BBC (June 28)
“Europe’s unprecedented early summer heatwave may be responsible for hundreds of excess deaths.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 1,300 deaths recorded since June 21 were likely linked to the unrelenting heat. Though the majority of the excess deaths were in France, the heat has been widespread. “Temperature records were broken across the continent again on Sunday – including in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic – as the extreme heat continued to move east.”
Tags: Czech Republic, Europe, Excess deaths, France, Germany, Heatwave, Poland, Records, Summer, Temperature, Unprecedented, Unrelenting heat, WHO
The Guardian (April 3)
“The world is fast approaching temperature levels where insurers will no longer be able to offer cover for many climate risks.” Günther Thallinger, a member of the board of Allianz SE, warned “that without insurance, which is already being pulled in some places, many other financial services become unviable, from mortgages to investments.” The climate crisis could “destroy capitalism…with the vast cost of extreme weather impacts leaving the financial sector unable to operate.”
Tags: Allianz, Capitalism, Climate risks, Cost, Cover, Crisis, Destroy, Extreme weather, Financial services, Insurance, Insurers, Investments, Mortgages, Temperature, Thallinger, Unviable, World
Washington Post (April 19)
“Earth’s record hot streak might be a sign of a new climate era.” Existing models are coming up short as scientists struggle “to explain how the planet could have exceeded previous temperature records by as much as half a degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) last fall.” Efforts over the next quarter or so may determine “whether Earth’s climate has undergone a fundamental shift — a quantum leap in warming that is confounding climate models and stoking ever more dangerous weather extremes.”
Tags: Climate, Climate models, Confounding, Dangerous, Earth, Era, Existing models, Hot streak, Quantum leap, Records, Scientists, Struggle, Temperature, Warming, Weather extremes
Washington Post (April 1)
“Earth has a long-running fever that shows little signs of easing. The planet has set high temperature records in each of the last nine months, and March is poised to become the 10th. Multiple locations around the world observed unprecedented heat on the month’s final weekend, as if to put an exclamation mark on this exceptional run of warmth.”
Tags: Earth, Exceptional, Fever, Heat, High, March, Planet, Records, Temperature, Unprecedented, Weekend, World
BBC (July 5)
“The world’s average temperature reached a new high on Monday 3 July, topping 17 degrees Celsius for the first time.” This marks “the highest in any instrumental record dating back to the end of the 19th century.” Scientists attribute the record high to “El Niño and mankind’s ongoing emissions of carbon dioxide.” With El Niño about to enter its hottest phase, “scientists believe that more records will be shattered as the summer goes on and El Niño gains strength.”
Tags: 17 degrees, CO2, El Niño, Emissions, High, Hottest phase, Record, Scientists, Shattered, Strength, Summer, Temperature
BBC (May 17)
“There’s now a 66% chance we will pass the 1.5C global warming threshold between now and 2027. The chances are rising due to emissions from human activities and a likely El Niño weather pattern.” This would not necessarily mean that “the Paris limit had been broken,” especially if the temperature falls back under the threshold in subsequent years. “Scientists say there is still time to restrict global warming by cutting emissions sharply.”
Tags: 1.5C, 2027, Broken, El Niño, Emissions, Global warming, Human activities, Paris limit, Scientists, Temperature, Threshold, Weather pattern
Reuters (November 3)
A UNESCO report indicates that “some of the world’s most famous glaciers, including in the Dolomites in Italy, the Yosemite and Yellowstone parks in the United States and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are set to disappear by 2050 due to global warming, whatever the temperature rise scenario.”
Tags: 2050, Disappear, Dolomites, Famous, Glaciers, Global warming, Italy, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Temperature, U.S., Unesco, Yellowstone, Yosemite
CBC News (June 29)
“Lytton, B.C., has broken the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada for a third straight day, hitting a scorching 49.6 C on Tuesday. The latest record was broken as a historic heat wave continues to scorch Western Canada, leading to a spike in sudden deaths in B.C. and dangerous wildfire conditions.”
Tags: 49.6 C, B.C., Canada, Dangerous, Heat wave, Historic, Hottest, Lytton, Record, Scorching, Spike, Sudden deaths, Temperature
World Economic Forum (December 10)
“Greenhouse gas emissions reached a new high last year, putting the world on track for an average temperature rise of 3 degrees Celsius.” The UNEP report is only “the latest to suggest the world is hurtling toward extreme climate change” and comes on the heels “of sobering weather extremes, including rapid ice loss in the Arctic as well as record heat waves and wildfires in Siberia and the U.S. West.”
Tags: 3°C, Arctic, Climate change, Emissions, GHG, Heat waves, Hurtling, Ice loss, Record, Rise, Siberia, Sobering, Temperature, UNEP, Weather extremes, Wildfires
Denver Post (October 20)
“Poor people around the world who were among the hardest hit by the virus pandemic are also likely to be the last to recover from it.” The vaccines showing the most promise “need nonstop sterile refrigeration to stay potent and safe.” This isn’t available for over a third of the population. “Nearly 3 billion of the world’s 7.8 billion people live where temperature-controlled storage is insufficient for an immunization campaign to bring COVID-19 under control.”
Tags: COVID-19, Immunization, Pandemic, Poor, Population, Potent, Recover, Refrigeration, Safe, Sterile, Storage, Temperature, Vaccines
