According to the state disaster management authority (SDMA), Himachal Pradesh reported 23 flash floods, followed by 19 cloud burst incidents and 16 landslides early July. This changed the face of the state for the worse, with the death count rising to 78 since the onset of the monsoon on June 20.
At least 37 people are still missing and 115 have been injured. The state has suffered widespread infrastructural damage, reported NDTV. In the worst-hit Mandi district, the first floor of the Himachal Cooperative Bank was filled with water and debris. This was the only bank for a town with a population of 8,000, the outlet said.
The report added that the Geological Survey of India issued a landslide warning for four districts in Uttarakhand — Tehri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, and Chamoli. The alert warned of potential landslides on July 7 and 8 in several subdivisions, including Chamoli, Ukhimath, Ghansali, Narendra Nagar, Dhanaulti, Dunda, and Chinyalisaur
At least 161 people missing in Texas floods as death toll rises to 109
At least 161 people are still missing after devastating floods in Texas, “raising the possibility that the death toll could surpass 200 in what is already one of the deadliest flood events in the past five decades”, the Washington Post reported, adding that 109 people are confirmed to be dead, including “more than two dozen children”.
Euronews reported that a slow-moving storm brought heavy rainfall overwhelming riverbanks and inundating small towns with water that rose faster than many could escape. Officials referred to the event as a ‘100-year flood”, however, meteorologists said the scale of this week’s rainfall was anything but typical. “The combination of near-record water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, remnants of Tropical Storm Barry and the lack of a jet stream to blow it away funnelled extreme moisture into Texas. In retrospect, a warning sign that the floods could be historic,” the outlet reported.
A drought in Kerrville, Texas, contributed to the deadly floods that swept through the region, as dry soils were unable to absorb water when it fell as rain, Bloomberg reported.
“The surrounding county was 100% in drought at the start of July. Ironically, that drought helped beget the deadly floods that swept through the region on Friday.”
Guardian reported that Texas senator Ted Cruz has “ensured a reduction in funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) efforts to improve future weather forecasting of events that cause the sort of extreme floods that are being worsened by the human-caused climate crisis”. It added: “A further $50m in NOAA grants to study climate-related impacts on oceans, weather systems and coastal ecosystems was also removed.” Trump has “cautioned against casting blame” for the flooding, reported New York Times.
EU countries seek more cuts to deforestation rules, letter shows
From December, the deforestation law, a world first, will require operators placing goods including soy, beef and palm oil onto the EU market, to provide proof their products did not cause deforestation, reported Reuters. Brussels has already delayed its launch by a year and cut back reporting rules following criticism from trading partners, including the US, as well as from EU countries, the outlet said. The newswire reported that the letter calls for the EU rules to exclude imports from countries at “low risk” of deforestation.
According to Bloomberg, “instead of targeting deforestation where the risk is highest, the regulation imposes disproportionate bureaucratic obligations on countries, where deforestation is demonstrably insignificant.”
June was 3rd-warmest globally: Copernicus Climate Change Service
June was the third-warmest globally, with an average surface air temperature of 16.46°C, around 1.30°C above pre-industrial levels, according to a Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) analysis, reported HT. The 12-month period between July 2024 and June 2025 was 1.55°C above the pre-industrial level.
The analysis revealed that most of Western and Central Europe experienced warmer than average air temperatures in June 2025. Western Europe experienced its warmest June on record. Temperatures were mostly below average in southern South America. There were record cold conditions in Argentina and Chile. India experienced below-average temperatures.
Despite farmers adapting to climate change, yield losses, especially in India’s wheat growing regions, to be severe: Study
Wheat crops will experience some of the most severe losses as maximum and minimum temperatures rise, reported DTE. Under a high-emissions scenario, the scientists estimated yield losses of 40-100% in northern and central India, 30 to 40% in China, Russia, the United States and Canada and 15 to 25% in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Africa, and South America.
Stabilised global warming will still leave 39% of glaciers lost
If global warming remained at current levels — 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels — the world would still lose 39% of its glaciers compared to 2020, leading to 113 mm sea-level rise, a new study with a novel approach to data found, reported Mongabay . “This substantial present-day committed mass loss highlights that today’s glaciers are strongly out of balance with current climatic conditions due to their long response times,” the study said.
The outlet pointed out that meeting the limits of the Paris Agreement (limiting warming up to 1.5 and 2°C) could mean committing to 47% and 63% of glacier mass loss relative to 2020 levels. The findings — three times larger than most other projections — is the result of an approach using eight glacier models across 80 climate scenarios.
Declining winter snowpack offsets carbon storage enhancement from growing season warming in northern temperate forest ecosystems
A decline in winter snowpack partially offsets the boost to carbon storage from growing season warming in northern temperate forests, according to a 10-year experiment, reported Pnas. . The results come from the decade-long “climate change across seasons experiment”, conducted at the Hubbard Brook experimental forest in New Hampshire, US. The authors explained: “Past studies show that growing season warming increases forest carbon storage through greater soil nutrient availability that contributes to greater rates of net photosynthesis, while reduced winter snowpack induces soil freeze/thaw cycles that reduce tree root vitality, nutrient uptake, and forest carbon storage…We found after a decade of treatments that growing season warming increases cumulative tree stem biomass carbon by 63%. However, winter soil freeze/thaw cycles offset half of this growing season warming effect.” The results suggest “current Earth system models are likely to overestimate the carbon sink capacity of northern temperate forests”, the authors added.
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