Tornado Kills 2, Injures 120 In Southern Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO — A tornado battered a city in southern Brazil, killing two people, injuring 120 others and forcing more than 1,000 people from their homes, officials said Tuesday.

The National Institute of Meteorology said a supercell storm produced the tornado that struck Xanxere city in the state of Santa Catarina on Monday.

The storm damaged about 500 homes and knocked down lampposts, leaving many residents without electricity. Two people were killed, apparently inside their homes, and 120 have been taken to hospitals, including 15 who were seriously injured, said Santa Catarina’s civil defense director, Luciano Peri.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/tornado-kills-2-leaves-1000-homeless-in-southern-brazil/2015/04/21/c8ae3096-e839-11e4-8581-633c536add4b_story.html

Scientists To Explore The Effects of Climate Change On Health

President Obama launched an initiative Tuesday aimed at highlighting the connections between climate change and public health, bringing both medical and data experts to the White House this week.

As part of the effort, the White House will hold a Climate Change and Health Summit later this spring, featuring Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. The administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative, which it launched a year ago, to include more than 150 health-relevant data sets.

Speaking to a group at Howard University, which included the school’s College of Medicine Dean Edward E. Cornwell, III and Tyra Bryant-Stephens, who directs the community asthma prevention program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Obama that warmer temperatures contribute to health problems such as asthma both by increasing smog-forming pollutants and by fueling wildfires that emit fine particles, or soot, into the air.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/07/white-house-to-explore-how-climate-change-makes-you-sick/

Arctic Could Become A Major New Source of Carbon Emissions

The new study goes back closely over past estimates in light of new evidence, and comes to a broadly consistent conclusion. It finds that there are between 1,330 and 1,580 gigatons of carbon in the top three meters of global permafrost soil, in what are called yedomas (permafrost with particularly high ice content), and in Arctic river deltas.

And then on top of that, it says, there is a possible 400 additional gigatons in “deep terrestrial permafrost sediments” — not to mention a simply unknown amount in permafrost below the sea in shallow continental shelves, such as beneath the East Siberian Sea.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/08/serious-climate-threat-from-arctic-permafrost-confirmed-by-new-research/

Arctic Unraveling, Consequences Will Be Global

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/16/the-arctic-is-unraveling-due-to-global-warming-and-the-consequences-will-be-global/

Pacific Ocean Entered New, Dangerous Warming Phase

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/10/the-pacific-ocean-may-have-entered-a-new-warm-phase-and-the-consequences-could-be-dramatic/

Why You Should't Get Your Climate Change News From Mainstream Media

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/21/how-to-get-twitter-riled-up-about-global-warming/

Air Force Plans To Drop U.S. Weather Model, Adopt U.K. Weather Model

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/04/20/air-force-to-cut-ties-with-u-s-weather-forecast-system-in-favor-of-uk-model/