All-time records melt in northern Scandinavia – Extreme heat grips Japan and Korea

By Bob Henson 18 July 2018 (Weather Underground) – Temperatures soared into the nineties Fahrenheit north of the Arctic Circle on Tuesday and Wednesday, as 2018’s parade of exceptional heat continued marching across the Northern Hemisphere. This week has been northern Scandinavia’s turn under the sizzling klieg lights, including Lapland (Sápmi), the region of northern […]

Sweden battles wildfires from Arctic Circle to Baltic Sea, issues record number of public warnings

18 July 2018 (BBC News) – Forest fires raging across Sweden as far north as the Arctic Circle have prompted authorities to ask for international assistance. On Wednesday afternoon, 44 fires were burning from Lapland in the far north to the southern island of Gotland. Hot weather and persistent drought are the main causes, and […]

Wildfires in the U.S. are getting bigger

By Maggie Koerth-Baker 17 July 2018 (FiveThirtyEight) – A California wildfire that started on Friday doubled in size over the weekend, killing a firefighter and threatening Yosemite National Park. And it’s not the only blaze burning. It’s looking like 2018 could be another big year for wildfires in the United States: 3,362,431 acres have already […]

Homes destroyed by fires, temperature records shattered as heat wave slams Southern California

By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, Sarah Parvini, Ruben Vives, and Hailey Branson-Potts 7 July 2018 (Los Angeles Times) – A record-setting heat wave sparked brush fires across Southern California that destroyed homes and forced thousands to evacuate from Santa Barbara to San Diego county. The heat wave, coupled with moderate winds, helped fan nearly a dozen fires […]

2018 is currently fourth-worst U.S. wildfire season in last decade, keeping pace with worst season ever

2 July 2018 (Desdemona Despair) – Wildfire season in the U.S. is off to an active start. The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reports that more than 2.5 million acres have burned already, making this the fourth biggest season since 2008, just behind the year 2015, which turned out to be the worst season on […]

Evacuations ordered as winds fuel Northern California fires – “A lot of friends and family were texting today and saying they were having some PTSD”

GUINDA, California, 1 July 2018 (AP) – Evacuations were ordered as dry, hot winds fueled a wildfire burning out of control Sunday in rural Northern California, sending a stream of smoke some 75 miles (120 kilometers) south into the San Francisco Bay Area.The fast-moving blaze that broke out Saturday in western Yolo County charred at […]

All-time record high temperatures matched or toppled from Colorado to Scotland – “Unprecedented” and “apocalyptic” moorland fires near Manchester, England

By Bob Henson 29 June 2018 (Weather Underground) – June will segue into July this weekend with much of the central and eastern U.S. enduring a blistering, dangerous heat wave that could extend into the July 4 holiday in some areas. Excessive heat warnings were already in place Friday morning for parts of 11 states […]

Climate change making California’s drought-flood cycle more volatile – “These are actually huge changes occurring – they’re just on opposite ends of the spectrum”

By David Colgan 23 April 2018 (UCLA) – California is headed for a future of precipitation extremes.Research by UCLA climate scientists, published today in Nature Climate Change, projects that the state will experience a much greater number of extremely wet and extremely dry weather seasons — especially wet — by the end of the century. […]

Between Trump and a devastated place: Undocumented immigrants reel from hurricanes, fires, and the Trump administration – “It was really heartless for him to do that after a national tragedy”

By Justine Calma 24 April 2018 (Grist) – Seven months after Juan and Jonathan Leija were forced to evacuate their flooded homes during Hurricane Harvey, the cousins face challenges that go beyond just recovering their lives. Building back isn’t easy for anybody, but the Leijas are doing it as looming policy decisions threaten to uproot […]

Particulate matter from California wildfires linked to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events – “It’s a local problem, but it’s also a national problem”

By L.A. McKeown 12 April 2018 (TCTMD) – New data show a surprising pattern of increased emergency department (ED) visits for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems on days when wildfires are burning in California. Researchers say the fine particulate matter created by the fires poses significant risk beyond the state’s borders, and in particular to people […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial