“This summer has been hot. Abnormally hot. So hot that Hawaii just keeps breaking or tying heat records, day after day after day…
“Meteorologist Vanessa Almanza said that from April through Monday, four Hawaii locales broke or tied 124 heat records…
“So what’s up?
“…For one, sea surface temperatures are warmer than average ― about 2 to 4 degrees above normal. Sea surface temperatures contribute to the heat by warming up winds that come on shore.
“And speaking of winds, Hawaii’s natural air conditioner has been fizzing out, too. Throughout the summer, the state has seen several bouts of light or no tradewinds.”
“Thirteen states from Texas to Kentucky in the South are under heat alerts today with some areas expecting the heat index to rise to 115 Fahrenheit…
“It has already been an extremely hot week for those in places like Laredo, Texas, which set a record of 109 degrees on Monday, and Galveston, Texas, tying its own record with an overnight temperature of 86 degrees.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/dangerous-heatwave-set-blanket-country/story?id=64940751
“Coastal Helicopters has closed its sled dog camps on the Mendenhall Glacier [Alaska] early, citing poor snow conditions.
“While the season for most sled dog camps is only a few more weeks, an unusually small amount of winter snow and a high rate of snowmelt on the glacier has made the surface unsafe.”
https://www.juneauempire.com/news/unseasonable-warmth-causes-sled-dog-camp-to-close-early/
“Salmon are dying in rivers across western Alaska.
“The largest die-off reportedly comes from the Koyukuk River, a tributary of the Yukon.
And as KYUK’s Anna Rose MacArthur reports, scientists suspect the summer’s record heat is the cause.”
https://www.wvtf.org/post/why-are-salmon-being-found-dead-rivers-across-western-alaska#stream/
“Iqaluit’s [NT, Canada] water shortage has forced the city to restrict usage for the second year in a row.
“Climate change and a growing population have strained the Nunavut capital’s water resources, forcing city council to put restrictions on water usage as they work to pump water from another nearby lake.”
“…High Arctic permafrost is not as stable as we thought.”
https://physicsworld.com/a/thaw-slump-of-high-arctic-permafrost-rises/
“…the magnificent Arctic reindeer numbers are in great decline, and the consequences can be devastating for their entire ecosystem. Since the mid-1990s, the size of reindeer and caribou herds has declined by 56%, from an estimated 4.7 million animals to 2.1 million. It’s the lowest number since monitoring began…
“Warmer summers also have adverse effects through increased drought, flies and parasites, and perhaps heat stress leading to increased susceptibility to pathogens and other stressors.”
https://www.zmescience.com/science/fewer-reindeer-20122018/
“As wildfires burn across Siberia for a third straight month, the cloud of soot and smoke that billows above the region is set to break a land area record.
“According to Radio Free Liberty, about 5.5 million hectares of land are on fire in Siberia, with clouds of smoke covering more than five million square kilometres.”
“How do you write a eulogy for a glacier? Think about it. How would you go about that, having grown up with glaciers as a geological given, a symbol of eternity? How do you say goodbye? …
“When academics at Rice University in Houston, Texas called and asked me to write the text for a plaque to commemorate the first dead glacier in Iceland, I found myself confronted with this problem.”
“A speedboat has been spotted roaring across a flooded rugby pitch following torrential rain in East Ayrshire [Scotland].
“The vessel’s driver made the most of inclement weather near Kilmarnock Rugby Club on Queen’s Drive on Monday.
“The grounds are within the River Irvine’s flood plain, which risked bursting its banks.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-49339187/speedboat-ride-on-flooded-rugby-pitch-in-ayrshire
“July’s record-breaking temperatures did not just affect the electricity and water usage of Luxembourg’s residents, but also had an impact on the location producing said electricity.
“The Cattenom nuclear power plant uses water from the Moselle river to cool down the nuclear reactors and consequently, the rise in the river’s water temperatures impacted the power plant.”
https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/1389461.html
“Hundreds of villagers were evacuated Tuesday and the Greek prime minister cancelled a vacation as scores of firefighters battled a major wildfire on the country’s second-largest island of Evia, authorities said.
“”Conditions are exceptionally difficult and the state’s first priority is to protect lives,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis told reporters outside the fire department’s centre of operations.”
https://www.france24.com/en/20190814-greece-wildfires-rage-evia-mitsotakis-villagers-evacuated
“At least six people were killed Tuesday in flooding triggered by heavy rain in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and elsewhere in the country, said state-run news agency SUNA. SUNA news agency said at least five people, including two children, were killed when rains destroyed their house in the village of Rifaa in central Jazeera province.”
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1855526/least-6-killed-flooding-triggered-heavy-rain-sudan
“An emergency has been declared in the federal capital [of Islamabad, Pakistan] as torrential rains are expected to lash the city. Section 144 has been imposed in the city in wake of heavy rains.
“Sawan and Korang Nullah – the district government has directed the citizens to move away from these risky places.”
https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/504901-High-alert-declared-as-heavy-rains-likely-to-lash-Islamabad
“A man in Tainan’s Yongkang District (永康) said that yesterday’s rain was worse than the flooding during Typhoon Morakot in August 2009, a storm that killed 619 people.
“Central Weather Bureau statistics showed that at 325.5mm [12.8 inches] Tainan received the most rain from 12am to 4pm.”
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2019/08/14/2003720453
“North Korea experienced worsening drought through July, a sign extreme weather conditions have been amplified due to record high temperatures and a heat wave affecting the region…
The dry weather has damaged crops, and surveys indicate this year’s corn crops are showing lower levels of above-ground biomass, compared to 2018.”
“Incredible timelapse footage from space has revealed the shocking extent of the Australian drought. The images taken using Google Earth Engine’s Timelapse tool shows a much greener land mass in 1984.
“Fast forward to 2018 and Australia appears much redder and drier. Australia is experiencing its worst drought on record…”
“Chile has one of the world’s largest reserves of fresh water outside the north and south poles, but the abundant glaciers that are the source of that precious commodity are melting fast…
“A toxic cocktail of rising temperatures, the driest nine-year period on record and human activity, including mining, is proving lethal for the ice of Chile’s central region.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-america-glaciers-may-bigger-080005622.html
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