- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
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- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
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- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
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2023-24 winter warmest on record for mainland US
The 2023–24 winter season was the warmest ever recorded for the mainland United States, official data showed Friday, in the latest sign the world is moving into unprecedented territory as a result of the climate crisis.
The average temperature in the lower 48 US states from December to February was 37.6 degrees Fahrenheit (3.1C), 5.4 degrees F (3.0C) above average, "ranking as the warmest winter on record," the agency said.
Eight states across the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast each saw their warmest winter on record, while temperatures around the Gulf of Mexico were near average.
The average temperature for the lower 48 states in February was 41.1F F, 7.2F above average, the third warmest in the 130-year-long record.
The Smokehouse Creek wildfire, which began on February 26 and became the largest blaze in Texas' history, burned more than a million acres in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma, the agency added.
Other notable events included unusual atmospheric patterns that brought heavy rain and snow to parts of the West, causing powerful winds, significant flooding, landslides and power outages to parts of California.
"The city of Los Angeles received more than 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain during February, approximately three times the February average, becoming the wettest February in decades for the city," the statement said.
President Joe Biden referred to global warming as a "climate crisis" in his State of the Union speech on Thursday night, moving away from the phrase "climate change."
"I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis," he said, hailing his signature climate infrastructure law.
Last month was the warmest February on record globally, the ninth straight month of historic high temperatures across the planet as climate change steers the world into "uncharted territory," Europe's climate monitor said earlier this week.
Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) last month said the period from February 2023 to January 2024 marked the first time Earth had endured 12 consecutive months of temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than the pre-industrial era.
The UN's IPCC climate panel has warned that the world will likely crash through 1.5C in the early 2030s. Holding warming to below 1.5C has been deemed crucial to averting a long-term planetary climate disaster.
Planet-heating emissions, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, continue to rise when scientists say they need to fall by almost half this decade.
Countries at UN climate negotiations in Dubai last year agreed to triple global renewables capacity this decade and "transition away" from fossil fuels.
But the deal lacked important details, with governments now under pressure to strengthen their climate commitments in the short term and for beyond 2030.
J.Williams--AMWN