“An intense heat dome has swelled over Scandinavia, pushing temperatures more than 10 degrees above normal and spurring some of the region’s hottest weather ever recorded and a historic bush fire outbreak in Sweden.
“Even as far north as the Arctic Circle, the mercury has come close to 32 degrees Celsius. Normally, temperatures in Scandinavia during July warm to the comfortable early 20s. This week, they have soared into the early 30s.
“Since Monday, several locations have approached or surpassed their highest temperatures observed any day or month of the year.
“In central Norway, Trondheim Airport hit 32.4 on Monday, and Snasa 31.6 degrees, both are all-time records.”
“A man was filmed struggling to cross a road after he became stuck in its melted tarmac. The video was filmed in the city of Nanyang, Henan province, in central China on July 4… Parts of China have endured record temperatures in July, with parts of the northern, central and eastern regions affected.”
“Twelve people died and nearly 10,000 people were taken to hospitals for heat exhaustion or heatstroke during the week through last Sunday, as a heat wave continued to scorch wide areas of Japan, the government said Wednesday… The heat has also continued to make it difficult for relief operations in the regions ravaged by the recent flooding and landslides.”
“Soon every weather event could become a state of emergency… in Japan, what started as a downpour on June 28 refused to relent, dug in its heels, and kept dumping rain on southern Japan for more than two weeks, and at least 176 people lost their lives.
“A blanket of water 847 million cubic feet in scale flooded the region, destroying almost 2,000 homes. The worst-hit regions were struck with about 70 inches of rain—almost six feet…”
“The death toll from torrential rains in western Japan last week reached 200 on Thursday, as more bodies were found following the downpours that have caused floods and landslides and left thousands still in shelters.”
“A total of 580,000 people have been evacuated as typhoon Maria stormed into southeastern China on Wednesday, paralyzing railway and air transportation in some areas, authorities said. The typhoon, the eighth in China this year, made landfall about 9 am on Wednesday in Lianjiang county, Fujian province, bringing gales of up to 151 kilometers per hour at its center.”
“Normal life has been thrown out of gear in Bhaktapur after many areas including Madhyapur Thimi have been inundated due to the flooding caused by swollen Hanumante River following torrential rains on Wednesday night.”
“Sweden’s heatwave shows no sign of ending… National weather agency SMHI currently has wildfire warnings in place in all of Sweden apart from in the mountains in the north-west, and the long heatwave is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.”
“Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Beryl have left at least 8,000 people displaced, and 19 villages without communication in the Dominican Republic, the Emergency Operations Center said. Thousands are left without drinking water, as the storm has knocked 75 aqueducts out of service.”
“On July 2, Burlington, Vt., set a record for its hottest overnight temperature as the thermometer refused to budge below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Four days later, central Los Angeles hit 95 degrees before 11 a.m., already breaking the previous daily record of 94 degrees, before rising to well over 100 in the afternoon. Nationwide, summer nights have warmed at nearly twice the rate of days…”
“The temperature at Denver International Airport hit 90 degrees just before noon on Wednesday making it Day 30 with temperatures of 90°F or higher this season.”
“”A lot of cars here and trucks, all their windows are all knocked out and on the hood, dented all over. It was a terrible, terrible hail,” said Roland Facette, Val Marie’s mayor, who was rounding up cows in his field when the storm hit. He said it was one of the worst storms he has seen since the 1950s.”
“As hot, dry weather prevails across the Pacific Northwest through the weekend, the risk of worsening drought and wildfires will increase… High temperatures will generally be around 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit above mid-July standards, with widespread 90s F in store along and east of the Interstate 5 corridor in Washington and Oregon. A few areas will surge into the lower 100s.”
“Globally, this June marks the second warmest on record and this year to date the hottest La Nina year on record, which has been featured by high impacting extreme weather during the early summer in the northern hemisphere, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)said on Tuesday.
“Temperatures were not only exceptionally high over large parts of northern Siberia in June, but also well above average over much of the United States, central Canada and North Africa, and over the Middle East.
“…As a result, episodes of extreme heat and precipitation are increasing around the globe. For example, Japan has suffered the worst flooding and landslide in decades, with many daily rainfall records broken.”
“Even though some welcome rain fell in and around the Oslo area on Monday, it wasn’t nearly enough to end a drought that’s now raising more alarm over large parts of [Norway]. Agriculture Minister John Georg Dale rolled out some emergency measures just before the weekend for farmers demanding state assistance.”
“In Slovakia, we are encounter ever more and more frequently also encountering extreme weather phenomena like long periods without precipitation with high temperatures, and – quite the opposite – strong storms or torrential rains.”
“Authorities say four people have died after the cart they were traveling in overturned in a swollen river in eastern Romania… The deaths come after days of heavy rain and flooding in parts of Romania.”
“Heavy rains engulf TransBaikal region with a dozen railway bridges destroyed and 15 more damaged. Thousands of people in Chita were evacuated after their homes were submerged in the worst flooding in modern memory. Some were forced to take refuge of roofs from the rising water.”
“In the 24 hours to 8am Tuesday, 77 rain-monitoring stations in 13 counties received precipitation of over 100 mm. The heavy rains caused water levels in several rivers to rise above warning levels and also triggered flash floods and landslides that blocked many roads in the city of Mianyang and Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. The Mount Emei scenic area has been partially closed to the visitors as of Tuesday as torrential rain is forecast to continue in the next few days.”
“Maria will continue to threaten parts of eastern China with heavy rainfall into Thursday as the former super typhoon continues to move inland and weaken. Maria made landfall near the city of Fuzhou on Wednesday morning as a powerful and dangerous typhoon before weakening into a tropical storm. Northern Fujian and southern Zhejiang provinces faced the brunt of Maria’s fury.”
“Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, will meet evacuees at on Wednesday at one of the areas worst-hit by record rains as the death toll rose to 179 and thousands remained stranded in shelters.”
“Heavy overnight rain caused flooding and damage to at least 50 houses in Morelia, Michoacán [Mexico], according to state Civil Protection officials. Neighborhoods in the north of the city, especially those located close to the foothills of Cerro del Quinceo — including Ciudad Jardin, Solidaridad and Presa de los Reyes — bore the brunt of the damage.”
“Temperatures at California’s Disneyland hit a whopping 114F (45C) on Friday, the hottest day ever recorded at the popular family attraction… A number of outdoor attractions were closed due to the heat, including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, according to Theme Park Insider.”
“On Monday evening in southern Arizona, cars and trucks disappeared from the usually well-trafficked Interstate 8 highway. A massive dust storm, known as a haboob, smothered the road and surrounding region in a thick cloud of desert dust.”
“More than 182,000 acres of land have been scorched by Colorado wildfire this season and the damage is taking a toll on wildlife. On Tuesday, fire officials said food sources for multiple species, including black bears, has been burned.”
“Four tornado touch downs have been confirmed after severe weather swept through parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan once again on Tuesday. That’s after two confirmed tornadoes were reported in Saskatchewan on Monday. Tennis ball sized hail also left its mark on the region with another round of severe weather on the table for Wednesday.”
“While Beryl, downgraded from a tropical storm to merely a low pressure system, failed to directly strike the island, heavy rains brought power outages and flooding to areas still reeling from last year’s hurricanes — an ominous sign given the likelihood of far worse storms to come. Around 47,000 people lost power in Puerto Rico at one point during Beryl’s onslaught on Monday…”
“The amount of debt in the world increased by nearly $25tn in the year to the end of March, piling more pressure on a global financial system already struggling to deal with rising US interest rates, widening spreads for borrowers and a strengthening US dollar…
“Relative to gross domestic product, global debt exceeded 318 per cent in the first quarter, the first such increase since the third quarter of 2016, according to the IIF.
““The increase in the level of debt, both in absolute terms and relative to GDP, against a backdrop of tightening financial conditions, is, of course, a cause for concern,” said Hung Tran, the IIF’s executive managing director.
“Such concerns are likely to play out in emerging markets over the coming months. Currencies and bonds in countries such as Argentina, Turkey, Brazil and South Africa have been dropped by investors as tightening conditions expose the vulnerability of countries with high inflation and large current account and budget deficits.”
“In a global economy increasingly plagued by worries — from an unfolding trade war to higher oil prices — Turkey may present the most immediate cause for alarm… In a conspicuous sign of unease among global investors, the value of Turkey’s currency, the lira, has plunged by roughly one-fifth this year, raising prices for households and businesses alike. It dropped some more on Monday, as Mr. Erdogan handed the job of economic chief to his son-in-law…”
“Seven months after the largest protests in Iran’s history, Iranians have hit the streets once again. They are fed up with the country’s poor financial performance and the recent devaluation of Iranian rial. Having become one of the world’s most volatile currencies, the rial over the past few months has lost more than 50 percent of its value.”
“China is selling “vapor projects” to other nations and booking profits for simply making a commitment – a shell game with billions, possibly trillions, at risk. At the end of the day, China shows multiple massive infrastructure projects and this boosts their GDP, employment, and manufacturing data while covering the raw material and labor costs by sucking real revenues from host nations. As long as the host nation does not lose faith in the deal or ask too many questions, no one is the wiser and China can keep playing their shell game. We believe all of this started to change in early 2018…”
“South Korea’s job market showed little sign of improvement with year-on-year job addition hovering below 200,000 for the fifth month in a row in June – the longest job stagnation since the 2008 global financial crisis – as manufacturing sector continued to shed jobs amid increasing wages and shorter work hours.”
“Up to 1 million Australian households could be in danger of missing mortgage repayments by September. That is the warning from one independent analyst if the big four banks do what many fear they will do and increase their standard variable rates rise by as little as 0.15 percentage points over the next few months.”
“The gulf between the easy, prosperous, productive Brexit that its voters are impatiently expecting, and the grim, complicated cost of disentangling economies that have been intertwined for decades has poisoned and paralyzed British politics.”
“Eurozone house prices rose at the fastest pace in 11 years during the first three months of 2018, a development that is likely to reinforce the European Central Bank’s determination to end a key stimulus program in December. House prices in the first quarter were 4.5% higher than in the same quarter a year earlier, the European Union’s statistics agency said Tuesday. That was the largest on-the-year increase since the first three months of 2007, well before the onset of the global financial crisis, when asset prices tumbled as the financial system seized up.”
“Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco told a gathering of bankers in Rome that Italy’s reform effort had petered out and that, if a new financial crisis should hit, it was now “much more vulnerable than we were 10 years ago”.”
“The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday sold $33 billion of three-year government notes to the weakest demand in more than nine years at a yield of 2.685 percent, which was the highest yield since May 2007, Treasury data showed.”
“A U.S.-China trade war and a further 10 percent drop in emerging-market stocks might not be the worst things to happen this year, according to Mark Mobius. The veteran investor in developing nations also sees a worldwide financial crisis on the horizon.”
“Global financial assets have soared in value by nearly 50 per cent from their level just before the global financial crisis, despite very sluggish growth in global GDP and trade since that time. This represents a huge surge in paper (rather than real) wealth and most of the value is concentrated in stocks (US$70 trillion) and in sovereign and corporate bonds (US$90 trillion). These “stretched” valuations, to use a term employed by the International Monetary Fund, among others, were vulnerable to a correction even before Trump embarked upon his reckless trade wars.”
“Schools and offices across Taiwan have been ordered to close and hundreds of flights have been cancelled as the island braces for a powerful and life-threatening typhoon.
“Soldiers are on standby amid fears of landslides and flash floods as Super Typhoon Maria bears down with 130mph winds and torrential rain.
“The Central Weather Bureau said the north and east of Taiwan would bear the brunt of the storm, expected to make landfall at 5pm local time (9am GMT)…
“On Sunday Maria reached Category 5, meaning sustained winds of more than 157mph, before being downgraded to Category 4 on Monday.
“The storm is also on course to lash Japan’s Ryukyu Islands before barrelling into China, south of Shanghai, on Wednesday.”
“The death toll in flooding and landslides in 12 prefectures in western Japan has risen to 157, with at least 80 more people missing and rescue teams combing through shattered towns in search of survivors… The town of Umaji, in Kochi Prefecture, recorded more than 47 inches of rain in the space of 72 hours.”
“Fascinating maps have revealed the true scale of ‘one of the most intense heat events ever seen’ on Earth, showing how cities across the Northern Hemisphere witnessed extreme temperatures in the past week, with records breaking in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Western Asia. Nebraska-based meteorologist Nick Humphrey, who runs the ‘Ocean’s Wrath’ blog, said the extreme spell of hot weather shown in the maps amounted to ‘a true roasting’.”
“On Friday, record temperatures were set across southern Saskatchewan. Val Marie set a temperature record of 39.3 C, breaking a record set in 2007. Meanwhile, Mankota set a record of 38.4 C. As a result of the extreme heat, health agencies across the province are advising people to stay hydrated and take frequent breaks.”
“Five weeks after historic Ellicott City, Maryland, was flooded for the second time in two years, the National Weather Service office in Sterling, Virginia, has completed its first comprehensive review of the astonishing rainfall totals causing it… In 15 minutes between 4:06 and 4:21 p.m., an astonishing 1.44 inches was recorded; more than half an inch falling in just five minutes within that time span.”
“Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were hit by power outages and widespread flooding Monday as remnants of the Atlantic season’s first hurricane provided an initial test of how far they have recovered from last year’s devastating storms.”
“The Icelandic weather continues to be bad as Iceland experiences its greyest and wettest summer since 1914. Icelandic meteorologist Trausti Jónsson blames the UK heatwave for Iceland’s unusually grey and cold summer… the high pressure system over western Europe is changing the jet stream and pushing clouds over the north of the continent. As a result, “the people of Reykjavík are paying for the sunshine in England and southern Scandinavia,” Jonsson explains.”
“Rescuers in western Japan dug through mud and rubble on Monday, racing to find survivors after torrential rains unleashed floods and landslides that killed more than 100 people, with dozens missing.
“Prime minister Shinzo Abe cancelled an overseas trip because of the disaster, a ruling party source said. The trip would have taken him to Belgium, France, Saudi Arabia and Egypt from Wednesday.
“Rain tapered off across the region battered by the downpour, revealing blue skies and scorching sun forecast to push temperatures above 30 degrees, fuelling fears of heatstroke in areas cut off from power or water.
““We cannot take baths, the toilet doesn’t work and our food stockpile is running low,” said Yumeko Matsui, whose home in the city of Mihara has been without water since Saturday…”
“A fierce typhoon is headed in the direction of Taiwan, spurring warnings over extreme weather that risks shuttering schools, businesses and the stock exchange… Maria, with sustained winds of up to 198 kilometers per hour (124 miles per hour) and gusts of up to 245 kilometers per hour, was categorized as a super typhoon by the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center.”
“Tropical Storm Chris, the third named storm of this season, is forecast to become a hurricane by Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center… Chris formed off the coast of North Carolina on Friday and is currently about 160 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras.”
“Lake Powell, the largest reservoir for Colorado and other Upper Basin states, is 26 feet below its level compared with the same time last year. Due to terrible snowpack, more water is going out of the reservoir at this point of the year than flowing in…”
“Wildfires ignited and rapidly grew in Southern California to close out the past week as some locations endured their highest temperatures in recorded history. The latest destructive fire is the Holiday Fire which broke out in a building in the city of Goleta, northwest of Los Angeles, on Friday night.”
“Indigenous Sami herders and fishermen say the plan to dump the mine’s tailings in the fjord, while less damaging than piling them on land, would destroy spawning grounds for cod and the mine would damage summer pasture grounds and frighten the reindeer.”
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Weekday updates on both climate change and the global economy. Stay current with what’s happening around the world with a quick scan of top news.
“An intense heat dome has swelled over Scandinavia, pushing temperatures more than 10 degrees above normal and spurring some of the region’s hottest weather ever recorded and a historic bush fire outbreak in Sweden.
“Soon every weather event could become a state of emergency… in Japan, what started as a downpour on June 28 refused to relent, dug in its heels, and kept dumping rain on southern Japan for more than two weeks, and at least 176 people lost their lives. 
“Globally, this June marks the second warmest on record and this year to date the hottest La Nina year on record, which has been featured by high impacting extreme weather during the early summer in the northern hemisphere, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)said on Tuesday.
“The amount of debt in the world increased by nearly $25tn in the year to the end of March, piling more pressure on a global financial system already struggling to deal with rising US interest rates, widening spreads for borrowers and a strengthening US dollar…
“Schools and offices across Taiwan have been ordered to close and hundreds of flights have been cancelled as the island braces for a powerful and life-threatening typhoon.
“Rescuers in western Japan dug through mud and rubble on Monday, racing to find survivors after torrential rains unleashed floods and landslides that killed more than 100 people, with dozens missing.