GLOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

JULY 2023

UNITED STATES

Tornadoes and thunderstorms battered the Chicago area on Wednesday (12^th), forcing airports to halt air traffic and prompting officials to advise residents to seek shelter as tornado sirens echoed through the third largest city.  The National Weather Service reported that a tornado touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare international airport on Wednesday evening – one of at least eight tornadoes to hit north-eastern Illinois, including four in Cook county.  “This tornado has been touching the ground intermittently so far and is moving east. There are additional circulations along the line south of O’Hare. Seek shelter if in the warned area,” it said, before reporting less than an hour later that the area was tornado free.

The devastated city of Montpelier, Vermont, was beginning a major cleanup effort on Wednesday, two days after the Winooski River broke its banks when a summer’s worth of rain fell in a few hours and devastated the city.  Debris from flooded homes and businesses fills the streets, while a coat of river mud covers roadways.

At the height of the deluge, streets turned into rivers and water nearly reached ceilings in the downtown area. No deaths have been reported, but a temporary travel ban was issued and a boil-water notice put into effect.  More than 100 roads in the worst-hit areas around Montpelier and Barre have been washed out. With the Winooski still raging, residents described their helplessness as the slow-moving storm, tracking north from where it had devastated parts of the Hudson valley, unleashed its barrage.  “It was unexpected,” said Milo Hecht, 29. “It just kept raining and raining. It wasn’t a tropical storm, so it wasn’t foreseen, but we knew we would be getting rain. We just didn’t expect the flooding to be so severe.”

Record-breaking heat is baking the south-west this week, putting millions under extreme heat warnings as temperatures upwards of 100F (38C) hit Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and southern California for days on end. Even desert residents accustomed to scorching summers are feeling the relentless grip of the heat. Phoenix, which hit a 12th consecutive day of 110F on Tuesday, could see its longest ever heatwave.  The high temperatures in Arizona’s largest city are expected to continue through next week, with the National Weather Service warning it will rival “some of the worst heatwaves this area has ever seen”. The longest recorded stretch of 110F-days was 18 days The US’s summer of weather misery is expected to escalate further this week as the south-west braces for record-breaking temperatures never seen before.

Over the weekend, the National Weather Service issued a warning about forthcoming further excessive heat in an already scorching month, even by typical US desert standards. The warning covers the entire Phoenix metro area and beyond in Arizona, and it will remain in effect until at least Sunday. The warning came after a week of record global temperatures in what is predicted to be the hottest month in the US ever recorded, accelerated by the El Niño pattern, as the climate crisis continues to spiral.  “We are still anticipating this current heatwave to continue through next week and likely beyond with it rivaling some of the worst heatwaves this area has ever seen. This week has been hot with temperatures on average five degrees above normal in the Phoenix area to a few degrees above normal across the western deserts, but there is very high confidence this heat will get even worse next week,” the National Weather Service (NWS) warned last Friday.  “Tuesday through the rest of the week, temperatures across the region may be some of the hottest we have ever seen,” the government agency added, often with little cooling at night.  The NWS said next week’s temperatures will range in the highs from 113 to 118F (45 to 48C) across the lower deserts on Wednesday and Thursday. It added that there are pockets of 5-10% probability of reaching a dangerous 120F (49C).

CANADA

The body of a 52-year old man and other human remains have been discovered by emergency teams searching for four people who went missing in historic flooding after more than 200mm (7.87in) of rain pummeled some regions of Nova Scotia at the weekend.  The man’s body was found near West Hants in Nova Scotia, on the south-eastern coast of Canada, where search and rescue teams were looking for two children, a youth and a man who were in two vehicles which became submerged in flood water.  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said that human remains had also been found, adding that the force was working with the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner’s Office to identify them.

ASIA

Torrential rain across northern India has killed at least 22 people, causing landslides and flash floods in the region, with Delhi receiving the most rainfall in decades, reports and officials have said (10^th).  Schools in Delhi were closed after heavy rains lashed the national capital over the weekend, and authorities in the Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand asked people not to venture out of their homes unless necessary.  At least 22 people died in floods and landslides in the northern states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab on Sunday, the Times of India newspaper reported.

Rescuers in South Korea are battling to reach people trapped in a flooded tunnel, while at least 37 people have died after heavy rains caused flooding and landslides (16^th).  South Korea is at the peak of its summer monsoon season and there has been heavy rainfall for the last four days, causing a major dam to overflow.  The interior ministry reported that 37 people had been killed in the heavy downpours, mostly buried by landslides or after falling into a flooded reservoir.  On Sunday, hundreds of rescue workers were struggling to reach more than 10 cars and an unknown number of people trapped in a 430-metre (1,410ft) underground tunnel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, the ministry said.

EUROPE

Sixteen cities across Italy have been issued with red alerts as southern Europe continues to experience fierce heat and faces the possibility of record-breaking temperatures (15^th).

Rome, Florence and Bologna are among the areas affected by the heatwave, with forecasters suggesting that Sicily and Sardinia could see temperatures climb as high as 49C (120F), which would be the hottest ever recorded in Europe.  The red alerts mean that even healthy people could be at risk from the heat, and the Italian government has advised those in the alert areas to avoid direct sunlight between 11am and 6pm.  It has also warned people to take particular care of the elderly and the vulnerable. Several areas of Greece, France and Spain have also been enduring extreme temperatures, with reports of tourists collapsing in Greece and Italy, and an outdoor worker dying near Milan.  In recent days, temperatures in Greece have hit 40C or above. Volunteers have been handing out bottles of water at tourist sites, and authorities took the unusual step of briefly closing the Acropolis in Athens on Friday during the hottest period to protect visitors from the heat. It is understood a similar closure could be repeated on Saturday.

METTERIANIAN

As temperatures hit a high of 46.3C in Sicily, fire crews battled blazes in Greece and the Swiss Alps.  Scientists say climate change is making heatwaves longer, more intense and more frequent.  Across the world, millions of people are being impacted by extreme weather; from soaring temperatures in the US and China, to heavy rainfall in East Asia.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says heatwaves will become more severe in the years ahead, and that extreme weather patterns highlight the need for more climate action. "These events will continue to grow in intensity and the world needs to prepare for more intense heatwaves," said John Nairn, senior extreme heat advisor at the UN agency. Media caption,  Watch: Chris Fawkes tells us how high temperatures in the northern hemisphere are Since Monday, Greece has seen multiple wildfires break out across the country - including one which led to the evacuation of 1,200 children from a summer camp.  The most severe fire in Greece currently is in the Dervenochoria region north of Athens, where billowing smoke can be seen on satellite images.  Other fires continue to rage in towns of Loutraki - a coastal town near the city of Corinth - and in Kouvaras, south of the capital.  The EU announced it will send amphibious aircraft to Greece which are designed for aerial firefighting  "Our main concern is protecting human life," fire service spokesman Yannis Artopios said.

Elsewhere in Europe, crews in Switzerland are battling a wildfire close to the village of Bitsch in canton Valais which authorities said started on Monday afternoon and spread "explosively" overnight.  Another wildfire on the Spanish island of La Palma, which started on Saturday, has destroyed 20 homes. But, cooler overnight temperatures and higher air humidity levels helped firefighters gain the upper hand in their battle against the blaze and bring it under control.

The battle to douse wildfires raging for a third day around Athens has intensified as water bombers flown in from Italy and France joined the operation to extinguish flames often fanned by strong winds.  Firefighters, backed by soldiers, police special forces, volunteers and water-dropping aircraft, resumed efforts to contain blazes that by Wednesday had encroached on the town of Megara. The fire, which initially broke out in Dervenochoria, about 18 miles (30km) north of the Greek capital, had ripped through land turned tinder dry by temperatures that surpassed 40C (104F) last week.  By late Tuesday a fire front stretching for more than five miles had spurred mass evacuations and decimated homes, cars, olive groves and pine forests in the area of Mandra, where police could be seen helping panic-stricken residents get into vehicles as the flames approached. “We are living a nightmare,” the mayor of Mandra, Christos Stathis, told Open TV. “Houses and properties are on fire.”

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

Temperatures continued to reach extreme highs across many parts of the northern hemisphere on Monday, with the mercury in parts of Italy poised to hit 45C on Tuesday and wildfires raging in Greece and Spain signaling the latest fierce warning of the effects of the climate crisis.  In Italy, where temperatures later in the week could push close to the European record of 48.8C, set in the Sicilian town of Floridia in August 2021, Italians were warned to brace themselves for “the most intense heatwave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time”.  As heatwaves engulfed the globe, temperatures in California’s Death Valley, often among the hottest places on Earth, approached a world record on Sunday after reaching 53.3C.  China on Sunday issued several temperature alerts, warning of 39C in southern Guangxi region and 40-45C in the partly desert region of Xinjiang, where a temperature of 52.2C was recorded in the remote Sanbao township. In Japan, 60 people were treated for heatstroke as temperatures in the country reached highs of 39.1C.

AFRICA

With an unprecedented 116.4F (46.9C) being recorded in the south-western city of Tozeur, doctors are advising people to stay hydrated and remain indoors in air conditioning.  As the North African country is experiencing a fifth consecutive year of drought, disturbances over water have been recorded in many areas, including the outskirts of the capital, Tunis.  In some other cities, power outages are making things even harder. The heatwave is affecting all of North Africa.  In Morocco, the National Agency for Water and Forests has warned of a high risk of wildfires across the kingdom, while Algeria has recorded some of the hottest temperatures in the world, with 47.4C reported in the coastal region of Chlef.  During the last week of April, temperatures across the region were up to 15C higher than normal for the time of year.  The current heatwave is expected to persist until at least 28 July. Tunisia’s National Meteorological Institute suggests the peak has not yet been reached. 

Thirty-four people including 10 soldiers have been killed by wildfires in the mountainous Béjaïa and Bouïra regions of Algeria, as a heatwave spreads across north Africa and southern Europe.  About 8,000 firefighters were trying to bring the flames under control, authorities said, adding that about 1,500 people had been evacuated.

Algeria’s interior ministry said operations were under way to put out fires in six provinces and asked for people to “avoid areas affected by the fires” and to report new blazes on free phone numbers. “Civil protection services remain mobilised until the fires are completely extinguished,” the ministry said. The defense ministry said 10 soldiers were killed in the fires, but provided no further details.  Fires frequently rage through forests and fields in Algeria in summer, and this year they have been exacerbated by a heatwave that has broken temperature records in several Mediterranean countries.

TROPICAL

Typhoon Talim disrupted flights and shut fishing villages and coastal tourist spots, but weakened on its way to Vietnam.   Over in South Korea, the death toll from days of torrential rain and landslides rose to 41.  Talim whipped Guangdong province with winds of nearly 140km/h (87mph) Monday night, before making landfall in neighboring Guangxi on Tuesday.  Trees fell on moving vehicles, a whale washed ashore and a freezer full of ice cream floated off in floods as the storm barreled through Guangdong.

Firefighters rescued passengers trapped in their cars by fallen tree branches as they cleared roads of debris and assisted other motorists to safety, state media reported.

Local authorities called back some 2,700 fishing vessels and ordered more than 8,200 fish-farming workers to be evacuated as storm surges lashed the coast, Xinhua said.