“The vast majority of [Ireland] officially enters a state of “absolute drought” today with no rainfall recorded at 24 out of 25 weather stations during the last two weeks.
“The extreme weather conditions have prompted Irish Water to expand a hosepipe ban from the Greater Dublin Area to the whole country from Friday morning.
“From 8am on Friday the use of hoses in nearly all circumstances will be banned across the country…”
“Almost two weeks into a heatwave which has sent temperatures soaring into the thirties across all four UK nations, forecasters predict conditions could remain similar for another fortnight.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/uk-heatwave-weather-effect-nature-animals-birds-wildfires-temperatures-a8431541.html
“Abnormally high temperature in Norway with little or no precipitation led to crop failure in several places in the Nordic country, the Norwegian government said Wednesday. Minister of Agriculture and Food Jon Georg Dale expressed sympathy with the industry farmers, saying that the drought’s consequences might significantly impact food production and animal feed situation during winter.”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-07/05/c_137301777.htm
“The head of Germany’s farmers association, Joachim Rukwied, said Thursday that the grain harvest is expected to reach 41 million metric tons (45.2 million tons) this year, a drop of almost 20 percent compared with the recent five-year average. Rukwied described conditions this year as “extreme,” particularly in Germany’s northeastern breadbasket state of Brandenburg.”
https://apnews.com/49e04ec2d92e4aa896228506bf221e7a
“The Lithuanian government has decided to declare a nationwide state of emergency due to a prolonged drought that has affected farmers.”
https://www.baltictimes.com/lithuanian_govt_declares_nationwide_state_of_emergency_over_drought/
“In Baghdad you can wade across the River Tigris for the first time in recorded history. In northwest Iran, pleasure boats lie idle and rusting in a bed of salt that was once the magnificent and huge Lake Urmia, the waters they used to ply having receded so far into the distance that they are out of sight.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/what-caused-the-water-crisis-in-the-middle-east-jg0mp0090
“When the rain stopped falling earlier in the year, many people like Ab. Karim from the province of Badghis knew that trouble was coming. In the north western province of Afghanistan, the reduced snowfall and scarce rains meant only one thing – Drought.”
https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/thousands-affected-ongoing-drought-afghanistan
“The death toll from the heaviest rain to fall on Lahore in 38 years rose to 15 today as torrential rains continued to lash Punjab, the worst hit province of Pakistan.”
“The [Hong Kong] Observatory has warned of serious flooding in Tai Po as heavy showers and thunderstorms hit some areas on Thursday.”
“Weather officials in Japan are warning of record-high rainfall across a wide part of the country through the weekend.”
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180705_25/
“It’s the middle of winter but Thursday has felt closer to a summer’s day in Sydney, as the mercury climbed 9 degrees above the July average of 16.4. At a top of 25.2, it’s easily the hottest day on record for the first week of July – a full degree above the previous record of 24.1 in 2004.”
“The data has come through from the financial year and it was hot [in Australia] with maximum temperatures the warmest on record from July to June.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-05/hottest-fin-year-on-record-bom-data-show/9930606
“Farmers on Australia’s east coast are being driven to the brink by devastating drought, with some regions experiencing the driest start to the year ever recorded.”
“The record-breaking hot summer is now a distant memory as we battle through the winter chill. And we may be waiting longer than usual for spring to warm up this year… From January-June 2018, record or near-record high mean monthly temps were reached a staggering 163 times [in New Zealand].”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105254972/its-a-crazy-cold-winter-and-dont-expect-spring-to-be-much-better
“Severe storms on Wednesday that stretched from Colorado to New Jersey dumped a record rainfall on Houston, with some areas seeing up to 8 inches.”
http://www.wbal.com/article/323275/110/record-rainfall-in-houston-as-searing-heat-lingers-out-west
“Six more people have died in Montreal’s heatwave, bringing to 12 the city’s total death toll from the extreme weather conditions that have gripped central and eastern Canada, health officials said on Wednesday.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/05/canada-heatwave-montreal-deaths
