Heatwave
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Kangaroos, emus, parrots drop dead, as Australia sizzles in record-breaking heatwave
Posted on January 10, 2014
January 10, 2014 – AUSTRALIA – Animals are collapsing and falling down from the sky as Australia continues to sizzle in record-breaking temperatures. After news of 100,000 bats falling from the sky, reports of kangaroos “fainting” because of exhaustion and scorching heat have circulated in the country. A large number of kangaroos, parrots and emus were reportedly found dead in Winton, one of the hottest spots in Queensland. Winton Shire Council chief executive Tom Upton stated the deaths of animals had as much to do with the prolonged dry season and the heat wave. Hunters claimed to have seen groups of kangaroos staying near waterholes to cool down and seek relief from rising temperatures. Australia’s weather bureau has recorded a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius in the sparsely populated Pilbara region on Jan 9. According to historical records, the highest recorded temperature in Australia was set in 1960 with 50.7 C in Oodnadatta in South Australia. Weather experts say this record may be broken in the coming days if current temperatures continue to rise. Temperature records across Australia have already been broken in the past few weeks with the heat wave’s onslaught. Australian Bureau of Meteorology Climate Monitoring Manager Karly Braganza stated that the delayed arrival of a monsoon in northern Australia is contributing to the sweltering heat. The monsoon is said to have a cooling effect in the region. Mr. Braganza added global warning as another contributing factor to the ongoing heat wave.
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Zoos use ice treats to keep animals cool, as Brazil suffers through heatwave
Posted on January 10, 2014
January 10, 2014 – RIO DE JANEIRO — Sure, it’s mind-bogglingly cold in the Northern Hemisphere. But the sweltering weather on the opposite end of the Earth has man and beast alike dreaming of ice. Brazil is sizzling, and with the heat index sometimes soaring above 120 F, keepers at the Rio de Janeiro zoo are giving the animals ice pops to beat the heat.
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As U.S. shivers, northern Europe waits for winter to arrive
Posted on January 9, 2014
January 9, 2014 – NORWAY – While part of North America is suffering through a record freeze, northern Europe is enjoying unusually balmy temperatures that are disturbing wildlife, traffic and the winter sports season. The month of December was one of the mildest in a century in the Nordic countries, according to meteorologists, with temperatures exceeding their normal seasonal average by four to five degrees Celsius (24 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit) in Norway and Finland. Oslo experienced its warmest Christmas since records began in 1937, while in Helsinki and southern Finland the second half of December was the mildest in 30 years. In Koege outside Copenhagen the mercury reached 11.6 degrees C (52.9 F) on Christmas Eve. This year began in a similar vein: pavements in all the Scandinavian capitals were uncharacteristically free of ice and snow, with the white stuff appearing only briefly in Oslo and Stockholm in early December. Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter said several types of migratory birds have yet to leave for warmer climes, and showed cherry blossoms that normally only appear in the spring.
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Climate change is killing baby penguins
Posted on January 30, 2014
January 30, 2014 – SOUTH AMERICA — Climate change means more extreme weather and baby penguins are paying the price with their lives, said a pair of long-term studies out Wednesday. Soaking rainstorms and unusual heat have killed vast numbers of young Magellanic penguins at the bottom tip of South America, said one of the papers published in the journal PLOS ONE. “It’s the first long-term study to show climate change having a major impact on chick survival and reproductive success,” said lead author Dee Boersma, a biology professor at the University of Washington. Over the course of 27 years, an average of 65 percent of chicks died annually, said the study. About 40 percent starved, while climate change was blamed for killing an average of seven percent of chicks per year. However, climate change killed 43 and 50 percent of all new chicks in two extreme weather years. The chicks were particularly susceptible when they were nine to 23 days old and too large to be protected by their parents but too young to have grown waterproof feathers. “We’re going to see years where almost no chicks survive if climate change makes storms bigger and more frequent during vulnerable times of the breeding season as climatologists predict,” said co-author Ginger Rebstock.
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