Extreme weather across the northern Hemisphere

Why is it that the media can report on extremes elsewhere, but when they are reporting it locally they have to plaster pictures of pretty girls enjoying the sun, or people lounging on the beach?

This weather will bring its own death and suffering.

Siberia bakes with new record temperatures - and busy beaches

Tyva republic registers Saudi-like heat but is also hit by wildfires

Weather experts said that Siberia, along with some other Russian regions, was between 4C and 6c hotter than usual in June. Pictures from beaches around Novosibirsk by Vera Salnitskaya

Siberian Times,

4 July, 2015

Our pictures show sun-seekers in Novosibirsk cooling off in the River Ob, and also at the 'Ob Sea', a huge artificial reservoir close to Siberia's biggest city.

The same scenes have been repeated over many time zones as summer came to the this vast Russian region.

'If it doesn't cool soon, I'll die,' said one beach-lover.

Weather experts said that Siberia, along with some other Russian regions, was between 4C and 6c hotter than usual in June. Such trends have been common in recent years, coupled with warmer winters in some regions, leading to claims of climate change. 

Omsk beat its previous hottest temperatures, hitting 36C, while records were also set at seven meteorological stations in Novosibirsk region.

In Vengeovo, there was a temperature of 35.8 C degrees, compared with the previous high of 32.6 C. In Chistozersky district thermometers reached 37 C degrees, another record. In the city of Novosibirsk the air temperature was 31.5 C, and despite the beach scenes,  it was not a record.

Russian HydroMeteoCentre reports that the first half of 2015 was abnormally hot in Russia and the record of average air temperature was beaten.

Whether or not this is true, Tyva approached 42C in the abnormal heat, though it has recorded such temperatures before - as long ago as 1943.

A pall of smog covered some areas of the mountainous republic as wildfires took hold. The authorities were preparing for evacuation of sick people with breathing problems from hospitals because of the smoke from forest fires, and a state of emergency was announced in the republic. 

In other areas there was unusually heavy rain, for example in the Sakha Republic - Russia's largest region - with rainfall twice as much as usual. 

The heatwave in Italy is expected to peak today, with temperatures reaching 39C while temperatures in France are set to exceed 40C over the weekend.

Spain's heatwave is expected to last for at least nine days and will peak on Monday as temperatures soar to 44C.

Extended heat wave in parts of Europe

Global News,

4 July, 2015

MADRID – Spain’s meteorological agency is warning people to brace for high temperatures across much of the country over coming days.

The agency said Saturday that “temperatures will be significantly higher in much of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands,” exceeding 35 degrees Celsius and reaching 40 C in much of the southern and eastern parts of the country.

The forecast predicted some respite in the form of showers and thunderstorms on July 10-11.

Last week, weather stations across Spain warned people to take extra precautions because high temperatures increase the risk of devastating wildfires.

Across the border, Portugal is also braced for fires after an exceptionally dry winter and the hottest and driest June for 12 years. Almost 54 per cent of mainland Portugal is enduring severe drought.

France heatwave update:

July 2 temperatures up to 14C/25F above 1981-2010 base.

Tropical cyclones in the Pacific region

Six tropical cyclones formed in just 3 days.

This is the country with all the water

Cityof North Vancouver Declares Stage 2 Water Shortage Restrictions Nowin Effect

The City of North Vancouver has enacted Stage 2 of Metro Vancouver’s Water Shortage Response Plan (WSRP). Stage Two is effective now and will be enforced as of Monday, July 6th.

New Zealand - June's weather was extreme – NIWA

Meteorologists say June was a month of weather extremes with parts of the country getting double the normal amount of rain, and others getting much less than normal.

Radio NZ,

4 July, 2015

In its monthly climate report for June, NIWA said Whanganui, Palmerston North and Central Otago had twice the average level of rain, and Dunedin had three times more.


In Whanganui, the rain spurred on the worst flooding the city had ever seen.


Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski

But NIWA said parts of the upper north island - namely Auckland, Northland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawke's Bay - had less than half the normal amount.

Forecaster Chris Brandolino said the weather was extreme but not necessarily are.

"It all depends on what [weather] pattern you're in.

"Averages are created by extremes.

"You're going to have peaks and valleys with rainfall - that's how you get an average. You're smoothing out the highs and the lows, so to speak," he said.
While the weather was extreme, Mr Brandolino said it was too soon to say if it was due to climate change caused by humans.

"It takes many months, if not a year, to understand that and try and quantify it to any extent.

"Though I can say with confidence as we go into the future, we will be seeing more extreme weather events as our climate continues to evolve and change."


Whanganui had its worst ever flood. nPhoto: SUPPLIED / Facebook

New Zealand also had its fourth lowest recorded temperature ever in June - getting down to -21°C in Otago.

The full report can be found here

Very cold nights SE Australia and Western Sydney – July 3 to 5 2015

Finally, a report on the European heatwave from Indian media

Heatwave across Europe; blackouts for humans, ice cream for monkeys

Hindustan Times,

1 July, 2015

A blistering heatwave swept across much of northern Europe on Wednesday causing blackouts in France and pushing the mercury to as high as 40C.

The UN warned heatwaves were growing more frequent and intense due to climate change and called on more countries to put warning systems in place to inform people of the dangers.

At the Safaripark Beekse Bergen zoo in The Netherlands, staff had already put their emergency procedures in place -- including ice cubes for baboons, cold showers for the elephants, and special meat- and fruit-flavoured ice cream for the ring-tailed lemurs.

A mandrill licks a fruit ice cream in Ouwehands Dierenpark (Ouwehands Zoo) in Rhenen. (AFP Photo)

Around a million homes in western France were left without power overnight Tuesday as the hot front continued its sweep up from Africa,, and another blackout struck the western Vannes region Wednesday morning, cutting electricity to 100,000 houses.

"At this temperature, we can't stay on a roof. It's overwhelming," said Laurent Floux, a roofer in Paris, who got his team working at the crack of dawn to avoid the worst of the heat.

A thermometer in Lille as a major heatwave spreads up through Europe, with temperatures hitting nearly 40 degrees. (AFP Photo)

Many schools across Europe shifted their start times to keep kids out of the sun's glare.

Rotterdam's football club Feyenoord also said it was shifting training to later in the day.

Meanwhile in central London, public fountains became impromptu beaches, with parents sunbathing on benches and children playing in the water in their swimming costumes behind King's Cross station.

Office workers enjoy a break in London's Green Park. (AFP Photo)

The first death linked to the heatwave was reported in the British press after a father drowned while trying to save his young daughter cooling off in a river in the northern Cumbria region.

The Muslim Council of Britain warned people fasting for Ramadan to take extra care, and said Islamic law allowed the sick and vulnerable to break the daytime fast during extreme conditions.

 UN warning 

The last major hot spell in 2003 caused an estimated 70,000 deaths in Europe -- particularly among the elderly, sick and very young.

The elderly, sick, and those on certain medications are vulnerable because their bodies' heat regulation system can be impaired, leading to heatstroke.

"Young children produce more metabolic heat, have a decreased ability to sweat and have core temperatures that rise faster during dehydration," said Britain's National Health Service in a report.

Members of the public cool their feet in the Princess Diana memorial fountain in London's Hyde Park. (AFP Photo)

The UN called for heatwave warning systems that would highlight the health hazards and inform people what they should do to protect themselves.

France and Belgium are among the countries that introduced such a system after the deadly 2003 heatwave.

A white tiger licks a frozen block of ice at the Bordeaux-Pessac zoo, southwestern France. (AFP Photo)

But elsewhere, such systems are not common, Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum of WHO told AFP, voicing concern about places like Pakistan, where more than 1,200 people have died amid soaring temperatures in the south of the country.

That crisis came a month after neighbouring India suffered its own deadly heatwave which killed more than 2,000 people.