Some Meteorological Spring 2025 Highlights
(March through May 2025)
(in progress)
BY THE NUMBERS
1. The estimated temperature anomaly for March 2025 was 1.44°C above the 1850-1900 average, third only to March 2024 and March 2016, whose anomalies were 1.47°C and 1.46°C respectively, both in El Niño years. Surface temperatures have come down slightly since the end of the 2023-24 El Niño but not very much.
2. The last eleven 12-month periods ending in March (2015-2025) were the 11 warmest on record. The two most recent such 12-month periods were by far the two warmest, with anomalies of 1.45°C (2025) and 1.44°C (2024). The anomaly for the third warmest such period ending in March 2020 was 1.20°C.
Some other models are showing significantly higher anomalies than NOAA's model. Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS) estimates the anomaly for the 12-month period ending in March 2025 as 1.59°C above the 1850-1900 average, as opposed to NOAA's 1.45°C.
3. The average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during March 2025 was around 428.15ppm, an increase of 2.77ppm over March 2024, as measured at Mauna Loa. The 12 month running average for April 2024 through March, 2025 was around 425.35ppm. (My estimates, NOAA has not posted theirs yet. Thanks, Donald.)
Hmmm, weren't the 2015 Paris Climate Accords supposed to bring down CO2 in the atmosphere? What happened?
4. The El Niño / La Niña (ONI) index rose to −0.4 over the January through March, 3-month period, marking the end of La Niña conditions which lasted a mere two overlapping 3-month periods, without qualifying as a full-blown La Niña episode.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ENHANCES GLOBAL WARMING
5. Through executive order, Donald Trump has ordered increased logging on federally owned lands. Trees constitute an important carbon sink. The cutting of trees will release large quantities of carbon into our overburdened atmosphere and increase the speed of global warming. In addition, Trump has axed federal grants for wildfire prevention.
6. NOAA is under attack from the Trump Administration. This may make NOAA's forecasting and reporting abilities more difficult or, in some cases, even impossible. With hurricane season only a few months away, layoffs of NOAA hurricane hunters will degrade hurricane forecasting.
7. In the wake of the Trump Administration's attack on attempts to limit global warming, governments and corporations are abandoning all pretense of limiting emissions of greenhouse gases. Brett Christophers points out that as long as the world is ruled by capitalist economics, it is virtually impossible for corporations to keep voluntary environmental commitments which limit their ability to amass obscene profits. Military spending continues to take precedence over spending to limit climate degradation, as Europe cuts climate funding in favor of spending for war.
8. The United States is withdrawing from the Just Energy Transition Partnership, a collaboration among rich nations to help developing countries transition from coal to cleaner energy.
EXTREME WEATHER DISASTERS
9. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the world experienced over 150 unprecedented extreme weather disasters in 2024: floods, storms, droughts, heat waves, cyclones, ... and they are happening everywhere. No location on Earth is safe from extreme weather. By “unprecedented,” the WMO means more intense than anything similar that has happened in that location.
FIRE
10. Japan is experiencing its most destructive wildfire in 30 years. Thousands have been forced to evacuate. Japan and other locations that have been virtually free of destructive fires, are now experiencing increased devastation from out-of-control wildfires.
11. March wildfires spread through the area of North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene, feeding on downed timber left by the hurricane.
BIODIVERSITY
12. Butterflies, a chief pollinator, have declined 22% in the United States from year 2000 to 2020 and continue to decline. Major drivers of the decline are pesticides, climate change and habitat loss. This study included volunteer efforts from individuals and citizen organizations as well as from scientists.
ICE
13. In March 2025, arctic sea ice peaked at its smallest maximum extent on record.
SEA LEVEL
14. Sea levels are rising faster than previously expected. According to NASA, sea-level rise in 2024 was 0.23 inches, one third more than the expected 0.17 inches.
DEFORESTATION
15. Brazil is clear-cutting tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest to build an eight mile four-lane highway to accommodate government and business elites at COP30, which is likely to, like the 29 COPs before, do little or nothing to slow climate change. I'm reminded here of a quote from Greta Thunberg: “I think it's very insane and weird that people come here [Davos] in private jets to discuss climate change. It's not reasonable.”
CAPITALISM
16. The six largest US banks, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, have all abandoned the goal of reaching "net-zero" by 2050.
TECHNOLOGY
17. According to Bill McKibben, China's electric vehicle technology has far outpaced Tesla and other US made cars. For example, China's BYD now makes electric vehicles that can recharge in five minutes, or roughly, the time it takes to fill your tank with gasoline. Says McKibben, "It’s bad news for America that our country has lost its technological edge. It may be good news for the planet, though."
STORMS AND FLOODING
18. After an abnormally dry winter in Uttarakhand in northern India, sudden heavy rains set off an avalanche that killed eight.
19. At least 15 died as
heavy rains flood Bahía Blanca, Argentina, with dozens of residents missing.
20. Cyclone Alfred brought a devastating downpours to Brisbane, Australia. Almost five inches fell in a single hour.
21. An area in Queensland, Australia larger than the state of Texas flooded in April.
22. Spring has brought two devastating storms to the central United States. The first spawned 117 tornados including an EF4 tornado in Arkansas, with winds up to 190 mph. The outbreak was responsible for 42 fatalities. Rolla, Missouri was not spared. An EF2 tornado caused wide-spread destruction and power outages but no fatalities. The second storm caused wide-spread flooding in the Mississippi valley.
ENERGY
23. Use of energy for artificial intelligence is predicted to quadruple by 2030. We may be better off investing in education and natural intelligence, which is far less energy intensive and far more reliable than artificial intelligence.
24. Canada is shelling out $30 billion annually in fossil-fuel subsidies, according to DeSmog.
25. Coal is back. In 2024, for the first time, India has produced over 1 billion tons of coal annually. Coal use continues to rise in China, although it is predicted to plateau in 2028. Meanwhile, here in the United States, where coal production has fallen, Donald Trump is bringing back coal. Globally, coal production appears to have plateaued.
Some Meteorological Winter 2024-25 Highlights
(December 2024 through February 2025)
BY THE NUMBERS
1. The average temperature anomaly for meteorological winter 2024-25 was 1.47°C above the 1850-1900 average, second only to meteorological winter 2023-24 whose anomaly was 1.55°C. January 2025 was the warmest January on record, 1.52°C above the 1850-1900 average. February 2025 was the third warmest February on record and was the first month since May 2023 to not be among the two warmest months with that same name.
While La Niña conditions appear to be bringing surface temperatures down somewhat, surface temperatures are still abnormally high.
2. The last eleven 12-month periods ending in February (2015-2025) were the 11 warmest on record. The two most recent such 12-month periods were by far the two warmest, with anomalies of 1.43°C and 1.41°C. The anomaly for the third warmest such period ending in February 2020 was 1.19°C.
Some other models are showing significantly higher anomalies than NOAA's model. Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS) computes the anomaly for the 12-month period ending in February 2025 as 1.59°C above the 1850-1900 average, as opposed to NOAA's 1.43°C.
Lately, “experts” appear to be talking about warming of 2.0°C over pre-industrial estimates, rather than 1.5°C.
3. The average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during meteorological winter 2024-25 was 426.36ppm, an increase of 3.32ppm over meteorological winter 2023-24, as measured at Mauna Loa. The 12 month running average for March 2024 through Feb, 2025 was 425.12ppm, an increase of 3.43ppm over the 12-month running average for March 2023 through Feb, 2024, but below the record 3.57ppm set in January 2025 for increases in the 12-month running average over two consecutive non-overlapping 12-month periods.
Hmmm, weren't the 2015 Paris Climate Accords supposed to bring down CO2 in the atmosphere? What happened?
4. The El Niño / La Niña (ONI) index fell to −0.6 over the December through February, 3-month period, within the weak La Niña range. La Niña conditions are expected to peter out before qualifying as a full-blown La Niña episode. La Niña conditions may finally be bringing surface temperatures down slightly.
WAR
5. Ecologically, Gaza has been totally obliterated by the Israeli genocidal war machine. Gaza is now a pile of toxic rubble with 80% of its carbon-sequestering trees destroyed.
FIRE
6. The Los Angeles area has been devastated by multiple fires, driven by high winds approaching 100mph, high temperatures, low humidity, lack of rainfall, dry vegetation and insufficient water resources. Early estimates: at least 29 dead, thousands of buildings incinerated, hundreds of thousands of residents forced to evacuate, and an estimated $250 billion in damages. The death toll could end up in the thousands if you count deaths from breathing toxic smoke from burning buildings or drinking contmainated water from melted pipes.
While multi-million-dollar mansions in Pacific Palisades burned to the ground, over 75,000 unhoused called the streets and parks of Los Angeles County home. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.”
7. February wildfires in southern Argentina devastate the Patagonia region.
STORMS AND FLOODING
8. Cyclone Chido caused devastating flooding in the French colony of Mayotte which lies between Madagascar and the African mainland. Like most European colonies, Mayotte's well-being has long been ignored by the colonizing entity.
9. Floods in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, have killed at least 13 and affected thousands.
10. In January 2025, an intensification of the polar vortex caused unprecedented snow and cold on the northern coast of the GULF OF MEXICO. Pensacola received 8.9 inches of snow trouncing the record of 3 inches set in 1895. Temperatures dropped to 2°F at New Iberia, LA, beating the previous record of 17°F set in 2018.
11. The weather disturbance that struck the northern coast of the GULF OF MEXICO in January, crossed the Atlantic and hit Ireland, Scotland and Norway as Storm Éowyn with a low pressure of 939 mbar and 135 mph winds. Storm Eowyn caused two fatalities and left over one million without power. Eowyn was Europe's fifth most intense windstorm on record.
12. Mid-February floods kill at least 15 in Kentucky.
13. Floods in Peru from heavy rains have killed 46 and injured thousands.
MELTING ICE
14. Mid-February 2025 saw the lowest combined Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice extent on record, at 15.76 million km2
15. The world's glaciers lost an estimates 273 billion tonnes of ice annually during the 21st Century. The rate of loss is increasing. The world's glaciers have lost an estimated 5% of their mass.
HEAT
16. The southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, which experienced intense flooding last May, is now in the midst of a heat wave that has forced schools to close. The city of Quaraí experienced wet-bulb temperatures of 50°C.
ENERGY GENERATION
17. Renewable energy is under attack in the United States as the Trump administration appears to be ending government subsidies for renewable energy and prioritizing fossil-fuel development.
18. In spite of China's unprecedented roll-out of renewable energy in 2024, China has also increased its reliance on coal, as construction of coal-fired electricity generation reached a ten-year high in 2024. Perhaps we need to focus on reducing our overall need for energy as well as providing energy from nonpolluting renewable sources.
19. According to a recent study by Howarth, Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is 33% more damaging to the environment than coal when considering transportation and production as well as electricity generation. Nevertheless, the US and allies blew up the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022 to facilitate the sale of US produced LNG to Europe. Now, the Trump administration threatens other countries with tariffs if they don't buy US produced LNG.
GEOENGINEERING
20. Yet another attempt to geoengineer planet Earth has ended in failure. The Arctic Ice Project which sought to place toxic reflective material over ice covered lakes in Alaska has been discontinued. Panganga Pungowiyi of the Indigenous Environmental Network remarked, “Nature is not a laboratory; it is a living entity we are in relationship with.”
CARBON SOURCES
21. While methane leaks from the arctic seabed are well-known, for the first time, massive methane leaks from the antarctic seabed have also been discovered.
22. The world's peatlands contain more carbon than the world's forests; yet, peatlands are largely unprotected and their destruction adds massive amounts of carbon to our overburdened atmosphere.
OIL SPILLS
23. Peru declared a 90-day environmental emergency due to an oil spill on its northern coast, which occurred while attempting to load a tanker.
EARTHQUAKES
24. The Chinese province of Tibet was shaken by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, killing at least 95. To what extent melting glaciers have destabilized the fault line and contributed to the earthquake is uncertain.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
25. Global sales of electric vehicles increased by 18% in January reaching 1.3 million.
PARIS CLIMATE ACCORDS
26. The Paris Climate Accords appear to be dead. The United States has withdrawn for a second time. 95% of countries have missed the deadline for submitting 2035 climate pledges.
Some Meteorological Autumn 2024 Highlights
(September through November 2024)
BY THE NUMBERS
1. The months September through November 2024 were somewhat less anomalously warm than the corresponding three months in 2023 but far warmer than all other months of the same name. Surface temperatures are still extremely high with October and November temperatures more than 1.5°C above the 1850-1900 average.
2. The last ten 12-month periods ending in November (2015-2024) were the ten warmest on record.
3. The average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during meteorological autumn 2024 was 422.75 ppm as measured at Mauna Loa, an increase of 3.49 ppm over meteorological autumn 2023.
4. The El Niño / La Niña (ONI) index over meteorological autumn was −0.2 well within the neutral range. So far the predicted La Niña episode that was supposed to cool surface temperatures off has not materialized.
STORMS AND FLOODING
5. A rare category 5 equivalent Typhoon Yagi struck the Philippines, South China and Vietnam in early September killing at least 800 (mostly in Vietnam) and doing over $12 billion in damages (mostly in China). Yagi, which means goat in Japanese, is one of only four category V equivalent typhoons ever recorded in the South China Sea.
6. Hurricane Helene came ashore as a category IV hurricane in Florida's big bend area. It moved north and wreaked havoc, flooding a totally unprepared North Carolina, killing over 200 people and doing over $100 billion of damages. Floods from Helene stirred up toxins which will continue to damage both people and the environment for many years to come.
7. Hurricane Milton, which closely followed Helene, reached category V intensity. Weakening to category III by time of landfall, south of Tampa, Milton cut a swath of destruction across central Florida killing 35 and causing an estimated $85 billion in damages.
8. After killing 125 in the Philippines,
Storm Trami dropped almost a foot of water on China's Hainan Island in 24 hours flooding much of the Island, before going on to make landfall in Vietnam.
9. Sea levels in China's Bohai Sea inexplicable rose over 5 feet in hours flooding the streets of Tianjin. Scientists are trying to figure out why.
10. Meanwhile in Eastern Europe, heavy rains from Storm Boris flooded Poland, the Czech Republic and much of east and central Europe, killing at least 26. Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, blamed the flooding on beavers. (Actually by damming streams and rivers, beavers help retain water, sequestering carbon, slowing down river flows and adding resilience to wetland systems.)
11. Catastrophic flooding in and around Valencia has killed over 150 in one of Spain's worst disasters on record.
12. Tropical storm Sara causes over 10 fatalities in Central America and the Caribbean while displacing thousands.
13. After the ongoing Israeli genocide had destroyed most infrastructure in Gaza, Gazans, living in tents, have to cope with flooding made worse by climate change caused mostly by wealthy countries.
14. Catastrophic rainfall and flooding persisted through the Fall in much of Africa. Africa has suffered thousands of fatalities in 2024 from extreme weather which has impacted millions. A dam in Northern Nigeria collapsed, flooding the town of Maiduguri and washing crocodiles and snakes from a local zoo into flooded communities. 2024 was less an aberration in Africa and more a continuation of a pattern of increased rainfall over the past 5 years.
DROUGHT
15. October 2024 tied for the second driest month on record in the lower 48 US states, logging an average 0.95 inches of rain. New York and Philadelphia experienced their driest month ever.
DISEASE
16. A study of valley fever in California showed that cases tended to spike as heavy rains came after prolonged drought. Cases of valley fever which can cause respiratory illness and joint pain and, in some cases spread throughout the body and be fatal, have increased. With changes to the climate and frequent prolonged droughts, valley fever has extended its range. While drought appears to decrease valley fever cases in the short term, the net effect seems to be an increase over time.
17. In locations, where white-nose syndrome has devastated the bat population, infant mortality has risen. The connection is complex. Fungal disease killed bats, bats stopped eating enough insects, farmers applied more pesticide, more babies died. Biodiversity is important to human health.
CAPITALISM
18. Global Witness has released a study showing that at least 196 defenders of the Earth were murdered in 2023. Colombia leads the pack with 79 murders. At least 25 environmental defenders were murdered in 2023 after opposing mining operations.
19. This year's COP29 was yet another failure, variously described as a dumpster fire with planet Earth burning and a soulless triumph for the rich. COP29 was likely attended by more lobbyists than people. Poor countries reeling from climate change were offered a paltry $300 billion, mostly in loans from rich countries. This is disgusting. Poor countries must take out loans in order to try to adapt to climate change from the same wealthy countries that are responsible for climate change in the first place.
20. Two heavily-loaded Russian oil tankers sank in violent seas in the Kirch Straight between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, likely causing severe environmental damage. This might have been avoided if Russia had not been so busy fighting a war in The Ukraine.
WILDFIRES
21. September wildfires in Bolivia burned almost 25 million acres releasing more than 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and degrading air quality over much of central South America.
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