Friday November 15th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: Need Out Of Australia Gets More Dire
After first letting my readers know that Australia wasn’t experiencing a pleasant spring on Sunday November the 10th, and that the fire situation was dire in many eastern areas of the continent, the worst being around Sydney, news isn’t that good in the land down under today. Yet another heat wave will be working its way from north to south and east later this week:
Here are reports recently compiled by Desdemona Despair:
Another total fire ban in place for Sydney as death toll rises to four – “You haven’t had bushfires like these bushfires before”
The Hillville fire destroying homes in Failford, NSW, Australia, November 2019. Photo: Nick Moir / The Sydney Morning Herald
By Helen Pitt, Lisa Visentin, Laura Chung, Jenny Noyes, and Sally Rawsthorne
14 November 2019
(The Sydney Morning Herald) – A total fire ban is in place in Sydney and seven areas across the state today, as the death toll from NSW bushfires has climbed to four and two men were charged over lighting fires during Wednesday’s fire ban.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian identified the fourth fire victim as Mr Barry Parsons, 58, and offered her condolences to his family in Parliament.
Mr Parsons lived in a shed two kilometres from the nearest road in the north of the state near Kempsey, and was last heard from Friday, when he wrote on social media:”Seriously looks and sounds like apocalypse out there.”
Satellite view of wildfires in New South Wales, Australia, on 8 November 2019. Video: weatherdak / NOAA / CIRA
NSW Police said local residents found his body on the southern end of the Kyuna Track at Willawarrin, about 34 kilometres north-west of Kempsey, about midnight on Wednesday. […]
Commissioner of NSW Rural Fire Service Shane Fitzsimmons warned conditions would likely worsen today, with temperatures expected in the mid 30s, low humidity and strong winds expected. Total fire bans will be in place in Sydney, Far North Coast, North Coast, Hunter, Central rangers, New England and Illawarra/Shoalhaven and northern slopes.
“We have about 59 fires burning in NSW, 30 of them still uncontrolled but fortunately none at emergency level. We have 1500 firefighters in the field as we speak, 500 trucks and 70 aircraft,” Ms Berejiklian told parliament on Thursday afternoon. […]
Smoke from bushfires shrouds the skyline in Sydney, Australia 12 November 2019. Photo: John Mair / REUTERS
South of Taree, Police closed the highway at Possum Brush as fire crews chased spot fires on several flanks of the Hillville fire as westerly and easterly breezes converged over the fire ground.
One exhausted Taree crew, dejected after running out of water trying to save property next to the Pacific Highway at Possum Brush had their spirits lift as thank you notes from children were found in their packed provided lunches. [more]
Another total fire ban in place for Sydney as bushfires death toll rises to four
Map showing root zone soil moisture in New South Wales, Australia compared with average, November 2019. Graphic: Reuters
Australians ordered to flee flames as fires rage in east and west
By Colin Packham
12 November 2019
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian officials on Wednesday ordered residents and tourists to get out of the way of fast-approaching flames as firefighters struggled to contain more than 150 bushfires raging on both the east and west coasts.
While cooler weather overnight brought some relief for firefighters in New South Wales (NSW) state, of which Sydney is capital, attention shifted to its northern neighbour, Queensland, where more than 80 fires threatened lives and homes.
Authorities issued a “leave immediately” warning, the highest level, for several areas including Noosa, a beachside holiday destination 150 km (93 miles) north of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland.
Map showing root zone soil moisture in New South Wales, Australia compared with average, November 2019. Graphic: Reuters
Australians ordered to flee flames as fires rage in east and west
By Colin Packham
12 November 2019
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian officials on Wednesday ordered residents and tourists to get out of the way of fast-approaching flames as firefighters struggled to contain more than 150 bushfires raging on both the east and west coasts.
While cooler weather overnight brought some relief for firefighters in New South Wales (NSW) state, of which Sydney is capital, attention shifted to its northern neighbour, Queensland, where more than 80 fires threatened lives and homes.
Authorities issued a “leave immediately” warning, the highest level, for several areas including Noosa, a beachside holiday destination 150 km (93 miles) north of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland.
Graph of cumulative hotspots in NSW Australia November 2019 compared with recent years. Graphic: Reuters
Across the country, in Western Australia, officials were responding to two emergency bushfires that had destroyed two homes and damaged another.
The fires have sparked increasingly acrimonious debate over climate and fire-prevention policies, with the ruling conservative Liberal Party and the minor opposition Australian Greens exchanging barbs.
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was among those who have suggested that climate activists were at least partly responsible for the fires by lobbying to reduce so-called back burns, fires deliberately lit to clear dry undergrowth.
Independent lawmaker Zali Steggall said it was very “unbecoming of our parliament” for Joyce to make such remarks. […]
Satellite view of smoke from wildfires in New South Wales, Australia, 6 November 2019 – 14 November 2019. Photo: NASA EISDIS Worldview
There is unlikely to be a near-term respite from hot and dry conditions.
“We will not have all these fires contained and locked up for many, many weeks,” NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters in Sydney.
“Unfortunately, what we need is rain.” [more]
Australians ordered to flee flames as fires rage in east and west
As the world continues to get hotter the Climate Guy, Dear Diary, is beginning to believe that some sections of the planet are becoming unlivable given the current state of human resources and technology. Current “hot spots” would include many locations in Australia prone to fire weather, some middle eastern areas stretching into India during the spring and summer that are becoming too hot to stay outdoors very long, and vulnerable coastal cities like Venice, Italy. Miami will soon join this list.
The price for continued reliance on fossil fuels will get very high for all of us not only in 2019 but for the foreseeable future. Let’s make sure that we can ween ourselves off dependence on brown energy before we terminate civilization as we know it. If we end civilization that price would be way too high for any of us to pay.
Here is more climate and weather news from Friday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article.)
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Guy Walton- “The Climate Guy”