People relax in Victoria Gardens with the Houses of Parliament in the background in central London, as a heatwave hit the continent with temperatures touching 40 degrees Celsius on June 25, 2020. NIKLAS HALLE'N / AFP via Getty Images
The chance that UK summer days could hit the 40 degree Celsius mark on the thermometer is on the rise, a new study from the country's Met Office Hadley Centre has found.
<p>British summers currently only reach 40 degrees every 100 to 300 years. But the study, published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16834-0" target="_blank"><em>Nature Communications</em></a> Tuesday, found that such temperatures could occur every 3.5 years if nothing is done to reduce <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/greenhouse-gases" target="_self">greenhouse gas</a> emissions and curb the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>.</p><p>"Climate change has already influenced the likelihood of temperature extremes in the UK. The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence," lead author Dr. Nikolaos Christidis said in a <a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2020/chances-of-40c-days-in-the-uk-increasing-due-to-human-influence" target="_blank">Met Office press release</a>. "The likelihood of exceeding 40°C anywhere in the UK in a given year has also been rapidly increasing, and, without curbing of greenhouse gas emissions, such extremes could be taking place every few years in the climate of 2100."</p>
<div id="f49f9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="548418422f9dfc779c1082b8d99bfcca"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1277980676583600134" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">New research published today shows the chances of 40°C days in the UK are increasing rapidly due to #GlobalWarming… https://t.co/gNwrqnYPMA</div> — Met Office (@Met Office)<a href="https://twitter.com/metoffice/statuses/1277980676583600134">1593529311.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>To reach their conclusions, the researchers combined temperature measurements across the country with 16 different climate models, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/30/likelihood-of-40c-temperatures-in-uk-is-rapidly-accelerating" target="_blank">The Guardian explained</a>. They found that reducing emissions made a big difference in lowering future temperatures. Under a medium-emissions scenario, in which emissions are reduced but not enough to honor the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_self">Paris agreement</a> goal of limiting global warming to below two degrees, 40 degree days would occur every 15 years.</p><p>"This research shows human-caused climate change has set us on a course to see temperature extremes in the UK that would be highly unlikely under a 'natural' climate, although urgent action to reduce emissions now can significantly reduce the occurrence of extreme high temperatures in the UK in the future," coauthor and head of the Met Office National Climate Information Centre Dr. Mark McCarthy said in the press release.</p>
<p>The study also looked at the likelihood of other temperature extremes. Days 35 degrees or higher currently occur every five years on average but could happen nearly every other year by 2100 under a high-emissions scenario. The 40 and 35 degree days would be most common in the Southeast, but the North could see 30 degree days once per decade by 2100. They are now extremely rare in that region.</p><p>UK summers are already feeling the impacts of the climate crisis. The summer of 2018 was the joint hottest on record, and the country saw its highest recorded temperature of 38.7 in Cambridge during July 2019, The Guardian reported. The climate crisis has made <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/heat-wave" target="_self">heat waves</a> in the country 30 more likely, and temperature extremes caused 3,400 early deaths between 2016 and 2019. These impacts will only worsen as temperatures rise, which is a big reason why the Met Office conducted the study, Christidis told <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200630-uk-increasingly-likely-to-see-40c-temperatures" target="_blank">AFP</a>. He said he wanted to help the country plan better for extremes.</p>
<p>"Exceeding extreme temperature thresholds like the 40C in the UK would be accompanied by severe impacts — on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a>, transport infrastructure," he told AFP.</p><p>However, on a global scale, the UK won't be feeling the heat as intensely as other places.</p><p>"Heatwaves are a real risk to life in the UK, especially if we do not begin modifying our homes, workplaces and hospitals to manage their expected overheating," University of Leeds professor Piers Forster, who was not involved in the study, told The Guardian. "However, we should note that in terms of heatwaves, the UK will get off lightly compared with most other nations. Heatwaves in the major crop-growing regions of the world could have more profound effects, both globally and for the UK."</p>
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Flooding Risk for U.S. Homes: Millions More Are Vulnerable Than Previously Estimated
29 June
Climate
A road is covered by floodwater left in the wake of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey on Aug. 31, 2017 near Houston, Texas. Scott Olson / Getty Images
The climate crisis will certainly change the mortgage market and the insurance market in the near future as millions of homes are now at risk of flooding and fire danger due to changes brought by extreme weather from the climate crisis. Now, the latest analysis shows that millions of homes that were not included in government estimates are at risk of flooding, exposing millions of people to a lurking threat that will only grow as the climate crisis worsens, as The New York Times reported.
<p>That threat is the takeaway in a <a href="https://assets.firststreet.org/uploads/2020/06/first_street_foundation__first_national_flood_risk_assessment.pdf" target="_blank">comprehensive new analysis by the First Street Foundation</a>, a nonprofit research and technology group that experts say has put together the most complete assessment of the nation's mounting vulnerability to flooding, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/us/us-flood-risk-increasing-climate-change-first-street-foundation/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>The in-depth and extensive report released Monday shows that across the U.S., there are at least 6 million homes that have a one percent chance of flooding each year, which puts them within a "100-year" flood zone. Yet, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-harvey">Hurricane Harvey</a> revealed in 2017 when it flooded Houston, downpours are flooding homes outside areas the government considers 100-year flood zones, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/06/29/flood-risk-climate-change/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>The new analysis shows that nearly 70 percent more homes are at substantial risk of flooding than are currently within FEMA's Special Flood Hazard Areas, which determines eligibility for the National Flood Insurance Program, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/06/29/flood-risk-climate-change/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>Across the country, about 8.7 million properties are located in Special Flood Hazard Areas as determined by FEMA's flood maps, the legal standard used in the U.S. to manage floodplains and determine insurance requirements and price policy premiums. First Street's data says the true number is closer to 14.6 million properties. The group says the gap between FEMA's maps and this new data means that some 6 million property owners could be unaware of their current flood risk, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/us/us-flood-risk-increasing-climate-change-first-street-foundation/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p>
<p>First Street's work shows just how dramatically Americans' exposure to flood hazards will increase during the next 30 years, which is the term of a typical mortgage.</p><p>The model finds that about 14.6 million properties now have a substantial level of risk now, but that grows to 16.2 million by 2050, with the caveat that there are considerable uncertainties involving changing precipitation patterns that could inflate that number further, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/06/29/flood-risk-climate-change/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p><br>"If you're a homeowner, renter or buyer in this country and you want to understand flood risk, the only data that's available to you are the FEMA flood maps," said Matthew Eby, <a href="https://firststreet.org/" target="_blank">First Street's</a> founder and executive director, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/us/us-flood-risk-increasing-climate-change-first-street-foundation/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. "And the FEMA flood maps are made to determine flood insurance rates — not necessarily to determine what your personal flood risk is."</p><p>First Street created a website that allows users to plug in their own <a href="http://floodfactor.com/" target="_blank">address</a> to see their flood risk.</p><p>Many cities nationwide from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Buffalo, New York, to Chattanooga, Tennessee show enormous gaps between FEMA assessed flood risks and actual flood risk. In Chicago alone, 75,000 properties have a previously undisclosed flood risk. And racial minority communities often face a bigger share of hidden risk, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/29/climate/hidden-flood-risk-maps.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p>
<p><br>In more than two-thirds of states, First Street found that areas with more racial minority residents also had a greater share of unmapped flood risk than the statewide average. Jeremy Porter, First Street's director of research and development, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/29/climate/hidden-flood-risk-maps.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> that cities seem to invest more in flood protection in areas with higher incomes and property values.</p><p>In Florida, 23 percent of all homes face flood risk, while in New Orleans, the number is at 98 percent. In Virginia Beach the flood risk increased over 80 percent in the last 30 years, according to First Street's <a href="https://floodfactor.com/" target="_blank">FloodFactor</a> website.</p>
<p>The information will give local governments and property owners a leap forward in understanding their evolving risks from climate change and other hazards, said Kerry Emanuel, a meteorology professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to <a href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2020/06/29/gda-flood-risk-florida-risk-brevard-county-fema/3277148001/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>.</p><p>Emmanuel said the new data takes pieces of information from many experts and puts it together in a way that hasn't been done before to give property owners "the risk of their home being blown down or flooded by salt or freshwater," Emanuel said to <a href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2020/06/29/gda-flood-risk-florida-risk-brevard-county-fema/3277148001/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>.</p><p>"They're going to watch the value of their property plummet over time," he said. "That might make them think twice," he said, adding that it might also convince them to ask their elected representatives "to do something about it."</p>
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
An animation shows the movements of the dust cloud from June 13 to 18. NASA/NOAA, Colin Seftor
A massive cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert is expected to reach the Southeastern U.S. by Wednesday.
While the weather pattern driving the cloud is not unusual, the amount of dust is, according to KSLNewsRadio. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Colonel Doug Hurley snapped a photo from on board the International Space Station, as NDTV reported.
"We flew over this Saharan dust plume today in the west central Atlantic," he tweeted Sunday. "Amazing how large an area it covers!"
We flew over this Saharan dust plume today in the west central Atlantic. Amazing how large an area it covers! https://t.co/JVGyo8LAXI— Col. Doug Hurley (@Col. Doug Hurley)1592768779.0
The dust is part of something called the Saharan Air Layer (SAL), a mass of dry, dusty air that travels over the North Atlantic every three to five days between mid June and mid August, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) information reported by KSL.
"Every so often, when the dust plume is large enough and trade winds set up just right, the dust can travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic and into the US." CNN Meteorologist Haley Brink said.
The current plume emerged off of North Africa last weekend and has already traveled more than 3,000 miles to reach the eastern Caribbean Sea, The Weather Channel reported.
Ok, last dust pic for today and this one is perhaps the most incredible yet. The comparison photos were sent to me… https://t.co/ZGUEu33e2p— Mark Sudduth (@Mark Sudduth)1592780353.0
It covers an area larger than the lower 48 states and Western Europe.
The dust is expected to travel more than 5,000 miles to reach the U.S., according to CNN. But its effects for the country will mostly be positive: brilliant sunsets and suppressed hurricane activity.
A computer model forecast of atmospheric dust for the next 10 days. The plume of Saharan dust is expected to move o… https://t.co/RY57M1ODJg— NWS Eastern Region (@NWS Eastern Region)1592597655.0
The sunsets are because the tiny dust particles tens of thousands of feet in the air filter the sun's rays at the beginning and end of the day. They also cause a blue sky at midday to have a milky sheen.
The hurricane suppression is because tropical storms don't do well with dry air.
"The SAL can have a significant negative impact on tropical cyclone intensity and formation," Jason Dunion explained for NOAA. "Its dry air can act to weaken a tropical cyclone by promoting downdrafts around the storm, while its strong winds can substantially increase the vertical wind shear in and around the storm environment. It is not yet clear what effect the SAL's dust has on tropical cyclone intensity, though some recent studies have suggested that it can actually impact the formation of clouds."
However, the cloud could worsen air quality in some places, which could make symptoms worse for people suffering from respiratory conditions like asthma, The Weather Channel pointed out.
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The town of Verkhoyasnk in Siberia has just recorded a temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Amos Chapple / Lonely Planet Images / Getty Images Plus
A town in Siberia recorded a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius, or 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit Saturday.
<p>If verified, it will break the record both for the town itself and for everywhere north of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/arctic" target="_self">Arctic</a> Circle, <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2020-06-21-siberia-russia-100-degrees-heat-record-arctic" target="_blank">The Weather Channel reported</a>. It also comes as Siberia has experienced an exceptionally warm 2020 so far.</p><p>"What's happening in Siberia this year is nothing short of remarkable. The kind of weather we expect by 2100, 80 years early," CBS meteorologist Jeff Berardelli tweeted.</p>
<div id="0a15d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="147064a31020f93ea01b92200ab144d9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1274414907086245890" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Likely the hottest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic happened today-100.4 F- What's happening in Siberia this… https://t.co/IHGUz8pIJj</div> — Jeff Berardelli (@Jeff Berardelli)<a href="https://twitter.com/WeatherProf/statuses/1274414907086245890">1592679165.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The town of Verkhoyansk, where the high temperature was recorded, is usually one of the coldest places on Earth, Berardelli wrote for <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arctic-records-its-hottest-temperature-ever-2020-06-20/#app" target="_blank">CBS</a>.</p><p>Its average high temperature for late June is in the high 60s, according to The Weather Channel, and its previous record high temperature was 99.1 degrees Fahrenheit, set in 1988. In November 2019, its temperature plunged to almost 60 degrees below zero, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/21/21298292/siberia-temperature-100-climate-change" target="_blank">Vox reported</a>. On Sunday, children were photographed seeking relief in a lake that is frozen in winter, according to The Weather Channel.</p>
<p>Verkhoyansk's record cold temperature was set at negative 67.8 degrees Celsius, or negative 90 degrees Fahrenheit, in 1892. If Saturday's reading holds, that will put a 105.8 degrees Celsius difference between the town's temperature extremes.</p><p>"That's a difference in extremes larger than the difference between water's freezing and boiling points, likely the largest spread between all-time record high and low temperatures anywhere on Earth," Jonathan Erdman wrote for The Weather Channel.</p>
<p>There are some doubts about the accuracy of Saturday's reading, according a Washington Post article reported by Vox. But a weather balloon recorded unusually high temperatures in the lower atmosphere Saturday, and the town hit 95.3 degrees on Sunday.</p><p>Even if the reading doesn't hold, Siberia is still in the grips of an extremely warm 2020.</p><p>Temperatures in May were 10 degrees Celsius higher than usual, making it the region's warmest May on record, according to the <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/investigating-unusually-mild-winter-and-spring-siberia" target="_blank">Copernicus Climate Change Service</a>.</p>
<div id="391d1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="77f20c30f8cf33404d33ab858324cfc9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1271409991539400704" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Unusual events in Siberia have been in the news. In fact, our May temperature summary showed higher than average te… https://t.co/7Ai1nrL5rp</div> — Copernicus ECMWF (@Copernicus ECMWF)<a href="https://twitter.com/CopernicusECMWF/statuses/1271409991539400704">1591962738.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>And Russia broke its record for January to May 2020 by more than 1.9 degrees Celsius, according to <a href="http://berkeleyearth.org/may-2020-temperature-update/" target="_blank">Berkeley Earth lead scientist Robert Rohde</a>.</p>
<p>"It is undoubtedly an alarming sign, but not only May was unusually warm in this region," senior Copernicus Climate Change Service scientist Freja Vamborg said in a statement reported by Vox. "The whole of winter and spring had repeated periods of higher-than-average surface air temperatures."</p>
<p>All of this heat has had real consequences, Rohde pointed out.</p>
<p>Siberia has <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wildfires-siberia-russia-2645912533.html" target="_self">seen</a> early, widespread <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a>, and melting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/permafrost" target="_self">permafrost</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-spill-russia-arctic-wildlife-2646152380.html?rebelltitem=7#rebelltitem7" target="_self">contributed</a> to a devastating <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spill</a> when it caused pillars beneath a storage tank to sink.</p>
<p>Siberia's current <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/heat-wave" target="_self">heat wave</a> has both a short- and long-term cause, Beradelli explained. </p>
<p>In the short term, the heat wave is the result of a high pressure dome, but ultimately the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is driving Arctic extremes.</p>
<p>"Due to heat trapping greenhouse gases that result from the burning of fossil fuels and feedback loops, the Arctic is warming at more than two times the average rate of the globe," he wrote.</p>
<p class=""><em>Correction: An earlier version of this article said that the average temperature in Verkhoyansk for late June was in the mid 60s, but its average high for this period is in the high 60s.</em> </p>From Your Site Articles
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'Black Moms Matter': Increased Heat and Pollution Raise Pregnancy Risks, Especially for Racial Minorities
19 June
Health + Wellness
New research adds to the growing evidence that African American communities are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. electravk / Moment / Getty Images
The evidence is in and it's bleak. More than a decade of research and a robust review of studies found that as air pollution and heat increases so do adverse outcomes in pregnancy, according to a new investigation, as The Guardian reported.
<p>The <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.8243?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=061820" target="_blank">research</a> published on Thursday in the<em> Journal of the American Medical Association</em> looked at 32 million births across 68 studies in the U.S. It found that women who were exposed to air pollution or higher temperatures were more likely to have children who are premature, underweight or stillborn. Like with many health-related outcomes, African Americans were hit disproportionately hard by the increases in air pollution and heat.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/climate/climate-change-pregnancy-study.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> noted, the research adds to the growing evidence that racial minority communities are bearing the brunt of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a> since they are much more likely to be hotter and closer to polluting industries.</p><p>Nathaniel DeNicola, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University's School of Medicine and Health Science and an author on the paper, told <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503441-research-links-climate-change-to-premature-underweight-or-stillborn" target="_blank">The Hill</a> that while much of the current media coverage is focusing on Black men and police brutality, this paper highlights the systemic disparities for Black women, too.</p><p>"Black moms matter," he said.</p>
<p>"When you talk about climate, people think about severe weather, big storms or huge fires … but we wanted to talk about the impacts that are common and widespread and ongoing and also are rarely attributed to the climate crisis," said Bruce Bekkar, a co-author of the study and a retired obstetrician, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/18/climate-change-air-pollution-investigation-study" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>"We are already having generations weakened from birth. There's just no way we can allow that to happen, and I would like to see not just mothers and their husbands and kids show up at council meetings, but I'd like to see many more health professionals involved in calling for legislation that reduces the ongoing and really pretty scary health burdens of the climate crisis."</p>
<p>The exposures to the climate crisis are exacerbating the problems that African American women already face. According to a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6835a3.htm?s_cid=mm6835a3_w" target="_blank">2019 report</a> from CDC researchers, Black women are three to four times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related issues, while Black infants are more than twice as likely to die as white infants, as I<a href="https://www.instyle.com/beauty/health-fitness/climate-change-pregnancy-risks" target="_blank">nStyle</a> reported.</p><p>Catherine Garcia Flowers, a field organizer in Houston for Moms Clean Air Force, an advocacy group, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/climate/climate-change-pregnancy-study.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> the paper was evidence that the federal government needed to increase air pollution regulations. "This is a moment of reckoning for racial injustice and health disparities," she said. "Doing nothing about air pollution, which so clearly has a greater impact on Black Americans, is racism in action."</p>
<p>These new findings are particularly worrying as the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a> administration has rolled back regulations on car and power plant emissions, tried to prop up the coal industry, and relaxed oversight on industries. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has made traditional summer cooling spots like public pools, movie theaters and shopping malls off-limits due to social distancing guidelines, as <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/08/climate-change-emerging-threat-pregnancy-health" target="_blank">Human Rights Watch</a> noted.</p><p>The review found that as heat increased, so did instances of premature birth and low birth weight, both of which can lead to cognitive deficits and physical problems through childhood and later in life.</p>
<p>In addition to looking at pregnancy outcomes as the planet heats up, the researchers zeroed in on two pollutants, smog and fine particulate matter — both are increasing as the climate crisis intensifies. The bulk of the studies reviewed showed that ozone and PM 2.5 are associated with preterm births, low birth weights and stillbirths. One study found that high exposure to air pollution during the final trimester of pregnancy was linked to a 42 percent increase in the risk of stillbirth, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/climate/climate-change-pregnancy-study.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>"Reducing air pollution and fighting climate change is a matter of their children's survival and health," said Bekkar, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/18/climate-change-air-pollution-investigation-study" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p>
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Extreme Heat Is Killing Americans While Government Neglect Increases the Danger
17 June
Health + Wellness
A typical day of extreme heat in Death Valley, California on Aug. 22, 2014. Graeme Maclean / CC BY 2.0
Extreme heat fueled by climate change killed more than 10,000 deaths in the U.S. between 1999 and 2016, more than hurricanes, tornadoes or floods in most years, an investigation by multiple outlets revealed.
<p>The analysis, jointly <a href="https://publicintegrity.org/environment/hidden-epidemics/underfunded-unprepared-cdc-fight-against-climate-change-public-health-heat-death/" target="_blank">published</a> by Columbia Journalism Investigations, the Center for Public Integrity and Covering Climate Now, also found actions taken by the CDC climate program created more than 10 years ago to address threats like extreme heat have been insufficient and further weakened by low federal support and outright opposition in some states. </p>
<p>Extreme heat also exacerbates coronavirus threats in multiple ways. Physical distancing complicates public cooling centers for those who don't have, or can't afford to run, air conditioning or are experiencing homelessness — a population likely to increase as temporary eviction suspensions end. Additionally, high heat and humidity can exacerbate respiratory illnesses like COVID-19, and climate change has amplified the intensity, duration and frequency of extreme heat and heat waves.</p>
<p>"What we need is federal action to say no families will be left behind in this crisis," Jean Su, energy justice program director and staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity told Bloomberg. </p>
<p>As reported by National Geographic:</p><blockquote>The United States is facing an unprecedented trifecta: a pandemic, record unemployment, and summer temperatures that are <a href="https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=2" target="_blank">forecast to be above average in much of the country</a>. It's going to be challenging for local authorities, says Patricia Solís, executive director of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at Arizona State University (ASU), a group focused on building community collaboration in times of crisis.</blockquote><blockquote>"We haven't figured out how to handle all this," she says.</blockquote><blockquote>Even though heat is the second leading weather-related cause of death in the U.S., the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers no funding for heat emergencies, leaving cities, counties, and states largely on their own, Solís adds.</blockquote>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong><br/></p><p>Extreme heat deaths: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/16/climate-deaths-heat-cdc?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=89691486&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--gY2rEvSY5u-B41Ygc-QOy534xcDCZ8ME0fSO_GupK4CbWGQg2pPJO1aWZ5WMVBn2-oSsoML3Ep4tntsDAiqu-Iu7nqg&utm_content=89691486&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>; COVID-19 connections; <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/06/summer-arrives-how-will-most-vulnerable-escape-deadly-heat-cvd/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=89691486&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8kRZ6ySBO5JOHJLeYEz-cx-0d79uNUCzVdm_cyC5sssUPL2tKzC6UUggLW2T7l-smk8cqthGIJBa8xvrW333LEO0a4gQ&utm_content=89691486&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">National Geographic</a>, <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/summer-heat-waves-further-threaten-those-most-at-risk-from-covid?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=89691486&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-81nmDVblTv_r44ApsvmYexhmEeqwf692yHkMvNLrSXAKsGXWeXi_391kJDX40pSDj1KEmTylW3dVlV5uyTj1ybxIYdLw&utm_content=89691486&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Bloomberg Law</a>; Climate Signals background: <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/climate-signals/extreme-heat-and-heat-waves?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=89691486&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_u1IysOHmO3yTkZEDplZ9vdHXgXvll9HhZVfQe5ivo9DEkFei4J2TsfgJTyVeHZoa2ykok44jniNjo_9XZFA3il9a5wg&utm_content=89691486&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Extreme Heat</a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Unusually strong winds for June fanned the flames of 10 wildfires around Los Angeles County Monday, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
<p>The largest of the blazes was the Equestrian Fire in Castaic, which was propelled by some of the strongest winds in the area, <a href="https://laist.com/2020/06/08/brush_fire_wildfire_santa_ana_winds.php" target="_blank">LAist reported</a>. Wind speeds in the region reached 65 miles per hour.</p><p>"It's rare to have the Santa Ana winds in June, which is why we should be ready for wildfires at all times of the year," NBC4 forecaster Belen De Leon <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california-wildfires/brush-fire-castaic-lake-5-freeway-wildfire/2376591/" target="_blank">said</a>.</p>
<p>The fire ignited early Monday near the Jack Bones Equestrian Center off the 5 freeway, the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-08/wind-driven-fire-castaic-5-freeway" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times reported</a>. Firefighters used water-dropping helicopters to help fight the flames, NBC4 reported. As of 3 p.m. Monday it had spread to 86 acres and was 70 percent contained, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Fire Department told the Los Angeles Times.</p><p>"There are still crews there, but they're just mopping up the hot spots," L.A. County Fire Department Inspector Henry Narvaez told the paper.</p>
<div id="93791" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b3722f8823d1a01ae7567532ce4354be"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1270064922617995264" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">As of 11:00 a.m., the #EquestrianFire in Castaic has burned 86 acres & is 60% contained. For the latest info, follo… https://t.co/dgtHSzeWMI</div> — LACoFD (@LACoFD)<a href="https://twitter.com/LACOFD/statuses/1270064922617995264">1591642048.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Other fires that ignited in Elysian Park, Eagle Rock, El Sereno, Lake View Terrace, the Sepulveda Basin and other areas were mostly contained to a few acres, LAist reported.</p><p>However, the fires were notable for the unseasonable weather that encouraged them.</p><p>"Typically we're talking about June Gloom. Cool conditions along the coast," National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Eric Boldt told LAist. "This is an unusual weather system. We usually don't see this strong of winds and the Santa Anas like we're seeing today."</p><p>The Santa Ana winds typically arrive in the fall, during peak fire season.</p><p>In addition to the winds, temperatures are above average this week, with highs more than 20 degrees above normal projected for Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times. High temperature records were broken Monday at the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Camarillo airports, <a href="https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/getprod.php?wfo=lox&print=yes&pil=RER&sid=LOX" target="_blank">NWS reported</a>. A red flag fire warning was issued for the area through Monday night.</p>
<div id="5d13d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c8f88d9a8d59e23a1f9acbc4870682f9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1269785902898802688" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Red Flag Warnings going in effect for portions of SW Calif tonight-Mon. Northerly winds gusting 40-60 mph, shifting… https://t.co/uKY9Tw0XnY</div> — NWS Los Angeles (@NWS Los Angeles)<a href="https://twitter.com/NWSLosAngeles/statuses/1269785902898802688">1591575525.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"The weather conditions combined with the fuels — the grasses and vegetation — are ripe for more extreme fire spread and behavior if one were to start," NWS Oxnard meteorologist Mike Wofford told the Los Angeles Times.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/california" target="_self">California's</a> wildfires worse by encouraging hot, dry weather, but it could actually decrease the frequency of Santa Ana winds, especially in the fall and spring, a<a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2018GL080261" target="_blank"> 2019 study found</a>. This would not necessarily reduce fire risk so much as push the season later, as rains are also delayed by climate changes.</p><p>"The window for wildfires is expanding toward winter," study coauthor Dr. Janin Guzman-Morales, a postdoctoral researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/climate/santa-ana-winds.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
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People clean up debris from their damaged apartments during the aftermath of Tropical Storm Cristobal in Orlando, Florida on June 7, 2020. Paul Hennessy / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Tropical Storm Cristobal made landfall in Louisiana Sunday as the earliest third named storm on record in the Atlantic Basin.
<p>The storm brought <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> to parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and caused <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tornadoes" target="_self">tornadoes</a> in the Sunshine State, <a href="https://apnews-dev.appspot.com/2489de1fae4319de66c2d835b5b6fd6a" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported. While it made landfall well below <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricane</a> strength with winds of 50 miles per hour, it was predicted to pour as many as 12 inches of rain in some areas and generate storm surges of up to five feet.</p><p>"The flash flooding mixed with the storm surge could be a disaster in some areas," National Weather Service Baton Rouge meteorologist Danielle Manning told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/us/cristobal-storm.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "Areas that can't handle that amount of rainfall."</p>
<div id="6113c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7c8c399119065e27340eaadf81a64725"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1269653998195204103" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">One significant hazard with #Cristobal is flash flooding. The @NWSWPC is highlighting a large area of concern from… https://t.co/ya9wMwCl5l</div> — National Hurricane Center (@National Hurricane Center)<a href="https://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/statuses/1269653998195204103">1591544076.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared an emergency ahead of the storm Thursday and on Friday asked President Donald Trump to do so as well. Trump said he would declare an emergency on Twitter Sunday.</p><p>The storm brought three to five feet of flooding along the Louisiana coast and into Mississippi, Manning said.</p><p>New Orleans suburb Jefferson Parish called for voluntary evacuations of low-lying areas, according to The Associated Press. It was unclear how much New Orleans would be impacted as it depended on whether the city's aging drainage system would keep streets dry.</p><p>City resident Daniel Priestman told The Associated Press that he did not observe people rushing to buy supplies. Instead, he said they were "overwhelmed" by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic and recent high-profile police murders of African Americans that led to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/protestors-publich-health-coronavirus-covid-19-testing-2646141562.html" target="_self">nationwide protests</a>. They were "resigned to whatever happens — happens," he said.</p>
<p>The storm made landfall between the mouth of the Mississippi River and the barrier island of Grand Isle, which was evacuated. Flood waters washed over the only road to the island.</p><p>In Mississippi, water flooded coastal roadways in Biloxi.</p>
<div id="d00a4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="000f5bcb6b8f08b7b007b9f6546ccc7d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1269778555401056256" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Looks like the Biloxi Lighthouse Pier did not make it. 🙁 Video sent in to the @WLOX Weather App by Jeff Howard… https://t.co/smLNGUlW1K</div> — Eric Jeansonne (@Eric Jeansonne)<a href="https://twitter.com/Weatheric/statuses/1269778555401056256">1591573773.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In Hancock County, Mississippi, 100 employees of the Silver Slipper Casino had to be rescued Sunday afternoon when five-foot flood waters trapped them in the building, <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/cristobal-ready-to-make-a-run-at-the-us-coast/752897" target="_blank">AccuWeather reported</a>. A family also had to be rescued from the casino hotel Sunday night.</p>
<div id="becc8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eedcab2ebf9f77f2f838c12ebac14a2d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1269763574446071808" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Cristobal storm surge continues to cause flooding in Hancock County, MS. on Pontiac in Jourdan River Shores. Video… https://t.co/w7UivbovQf</div> — Eric Jeansonne (@Eric Jeansonne)<a href="https://twitter.com/Weatheric/statuses/1269763574446071808">1591570201.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In Florida, the outerbands of the storm spawned several tornados, one of which came close to downtown Orlando Saturday. Another twister uprooted trees and downed power lines near Lake City, Florida Sunday, The Associated Press reported. The wind storm did not injure anyone, but Cristobal claimed two lives when two brothers, aged eight and ten, were carried away by a rip current when swimming at a Grand Isle beach Friday, according to AccuWeather.</p><p>The storm had weakened to a tropical depression by early Monday morning, but the risk of flooding, tornados and strong wind continued for the lower Mississippi Valley and Central Gulf Coast. It should reach Arkansas by Monday evening, according to the National Weather Service.</p>
<div id="cbbf7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7ae04b1dc7334e7c1d2dc4c7985db8c1"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1269929398313992192" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Recently downgraded Tropical Depression Cristobal will move steadily up the MS River Valley over the next few days.… https://t.co/F1yVcv4h76</div> — NWS New Orleans (@NWS New Orleans)<a href="https://twitter.com/NWSNewOrleans/statuses/1269929398313992192">1591609737.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In addition to its arrival early in hurricane season, Cristobal was also notable because it developed from the remnants of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tropical-storm-amanda-el-salvador-2646140687.html" target="_self">Tropical Storm Amanda</a>, the first named storm of the Pacific hurricane season, which battered El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.</p><p>"This does not happen very often," AccuWeather lead hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/why-cristobal-is-a-rare-crossover-storm/753527" target="_blank">explained</a>.</p><p>The remnants of the storm were pushed by wind circulation over the warm waters of the Bay of Campeche.</p><p>"It did not take time – given the 29- to 30-degree-Celsius [mid-80s F] water – to help create thunderstorms, lowering pressure and a coherent low-level circulation which has become Cristobal," Kottlowski said.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tropical-storm-intensity-climate-crisis-2646033123.html" target="_self">tropical storms more intense</a>, partly because warmer water provides more storm fuel. The waters of the Bay of Campeche were three to four degrees Fahrenheit above average for this time of year when the storm formed, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/weather/cristobal-tropical-storm-forecast-atlantic-hurricane-season/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p>
<p class=""><em>Correction: An earlier version of this piece said Cristobal was the third earliest named storm on record in the Atlantic Basin. It is in fact the earliest third named storm on record.</em> </p>From Your Site Articles
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Coronavirus patients wait to be evacuated on Tuesday ahead of Cyclone Nisarga in Mumbai. Ashish Vaishnav / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
At least 100,000 people were evacuated along India's west coast as the country's financial capital of Mumbai awaits its first cyclone in more than 70 years.
<p>Cyclone Nisarga comes as Mumbai struggles to contain the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic. The city is the worst hit in India, with more than 40,000 confirmed cases and almost 1,400 deaths, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-52900967" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>.</p><p>"Everything we didn't want to happen right now is happening," one city official said on TV, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/cyclone-nisarga-india-evacuates-100000-as-mumbai-braces-for-historic-storm" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
<p>The storm made landfall around 1 p.m. local time with wind speeds of up to 68 miles per hour, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said, as <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/03/asia/cyclone-nisarga-mumbai-india-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. Before making landfall, it strengthened over the Arabian Sea into to a Severe Cyclonic Storm in the West Pacific, the equivalent of slightly less than a Category 1 Atlantic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricane</a>. The biggest threat from the storm is likely to be <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a>. It is projected to rain heavily and could produce a storm surge of up to 3.3 to 6.6 feet that could swamp parts of Mumbai, Thane and Raigad districts.</p><p>The storm made landfall in Alibag town, south of Mumbai. Alibag is "Mumbai's answer to Martha's Vineyard," a beach-side town where many of Mumbai's wealthy have vacation homes, The Guardian pointed out.</p><p>The storm is the first cyclone to hit Mumbai since 1948, when a storm killed 12 and injured more than 100.</p>
<p>However, scientists say the historically calm Arabian Sea is spawning more cyclones because of changes wrought by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/as-cyclone-nisarga-eyes-mumbai-blame-is-on-climate-change-1684690-2020-06-02" target="_blank">India Today reported</a>.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/" target="_blank">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> (IPCC) found that the Arabian Sea's surface temperature was rising. Tropical cyclones tend to form over waters 30 to 33 degrees Celsius, and that was around the surface temperature of the Arabian Sea when Nisarga consolidated.</p><p>IMD also noted that the sea spawned more storms than normal in 2019.</p><p>"During 2019, 8 cyclonic storms formed over the Indian seas. Arabian Sea contributed 5 out of these 8 cyclones against the normal of 1 per year, which equals the previous record of 1902 for the highest frequency of cyclones over the Arabian Sea. This year also witnessed development of more intense cyclones over the Arabian Sea," IMD <a href="https://mausam.imd.gov.in/backend/assets/press_release_pdf/Statement_on_Climate_of_India_during_2019.pdf" target="_blank">wrote</a>.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="805da84cf42a5f89c1f1cd8ca0760d96"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/India.Meteorological.Department/posts/2952159661533598"></div></div>
<p>These changes are now likely to have real consequences for Mumbai and the surrounding region. BBC correspondent Janhavee Moole said it had been raining in the city since Tuesday.</p><p>"I can see the trees shaking violently," Moole said. "All beaches in the city are closed to the public and a police patrol van is making announcements, asking people to stay indoors. All safety precautions possible are being taken, but I do feel worried because the city is also in the grip of a pandemic."</p>
<p>Coronavirus patients were among those evacuated ahead of the storm. Around 150 were moved from a newly-built field hospital to a place with a concrete roof that could better withstand high wind speeds, The Guardian reported.</p><p>In addition to Mumbai, the storm also threatens people living in shacks or shanties near the coast of the state of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located. More than 21,000 villagers were evacuated in the state's Palghar district.</p><p>The entire state is also the hardest hit in India by the coronavirus pandemic, CNN reported, with more than 72,300 cases and more than 2,400 deaths.</p><p>The storm also threatens the state of Gujarat, the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. In Gujarat, more than 50,000 people living along the coast have been evacuated.</p><p>"In wake of the coronavirus outbreak all standard operating procedures are being followed at the temporary shelters which have been sanitised and instructions have been issued on following safe distancing," Arpit Sagar, an official in Valsad, Gujarat said, according to The Guardian.</p>Cyclone Nisarga strikes about two weeks after <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/cyclone-amphan-india-bangladesh-2646063894.html" target="_self">Cyclone Amphan</a> walloped part of India's east coast, as well as neighboring Bangladesh, killing more than 100, BBC News reported. Cyclone Amphan also intensified over warm ocean surface waters.
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A man observes the damages caused to his neighborhood from Tropical Storm Amanda on May 31, 2020 in San Salvador, El Salvador. Guillermo Martínez / APHOTOGRAFIA / Getty Images
At least 14 people were killed when Tropical Storm Amanda walloped El Salvador Sunday, Interior Minister Mario Duran said.
<p>Four people are missing, according to Noticias El Salvador, and around 200 homes were damaged by falling trees, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> and mudslides, <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/deadly-tropical-storm-amanda-hits-el-salvador-guatemala-doc-1sm7hb5" target="_blank">AFP reported</a>.</p><p>"We lost everything, we've been left with nowhere to live," San Salvador resident Isidro Gomez, whose home was destroyed when a river overflowed its banks, told AFP.</p>
<div id="060a6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fe922b1aa97cd20dc72bb695657386cc"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1267252232036253698" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#ÚLTIMAHORA | El Ministro de Gobernación @marioduran informa que asciende a 14 los fallecidos a causa de la Torment… https://t.co/bHXoL0p0Ab</div> — Noticias El Salvador (@Noticias El Salvador)<a href="https://twitter.com/NotiblogSV/statuses/1267252232036253698">1590971451.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>San Salvador, the nation's capital, saw half of the nation's total fatalities, its Mayor Ernesto Muyshondt said. He said the storm had forced 4,200 people into government shelters in the midst of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"We are experiencing an unprecedented situation: one top-level emergency on top of another serious one," he told AFP, referring to the pandemic.</p><p>The government of El Salvador has <a href="https://covid19.gob.sv/" target="_blank">reported</a> a total of 2,582 coronavirus cases. Forty-six people have died, and 1,063 have recovered.</p><p>Amanda strengthened into a tropical storm before making landfall Sunday, making it the first named storm of the East Pacific 2020 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricane</a> season, <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/amanda-makes-landfall-threatens-major-flooding-in-central-america/749982" target="_blank">AccuWeather reported</a>. It later weakened into a tropical depression and then a tropical rainstorm, but forecasters say its heavy rainfall still poses a major risk to Central America early this week.</p>
<div id="f8593" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b8546e9f31d7afef93b2841bc4a9e000"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1267264251581943808" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Here’s a beautiful animation of the last 24 hours as Tropical Storm #Amanda developed. https://t.co/xlDatuM64g</div> — Hurricane Tracker App (@Hurricane Tracker App)<a href="https://twitter.com/hurrtrackerapp/statuses/1267264251581943808">1590974316.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Because of its heavy rainfall, it was forecast to be a 1 on the <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/accuweathers-new-realimpact-scale-for-hurricanes-will-revolutionize-damage-predictions-for-greater-public-safety/329657" target="_blank">AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes</a>.</p><p>"Heavy rainfall will be the greatest threat over Central America, particularly in the higher terrain or Guatemala and El Salvador where rainfall totals of 18-24 inches are possible," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Randy Adkins said.</p>
<div id="f6078" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ed6d255f9dbbebf483be30225b7c5a68"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1267395501357400064" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">WATCH: Tropical Storm Amanda inundated parts of El Salvador with water, leading to the deaths of at least seven peo… https://t.co/4ZQ0OJYU67</div> — CBS News (@CBS News)<a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/statuses/1267395501357400064">1591005609.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In El Salvador, that rainfall has already turned deadly in the form of floods and landslides. One person drowned in a flooding river, while another was crushed by a collapsing wall, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-amanda/tropical-storm-amanda-kills-at-least-seven-people-in-el-salvador-idUSKBN2370MF" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. An eight-year-old boy was killed when his house collapsed.</p><p>"We've seen people asking for help, asking for the government. We haven't deployed everywhere, the situation is overwhelming," Duran said Sunday, as Reuters reported.</p><p>The storm is estimated to have caused $200 million in damage to El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele said, according to AFP. He declared a 15-day state of emergency to recover from the storm.</p><p>Amanda weakened as it passed on to Guatemala, where it caused flooding and at least five landslides that blocked roads. However, no one had to be evacuated.</p>
<div id="4af39" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2d4f5af75055c85e63564fe851af244a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1267269457711333376" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This GOES-16 clean IR loop shows the remnants of eastern Pacific Tropical Storm Amanda, located over northern Guate… https://t.co/9Xp0pfCiuB</div> — NWS WPC (@NWS WPC)<a href="https://twitter.com/NWSWPC/statuses/1267269457711333376">1590975558.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making hurricanes <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-hurricanes-wetter-2639175731.html" target="_self">wetter</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-extreme-weather-2639274656.html" target="_self">extreme precipitation events </a>more likely. A storm does not have to be a hurricane to cause damage. In 2019, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/houston-imelda-flooding-2640449818.html" target="_self">Tropical Storm Imelda</a> swamped Houston with a 1-in-1,000-year flood event just two years after Hurricane Harvey did the same.</p>
<p><em>Correction: </em><em>This piece has been updated to clarify that all the deaths reported by Reuters took place in El Salvador.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Cyclone Slams India, Bangladesh, Leaving 84 Dead and Millions Displaced During Pandemic
22 May
Climate
People make their way through uprooted trees and damaged power lines blocking a road in Taltala a day after Cyclone Amphan hit the city on May 21, 2020 in Kolkata, India. Samir Jana / Hindustan Times via Getty Images
At least 84 people were killed when Cyclone Amphan walloped India and Bangladesh Wednesday, bringing "war-like" destruction to the city of Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal, The Guardian reported.
<p>The response to the storm, which made <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146749/amphan-batters-india-bangladesh" target="_blank">landfall</a> as the equivalent of a Category 2 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricane</a>, was complicated by the spread of the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>. While around three million people in India and Bangladesh evacuated to safety ahead of the storm, some villagers remained in place out of fear of contracting the virus in a crowded shelter, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/world/asia/cyclone-amphan-india-bangladesh.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>.</p><p>"At one end there is this small Covid virus that is terrifying people," West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said in a video conference reported by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/world/asia/cyclone-amphan-india-bangladesh.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "This was another virus from the sky."</p>
<div id="9998f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e7406f6ed87e18374f33137810432c8c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1263270250742603776" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This is from my terrace this morning. Trees on both sides of the road all over. People now taking photos in horror.… https://t.co/GiusoiNvLJ</div> — Boria Majumdar (@Boria Majumdar)<a href="https://twitter.com/BoriaMajumdar/statuses/1263270250742603776">1590022072.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Causes of death included felled trees, downed electrical wires and collapsed buildings. In Bangladesh, Khanat Begum and her 13-year-old daughter were killed when a gust of wind uprooted their neighbor's tree and dropped it on top of their house.</p><p>For the survivors, the storm also brought devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people saw their homes destroyed, according to The Guardian. This could enable the spread of the new coronavirus as people are forced to remain in shelters.</p><p>In Kolkata, home to around 14 million people, power was lost and many streets were <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooded</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-52749935" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. Banerjee said that two districts had been completely destroyed.</p><p>"We have to rebuild those districts from scratch," she said, as The Guardian reported: "Area after area has been ruined. I have experienced a war-like situation today."</p>
<div id="7b314" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c3b8eb0fa61b418c861c338f875e64d5"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1263137583476822016" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Staircase outside my flat now known as Kolkata Waterfall
#CycloneAmphanUpdate https://t.co/iy53rTjbKg</div> — Anushree Hamirwasia (@Anushree Hamirwasia)<a href="https://twitter.com/anushree18_/statuses/1263137583476822016">1589990442.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>At least 15 people in the city were killed, The New York Times reported. All told, at least 72 people died in West Bengal and 12 in Bangladesh, according to BBC News.</p><p>Bangladesh evacuated more people ahead of the storm than India, at 2.4 million compared with around 660,000, The New York Times reported. But the country was still hit hard.</p><p>"Even by Bangladeshi standards, this was a powerful storm," <a href="https://www.savethechildren.net/" target="_blank">Save the Children</a> in Bangladesh Humanitarian Director Mostak Hussain said in a <a href="https://www.savethechildren.net/news/save-children-assesses-damage-india-and-bangladesh-wake-cyclone-amphan" target="_blank">statement</a>. "We've received reports that more than 5 million people were disconnected from the electricity grid for their own safety as winds of 150kph smashed into power lines, destroying homes and uprooting trees. In some of the worst-affected areas there was a tidal surge of nearly three metres, causing dams to overflow and submerging low-lying villages and crops."</p>
<div id="b13bf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a036ae69daa493befaa5159fddac41ea"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1263461610489876480" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">UPDATE: Our teams are assessing the damage in #India & #Bangladesh in the wake of #CycloneAmphan - the most powerfu… https://t.co/5W9QHt05eJ</div> — sciasianews (@sciasianews)<a href="https://twitter.com/sciasianews/statuses/1263461610489876480">1590067696.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>For a period Monday night, Cyclone Amphan became the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal, with winds of up to 165 miles per hour, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/19/asia/super-cyclone-amphan-india-banglash-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. It weakened before making landfall, bringing sustained winds of 105 mile-per-hour winds and a five meter (approximately 16 foot) storm surge, <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146749/amphan-batters-india-bangladesh" target="_blank">according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration</a>. But it was still the worst storm to strike Kolkata in 100 years, The Guardian reported.</p>
<div id="c5729" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cf604a913975b2af1b18b4b7aae6e499"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1262448024346865665" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Just in: The JTWC has upgraded Super Cyclone #Amphan to 145kt (270kph).
Amphan is now the strongest cyclone ever r… https://t.co/xAF5sD3GCA</div> — Eric Holthaus (@Eric Holthaus)<a href="https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus/statuses/1262448024346865665">1589826038.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>It struck the same week as a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tropical-storm-intensity-climate-crisis-2646033123.html" target="_self">study confirmed</a> that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making tropical storms more intense, increasing the chance that a cyclone develops into a Category 3 storm or higher by eight percent per decade since the late 1970s. Cyclone Amphan originally intensified after passing over water temperatures as warm as 88 degrees Fahrenheit, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/world/asia/cyclone-amphan-india-bangladesh-map.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. </p><p>"Sea surface temperatures are much warmer than normal in the Bay of Bengal right now," Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/weather/live-news/live-updates-cyclone-amphan-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">told CNN</a>.</p>
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