Blackburn community left without heat and water

(FROM CBC) More than 530 homes had their gas cut off on Friday in Blackburn and Innes Park.
These homes had their gas line damaged after overnight work and were put on a precautionary boil water advisory.
During this time, temperatures dipped down below minus 20, leaving residents without heat and water.
The advisory was lifted Sunday afternoon and all but one home has had their heat and water restored.
(FROM CTV) The Raptor Rescue Society found six dead bald eagles on Vancouver Island and have six more in their care after being poisoned.
The society first found two birds on Wednesday, and the remainder on Saturday.
They will return to the area where they found the birds to locate the source of the poison and have reached out to Facebook for anyone in the area to help find more of the eagles.
(FROM CTV) Protesters rallied outside Greece’s parliament Friday that saw 25 police officers injured and seven people arrested.
They are against the deal happening between Greece and Macedonia on the name change of Macedonia.
Around 60,000 people attended the riot in Athens and led police to disperse tear gas on the crowd to clear the area.

Research: Heatwaves, droughts and floods among recent weather extremes linked to climate change

by the Climate Centre at COP 24 in Katowice New research published on Monday, as the second week of UN climate talks in Poland got underway, shows “clear ties between today’s extremes and human causes” in both the developed and developing world.
The report – Explaining Extreme Events in 2017 from a Climate Perspective – is the seventh in an annual series that began in 2011.
“These attribution studies are telling us that a warming Earth is continuing to send us new and more extreme weather events every year,” said BAMS Editor Jeff Rosenfeld.
‘In a decade the research has evolved enough to address a wider scope of societal challenges’ This is the second year that scientists have identified extreme weather they say could not have happened without warming.
“Scientific evidence supports increasing confidence that human activity is driving a variety of extreme events now,” he added.
“These are having large economic impacts across the United States and around the world.” ‘Local risks’ The extreme-weather events studied in the seven issues of the report to date do not represent a comprehensive analysis of all events during that span, BAMS said.
About 70 per cent of the 146 research findings published in the series identified a substantial link between an extreme event and climate change; 30 per cent did not.
Researchers are “often going after more local risks like heatwaves, fire danger, and floods on scales of a few days, for pinpoint areas of extreme impacts,” Rosenfeld added.
“In barely a decade, the research focus has evolved enough to address a wider scope of societal challenges.” Coastal waters The research on 2017 includes findings that very warm seas off the coast of Africa that “could not have occurred in a pre-industrial climate” doubled the probability of drought in East Africa, which left more than 6 million people in Somalia facing food shortages.
Climate change made heatwaves in the European Mediterranean region at least as hot as last year’s three times more likely than in 1950, it says, while the record-breaking 2017 heat in China, once rare, is now a one-in-five-year event due to climate change.

High chance of El Niño in Australia, worsening heat, bushfires and drought

Heatwaves and bushfires are predicted in southern Australia thanks to a 70% chance of El Niño weather conditions, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned.
“This outlook on the back of such little rainfall and dry conditions makes it such a worry for people.” Australia had endured its driest September since rainfall records began in 1900, Duell said.
Close to 60% of Queensland is in drought, and parts of the state have been dry for the past seven years.
Farmers in drought-declared areas are eligible for relief payments and support services.
El Niño is the part of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (Enso) characterised by weak trade winds over the Pacific, which reduce moisture and rainfall in eastern Australia.
Sustained positive values above +7 typically indicate La Niña.
“Any given year there is a risk because El Niño is a normal part of our climate system.
We get an El Niño on average every two to five years,” Duell told the ABC.
“That puts the risk at any given year at about a 25% chance.
‘Don’t call it a disaster’: how to change the conversation about drought Read more “This is absolutely not the type of outlook I think that many people would be hoping to hear.” The bureau outlook also noted that the the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), another key climate indicator, was trending positive, further contributing to the dry conditions.

Climate change report: UN finds huge risk of extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty if global warming passes 1.5C mark

The world faces extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty if global warming passes the 1.5C mark, a major UN report has found.
Global warming should be limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels rather than 2C to ensure the impacts of climate change are less extreme, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report says.
Sea level rises would be 10cm lower with a 1.5C temperature rise compared to 2C by 2100, while there would be worse impacts on coral reefs and the Arctic at higher temperatures.
The world has seen 1C of warming so far, with consequences such as more extreme weather already being felt, and there is more to come as temperatures continue to rise, the report says.
It warns that every fraction of additional warming could worsen the impact.
The report says this goal is possible but will require fast and far-reaching changes to power generation, industry, transport, buildings and potential shifts in lifestyle such as eating less meat.
It will also require action to take excess carbon emissions out of the atmosphere.
Promises made by countries to cut their emissions up to 2030 will not limit global warming to 1.5C even if action is massively scaled up after the end of the next decade, the report warns.
Prof Corinne Le Quere, from the University of East Anglia, said: "For the UK, this means a rapid switch to renewable energy and electric cars, insulating our homes, planting trees, where possible walking or cycling and eating well – more plants and less meat – and developing an industry to capture carbon and store it underground.
"We need to extend this kind of progress on renewables to other areas."

Record-breaking heat, dry weather increase fire danger, worsen drought conditions across Colorado

A wave of record-breaking heat across Colorado has increased fire danger and worsened drought conditions, meteorologists say.
"It’s kind of like summer came back here in the middle of September," said state Climatologist Russ Schumacher.
Colorado Springs’ heat has soared in September, breaking four daily records over the past week, say data from the National Weather Service in Pueblo.
In Grand Junction, 89 days have brought temperatures of at least 90 degrees, said Dennis Phillips, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service there.
"So yeah, it’s been hot," Phillips said.
"I think a lot of that can be attributed to the drought that we’re in and the fact that the monsoon was basically missing this year."
"Even above-average precipitation in the summer isn’t that much.
The only way they’re going to make that up is with a big snow season," he said.
It was sparked by lightning July 22 and had remained at less than 5,000 acres for weeks.
But the statewide forecast shows a better chance for above-normal winter precipitation, "which would at least keep things from getting worse, and hopefully start things on the path to getting better," he said.

Summer’s drought and heat are taking a toll on trees in Kansas City

When it comes to predicting the Kansas City weather, abnormal is normal.
As a result, plants are stressed.
Leaves are brown or scorched or branches are bare.
The U.S. Drought Monitor places much of the metro area in the severe or extreme drought conditions.
protected by reCAPTCHA Privacy – Terms Privacy – Terms Drought conditions have caused many tree species to shed leaves.
This summer’s intense sun has scorched many leaves.
Dennis Patton Adding to the drought conditions has been the hotter summer.
The intense sun has caused leaves to scorch brown along the edges.
The defoliation, while still of concern, is not as life-threatening as the drought.
But if you are worried, now might be a good time to water.

North Korea warns of natural disaster as heatwave sears crops

The drought represented an “unprecedented natural disaster”, reported the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ party.
We should muster all our power and capacity to fight high temperatures and droughts.” North Korea’s state-run media published several articles this weeksuggesting precautions in a country where air conditioning is almost non-existent.
Government television said the heat was taking a toll on the economy, which is already subject to a tight international sanctions regime imposed over the country’s nuclear programme.
“This weather will certainly influence food production and right now is a critical time especially for rice crops,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, a former Asia representative at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
“All the farmers have to listen to government directives and the decisions made now will be very important.
If this weather and drought continues for another week or two we should be very worried about North Korea’s food production.” The government has been working in recent years to boost production, but the system remains highly susceptible to weather extremes, he said.
Food, medicine and other humanitarian aid are exempt, and experts suggested state media attention on the problem may be a cry for help.
“There is no tomorrow when it comes to fighting against high temperatures and droughts,” the Rodong Sinmun comment said, according to a translation by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
An unnamed source quoted by Daily NK, a Seoul-based news service, said: “North Koreans are expressing a great deal of concern because people are suffering from life-threatening heat and crops that are drying out.” People have collapsed in the street due to the heat, the report said, and farmers are struggling to follow government orders to water fields by hand because of water shortages and extreme working conditions.
In South Korea, far wealthier than its northern neighbour, there have been at least 29 deaths caused by the heat and more than 3 million head of livestock have been killed.

Heat prompts call for bottled water donations at Streets Alive

But it can make a big difference helping people stay hydrated during the heat wave.
Marie McLennan, associate director of philanthropy with Streets Alive Mission, said people have been buying cases of bottled water for as low as a couple of dollars, to donate to the mission.
“Because they have such limited access to find a water source, it’s hard for them to even refill a water bottle,” McLennan explained.
“So, we try to make sure that we have full bottles of water that they can take with them.
We try to give them a couple at a time if we can.” Members of their team have also been hitting the streets in the late afternoon to distribute bottled water, she said.
While a case of 24 goes a long way, she stressed they are running through a lot during the current hot weather.
Mission has urgent need for volunteers As summer turns to fall, the other urgent need is for people’s time and service.
“So many of our programs are volunteer-based, and so we always have staff people as part of that team, but we are in a major need – we’re in a critical need, actually – for volunteers right now,” she explained.
“There’s our feeding program in the evening, and that’s a great time to really build relationships and get to know people and really start to understand the trouble that they have and how they can help.” There is a process for volunteer applications.
McLennan said people can get started on the Streets Alive website.

Half of Oregon in ‘severe drought’ following record-setting July heat as wildfires rage

More than half of Oregon is now experiencing severe drought, according to a report by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The current drought is the worst the state has seen since 2015, but has already brought considerably more wildfires.
Oregon wildfires have burned 291,000 acres as of July 31, more than double last year’s record-setting fire season at the same time, according to data from Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.
“But this is extreme.
We had periods of hot weather that lasted nine to 10 days, and that’s not normal.” Both Salem and Portland set records for the most days above 90 degrees.
Portland saw its second-hottest average temperature on record at 69.2.
All of this follows on the heels of near-record heat and dryness in May and June as well, which is why Oregon has dropped so deep into drought.
Ninety-five percent of Oregon is considered “abnormally dry” while 82 percent is in moderate drought and 55 percent is in severe drought, the Drought Monitor report said.
And there’s little relief in sight.
He is the author of the book “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801.

Free bottled water and soaring fan sales as heatwave continues

A Scottish council is giving out free bottled water to residents affected by shortages in private supplies caused by the heatwave.
Although the vast majority of Scotland has access to public water supplies, nearly 4 per cent of the population rely on private water supplies and the Scottish Government last week released funding to councils to help those affected by the shortage.
There are more than 800 private water supplies in Moray serving about 4,825 properties.
Monday saw a high of 33.3C at Santon Downham in Suffolk, but it is set to get even hotter, with temperatures expected to peak tomorrow and Friday.
An amber “heat health watch” warning, put out when temperatures are predicted to hit 30C (86F) during the day and 15C (59F) at night for at least two consecutive days, has been issued for parts of England.
The UK has seen the driest half of summer on record, with just 47mm (1.85 inches) of rain falling between 1 June and 16 July.
The Met Office said temperatures of 35C were forecast for tomorrow in East Anglia and London, with the potential for the mercury to climb even higher.
A respite from the heat could come by the end of the week, when thunderstorms are expected in eastern areas.
John Lewis said sales of electrical cooling products were up 315 per cent week-on-week as weather forecasts showed no relief from the high temperatures for at least a fortnight.
Charcoal barbecue sales are up 116 per cent on last year.