The Rising Nepal
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Western wildfires grow, but better weather helps crews

Lower winds and better weather helped crews using bulldozers and helicopters battling the nation’s largest wildfire in southern Oregon, but gusty winds pushed a Northern California wildfire into Nevada on Thursday, prompting evacuations as blazes burn across the West.

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Parametric insurance: How it can help Nepal build climate resilience

In the Himalayas, flash floods, landslides, wildfires and other extreme weather events are increasingly disrupting daily life and devastating communities, particularly those reliant on agriculture and natural resources.

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Canadian firefighters wage epic battle to save communities

Firefighters battling wildfires in western Canada received help from reinforcements and milder weather Saturday, after the nation’s worst fire season

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Canadian firefighters wage epic battle to save communities

Firefighters battling wildfires in western Canada received help from reinforcements and milder weather Saturday, after the nation’s worst fire season

Nepalnews श्रावण २०८०

Extreme weather: What is it and how is it connected to climate change?

AUG 29: The UK and parts of Europe have seen temperatures of above 40C this month, leading to transport disruption and water shortages. Emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels have been trapping heat in the atmosphere since the start of the industrial era. This extra heat isn't evenly distributed across the globe, and bursts out extreme weather events. Unless global emissions are cut, this cycle will continue. Here are four ways climate change is changing the weather. 1. Hotter, longer heatwaves To understand the impact of small changes to average temperatures, think of them as a bell curve with extreme cold and hot at either end, and the bulk of temperatures in the middle. A small shift in the centre means more of the curve touches the extremes - and so heatwaves become more frequent and extreme. Temperatures in the UK topped 40C for the first time on 19 July. The Met Office estimates that the extreme heat seen during the most recent heatwave is ten times more likely now because of climate change. And things could worsen. "In a few decades this might actually be a quite a cool summer," says Professor Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London. The Met Office has also pointed out that heatwaves are not just hotter: They're also lasting longer. Warm spells have more than doubled in length in the past 50 years. Heatwaves can be made longer and more intense by another weather phenomenon - a heat dome. In an area of high pressure, hot air is pushed down and trapped in place, causing temperatures to soar over an entire continent. When a storm distorts the jet stream, which is made of currents of fast-flowing air, it is a bit like yanking a skipping rope at one end and seeing the ripples move along it. These waves cause everything to slow drastically and weather systems can become stuck over the same areas for days on end - as was seen in India earlier this year. India and Pakistan have already faced five successive heatwaves this year, with Jacobabad, in Pakistan, registering 49C at one point in May. In the Southern Hemisphere, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil all saw an historic heatwave in January - many areas reported their hottest day on record. In the same month, Onslow in Western Australia hit 50.7C, the joint-highest temperature ever reliably recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. Last year, North America was also hit by long heatwaves. The western Canadian town of Lytton burnt down when temperatures hit 49.6C, breaking the previous record by almost 5C. Such an intense heatwave would have been virtually impossible without climate change, says the World Weather Attribution network, a collaboration between international climate scientists. One theory suggests higher temperatures in the Arctic are causing the jet stream to slow, increasing the likelihood of heat domes. 2. More persistent droughts As heatwaves become more intense and longer, droughts can also worsen. Less rain falls between heatwaves, so ground moisture and water supplies run dry more quickly. This means the ground takes less time to heat up, warming the air above and leading to more intense heat. Demand for water from humans and farming puts even more stress on water supply, adding to shortages. 3. More fuel for wildfires Wildfires can be sparked by direct human involvement - but natural factors can also play a huge part. The cycle of extreme and long-lasting heat caused by climate change draws more and more moisture out of the ground and vegetation. These tinder-dry conditions provide fuel for fires, which can spread at an incredible speed. The Northern Hemisphere's wildfire season begun early in some areas, due to lack of rainfall and unseasonable warmth, and has worsened through July. Most recently severe wildfires have been reported in France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia and Albania - with thousands of residents evacuated and several hundreds reported to have died. In Canada last summer, heatwaves led to fires which developed so rapidly and explosively that they created their own weather system, forming pyrocumulonimbus clouds. These colossal clouds then produced lightning, igniting more fires. The frequency of large wildfires has increased dramatically in recent decades. Compared with the 1970s, fires larger than 10,000 acres (40 sq km) are now seven times more common in western America, according to Climate Central, an independent organisation of scientists and journalists. 4. More extreme rainfall events In the usual weather cycle, hot weather creates moisture and water vapour in the air, which turns into droplets to create rain. The warmer it becomes, however, the more vapour there is in the atmosphere. This results in more droplets and heavier rainfall, sometimes in a shorter space of time and over a smaller area. Already this year, floods have hit Spain and also parts of eastern Australia. In a period of just six days Brisbane saw almost 80% of its annual rainfall, while Sydney recorded more than its average annual rainfall in little over three months. These rainfall events are connected to the effects of climate change elsewhere, according to Peter Gleick, a water specialist from the US National Academy of Sciences. "When areas of drought grow, like in Siberia and western US, that water falls elsewhere, in a smaller area, worsening flooding," he says. The weather across the globe will always be highly variable - but climate change is making those variations more extreme. And the challenge now is not only limiting the further impact people have on the atmosphere but also adapting to and tackling the extremes we are already facing.

Ratopati English श्रावण २०७९

Heatwave: More evacuations as Mediterranean wildfires spread

JULY 18: Authorities in France's Gironde, a popular tourist region, have evacuated guards from campsites - the tourists left earlier. Fires have spread in the Teste-de-Buch and Landiras areas. In southern Spain, more than 3,200 people fled fires in the Mijas hills, though later some were able to return. Portugal's fires are contained for now. More than 1,000 deaths have been attributed to the heat in Portugal and Spain in recent days. The Mijas fires in Spain are not far from Málaga, a popular tourist area. Elsewhere in Spain, wildfires have broken out in the provinces of Castilla y León, Galicia and Extremadura. Ellen McCurdy, living in the Málaga area, told Reuters: "We just grabbed a few essentials and just ran really, and by that stage everybody along the street was on the move... there were a lot of ambulances and fire engines." Across the Mediterranean - from Morocco in the west to Crete in the east - thousands of firefighters and many waterbombing aircraft have been deployed. Since Tuesday, the whole region has been sweltering in severe heat, leaving vegetation bone dry. Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to carbon emissions. The French weather service has forecast temperatures of up to 41C (106F) in the country's south on Sunday and new heat records are predicted for Monday. In Portugal, the temperature recently reached 47C. In the UK there is an amber warning for extreme heat, as the country braces for record temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, possibly reaching 41C in some parts. Dr Eunice Lo, a climate scientist at Bristol University, told the BBC that "rising temperatures are a signature of climate change" and that in the UK, 2,000 extra deaths a year were attributable to heatwaves. Public records show that since 1884, the top 10 hottest years in the UK have all been since 2002, she said. Globally, "heatwaves are becoming more common and lasting longer," Dr Lo added. "We need to stop burning fossil fuels, and act now and quickly." Morocco has ordered more than 1,300 people to leave their homes and deployed more firefighters to tackle forest blazes in the north. The worst-hit area is Larache province. In Crete, Greek firefighters are battling a big blaze in the hills around Rethymno, on the north coast. On Saturday they said it had been partially contained. Some areas in south-west Turkey and on Croatia's Adriatic coast are also struggling with wildfires. A number broke out near Croatia's resort towns of Zadar and Sibenik, but they have not forced any major evacuations. Late on Saturday, France placed 22 more regional departments - mostly along its Atlantic coast - on high orange alert. One resident in south-west France described the forest fires as feeling "post-apocalyptic". Fires have burned 10,500 hectares (26,000 acres) of land there and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin praised firefighters' "remarkable courage". "Everything went so fast - the fire too, was big, big, big," Manon Jacquart, 27, told the BBC. She was evacuated from the campsite she works at early on Wednesday morning, and slept at a shelter near Teste-de-Buch where hundreds of other people also sheltered from the danger. "I'm just worried, I'm afraid… I'm trying to be as strong as I can but I'm not ok… I want to forget this week," she said. Meanwhile, climbers in the Alps are being urged to postpone their trips to Mont Blanc due to the risk of rock falls caused by "exceptional climatic conditions". Heatwaves put the public at greater risk of heatstroke, heat exhaustion and drowning, as people rush to cool off, Dr Lo said. Pets and farm animals are also vulnerable. "Even fit and healthy people are at risk," she said, though the most vulnerable are young children, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. Extreme heat can also damage infrastructure, such as melting road tarmac and buckling railway lines. In Portugal, fires have destroyed 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of land this year, mainly in the north. That is the worst fire damage since the summer of 2017, when devastating fires killed some 100 people. In southern Spain, holidaymakers on the beach in Torremolinos saw big plumes of smoke rising in the hills. Planes have been dropping a fire retardant substance, as helicopters shuttle to and from the coast, collecting seawater to douse the flames. "There are about 40 houses in our area, everyone was really nervous and standing outside or on balconies watching it," said local resident Ashley Baker. "Even now there are fires at the top of the mountains. It moved away from here, I'm very relieved." In Italy, the government has declared a state of emergency in the desiccated Po Valley - the country's longest river is no more than a trickle in some places.

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Out West, Biden points to wildfires to push for big rebuild

President Joe Biden on Monday used his first Western swing in office to hold out the wildfires burning across the region as an argument for his $3.5 trillion rebuilding plans, calling year-round fires and other extreme weather a climate change reality the nation can no longer ignore.

The Rising Nepal श्रावण २०७८

California wildfires at risk of sparking as wind blows in

A weather system affecting northwest California was expected to bring dry lightning and blustery winds.

Nepalnews श्रावण २०७८

Lake Tahoe prepares for emergency as wildfire threatens

Some 14,000 firefighters facing changing weather conditions battled more than a dozen large wildfires across California.

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Greece wildfires 'slowly coming under control': mayor

ATHENS, August 11: Hundreds of firefighters were battling to control two massive wildfires in Greece on Wednesday, one raging for nine straight days, that have left hundreds homeless and caused incalculable damage. With the assistance of a huge multinational force, Greek fire crews were fighting to beat back blazes on the island of Evia and in the Peloponnese peninsula in rugged terrain. "I think we can say that the fire fronts are slowly coming under control," Yiannis Kontzias, mayor of the Evia town of Istiaia that has been under threat for days, told state TV ERT. "Yesterday, we saw the light of the sun for the first time in days," he said, referring to giant smoke clouds that have choked residents and obstructed water drops by firefighting aircraft. The situation was more precarious in the mountainous Peloponnese region of Gortynia, home to thick forests and deep ravines. Christos Lambropoulos, deputy governor for the broader Arcadia region, said efforts were concentrated on keeping the fire from reaching the thickly forested Mount Mainalo. "Villages do not seem at risk at the moment... but conditions change by the hour," he told ERT. Three people have died in the latest fire wave, which came in the midst of Greece's most severe heatwave in decades. Many here admit that help from abroad has been critical in averting an even greater disaster. EU states and other countries have so far contributed 21 aircraft, 250 vehicles and more than 1,200 firefighters, some of whom were due to arrive by Friday. There have been growing calls in Greece for the resignation of top public safety officials who as recently as June had insisted that the country was well-prepared. "(Our resources were) stronger than ever before. We faced an operationally unique situation with 586 fires in eight days during the worst weather phenomenon in 40 years," civil protection deputy minister Nikos Hardalias insisted on Tuesday. - 'We face extinction' - Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis this week apologised to the nation for any possible "shortcomings" in the state's response. He is to hold a press conference on Thursday as pressure mounts for heads to roll. In addition to hundreds of homes lost according to early estimates and the blow to Greece's dwindling forests, the cost to local economies is expected to be daunting. "We face extinction," said mayor Kontzias in Evia, whose jurisdiction includes the popular spa town of Aidipsos. "We have lost the month of August, which would have sustained people here in the coming year." "(Local) tourism has been demolished, most (visitors) have left," he said.

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Fire incidents increase in Kanchanpur forests

Incidents of fire have increased in the forest areas in Kanchanpur district, the district in the Far-west province.   Incidents of wildfire have been found increased this year compared to the previous year, the Division Forest Office Kanchanpur said. The drought condition and hot weather is attributed to the increase in the incidents of bushfire, it is said. Timber worth hundreds of thousands of rupees has been destroyed due to the forest fires. The wildlife habitat has also been destroyed, pushing the wild animals to migrate towards the human settlements and exposing them to risk of killing by humans. Division Forest Office information officer Shivaraj Awasthi said 99 per cent of the forest fires are caused by human negligence while only one per cent of the incidents are due to natural causes. According to him, most of the wildfires are found to start from burning cigarette butts and matchsticks thrown by careless people including cattle herders and picnickers.  Sometimes, the picnickers forget to put out the fire they have made to cook food which causes forest fires. The herders are also found to deliberately start fire in the forest.  "Last year forest fire had spread only on 150 hectares forest. This year wildfires have spread to 200 hectares so far. Incidents of forest fires might also rise as the dry summer season has not come to an end," he said. Forest fires that have started in more than 30 community forests, the Laljhadi protected forest, the national forest area, Shuklaphanta National Park and forest areas in Chure region have caused extensive damage. Teams comprising of community forest staff, police, Armed Police Force and local people are actively working to douse the fire.  Although teams are engaged in controlling the forest fires, this has been hampered due to lack of resources, firefighting equipment and the difficult terrain, especially in the Chure hill areas.

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