Amazon River Reaches Record Lows

More: Earth set another heat record this summer after shattering records last year with help from an early El Niño weather pattern in the Pacific.  According to Copernicus, the European climate service, the three months of Northern Hemisphere summer--June, July and August--averaged 62.24 ℉ , 0.05 degrees warmer than last summer,  Unless there is a significant cooling trend for the remainder of the year, 2024 will go down in the books as the hottest in recorded history.  According to climatologists these records show the tightening grip of global climate crisis.

The increasingly hot weather is causing health difficulties for some as well as extreme weather phenomenon like prolonged droughts, wildfires, and intensifying storms.  Phoenix, AZ suffered through a 100 day heat wave with temperatures over 100℉.  Maricopa, County, in which Phoenix is located,  counted 150 heat-related deaths with  443 deaths still under investigation, Clark County, Nevada which includes Las Vegas, officially counted 181, but the death toll is likely much higher.  In 2023 the county recorded 294 and over 2000 heat-related emergency room visits.  The story is the same in several locations throughout the West. Wildfires near Los Angeles, CA are forcing thousands to evacuate.

{10.09.2024}Brazil is suffering through the worst drought in more than seventy years of recorded rainfall. The mighty Amazon is running at historic lows, and wildfires are rampaging across the country. Almost 60% of Brazil land area, 1.9 million square miles, is under stress. This is the first time in history that drought conditions stretch from the north to the southeast. Smoke from the fires have caused the residents of São Paulo to breath the second worst polluted air on the planet after Lahore, Pakistan. From the beginning of the year Brazil has experienced 160,000 wildfires. In the Panatal, a renowned wetland ecosystem, it has been the second worst fire season on record.  Significant rain is not expected until October. One tribal leader told AP interviewers,“This used to be the Amazon River,” she said. “Now it’s a desert. If things get worse, our people will disappear. Now we are realizing the severity of climate change.” US Person asks, if a tribal leader in Brazil can know that fact, why can Donal Trump NOT?

Brasilia National Forest, credit AP

Paraquay's Paraguay River has also reached the lowest level in 120 years, disrupting river traffic on the vital commercial route. Landlocked Paraguay is one of the world's leading exporters of agricultural commodities. The river runs 2,110 miles through Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. With no rain in sight experts expect losses in the millions of dollars. The drying of such an important waterway is due to combination of climate change, deforestation and population growth couple with weak governance and inefficient irrigation.