NB This is a preliminary reading and not yet officially verified:
“A temperature of 54.4C – or 129.9F – has been recorded in Death Valley, California, in what some extreme weather watchers believe could be the hottest reading ever reliably recorded on the planet.”
“Idyllwild, Thermal and Indio all broke high-temperature records for the date.
“Idyllwild hit 95 degrees, surpassing the previous record of 94 set in 2001. Thermal hit 117, surpassing the record of 115 set in 2016. Indio hit 115, surpassing the record of 114 set in 2016.”
“The National Weather Service said it was planning to investigate reports of a rare occurrence of fire tornadoes arising on Saturday from a 20,000-acre wildfire in Northern California.
“Dawn Johnson, a meteorologist with the service in Reno, Nev., said on Sunday that the agency had received reports of fire tornadoes in an area of Lassen County, Calif.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/16/us/loyalton-fire-tornado.html
“All-time cold records have been smashed in the municipality of Bom Jardim da Serra [Brazil]. According to the Keizer station network, the area registered -8.8 °C (16.2 °F) last Thursday, August 6.
“It was the third consecutive day with temperatures below -8 °C (17.6 °F) and it was also the first time it occurred anywhere in Brazil since records began, according to Sao Joaquim Online.”
“The city of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, reported a record high of 41.1 degrees on Monday, tying Japan’s national record set two years ago by Kumagaya in Saitama Prefecture…
“It is the first time the temperature has hit 40 or above on consecutive days in Japan, according to the weather agency.”
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/08/17/national/hamamatsu-japan-record-high-temperature/
“Japan is sounding the alarm against the inexorable march of the fall armyworm, as reports of damage by the pest in Asia following its spread in Africa are increasing, threatening Japan with infestation…
“…researchers speculate that such factors as globalization, climate changes and westerlies — prevailing winds from the west to east in the mid-latitudes — have played a part.”
“Concerns are mounting about China’s grain supply this year, despite government assurances that the summer harvest was at ‘an all-time high’.
“Output has been hit by drought and heavy rains and many farmers are hoarding crops in expectation that prices will continue rising because of low supply, traders say.”
“Hyderabad, India: At least three persons were killed and normal life was severely disrupted across the state on the third day of incessant rains on Saturday.
“Several thousands of acres of standing crop and paddy nurseries were lost in floodwaters.”
“In exclusive analysis for Forbes, satellite analytics company Ursa Space Systems, using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite analysis from Iceye, was able to size the extent of the spill in the formerly crystal clear lagoons of Mauritius.
“This shows significant amounts of oil continuing to ooze from the stricken Wakashio after it had split in two at 10.14am on Saturday 15 August…”
“Torrential rains and floods have killed at least 65 people and destroyed more than 14,000 homes in Sudan.
“More than 30,400 homes were damaged, and almost 700 cattle died due to the flooding, the Interior Ministry said in a statement late on Saturday.”
“A pine forest wildfire fanned by strong winds has broken out along the pristine northeastern coastline of Corfu, a Greek island dotted with wealthy estates.
“The fire erupted near the wooded Agios Stefanos beach town in the Erimitis region, which boasts high-profile residents such as the Rothschilds and the Agnellis.”
“Flash flooding has left buildings damaged and major highways closed in southeast England…
“The M11 northbound was forced to close between Junction 7 and the exit for Stansted Airport when heavy rainfall caused water to gush onto the road, while a sudden downpour flooded the centre of Chelmsford, Essex.”
“Climate change may cause a comeback for several diseases in Europe.
“Epidemics of smallpox, zika virus, and dengue season may soon arrive further up the Northern hemisphere as conditions become suitable for the Aedes aegypti. Melting permafrost may also mean the resurgence of ancient disease-causing bacteria.”
“MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC’s Vladimir Potanin said it’s impossible to estimate the cost of damages from May’s massive fuel spill in the Arctic until the miner completes the clean-up, which may extend into next year.
“Nornickel has set aside $2.1 billion after Russia’s ecological watchdog asked it to pay for the damage caused by the spill…”
“The Arctic summer of 2019 was supposed to be an outlier… Many scientists thought it might be a one-off…
“However, this year is proving those scientists wrong. And it raises the unsettling possibility that fire seasons that begin much earlier than average and end later — and affect delicate Arctic ecosystems — could soon be the new normal.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/14/record-arctic-fires/
“When the Earth was last four degrees warmer, during the Eocene Epoch, there was no ice at either pole. Global warming of this magnitude, observes Mark Lynas, visiting fellow with the Cornell Alliance for Science at Cornell University, “would eventually leave the whole planet without ice for the first time in nearly 40 million years.”
“”At five degrees of global warming, an entirely new planet will coming into being –“one largely unrecognizable from the Earth we know today.””
https://dailygalaxy.com/2020/08/earth-an-entirely-new-planet-is-coming-into-being-weekend-feature/
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