“A succession of heatwaves and extreme weather conditions have forced French winemakers to undertake the earliest grape harvest in nearly 500 years.
“Vineyards in Burgundy scrambled to organise grape picking after abnormally hot and dry conditions brought the fruit to maturity more than a month earlier than average years, according to local records.”
“The first half of 2020 was the hottest in France since records began, with temperatures averaging 1.8C higher than usual levels.
“If temperatures continue to rise, by 2050 France could be a very different country.”
https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/France-s-heatwaves-will-radically-change-the-landscape
“Huge blazes have threatened to ruin an ancient city in Greece, and have forced thousands to flee their homes in Spain and Italy.
“In Greece, four water-dropping planes and two helicopters helped dozens of firefighters contain a huge blaze on Sunday at the edge of one of the country’s most important archaeological sites – Mycenae.”
“High winds, tornadoes and giant hail: extreme weather hit many parts of Italy’s north and centre-north this weekend, leaving at least four holidaymakers dead and causing widespread damage. Weather alerts continue over the coming days.”
“Cyprus issued its first-ever red warning during a sweltering heatwave as maximum temperatures are expected to soar to a scorching 44 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest day of 2020…
“…meteorologist Philippos Tymvios said according to data this August could also be the hottest on record.
““If today’s temperatures match our predictions, then we will probably be announcing that this year’s August has smashed the record.””
“Rescuers in Afghanistan continued to search amidst mud and rubble for missing people on Saturday after flash flooding this week killed around 160 people and washed away homes across the country, officials said.
“Thirteen provinces, mostly in the country’s north, had been affected by floods, according to the Ministry for Disaster Management.”
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-floods-idUKKBN25P0I5
“The world’s third-largest ice sheet located in north Tibet’s Nagqu City at an elevation of 6,072 meters is facing severe threat from global warming.
“To better protect the ice field, all types of tourism activities at the Puruogangri Glacier have been suspended.”
“After sweeping across Japan’s Ryukyu Islands on Monday night local time, powerful Typhoon Maysak is headed for a likely Wednesday landfall in South Korea that may lead to widespread and potentially severe damage.
“At 8 a.m. EDT Monday, August 31… Maysak was about 110 miles south-southwest of Kadena Air Force Base on the island of Okinawa… packing 1-minute sustained winds of 125 mph, the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.”
“North Korea is putting all-out efforts to minimize crop damage from Typhoon Bavi and record rainfall this season, calling it an “urgent” matter for the country’s self-reliance and self-prosperity, state media said Monday…
“The recent flooding… has raised concerns over food security…”
“A storm early Sunday morning in Unalaska recorded high gusts of 120 mph…
“…according to climatologist Rick Thoman, “This was the strongest storm to affect Alaska during the month of August on record…
““Most of the North Pacific Ocean surface temperatures are warmer than normal: virtually the entire Bering Sea ocean surface temperatures are warmer than normal,” Thoman said.”
“Ketchikan, Southeast Alaska, has unofficially broken its summer rainfall record with 47 inches of its famous “liquid sunshine” in the months of June, July and August.
“And that’s not the only rain-related record that Ketchikan broke this summer. Here’s National Weather Service Forecaster Wes Adkins.
““So not only have you had the most accumulations, but you’ve also suffered the most rainy days,” Adkins said.”
https://www.krbd.org/2020/08/31/merciless-rain-in-southeast-alaska-breaks-records-dampens-spirits/
“Remember May, when we all wished it would just stop raining? Well, it did.
“After experiencing the wettest May ever, Chicago hit a dry spell that only worsened as summer progressed, with the area now on the verge of drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.”
https://news.wttw.com/2020/08/31/remember-may-s-record-rain-well-now-chicago-s-verge-drought
“A Los Angeles-area natural gas plant has been leaking large amounts of planet-warming gas methane for years…
“…the city has been aware of the urgency since at least March but has not scheduled repairs until later this year, according to a recording made public on Wednesday.”
https://uk.reuters.com/article/usa-methane-california-idUKL1N2FS29W
“August was Tucson’s hottest month ever recorded, with sizzling temperatures breaking the previous record — set in July.
“In addition, the summer season from June 1 through Aug. 31 was Tucson’s hottest in all 125 years of weather records, breaking the previous summer heat record set in 1994.”
“As August ends, so does the warmest summer on record in Providence, Rhode Island.
“from June 1 through August 31, the average temperature in the Providence area was the warmest we’ve recorded. That 74.5-degree reading was calculated by taking all 92 high and low temperatures from those days and averaging them together.”
“The amount of carbon dioxide emitted by Arctic wildfires this year is already 35% higher than the figure for the whole of 2019.
“The latest data, provided by the EU’s Copernicus atmosphere monitoring service, shows that up to 24 August 245 megatonnes of CO2 had been released from wildfires this year. The figure for the whole of last year was 181 megatonnes.”
“The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, which hold enough frozen water to lift oceans 65 metres, are tracking the UN’s worst-case scenarios for sea level rise, researchers said Monday, highlighting flaws in current climate change models.
“Mass loss from 2007 to 2017 due to melt-water and crumbling ice aligned almost perfectly with the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change’s (IPCC) most extreme forecasts.”
“The volume of lakes formed as glaciers worldwide melt due to climate change had jumped by 50 percent in 30 years, according to new study based on satellite data.
“”We have known that not all meltwater is making it into the oceans immediately,” lead author Dan Shugar, a geomorphologist and associate professor at the University of Calgary, said in a statement.
“”But until now there were no data to estimate how much was being stored in lakes or groundwater.””
https://www.sciencealert.com/climate-change-fuels-sharp-increase-in-glacier-lakes
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