I first became interested in climate change as a serious issue last summer when I started noticing unusual and alarming weather events globally. I decided to start keeping track at that time. This list only includes events from the summer and fall of 2010 although there were significant events in the winter and spring of that same year. I’ll likely start to compile a new list for this year. Looking at the global situation helps me to understand why food prices are going up and how climate change effects all of us. Take a look…
- Excellent Summary of 2010 Extreme Climate Events
- Top Weather Stories of 2010 by Meteorologists Tim Ballisty, Chris Dolce and Jonathan Erdman
- 2010 Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters in the USA – The 2010 weather disasters NOAA added to their billion-dollar list.
Extreme Weather Events from the Summer/Fall of 2010
- World feeling the heat as 17 countries experience record temperatures
- Forest fires rage in drought-hit Spain
- Niger hunger ‘worse than 2005’
- Historic Global Droughts Set The Stage For World Famine As Millions Are Already Starving
- Pakistan Reels Under Record Heat of 129 F.
- Japan heat wave kills 66
- 94,000 Evacuated as Floods Rage Through Northern China
- Heat wave in Israel sparks fires
- Extreme Heat Causes Wildfires In Ukraine
- Record flood levels kill 15 in Poland
- Mini-cyclone, record floods hit Australia
- Flood situation turns critical in Germany, central Europe
- Record breaking heat wave hits the northeast; weather service warns of serious dangers
- At least 11 dead as record flooding engulfs Tennessee
- Pakistan floods worse than Tsunami: UN
- Extreme heat wave sets all-time high records in Africa and Middle East
- Hundreds of acres of forest burned in Israel, Golan Heights
- Burkina Faso faces the worst flood for 90 years; Oxfam is responding
- Severe drought afflicts Brazilian Amazon
- 6 million Pakistani flood victims need aid to survive: UN
- VIETNAM: Record drought threatens livelihoods
- 500 missing, 145 dead in India flooding
- Heat wave bakes Russia
- Kansas Heat Wave Has Killed 2,000 Cattle
- Hundreds more wildfires burn in Russia
- China flooding causes worst death toll in decade
- Flames and Toxic Gases Close in on Moscow
- Massive ice island breaks off Greenland
- Record Hot Summer Ignites Forest Fires in Iran
- 2010-is-warmest-ever-in-recorded-history
- Heat Wave of 2010 in Eurasia Has Toppled Historic Records
- Heat wave of 2010 proving deadly from Missouri to Mississippi
- Russia, Crippled by Drought, Bans Grain Exports
- Death toll in China landslides rises to 1,117; more heavy rains lash stricken region
- Drought in West Africa threatens mass starvation
- 200 Feared Buried in Brazil Mudslides
- Brazil floods kill dozens and leave 1,000 people missing – Torrential rain devastates towns and cities in Brazil’s north-east, leaving as many as 97,000 people homeless.
- Floods and mudslides on three continents, as drought hits Africa
- 2010 China drought and dust storms – By March 22, 2010, about 51 million people faced water shortages in China. Air pollution readings in Hong Kong reached a record high, reaching at least 15 times the recommended maximum levels by the World Health Organization. Taiwan also reported a new record for worst sandstorm conditions.
- Israel battles worst wildfire in history
- Kenya: Severe drought affects millions
- Japan endures hottest summer on record
- Niger floods alarming, U.N. says
- Dry in Hawaii: Farmers hit by ‘most intense’ recorded drought
- Flooding near Cambodian capital forces preparations for mass evacuation
- Bredesen calls on feds to help drought-stricken Tennessee farmers
- Global heat wave hits US, reignites climate change debate
- Dought Monitor: All of Ala under drought condition
- Indonesia to import rice because of extensive flooding
- Worst Drought in Memory Threatens Afghanistan
- Malaysia is Hit by Floods, More than 19,000 Residents Displaced
- Almost 450 dead in Brazil’s worst disaster in decades
- Amazon drought ‘severe’ in 2010, raising warming fears
Other related news…
- 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat wave
- Top 11 Warmest Years On Record Have All Been In Last 13 Years
- Report: 38 per cent of land faces desertification
- Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch Estimates on the size of the patch range from 700,000 square kilometres (270,000 sq mi) to more than 15,000,000 square kilometres (5,800,000 sq mi) (0.41% to 8.1% of the size of the Pacific Ocean).
- Global Water Shortage Looms In New Century
- Water scarcity ‘now bigger threat than financial crisis’
- Drought threatens global rice supply
- Corals Bleached and Dying in Overheated South Asian Waters
- Only 10 Percent of Big Ocean Fish Remain
- Water Shortages coming to North America
- Since 1980, the number of natural disasters has quadrupled.
- In 2008, Oklahoma experienced 87 tornadoes in a 15 hour period.
- In 2010, we experienced 300+ more tornadoes than the yearly average.
- In 1998, the world lost 16% of its reefs as a result of El Niño, with more El Niño years predicted to come.
- Montana’s Glacier National Park lost 123 glaciers in 100 years. There are only 70 left.
- The U.S. has more critically endangered species than any country, largely contributing to 21,873 endangered species globally.
- There are an estimated 11,020 endangered plant species.
- There are over 400 dead zones throughout the world’s oceans, the largest of which is around 70,000 square kilometers. Since the 1960’s, oceanic dead zones has doubled every 10 years and according to a 2008 study, there are over 400 dead zones worldwide. The main human related cause of dead zones? Chemical fertilizers. Thankfully, dead zones ARE reversible. According to a November 2006 article in The Scientific American, “The Black Sea dead zone, previously the largest dead zone in the world, largely disappeared between 1991 and 2001 after fertilizers became too costly to use”.