In the spirit of publishing some posts that should have been posted long ago, here is one about record hot temperatures seen around the world in recent years. Individually, these made for some miserable and even dangerous days for the regions and the people in them at the time. Taken together, however, it is hard not to see a pattern that is consistent with what scientists have been warning about for years: the erratic weather that would be seen with climate change.
I have mentioned before that there have been record hot temperatures in various different regions of the world, which would seem to confirm what many American detractors refer to as the “global warming hoax.” Indeed, in case you have not been keeping up, many of these record hot temperatures have occurred in areas that actually are known for being extremely hot, which is saying something.
Some years ago, I wrote an entry here on "The Charbor Chronicles" about this very subject, because it was an issue. At that point, there was an unbelievable heatwave in the southwest that set all sorts of record hot temperatures, and since that is the Mojave desert, that is saying something. Here is part of what I wrote back then:
Indeed, temperatures in parts of the west were so staggeringly high, to the point that they were downright dangerous. Severe burns could occur immediately if someone fell on pavement, because temperatures for pavement (which absorbs the heat) reached close to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius). It was so hot, that flights to Phoenix were cancelled, because some planes simply could not handle that level of heat. In fact, it was so hot, that apparently people could feel it even with their eyes, which could dry out surprisingly quick in that degree of heat - and remember out there, it is what they call a "dry heat."
I went on to write about how this appeared to be more of a trend, and not something merely isolated to the southwestern United States:
Temperatures in certain parts of Death Valley reached 129 degrees Fahrenheit (53.8 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday, which was the hottest day of this heat wave.
Record extreme heat is something that we have seen throughout the world now in the last couple of years. From the Mojave Desert in North America, to eastern Australia earlier this year, and to Kuwait last year, temperatures have reached scorching levels that made it downright dangerous for residents of these regions.
Last year in Kuwait, temperatures reached a sweltering 54 degrees Celcius (129 degrees Fahrenheit), which at least challenged the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the world's history. Going back over a century ago, to July 1913, temperatures in Death Valley, California, reached a staggering 56.7 Celcius (134 degrees Fahrenheit).
Earlier this year in Australia, a record heat wave brought temperatures to the mid-40's Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and even reached up to 47 degrees Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit).
Well, we seem to be experiencing more record heat, and in even more places, including some of the places that I mentioned in that previous blog entry years ago.
That has happened now several times in Australia. There were record hot temperatures in Australia – a place known for extreme heat – experienced some years ago in December.
There were record hot temperatures in other places, as well. California not only experienced the hottest month in it’s history in July of 2018, but in Death Valley, that month was the hottest month ever seen anywhere in the world, period. Average temperatures in Death Valley – again, another place very well known for hot temperatures - for that month of July were an astonishing 108.1 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep in mind, that was the average temperature, including both highs and lows through the day and night! It should go without saying that those kinds of temperatures can contribute significantly to the wildfires that are experienced throughout the western United States.
And in yet another place known for extremely hot weather, there was record heat last month throughout and around the Arabian peninsula. Kuwait saw 52.2 degrees Celsius, or 125.96 Fahrenheit. It was even hotter in the southern province of Maysan, in Iraq, which experienced 55.6 degrees Celsius, or 132.08 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now, another part of the world much less well known for hot temperatures was seeing record heat: Europe.
According to AccuWeather broadcast in late July of 2019, it was 42.6 degrees Celsius, or 108.7 Fahrenheit, in Paris. That is an all-time record hot temperature for Paris, breaking a record that had stood for nearly seven decades! And in Bordeaux at around the same time, it was so hot that the grass median separating two different sides of a highway suddenly burst on fire. In case you were wondering, these are not normal temperatures or conditions that anyone sees in France, even during summertime. Nor is it relegated to France. Incredibly hot temperatures were experienced in much of western Europe, including the Benelux countries and Germany. It was 41.7 in Deelen, Netherlands. That is the first time in history that the Netherlands has seen temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius.
Oh, just in case you are skeptical about it being so hot, that the grass median dividing a highway at Bordeaux, France, actually went on fire, here is some video:
Here are some descriptions of the record heat, according to a very recent article by Angela Charlton and Kirsten Grieshaber (see link below):
“Temperature records that had stood for decades or even just hours fell minute by minute Thursday afternoon and Europeans and tourists alike jumped into fountains, lakes, rivers or the sea to escape a suffocating heat wave rising up from the Sahara.
"France's heat alert system went to its maximum level of red for the first time during last month's heat wave , when France saw its highest-ever recorded temperature of 46 degrees Celsius (114.8 degrees Fahrenheit). On Thursday, about one-fifth of French territory was under a red alert, stretching from the English Channel through the Paris region and down to Burgundy, affecting at least 20 million people."
Why is this happening?
"There is likely the DNA of climate change in the record-breaking heat that Europe and other parts of the world are experiencing. And it is unfortunately going to continue to worsen," said Marshall Shepherd, professor of meteorology at University of Georgia.
So, just how bad was it? Here are some stats, also taken from the article by Angela Charlton and Kirsten Grieshaber (see link below):
— The Paris area hit 42.6 C (108.7 F), beating the previous record of 40.4 C (104.7 F) set in 1947.
— The Netherlands' meteorological institute announced a record that beat the previous record set just a day ago: 40.7 C (105.3 F) in the Gilze Rijen municipality near the Belgian border.
— Belgium hit all-time records twice in the day, rising to 40.7 C (105.3 F) in the western town of Beitem. "This is the highest recorded temperature for Belgium in history since the beginning of the measurements in 1833," said Alex Dewalque of the country's Royal Meteorological Institute.
— The northern German town of Lingen set a new national temperature record at least three times Thursday, finally hitting 42.6 C (108.7 F). Those repeated records came after the country had set a national record Wednesday of 40.5 C (104.9 F) in Geilenkirchen near the Belgian border.
— London recorded its hottest day on record for July, with the mercury climbing to 36.9 C (98.4 F) at Heathrow Airport. The previous July record was 36.7 C (98 F) in 2015.
— In Britain overall, temperatures hit 38.1 C (100.6 F) in southern England, which gave the country a record for the highest July temperature ever but did not beat the national record of 38.5 C (101.3 F) set in August 2003. Britain's Met Office said its temperature records go back to 1865.
— The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment issued a "smog alarm" Thursday for areas including the densely populated cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague due to high ozone levels.
And guess what? Europe's heat waves (yes, there have been more than one in Europe already in 2019) have not simply melted away, to be quickly forgotten. Those scorching temperatures also reached the Arctic, which has experienced a warm weather season like no other in history. In fact, last month - June, 2019 - was the warmest month not only in history in the Arctic, but the warmest month ever recorded around the globe. Here are some excerpts from an article (originally written in Russian) by y Atle Staalesen of The Barents Observer which explains in a bit more detail just how unusual this year's summer season in the northern hemisphere has been:
Never before have temperatures this high been registered at this time of year. June 2019 was the warmest ever on record on planet earth.
The previous record from 2016 was smashed. It was the world’s 43rd consecutive June and the 414th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th century average. Nine of the 10 warmest Junes have occurred since 2010, the World Meteorological Organization informs.
The Arctic was no exception. Parts of the far northern region saw temperatures more common to southern beach resorts. In North Siberia, along the coast of the Laptev Sea, heat brought average temperatures for the month up to 8 degrees Celsius above normal, information from Russia’s meteorological institute Roshydromet shows.
That incredible heat wave in the Arctic region was also felt in the United States, in the predominately Republican state of Alaska, to boot. Here, according to Tom DiLiberto, was a description:
[NOAA by Tom Di Liberto] Experiencing a summer heat wave with temperatures in the nineties is probably pretty normal for most people. But now imagine you live in Alaska. Not so normal anymore, is it? Alaska has just come to the end of a period of warmth that re-wrote the record books for multiple cities and communities across the state. And crazy enough, it was one of several jaw dropping climate events taking place across our largest state.
So, how hot did it get? Well, from the same article, here is more of a detailed description with specific temperatures. And please keep in mind, this is Alaska, in areas near or at the Arctic region:
Starting on the Fourth of July and lasting multiple days, temperatures across Alaska were 20 to 30 degrees above average in some locations. On July 4, all-time high temperature records were set in Kenai, Palmer, King Salmon, and Anchorage International Airport. The airport reached an astounding, for Alaska, 90°F, breaking the previous all-time record by 5°F! The average temperature in Anchorage during summer is normally in the mid-sixties. Anchorage, Talkeetna (which saw a July record daily high of 93°F), and King Salmon also observed their warmest week on record.
And the anomalous Arctic heat has not been short-lived. Through July 10, Juneau saw the high temperature reach at least 70°F for a record 17 consecutive days. In Anchorage, the highs have reached 80°F for a record six consecutive days, doubling the previous record. And three of those days broke or tied the previous all-time record! The average high temperature from June 27 through July 8 was nearly 81°F, 5.5°F higher than the previous 12-day record. There’s out of the ordinary, and then there is what has been happening in Alaska.
Oh, and by the way, it is not merely that it is unusually hot and perhaps bothersome, perhaps even dangerous, to locals, simply because of hottern than normal temperatures. The unusual weather has had other impacts, as well. What are they? Again, a bit from the same article:
Where to begin? June was the second warmest on record for Alaska. The hot temperatures were accompanied by dry conditions, creating the perfect set-up for wildfires. Alaskan wildfires have burned well 1.6 million acres in 2019 through July 14, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordinate Center. Nearly 1,000,000 acres have burned just since July 3.
You might think that this would be the major news story, all around the globe. That we would finally collectively get up off our asses and realize that maybe, just maybe, there really is something to what the scientists are trying to warn us about.
Where to begin? June was the second warmest on record for Alaska. The hot temperatures were accompanied by dry conditions, creating the perfect set-up for wildfires. Alaskan wildfires have burned well 1.6 million acres in 2019 through July 14, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordinate Center. Nearly 1,000,000 acres have burned just since July 3.
You might think that this would be the major news story, all around the globe. That we would finally collectively get up off our asses and realize that maybe, just maybe, there really is something to what the scientists are trying to warn us about.
Instead, Trump and the American Republican party remain as self-assured as ever that this is all some sort of hoax, apparently invented by the Chinese. And in Brazil, Bolsonaro is giving the green light to destroy yet more of the Amazon rainforest, perhaps to accelerate it even faster. It almost seems like they believe themselves to be exempt from the ramifications of their actions, which all seem to be about short-term profit, even if it proves costly for the entire world, and apparently, no longer in the distant future. The detrimental effects of climate change are upon us already, and this is only the beginning.
But here in the United States, Trump and company assure us there is no cause for alarm. When there are scary headlines, they know exactly how to handle it: censor the news and/or dismiss it as "fake news." Or, perhaps, simply to say that hot temperatures in the summer are not really news, and that the climate has always changed and will always change, and all of the other platitudes that they try to give in order to justify not doing a single thing about it. After all, this is all just part of the great, big Chinese hoax known as global warming, or climate change, right?
Boy, if global warming is a Chinese hoax, like our enlightened and beloved leader has said in the past, then they sure know how to make a convincing one, don't they?
Here is the link to the article I used about the record heat wave in Europe in the past couple of days:
Europe melts under Sahara heat wave, smashes heat records by Angela Charlton and Kirsten Grieshaber of the Associated Press, July 25, 2019:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Paris-sizzles-London-boils-as-record-heat-14127562.php
Article about record heat earlier this year in Australia:
Extreme heatwave: all-time temperature records fall across parts of Australia Lisa Cox and agencies, The Guardian, Wed 16 Jan 2019:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/17/extreme-heatwave-all-time-temperature-records-fall-across-parts-of-australia
Link to an article about record heat in and around the Arabian peninsula last month:
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia record highest temperature on earth The heatwave is expected to continue well into the summer season by Sara Al Shurafa, Web Editor, June 12, 2019:
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/kuwait-and-saudi-arabia-record-highest-temperature-on-earth-1.1560325581417
The two links to the articles on record heat in the Arctic, including Alaska:
Arctic summer 2019: record-beating heat, dramatic ice loss and raging wildfires Gloomy pictures of climate change from the top of the world. Read in Russian | Читать по-русски By Atle Staalesen 63753 July 22, 2019:
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arktika/2019/07/worlds-warmest-june-ever-heatwave-raged-across-parts-arctic
A Closer Look at the Heat that Smashed All-Time Records in Alaska [NOAA by Tom Di Liberto] FIRE HEAT RECORD WEATHER JUL 22, 2019:
https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/a-closer-look-at-the-heat-that-smashed-all-time-records-in-alaska/
I took the liberty of using some quotes and data from my own entry on the subject more than two years ago, and here is the link:
The Charbor Chronicles from Thursday, June 22, 2017 Record Heat Wave Out West Seems Part of a Growing Worldwide Trend:
https://charbor74.blogspot.com/2017/06/record-heat-wave-out-west-seems-part-of.html?m=0
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