil that…Continue readingDrought hits South America river, threatening vast ecosystem
The Andes mountain range is facing historically low snowfall this year during a decade-long drought that scientists link to global warming. “Here we are seeing a process of long-term decrease…Continue reading‘Mega-drought’ leaves many Andes mountains without snow cover
The world is facing unprecedented levels of drought.Continue readingThe current drought is worldwide. Here’s how different places are fighting it.
The intensity of the fires in California and Oregon is “not something you used to see” so early in the season.Continue readingAmerican west stuck in cycle of ‘heat, drought and fire’
“In the past, we may have had one fire in the summer that was notable. Now 50% of our fires are notable—and what I mean by notable is something that…Continue readingDrought-hit ‘tinderbox’ California braces for fires in months ahead