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The frequency of violent typhoons whose winds exceed 194 kph (120.5 mph) could increase about tenfold by the end of this century due to the continuing trend of global warming, a team of Japanese government scientists has concluded.
Source: Super-typhoon global frequency could increase tenfold by 2100: Japanese researchers- PhysOrg
Date: 4 May 2010
The year 2009 is nominally ranked as the fifth warmest year on record since the beginning of instrumental climate records around 1850.
On the decadal scale, the analysis shows that the 2000s decade (2000–2009) was warmer than the 1990s (1990–1999), which in turn were warmer than the 1980s (1980–1989) and earlier decades.
Global temperature assessment is provided with an uncertainty margin that affects the global surface temperature figures and consequently their ranking, mainly as a result of the existing gaps in data coverage. The magnitude of the uncertainty in assessing the global surface temperature in 2009 is estimated at 0.10°C. Therefore, the most likely value of the global surface temperature anomaly for 2009 is between +0.34°C and +0.56°C.
The southern hemisphere was particularly warmer than the long-term average, especially during the austral winter and late spring.
Source: WMO statement on the status of the global climate in 2009 (PDF) – World Meteorological Organization
Date: 23 March 2010
KOLKATA, India (AFP) – A violent tropical storm killed at least 116 people and devastated an estimated 100,000 homes in impoverished rural areas of eastern India and Bangladesh, officials said Wednesday.
Winds of up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) an hour tore across northeastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh overnight Tuesday, ravaging mud and tin-roofed homes, uprooting trees and bringing down electricity lines.
Officials in the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Assam said a total of 114 people had been killed. Two others were reported dead in Bangladesh, including a police officer.
“The storm has left a trail of destruction everywhere,” West Bengal minister of state for civil defence Srikumar Mukherjee told local television from the disaster scene in North Dinajpur district.
The number of people killed and houses damaged could rise further, disaster officials said, as relief was rushed to the isolated areas, where roads were blocked by fallen trees and phone lines were down.
The storm was an extreme form of what is locally known as a “nor’wester” — a weather pattern that develops over the Bay of Bengal during the hot months of the year, the West Bengal weather office said.
Nor’westers normally bring refreshing winds that blow across the low-lying region in March and April and lower temperatures, Gokul Chandra Debnath, the office’s director, told AFP.
Mohammad Ibrahim, a 40-year-old resident of Hematabad village in West Bengal, told AFP by phone it was the worst storm he had ever seen.
“God has saved me, but taken away my home and everything,” he said, adding that he been injured by a falling tree.
Survivor Abhijit Karmokar told local television that many people had been injured or killed by flying objects, particularly tin sheeting used as roofing on many of the flimsy homes that succumbed to the storm.
“Some of these tin roofs just sliced through people…. It was total darkness…. We stood no chance,” he said.
Homeless people were being shifted to local schools and government offices.
In Bihar, the worst-affected state, chief minister Nitish Kumar returned from an aerial tour of the disaster area to say damage was more extensive than initially thought.
Seventy-two people had died and an estimated 40,000 homes were destroyed in Purnia, Araria and Kishanganj districts, the state disaster management office told AFP.
Families of the deceased have been offered compensation of 150,000 rupees (2,400 dollars).
At least 50,000 homes were destroyed and 38 people died in West Bengal, four people perished and 500 homes were lost in the northern state of Assam, and 12,000 homes were damaged in Bangladesh, officials said told AFP.
“Unconfirmed reports reaching here suggest that the number of casualties will go up,” an official in the Bihar Disaster Management Department, Vayas Mishra, said.
In Bangladesh, northern Rangpur was the worst hit. District administrator B.M. Enamul Haq said two people had died, including a police officer crushed under a collapsed wall.
The storm demolished a police barracks, leaving dozens injured, two of whom remain in critical condition.
“We haven’t yet learnt the full extent of the damage. We know the storm has damaged at least 12,000 homes. It has also flattened crops on a huge tract of land in the Rangpur division,” Haq said.
The cyclone came amid unseasonably high temperatures across much of northern India, where the mercury is already above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many areas.
Local news agencies have reported 43 heat-related deaths, mostly in the eastern state of Orissa. One person was reported to have died in the western state of Gujarat.
The weather department on Tuesday said nine of India‘s 29 states were sizzling in a heatwave.
Source: Storm kills 116, razes 100,000 homes in India, Bangladesh
Date: 14 April 2010
Though you can’t directly link any particular storm to global warming, as the atmosphere warms the likelihood of more extreme weather is predicted to increase. And now some new analysis by the folks at Clean Air-Cool Planet shows that in the northeast United States the trend is bearing out that prediction, with extreme precipitation events increasing over the past sixty years.
photo: Jef Nickerson via flickr
Over 200 Weather Stations Show More Rain and Snow
Examining precipitation data from 219 weather stations in New England, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania from the years 1948-2007, the researchers found that in all but 18 of the stations storms which produced at least 1″ of rain in 24 hours (or the equivalent in snowfall) are increasing. Furthermore, storms which produce 2″ and 4″ of rainfall in a 48-hour period also are increasing in frequency.
Trends in Extreme Precipitation Events for the Northeastern United States (PDF)
More Research Needed, But Results Consistent With Warming Planet
The study’s authors do not make the causal link between warming temperatures and the increases in precipitation (more sophisticated studies would be needed for that) and acknowledge that some aspect of natural variability could be at work, but do say that they found increases in temperature are “best correlated with one-inch events during the spring and fall, precisely the seasons where the rate of increase in extreme precipitation is greatest.”
Furthermore, the study concludes,
“Our results are also consistent with several investigations of the impact of warmer temperatures on extreme precipitation using regional and global climate models.“
Source: You’re Not Imagining It: Northeast US Extreme Precipitation Has Been Increasing – TreeHugger.com
Date: 6 April 2010
Read more: Trends in Extreme Precipitation Events for the Northeastern United States, 1948-2007 [PDF] – Clean Air-Cool Planet
Over a three-month period in the summer of 2003, Europe experienced exceptionally high temperatures, on average 2.3°C hotter than the long-term average.
The European heat-wave of 2003 caused the death of 35,000 people and damages of $15 billion in the farming, livestock and forestry industry from the effects of drought, heat stress and fire.
“More than 25,000 fires were recorded in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Finland, Denmark and Ireland. The estimation of forest areas destroyed reached 647,069 hectares. Portugal was the worst hit with 390,146ha burned, destroying around 5.6 % of its forest area. Spain came second with 127,525ha burned. The agricultural area burned reached 44,123ha plus 8,973ha of unoccupied land, and 1,700ha of inhabited areas.”
Source: Stern Review final report – Chapter 5 – Cost of Climate Change in Developed Countries – HM Treasury
Date: 2006
Source: Impacts of Summer 2003 Heat Wave in Europe (PDF) – UNEP
Date: NA
Extreme weather events cause impacts on industry and infrastructure. Climate change’s most severe and costly impacts on industry and infrastructure will result from the rising tide of extreme weather events such as storms, floods, and heat waves. Worsening weather will place new strains on urban infrastructure, requiring expensive new investments. Episodes of extreme temperatures, such as the recent European heat waves, will increase both the demand for energy and the cost of providing it. Increased electricity generation means an increased use of water resources, at exactly the time when other demands for water will peak. Both fossil fuel and nuclear power plants require huge quantities of cooling water, in many cases withdrawn from rivers and estuaries.
Extreme temperature and heat waves increase demand for energy and costs for cooling and refrigeration. Desire for air conditioning will spread farther north as peak summer temperatures rise. Costs to manufacture and install air-conditioning equipment will be incurred relatively quickly. Demand for electricity exhibits a sharp peak on the hottest days of the summer in areas with heavy air-conditioning use. The more extreme the peak temperatures and air-conditioning demand become, the greater will be the cost of peak electricity generation capacity, which must be maintained but sit idle all the rest of the year. Thus more extreme weather leads to a need for more power plant capacity, and to higher average costs for electricity.
Source: Climate Change – the Costs of Inaction (PDF) – Frank Ackerman and Elizabeth Stanton – Global Development and Environment Institute – Tufts University, MA, USA
Date: 11 October 2006
Climate change is likely to be one of the most significant development challenges confronting Southeast Asia in the 21st century. Home to 563 million people, its population is rising almost 2% annually, compared with the global average of 1.4%. It has long coastlines; high concentration of population and economic activities in coastal areas; heavy reliance on agriculture for providing livelihoods—especially those at or below the poverty lines—and high dependence on natural resources and forestry in many of its countries.
Climate change is already affecting the region. The IPCC (2007) reports an increasing trend in mean surface air temperature in Southeast Asia during the past several decades, with 0.1–0.3°C increase per decade recorded between 1951 and 2000. The region has also experienced a decreasing trend in rainfall and rising sea levels (at 1–3 mm per year). The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events have also increased in recent decades. This includes more heat waves (such as increases in the number of hot days and warm nights and decreases in the number of cold days and cold nights); a significant increase in the number of heavy precipitations events; and an increase in the number of tropical cyclones. This climatic changes have led to massive flooding, landslides, and droughts in many parts of the region, causing extensive damage to property, assets, and human life. Climate change is also exacerbating water shortages in many areas, constraining agricultural production and threatening food security, causing forest fires and degradation, damaging coastal and marine resources, and increasing the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases.
If the world continues on a “business as usual” basis, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam could experience annual damages equal to 6% of the countries’ GDP by 2100. Climate change threatens food supplies and financial income.
The report states that taking early action will far outweigh the costs.
Source: The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Review (PDF) – Asian Development Bank (ADB) report
Date: April 2009
Source: Southeast Asia Faces Soaring Economic Costs If Climate Change Action Delayed – ADB News Release
Date: 27 April 2009
Since 1990 annual losses of around $60 billion worldwide due to extreme weather events (0.2% of World GDP) have been recorded, costing a record $200 billion in 2005 (0.5% of World GDP). Weather related catastrophes have increased 2% each year since the 1970s, based on insurance industry data.
In late November 1998, the total losses, worldwide, from storms, floods, droughts, and fires for the first eleven months of the unusual year 1998 was a record $89 billion: nearly 50 percent higher than the previous record of $60 billion in 1996. In addition to material losses, these weather-related events had taken an estimated 32,000 lives, while displacing 300 million people from their homes: more than the populations of Canada and the United States combined.
“According to the World Health Organization climate change impacts are already claiming around 160,000 human lives globally every year, through, for example, extreme weather, disease and malnutrition . The WHO and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases predict this number could double by 2020.”
“Global warming could ‘commit to extinction’ between 18% and 35% of animal and plant species by 2050.”
Source: Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change (Chapter 5)
Date: 2006
Source: The Extreme Weather Events of 1997 and 1998 – Consequences Vol. 5, No. 1, 1999
Date: 1999
Source: Indications of climate change – Recent Extreme global weather events (PDF) – United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Date: 1999
Source: A disaster for humanity and nature – Greenpeace
Date: Retrieved 30 March 2010
Sea-level rise and storm surge will increase the risk of major coastal impacts, including both temporary and permanent flooding of airports, roads, rail lines, and tunnels. Flooding from increasingly intense downpours will increase the risk of disruptions and delays in air, rail, and road transportation, and damage from mudslides in some areas. The increase in extreme heat will limit some transportation operations and cause pavement and track damage. Increased intensity of strong hurricanes would lead to more evacuations, infrastructure damage and failure, and transportation interruptions.
Serious flooding in the US Midwest in 1993 and 2008 restricted travel and disrupted freight and rail shipments such as those bringing coal to power plants and chlorine to water treatment systems across the USA. The transportation network is essential to the economy, not to mention safety and quality of life. Extreme events like floods and droughts will reduce crop yields; affecting the agriculture industry in the USA which accounts for more than $200 billion a year in food commodities.
Source: Transportation – United States Global Change Research Program
Date: NA
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the most costly catastrophe, totaling US$125 billion in economic losses (around 1.2% of USA GDP).
More than 1,300 people died as a result of the hurricane and over one million people were displaced from their homes.
According to the estimation of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on the macroeconomic effects of Katrina, the hurricane and flooding could lower the annual growth rate of real (inflation-adjusted) GDP by ½ to 1 percentage point in the second half of the year and reduce employment growth over the rest of the year by about 400,000 jobs.
Source: Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change (Chapter 5) – HM Treasury (PDF)
Date: 2006
Source: Potential Economic Impacts of Hurricane Katrina – Joint Economic Committee Democrats (PDF)
Date: September 2005
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Livestock Production and Shorter-Lived Climate Forcers Download |
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Plant-Based Diets - A solution to our public health crisis Download |
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Leaders Preserving Our Future - Insights Paper - WPF - November 2010 Download |
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Maintaining a Climate of Life - Summary Report Download |
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Livestock's Climate Impact Download |
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Livestock & Sustainable Food Download |
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Reducing Shorter-Lived Climate Forcers Through Dietary Change Download |
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The global cost of biodiversity loss: 14 trillion Euros? - EU Commission (2008) Download |
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Forests, Fisheries, Agriculture: A Vision for Sustainability (2009) Download |
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Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 - United Nations (2010) Download |
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