Climate Change News & Discussions

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February 2024

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monito ... bal/202402
The February global surface temperature was 1.40°C (2.52°F) above the 20th-century average of 12.1°C (53.8°F), making it the warmest February on record. This was 0.06°C (0.11°F) above the previous record from February 2016. February 2024 marked the 45th-consecutive February (since March 1979) with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th-century average.

February had a record-high monthly global ocean surface temperature for the 11th consecutive month. El Niño conditions that emerged in June 2023 continued into February, and according to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center it is likely that El Niño will transition to ENSO-neutral by April-June 2024 (83% chance), with increasing odds of La Niña developing in June-August 2024 (62% chance).

The Northern Hemisphere tied 2016 as the warmest February on record at 1.85°C (3.33°F) above average. The Northern Hemisphere land temperature tied 2020 as the second highest on record while the ocean temperature was again record-high by a wide margin (0.32°C/0.58°F warmer than February 2020). The Arctic region had its third warmest February on record.

February 2024 in the Southern Hemisphere also ranked warmest on record at 0.95°C (1.71°F) above average. The ocean-only temperature for February in the Southern Hemisphere ranked highest on record, while the land-only Southern Hemisphere temperature was 2nd warmest on record. Meanwhile, the Antarctic region had its 54th coolest February, 0.17°C (0.31°F) below average.

Seasonal Temperature: December 2023–February 2024

The December 2023–February 2024 global surface temperature was the warmest December–February period in the 175-year record, 1.36°C (2.45°F) above the 20th-century average of 12.1°C (53.8°F). The past ten December–February periods have ranked among the twelve warmest such periods on record.

Year-to-date Temperature: January–February 2024

The January–February global surface temperature was the warmest in the 175-year record at 1.34°C (2.41°F) above the 1901-2000 average of 12.1°C (53.8°F).

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1.44c for giss. This is not only the hottest feb on record but hottest anomaly for any month within the giss record. This beats out 2016 and 2020.

We will see how strong the nina gets later this year. Both 1997 and 2016 both had nina's later in the year!
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabl ... s+dSST.txt

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Easter eggs costs rise as climate change hits crops

4 hours ago

Climate change is a key reason your chocolate Easter egg could cost more this year, according to researchers.

Most chocolate is made from cocoa grown in West Africa, but a humid heatwave has blasted the crops and massively cut yields.

Experts say that human-induced climate change has made the extreme heat 10 times more likely.

Which? found some popular eggs have risen in price by 50% or more.

The shortage of cocoa resulting from the heatwave has seen prices soar to almost $8,500 (£6,700) a tonne this week.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68619912

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[Time_Traveller]

Scotland's climate target unreachable says watchdog

19 March 2024



Scotland's flagship 2030 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is now out of reach, the government's independent advisers have warned.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said the measures that would be needed to achieve the target by the end of the decade were "beyond what is credible".

It accused ministers on "failing" on ambitious goals and urged them to focus instead on hitting the target "at the earliest possible date".

The Scottish government said the target was always challenging and that it was decarbonising faster than the UK average.

Scotland has missed eight of the past 12 annual targets for cutting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crgrv45ed1po

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[caltrek]

To Prevent Global Catastrophe, Governments Must First Admit There’s a Problem
by Rumtin Sepasspour,
March 25, 2024

Introduction:

(Bulletin of Atomic Scientists) n January, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced that its Doomsday Clock was remaining at an ominous 90 seconds to midnight. The Clock is an annual clarion call for the threats—nuclear weapons, climate change, biosecurity, and disruptive technologies—that, if left unchecked, could destroy humanity. These threats form a combined level of global catastrophic risk, the potential for human death or suffering on a massive scale.

A month earlier, the Global Challenges Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about global catastrophic risk, released their seventh annual report on the risk. It pointed to the same threats as the Bulletin and added “ecological collapse” onto the pile for good measure. The World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risk Report also chimed in: More than half of those surveyed believed that the risk of global catastrophe was high or extreme over the next decade.

Despite these warnings, if one were to turn to government officials anywhere in the world and ask for their view of the risk of global catastrophe, the response would be thunderous silence. These worst-case scenarios receive little attention from policymakers because they are out of the realms of imagination and the time frames of politics.

To properly prevent and prepare for the risk, governments must admit there’s a problem. Such an admission can only come with proper effort to assess and monitor global catastrophic risk, develop potential future scenarios, build and analyze intelligence, and invest in scientific and technical expertise.

Until that happens, governments won’t be able to see beyond their current conceptions of what the future might hold. Such tunnel vision could have catastrophic consequences.

Read more here: https://thebulletin.org/2024/03/to-pre ... utm_term

[Time_Traveller]

Extreme heat summit to urge leaders to act on threat from rising temperatures

Wed 27 Mar 2024 11.37 GMT

Two of the world’s biggest aid agencies will host an inaugural global summit on extreme heat on Thursday as directors warn that the climate crisis is dramatically increasing the probability of a mass-fatality heat disaster.

The conference will highlight some of the pioneering work being done, from tree-planting projects to the development of reflective roof coverings that reduce indoor temperatures.

After last year’s record-shattering temperatures, when 3.8 billion people – half the world’s population – sweltered in extreme heat for at least one day, the organisers hope the event will prompt governments to prepare for a “silent killer” that rarely gets the attention it deserves when compared with hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) have come together to stage this virtual conference, in which they will urge national governments, local authorities, humanitarian groups, companies, school and hospitals to develop heat action plans.

They will float the idea of naming heatwaves in the same way that typhoons or hurricanes are labelled to make them more prominent.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... mperatures

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