“With the current heatwave proving to be a nightmare in Shanghai, home is not the dream place to catch a good night’s rest for some folk.
“As the mega city swelters under record-high temperatures, it sometimes looks as if people are dropping dead from the torrid climate on its best-known shopping avenue.
“Normally bustling Nanjing East Road has turned into an open-air slumber party on recent nights as local residents try to escape the heat of their cramped nearby homes by sleeping outside on benches or directly on the pavement….
The city of more than 24 million people has endured an extended hot spell over recent weeks, with temperatures yesterday topping 35 deg C for the 16th day this summer…
“Eight of the 12 highest temperatures reached over the past century were hit only in the last five years, according to the city weather bureau.”
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/shanghai-heatwave-forces-people-onto-streets
“[North Korea] has already said that it is suffering drought conditions due to prolonged unusually high temperatures, and that’s likely to hit agriculture hard in a country where it was reported last year that 70% of the population relies on food aid.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45132837
“Farmers across eastern Australia are enduring what some have called the worst drought in living memory… “Farmers are getting out left, right and centre. It’s gotten to the point where it’s cheaper to shoot your cows than it is to feed them,” NSW dairy farmer Jason Maloney told the BBC.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45123925
“”It’s an extreme event [the record heat off the California cost],” Clarissa Anderson, a biological oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said in an interview. Like extreme heat events on land, these record-breaking temperatures at sea are largely propelled by weather but given a substantial boost by human-caused global warming.”
https://mashable.com/2018/08/10/record-ocean-heat-southern-california/?europe=true#vLy8vmHrTkqq
“San Diegans, yes, your body thermostats are operating properly. The nights have been hot. Extremely hot. Record-breaking hot.”
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/weather/sd-me-warm-nights-20180809-story.html
“Firefighters in California are continuing to battle some of the most destructive wildfires ever to hit the state. The raging Mendocino Complex fire, comprising twin blazes in the state’s north, has become California’s largest wildfire since records began a century ago.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45135098
“We’re on pace for the second-hottest summer in Seattle’s history… Thursday marks the 10th day Seattle has recorded a temperature of 90 degrees or higher this summer, trailing only the sweltering summer of 2015, which had 12 days reach 90-plus degrees. The city has also recorded 27 days of 85-plus-degree days this year, which ties the record set last year.”
“As predicted, the mercury soared enough in Kamloops today to break a 120-year-old temperature record.”
https://infotel.ca/newsitem/century-old-heat-record-broken-in-kamloops/it54774
“Two huge wildfires burning in northern B.C. have now merged into one massive blaze of 28,000 hectares.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/4379117/northern-bc-wildfires-merge/
“Right now we are forecasting triple-digit temperatures on Friday, Saturday and Sunday [for Montana], with the potential to break all-time heat records on Friday and Saturday.”
http://www.kpax.com/story/38853600/montana-fair-in-billings-set-for-record-high-temperatures
“Scotland is more familiar with weather extremes of the icy or wet variety, but this summer’s exceptionally dry conditions have resulted in a traditional Highland games being cancelled.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/09/heatwave-forces-cancellation-of-highland-games
“Officials at Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) Slimbridge, a wetland wildlife reserve in Gloucestershire [UK], said in a statement Thursday that six Andean flamingos laid eggs for the first time in 15 years. It happened as the sweltering temperatures – which have recently surpassed or are threatening to surpass record highs – started to remind the creatures of the hot, humid summers in their natural habitat.”
“The Swedish election next month was supposed to be all about immigration, but with the sweltering heatwave that’s had the Nordic region’s biggest economy in its grip for months, the parties are now jostling to meet growing climate angst among voters.”
“After days of exceptional heat, the rains came in dramatic fashion across northern Germany. Several people were injured by falling trees and travel was severely disrupted.”
https://www.dw.com/en/after-the-drought-the-storm-german-weather-chaos-continues/a-45030361
“At least 12 people have died in the mountains or waterways over a ten-day period as record temperatures gripped Switzerland in a heatwave. Nine died hiking or climbing while three more drowned since July 30.,, The record-breaking temperatures also saw many people take to the lakes and rivers to cool off. This resulted in drownings…”
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/dozen-deaths_swiss-heatwave-blamed-for-recreational-deaths/44311418
“1,600 people, many of them children, have been evacuated from a region of southern France popular with British campers after heavy rain caused flash floods.”
“More than 1,000 firefighters are battling blazes for a seventh day in the popular tourist area in Portugal. Extremely high temperatures have been blamed for sparking the wildfires.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2018/aug/09/wildfires-rage-in-the-algarve-in-pictures
“The ongoing hot and dry weather that continues to grip most parts of Europe is forcing Czech farmers to slaughter their cows early as they have no hay left to feed them. With grass turning brown and brittle, cows have very little to eat and livestock breeders are forced to break into their winter reserves much earlier than usual.”
“Farmers across Europe are witnessing an extremely tight harvest this year, with drought conditions crippling produce across the continent, according to various European sources. Germany is experiencing its lowest harvest in 24 years, with intakes down 20% on last year, according to DRV, the German umbrella group of agricultural co-operatives, in its latest crop estimate.”
https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/drought-hit-europe-sees-harvest-figures-plummet/
“Flash floods triggered by incessant rains and landslips in the hilly forest areas submerged the eastern part of the district [of Malappuram, India] on Thursday, disrupting normal life and wreaking heavy damage to property and crops.”
“Eight people have died and two remain missing after torrential rain battered a county in northwest China’s Gansu Province, local authorities said Friday.”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-08/10/c_137381373.htm
“For the second time in less than 10 days, Penangites were jolted by thunderstorms and strong winds which uprooted trees, ripped open zinc roofs and caused a billboard to topple.”
East Antarctic Ice Shelf no longer thought to be stable:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/08/east-antarctic-ice-sheet-melting/
“Eventually, we came back to the question of Canada. (Or in the UK, Scotland.) Assessments by climate scientists have suggested cities around the Great Lakes are viable – and, until everyone else panics, affordable! Denver, for reasons I forget; the Pacific north-west, if you’re willing to take your chances with the earthquakes.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/10/climate-change-escape-canada-summer-heatwaves
Read yesterday’s ‘Climate’ thread here.
