Severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Vermont, New York, Vermont and Ohio Valley – live - The Guardian

Severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Vermont, New York, Vermont and Ohio Valley - live | Extreme weather | The Guardian

Severe thunderstorm warning for parts of New York, Vermont and Ohio Valley as regions still deal with flooding

Severe thunderstorms are likely today across eastern New York and western Vermont, extending into parts of the Ohio Valley, the National Weather Service’s storm prediction center said.

Damaging winds, large hail, and perhaps a couple of tornadoes are possible in these areas, it said.

It also said that additional severe thunderstorms are likely today across portions of the southern and central Plains. Large hail and damaging winds will be the primary hazards with these storms, along with a tornado or two possible.

Severe thunderstorms are likely today across eastern New York and western Vermont, extending into parts of the Ohio Valley. Damaging winds, large hail, and perhaps a couple of tornadoes are possible in these areas. pic.twitter.com/Vv1fwOZYZK

Heat dome to bring triple-digit temperatures to California

Maanvi Singh

A heat dome over California is expected to bring triple-digit temperatures and heightened fire danger.

All but California’s coastal regions will be facing extreme temperatures. In the agricultural Central Valley, the towns of Bakersfield, Fresno and Merced could see temperatures of up to 109F (43C) on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Predictions for some parts of the valley could reach up to 117F.

“Dangerous heat will result in a major to extreme risk for heat-related illnesses for much of the population, especially those who are heat sensitive and those without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration,” warned the National Weather Service.

In Death Valley, temperatures could break the 2021 record of 130F.

The dry heat will desiccate brush, creating the ideal conditions for wildfire. Though strong winds are not expected though most of inland California, gusty conditions along the state’s Interstate 5 could exacerbate risks of a runaway blaze.

The NWS is warning residents to stay indoors, in cooled environments.

Widespread MAJOR HeatRisk is expected this weekend and all individuals without access to proper cooling/hydration will be affected.

Here are the latest images from the newswires showing the damage wreaked by a possible tornado in Colon, Michigan.

Debris from storm damage is seen on Thursday. Photograph: J Scott Park/APIn southern Michigan, a team from the weather service and local emergency management will survey damage from a possible tornado that was reported Wednesday night. Photograph: J Scott Park/AP

Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for Ottawa earlier today, warning of a “dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation” and urged residents to take cover immediately if threatening weather approaches. In a statement, the weather agency said:
Environment Canada meteorologists are tracking a severe thunderstorm that is possibly producing a tornado. Damaging winds, large hail and locally intense rainfall are also possible.

Mild El Niño climatic conditions brewing in the Pacific Ocean will strengthen throughout the year, with an outside chance of a record-breaking event that will further turbocharge already sweltering temperatures around the globe, scientists have forecast.

Last month saw a “weak” El Niño form, a periodic climatic event where the circulation of the equatorial Pacific Ocean shifts and its temperature rises, causing knock-on heat around the world, according to an update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

This Niño, which has replaced a three-year period of its reverse condition, La Niña, which typically cools the globe, will almost certainly strengthen throughout the year, with an 81% chance it will peak with a “moderate to strong intensity” between November and January, Noaa said.

There is a one-in-five chance that this event will be of “historic” strength, rivaling the major one experienced in 1997, Noaa said. Even if the record is not threatened, however, “El Niños tend to elevate global mean temperatures, so I would not expect this event to be an exception,” said Michelle L’Heureux, a Noaa meteorologist.

Severe thunderstorm warning for parts of New York, Vermont and Ohio Valley as regions still deal with flooding

Severe thunderstorms are likely today across eastern New York and western Vermont, extending into parts of the Ohio Valley, the National Weather Service’s storm prediction center said.

Damaging winds, large hail, and perhaps a couple of tornadoes are possible in these areas, it said.

It also said that additional severe thunderstorms are likely today across portions of the southern and central Plains. Large hail and damaging winds will be the primary hazards with these storms, along with a tornado or two possible.

Severe thunderstorms are likely today across eastern New York and western Vermont, extending into parts of the Ohio Valley. Damaging winds, large hail, and perhaps a couple of tornadoes are possible in these areas. pic.twitter.com/Vv1fwOZYZK

The National Weather Service in Jackson has issued a flash flood emergency for Louisville with catastrophic damage possible.

Torrential rains from slow-moving thunderstorms have prompted urgent water rescues, with the NWS confirming reports of multiple cars and structures flooded.

The worst rain on Thursday morning was reported in Louisville, where more than 6-12 inches had already fallen with 3-5 more inches of rain still on the way, falling at rates of 2-3 inches per hour, according to the NWS.
We’ve had several vehicles go head first into deep water. In two locations, we have two vehicles that are under water completely.

Many of the surface streets and highways in Louisville were under water, he added.
The water is getting steadily deeper at this point, and it is making it hard to respond to people in homes and residences. We’re urging people that if they need us, we will get to them, and for them to try to stay safe until we can get there and get them saved.

From WCBI News’ meteorologist, Dylan Hudler:

Dangerous flash flooding event unfolding right now in Louisville, Mississippi. This is a Flash Flood EMERGENCY!

Kate Williams, a Vermont environmental campaigner who serves as CEO of 1% for the Planet, a charity that advises individuals and corporations, including Patagonia, on how to support environmental solutions, says the flooding in the state “highlights the intimacy of devastation”. She says:
What we experienced here hit one community and not the next -- and that is exactly what’s happening in communities all over the world

The localized and often seemingly random nature of climate-change related events highlights, Williams says, the importance of knowing local non-profit organizations so that support can be targeted accurately.

Environmental events, Williams acknowledges, can feel extremely personal. “But they also really point out how we are all connected.”

In 2011, her town of Waitsfield, 20 minutes from Montpelier, was “hammered”, while Montpelier was not as badly affected. This week, the situation was reversed.
Whether it my community or your community, it’s all of us on one planet.

Williams advises her clients to make a choice -- to help locally to prevent or mitigate the effects of climate-change, or to act in terms of larger policy changes. Either way, she says, it has to align with something you care about.
For people in Vermont, if they’re feeling crushed by what they’re seeing, they can make a local contribution. Others may be more systems orientated and want to give to give toward changing climate policy that’s affecting their local environment.

“Giving is on one level a most human act but it can also be hard,” Williams says.
It’s good to take the time, without getting stuck and paralyzed, to think through what’s meaningful to you.

June ocean temperatures highest ever recorded, says NOAA

Last month was the hottest June globally on record on both land and sea, scientists have said.

Ocean temperatures reached record-breaking highs for the month of June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in its monthly global climate report.

The average global surface (land and ocean) temperature in June was 1.89 F above average, 0.23F warmer than the previous record set in June 2020, it said.

Last month also marked the 47th-consecutive June and the 532nd-consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average, it added. For the third consecutive month, the global ocean surface temperature hit a record high as weak El Niño conditions that emerged in May continued to strengthen in June.

June 2023 also saw the lowest sea ice coverage for any June on record, according to the NOAA. Earth’s global sea ice extent in June 2023 was 330,000 square miles less than the previous record low from June 2019.

It should come as no surprise that Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who has accepted massive donations from oil and gas companies, is defending the fossil fuel industry’s interests, said Allie Rosenbluth, US program co-manager at environmental advocacy and research non-profit Oil Change International. She said:
What is really devastating for communities who are experiencing extreme heat, wildfires, flooding and drought across the US is that because of these bought-out politicians, they are not getting the support that they need to be resilient to the face of climate impacts at the federal level.

House Republicans are fighting climate spending, too. To avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers must pass a slew of spending bills before current funding expires on 30 September. But Republican members of the GOP-controlled House appropriations committee are slipping in anti-climate provisions, which aim to block renewable energy funding and imperil federal efforts to tackle the climate crisis, into their spending bill drafts.

Last week, the Clean Budget Coalition – a group of non-profits such as the League of Conservation Voters, Environmental Defense Fund and Public Citizen – identified at least 17 of these “climate poison pills” in appropriation bill drafts. Among them are amendments that would prevent the federal government from purchasing electric vehicles or building EV charging stations; block funding for the Green Climate Fund, which helps developing countries meet their climate goals under the Paris agreement; and prohibit funding for a Department of Energy initiative aiming to send 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to flow to disadvantaged communities.

Elizabeth Gore, senior vice-president for political affairs at Environmental Defense Fund, said these proposals will impede lawmakers’ chance to reach a budget deal before their fall deadline. She said in a release:
This is not a starting point for any reasonable negotiations.

US Republicans oppose climate funding as millions suffer in extreme weather

Dharna Noor

Swaths of the US are baking under record-breaking heat, yet some lawmakers are still attempting to block any spending to fight the climate crisis, advocates say.

Nearly 90 million Americans are facing heat alerts this week, including in Las Vegas, Nevada, which may break its all-time hottest temperature record; Phoenix, Arizona, which will likely break its streak of consecutive days of temperatures over 110F; and parts of Florida, where a marine heatwave has pushed up water temperatures off the coast to levels normally found in hot tubs.

Stifling heat is also blanketing parts of Texas, which for weeks earlier this summer sweltered under a record-shattering heat dome which one analysis found was made five times more likely by the climate crisis. Despite this, the state’s Republican Senator Ted Cruz is rallying his fellow GOP members of the Senate commerce committee to circulate a memo attacking climate measures in Biden’s proposed 2024 budget, Fox News reported on Wednesday.

The memo specifically calls on Republican members of the Senate appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee to reject spending provisions focused on climate resilience and environmental justice efforts for scientific agencies. In one example, the memo objects to a Nasa request to fund its Sustainable Flight National Partnership, which seeks to help zero out planet-warming pollution from aviation.

The memo says:
If the goal is to make imperceptible changes in CO2 emissions as part of the administration’s zealous effort to micromanage global temperatures, then NASA should abandon such wasted mental energy. NASA should not become a plaything for anti-fossil fuel environmentalists.

National Weather Service teams are surveying the damage after severe storms spawned multiple tornadoes across the Chicago area and northeast Illinois, ripping roofs from buildings, knocking down trees and disrupting hundreds of flights.

There were at least five reported tornadoes in Illinois on Wednesday – two in Cook county and one each in DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties.

Below is a map highlighting areas where we suspect tornadoes may have touched down last evening. Our team will be out surveying damage today to determine exactly where these tornadoes tracked. Stay tuned for updates over the next several days. #ILwxpic.twitter.com/SafDnyI3uF

The weather service warned on Wednesday evening that a confirmed tornado was on the ground near Chicago’s O’Hare international airport. The twister reportedly damaged warehouses on the west side of the airport, but there were no reports of injuries.

More than 170 flights departing O’Hare airport were canceled and more than 500 delayed, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware.

The storm moved into Michigan before passing through the state and into Canada early this morning, AP reported.

“Heat stress is a spectrum,” said Kristie Ebi, professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Washington. Symptoms can range from small, reddish blisters on one’s hands to fainting. In extreme cases, if the body temperature rises above 103F (39C), it can result in a heatstroke, which can cause the brain and other internal organs to swell, and can be fatal.

Who is most affected by heat stress?

Children, the elderly and pregnant people are among the most vulnerable to heat stress. “Athletes and outdoor workers can be at much higher risk for heat stress,” Ebi said, as the more people move or work, the more heat their bodies have to get rid of. These circumstances are more fraught for people like farm workers, who need to be protected against physical or chemical hazards, such as pesticides. They must wear protective clothing, which can interfere with their bodies’ ability to evaporate sweat.

In California, employers were reminded to adhere to regulations that require outdoor workers are given water, shade and regular breaks to cool off. The state will be performing spot checks at work sites to make sure the rules are being followed, said Jeff Killip, from the Division of Occupational Safety & Health.

The AP reports:

Forecasters said the long-duration heat wave is extremely dangerous, especially for elderly people, homeless residents and other vulnerable populations. The heat could persist into next week as a high pressure dome moves west from Texas. In Arizona, temperatures have hit 110 degrees (43.3 C) for more than a dozen consecutive days.

Horse racing events were canceled at the California State Fair near the state capital over concerns for animal safety.

Meanwhile, California’s wildfire season was ramping up amid the hot, dry conditions with a series of blazes erupting across the state this week, said Secretary Wade Crowfoot of the Natural Resources Agency.

“As we get deeper into the summer and vegetation that grew up during the wet spring dries out, we are seeing an uptick in wildfire activity,” Crowfoot said Wednesday during a state media briefing.

Crowfoot said global climate change was “supercharging” heat waves. California has instituted a $400 million extreme heat action plan to protect workers, help vulnerable communities and assist local communities in opening cooling centers.

Officials said the state’s power system, which was strained to the point of widespread blackouts in recent years, has been fortified and should be able to withstand the latest heat wave. The California Independent System Operator, which runs the electricity grid, said battery storage capacity reached 5,600 megawatts on July 1 — enough to power more than 3.8 million homes for up to four hours before recharging.

“The batteries being added to the grid are charged during the day, when solar power is abundant, and dispatched primarily in the evening hours when demand is still high and the sun is setting and solar capacity diminishing,” Cal ISO said in a statement.