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WEATHER REPORT
Heatwave grips northern Europe as Greece burns
 by Staff Writers
 Athens (AFP) July 26, 2018

Record heatwave across Northern Hemisphere
Paris (AFP) July 26, 2018 - From the Arctic Circle and Scandinavia to California, Japan and North Africa, an exceptional heatwave has been sweeping across the Northern Hemisphere for several weeks, setting record high temperatures and causing drought and wildfires.

Meteorologists say the summer weather conditions are a result of climate change.

"2018 is shaping up to be one of the hottest years on record, with new temperature records in many countries," said Elena Manaenkova, deputy secretary-general of the World Meterological Organisation (WMO).

"This is no surprise," she added. "The heatwaves and extreme heat we are experiencing are consistent with what we expect as a result of climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

"This is not a future scenario. It is happening now."

- 30 C in Arctic Circle -

The summer weather in the north of Europe has been especially unusual with the thermostat in the Arctic Circle hitting 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

Record temperatures were reported in northern Norway at 33 C last week, more than 15 degrees C higher than normal, according to the Norwegian meteorological institute.

Another record in Norway was set at Makkaur on the Barents Sea where the mercury in the land of the midnight sun on July 18 never dropped lower than 25 C.

And near the Arctic Circle at Kvikkjokk in Sweden temperatures climbed to 32.5 C on July 17, while the Finnish Lapland the next day saw 33.4 C, according to Meteo France.

In Russia's Siberia, the mercury hit 37.2 C at Tompo on July 9 and 35.5 C at Vanavara on June 26, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).

- Across Europe -

In other parts of Europe, a heatwave has moved across Ireland and the British isles to France, though the temperatures have not set record highs.

Southern European countries, in contrast, have seen summer temperatures lower than normal, according to the WMO.

But the still hot, dry weather triggered wildfires in Greece, claiming at least 82 lives, making them Europe's deadliest this century.

- 41 C in Japan -

In Japan, several dozen people have died in the scorching heat which reached a national record of 41.1 C at Kamagaya on Monday, official data showed.

The same day it reached more than 40 C for the first time in Tokyo's metropolitan region.

- African record? -

In the Sahara desert of Algeria on July 5, the mercury soared to 51.3 C, which was probably "the highest ever recorded in Algeria by reliable instruments", the WMO said.

It is likely a record for the African continent, since reliable records began, according to Meteo France.

But if the WMO recognises data from Africa's colonial period as reliable, the 55 C temperature reached in Tunisia in 1931 would still be considered as the African record.

Neighbouring Morocco has also seen a new national record temperature at 43.4 C on July 3 at Bouarfa, the WMO said.

And in the Middle East, on the coast of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula, the temperature never fell below 42.6 C, even at night, on June 28, which could be the highest minimal temperature ever registered there, the WMO said.

- California's Death Valley -

In the United States, California has been under scorching heat, including record temperatures on July 6 of 48.9 C in Chino in the west of the state, and the next day 47.2 C in the Van Nuys neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

At the Furnace Creek station in the Mojave Desert's Death Valley on July 8, the mercury registered 52 C -- still below the 56.7 C hit on July 10, 1913, although the historic world record is contested by some experts.

Scorching hot weather set the conditions for Greece's wildfires -- Europe's deadliest this century with scores killed -- while record temperatures in the north of the continent have also sparked blazes causing widespread damage in recent days.

Ten EU countries have mobilised firefighters and equipment to help battle the fires in Greece as well as Sweden and Latvia.

Here is a roundup of the devastation.

- Greece -

The fires in Greece, which broke out Monday, are the deadliest in living memory. At least 82 people have been confirmed dead, while emergency crews were Thursday searching incinerated homes and vehicles for at least 27 missing, who include nine-year-old twin girls from the village of Mati.

Coastal villages near Athens popular with holidaymakers were especially hard hit, with at least 300 homes destroyed or badly damaged.

- Sweden -

Sweden, experiencing an unprecedented drought and the highest temperatures in a century, is battling 23 fires across the country, down by half since last week.

The fires have laid waste to at least 25,000 hectares (62,000 acres) including 13,000 hectares in the central Karbole region alone.

Temperatures are still rising, with Pierre Schaller, the head of a French contingent helping the Swedes, telling AFP that with Thursday's predicted high of 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) the fires could "take off again".

But cooling rains are forecast for the weekend, when two Italian water-dropping aircraft that were deployed in Sweden last week will head to Greece, Swedish authorities told a news conference.

- Latvia -

A Belarusian helicopter was headed to Latvia on Thursday to help Latvian and Lithuanian firefighters battle a blaze that broke out on July 17.

It has ravaged around 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of peat bog, forest and scrubland in the west of the Baltic state but has not claimed any lives.

Latvia has turned to neighbouring Belarus for help because EU resources are stretched fighting the wildfires in Greece and Sweden, according to the local Baltic News Service BNS.

- Britain -

Britain has been in the grip of its longest heatwave in decades, sparking wildfires in northwest England, water restrictions in Northern Ireland and record-breaking temperatures in Scotland.

Sun worshippers in London's Hyde Park lounged in deck chairs set out on parched grass. The city's fire chief Dany Cotton remarked: "I never thought I'd say this, but we are praying for rain."

A new British temperature record may be set on Friday, topping the 38.5 Celsius (101 Fahrenheit) registered in Kent in August 2003.

With just 47 millimetres (1.8 inches) of rain recorded in Britain between June 1 and July 16, fire chiefs have warned that parks and other grasslands are like a "tinderbox".

- The Netherlands -

The Dutch meteorological institute on Thursday officially declared the Netherlands' first heatwave in three years, with the mercury hitting 36 degrees Celsius (97 Fahrenheit).

The spell has lasted 12 days, making it the sixth longest heatwave since 1901.

Authorities are planning for water shortages in several parts of the country.

However severe thunderstorms broke out in the south of the country on Thursday night, and a person was killed when a tree fell on their car in the city of Rotterdam.

- Germany -

A fire broke out on Thursday evening near Berlin after temperatures reached 38 degrees Celsius.

The blaze tore through 50 hectares of pine trees before some 200 firefighters brought it under control, the authorities told the DPA news agency.

- Elsewhere in Europe -

In Norway, which experienced its hottest May temperatures on record, one firefighter was killed on July 15 while battling one of a string of fires.

Unaccustomed bikini weather has also come to Finland's northernmost Lapland province, the legendary headquarters of Father Christmas.

burs-gd/dl/aph


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WEATHER REPORT
'Unprecedented' Japan heatwave kills 65 in one week
 Tokyo (AFP) July 24, 2018
 An "unprecedented" heatwave in Japan has killed at least 65 people in one week, government officials said Tuesday, with the weather agency now classifying the record-breaking weather as a "natural disaster." In the week to Sunday at least 65 people died of heat stroke while 22,647 people were hospitalised, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said in a statement. Both figures are "the worst-ever for any week during summer" since the agency began recording fatalities resulting from heat stroke ... read more
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