Weather & Earth Science News

In Zimbabwe: temperatures soar to record highs September's average temperature for Sydney beats 33-year record as Australia's record hot year continues Saturday saw flooding in Westcountry after storm 'brewed up' in France Storm whips up chaos on B.C. coast Typhoon Wutip: many missing as Chinese boats sunk Cambodia's flood kills 28, affects 73,600 families Warning over turbine applications near Dark Sky park in Galloway And the BBC publish a selection of reactions to the UN climate Report

Plenty of media reports on the release of the Working Group 1 Summary for Policeymakers, so here's a round-up of stories from some of the usual suspects: Science Daily : Human influence on climate clear, IPCC report says The BBC give us: UN Climate Report: key findings - btw I am disappointed there is little emphasis on precipitation pattern change, which IMO has a far more reaching impact on humans than temperature changes alone. From the Daily Mail : it's not as bad as we thought - but global warming is still as disaster, warn UN experts Climate change report: extreme weather to become more common says the Daily Telegraph , which also runs a story on a slightly different angle:  IPCC Report: Britain could cool is Gulf Stream slows And the Guardian gives us live reaction to IPCC conclusions with some quite interesting and conflicting comments there. UN climate panel endorses ceiling on global emissions is the headline from the New York Times And the...

As Pakistan earthquake death toll jumps to 348 there are reports that Pakistan quake island off Gwadar 'emits flammable gas' - it appears to be a mud volcano . Mexico's Alcapulco hit by heavy rain and fresh floods Britain has its best crop of apples and pumpkins for years because of wet spring and hot summer .   It't been another week of mainly benign weather here (no rain in my garden for 10 days now), although apparently that's all about to change because now we face a weekend of hail and storm chaos with ' typhoon like conditions ' !!!!!   Because there may be a few showers and maybe some thunder affecting parts of southern England on Saturday .....  Yep, it's Nathan Rao again. In Sweden, cold snap on the way after first snow accident and across the border, first snow arrives as police advise Finns to prepare cars for winter. Wild weather from snow to severe fire danger hits Canberra and NSW whilst in Victoria wild winds caus...

Antarctic sea ice hit 35-year record high Saturday - and this despite the warmest August on record,so it's not because it's been cold.... Mexico storm death toll rises to 110 (and some reports this morning now saying 123) Body of 79-year-old floods victim found beside Colorado river Nebraska flooding: problems persist along South Platte River Tornado cuts destructive path in NZ whilst storm moves over northern regions Brazil: tornado leaves two dead, 64 injured In Nigeria, seven feared dead as rain wreaks havoc in Ibadan Landslides, floods kill 22 in Zamables , in the Philippines Tibetan glaciers are shrinking at their summits whilst the trail of melting Swiss glacier shows climate change in action in the Alps In Siberia, scientists discover world's 'best preserved' woolly mammoth trunk With the IPCC AR5 due out latest this week, human role in warming 'more certain' - UN climate chief And wind and rain belts to...

Typhoon Usagi kills at least 25 people in China whilst earlier, super typhoon cuts power, unleashes landslides in northern Philippines After last week's Mexico storms: village landslide missing 'probably dead' School holiday heatwave sets Queensland on high alert for bushfires and drought Global Warming pause 'central' to IPCC report - or rather, that's what some people want it to be.   Certainly, be good to see a better explanation of how natural factors still affect climate and global temperature, as we have seen in recent years with negative PDO and reduced solar activity, as well as other things (including perhaps increased pollution) countering some of the predicted warming from CO2 emissions and related feedbacks.    The big question for those sceptical of AGW is: why aren't we cooling then? Are ideas to cool the planet realistic? - more to the point, are they at risk of falling foul of the law of unintended consequences? ...

Mexico storms: death toll up to 97 as Hurricane Manuel makes landfall and loses force And Colorado flood death toll rises, amid oil spills Photo captures stunning Grand Canyon lightning storm Typhoon Usagi moves towards Philippines, Taiwan - it may become the most powerful storm so far ths year A storm just killed 30,000 sheep in Uruguay Arctic sea ice shrinks to sixth-lowest extent on record I like this: Peak District's High Peak Moors to see 50-year restoration plan Challenger rover's methane result challenges life theory - the red planet may be dead after all And some good news: Earth expected to be habitable for another 1.75 billion years

NOAA: August 2013 temperatures fourth highest on record .  No catastrophic ice age yet then.  Full report here Colorado floods: hundreds still missing Heatwave and wildfires worsened Colorado flooding Clean-up in Japan gets underway after deadly storm Heavy rain in Canberra breaks record In Alaska, ancient trees emerge from frozen forest 'tomb' as glaciers melt back revealing the remains 1,200+ year old trees (note: the report mentions the trees are probably the same as those that grow around the glacier today - so this is not evidence it was 'warmer' 1,200 years ago, only that the glacier was smaller 1,200 year ago) Stronger winds may explain puzzling growth of sea ice in Antarctica Oh, and an interesting follow-up to David Rose's misleading 'story' in the Mail on Sunday from the 'Bad Astronomer' Phil Plait: another week, another climate change denial article in The Mail .   Now, whether Rose was just mistaken a...