“It’s never been hotter.
“According to measurements taken by the National Weather Service here, July 2018 was the warmest month ever recorded in Juneau, Alaska. Instruments at Juneau International Airport, the city’s official measuring point, recorded an average July temperature of 61.2 degrees, making it the warmest July recorded in a record that dates back to 1936.
“The previous record was 60.2 degrees, set in 1951. Three of the top five hottest Julys have come since 2009. A normal July averages 56.9 degrees…
“According to the weather service measurements, July’s warmth wasn’t the result of a handful of warm days: It was the result of consistently high temperatures throughout the month.
“There were 18 days with high temperatures above 70 degrees, and of those, four were above 80 degrees.”
http://juneauempire.com/news/local/2018-08-01/july-2018-warmest-month-ever-juneau
“The heat wave that gripped the province has subsided, leaving behind records for both heat and dryness. Armel Castellan, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says it was quite exceptional to have the hot and dry weather last so long.”
“Southern Alberta farmers will be praying for thunderstorms to get their crops through this dry season, as they contend with a serious moisture deficit that stems back to last summer. “There just isn’t that soil moisture to carry the crops, ideally, through until that next rainfall event,” said Ralph Wright, head of agro-meteorological applications and modelling with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/soil-moisture-alberta-1.4770725
“July was the hottest month in Reno in 125 years of record-keeping, the National Weather Service said Wednesday.”
“Parts of Grenada were awash with torrential floodwaters after heavy rains swept over the island earlier this week… The Antigua Meteorological Service said the Maurice Bishop International Airport in Grenada received close to six inches of rainfall in 12 hours…”
http://www.looptt.com/content/watch-heavy-rains-brings-flash-flooding-grenada 
“Norwegian authorities have urged motorists to watch out for reindeer that are seeking refuge in tunnels to cool themselves amid extreme heat in the nation’s far north. “It has been very hot for weeks in northern Norway,” Tore Lysberg, a senior official at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, told AFP on Thursday.”
https://phys.org/news/2018-08-arctic-reindeer-cool-tunnels.html
“It’s official and hardly comes as a surprise: July 2018 was [Norway’s] warmest on record. The year so far also boasts the highest number of so-called tropenetter, with 40 nights when the temperature did not fall below 20C (69F) in certain areas.”
http://www.newsinenglish.no/2018/08/01/warmest-july-ever-in-norway/
“Sweden’s highest peak, a glacier on the southern tip of the Kebnekaise mountain, is melting due to record hot Arctic temperatures and is no longer the nation’s tallest point, scientists said on Wednesday. “I’ve never seen this much melted snow on the southern peak as I did this summer,” said Gunhild Rosqvist, a Stockholm University geography professor.”
“On Tuesday night the air in the Germany capital was still a stifling 24.4 Celsius, meaning a record set more than a century ago was finally broken.”
https://www.thelocal.de/20180801/tropical-heat-berlin-suffers-through-warmest-ever-night
“RNLI lifeguards at Crantock, Newquay, recorded a sea temperature that was higher than the air temperature – something that was no doubt replicated around our coastline. Sea temperatures are heading towards and in some cases above record levels on the coast off Cornwall after weeks of hot, dry weather.”
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/sea-temperatures-cornwall-actually-higher-1855200
“Brown is the color of summer in northern Europe this year. Fields that are usually covered in lush green grass have now turned to dust, trees are shedding their leaves and animals eating dry hay or grain instead of grazing in pastures. Farmers in around a dozen countries — from Ireland to the Baltics — are grappling with a once-in-a-generation drought. The unrelenting heat wave has devastated crops, with more than half of the harvest expected to be lost in some areas.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/drought-brings-big-worries-farmers-across-northern-europe-n896096
“The flag had been deployed on the Säntis mountain in the Alpstein massif in northeastern Switzerland as part of the Swiss National Day celebrations… The largest Swiss flag in the world, however, didn’t last longer than 24 hours before a tear developed down its left flank… The brief, intense spells of rain did little however to alleviate Switzerland’s chronically dry summer.”
“The highest temperature on record in Portugal was 47.3 celsius in 2003, in the southern Alentejo region. Several places in the Alentejo are forecast to reach 47 celsius on Saturday, while Lisbon could reach 43 celsius, which is highly unusual for Portugal’s capital by the sea.”
“Eight places in the center, south and east of Portugal have [already] broken their local temperature records amid a heatwave, the country’s weather agency says. The highest temperature recorded Thursday was 45.2 degrees Celsius (113.4 Fahrenheit) near Abrantes, a town 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of the capital, Lisbon, the IPMA said. Temperatures in Portugal were forecast to keep building nationwide on Friday, to around 45 degrees, and to peak at 47 degrees in some places on Saturday.”
“Hottest July on record for Port Elizabeth… This was the hottest ever July on record for PE. The average maximum temperature came in at a balmy 22.8C, smashing the previous record for the month. South African Weather Service spokesman in Port Elizabeth, Garth Sampson, told Herald Live that the combined average temperatures of June and July 2018 – a record in its own right – means the city is heading for its warmest ever winter.”
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/south-african-weather-records-broken-july-2018/
“North Korea on Thursday called for an “all-out battle” against record temperatures that threaten crops in a country already grappling with tough international sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme. The resulting drought has brought an “unprecedented natural disaster”, the isolated nation said, warning against crop damage that could savage its farm-reliant economy, battered by sanctions despite recent diplomatic overtures.”
“As many as 29 people have died due to heatstroke in South Korea, according to the South Korean Ministry of Health, Welfare and Disease Control. The country is undergoing an extended heatwave, with at least 15 days of temperatures over 35˚C (95˚F) recorded, the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) reported.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/02/asia/south-korea-heatwave-deaths-intl/index.html
“Parts of eastern Australia are suffering their worst drought in living memory as a lack of rainfall in winter hits farms badly. Reuters photographer David Gray captured the view of the dried earth from the air, finding an often surprising collage of colours.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45043299 
“Observations from across the globe show that as temperatures have warmed, bacteria and fungi in the soil are becoming more active. These turbo-charged microbes are feeding on dead leaves and plants, releasing more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/carbon-in-soil-dirt-making-climate-change-worse-study-says/
