“Torrential rain hit southwestern Japan on Wednesday, prompting local governments to instruct hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate as rivers overflowed and landslides struck in what the weather agency called an “unprecedented downpour” that left at least two people dead.
“The whole area was under the water, and we couldn’t even see the roofs of vehicles,” said a 59-year-old man who was evacuated with his family to a temple in Takeo…
“Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures issued evacuation instructions to around 847,000 residents at one point after the Japan Meteorological Agency issued its maximum level-5 warning for floods and landslides in the northern Kyushu region, with precipitation levels approaching their highest levels in decades.”
“The tropical cyclone is expected may reach typhoon status prior to reaching land for a second time. A general west to west-northwestward track during this time will take the storm near or just south of Hainan, China, and then into northern Vietnam and northern Laos.”
“At least 90 people were killed with 65 others injured by severe monsoon flooding and landslides, which occurred nationwide in Myanmar since late June this year, an official from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement told Xinhua.
“From June 25 to Aug. 26, monsoon rains have led to widespread flooding and landslides, displacing a total of 211,800 residents across Myanmar…”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-08/28/c_138345349.htm
“Records were shattered as Perth’s temperature reached a glorious 30C just after 2pm this afternoon. It is the hottest winter day ever recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology, beating the previous mark of 28.1C set on June 5, 1965.
“The scorcher tops the average maximum temperature for this time of year by around 9 degrees and comes after Australia recorded its hottest-ever month in January.”
“There are now approximately five times as many wildfires burning in Africa than in the Amazon, according to images captured by NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) technology last week.
“The affected countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Cameroon and Angola in the heart of Central Africa.”
“Weak rainfall is unlikely to extinguish a record number of fires raging in Brazil’s Amazon anytime soon, with pockets of precipitation through to Sept 10 expected to bring only isolated relief, according to weather data and two experts.
“The world’s largest tropical rainforest is being ravaged as the number of blazes recorded across the Brazilian Amazon has risen 79% this year through to Aug 25…”
“According to a recent study by IPAM, forest mortality can affect up to 90% of trees in dry years, especially on the edge of the forests. “The landscape is changing radically,” said IPAM’s Brando.
“”We’re seeing grazing lands penetrate the forest and a major decline in biodiversity.””
https://www.dw.com/en/amazon-wildfires-set-to-cause-irreversible-damage/a-50183441
Chile’s winter heatwave:
“During the afternoon of Tuesday high temperatures occurred from the valleys of Atacama to the interior sectors of the Valparaíso Region. The Coquimbo region was the one with the highest heat, reaching 37.1 degrees in Vicuña and 36 in Monte Patria and Ovalle, according to information provided by Mega meteorologist Jaime Leyton.”
“Across the Southwest [USA], people are wondering when seasonal rainstorms will make their way through the region…
“The Flagstaff airport usually logs nearly 5.5 inches of rain by now but has only seen one-fifth of that — the driest in 120 years. Las Vegas has barely recorded any rain. The city of St. George had zero rain in July and August — far from the average 1.25 inches.”
“The City of Seldovia [Alaska] issued an emergency disaster declaration at a council meeting on Aug. 26 over the depletion of its public water source. The city says it has 14 days of water left.
“The declaration cited record high temperatures and lack of precipitation across the state which has caused its water supply to rapidly diminish. The declaration says there is “not a foreseen renewable source of water forthcoming in the immediate future.””
“The Trump administration is moving to lift logging restrictions on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the country’s largest national forest, The Washington Post reports.
“The president reportedly directed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to lift the restrictions put in place under the Clinton administration’s 2001 “Roadless Rule” earlier this month…”
“Environment Canada has issued a weather warning to the residents of the Maritime provinces, advising them that a ‘tropical cyclone’ is expected to hit eastern Canada before the end of the week. Tropical storm ‘Erin’ is expected to form on Tuesday afternoon, and will then track northeastward from the Carolinas into Canada.”
https://www.narcity.com/news/ca/tropical-cyclone-warning-issued-by-environment-canada
“Kids splashing each other in the sea and locals wearing t-shirts were unheard of here in August 10 years ago…
“But now, alongside teenage girls wearing skirts to school and increasing mosquitoes, it is a common occurrence for the residents of Qaanaaq, in north-west Greenland, one of the world’s most northerly cities situated 700 miles north of the Arctic Circle.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/kids-play-arctic-seas-22c-19016180
“2019 has been a year of temperature records in Norway, and they keep on coming. New records were set in the final days of August.
“On 27 August, a temperature of 30.1C was recorded in Etne, Hordaland.
“Never before has it been so hot, so late in the year. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute confirmed that the previous record for a 30C+ day in Norway was 26 August, 1947.”
https://www.lifeinnorway.net/temperature-records-continue-to-tumble-in-norway/
“Abnormally low water levels driven by drought are threatening the livelihoods of thousands of people in the Russian Arctic…
“Dry weather has also contributed to the vast wildfires that have been raging across Siberia for the past two months.”
“Since the wildfires are up north, their ash and soot, which releases black carbon, pose a massive threat to the Arctic region’s ice sheets. They could accelerate melting, which will increase the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere.
“With less nearby forest to absorb it, this carbon will contribute to global warming at an unprecedented rate. Likewise, melting of the ice sheets might free previously-trapped permafrost methane…”
“Austria has just seen the second-warmest summer season in 253 years of recorded history, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by the Central Institute of Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG).
“This summer, measured from June through August, has been 2.7 degrees Celsius hotter than the long-term average, taking into account prognoses for the last few days of August. The result brings it just below the hottest summer in recorded history in 2003, which was 2.8 degrees hotter than average.”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-08/28/c_138345199.htm
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