Global weather disasters Jan-Mar 2024 cost $31 billion, with 10 billion-dollar events. Costliest: Mar. 12-17 U.S. severe weather outbreak ($4.2 billion). 10-yr average: 10 billion-dollar events, $43 billion in damage. Jan-Mar 2023: 12 billion-dollar events, $61 billion in damage.

Cryptocurrency mining accounts for 0.6-2.3% of US electricity consumption. A code change by the Ethereum cryptocurrency reduced its energy consumption 99.9%, but the Bitcoin Mining Council opposes the code change for Bitcoin (43% of the global market). pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/a…

My latest post summarizes March 2024, the planet’s 10th consecutive warmest month on record. Remarkable that 5 nations/territories set an all-time heat record for any month, and an additional 24 set an all-time March heat record.
yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/04/earth-…

Cholera spreads through unclean drinking water. The current outbreaks are being driven by “conflict and climate disasters that force people into crowded living situations without adequate sanitation systems.” More vaccine production coming, though. nytimes.com/2024/04/11/hea…

The area in red actually had the best viewing conditions for the eclipse.

Bust

Our new paper in Nature Communications shows that all coastal defences have a positive economic return over a 20 year lifespan but hybrid coastal defence measures perform best. nature.com/articles/s4146…

I did a webinar today on climate change in Michigan, with a look at the bigger global picture of how climate change is likely to affect global civilization. It's was for the Michigan-based Stewardship Network; the last 1/3 has the global picture:
youtube.com/watch?v=wqKRdM…

A staggering toll: “climate-driven increases in smoke PM2.5 could result in 27,800 excess deaths/year by 2050…climate-induced smoke deaths result in annual damages of $244 billion by mid-century, comparable to the estimated sum of all other damages in the US in prior analyses.”

I'm giving a webinar at noon EDT Wednesday on climate change in Michigan, with a look at the bigger global picture of how climate change is likely to affect global civilization. It's for the Michigan-based Stewardship Network, but anyone can register: stewardshipnetwork.org/webcast/2024-0…

Here’s a 360-degree pan from my drone during totality from Grand Rapids, Ohio, which was on the N side of the path, with just 2 minutes of totality. Note how at the start, facing SE, it was much darker where the center of the totality path was, and lighter to the NW.

Charleston is spending 100s of millions to fix sewage issues: “more than 40% of the wet-weather overflows were triggered by “one-year storms,” a weather event defined by meteorologists as statistically certain to happen in Charleston at least once a year.” insideclimatenews.org/news/07042024/…

In fact, latest estimates (Forster et al) show that global aerosol burden has actually increased since 2020, making it preposterous to claim it is responsible for the 2023 global temperature spike.

x.com/michaelemann/s…

I talked to Guy today, he’s been sick with sepsis, and is on IV antibiotics in the hospital and doesn’t have computer access. He’s in good spirits and is optimistic he’ll be back blogging in a week or two.

The CSU Atlantic hurricane season forecast is super-aggressive: 23 named storms, 11 hurricanes, 5 majors. If this verifies, the number of named storms would rank 3rd-highest on record; hurricanes, 5th-highest; major hurricanes, 9th; ACE index, 9th.

yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/04/foreca…

Here's a chart of just the Main Development Region temps compared to avg., via Michael Lowry

The U.S. saw its two worst tornado outbreaks in April 1974 (50 years ago today) and April 2011. How might things look different with the next one? Some thoughts from Dr. Marshall Shepherd and Victo☈ Gensini, PhD, CCM, and a few reflections from Jeff Masters and me, here:

yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/04/how-mi…

Due to the critical shortage of names beginning with 'I', NHC announced today that they will give Atlantic hurricanes both first names and last names beginning in 2024. Some names to watch our for this year: Alberto Saurus; Debbie Downer; Isaac Newton.
yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/04/atlant…

Ouch. FEMA says Lee County built back irresponsibly after Hurricane Ian, and could be kicked out of NFIP altogether. If so, no new flood insurance policies would be written for the area, and disaster assistance after a hurricane would also be limited.

A strong case for mandating indoor air quality in public buildings
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Science Magazine lidia morawska Joseph Allen and an impressive list of 40+ co-authors with expertise

“Hay grown for cattle consumes nearly half the water drawn from Colorado River, study finds”