Parts of Italy have been under water in May. The country has experienced the worst floods in 100 years. In the region of Emilia-Romagna, twice as much rain fell in the course of 36 hours as it normally does in the whole of May. Over 36,000 people have had to leave their homes. 14 people lost their lives. This happens after prolonged drought, which makes the soil harder and less able to absorb water, according to Italian climate experts. Climate change contributes to drought periods becoming more intense, and heavier rains coming over short periods, instead of evenly over time. In Lugo last Thursday, people used an inflatable swimming pool to carry belongings away from the water. CloseEditFeaturesFarmers transport pigs away from floods in Lugo, ItalyPeople use boats to navigate through the flooding in San Pancrazio. Resident in flooded street in Carde. On the other side of the world, the Canadian province of Alberta is on fire. In a normal year, 4.5 square meters of forest would have been destroyed by fires at this time of year. So far this year, almost 8,500 square meters of forest have been destroyed by the flames. Almost 2000 times more than normal. That’s enough to make 2023 the third-worst Alberta wildfire year on record, even though it’s only mid-May. The New York Times writes. Fire crews look at a fire in western Canada last Sunday. Photo: Reuters Heat, drought and fires These are just two of many examples of places that have experienced extreme weather early this year: Spain set a number of heat records for April earlier this year. At the same time, parts of the country have a water crisis. The result is, among other things, a crisis for farmers. On 7 May, Vietnam set a heat record of 44.1 degrees. Cambodia and Thailand have also had an abnormally early heat wave. Most of China is in a heat wave, writes SCMP. China had its worst heat wave in six decades last year. Now the experts are predicting an even hotter summer. India measured temperatures of up to 44 degrees in April. The researchers in the World Weather Attribution say that climate change made the probability of a heat wave 30 times greater. Large parts of Spain experienced a record-breaking heat wave in April. On average, the temperature in Spain was 3 degrees above normal in April. Photo: AP – Most dramatic – There are many indications that we are facing the most dramatic climate summer in living memory, says Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide. Among other things, he points out that the world is entering a period with the weather phenomenon El Niño. In recent years, the world has been in a period of La Niña. It has acted as a temporary brake on global warming. – And this is despite the fact that we have seen more forest fires, more droughts, more floods in recent years than ever before, says Barth Eide. Now El Niño is likely to arrive, which has a reinforcing effect on the temperature. It could mean a warmer world. Perhaps the world will reach 1.5 degrees of warming already in the next few years. Drought-stricken pistachio trees outside Ronda in Spain. Photo: Reuters – Climate change in full force The Prime Minister believes we are facing a summer in which we will see climate change in full force. And that, he believes, will look dramatic: – It means even more destroyed crops in southern Europe, in China, in India and in large parts of the USA. – That means even more forest fires in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Canada and Australia. – That means even more drought and water shortages. Water shortage which is problematic for people, but perhaps most of all for food production, which uses a lot of water. Climate protesters poured charcoal color into the iconic Trevi Fountain in Rome on Sunday, in protest against fossil fuels driving the climate crisis. The protest happened while the prime minister was visiting flood-affected areas. Photo: ALESSANDRO PENSO/MAPS / Reuters 1.15 degrees Eide points out that these are changes the world will see with the warming we have now, which is around 1.15 degrees above pre-industrial times. – And it is therefore at 1.15 degrees of warming, far below the 1.5 that has been set as a sort of target in the Paris Agreement, he says. Eide therefore believes that the summer ahead of us must show us all how important it is that we act quickly. – This must remind us all that we have no time to lose and that climate action must take place now and not even far into the future, he says. Italy is hit by the worst flooding in 100 years. In the region of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, several thousand people have been evacuated and 13 people have died. Temperature in the world since 1880 compared to the average in the period 1991-2020 +0.5°C compared to normal? Click for explanation normal temperature 18801900192019401960198020002020Go to news’s Climate Status Why are most years blue and colder than normal? This is because all years are now compared with a new normal, i.e. the average weather in the 30-year period 1991-2020. These 30 years have been unusually warm. Most other years are therefore colder than normal. Until recently, researchers used a normal period that ran from 1961-1990. In these years it was relatively cold. It’s been quite a while since the 1960s and the new normal allows us to compare the weather with the climate (normal) that people actually experience today. The normal period is determined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and is used in all countries . In this way, we can compare the weather in Norway with other countries and we can measure changes across the globe. How can you calculate one temperature for the whole world? This number is the result of a complicated calculation. Measurements are made with thermometers both on land and on the sea surface (at sea the thermometers are attached to buoys). In some places the thermometers are close together, in other places they are far apart. Using a statistical method, the researchers are able to give the measurements different weights, so that all areas are equally important: The data used in this graph comes from the American NOAA. They have divided the globe into squares of 5° x 5° and calculate one temperature for each square. Then they can again work their way up to a global figure, for each month or for each year. They can also make figures for the temperature only over the ocean or only over land, or for the northern and southern hemispheres. The lines at the poles are smaller than along the equator due to the curvature of the globe. The researchers also take this into account in their calculations. Others, such as NASA or the Hadley Centre, calculate in slightly different ways than NOAA. Therefore, there are often small differences between the various data sets. In any case, the trend they show is the same: since 1880, the world has become warmer.
ttn-69
Espen Barth Eide believes we are facing the most dramatic climate summer in living memory – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
