The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Europe to Experience Yet Another Round of Deadly Heat This Week
Dear Diary. As far as global warming goes, the planet is in a sad state of affairs. It’s going to be hard for all media this week to cover global heat when there are so many concurrent historic heatwaves both in the United States, Europe and in Asia:
And that’s just the Northern Hemisphere. I was reminded of this:
Indeed:
Well, let’s try to play whack a mole this week when trying to cover some of the worst heat of 2023,, a year that we might look back on as when seeds laid down by the burning of fossil fuels sprouted and started to grow big time.
Today let’s start with Europe. Certainly, we see another huge 597+ decameter heat done centered over Spain to start out the week:
By Wednesday the system has only weakened slightly:
Finally, by Friday a cool rainy system centered over Great Britain will make inroads into southern Europe ending the heatwave:
As opposed to 2022 when a heatwave I dubbed as Heatwave Smaug baked Britain with all-time record maxes above 40°C, the British Isles have been blessed this year with typical cool wet weather…albiet rainier than usual.
Here are more details from Barrons:
Spain Swelters In Latest Searing Heatwave | Barron’s (barrons.com)
Spain Swelters in Latest Searing Heatwave
By AFP – Agence France Presse
August 20, 2023
Scientists say heatwaves have become more likely due to climate change
JOSE JORDAN
Spain was sweating Sunday as its latest summer heatwave took hold, the fourth of the season, with the mercury soaring notably in the northeast and the south of the country.
Temperatures rose across most of the peninsula, reaching above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the northeastern regions of Catalonia and Aragon, and reaching almost 44C in parts of the southern Andalucia region, the AEMET weather agency said.
Forecasters said the latest bout of heat was due to intense sunshine over a warm and stable air mass, with the heatwave also affecting the basins of major rivers across the country.
In Madrid, where temperatures were hovering around 38C, many said the hot nights were the hardest thing to bear.
“The worst thing about a heatwave is that you don’t sleep well at night,” 69-year-old Antonio Tort told AFPTV in the city’s Plaza Mayor.
“During the day you can stay in and drink a lot, but at night, you just can’t sleep and you don’t wake up in a very good mood.”
Victor Bernardo, a 33-year-old tour guide holding a blue umbrella agreed.
“The summer months here in Madrid are a bit tough because it’s so hot and dry but we manage,” he said.
“There are times when the heat is even more noticeable at night than in the day because the heat accumulates in the ground all day then it seeps out at night,” he said.
The heatwave was expected to last until Thursday with temperatures seen peaking on Monday and Tuesday.
Since Tuesday, hundreds of firefighters have been battling a vast wildfire on the holiday island of Tenerife in the Canary Isles which has so far forced the evacuation of more than 12,000 people.
The blaze broke out after the Atlantic archipelago suffered a heatwave that left many areas tinder dry.
More than 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres) of land have burned in Spain since the beginning of the year, after a record in 2022 when more than 300,000 hectares were destroyed by wildfires, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis).
As global temperatures rise due to climate change, scientists have warned heatwaves will become more frequent and intense and have a much wider impact.
Here are some more recently reported records from Europe:
More:
Here are some other “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is some more July 2023 climatology:
Notes on historic Tropical Storm Hilary:
Here is more climate and weather news from Sunday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)