Alps glaciers melting fast, glaciologist describes disappearing European mountain ice in this transcribed clip plus a screen shot at Heating Planet blog- 2026 record ice loss year

"James Bond drives by and there's this huge cascade of ice behind him. Well, that's no longer there. Glacier recession is one of the most visual aspects of climate change. We're on track possibly for a record ice loss year in the European Alps. And just to put that in perspective, they're talking about 6% of all the ice that's left in glaciers in the Alps being lost just this summer alone." WATCH & READ clip from The Nepal Disaster: How Climate Change is Reshaping the World Sep 4, 2026 video

Clip about European glaciers starts here 

Transcribed:

6.10 

There's a really consistent story of ice shrinkage across all of the Himalaya in much the same way as we see ice shrinking in the Andes and in the European Alps and in other glaciarized mountain ranges across the world. 

And you must have seen this over the course of just your career, right? Have you noticed it almost in real time? 

Yeah, so we have been doing repeat surveys on some particular glaciers. for example, some of the glaciers in Austria and you can go and see you can walk up to the glacier terminus and when you repeat that visit year on year, every year you have to walk an extra hundred meters because the glacier has shrunk it's really really telling you're like well I had lunch here right on the snout of the glacier last year and now the glacier is all the way over there and you're seeing this happen year on year. 

The thing that we're seeing in the European Alps is the glaciers are melting so quickly that the terminuses are becoming very chaotic, very riddled with holes, collapsing all over the place, melting from below as well as on top. We did some seismic surveys on one of these glaciers and it's like Swiss cheese. 

It's the ice is so rotted and degraded. It's certainly something that we see very visually and the glacier recession is probably one of the most visual aspects of climate change. 

Yeah. Another glacier that's particularly in a glacier that I've visited many times is Mer Glass in Shaman. I visited it for the first time with my parents when I was 3 years old. Mer de Glas. That's the sea of ice, right? That's the famous sea of ice. Yeah. Yes. 

Yeah and it has a tourist grotto where you can go in and it's like got colored lights and it's very pretty. But as you go when you go there, as you walk down from the restaurant where the glacier used to be, as you walk down, there are years signposts with years on about when the ice was out that year. And you kind of you say, "Okay, well, I was here at this in 1986 when I was three. And the glacier is, you know, it's miles below me now." 

And then we visited it several times over the last few years, and each time you have to go down an extra staircase because the glacier has shrunk. 

 Well, didn't didn't your parents say don't be a glaciologist? There's no there's no life in this, right? 

They're going to run out. It is a concern, but fortunately, there's lots of ice in Antarctica, so I hope we should be I I'll be all right in my career. [laughter]

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Alps glaciers melting so quickly that the terminuses are becoming very chaotic, very riddled with holes, collapsing

********

Alec, you're just back from the Swiss Alps, seeing glaciers there with glaciologists. What What was the mood like? What did they have to say? 

Yeah, it's not a happy mood as you mentioned, we're on track possibly for a record ice loss year in the European Alps. And just to put that in perspective, they're talking about 6% of all the ice that's left in glaciers in the Alps being lost just this summer alone. So, I mean, it's just a massive amount and I went to the Ran Glacier with some scientists from ETH Zurich, and that glacier has lost 30 million tons of ice just this summer alone, which is enough to fill 12,000 Olympic swimming pools. 

So, I mean, just the amount of melt this summer is staggering. And you can really see it, you know, just as we approached this glacier. We went by the Belvadier Hotel which was built as a place where people could sit and drink a cocktail and look over the glacier in this valley. Well, the glaciers retreated 2 km. It's no longer visible from that hotel. 

It actually makes an appearance in the James Bond film Goldfinger. James Bond drives by and there's this huge cascade of ice behind him. Well, that's no longer there. It's retreated all the way into the valley and the hotel has been abandoned because there's no reason for it to exist anymore. We got a little bit closer- you Bethan mentioned the ice grotto at meloss. 

There's a similar ice grotto at the ran glacier- they have taken to covering up the ice grotto in geotexiles. These reflective white plasticky coverings to reflect more sunlight and try to save the ice. So that those geotexiles over that ice cave that now there's a giant lake of meltwater between that and the glacier. The ice cave has been left behind by the glacier which has continued to retreat back. 

And the ice cave is, you know, there's about a meter of ice left on the ceiling of it. Pretty soon it's just going to be an ice hole. And then we made it to the glacier itself. We put on our krampons, started climbing up the glacier. 

The first thing we saw was this gigantic hole in the middle of the glacier and the scientists were saying, "Yeah, that this hole has collapsed just this year where it's, you know, there's all these crevases around in this giant hole and at the bottom of it is just a channel kind of a river of meltwater and that's melt water that's coming down through the glacier through these Mulans and then coming under the glacier and just just pouring out of it. 

Then we go up a little bit further and the scientists were checking the melt stakes, which are these just big kind of aluminum pipes, tubes that they drill into the glacier to measure, you know, how far down the the ice is melting. The the melt stakes were sticking out at weird angles because they're falling out of the glacier because the glacier has melted so fast this year that the scientists, you know, despite having decades of experience drilling these melt stakes, they didn't drill them in deep enough. They said, "Yeah, we were this caught us by surprise, the extreme melt this summer. You know, we didn't expect this much melt. We didn't drill in the melt stakes deep enough." So it's just, you know, really shocking when you see it with your own eyes. And then meanwhile, we were hearing these thumps from deep within the glacier, probably creasses opening within the ice. As the ice melts, it gets more unstable. it fractures more which tends to which can lead to these glacier collapses. 

I mean we're talking about the one in the Himalayas but one happened last year in the Alps where an entire village was destroyed by a glacier collapse which was similarly kind of a many factors played a role. Permafrost thaw led to a rock avalanche rockfall which then led to the fracturing of the glacier which led to the ice avalanche which led to flooding which destroyed the town. But tragically, one person died in that incident, but not 1,200. 

And that really goes to show the importance of early warning systems because the difference was in the in the Swiss Alps, they got an early warning and they evacuated the village before the collapse happened, which unfortunately didn't happen in the Himalayas. And anyway, the last thing I'll say is that yeah, I mean, just as as we're standing on the glacier throughout the day, you know- 

in the morning there wasn't that much water on top of the glacier, but by the afternoon there were just dozens and dozens of these streams of water pouring down the glacier. All this melt water coming off it as the day heated up and all and all sorts of rockfalls coming down the valley sides. you know, every couple of minutes there'd be a couple cracks like gunfire and and you turn and these rocks will be falling down this the sides of the valley as the as the permafrost and more likely with that it's probably ice remnants or these little bits of ice that have been you know cut off from the glacier and as those melt they they drop rocks on the sides of the glacier. So it was super dynamic, super scary and and just shocking to see it up Close. 

13.50 

END OF CLIP TRANSCRIPT  

From The World The Universe And Us and New Scientist channels on YouTube rom United Kingdom since Feb 13, 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LK9budwbAw 

James Bond drives by and there's this huge cascade of ice behind him. Well, that's no longer there. they have taken to covering up the ice grotto in geotextiles. These reflective white plasticky coverings to reflect more sunlight and try to save the ice.

***

Blogger: SMH: Screen-grab:

RELATED:

onday, December 1, 2025

Alps collapsing as glaciers & permafrost melt- ice and rock landslides leave abandoned villages- Earthly 11-min Nov 30 report w transcript, Heating Planet blog

The Alps are beginning to fracture. Entire villages have been abandoned in recent years, as the ground beneath them slid away at terrifying speeds. Chunks of mountain have broken loose, tumbling into valleys and burying homes. Glaciers have collapsed without warning, sending torrents of ice and rock crashing. Scientists warn that the Alps are warming at twice the global average, melting the permafrost “glue” that binds the mountains together. READ & WATCH: The Alps Mountains Are COLLAPSING: Mega Landslides Are Imminent! Earthly Nov 30 report- transcript follows[Earthly channel dives into topics of scientific discoveries, conspiracy theories, and terrifying climate events, from United States since Oct 2022]

LIKE I'VE SAID

DIY Hospice on a Heating Planet blog posts transcripts because videos can be taken down, but the digital printed word lasts forever

Texas: Fire & flood at same time last week- Severe Weather USA channel 3.5 min clip from Sep 4, w/ transcript, at Heating Planet blog

One of the most significant wildfire stories of the entire 2026 season is in Texas. The state is fighting two climate disasters at the same time, and they are completely opposite in nature. While the Ross fire burns west of Fort Worth, the remnants of tropical storm Edward are producing major flooding east of Dallas simultaneously. Texas Emergency Management was coordinating a wildfire response in the west and flood rescues in the east on the same day- Video: U.S. Wildfire Crisis: 52,939 Fires, 8.2 Million Acres Burned & New Threats Sep 4, 2026

Severe Weather USA channel Sep 4, 2026 

Clip transcript 

begins at 9.00

Now, let's head to Texas where we have one of the most significant wildfire stories of the entire 2026 season. The Ross fire in Palopinto and Jack counties has burned 90,400 acres, making it the second largest wildfire in North Texas recorded history. According to the National Weather Service Fort Worth office, Dallas Fort Worth had gone 46 consecutive days without measurable rainfall before this fire started. That is among the top 10 longest dry streaks in DFW recorded history, going back to 1,899 and August 2026 recorded only a trace of rainfall at the airport. 

The fire started August 24th. Within the first 24 hours, 15,000 acres. By August 25th, 50,000 acres. By August 26th, over 80,000 in two days. That is how dry the fuel was out there. As of yesterday, 157 structures destroyed, 140 damaged, 453 saved by firefighters. 

Worth Ranch, a Boy Scout camp operated by Longhorn Council of Scouting America in Palo Pinto, sustained significant structural damage, though no one was on site at the time. Schools in Jboro, Parin, Bryson, and Grayford all had delayed openings or cancelled classes during the fire's most active days. Investigators have determined this fire was human-caused, originating from equipment or vehicle use near a roadside. Two firefighters sustained minor injuries. Containment sits at 38% as of this morning. The fire is not done. 

Now, here is where the Texas story gets genuinely unusual. The state is fighting two disasters at the same time, and they are completely opposite in nature. While the Ross fire burns west of Fort Worth, the remnants of tropical storm Edward are producing major flooding east of Dallas simultaneously. Edward made landfall Tuesday Sep 1 with 60 mph winds and has dropped near 2 feet of rain in some areas northeast of Houston per NWS reports. In Harden County alone, emergency personnel conducted 12 water rescues from flooded roadways. 

Texas Emergency Management was simultaneously coordinating a wildfire response in the west and flood rescues in the east on the same day. 

Here is the problem for the fire. Edward's heaviest rain is east of Dallas. The Ross fire is west of Fort Worth. The moisture is largely missing the fire zone. 

Some increased humidity and cloud cover will help slow things a little this week, but the real rain is falling in the wrong place. And the forecast is not encouraging. Dry conditions and temperatures returning to the upper 90s are expected to rebuild by Labor Day weekend. 

And the short-term NWS outlook shows dry conditions and temperatures returning to the mid to upper 90s by Labor Day weekend as high pressure rebuilds. If you live in the Dallas Fort Worth area, Palopinto County, or Jack County, active fire weather conditions are expected to return this weekend. 

Oklahoma has five active large fires right now with elevated fire weather across the southern plains today. Temperatures near 100°. Breezy conditions across Oklahoma and Kansas. Fuels remain dry across much of that region. Humidity is recovering somewhat compared to recent days, but still within the range where wind driven fire spread is a concern. That is better than the past several days, but still within the range where wind driven fire spread is possible per the Storm Prediction Center

12.30

End of clip transcript

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9WS-uAjM8Y

*****

Hmm

Monday, September 7, 2026

Indonesia: Wild fires & volcano at same time one week- 3 videos at Heating Planet blog today

Apocalyptic Scenes in Indonesia- Wildfire Rips Through Towns, NY Post

AND

Texas fire & flood at same time- Screen grabs tell a story

 10.30 Now, here is where the Texas story gets genuinely unusual. The state is fighting two disasters at the same time, and they are completely opposite in nature. While the Ross fire burns west of Fort Worth, the remnants of tropical storm Edward are producing major flooding east of Dallas simultaneously. https://cityofangels25.blogspot.com/2026/09/texas-fire-flood-same-time-preview-of.html

-ke

DIY Hospice on a Heating Planet blog posts transcripts because videos can be taken down, but the digital printed word lasts forever

Texas fire & flood at same time- Screen grabs tell a story- Preview of post coming tomorrow at DIY Hospice on a Heating Planet blog-

10.30 Now, here is where the Texas story gets genuinely unusual. The state is fighting two disasters at the same time, and they are completely opposite in nature. While the Ross fire burns west of Fort Worth, the remnants of tropical storm Edward are producing major flooding east of Dallas simultaneously.

***keblogger

Indonesia: Wild fires & volcano at same time one week- 3 videos at Heating Planet blog today

Apocalyptic Scenes in Indonesia- Wildfire Rips Through Towns, NY PostThousands of locals were left homeless as a rapidly spreading wildfire tore through hundreds of wooden coastal homes in Indonesia. The blaze erupted around 2:40 pm local time on Monday, sweeping through a settlement of 495 households across two neighborhoods in Jayapura City, Papua. Sep 3 

THEN HOURS LATER

Indonesia volcano eruption leaves 340,000 stranded as airports extend closure https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czezydp4l97o  

Stefan Burns Channel- Starting on September 4th 2026 a major volcanic eruption hit Anak Krakatau (Krakatoa) Volcano in Indonesia, sending an ash plume at least 15 km (50,000 ft) above sea level into the stratosphere. If this volcanic eruption scales up to be even bigger, Indonesia and even the world could be in some big trouble. Geophysicist Stefan Burns reports...

***

More on fire BELOW Indonesia Wildfire Horror: Raging Flames Close In On Homes | Residents 'Run For Life' Through SmokeMassive wildfires rage across Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, as towering flames and thick smoke close in on residential areas. Frightened residents are forced to flee through dangerous, smoke-filled streets as the wildfire threat intensifies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gVyWezcf7Y Sep 1, 2026

Hot ocean waters bring octopuses to England’s coast per Yale Environment 360 3 Sep 2026

A Surge of Marine Heat Waves Threatens to Scramble Ocean Life 

Fueled by climate change and a strengthening El Niño, record-setting marine heat waves are gripping oceans worldwide and playing havoc with sea life. Mounting evidence from recent events suggests the damage could be severe and long-lasting, both onshore and off. 

By Jim Robbins • September 3, 2026

The common octopus is a warm water species that usually lives in the temperate waters of the Mediterranean. But last year, octopus larvae hitchhiked across the English Channel attached to plankton, resulting in an octopus bloom off England’s coast. This year, the bloom is the largest it’s been in 75 years. Normally, octopus larvae that drift into cold waters die. But this year’s bloom, experts say, is the result of an unusually intense marine heat wave off of Devon and Cornwall, which raised water temperatures up to 9 degrees F above normal. The change in species has been https://e360.yale.edu/features/marine-heat-waves 

Published at the Yale School of the Environment

Charts found on Twitter

keblogger

Kay Ebeling in Tahoe

@rogueagent48.bsky.social

Trump is baiting every country in the world to hate us as if he's on a playground saying nyah nyah nyah nyah come and get us

7:58 AM · Sep 7, 2026

Sorry State 3 min film of Swiss glaciers melting by Alpine Wonders channel Sep 6 Watch at Heating Planet blog for an impactful visual experience

The glaciers of Switzerland have never looked in as sorry a state as they do now  'I have made a video on this theme before (called "Retreat")' The process grinds on relentlessly, inexorably. Sorry state Sep 6, 2026 Alpine Wonders channel Locations in Sorry State video (all in Switzerland) (late summer 2026)

0.09, 1.47 and 2.41 – Morteratschgletscher, Engadin 0.34 - Turbhorn from Rifugio Claudio e Bruno, above Nufenen Pass 0.39 and 0.45 - Galenstock from Auf den Stocken, Urner Alps 0.50 - Blinnenhorn and Griesgletscher from Griessee, above Nufenen Pass 0.55 - Battelmatthorn and Scaglia di Corno, above Nufenen Pass 1.00 - Stahlgrat and Turbhorn from summit of Blinnenhorn 1.05 - Stahlgrat from Rifugio Claudio e Bruno, above Nufenen Pass 1.10 - Rhonegletscher from above Furka Pass 1.16 - glacier east side of Susten Pass 1.21 - Blinnenhorn above Griessee from Val Corno, above Nufenen Pass 1.27 - Griesgletscher from summit of Blinnenhorn 1.32 - Corno Rosso and Griesgletscher from summit of Blinnenhorn 1.37 and 1.43 - West bank of Rhonegletscher 2.07 – Oberaargletscher, Bernese Alps 2.20 – Unteraargletscher, Bernese Alps 2.32 – outflow immediately below Rhonegletscher 2.50 – former glacial remains near overnight camping spot, Susten Pass

Sorry state

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIjCq-rznpo

keblogger

Fugelsang: US Defense "not a chain of command. It's a chain of sycophancy. Eisenhower would hang himself over this" Watch w transcript at DIY Hospice on a Heating Planet blog

Right-wing influencers get Pentagon checks to say what an awesome job Hegseth is doing; it's the who's who of sufficiently loyal, US Defense Dept now the world's most expensive employee retention program. You fire everybody who knows what they're doing. Trump's grotesque kids are raking in billions as private contractors through Pentagon contract. They know Iran is a quagmire and that they're not going to get a straight answer out of anybody  It's not a chain of command. It's a chain of sycophancy"[I'm still on assignment for the Eternal Journalist corps*, and I keep getting nudges to post about the strange self destructive political backwardness going on along with the climate crisis on planet Earth. They want me to report when I find people in charge twisting the truth to cause the crisis to be worse; and so, since the nudges won't let me ignore them, I track down such reports and fiddle with the transcript to make it readable and post it here.]

CLIP TRANSCRIPT

26:04

This week alone, Dr. Gill has been so astonishingly inept. So many rakes stepped on. I'm I would be shocked if there aren't some in the White House urgently saying we should fire Hegseth before the midterms because that'll give Trump a a boost in the polls. Like that's how badly they're going to need to blame him for everything Trump's done. 

All right, so let's go over the week with Hegseth. What do we got? 

We got Well, first of all, you mentioned the USS Abraham coming back. Well, they're in Thailand right now. Yes. Very happy for them. that's great. Thanks to all of the parents who bravely posted photos of the fit for consumption beef that people were eating on the boat. Again, they're going to try and make this an issue about, well, the leaker is the problem, right? They're going to punish the person who told the truth. 

This has always been the pattern. You reward obedience and you punish those who are independent and you smear those who speak the truth. I mean, Washington Post just counted more than two dozen senior military leaders who've left under this guy's tenure. You know, Dan Driscoll, the army secretary. I mean, there has been months of clashes. And he's not some random Pentagon intern. He's the army secretary. And apparently, he went to Trump and said, "This is all about AXF." And Trump had no idea. This is after the ouster of Army Chief of Staff Randy George. And now we just found out another half-dozen generals were denied a promotion to twostar. Two of them were black, two of them were female. Yet again, blocking the promotion of these people. He's created the world. That's why Driscoll's pieced out. Yeah. Well, that No, I think 

I think Driscoll's pieced out because he thinks there's going to be a ground war in Iran if you really want to know. I think Driscoll's pieced out because he knows that Iran is a quagmire and that he's not going to get a straight answer out of anybody. So, this is what they do, right? 

This is the world's most expensive employee retention program. You fire everybody who knows what they're doing. It's not a chain of command. It's a chain of sycophancy. Oh, yeah. All for the most expensive culture war in America. 

Because remember this guy time and again, it's only been about the ideological fights. It's not about making America safe. It's been about the DEI, the gender, the pronouns, the purges, the who's who of sufficiently loyal, who's not woke, here's my creepy pastor speaking in front of you. And it's like it's like then there's this war and we knew there were risks. We knew there'd be retaliation. We knew there'd be attacks on US ships.

But now our missile supplies are depleted. We knew this was going to have enormous demands on the navy and air defenses and Hegseth was the one cheering this on. Tulsi Gabbard advised against this and she's out of a job now. 

But after all of Hegith's cheerleading, 7 months in, Dr. Gil, what 120 little girls killed in the double tap strike on the school, 18 service members killed, they've lied about that number. We don't have an accurate number of how many have been injured by this. Gas prices record highs. 

And Trump's grotesque kids are raking in billions as private contractors through Pentagon contracts and no objective has been achieved. 

So now in the middle of all of this, the Navy, the Navy Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Codle, he's just come out and said that the Navy can't sustain the current level of support for the Iran operation. Barely one quarter of our destroyers are apparently ready to deploy according to the Washington Post. And then there's the missile defense. And they were pillaging Navy payroll to help pay for it. And this is all just since Monday, right? This is all this week. And there was more too. 

All of his, you know, heads of the three main branches and all of his generals entered a non-concur on continuing the war, right? Because Peg Seth [Hegseth] is in charge. He tells them what to do and if it's not an illegal order, they go forth and do it. 

But in some very very rare instances when they say we are really really against this, they'll enter what's called a non-concur. It's like when you sign a check yeah paid under duress or whatever. That's right. That's what they said. That's hugely embarrassing for a secretary of defense. Not for this particular secretary of defense, not for major in normal times. Yeah. You know he doesn't care. And no. And so that was probably one of the more low-key stories this week, but probably the most embarrassing for us as a military power. Can I can I give you a couple more because I'm not done. Like I had to make a whole list, Dr. Gill. I mean I mean 

[He Leaves Best For Last]

let's talk about the online influencers that he's hired to do pro Pete Hegseth propaganda on the Pentagon dime on social media. Like Kurt Schlickter who is one of the more loathsome brown shirt trolls on social media. like they just realized, oh my god, let's get some guy with a ring light to go out there and make the case for us propaganda wise. So, you've had these right-wing influencers on social media who, unbeknownst to the rest of us, have been taking a check as a Pentagon job to go out there and say what an awesome job Hegseth is doing, and we're paying for all of it. Like these guys got Pentagon jobs and paychecks to go online and sell Hegseth to vets over the pleas of actual military leadership. I mean Eisenhower would hang himself over this.

John fugelsang September 4th on Beanstalk  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFHgvG-XQwY&t=1831s 

* Eternal J saga

Monday, August 3, 2026

Sci-fi: Eternal journalist on Earth assignment since 1955- NEW at Heating Planet blog

I am an eternal journalist; for thousands of Earth years I've traveled the universe and hovered as an observer where populations are going through crises, and Earth is in trouble.

Friday, August 28, 2026

Fires- Reno mayor to arrest Trump, GOP, and Big Oil Eternal Journalist dispatch at Heating Planet blog- sci-fi sort of

We will hold you accountable, says Mayor Hillary Schieve menacingly. "In the state of Nevada we take it very serious. 90% of fires are human caused." That means to me she is going to go after Big Oil like a Sheriff in the Old West going after crooks. Great, investigate Donald Trump and the

Friday, September 4, 2026

Is doing time on Earth a punishment? Eternal Journalist musing

Is doing time on Earth a punishment? Eternal Journalist musing- Worms and every kind of organism everywhere all the way up to humans, who all exude this odious effluvium from all different parts of their bodies. I mean, the place is full of germs gross. https://cityofangels25.blogspot.com/2026/09/doing-time-earth-eternal.html

*****

[DIY Hospice on a Heating Planet blog posts transcripts because videos can disappear, but the digital printed word lasts forever.]

-ke

Calling the global warming climate catastrophe a hoax was the biggest hoax in world history

Is doing time on Earth a punishment? Eternal Journalist musing

Universe, by NASA

I really hope next place I go on this Eternal Journalist assignment is cleaner. I mean Earth is beautiful but when you get down to the nitty gritty, it is really gritty. Worms and every kind of organism everywhere all the way up to the humans, who all exude this odious effluvium from all different parts of their bodies. I mean, the place is full of germs, gross. 

I sometimes think we're sent to planet Earth as a kind of punishment. Religion taught us that if you're bad you go to hell; but I think that bad thing is something we did on another planet, and what sent us here. Life on Earth is a punishment that deceives you with this beautiful blue bright globe in the sky. Down here on the ground it's down and dirty. 

Even our bodies here are like punishment. As I mentioned before, the waste we have to deal with; when you get to your '80s it becomes a real issue, believe me. 

And our skin I mean if you touch it too hard or anything sharp or hot or too cold touches it, it hurts like hell. 

Interesting choice of words. 

We are trapped inside part of the punishment.

The whole time you're on this planet you're subject to viruses and diseases that come from the planet itself. 

I really hope next place I go is a little more hospitable.

and accommodating.

I assume the next place I go will be a planet, that's all I can see from here anyway.

********

Monday, August 3, 2026

Sci-fi: Eternal journalist on Earth assignment since 1955- NEW at Heating Planet blog

I am an eternal journalist; for thousands of Earth years I've traveled the universe and hovered as an observer where populations are going through crises, and Earth is in trouble.

Friday, August 28, 2026

Fires- Reno mayor to arrest Trump, GOP, and Big Oil Eternal Journalist dispatch at Heating Planet blog- sci-fi sort of

We will hold you accountable, says Mayor Hillary Schieve menacingly. "In the state of Nevada we take it very serious. 90% of fires are human caused." That means to me she is going to go after Big Oil like a Sheriff in the Old West going after crooks. Great, investigate Donald Trump and the

keblogger

Why I drink Vodka after posting blogs sometimes as Google self destructs

I spent four hours that should have been two on the previous post, first it takes a half hour to remove the time codes for the ridiculous way Google posts them now with the word seconds and minutes spelled out every time code which comes at every 3 to 4 seconds. So I have a formula for using  to remove those. Then I go through the transcript and make it readable like a magazine article. I do this in part because I truly believe in a few years all these videos will be taken down and these transcripts will be almost the only record of what people were doing to try to stop climate disruption. 

My hands are crippled so I need to use voice typing to write. I do so with Google docs, then copy and paste the words into my blog dashboard template, but all of a sudden in the past couple weeks I can't do that anymore. I can only copy and paste into HTML which means everything is just one long paragraph with no breaks, no bolds, no itals, no way to put emphasis on different parts of the story. I find myself hollering at my screen often, why are these Tech Bros billionaires when they just abandoned their products to AI to become crappy and unusable while they're all riding around on their yachts? I figured out how to fix it, from now on I'll just do the words, paste it into html, and then do the cool formatting and readability tricks after I copy it into the template. The point is every day it seems like Google has done something to make producing for it more difficult as if they are just trying to self destruct or at least discourage us and that makes no sense unless it's part of the Trump Revolution that is destroying everything in the United States right now. That could be the case. This is what Google transcripts start out like:

1:05

1 minute, 5 seconds

by the San Francisco Chronicle and not previously reported, ICE declared emergency operations

1:13

1 minute, 13 seconds

sharply limiting off-site medical care and access to medication. That's what's going on there. Hospitals and ambulance

1:20

1 minute, 20 seconds

***

It's as if they don't want you to use Google anymore

UN TRANSCRIPT Sep 3 El Nino off charts literally, to last until 2028 Read & watch at DIY Hospice on a Heating Planet blog

"There is a huge pool of very warm ocean waters that will fuel the intensity of El Nino- stronger than anything since our monitoring began, so literally off the charts. September to November, there is a clear signature of El Nino in the tropical Pacific region; we expect the impacts to stay beyond even 2027 to 2028" Read & watch: l El Nino 2026 and climate update by UN World Meteorological Organization Sep 3 TRANSCRIPT below

TRANSCRIPT

Google destroyed formatting

Only HTML allowed; that's why

this transcript looks so automated

N Good morning everyone. I'm very pleased to welcome you to this press briefing where the World Meteorological Organization will present findings from our latest El Nino update which we issued this morning along with the global seasonal climate update for the next quarter. You should have received these updates and the press release in UN languages. My name is Nandita Surendran and I'm the chief of communications at WMO. I'll be your moderator today. WMO has been issuing the El Nino La Nina updates for nearly 30 years now. This is an authoritative seasonal forecast that brings together the world's leading experts and scientists. In June, you will remember we called for the world to prepare for an El Nino. Today, we will provide the latest information on its forecast evolution and likely impacts.

[This blog posts transcripts because videos can disappear but the digital printed word lasts forever.] 

I'm delighted to welcome our two speakers today who'll take us through where we are and what we can expect to see. Celestee Saulo is the secretary general of WMO and Wilfren Moumoufouma-Okia is the chief of the climate prediction section also at WMO. After our speakers finish, we will of course take your questions. So, Celestee, over to you. C: Thank you very much Nandita and dear members of the media. I am pleased to be with you today for the release of the new World Meteorological Organization El Nino update and thank you very much for your interest. WMO Leninia updates are the world's most authoritative source of information for governments and decision makers. They are based on a consensus models from WMO global producing centers, climate prediction centers and experts from national meteorological and hydraological services around the world. These forecasts show an exceptionally high likelihood of nearly 100% that El Nino will persist through to February 2027. Nearly 100%. This is the first time that we expressed such a degree of certainty. El Nino is firmly established in the tropical Pacific. Sea surface temperatures in the region are already well above average and are continuing to rise. Subsurface ocean temperatures are also exceptionally high and in some areas more than 8° Celsius [46.4 degrees Fahrenheit] above normal during July and early August. This means that there is a huge pool of very warm ocean waters that will fuel the intensity of El Nino. the WMO update shows El Nino has strengthened and will continue as a very strong event, even exceptionally strong. If this trajectory continues, it may be stronger than anything since our monitoring began. So literally off the charts we have used for the past four decades. El Nino will peak towards the end of 2026, but the impacts will be felt long after that, including on global temperatures. The powerful 2023 2024 Elino contributed to 2024 being the warmest year on record. We should not be surprised if this record is broken. WMO will be closely monitoring global temperatures in the months ahead. Why does this matter? El Nino means the [inaudible] high because it was first noticed by Peruvian fishermen around Christmas time. It sounds small and innocent, but this El Nino will deliver a major blow to communities, economies, and supply chains across the globe. So many sectors will be affected. Agriculture, trade, fisheries, health, energy, transport, water resources, disaster management to name but a few. We are already seeing disruption and devastation from droughts and floods and extreme weather. We expect these impacts to multiply and cascade as El Nino intensifies. This exceptional enino demands exceptional preparation and response. Seasonal forecasts such as the mo updates provide a vital window of opportunity. We have no time to lose. What are we doing? 5.00 WMO has launched an unprecedented mobilization with national meteorological and hydrological services who are on the front line of delivering the forecast and services to save lives and livelihoods. We are also working closely with partners across the United Nations and humanitarian system. WMO is part of core UN team with the UN office of disaster risk reduction and the food and agriculture organization working with UN country teams in managing risk associated with the 2026 2027 El Nino episode while identifying opportunities for building resilience. The WMO coordination mechanism is providing tailored expertise to this humanitarian sector. Coordination and commitment are essential. In Africa the African Union has called for a collective response. Preparedness for El Nino will be one of the focuses of the Africa Early Warnings Forum taking place this week in Addis Ababa. For example, the Tanzania Meteorological Agency has a nationwide awareness campaign, bridging agriculture and food security sector, railways and roads, disaster managers, and the general public. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, UN partners are rolling out preparedness plans in countries traditionally hard hit by Elino. Anticipatory action plans include cash assistance, drought and flood resistance seats, livestock protection, and flood protection measures. Panama has declared a national state of emergency to mobilize the spending on preventive and response measures. In parallel, the Panama Canal Authority has implemented water saving operations as part of wider measures to strengthen water sustainability. Peru has declared a state of emergency across 40% of the country for flooding and landslides. In Asia, national meteorological and hydrological services in some countries are advising decision makers about the risk of below normal rains. India convened a high level interministerial review of El Nino preparedness involving agriculture, health, water, power and economic agencies. Singapore is strengthening protection against extreme heat through both worker safety rules and a national heat wave response plan. Nations in the Pacific are geared up for an above average tropical cyclone season. WMO will be showcasing more examples of proactive planning in the coming weeks. I've said this before and I'll tell this again. El Nino does not have to be a recipe for disaster. We have the forecast, the foresight to save lives and protect livelihoods. Today we are issuing a call to action. The science is clear. We have the knowledge and tools to prevent El Nino related hazards becoming a crisis. Let us join together and ensure that we leave nobody behind. Thank you. N- Thank you Celestee. Wilfren over to you. W- Thank you very much. Good morning everyone. Thank you very much Madame Secretary General and Nandita. I would like to build on the statement made by the secretary general of the world mythological organization and try to provide some insight on the report we issued today. The message of the report is clear. So El Nino is firmly established. It has strengthened rapidly over the past month and there is an exceptionally high precedent for this event to persist through the end of the year and into early 2027. There is also another equally important message rom this report is that the high confidence in the El Nino forecast doesn't mean certainty on its impact; the impact depend on many other process and element I will distinguish in a few minutes. but let me start with where we have observed since the onset of the event which occurred around April. So El Nino has strengthened rapidly. If we take one of the key indicator we use to monitor the evolution of El Nino which is the sea surface temperature anomaly in the central and the eastern part of the tropical Pacific- 10.03 -in a region we call the Nino 3.4 region, this region has seen a marked increase of sea surface temperature anomaly and we are talking about a value ranging from plus 1.5° C to two degree two degree Celsius in May July and those values have increased further in August reaching up to two plus 2.6 six degree. But what is striking is that the warming is not confined to the sea surface. There is a large reservoir of heat beneath the surface and in some places we measure value around plus 8 degrees. [1.5 C equals 34.7 F ] : So this is striking. In short what we can say is that the sea surface warming the subsurface ocean heat content and the atmospheric circulation are singing the same song and this gives us confidence to say that El Nino is firmly established and has strengthened rapidly. What comes next? So our forecast indicates a near 100% probability for this event to persist in September, November and remain active up to February 2027. This is an exceptionally strong forecast signal we have never seen before. But let me be clear here. The strong 100% probability simply mean that we have an exceptionally high confidence for this event to persist. It doesn't mean that we have a 100% probability for a flood, a drought or even a heat wave to occur in a given country. If you were to put in term of the magnitude of the event all our models are indicating the same trouble. So there is a broad agreement to say that the El Nino event will be classified as a very strong event meaning it will have a magnitude or above plus 2° C and it will peak as you heard from the secretary general later in the end of the year. However, what is less certain is the magnitude of the peak and the timing. To give you an idea, our forecast indicate on the average a magnitude of plus 3.6. Let's be clear again here. The strength of the Elino peak doesn't imply anything on the severity of the impact which depend on where you are, the time of the year, the way the Elino phenomenon will play out with other climate driver and plus other nonclimatic processes like vulnerability or exposure. Now the next thing we can say before I conclude is that in complement to the update on El Nino WMO to kind of provide a full picture of the climatic driver of the change. We complement the El Nino update with the global seasonal climate update which is essentially a seasonal climate outlook which tries to integrate all the possible climate drivers worldwide. If we look at the message coming for this outlook, if I pick randomly the rainfall, what we can see clearly is that there is for the period September to November, there is a clear signature of El Nino in the tropical Pacific with a regional contrast. the probability favor I will say wetterr than normal condition over the greater horn of Africa over some part of South America and at the same time the probability also favors drier than normal condition over Indian India subcontinent Southeast Asia and the mountain continent Australia northern part of South America Central America and the Caribbean. And in terms of temperature, what we can also say is that the probability favors above an average temperature in most of in a large proportion of land area. 15.00 But in concluding what I would like to stress here is that the value of forecast lies is the lead time to anticipate or to take action. We can certainly not prevent Ell Nino from happening. But with better observation, better forecast, better early warning system and even better climate services, we can equip our governments with the intelligence they need to mitigate the risk of El Nino. Furthermore, our national med services, the regional climate outlook forum, the regional climate center are the authoritative place where we need to turn to to try to translate the global information we provided today into regional and national guidance. Thank you very much. N- Thank you, Wilfrin, we are now open for questions. Bianca, please. Q Okay. Thank you very much. Here, Bianca H from Global TV Brazil. Secretary General, one of the maps showed the contrast in Brazil like the possibility of severe rain in the north and norththeast and also the drought in the north and northeast and extreme rainfall in the south. Do you believe that emerging countries like Brazil are prepared or have we already crossed the line where even scientific warnings and early alerts won't be enough to prevent humanitarian disasters and economic economic disasters and more specific about if you can talk a little bit more specific on Brazil and beyond this humanitarian strategies. What scale of economic impact does the WMO fear for the region for Brazil? Thanks a lot. C Well, thank you for your question and yes indeed, Brazil is one of the specific countries and the signals are clear towards the dry conditions in the northeast and the wetter conditions in the southeast and certainly Brazil is a very well prepared country. they have a strong med service and also strong academic community and I mention both because it's about monitoring it's about forecasting but also about understanding the impacts as as you said Brazil may be exposed in the northern part issues on water hydropower and Brazil is severely well depends a lot on hydropower and in south this flooding possibilities can of course affect food but having this information in advance and I know that Brazil uses it- carefully; helps the country to prepare much better and I think that Brazil is putting in place several measures as other countries in the region. Usually when we speak from the UN perspective we tend to concentrate more on the more vulnerable countries in the world, least developed world, small island developing states. That does not mean that we don't care about the the developing world but certainly the elements are in place for Brazil to take early action and I'm sure that that is being the case as it is in many other countries in South America. N Yeah, if you could just explain like for ordinary people what impacts we could feel there for example with the crops with the energy or yeah if you can just give some examples of impact. C Well, as my colleague Wilfran already expressed, we cannot be certain about what impact when and where exactly. But when you see a picture like the one we are sharing with a below normal precipitation in northeast Brazil, you expect of course impacts in agriculture. And how do you prepare? Well, you make different decisions in terms of what seeds you will plant. You will plant seeds that are capable of supporting less rain. and and these are the type of decisions you take ahead and and when you have hydropower and depend on hydropower you will use your reservoirs to manage your availability of energy. 20.00 So this is the type of h impacts and decision making associated with having this information in advance. Thank you. Over to you. Q Thank you Robin Millard from AFP. You say this could be the strongest El Nino since the records began. What is it that you are seeing in the data that gives you the certainty to be able to make that prediction and secondly if we know that El Nino is going to persist into February 2027 can you speak a bit more about what will happen after February 2027 what what are the impacts of El Nino for the rest of the year? W Thank you very much for your question. If I take the first part, which is what gives us the confidence that this El Nino very strong El Nino will stand in the high end of the historical record. There is a slide basically if we looked through the observation from what we had in terms of the magnitude of strong and very strong El Nino event and if we overlay the forecast, we can only speak about for forecast now, we see that the forecast stands out in that picture but of course it will depend on the peak. I think when we will reach the peak, we will measure the value and we can confirm or disregard the the forecast. That's the first part. The second question you asked was regarding what happens after February. Essentially what the report we provided today is the outcome of an exercise of seasonal forecasting. By seasonal meaning we forecast for the next season up to four months. So what will happen from every month we will update our forecast to extend the lead. I suspect when we reach February we will have forecast for the upcoming season and they will provide some information of where we are moving to. Thank you. Q But we can we can expect the knock-down effects of El Nino to have an impact on the temperature in 2027 for example. C Yes. If I can complement that. Yes. Because that is a very coherent signal and that's something that we also experienced in 2024 as I mentioned at the beginning. So with a strong El Nino we know that we will have temperatures above normal almost everywhere. So as a result we expect that the the world mean temperature will be higher than in previous years. That is what we expect globally on average. But to also to speak about the impacts beyond February 2027, we have a a nice report that we have prepared together with other UN agencies showcasing for example this is just an example but if in South Africa you expect less rain than normal, that will immediately affect the agricultural sector but then a couple of months later you will also be affecting the hydro power and the energy generation and the water availability; and as a result you may also be feel the compromising to your next season and and that is how we expect the the El Nino impacts to to stay beyond even 2027 to 2028 and that will depend on how each country can adapt their decision making not to be so exposed to this water shortage in the case of South Africa and and I think that these are the type of examples we should follow closely. N Thank you. Okay, one final question from the room and then we have a couple of questions from online. Okay. Q Mr. Muama, you said that a 100% of a strong nino doesn't mean 100% of disasters or 100% of droughts or or catastrophic rainfalls. But normal people could make a correlation between a strong very strong El Nino 25.00 And what they have lived in past El Ninos I mean floods and all type of disasters. So how could you explain better that to the people that and the fact that the people has not to be flooded by fear of what is coming. And secondly I would also like to ask about the heat wave that we have lived in Europe this year. Is this heat any correlation with El Nino? And if the temperatures will be for sure globally will increase next year, could we expect another heat wave in Europe? Thank you. W Thank you very Thank you very much for your question. I'll start with your third question regarding the distinction between El Nino and the impact. Put it simply El Nino changes the odds the probability of climate condition. It is not a forecast of storm or a forecast of heat wave. Right? So it changes that's the global picture. Now I think it's interesting to try to explain to the general public that for us to have a a detailed picture of the impact of El Nino we need to collaborate broadly we bring the national med services we bring the sector concern to try to refine the information so we are providing the global guidance, but the details will come from the ground from the country that's part of the question and you also mentioned the question regarding the heat wave, of course the heat wave in Europe is not related to to to to Elino. we had a dome located somewhere in Europe but what we can just draw a parallel. What we are expecting is that over the coming months, temperatures will raise above the average almost everywhere we can imagine, and if it wil occur again, we will be in a very difficult situation; but the link is not firmly established. Okay. End of transcription for this blog post *** From Associated Press Politics News

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[To me, this press event was not as provocative as it should have been. But all day long today there have been news reports on the sites I watch about this UN announcement that the El Nino is going to be more intense and longer this season because the planet and oceans are already over heated. Wilhelm seems to be trying to keep people from getting excited. Still, this press event seems to have kicked off a lot of news response all over the globe; finally, and I'm glad to see it. ]