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).😉
Main Topic: Current Multiple Heatwaves on Multiple Continents: Current Multiple Heatwaves on Multiple Continents
Dear Diary. As promised, I would be playing whack a mole this week, highlighting each heatwave per day currently affecting this lovely planet. So, when one of Ian Livingston’s good summaries comes along, my job is much easier. Oh, and as Jeff Berardelli posts:
Thankfully, both of the heat domes in association with American Heatwave Conoco and a heatwave that I didn’t name baking Europe are on the wane, but as of this morning are still anomalously fierce:
Since the European heatwave is a borderline CAT4/5, let’s give that thing a moniker, calling it Heatwave Maleficent after a Disney character from Sleeping Beauty,
In any case, here is Ian Livingston’s summary. What is even more disturbing as far as anthropogenic global warming goes is that we currently have heatwaves going on across the Southern Hemisphere during winter…yes winter:
Heat records are being smashed in multiple parts of the globe – The Washington Post
Heat records are being smashed in multiple parts of the globe
As the relentless heat wave in the central U.S. peaks, parts of Europe, Asia and South America are broiling, too
August 24, 2023 at 12:19 p.m. EDT
Intense heat waves have hit multiple parts of the globe. (weatherbell.com)
As the relentless central U.S. heat wave peaks, intense heat waves are also blasting other regions that have faced unusually hot weather off and on much of the year, particularly in Europe and Asia. Monthly and all-time records are regularly falling in both hemispheres.
Southern Europe, focused from Portugal to Italy, is again broiling. France just notched its hottest day on record this late in the year. Numerous other locations saw records for the month of August and all time.
It’s supposed to be winter in the Southern Hemisphere, yet in many places in South America and southern Africa it’s feeling like anything but. South America logged its hottest winter temperature on the books Wednesday.
East Asia also continues to swelter under unceasing conditions defined by high heat, humidity and stifling nights. Japan in particular has faced unending records lately.
More of the same in the United States. The most expansive heat dome of summer is still near its peak over the country’s center, although it should wane this weekend into next week.
As hot as it gets in Europe
Bursts of heat have been regular across Europe this year, and in recent years more broadly. Drought conditions in Spain and other portions of the continent are only intensifying temperatures already boosted by hot air over North Africa streaming northward.
Temperatures Wednesday reached and surpassed 100 degrees in Portugal, Spain and France. (weathernerds.org)
The latest heat wave is as impressive as those that came before, despite the lateness of summer:
- Salindres, France, reached 112 degrees (44.4 C) Wednesday, the hottest recorded during August in the country. Hundreds of monthly records fell, as well.
- Soreze, France, saw a low of 87 degrees (30.6 C) Thursday. From a personal weather station, if confirmed, it would be a record for the highest low temperature on record in the country, according to weather historian Thierry Goose. It’s just one of scores of warm overnight low records.
- A French observatory at 5,141 feet reached a high of 86.7 (30.4 C) Wednesday, the first time since 1895 that it topped 30 C there, according to meteorologist Nahal Belgherze.
- Bilboa, Spain, joined several other locations in setting record high temperatures Wednesday. It was 111 degrees (44 C) there. Tortosa and Santander also set hottest-on-record highs, as did several spots in Portugal. All-time warm minimums have been widely set on the Iberian Peninsula.
Japan and East Asia scorching
East Asia is in the midst of a feedback loop between hot temperatures and heated waters. Water temperatures at a regional scale are the hottest compared to average across the whole globe. All-time high temperatures have closed schools and businesses in parts of Japan over recent days.
Water temperatures compared to average around Japan. (Ian Livingston/The Washington Post)
Some of the latest high marks include:
- Sapporo, in the north of Japan’s archipelago, reached 97 degrees (36.3 C) on Wednesday, the highest temperature on record there, according to meteorologist Sayaka Mori. Other all-time records occurred in Akita, Odate and Kucchan.
- Tokyo has seen four times the summer average of 95-degree days, with more than 20, which easily surpasses last year’s record high of 16 such days.
- Sixteen more all-time highs were set Thursday across Japan, and there’s no clear end in sight to the current heat wave.
Southern Hemisphere winter heat is exceptional
South Americans in many regions are wondering what happened to winter. Heat pulses have returned again and again recently, likely boosted by a developing El Niño and very warm water off the coast. Africa has also been setting high marks.
Summerlike high temperatures in South America Wednesday. Values shown are Celsius. (Ogimet)
Some key numbers from recent days:
- Villamontes, Bolivia, reached 113 degrees (45 C) on Wednesday. This ties the hottest winter temperature on record in the Southern Hemisphere, according to weather historian Maximiliano Herrera. It also appears to be the second-hottest winter temperature on record globally.
- Nueva Asuncion, Paraguay, got to 107 degrees (41.9) C on Wednesday, a new national record for the month.
- Southern Africa is in the midst of a major heat wave delivering record temperatures approaching 104 degrees (40 C) to Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, and Mozambique among other spots.
U.S. record heat rolls on
More than a thousand daily heat records have been set during the current pulse of high heat focused on the central United States. This past weekend, Monday and Tuesday, some of the numbers were hard to fathom: a 133 heat index in Kansas and 116 heat index in Chicago included.
Heat index values on Wednesday were over 120 across a wide region. (weatherbell.com)
Here are some of the most impressive numbers the past few days:
- New Orleans hit 102 degrees Wednesday, tying its hottest temperature on record, first set in August 1980. The city has seen 13 record highs during August alone. The string of days at or above 100 this year — now at 13 — has demolished the old record of five in 1980. Baton Rouge also tied a record for any day, with 105 degrees.
- Chicago saw a heat index of 116 degrees on Wednesday, tying for the second-hottest heat index observed there, according to the Weather Service. Only one day during the historic 1995 heat wave surpassed that mark in the Windy City.
- Amid hundreds of record warm lows, some all-time warm overnight values have been set. This includes 80 in Springfield, Mo.; 79 in Stoughton, Wis., and 77 in Clayton, Ala. Other spots like Atlanta, where it only dipped to 81 Wednesday, saw their second-warmest low on record.
By Ian Livingston Ian Livingston is a forecaster/photographer and information lead for the Capital Weather Gang. By day, Ian is a defense and national security researcher at a D.C. think tank. Twitter
More:
Here are some “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:
Notes on the active tropics:
Here is more climate and weather news from Thursday:
(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.)