Extreme Temperatures
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Mystery 'heat burst' causes temperature in Lincolnshire, UK to soar by TEN degrees to 32C in just 38 minutes (and at sunset!)

Peter Hennessy
Lincolnshire Live
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 12:04 UTC
Lightning storm
© Owen Humphreys/PA Wire

The Met Office says the event is highly unusual

Parts of Lincolnshire experienced a ten degree temperature rise in under one hour last night due to a rare atmospheric phenomenon.

The Met Office has said that the so-called 'heat burst' was caused by a thunderstorm collapsing and bringing hot air down to ground level.

This caused the temperature recorded by the Met Office at Donna Nook to increase a staggering 10 degrees in just 38 minutes, jumping from 22C at 8.22pm to 32C just before 9pm.

A spokesperson for the Met Office told Lincolnshire Live: "While heat bursts are not unknown globally, to get that temperature rise so suddenly is much more common in countries with more turbulent weather.

"It doesn't happen very often at all full stop, honestly.

"This sort of weather behaviour is usually seen in regions such as mid-west United States prior to a hurricane or extremely stormy weather."


Comment: While they proffered a possible theory as to what happened, there's no way they could possibly know GIVEN THAT IT WAS THE FIRST TIME SUCH HAD EVER BEEN OBSERVED IN THE UK!

Some people with their instant know-it-all-ism, sheesh!

UK has second hottest day on record

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Sun

UK has second hottest day on record

Nadeem Badshah
The Guardian
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 21:26 UTC
UK heatwave
© Danny Lawson/PA

Cambridge was hottest spot at 38.1C, as Met Office issues storm and flood warnings overnight

Britain has experienced its hottest July day and second hottest day on record as the mercury hit 38.1C, the Met Office said.

The highest temperature recorded on Thursday was in Cambridge, which is only the second time temperatures over 100F have been recorded in the UK, according to the Met Office. Thursday's record temperature surpassed the previous high for the month of 36.7C (98.06F) set at Heathrow in July 2015.

Sweltering temperatures could spark thundery downpours, with a yellow warning for thunderstorms issued for most of England except the south-west, and parts of Scotland, until 4am on Friday. The storms could lead to flash flooding, disruption of train and bus services and even power cuts.

Experts at the Met Office say the current weather pattern is driving hot air from the south, but there is "no doubt" the climate crisis is playing a role in driving what could be unprecedented temperature highs.

Temperatures have now surpassed 25C for a third consecutive day in the majority of the UK, meaning the hot spell is likely to be officially classified as a heatwave. However, Northern Ireland and western Scotland have been cooler, with highs in the low 20s on Wednesday.


Comment: All-time high temperature records have also been smashed in northern France and Germany this week. See also:

Extreme Heat Dominates Headlines, But Rollercoaster Weather Should Worry us Most - What's Going on?

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Bizarro Earth

Missing Mekong waters raise suspicions of China motives

Panu Wongcha-um
KDAL610 News
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 04:06 UTC
Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand
© REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunFishermen fish in the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand July 24, 2019. Picture taken July 24, 2019.
Ban Nong Chan, Thailand - By this time of year, the Mekong River should have been rising steadily with the monsoon rains, bringing fishermen a bounty of fat fish.

Instead, the river water in Thailand has fallen further than anyone can remember and the only fish are tiny.

Scientists and people living along the river fear the impact of the worst drought in years has been exacerbated by upstream dams raising the prospect of irreversible change on the river that supports one of Southeast Asia's most important rice-growing regions.

A Chinese promise to release more dam water to ease the crisis has only raised worries over the extent to which the river's natural cycles - and the communities that have depended on it for generations - have been forever disrupted.

"Now China is completely in control of the water," said Premrudee Deoruong of Laos Dam Investment Monitor, an environmental group.

"From now on, the concern is that the water will be controlled by the dam builders."

In the northeastern Thai province of Nakhon Phanom, where the now sluggish river forms the border with Laos, the measured depth of the Mekong fell below 1.5 meters this week. The average depth there for the same time of year is 8 meters.

"What I have seen this year has never happened before," said Sun Prompakdee, who has been fishing from Ban Nong Chan village for most of his 60 years. "Now we only get small fish, there are no big fish when the water is this low."

The collapse in the water level is partly due to drought - with rainfall during the past 60 days more than 40 percent below normal for the time of year.
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Fire

European heatwave: All-time high temperature records smashed in northern France and Germany

Umair Irfan
Vox
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 21:58 UTC
heatwave europe july 2019
© The Sun
Paris reported its highest temperature ever this week as Europe's second major heat wave of the summer continues.

Europe is now baking under its second heat wave this month, but this latest is one for the record books.

On Thursday, Paris set its all-time temperature high, reaching 108.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The United Kingdom's Met Office reported that London's Heathrow Airport reached 98.4 degrees, a record for July. Cambridge, England, heat climbed to 100.5 degrees, marking only the second time triple-digit temperatures have been recorded in the United Kingdom.

Several countries also set all-time heat records this week: The Netherlands heated up to 105.3 degrees. Germany reached 106.7. Temperatures in Belgium soared to 103.8.

The high temperatures have done more than make people sweat; French officials observed that drownings are up 30 percent compared to the same time last year, with at least 60 deaths indirectly attributed to the ongoing heat as more unskilled swimmers sought relief in the water.

Comment: See also: Belgium and the Netherlands record all-time high temperatures as another heatwave cooks western Europe

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Arrow Down

Fall-like air breaks record lows from early 1900s in parts of southern US

Kyle Elliott
AccuWeather.com
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 15:10 UTC
US record low July temps
© AccuWeather
The storm system that triggered severe thunderstorms in parts of the Carolinas on Tuesday signaled the end to the prolonged stretch of stifling heat and humidity that has been baking the Southeast.

An unusually strong cold front, by late July standards, pushed through much of the Southern states and triggered severe weather on Tuesday. North Carolina was hit the hardest by Tuesday's storms, with nearly two dozen reports of wind damage across the state.

The passage of this front has brought lower temperature and humidity levels to much of the region which will linger through much of this week.

A recently installed weather station run by Virginia Tech Meteorology showed a low temperature of 38 F in Canaan Valley, West Virginia Wednesday morning. The station is situated at an elevation of 3,105 feet.

High temperatures, with the exception of the Florida Peninsula, should generally be in the 80s through Friday, and comfortable humidity levels should cap temperatures to around 90 F.

Nighttime low temperatures, especially away from coastal locations, are forecast to trend into the 50s and 60s, which will challenge or even break records.

"Some cities in the Southern states that may challenge record lows include Little Rock, Arkansas, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Houston, San Antonio and Nashville, Tennessee," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

"In some cases, it hasn't been this cool at night during this part of the summer in more than 100 years."

As the week progresses, these cities and others will challenge daily record lows.
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Biohazard

Toxic algae bloom turns Vancouver harbour waters blood red


Strange Sounds
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 12:00 UTC
vancouver red tide
© Pete Cline @yvrnewsphotog
Throughout the week, several photos have been posted online of the Vancouver harbour. These were not ordinary pictures, as the waters looked bright red!

This is not the first time the waters in Vancouver have turned this vibrant blood red color and it is entirely due to an algae bloom.

The algae producing this phenomenon — Noctiluca scintillans — is erroneously known as "red tide". It is not to be confused with red tide poisoning in fish.

Comment: With our planet undergoing extreme temperature swings in its descent to a much colder climate overall, as well as a number of other contributing factors, these algae bloom events appear to be on the increase:

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Fire

Satellite images show vast swathes of Arctic on fire - 850,000 hectares burning in Siberia

Brian Kahn
Gizmodo
Sun, 21 Jul 2019 15:34 UTC
wildfire arctic
© Pierre Markuse
Vast stretches of Earth's northern latitudes are on fire right now. Hot weather has engulfed a huge portion of the Arctic, from Alaska to Greenland to Siberia. That's helped create conditions ripe for wildfires, including some truly massive ones burning in remote parts of the region that are being seen by satellites.

Pierre Markuse, a satellite imagery processing guru, has documented some of the blazes attacking the forests and peatlands of the Arctic. The imagery reveals the delicate landscapes with braided rivers, towering mountains, and vast swaths of forest, all under a thick blanket of smoke.

In Alaska, those images show some of the damage wrought by wildfires that have burned more than 1.6 million acres of land this year. Huge fires have sent smoke streaming cities earlier this month, riding on the back of Anchorage's first 90 degree day ever recorded. The image below show some of the more remote fires in Alaska as well as the Swan Lake Fire, which was responsible for the smoke swallowing Anchorage in late June and earlier this month.

Comment: RT reports on the current situation in Siberia:
Almost 44,000 people have signed a petition calling for authorities to declare an emergency in the Siberian Federal District due to wildfires in Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk regions, RIA Novosti reported.

As of Wednesday morning, wildfires had covered almost 846,000 hectares in the north of the Krasnoyarsk territory, with officials saying that there was no immediate threat to cities and villages.

However, local residents say that pollution from wildfires in Krasnoyarsk has spread with air flows to other regions, covering many areas with a thick haze and burning smell.

Large swathes of the Arctic, including in Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland are also on fire. Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at Denmark's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said that it was fair to say that July's "Arctic Circle wildfires are now at unprecedented levels."
If there was any merit to global warming due to carbon emissions then the rise in volcanic activity would be much more of a concern. However, by all measures, our planet, overall, is cooling - with cold records being broken all the time, and in both hemispheres. And so these wildfires, heatwaves and droughts are simply one aspect of the extreme fluctuations that occur as our planet continues on into an unsettled period where lower temperatures will soon dominate.

See also: For more on what's occurring on our planet, check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?

SOTT is also tracking these shifts in a monthly documentary: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - June 2019: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs



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Snowflake

Ski resort in Argentina hit by 2 feet of snow in 72 hours

Patrick Thorne
Inthesnow.com
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 11:48 UTC
snow
© Diego Constantini
A major snowstorm in the Andes has been described as, "One of the most important snowfalls of the last 20 years" by staff at South America's largest ski area by uplift capacity, Argentina's Cerro Catedral near the ski town of Bariloche.

The heavy snowfall, that is ongoing at some resorts in Argentina and Chile but hit Catedral hardest at the end of last week, closing the local airport, also led to extensive ski slope closures due first to a high avalanche danger and then a power failure.

Since then the resort has been 'digging out' and gradually re-opening terrain as it is considered safe by ski patrol staff.

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Snowflake Cold

Russian city breaks 107-year-old July cold record

Robert W. Felix
Ice Age Now
Thu, 18 Jul 2019 11:30 UTC
frost
Cold records broken in a number of Russian cities.

On July 14 in the city of Vytegra in the Vologda region, the temperature dropped to 0 °C !!! So the previous record more than 100 years old was broken! In 1912 here, the temperature dropped only to 1.9°C (35.4F).

In a number of cities in the past days, new minimum temperature records were also set:
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Snowflake Cold

15 cold weather records broken across Queensland, Australia

Toby Crockford
Brisbane Times
Mon, 15 Jul 2019 11:16 UTC
Dalby records coldest temperatures in Queensland
Dalby records coldest temperatures in Queensland
The mercury dropped to almost minus 5 degrees in Queensland on Monday as cold and dry air swept across the so-called Sunshine State, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

In total, 15 locations in southern and central Queensland recorded their coldest morning of the year on Monday and the chilly spell was expected to hang around for much of the week.

Brisbane had a relatively warm minimum of 9.8 degrees, which did not break any records, but it felt colder in the River City because of the wind-chill factor.

However, plenty of other areas did surpass previous cold weather milestones.
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