Nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com reports that...

 

President Barack Obama requested Friday that Congress authorize $60.4 billion in emergency spending to help the states hit by the supers-storm Sandy in late October. A House Democratic aide told NBC News that they “even though it’s reasonable, we don’t expect Republicans to just hand it over. We’re going to have to fight for it.” Some congressional Republicans have said that the money spent on Sandy ought to be offset with spending cuts in other parts of the federal budget; most Democrats do not seek offsets. In a joint statement, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., co-chairs of the bipartisan congressional task force on recovering from Tropical Sandy, praised Obama’s request. “While more may be needed in the long term, this robust package is a major first step that we will work to pass as quickly as possible in Congress to help devastated communities, families and businesses.”

Read more at nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com

Usatoday.com reports that...

As the worst drought in decades hits two-thirds of the USA, residents and businesses in normally well-watered areas are catching on to the lawn-painting practice employed for years in the drier West and Southwest.

Read more at www.usatoday.com

Chron.com reports that...

Au moins 171 people died in Krymsk and nearby parts of southern Russia when flash floods triggered by extraordinarily heavy rains inundated the area on July 6-7.

Read more at www.chron.com

Usatoday.com reports that...

The world’s air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant. Monitoring stations across the Arctic this spring are measuring more than 400 parts per million of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. The number isn’t quite a surprise, because it’s been rising at an accelerating pace.

Read more at www.usatoday.com

News.yahoo.com reports that...

A tourist has captured some rare and startling video of an iceberg tipping over. The tourist was traveling on a boat near the Upsala Glacier in Argentina and caught the unexpected moment… The Upsala Glacier has been melting for a number of years and is often cited as evidence of global climate change. The BBC reports that the glacier, once the largest in South America, has been retreating at a rate of about 600 feet a year.

Read more at news.yahoo.com

Reuters.com reports that...

The number of extreme rainstorms – deluges that dump 3 inches or more in a day – doubled in the U.S. Midwest over the last half-century, causing billions of dollars in flood damage in a trend climate advocates link to a rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

Read more at www.reuters.com

Usnews.msnbc.msn.com reports that...

As the climate changes over the next century, the ranges of nearly 90 percent of mammal species will shrink- in many cases because animals won’t be able to get to areas where the climate is going to become suitable for them, says new research.

Read more at usnews.msnbc.msn.com

California has been ranked as one of the top US states in climate change preparedness. California will likely have more than its share of problems caused by climate change with dwindling water supplies and coastal flooding. However California is ready in terms of planning for expected changes to the snowpack and the resulting smaller volume in the states reservoirs.
One of just nine states having designed comprehensive strategies and implemented policies addressing water shortages that are expected to occur if global temperatures increase as predicted.

The author of “Ready or Not: An Evaluation of State Climate and Water Preparedness Planning”, Ben Chou reports many states have not even begun to take action, “They are not doing anything to cut down on carbon pollution or to prepare for climate change impacts.”

“I would say California is one of the leading states in the country” said Chou. The rankings follow with Alaska, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Pennslvania, Washington and Wisconsin as the nine states listed in the national study conducted by the NRDC.

The study goes on to say twenty nine states have done little or nothing to prepare for water related climate impacts.

People actually care about what’s going to happen in the future at least in these nine states.

A computer model study conducted by the University of Oxford has found that global temperatures could rise by 1.4 à 3 degrees Celsius by 2050 compared to late last century, even in the case of mid-range emissions scenario. This is a faster rate of warming than most other forecast models predict.

The project is comprised of nearly 10,000 climate simulations which were carried out by thousands of volunteers on their home computers. Dr. Ben Booth from the UK Met Office stressed that “this work illustrates how the citizen science movement is making an important contribution to this field.”

Researchers say that running so many simulations using a complex atmosphere-ocean climate model proved more accurate compared to previous studies. Professor Myles Allen from the Oxford University said that other climate groups “don’t set to explore the full range of uncertainty, which is why studies like ours are needed”.

The research, often described as very important and promising, has also been criticized. Julian Hunt from University College London told the BBC: “I have reservations about relying on a model that combines land temperatures – which are clearly rising – with sea temperatures which can be subject to big decadal fluctuations.”

Photo: NASA

The Foehn Effect is once more bringing summer-like warmth to parts of east Scotland with temperatures again closer to those usual in June. Lire la suite.