From the Arctic Circle to tropical Africa, abnormal heat is bringing mayhem and destruction and costing lives.
LONDON, 17 September, 2020 – Across the planet, abnormal heat is exacting a lethal toll. The west coast of the US is up in flames. Over recent months unprecedented high temperatures have been melting permafrost in Siberia, within the Arctic Circle. Fires have spread; many thousands of acres of taiga have been laid waste.
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Across many parts of Africa unseasonable torrential rains are causing loss of life and crops.
Climate scientists are careful about attributing any one severe weather event to climate change until all data is gathered and a proper analysis is made.
But looking at various weather patterns around the world, fundamental changes in climate are happening – most related to big increases in temperature.
Along the western seaboard of the US people are having to cope not only with a prolonged drought but with temperatures which are way above normal.
As the ground and brush at the base of trees dries out, the ideal conditions for wildfires are set.
Over recent days more than 40,000 people in the state of Oregon have been told to evacuate their homes: dozens of people are believed to be missing in the mayhem caused by the fires.
“The debate is over.This is a climate damn emergency. This is real and it’s happening”
Kate Brown, Oregon’s governor, says that over three days recently more than 1,400 square miles of land was destroyed by fire – nearly double the amount burned over a typical year in the state.
“We have never seen this amount of uncontained fire”, said Brown.
“While our state reels from this horrific fire storm of hot weather, high winds and drought conditions, this will not be a one-time event.
“Unfortunately it is the bellwether of the future. We are feeling the acute impacts of climate change.”
Last month a group of Oregon’s leading industrialists launched a court action against Governor Brown, saying she overstepped her authority by introducing measures aimed at cutting carbon emissions in the state.
Further south in California, wildfires continue to burn. The skies of San Francisco and other cities have turned red in recent days. Smoke from the fires is causing severe air quality problems.
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, launched an angry attack on President Trump and others who are sceptical about climate change, while visiting an area of the state destroyed by fire.
Africa inundated
“The debate is over” said Newsom. “This is a climate damn emergency. This is real and it’s happening.”
Studies say that since the early 1970s California has registered a more than fivefold increase in the annual incidence of forest fires.
A similar growing trend in abnormal heat and wildfires is being recorded in many parts of Siberia: soaring temperatures have been a big factor. In one Siberian town temperatures reached 38°C in mid-June – 18°C above the usual daytime temperature for the time of year.
Less reported on but a cause of death and hardship to some of the world’s poorest countries are floods that have been destroying homes and crops across large areas of the African continent.
In Somalia, still trying to establish itself as a functioning fully independent state in the face of terrorist attacks, nearly a million people have been affected by severe flooding in recent months.
Sudan and Ethiopia have also been subject to widespread flooding.
According to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), torrential rains and floods are affecting both east and west Africa. In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous state, thousands of homes have been destroyed and crops ruined. – Climate News Network
