The WMO, the United Nations' weather observer, says a string of global temperature records have been broken  and in some cases even smashed. The agency warned that sea ice loss was of particular concern. A World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report confirmed on Tuesday that 2023 was the warmest year on record, with global average surface temperatures at 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The UN agency warned that the changes were interwoven with growing food insecurity and population displacement. What the report showed The WMO study showed broken records across numerous parameters, including greenhouse gas levels and temperature. The agency noted particularly alarming changes at sea, with a worrying rise in surface levels and acidification. Its report said Antarctic sea ice loss, rising ocean heat, and glacier loss were of particular concern. Antarctic sea ice extent was "by far the lowest on record," with the maximum extent at the end of winter at 1 million kilometers squared below the previous record year — the size of France and Germany combined. Glaciers suffered the largest loss of ice on record, driven by "extreme melt" in both western North America and Europe. The authors also pointed out increasingly frequent heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires, and intensifying tropical cyclones. They caused "misery and mayhem, upending everyday life for millions and inflicting many billions of dollars in economic losses." What is the UN agency's warning? The organization's Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said the world had never been so close to, at least temporarily, exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius lower limit of the Paris Agreement on climate change. "The WMO community is sounding the red alert to the world," said Saulo. A report by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) last showed average global surface temperatures for 2023 had actually nudged above the threshold. "Climate change is about much more than temperatures," said Saulo. "What we witnessed in 2023, especially with the unprecedented ocean warmth, glacier retreat, and Antarctic sea ice loss, is cause for particular concern." The report drew attention to the number of people who are acutely food insecure worldwide, noting this had grown from 149 million people before the COVID-19 pandemic to 333 million in 2023. "The climate crisis is the defining challenge that humanity faces and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis — as witnessed by growing food insecurity, and population displacement, and biodiversity loss," Saulo said. Professor Tina van de Flierdt of Imperial College London said the latest WMO report "reinforces that climate change is not a distant threat – it is here now." Finally, some good news While its warning was dire, the WMO highlighted "a glimmer of hope" in the form of the increased use of renewable energy. Renewable energy capacity grew by 50% in 2023 to 510 gigawatts (GW). "Renewable energy generation, primarily driven by the dynamic forces of solar radiation, wind and the water cycle, has surged to the forefront of climate change action for its potential to achieve decarbonization targets," the report said. "We're seeing year on year increases in the amount of energy being produced in that way, so that's that's one kind of positive thing that's happening," WMO scientist John Kennedy told DW.   "We're moving in the right direction in terms of energy generation."  

The departure of a new four-member crew to the International Space Station has been postponed by for a second time. High winds halted the latest launch attempt, for a trip initially scheduled for February 22. The planned launch of a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday has been postponed by a day due to poor weather, US space agency NASA said. Originally scheduled for February 22, the launch has now been postponed for a second time. SpaceX said on social media that "elevated winds" forced Saturday's delay. NASA said it was now targeting Sunday at 10:53 p.m. (0353 Monday GMT/UTC) for liftoff. Crew-8 — which includes three American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut — was set to launch towards the ISS from Florida's Cape Canaveral space center. Billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX began operating astronaut launch services for NASA since 2020 under NASA's Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebyonkin are to spend around six months on the space outpost carrying out research. This will be the first space flight for Epps, Dominick and Grebyonkin and the third stint on the ISS for Barratt. Space has remained a rare area of cooperation between the United States and Russia amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The residents of Kurigram are facing disruptions in their daily lives caused by the chilly northern winds and thick fog. The district has not seen the sun since last Tuesday, with fog persisting throughout the day and night, resembling rainfall. The lowest temperature in the district was recorded at 13.4° Celsius at 9am on Friday, which is comparatively lower than the last two days.   The incidence of cold-related illnesses has risen in Kurigram, particularly affecting the elderly and children. Symptoms include a cold, fever, cough, shortness of breath, pneumonia, diarrhoea, and other related ailments. Nurses and doctors at the hospital are under increased pressure due to the surge in winter patients. The bed shortage has forced some individuals to receive treatment on the hospital floor. A total of 62 children are currently receiving treatment at Kurigram General Hospital for cold-related diseases, including seven new ones in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, a total of 59 patients are admitted to the diarrhoea department, including 31 new ones. Md Farid Sheikh, the parent of a child seeking treatment in the paediatric department, shared, "My one-and-a-half-year-old has been dealing with a cold and vomiting since yesterday evening. I brought him to the hospital this morning, and treatment is currently underway." Another parent, Lipi Begum, mentioned: "I came to the hospital yesterday afternoon. My child has a fever and a cold due to the chilly weather. The cases of cold seem to be a bit higher than usual these past few days." Zulekha Begum, a nurse currently on duty at the hospital, highlighted a noticeable rise in new admissions to the paediatric department and diarrhoea.   "Over the last three days, there has been a noticeable rise in new admissions to the paediatric department and the diarrhoea ward,” said the hospital official. “With the surge in cold-related illnesses, we are managing increased patient pressure on a daily basis." Dr Shahinur Rahman Sardar, resident doctor at Kurigram General Hospital, said: "Since this district is situated near the Himalayas, the intensity of the cold here is slightly higher than in the rest of the country. Most of the people seeking medical treatment at the hospital are from rural areas." Despite the official distribution of winter clothes one month ago, the supply falls significantly short of the actual demand. In response to the scarcity of warm clothing, people are resorting to burning straw on the side of the road to cope with the cold. Abdul Hai Sarker, the Relief and Rehabilitation Officer of the district administration, mentioned that over 42,000 blankets have already been distributed across nine upazilas in the district. Currently, there is no available stock, and a request for 30,000 additional blankets has been submitted, he added. Subal Chandra Sarkar, the officer-in-charge of the district's Agro-Meteorological Observatory, said the dense fog is expected to persist for two to three days. Additionally, a mild cold wave is likely next week, he added.

The filming for the well-known magazine show "Ityadi" from Bangladesh Television (BTV) took place in Moulvibazar.  This year's edition was recorded on a stage surrounded by tea trees, complemented by lush green forests, tea gardens, lakes, and stunning natural landscapes. The episode is scheduled to be aired on both BTV and BTV World on December 29, immediately following the Bangla news at 8 pm." Hanif Sanket is credited with writing, directing, and hosting, while Fagun Audio Vision produced the programme. As per a press release issued by Fagun Audio Vision, the majority of the filming for the show is typically conducted on a well-lit stage during nighttime.  However, showcasing the natural beauty of the location becomes challenging during nighttime shoots. The filming for this particular programme took place on December 15. The entire district of Moulvibazar was in a celebratory atmosphere on the occasion of the "Ityadi" shoot.  

As China freezes with snowfall and cold breezes, multiple cities in East China's Jiangsu and Anhui provinces suspended schools on Tuesday as a precautionary measure to prioritise the safety of students and teachers, as reported by Global Times. Cities including Jiangsu's Nanjing, Changzhou and Zhenjiang, as well as Anhui's Lu'an, Wuhu and Chuzhou, have suspended classes or implemented flexible school hours to reduce the risk and transportation pressure caused by the cold weather. Moreover, all primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, vocational and technician schools in Changzhou were closed on Tuesday due to the cold weather. However, parents can apply for in-school care services if needed, and the schools will coordinate and arrange for care services, according to the Changzhou education authority. Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, has further implemented flexible school hours from Tuesday to Friday, reported Global Times. "Students who don't meet the conditions for attending school can choose not to come to school, while other students can arrive late or leave early according to their actual situation," the Nanjing education authority said. Several parents from Anhui confirmed that local schools suspended classes on Tuesday due to the snowy weather, according to Global Times. "The teachers held classes online and gave homework to the children to complete at home. We totally understand the decision as the weather poses transportation as well as safety risks," Zhang, a parent of a primary school student from Anhui's Wuhu, said on Tuesday. Since Sunday night, the regions along the south of the Huaihe River have seen moderate to heavy snowfall, with some parts experiencing blizzards. As of 8 am on Tuesday, a total of 43 cities and counties within Anhui Province had accumulated one to nine centimetres of snow, reported Global Times. Moreover, another cold air front is likely to affect the province from Tuesday night to Thursday, the Anhui provincial meteorological bureau said in a notice issued on Tuesday. Meanwhile, to enhance safety, an additional work team has been dispatched to Anhui to guide the prevention of and response to disasters from rain, snow and freezing conditions, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management. The initiative was taken as part of requirements for increased efforts in enhancing monitoring, forecasting, and issuing alerts to the public in a timely manner, reported Global Times. Reportedly, Jiangsu provincial education authorities issued a notice on strengthening prevention and response to low-temperature rain, snow, and ice disasters earlier on Sunday. Further, it stipulated the need to enhance risk prevention for outdoor group activities and suspend teaching and outdoor activities if required.  Source: ANI

This time it was the wind that scuppered launch attempts after two previous postponements. No new launch date has been set. It was halted less than 30 minutes before it was scheduled to take place. Japan's space agency on Monday postponed the launch of its "Moon Sniper" lunar mission due to poor weather, making it the third postponement for the mission. The H2-A rocket was also carrying a research satellite developed with NASA and the European Space Agency. It was meant to launch from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 9:26 a.m. local time (0026 GMT) on Monday. The launch was postponed less than 30 minutes before it was scheduled to take place. Operator Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) said the mission was called off "because it was confirmed that the upper wind does not satisfy the constraints at launch". Latest lunar mission attempt Japan had attempted last year to launch a lunar mission named Omotenashi, which was carried on NASA's Artemis 1. The mission was nevertheless unsuccessful after communications were lost. In April this year, Japanese start-up ispace also took a chance to become the first private company to land on the moon, yet it also failed. JAXA aims to land the "Moon Sniper" within 100 meters (330 feet) of a specific target on the moon. This is far less than the normal range of several kilometers. Last week, India's low-cost space program succeeded in landing a mission near the moon's south pole. Only the United States, Russia and China had previously managed to place a spacecraft on the lunar surface. None had managed to do that on the moon's south pole.

Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) said, light to moderate rain or thundershowers in eight divisions, including Dhaka in the next 24 hours which is started from 9 am today.  Met office said in a regular bulletin on Saturday, “Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind are likely to occur at a few places in Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram and Sylhet divisions and at one or two places in Rangpur, Rajshahi, Mymensingh and Dhaka divisions with moderately heavy falls at places aross the country,” The low pressure area over northwest Bay and adjoining area now lies over India's Jharkhand and north Odisha. Monsoon is fairly active over Bangladesh and moderate over north Bay.

Earth's warming weather and rising seas are getting worse, with the situation deteriorating faster than ever, the World Meteorological Organization revealed in a new report. Each of the last eight years, if projections for 2022 hold, has been hotter than any year prior to 2015, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a report on Sunday as the COP27 UN Climate Summit opened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. "As COP27 gets underway, our planet is sending a distress signal," said UN chief Antonio Guterres, describing the report as "a chronicle of climate chaos." Earth has warmed more than 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, with about half of that increase occurring in the past 30 years, the report shows. According to WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas, the 1.5 degree warming target of the Paris climate agreement is unlikely to be reached given the current level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Rising sea levels Driven by melting ice sheets and glaciers, the pace of sea level rise has doubled in the past 30 years, threatening marine species and tens of millions of people in low-lying coastal areas, the United Nations' weather agency said. According to the WMO report, since the decade began, seas are rising at 5 millimeters a year compared to 2.1 millimeters in the 1990s. Surface water in the oceans also hit record high temperatures in 2021, warming especially fast during the past 20 years. Some 90% of the heat trapped on Earth goes into the oceans and the upper 2,000 meters (6561 feet) of the ocean is getting warmer faster. That ocean heat "will continue to warm in the future — a change which is irreversible on centennial to millennial time scales," the report said. Cascade of disasters In 2022, a wave of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change devastated communities around the world. A two-month heatwave in South Asia in March and April that bore the unmistakable fingerprint of man-made warming was followed by floods in Pakistan, inundating a third of the country. At least 1,700 people died and 8 million were displaced. In East Africa, rainfall has been below average in four consecutive wet seasons, the longest in 40 years, with 2022 set to deepen the drought. China saw the longest and most intense heatwave on record and the second-driest summer. Falling water levels disrupted or threatened commercial river traffic on the Yangtze River in China, the Mississippi River in the US and several major inland waterways in Europe.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has raised its benchmark of excellence yet again by extending access to the formidable Zojila at an altitude of 11,649 ft, Zoji mountain pass remained open beyond 31st December. As per an official release, The BRO achieved this feat through its frontline Projects - Vijayak and Beacon. They are collectively responsible for maintaining the axis that has strategic implications, in addition to the socio-economic well-being of Ladakh. Last year the same was extended till 31st December 2020, the BRO silently but surely embarked on the journey to better its own record by reorganizing and adding a few more snow clearance detachments and augmenting them with state-of-the-art snow clearance equipment. The results of the planning and efforts are for all to see, having achieved the feat which hitherto was considered impossible by many.   Ladakh UT administration and the locals lauded the efforts that this additional window reduces the logistic burden on the UT administration and helps the local inhabitants to stock additional rations and supplies to brave the impending harsh winters. In the first three days of 2022, about 178 vehicles have been able to transit through the pass with the collective assistance of the BRO and the Police personnel. The numbers are considered significant because with the temperatures plummeting to minus 20 degrees centigrade, the road is subject to extreme frosting with blizzard-like conditions, which can lead to accidents. Besides snow clearance, the axis is subjected to maintenance on a daily basis to keep it road-worthy, which is achieved by the relentless and selfless efforts of the Karamyogis of BRO. Source: ANI

NASA and SpaceX have delayed a mission sending four astronauts to the International Space Station to avoid "a large storm system," the agency said Saturday.   The astronauts of "Crew-3" were due to launch aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft named "Endurance" fixed atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday.   But they will instead aim to launch at 1:10 am (0510 GMT) on Wednesday, which "would have Crew-3 arriving at the space station later the same day about 11 p.m (0300 GMT Thursday)," NASA said in a statement.   They will then carry out "a short handover with the astronauts that flew to the station as part of the agency's SpaceX Crew-2 mission," it added.   Should a launch on that date be impossible, "a backup opportunity" is available on November 4, SpaceX said on its website.   The "Crew-3" team will spend six months on the orbital outpost and conduct research to help inform future deep space exploration and benefit life on Earth.   Scientific highlights of the mission include an experiment to grow plants in space without soil or other growth media, and another to build optical fibers in microgravity, which prior research has suggested will be superior in quality to those made on Earth.   The Crew-3 astronauts will also conduct spacewalks to complete the upgrade of the station's solar panels and will be present for two tourism missions, including Japanese visitors aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at the end of the year and the Space-X Axiom crew, set for launch in February 2022.   Crew-3 is part of NASA's multibillion-dollar partnership with SpaceX that it signed after ending the Space Shuttle program in 2011 and aims to restore US capacity to carry out human spaceflight.  Source: AFP/BSS AH