Bomb Cyclone Slams Washington

Current conditions: The northern Plains states could experience blizzard conditions this evening • A brush fire disrupted traffic in Upper Manhattan yesterday • It is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit and very windy in the Italian village of Ollolai, which is offering cheap houses to Americans who are unhappy with the results of the 2024 presidential election.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Bomb cyclone and atmospheric river slam Northwest

About 600,000 customers are without power in Washington state this morning after an atmospheric river and a rapidly intensifying bomb cyclone converged over the Northwest. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the bomb cyclone’s central pressure was “approaching the record for the lowest central pressure ever recorded in the northeast Pacific Ocean.” (Generally, storms with lower barometric pressure are stronger.) Wind gusts reached nearly 80 mph in some parts of Washington, and even higher in Canada. The storm downed trees and left at least one person dead. Its next targets are Oregon and Northern California, which will begin to experience heavy rain and strong winds today.

2. COP29 climate finance negotiations drag on

Negotiations from COP29 remain painfully slow with just two full days left of the conference, and frustrations are mounting. “All the difficult issues – how much climate finance, who pays it and who can receive it, as well as mitigation and adaptation – remain unresolved,” Stephen Cornelius, WWF’s deputy global climate and energy lead, told Climate Home News. “These issues need political guidance as well as more technical work.” New draft texts on key issues including climate finance are expected at midnight Baku time this evening, and they are supposed to be more concise than previous versions, which had ballooned in length due to numerous options and sub-options. Negotiations are likely to go late into the night. Meanwhile, one early suggestion that the annual international government finance provision finance figure fall between $200 billion and $300 billion has been rejected by a group of large developing countries.

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3. Some countries pledge no new unabated coal

One piece of good news from the COP29 summit is that a group of 25 countries and the European Union say they will publish new climate plans that include a pledge not to add any new unabated coal power, and push other nations to do the same. The plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), outline each country’s path to curbing its greenhouse gas emissions. New versions are due by February. The signatories on this effort include the U.K., Germany, and Canada, but not big emitters like China, India, or the U.S.

4. UN: 8 times as many children will be at risk of extreme heat waves by 2050s

Eight times as many children around the world will be exposed to extreme heat waves by the 2050s (compared to the 2000s) if current trends in greenhouse gas emissions, climate mitigation and adaptation, and economic growth continue, according to Unicef’s State of the World’s Children 2024 report. The greatest increase in extreme heat risk will be in East Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and West and Central Africa. “The consequences for children’s health and well-being and for the stability and resilience of their communities are profound,” the report said. “More children will be at risk of chronic respiratory problems like asthma and cardiovascular diseases. And they will be living in places at greater risk of exposure to droughts, cyclones and floods, where a lack of safe water and food could become the new normal.”

Unicef

5. Researchers think nutrients could boost coral’s climate resilience

Coral that grows on tiles that have been infused with nutrients may be more resistant to extreme climate events, according to researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The theory was that tiles containing nutrients like manganese, zinc, and iron would help boost the corals’ immune systems, giving them a better chance of surviving heat waves and hurricanes. And indeed, “preliminary data collected during more than a year of lab experiments shows that corals that had the early benefit of multivitamins were more resistant and resilient to heat stress,” said Colleen Hansel, a senior scientist and marine chemist at WHOI. Now the team will embed these tiles on an artificial reef in the Virgin Islands so that coral can use them as a foundation and hopefully develop the same kind of resilience seen in the lab.

THE KICKER

Across the world, air pollution is the second leading risk factor for death in children under the age of 5.