Climate change Heatwave in Canada exceeds 49°C (hotter than the highest records in Europe)

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Even knowing how serious global warming is, I am still amazed at what is happening in Canada this week. On Tuesday the temperature hit 49.6C (121.1F) in the town of Lytton, British Columbia, 155 miles (250 km) east of Vancouver. To put this in perspective, the highest temperature ever recorded anywhere on Earth is 56.7 °C (134.1 °F), recorded on 10 July 1913 at the aptly named Furnace Creek Ranch, in Death Valley in the United States. It was only 7°C less in Lytton. You could expect this kind of temperature on a particularly hot day in Saudi Arabia or Egypt, but in Canada!?!

In other words, it was hotter in British Columbia than in the Sahara desert in summer, and that is definitely not normal by any standard. At this season it should be around 20°C around Vancouver, and the highest ever recorded temperature until now was 33°C (91°F). Record shattered by 16°C (30°F) in one go! That's a big jump.

The official record in Europe was 48 °C (118.4 °F) in both Athens and Elefsina, Greece on 10th July 1977. Who would have bet that Canada would beat Greece's temperature record?

It was also 47°C (116°F) in Portland, Oregon. Looking at the map it wasn't a confined heatwave. It took over most of the north-western US and western Canada, going over 45°C even further north than Edmonton! Crazy.
 
Sad state of affairs, no matter the debate what brought us to this point. For reference, when you buy a lighter, a lighter, it has a sticker with signs, not for children, flamable material, and a sign do not keep in temperatures over 50*C.... we are talking about a lighter here. Guess gotta ban lighters if this becomes the norm...

The antinatalist arguments keep getting ammo.
 
The BBC just published a visual guide of the heatwave.

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Watch out that the Vancouver below is the small city in the south of Washington state, USA, not the more famous Canadian city.

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_119150975_optimised-portland-nc.png
 
The village of Lyton in British Columbia that saw the record heat if 49.5°C has gone up in flames.

 
Wow! I heard today or yesterday some place recorded very close to 50ºC. That's astounding. I live in a 90% tropical country, Brazil, but even here temperatures reaching 40ºC are only ever experienced in very bad heat waves, and the maximum temperature ever recorded anywhere in the country was around 44.5ºC. I would never even guess 49ºC or higher is even possible in Canada. Is it possible that, given that it's a mostly continental (Köppen climate classification) country there are periodic heat waves corresponding to the usually much higher thermal amplitude (variation in temperatures throughout the day and the year) in continental as opposed to oceanic and tropical climates? Are Canadians used to endure temperatures higher than 40ºC in particularly hot summers recorded before?

In any case, I'm sure these extreme events haven't just become more intense, but, way more than that, even, much, much more regular. One of the biggest challenges of climate change is precisely that it's not just about getting warmer summers, but also, in some areas, colder winters, more dramatic droughts - and, especially, all of those abnormal events more frequently, which is perhaps even worse.
 
Ygorcs said:
I would never even guess 49ºC or higher is even possible in Canada. Is it possible that, given that it's a mostly continental (Köppen climate classification) country there are periodic heat waves corresponding to the usually much higher thermal amplitude (variation in temperatures throughout the day and the year) in continental as opposed to oceanic and tropical climates? Are Canadians used to endure temperatures higher than 40ºC in particularly hot summers recorded before?
Click to expand...

I checked the list of extreme temperatures in Canada, which has the record high and low for each state. We have to go back the the 1920's or 30's to find temperatures above 40°C, but the records are 40°C for Quebec, 42°C for Ontario, 43°C for Alberta, 44°C for Manitoba and 45°C for Saskatchewan. The seven other states (including all the Atlantic states: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) have never reached 40°C since records started.

If you look at the list of highest temperatures ever recorded in Canada, all the Top 15 was in British Columbia between 27th and 30th June this year! In the Top 45, no less than 32 records were from this June's heatwave in British Columbia.

If you look at the record temperature by year for all Canada, in the last 50 years the records always hovered between 38°C and 42°C, with the exceptions of 2007 and 1984 where it was 43.0°C. So 49.6°C is definitely not normal. That's approximately 10°C above the average yearly record (and summer is only starting).
 
So much doom and gloom. Any happy thoughts?
 
no heatwave in Belgium, on the contrary

I guess, every year you can find a place somewhere in the world where some record is broken

I agree there is global warming, and at least part of it is caused by human activity.
That is where the 97 % consensus is.
It is hard however to see things in the right perspective.
If you start selecting your statistics, anything can be proven or disproven.
What is the urgency? What strategy to follow? No consensus about that.
 
bicicleur 2 said:
no heatwave in Belgium, on the contrary

I guess, every year you can find a place somewhere in the world where some record is broken

I agree there is global warming, and at least part of it is caused by human activity.
That is where the 97 % consensus is.
It is hard however to see things in the right perspective.
If you start selecting your statistics, anything can be proven or disproven.
What is the urgency? What strategy to follow? No consensus about that.
Click to expand...

The actual problem and urgency is not that records are being broken. It is rather that records have been broken in an increasingly lower time gap between them. In other words, extreme events (too cold, too high, too dry, too humid etc.) have always happened, but it's a big problem if they once happened every 40, 60 years or so, and now they are happening every 5, 10 years. They start to become commonplace, not extremely extraordinary and sporadic events.
 
Extreme heatwaves are especially getting common in the north. In the last few days there was another record-breaking heatwave in Nordic countries. Lapland recorded heat of 33.6C (92.5F) on Sunday, the hottest day since 1914. As you can see on the map below, it's about 15°C above the normal temperatures for this season, so just like in British Columbia. Note that Vancouver, B.C., is at the same latitude as Paris. Lapland is at the same latitude as Greenland as northern Alaska. 33.6°C is not the kind of temperature you expect this far north, well above the Arctic circle.

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Finland and Lapland as hot as the Mediterranean yesterday!

E5j9LgeXoAUjIRZ
 
Ygorcs said:
The actual problem and urgency is not that records are being broken. It is rather that records have been broken in an increasingly lower time gap between them. In other words, extreme events (too cold, too high, too dry, too humid etc.) have always happened, but it's a big problem if they once happened every 40, 60 years or so, and now they are happening every 5, 10 years. They start to become commonplace, not extremely extraordinary and sporadic events.
Click to expand...

There have been climate changes in the past, and it doesn't look that this actual climate change is happening faster.
However there is a problem on the long run that has to be reverted.
Creating panic is not helping to solve the problem, it has already prompted some very expensive measurements which afterwards proved to be counterproductive.
I'm thinking of biogass here, and solar pannels without electrical storage capacity.
I would favor research on hydrogen technology instead of imposing electrical cars everywhere.
If todays policies prove wrong afterwards, fighting climate change will loose support in a decade or so.
We can't solve the problem in 2 decades, we'll need a century.
 
Maciamo said:
Extreme heatwaves are especially getting common in the north. In the last few days there was another record-breaking heatwave in Nordic countries. Lapland recorded heat of 33.6C (92.5F) on Sunday, the hottest day since 1914. As you can see on the map below, it's about 15°C above the normal temperatures for this season, so just like in British Columbia. Note that Vancouver, B.C., is at the same latitude as Paris. Lapland is at the same latitude as Greenland as northern Alaska. 33.6°C is not the kind of temperature you expect this far north, well above the Arctic circle./QUOTE]

That is extreme and indded becoming more and more common.

However, I don't know what to think of this :

The Nordic Bronze Age was initially characterized by a warm climate that began with a climate change around 2700 BC. The climate was comparable to that of present-day central Germany and northern France and permitted a fairly dense population and good opportunities for farming; for example, grapes were grown in Scandinavia at this time. A minor change in climate occurred between 850 BC and 760 BC, introducing a wetter, colder climate and a more radical climate change began around 650 BC.[28]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Bronze_Age


At the end of the Northern bronze age agricultural settlements in middle Scandinavia/Southern Finland were abandonned and replaced by HG, this probably marks the arrival of Uralic tribes.
Click to expand...
 
bicicleur 2 said:
The Nordic Bronze Age was initially characterized by a warm climate that began with a climate change around 2700 BC. The climate was comparable to that of present-day central Germany and northern France and permitted a fairly dense population and good opportunities for farming; for example.
Click to expand...
Maybe that's true, in the long term, Anthropogenic Climate Change may warm temperatures to the heights of 7000-4000 BC(Anthropogenic Warm Period)
But the 1 Bn oysters and other moluscs dead in British Columbia, as well as the wildfires will cause several problems in the medium term(short term in a geologhical context).

In the LONG term we may make vast areas more arid, unless for a while. Or maybe we even break the glaciation cycles in a stable warmer climate (would be a blessing).
But the transition is gonna be very chaotic and painful, very very painful
 
How 'epic' outbreak of locusts is devastating USA.

A locust outbreak that now affects at least 15 states has wreaked havoc on crops and pastures in the American West, competing for food with livestock and leaving a trail of millions of dollars in damage.

Mormon locusts and crickets are natural components of the ecosystem (in this region of the US), but when their populations reach outbreak levels they cause severe economic losses to agricultural resources, particularly in hot, dry (weather) conditions.” The locust population is, long gone, considered higher than average last year, and has increased even more this year with drought and high temperatures in the region. In Oregon, the temperature reached 46 degrees Celsius a few weeks ago, a record. If the weather is wet, it is bad for locusts," stresses entomologist Helmuth Rogg. "If April and May are rainy and cold, chances are that many of these insects will die before reaching adulthood."
But last year and this year, prolonged drought, high temperatures and a lack of water for irrigation in many crops created the ideal conditions for more locusts to survive. The entomologist fears that climate change could make locust outbreaks increasingly common.
"We're seeing locust infestations, to the point where they cause damage, increasing since 2013," says Rogg. "This year it will certainly be bigger than last year."
"We need to be prepared for the possibility that every year we have a similar situation, with larger populations (of locusts), because of climate change and the drought associated (with these changes) in these states," he says.

Source:
https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/geral-57821807
 
Duarte said:
How 'epic' outbreak of locusts is devastating USA.

A locust outbreak that now affects at least 15 states has wreaked havoc on crops and pastures in the American West, competing for food with livestock and leaving a trail of millions of dollars in damage.

Mormon locusts and crickets are natural components of the ecosystem (in this region of the US), but when their populations reach outbreak levels they cause severe economic losses to agricultural resources, particularly in hot, dry (weather) conditions.” The locust population is, long gone, considered higher than average last year, and has increased even more this year with drought and high temperatures in the region. In Oregon, the temperature reached 46 degrees Celsius a few weeks ago, a record. If the weather is wet, it is bad for locusts," stresses entomologist Helmuth Rogg. "If April and May are rainy and cold, chances are that many of these insects will die before reaching adulthood."
But last year and this year, prolonged drought, high temperatures and a lack of water for irrigation in many crops created the ideal conditions for more locusts to survive. The entomologist fears that climate change could make locust outbreaks increasingly common.
"We're seeing locust infestations, to the point where they cause damage, increasing since 2013," says Rogg. "This year it will certainly be bigger than last year."
"We need to be prepared for the possibility that every year we have a similar situation, with larger populations (of locusts), because of climate change and the drought associated (with these changes) in these states," he says.

Source:
https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/geral-57821807
Click to expand...


global temperate will probably arrive at the same temperature as in the Roman times, ..that is 2 degrees Celsius warmer than what was recorded in 1990
 
torzio said:
global temperate will probably arrive at the same temperature as in the Roman times, ..that is 2 degrees Celsius warmer than what was recorded in 1990
Click to expand...

If they eat our food and prevent the cattle to fatte, as revenge, we will eat them. lol. It's just a suggestion. :laughing:
 
The water dried up and the garden lost its vigor. In the richest state in Brazil

Amidst the worst drought in 91 years, dams and streams dry up in northwestern São Paulo: "Until four years ago we used to plant everything without using irrigation, only with rainwater"

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Rafael, 3, carries dried fish at the place where the dam was located on the property leased by the family in Estrela D'Oeste, São Paulo LELA BELTRÃO

”If I step on it, will it bite?” asks little Rafael, 3 years old, curious. The mother, Graziela Reinolde, 37, says no. “He's gone, leave it there,” he says, as he looks at the dried crab carcass that catches his son's attention. Around it, a lot also looks dead. Like the dam on the small rural property rented by the family, where the cracked earth floor now houses the remains of fish that have long had no place to swim. Or part of the orange plantation from which they make their living, but whose dehydrated leaves close in an attempt to preserve what little moisture is left. In the rural area of ​​Estrela D'Oeste, in the northwest of the State of São Paulo , it has not rained for months. “ It's the worst drought I've seen in my more than 30 years of life in the countryside”, says patriarch Antônio Reinolde, 43, the third generation of his family to dedicate themselves to the land.

The property rented by Reinolde is on the banks of the Euclides da Cunha highway , which pays homage to the journalist and author of Os Sertões . In his major work, he praises the determination of the sertanejo, and says that “the droughtit does not frighten him (...) it is a complement to his tormented life”. But these words do not reflect the despair experienced by those who depend on water to make their living from the land. “I've thought a lot about quitting, in fact many people I know have left the fields. A cousin of mine went to be a truck driver. Because we are poor and suffer a lot in this situation [drought]. He doesn't know what he's going to earn or when, we currently go from zero to zero every end of the month”, says Antônio, who works on the small property rented with his wife, Graziela, and their eldest son, Daniel, 13. The three observed , incredulous, the dam dried up for the first time in decades: from the thousands of liters of rainwater and the stream, which came to overflow on the dirt road “complicating our passage”, a small puddle of mud remained.
PTED5P3UEVAWRBDSUEOKXJA2PU.jpg
The Reinolde family inside the dry dam, with what was left of water at the bottom. LELA BELTRÃO

Much of the northwest region of São Paulo is in a critical situation, suffering the impacts of the climatic emergency that devastates the entire world with different effects. What for many is a distant image, personified by ice melting in Antarctica, already has direct consequences in the richest state in Brazil. The imbalance in the climate has a devastating impact on the country's hydrology , causing more expensive electricity bills in cities (since the reservoirs of hydroelectric plants are empty, increasing the use of thermoelectric plants), floods in Manaus(with the concentration of much of the rainfall in a short period of time), and loss of crops for the worst drought in the last 91 years in the Southeast and Midwest of the country. The climate crisis also accentuates atmospheric phenomena such as La Niña , which favors drought in the region.

A report released in July by the National Center for Monitoring and Alerting of Natural Disasters (Cemaden), an agency linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation , points to a situation of “extreme drought” (the second most serious category) in northwestern São Paulo, with over 80% commitment to agricultural activities and “high risk” for family farming . The Cemaden document also says that "there are no expectations for relief from the current water crisis in the next three months" in view of the drought period.
But things were not always like this in the region that is part of the so-called São Paulo orchard in the interior of the state. “Until four years ago we planted everything without using irrigation. Only with rainwater ,” says Antônio. According to him, this year the last waters came in March. And they weren't nearly enough to fill the dam, which has been dry since the end of last year. From the Açoita Cavalo stream, which also supplied the family's small lake, only carcasses of dead fish were left. An entire field of corn planted by Reinolde at the beginning of the year is gone, causing a loss of 12,000 reais to the family. “Everything dried up and the ears twisted and fell to the ground”, he says. "This had never happened."

In order to survive, they were forced to invest in an expensive water pumping and irrigation system that would save part of the crop. 6,000 reais were spent on equipment, including pumps and pipes. The electricity bill increased by 1,000 reais, and there was an increase of 3,000 reais a month in the family budget in spending on diesel, used in the pump that takes water from the well (which cost more than 8,000 to drill) to the crops. Even so, only 70% of the Reinolde's lemon and orange plantations were irrigated, and the difference between watered and dry crops is visible. The leaves of the dehydrated orange grove are twisted and dark, and the fruit is sour and has a low market value.
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The dirt floor cracked by the drought at the place where a weir was located in Fernandópolis (SP) LELA BELTRÃO

The impacts of the drought in northwestern São Paulo are not only felt by small farmers in the region. The Água Vermelha and Marimbondo hydroelectric plants, both located on the course of the Rio Grande, almost on the border with Minas Gerais and close to Estrela D'Oeste, are operating with the reservoirs at 14.3% and 11.7% of their total capacity. , respectively. These are two of the lowest levels in the entire national energy production system, according to data from the National Electric System Operator.

Debts, lack of customers and drought

A few kilometers away, the Barbosa Marques family is also struggling against the drought to make a living from the land — which is also leased. Brothers José, 51, João, 40 Marcelo, 32, and his son Davi, 12, do what they can to try to save the plantation, doomed by the lack of water. The forecast of harvesting a ton of papaya has now been revised to 250 kilos: without water, more than half of the fruits of the tree do not develop. Where the Viadão creek used to be, which supplied the local dam, there is now a clearing with grass. The situation is so serious that not even irrigation can handle it.. “We irrigate for two hours a day just to keep the plants alive, when the ideal would be eight hours”, says José. This is because there is not enough water. “If you leave the pump running any longer, everything dries up. Even if we had all the money in the world to pay for water, at the moment we have nowhere to get it”, he explains.

The lack of water is compounded by the problem of debts with input and equipment stores, acquired at a time when the drought horizon was not yet so arid. They add up to more than 100,000 reais. In an attempt to alleviate costs, one of the agricultural machines purchased last year, which throws earth into the trunk of the papaya plants so that they do not fall over with the weight of the fruit, is being sold. This hard work will now have to be done by hand. The only remaining property of the brothers was a tractor from the 1980s. “We go to the bank to try to get a loan on good terms and we don't get anything, because we don't have property [land] in our name”, regrets Marcelo. Finally, with schools closed due to restriction measures imposed by the new coronavirus pandemic, another problem arose for the Marques family: part of the fruit production was sold via snack supply programs in the municipal and state education system. Without classes, the brothers lost one of their main clients.
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From left to right, João, Davi, Marcelo and José during the papaya harvest on the land leased by the brothers LELA BELTRÃO

”Gradually, family farming is disappearing and only the large producers remain,” says resigned Claudinei Ferreari, 53, president of the Family Farming Cooperative of Fernandópolis , a city neighboring Estrela D'Oeste, which has 26 cooperative farmers. “Our generation, from 40 to 60 years old, will stay on the farm, because that's what we know how to do. But young people will not want this difficult life”, he says. This is the case of Davi, son of Marcelo Barbosa Marques, who helps his father and uncles plant papaya. “I want to be a biologist. I don't see a future in agriculture”, he explains. Despite his young age, he knows what is happening in the country. “Global warming right? That's why it's dry here. . I see everything on TV!”, he says. The eldest of the uncles, José, adds: “We will already have wars over the water”.

Source: https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/20...deu-o-vico-no-estado-mais-rico-do-brasil.html



 
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