"This year in North America has been about as close as we’ve ever come to a year without a winter—the geological obverse of 1816, the year when an Indonesian volcano put so much sulfur into the air that there was no real northern hemisphere summer," Bill McKibben writes today.
"We’re the volcano now, and the gases we produce increase the temperature: it was 70 degrees in Chicago yesterday, in February—which was also the day that the Windy City decided to join other American cities in suing the fossil fuel industry for damages. But that was just one of a hundred heat records broken in the course of the day, from Milwaukee to Dallas (94 degrees). But it wasn’t a single day of heat—it’s been an almost unrelentingly warm winter, with by far the lowest snow coverage for this time of year ever recorded (13.8 percent of the lower 48 as of Monday, compared with an average of more than 40 percent) and with the Great Lakes essentially free of ice."
McKibben: "In Maine, which has the largest moose herd in the lower 48, ninety percent of calves died last winter because they were sucked dry by ticks that can now last all winter long. Biologists find moose with 90,000 ticks; they rub their hair off trying to shed the pests. “Ghost moose” is what they call these hairless beasts."
Furthermore, "the deepest patterns of our lives — the ways our bodies understand the cycle of the seasons and the progress of time — are now slipping away."
Cold air: 2020–2024 news stories
Ice shelves propping up two major Antarctic glaciers are breaking up and it could have major consequences for sea level rise, Helen Regan, CNN, September 15, 2020
Ice that took roughly 2,000 years to form on Mt. Everest has melted in around 25 Angela Dewan and Danya Gainor, CNN, February 3, 2022
Arctic Sinkholes, NOVA, Season 49 Episode 1 | 53m 17s, PBS, Feb 2, 2022
Antarctica will likely set an alarming new record this year, new data shows Rachel Ramirez, CNN, February 18, 2022
Greenland’s ice is melting from the bottom up – and far faster than previously thought, study shows Isabelle Jani-Friend, CNN, February 22, 2022
Extraordinary Antarctica heatwave, 70 degrees above normal, would likely set a world record Caitlin Kaiser and Angela Fritz, CNN, March 28, 2022
Antarctica’s majestic underwater world is trying to adapt to a warmer planet Allison Chinchar, CNN Meteorologist, May 7, 2022
Greenland ice losses set to raise global sea levels by nearly a foot, new research shows, Rachel Ramirez, CNN, August 29, 2022
Temperatures on Greenland haven’t been this warm in at least 1,000 years, scientists report, Rachel Ramirez, CNN, January 18, 2023
Antarctic sea ice hit record lows again. Scientists wonder if it’s ‘the beginning of the end’ Laura Paddison, CNN, February 21, 2023
90% of ice around Antarctica has disappeared in less than a decade, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN, March 1, 2023
‘Shocked’ by the loss: Scientists sound the alarm on New Zealand’s melting glaciers, Laura Paddison, CNN, April 6, 2023
‘An extreme record-breaking year’: Scientists see impact of climate change on Antarctic sea ice, Euronews Green with Reuters, Sept 26, 2023
Scientists found the most intense heat wave ever recorded — in Antarctica - The Washington Post Rapid melting in West Antarctica is ‘unavoidable,’ with potentially disastrous consequences for sea level rise, study finds, Rachel Ramirez, CNN, October 23, 2023
A mysterious force under Antarctica is changing how its ice melts
Greenland’s northern glaciers are in trouble, threatening ‘dramatic’ sea level rise, study shows Laura Paddison, CNN, November 7, 2023
A heatwave in Antarctica totally blew the minds of scientists. They set out to decipher it – and here are the results. Dana M Bergstrom, The Conversation, January 9, 2024
Scientists discover an alarming change in Antarctica’s past that could spell devastating future sea level rise Laura Paddison, CNN, February 8, 2024
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