It's Climate Change I tell'ya!! IT'S CLIMATE CHANGE!!

[spaminator]

Nearly 100 die as India struggles with a sweltering heatwave in 2 most populous states
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Biswajeet Banerjee
Published Jun 18, 2023 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read

LUCKNOW, India — At least 96 people died in two of India’s most populous states over the last several days, officials said Sunday, with swaths of the country reeling from a sweltering heatwave.


The deaths happened in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and eastern Bihar where authorities warned residents over 60 and others suffering various maladies to stay indoors during the daytime.


All the fatalities in Uttar Pradesh, totaling 54, were reported in Ballia district, some 300 kilometres southeast of Lucknow, the state capital. Authorities found out most of those who passed away were over 60 years old and had preexisting health conditions, which may have been exacerbated by the intense heat.

S. K. Yadav, a medical officer in Ballia, said in the past three days, some 300 patients were admitted to the district hospital for various ailments aggravated by heat.

Due to the gravity of the situation, authorities canceled leave applications of medical personnel in Ballia and provided additional hospital beds in the emergency ward to accommodate the influx of patients.


Officials said most of the admitted patients are aged 60 and above, exhibiting symptoms of high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, breathing difficulties and heart-related issues.

R.S. Pathak, a resident of Ballia who lost his father on Saturday, said that he witnessed an increased flow of patients at the hospital’s emergency ward while attending to his father.

“This has never happened in Ballia. I have never seen people dying because of the heat in such large numbers,” he said. “People fear venturing out. The roads and markets are largely deserted.”

Ballia, along with central and eastern Uttar Pradesh, is currently grappling with oppressive heat.

On Sunday, the district experienced a maximum temperature of 43 degrees Celsius, surpassing the normal range by five degrees. The relative humidity was recorded at 25%, intensifying the effect of the heat.


Atul Kumar Singh, a scientist from the India Meteorological Department, or IMD, said temperatures across the state were presently above normal. He added, “no relief is expected in the next 24 hours.”

The IMD issued an alert saying heatwave conditions would last until June 19 in parts of Uttar Pradesh.

The state’s health minister, Brijesh Pathak, said that they have opened an investigation into the cause of death of “so many people” in Ballia.

In eastern Bihar, scorching heat has engulfed most of the state, leading to 42 deaths in the past two days. Among the fatalities, 35 occurred at two hospitals in the state capital of Patna where over 200 patients suffering from diarrhea and vomiting were being treated.

Patna recorded a maximum temperature of 44.7 degrees Celsius on Saturday.


The main summer months — April, May and June — are generally the hottest in most of India, before monsoon rains bring in cooler temperatures.

But temperatures have become more intense in the past decade. During heat waves, the country usually suffers severe water shortages, with tens of millions of its 1.4 billion people lacking running water.

A study by World Weather Attribution, an academic group that examines the source of extreme heat, found that a searing heat wave in April that struck parts of South Asia was made at least 30 times more likely by climate change.

In April, the heat caused the death of 13 people at a government event in India’s financial capital of Mumbai and prompted some states to close all schools for a week.

— Associated Press writer Indrajit Singh in Patna, India contributed to this story.

Nearly 100 die as India struggles with a sweltering heatwave in 2 most populous states

At least 96 people died in two of India's most populous states over the last several days, officials said Sunday.

torontosun.com

 

[Ron in Regina]

Here we go again. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a new document — the final part of its mammoth sixth report — and we all know what that means. More doomsday porn in the papers. More shroud-waving from eco-agitators. More warnings of imminent apocalypse. The climate cult has not disappointed. Our world is on the “brink of catastrophic warming,” cries the Washington Post. We’re headed for “climate disaster,” warns the BBC. The “climate time bomb” is ticking, says UN secretary general António Guterres. In short, the countdown to doom continues. Unless we repent of our eco-sins, we’ll cause the heat death of our celestial home.

Brendan O'Neill: Eco-dread is a luxury belief we can no longer afford — National Post

Climate-change hysteria is a menace to the lives and interests of working people.

apple.news

View attachment 17710

As to the now mainstream belief that climate change will intensify “weather of mass destruction,” causing more deaths in natural disasters, “the science” on that is also far from clear-cut. The IPCC only says it’s “likely” that human influence is driving some instances of heavy rainfall, for example. It expresses only “medium confidence” that climate change has impacted on water availability in parts of the world. Confidence is “low,” it says, that flooding on a global scale has been shaped by man’s impact on the climate. What we can be confident of, though, is that fewer people are perishing in natural calamities. As Shellenberger says, “In 1931, 3.7 million people died from natural disasters. In 2018, just 11,000 did.” And that brilliant decline in death happened at a time when the human population quadrupled. Maybe that ice we’re skating on isn’t so thin after all.

Speaking of ice, recent studies suggest there has been a stabilization and even growth in the Antarctic ice shelf, that thing we’re constantly told is disappearing thanks to dastardly mankind. The Great Barrier Reef is doing pretty well too, in defiance of the numerous obituaries eco-doomsters wrote for that natural wonder (a 2014 piece in the Guardian was literally titled “The Great Barrier Reef: an obituary”). The ozone layer is recovering nicely. Green hysterics are wrong about everything. The End of Days that keeps them up at night never materializes. No wonder Greta Thunberg deleted that tweet in which she shared the harebrained claim that “climate change will wipe out all of humanity” if we don’t “stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.” A tweet she posted… five years ago.

The IPCC’s treatment of climate change as the gravest challenge facing mankind is a problem. It has a warping effect on our political priorities, implicitly downgrading issues like global poverty or deaths from disease by dragging our gaze, always, to climate. And it lends legitimacy to the crankier bell-tolling of the green movement. Indeed, those one-liners spun by António Guterres — “code red for humanity,” “the alarm bells are deafening,” “humanity is on thin ice” — do nothing to challenge the terror-mongering of green talking heads, and a lot to inflame it.
View attachment 17711

Indeed, the latest IPCC document makes a preposterous demand of developed countries — that they should aim for Net Zero by 2040 rather than 2050. Apparently we should devote ourselves to achieving that expensive, anti-industry, anti-jobs goal of Net Zero 10 years earlier than planned. Here is the entire problem with the climate-change obsession — it’s the luxury belief we can no longer afford.
View attachment 17708

This new IPCC report, like its 2021 predecessor, has landed in a time of crisis. In our post-lockdown era of soaring inflation and energy shortages, we can ill-afford to carry on indulging the late-bourgeois fantasy that modernity is a planet-killing force. We can no longer nod along to this petrified ideology that bears a great deal of responsibility for today’s energy problems and for the stalling of development in poorer parts of the world.

Luxuriant apocalypticism, with its provision of a sense of mission to our lost elites, might have been just about tolerable in good times — it’s a non-starter in bad times.
View attachment 17709
The true conflict today is not between humankind and Mother Earth. It’s between the needs of ordinary people and the fantasies of a global elite that dolls up its loss of faith in industry and progress as “climate-change activism.” That tension will explode soon. We should hope it does, anyway.

Greta Thunberg mocked for tweet claiming world will end by 2023 — Toronto Sun

The Internet is roasting climate activist Greta Thunberg for a five-year-old tweet that humanity would be wiped out in 2023. Thunberg deleted the June 21, 2018 tweet addressing climate danger, in which she linked to a report that, “A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe...

apple.news

The Internet is roasting climate activist Greta Thunberg for a five-year-old tweet that humanity would be wiped out in 2023.

Thunberg deleted the June 21, 2018 tweet addressing climate danger, in which she linked to a report that, “A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.” Whoopsies. Oh well.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Greta Thunberg mocked for tweet claiming world will end by 2023 — Toronto Sun

The Internet is roasting climate activist Greta Thunberg for a five-year-old tweet that humanity would be wiped out in 2023. Thunberg deleted the June 21, 2018 tweet addressing climate danger, in which she linked to a report that, “A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe...

apple.news

The Internet is roasting climate activist Greta Thunberg for a five-year-old tweet that humanity would be wiped out in 2023.

Thunberg deleted the June 21, 2018 tweet addressing climate danger, in which she linked to a report that, “A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.” Whoopsies. Oh well.

Amusing that the Revenge of the Old White Guys is based on a failure to understand her comment.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Greta Thunberg mocked for tweet claiming world will end by 2023 — Toronto Sun

The Internet is roasting climate activist Greta Thunberg for a five-year-old tweet that humanity would be wiped out in 2023. Thunberg deleted the June 21, 2018 tweet addressing climate danger, in which she linked to a report that, “A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe...

apple.news

Amusing that the Revenge of the Old White Guys is based on a failure to understand her comment.

It’s explained in the link. You just have to open and read it.

“Granted, she didn’t actually write the world would end five years to the date of her original tweet — just that we should stop using fossil fuels.”

All that said, the Associated Press reported that Thunberg’s tweet was taken out of context and she had quoted an article that “went on to contextualize remarks made by scientist James Anderson during a January 2018 speech at the University of Chicago.”

Anderson told the AP the focus of his speech was on the floating ice volume and the observed rate of disappearance at that time.

“Thus the statement was clear to those in attendance that the reference was to floating ice volume in the data shown on the slide, not arctic ice in general,” Anderson clarified, adding, “so, the ‘wiping out of humanity by 2022’ is a total distortion of what I said or meant at the University of Chicago colloquium in 2018. I would never make such a statement.” Etc…

It’s in the link that you quoted.

 

[petros]

James Anderson's irresponsible claims created a fuck tonne of unnecessary emotional damage to little girls like Trudeau and Greta

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

It’s explained in the link. You just have to open and read it.

“Granted, she didn’t actually write the world would end five years to the date of her original tweet — just that we should stop using fossil fuels.”

All that said, the Associated Press reported that Thunberg’s tweet was taken out of context and she had quoted an article that “went on to contextualize remarks made by scientist James Anderson during a January 2018 speech at the University of Chicago.”

Anderson told the AP the focus of his speech was on the floating ice volume and the observed rate of disappearance at that time.

“Thus the statement was clear to those in attendance that the reference was to floating ice volume in the data shown on the slide, not arctic ice in general,” Anderson clarified, adding, “so, the ‘wiping out of humanity by 2022’ is a total distortion of what I said or meant at the University of Chicago colloquium in 2018. I would never make such a statement.” Etc…

It’s in the link that you quoted.

And yet, on this very site we have old Conservatives exercising what wit they have at her expense.

And no context is needed. Anybody with the mother-wit to understand the concept of "point of no return" would understand the tweet. Unless they were motivated to deliberately misunderstand it for the purpose of exercising what wit they have at M Thunberg's expense.d

 

[pgs]

And yet, on this very site we have old Conservatives exercising what wit they have at her expense.

And no context is needed. Anybody with the mother-wit to understand the concept of "point of no return" would understand the tweet. Unless they were motivated to deliberately misunderstand it for the purpose of exercising what wit they have at M Thunberg's expense.d

Does that mean the point of no return was when Tecumseh didn’t make it back ?

 

[petros]

And yet, on this very site we have old Conservatives exercising what wit they have at her expense.

And no context is needed. Anybody with the mother-wit to understand the concept of "point of no return" would understand the tweet. Unless they were motivated to deliberately misunderstand it for the purpose of exercising what wit they have at M Thunberg's expense.d

She should have listened to the "old conservatives" when they said "be careful little girl, don't embarass yourself".

 

[spaminator]

word limit.

Beneath surface of Milton lake could help redefine our planet's history

Locals used to say that Crawford Lake was bottomless. Its waters ran deeper than people could reach.

torontosun.com

 

[petros]

These changes are so fundamental, many scientists believe they mark a new chapter in geologic time: The Anthropocene.

Scientists? The only Scientists who can do that are Geologists. FYI Geologists arent buying into the scam.

There hasnt been a massive punctuated event to delineate epochs. Moonbats are going to have to wait a couple hundred to a couple thousand years when the Holocence Interglacial epoch ends dramatically with continental glaciation. It will end...quickly and so will 90% of humans and other critters.

This could be the last summer for the next 250,000 years.

Have a great day!

 

[spaminator]

Meteorologist quits after death threats he received over climate change coverage
Author of the articleenette Wilford
Published Jun 23, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read

An Iowa meteorologist left his 18-year career due to PTSD from death threats he received over his coverage of climate change.


Chris Gloninger, chief meteorologist at CBS affiliate KCCI in Des Moines, announced Wednesday he was leaving the local station.


“After a death threat stemming from my climate coverage last year and resulting PTSD, in addition to family health issues, I’ve decided to begin this journey now,” Gloninger wrote on Twitter.

The longtime weatherman, who has nearly two decades under his belt including the last two years at KCCI, began receiving a series of threatening emails last summer, he detailed.

Last summer, he shared some of the “negative feedback” he received as a result of his climate coverage, captioning the screenshots with, “Last month I received the first threat, followed by a flow of harassing emails.”



Gloninger added that police were investigating but admitted, “It’s mentally exhausting and at times I have NOT been ok.”

One of the messages read: “Getting sick and tired of your liberal conspiracy on the weather, climate changes every day, always has, always will.”

Another threatened, “What’s your address? We conservative Iowans would like to give you an Iowan welcome you will never forget.”

A 63-year-old man from Lenox, Iowa, was identified as the man who emailed Gloninger, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. He was fined $150 for harassing the meteorologist.

But Gloninger isn’t stepping back from his role as an outspoken climate-change advocate.

“I am bidding farewell to TV to embark on a new journey dedicated to helping solve the climate crisis,” he tweeted.

“Now, I will devote my full-time efforts to finding sustainable solutions and fostering positive change,” Gloninger added. “Let’s confront this challenge head on and shape a more resilient future for generations to come.”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1548382916085817344

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1671534139969863680

Iowa man fined for harassing TV weatherman over climate change • Iowa Capital Dispatch

An Iowa man has been fined $150 for sending a string of harassing emails to a television meteorologist concerning climate change.

iowacapitaldispatch.com

Meteorologist quits after death threats he received over climate change coverage

An Iowa meteorologist left his 18-year career due to PTSD from death threats he received over his coverage of climate change.

torontosun.com

 

[Dixie Cup]

Meteorologist quits after death threats he received over climate change coverage
Author of the articleenette Wilford
Published Jun 23, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read

An Iowa meteorologist left his 18-year career due to PTSD from death threats he received over his coverage of climate change.


Chris Gloninger, chief meteorologist at CBS affiliate KCCI in Des Moines, announced Wednesday he was leaving the local station.


“After a death threat stemming from my climate coverage last year and resulting PTSD, in addition to family health issues, I’ve decided to begin this journey now,” Gloninger wrote on Twitter.

The longtime weatherman, who has nearly two decades under his belt including the last two years at KCCI, began receiving a series of threatening emails last summer, he detailed.

Last summer, he shared some of the “negative feedback” he received as a result of his climate coverage, captioning the screenshots with, “Last month I received the first threat, followed by a flow of harassing emails.”



Gloninger added that police were investigating but admitted, “It’s mentally exhausting and at times I have NOT been ok.”

One of the messages read: “Getting sick and tired of your liberal conspiracy on the weather, climate changes every day, always has, always will.”

Another threatened, “What’s your address? We conservative Iowans would like to give you an Iowan welcome you will never forget.”

A 63-year-old man from Lenox, Iowa, was identified as the man who emailed Gloninger, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. He was fined $150 for harassing the meteorologist.

But Gloninger isn’t stepping back from his role as an outspoken climate-change advocate.

“I am bidding farewell to TV to embark on a new journey dedicated to helping solve the climate crisis,” he tweeted.

“Now, I will devote my full-time efforts to finding sustainable solutions and fostering positive change,” Gloninger added. “Let’s confront this challenge head on and shape a more resilient future for generations to come.”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1548382916085817344

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1671534139969863680

Iowa man fined for harassing TV weatherman over climate change • Iowa Capital Dispatch

An Iowa man has been fined $150 for sending a string of harassing emails to a television meteorologist concerning climate change.

iowacapitaldispatch.com

http://torontosun.com/news/world/me...he-received-over-climate-change-coverage[/URL

 

[spaminator]

NYC to crack down on coal- and wood-fired ovens over climate change
Author of the articleenette Wilford
Published Jun 27, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

New York City is known for its pizza, but some city restaurants may have to rethink how they’re cooking up the pies.


The New York Department of Environmental Protection is proposing new rules that would force pizza joints and other eateries that use coal- and wood-fired ovens to cut their carbon emissions by up to 75%, the New York Post reported.


“All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighbourhoods with poor air quality,” DEP spokesperson Ted Timbers said in a statement.

“This common-sense rule, developed with restaurant and environmental justice groups, requires a professional review of whether installing emission controls is feasible.”

The proposed rule could require restaurants with the specified ovens installed prior to May 2016 to invest in expensive emission-control devices.


A city official said that under 100 establishments total would be impacted, according to the Post.

But that hasn’t stopped crusty customers from complaining about the decision to mess with New York’s pizza and bagels scene.

“This is utter BS. It won’t make a difference to climate change,” Elon Musk tweeted.

Fired up Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who represents the county that borders Queens, added, “You don’t mess with a New Yorker’s Pizza or Bagels. Period.”

Former Trump department of justice official Jeff Clark scoffed, “Now the enviro crazies want to wreck New York pizza. Can’t we have a rebirth of common sense?”

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy tweeted “Give us pizza or give us death!” and sounded off again in a video.

“You got rats, you got trash in the city, you got f***ing cars, planes, private planes, you got people getting slashed on the subway, you got flash mobs robbing stores and you’re coming for coal oven pizzerias?” Portnoy noted.



One pizzeria owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Post that DEP officials are privately negotiating with some restaurants on whether to grandfather in and exempt dozens of businesses from the mandate.

“This is an unfunded mandate, and it’s going to cost us a fortune, not to mention ruining the taste of the pizza, totally destroying the product,” he said.

“If you f*** around with the temperature in the oven, you change the taste. That pipe, that chimney, it’s that size to create the perfect updraft, keeps the temp perfect, it’s an art as much as a science. You take away the char, the thing that makes the pizza taste great, you kill it,” he ranted.

“And for what? You really think that you’re changing the environment with these eight or nine pizza ovens?”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1673461233230442497

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1673279849551503363

Exclusive | Mama Mia! NYC rules crack down on coal-, wood-fired pizzerias — must cut carbon emissions up to 75%

New York City is even targeting beloved pizza pie in a bid to curb carbon pollutants — drafting new rules that would require pizzerias that use coal and wood burning ovens for decades to curb…

nypost.com

NYC to crack down on coal- and wood-fired ovens over climate change

New York City is known for its pizza but some city restaurants may have rethink how they’re cooking up the pies.

torontosun.com

 

[55Mercury]

now I gotta read that book Portnoy's Complaint and... was it a movie too? I can just see the woke re-make, Portnoy's Compliant
heh heh

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

now I gotta read that book Portnoy's Complaint and... was it a movie too? I can just see the woke re-make, Portnoy's Compliant
heh heh

Whiny li'l bitch, that Portnoy. . .

 

[55Mercury]

Whiny li'l bitch, that Portnoy. . .

yeah, fuck pizza!

let them eat cock

 

[petros]

NYC to crack down on coal- and wood-fired ovens over climate change
Author of the articleenette Wilford
Published Jun 27, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

New York City is known for its pizza, but some city restaurants may have to rethink how they’re cooking up the pies.


The New York Department of Environmental Protection is proposing new rules that would force pizza joints and other eateries that use coal- and wood-fired ovens to cut their carbon emissions by up to 75%, the New York Post reported.


“All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighbourhoods with poor air quality,” DEP spokesperson Ted Timbers said in a statement.

“This common-sense rule, developed with restaurant and environmental justice groups, requires a professional review of whether installing emission controls is feasible.”

The proposed rule could require restaurants with the specified ovens installed prior to May 2016 to invest in expensive emission-control devices.


A city official said that under 100 establishments total would be impacted, according to the Post.

But that hasn’t stopped crusty customers from complaining about the decision to mess with New York’s pizza and bagels scene.

“This is utter BS. It won’t make a difference to climate change,” Elon Musk tweeted.

Fired up Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who represents the county that borders Queens, added, “You don’t mess with a New Yorker’s Pizza or Bagels. Period.”

Former Trump department of justice official Jeff Clark scoffed, “Now the enviro crazies want to wreck New York pizza. Can’t we have a rebirth of common sense?”

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy tweeted “Give us pizza or give us death!” and sounded off again in a video.

“You got rats, you got trash in the city, you got f***ing cars, planes, private planes, you got people getting slashed on the subway, you got flash mobs robbing stores and you’re coming for coal oven pizzerias?” Portnoy noted.



One pizzeria owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Post that DEP officials are privately negotiating with some restaurants on whether to grandfather in and exempt dozens of businesses from the mandate.

“This is an unfunded mandate, and it’s going to cost us a fortune, not to mention ruining the taste of the pizza, totally destroying the product,” he said.

“If you f*** around with the temperature in the oven, you change the taste. That pipe, that chimney, it’s that size to create the perfect updraft, keeps the temp perfect, it’s an art as much as a science. You take away the char, the thing that makes the pizza taste great, you kill it,” he ranted.

“And for what? You really think that you’re changing the environment with these eight or nine pizza ovens?”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1673461233230442497

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1673279849551503363

Exclusive | Mama Mia! NYC rules crack down on coal-, wood-fired pizzerias — must cut carbon emissions up to 75%

New York City is even targeting beloved pizza pie in a bid to curb carbon pollutants — drafting new rules that would require pizzerias that use coal and wood burning ovens for decades to curb…

nypost.com

NYC to crack down on coal- and wood-fired ovens over climate change

New York City is known for its pizza but some city restaurants may have rethink how they’re cooking up the pies.

torontosun.com

They're gonna need a high end pizza lawyer.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

yeah, fuck pizza!

let them eat cock

Ah, oui, m'sieu! Coq au vin is a delightful dish!

 

[spaminator]

Warming causes more extreme rain, not snow, over mountains and scientists say that’s a problem
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Seth Borenstein
Published Jun 28, 2023 • 3 minute read

A warming world is transforming some major snowfalls into extreme rain over mountains instead, somehow worsening both dangerous flooding like the type that devastated Pakistan last year as well as long-term water shortages, a new study found.


Using rain and snow measurements since 1950 and computer simulations for future climate, scientists calculated that for every degree Fahrenheit the world warms, extreme rainfall at higher elevation increases by 8.3% (15% for every degree Celsius), according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature.


Heavy rain in mountains causes a lot more problems than big snow, including flooding, landslides and erosion, scientists said. And the rain isn’t conveniently stored away like snowpack that can recharge reservoirs in spring and summer.

“It is not just a far-off problem that is projected to occur in the future, but the data is actually telling us that it’s already happening and we see that in the data over the past few decades,” said lead author Mohammed Ombadi, a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory hydrologist and climate scientist.


As the world has warmed to the brink of the 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) internationally agreed threshold to stem the worst effects of climate change, this study shows “every degree (Celsius) matters because it comes with an additional 15% increase” in extreme rain over mountains, Ombadi said. That per-degree rainfall boost in the mountains is more than twice the increase the rest of the world gets from warming air holding more water.

The study looked at only the heaviest rains each year over six decades in the Northern Hemisphere, finding that as altitude rose, so did the turbocharging of rain. The biggest increase in rains were noticed at about 10,000 feet (3,000 metres). That includes much of the American West, where Ombadi said “it’s very pronounced,” as well as parts of the Appalachian Mountains. Another big hotspot in Asia is the Himalayas, Tian Shan and Hindu Kush mountains, with the Alps also affected.


About one in four people on Earth live in an area close enough to the mountains or downhill that extreme rain and flooding would hit them, Ombadi said.

It means more of the type of flooding off the mountains like the one that killed more than 1,700 people in Pakistan and put one-third of the country underwater, Ombadi said. But he noted that they haven’t studied Pakistan’s 2022 floods precisely so there may be some small differences.


The study makes sense and “the implications are serious,” said UCLA climate hydrologist Park Williams, who wasn’t part of the research. Scientists expect more precipitation with warmer temperatures, but heavy snow’s flooding impact is lessened because it takes time to melt and it’s easier to monitor snowpack to see what’s happening, he said.


“But as the proportion of mountain precipitation falling as snow decreases, flood hazards may enhance especially rapidly,” Williams said.

In the American West it hits hard in two different ways, said study co-author Charuleka Varadharajan, a lab climate scientist and hydrologist.

“This kind of extreme rainfall is going to make the floods worse. And then you’ve got to figure out where is that water going?” she said. “We have that situation right now in the Sierras with the Tulare Lake flooding and such a serious issue relating to that.”

The flooding also can hurt food production, Ombadi said. He pointed to California Department of Agriculture estimates of $89 million in crop and livestock losses from this year’s torrential rains.


But in the long term, another problem is water supply. When the West gets heavy snowfall in the winter, that snow melts slowly in spring and summer, filling reservoirs where it can be useful when it’s needed later.

“It’s going to decrease your snow, your water supply in the future,” Varadharajan said. “You’re going to have more short-term runoff leading to more floods and less snowpack that recharges the groundwater and the groundwater is ultimately what helps maintain stream flows.”

“These mountainous systems are supplying most of the water in the West so any decreases in water supply would be pretty significant in terms of water management,” she said.

In times of drought — and much of the West is coping with a more than 20 year-long megadrought — water managers like to keep water levels high in reservoirs, which they can do with heavy snowpacks because it melts slowly, Williams said. But they can’t do that with heavy rainfall.

So as warming causes rainier extremes, society is going to have to choose between cutting water use because of low water levels in reservoirs to absorb a possible large sudden mountain runoff event or build expensive new reservoirs, Williams said.

Warming causes more extreme rain, not snow, over mountains and scientists say that’s a problem

A warming world is transforming some major snowfalls into extreme rain over mountains instead, somehow worsening both flooding and water shortages, a new study found.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Ontario tracks spread of tick-borne illnesses as top doc links it climate change
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Published Jul 02, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Ontario’s top doctor expects to see a growing number of cases of tick-borne illness in the province, in addition to Lyme disease.
Ontario’s top doctor expects to see a growing number of cases of tick-borne illness in the province, in addition to Lyme disease. PHOTO BY ISTOCK /GETTY IMAGES
TORONTO — Ontario’s top doctor expects to see a growing number of cases of three types of tick-borne illness in the province, in addition to Lyme disease — a spread he says is directly linked to climate change.


A new regulation that takes effect this weekend requires health-care providers in Ontario to report cases of anaplasmosis, babesiosis and Powassan virus to their local medical officers of health.


There have been anecdotal reports and publications about the three illnesses being found in Ontario in recent years, but the province now needs to start formally tracking them, said Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore.

“We can now count and track when these illnesses are occurring, map it for a risk map and be able to inform the public when these diseases become more prevalent,” he said in an interview.

“It’s absolutely expected that we’ll have greater incidence over the next several years because this is a known wave of infections that we’ve seen migrate up the coastline of northeast North America and anticipate them affecting Ontarians.”


Over the last 20 years, there has been a rise in the incidence of Lyme disease as ticks, particularly black-legged ticks, are able to survive the winters, Moore said. The United States has seen waves of anaplasmosis, babesiosis and Powassan virus come after cases of Lyme disease, Moore said, and he expects to see that in Ontario as well.

“It is simply from the ability of these ticks, that are now able to survive our winters and stay and breed over their two-year lifecycle,” Moore said.

“We’ve seen them migrate from the mid-eastern United States and now that wave of migration we’ve seen go through Connecticut and New York and these diseases are following in the footsteps of Lyme disease and we anticipate that we’ll have more cases of these.”


Anaplasmosis is caused by bacteria that gets into a person’s bloodstream through a tick bite. It causes fever and chills, but can also suppress bone marrow and the creation of white and red blood cells, as well as platelets, Moore said.

Babesiosis, on the other hand, presents similarly to malaria, he said. Ticks transmit intracellular parasites, which get inside a person’s red blood cells and burst them, so people can present with anemia, along with having fever and chills.

Most infections of Powassan virus are asymptomatic, but people might have fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, weakness, or aches and pains. But after an acute phase and a period of remission, an infected person may experience confusion, loss of co-ordination, difficulty speaking, paralysis, seizures or coma, said Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Michelle Murti.


“Approximately 50% of people who survive severe disease have long-term health problems, such as recurring headaches, loss of muscle mass and strength, and memory problems,” she said.

There is no specific treatment for Powassan virus disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control in the United States, rather patients’ symptoms are managed. Anaplasmosis and babesiosis can be treated with antibiotics for symptomatic cases.

To prevent tick bites, people spending time outdoors are advised to use insect repellent and wear permethrin-treated clothing, then do a daily tick check. Anyone who has found a tick attached to them should see a doctor if they get a fever within the next month, Moore said.

Ontario tracks spread of tick-borne illnesses as top doc links it climate change

Ontario’s top doctor expects to see a growing number of cases of tick-borne illness in the province, in addition to Lyme disease.

torontosun.com