Tag Archives: Extreme Heat

Extreme heat may be crucial factor behind biggest bird flu outbreak in humans in the US

Extreme-Heat-Bird-Flu

Important Takeaways:

  • A heatwave in Colorado likely caused personal protective equipment not to work correctly for workers culling poultry infected with H5N1, a highly pathogenic bird flu.
  • Four people have tested positive for H5N1 and a fifth is also expected to have their case confirmed as bird flu, officials said this week.
  • It’s the first time a cluster of human cases of bird flu has been reported in the US.
  • In Colorado, the workers were culling a flock of egg-laying chickens that had tested positive for H5N1.
  • And it can be dangerous to work in such close and prolonged quarters with animals infected with bird flu, which has a mortality rate of about 50% among people.
  • It was 104F (40C) outside, but in the chicken houses, it was even hotter.
  • “Across all areas, governments need to actively and urgently incorporate climate considerations into all health and safety measures more than simply at the surface level.”

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California’s Death Valley could reach a scorching 130 degrees next week

Mesquite-Flat-Sand-Dunes-in-Death-Valley

Important Takeaways:

  • Death Valley will hit 130 degrees and could break world record amid blistering heat wave
  • California’s Death Valley could reach a scorching 130 degrees next week and could come close to breaking its blistering world record as parts of the west, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic are under an intense heat wave forecast to intensify this weekend.
  • The temperature at Death Valley National Park, which stretches between eastern California and Nevada, will reach highs around 130 degrees at Furnace Creek, Sunday night through Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service forecast.
  • The sweltering heat could creep close to the world’s record highest temperature of 134 degrees marked at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley on July 10th, 1913, according to the National Weather Service office in Las Vegas.
  • More than 50 cities from the Pacific Northwest to Arizona are expected to break record highs through Wednesday. Las Vegas may come close to breaking its all-time high of 117 degrees for five straight days next week from Sunday to Thursday.

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No Wind, No Weather movement: Weather scientist says the Jet Stream is Stagnant

Extreme Heat

Matthew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Important Takeaways:

  • Extreme Heat, Weather Conditions Attributed to Stagnant Jet Stream
  • It’s no coincidence that extreme heat is engulfing huge swaths of Asia, Europe and North America all at the same time. Powerful weather forces are combining to create the planet-wide conditions, and there’s unlikely to be relief from the scorching temperatures anytime soon.
  • The way the Earth and the atmosphere are wired means that the weather in one location can influence conditions on the other side of the globe, with high and low pressure zones helping to create the links. The phenomenon is called teleconnections by meteorologists, and it all has to do with how air is moving around the atmosphere.
  • Those high and low pressure zones bring heat to some areas and flooding rains to others. Often, the systems drift over the globe. But right now, the carousel isn’t moving. It’s been cemented in place for weeks, and forecasts show it’s going to stay that way.
  • Blame the jet stream — the “meandering river of wind that encircles the globe and creates our weather,” as climate scientist Jennifer Francis puts it.
  • The heat has had deadly consequences as domes of high pressure stay stagnant.
  • Record-setting temperatures were blamed for a surge of deaths in Mexico, and conditions were so extreme in California’s Death Valley National Park this week that a medical helicopter was unable to respond to the scene when a 71-year-old man was dying. Phoenix, the fifth-largest US city, has seen a record 21 days with temperatures above 110F (43C). Wildfires have broken out across Greece and Switzerland, while Rome has seen all-time highs and Tokyo smashed a 150-year-old heat record.
  • On top of all this, the oceans temperatures are also setting new highs.
  • “Once you get extremely warm oceans, it is easier to maintain heat waves” as more humidity gets unleashed, said Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California Los Angeles.

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Geoengineering now a mainstream topic when China is doing it

Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”

Important Takeaways:

  • China Has Started Geoengineering Rain Over Extreme Heat and Drought
  • China is reportedly planning to use cloud-seeding technology to force it to rain in an attempt to alleviate the drought conditions plaguing the Yangtze River basin—amid hot temperatures that have affected crop growth and forced the shutdown of industries in order to conserve energy.
  • Cloud seeding can cause it to rain artificially by sending airplanes into the clouds and releasing silver iodide. Geoengineering such as this may be the future in order to combat the effects of climate change on the planet, scientists say.
  • This cloud-seeding approach works by improving a cloud’s ability to produce rain by adding a nucleation point for raindrops to form around. Silver iodide, the compound sprayed into the clouds, exists naturally in the environment at low concentrations

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Energy companies are telling Americans to conserve electricity as extreme temperatures affect millions

Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”

Important Takeaways:

  • It’s Not Over: Americans Brace for Historic Heat Wave as Blazing Temps Fuel Wildfires from Europe to Texas
  • More than 100 million Americans in 29 states are facing heat advisories and excessive heat warnings this weekend as the country bakes under high temperatures.
  • A home video from Arizona shows a UPS driver collapsing as he rang a doorbell. Another driver told ABC 15 in an exclusive interview “no amount of training can prepare your body for 160 degrees…10-12 hours a day, six days a week.”
  • In states like Texas, the heat is fueling wildfires.
  • The power company Con Edison is telling customers to conserve electricity to avoid outages.
  • Across Europe, a parallel heat wave is generating wildfires in Spain and France. On Tuesday, Britain shattered its record for the highest temperature ever recorded.

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Residents flee as winds fan massive wildfire in southern Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) – A massive forest fire in southern Turkey spread to the town of Manavgat as the flames were fanned by strong winds on Wednesday, according to the local mayor, and TV footage showed residents running for their cars as streets were engulfed in smoke.

Footage showed plumes of black smoke rising from the forest around Manavgat, 75 km (45 miles) east of the resort city of Antalya, and Mayor Sukru Sozen said flames had spread as far as the town center, where many buildings were being evacuated.

“The fire has spread to the town center. It’s growing even more with the wind. It’s impossible for us to determine the size of the damage, there is damage in the villages too. We have not seen anything like this,” Sozen told broadcaster Haberturk.

Antalya Mayor Muhittin Bocek said the fire had started at four different points. He told Haberturk four neighborhoods had been evacuated but there were no reports of casualties yet.

Authorities could not immediately say what caused the fire.

Agriculture Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said authorities were battling the flames with a firefighting plane, 19 helicopters, 108 vehicles and some 400 personnel.

Turkey’s AFAD disaster agency said emergency teams from nearby provinces were also called into action, while authorities evacuated settlements near the forest.

Antalya, a popular destination for both foreign and local tourists, is known for its scorching summer heat. Bocek said the extreme heat and strong winds were fanning the fire as it swept through the pine forest.

The fire comes as Turkey battles with a series of disasters caused by extreme weather conditions in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, flash floods in the Black Sea provinces of Rize and Artvin damaged homes and property. The floods killed six people in Rize, according to AFAD.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Death rate soars as Canada’s British Columbia suffers “extreme heat”

(Reuters) – The Canadian province of British Columbia suffered nearly double the average deaths as temperatures hit a record high of 46.6°C (115.88°F) during the past four days of “extreme heat,” officials said on Tuesday.

At least 233 people died in the West coast province between Friday and Monday, about 100 more than the average for a four-day period, and the number was expected to rise as more reports were filed, officials said.

“Since the onset of the heat wave late last week, the BC Coroners Service has experienced a significant increase in deaths reported where it is suspected that extreme heat has been contributory,” BC Coroners Service said on Monday.

Coroners are now gathering information to determine the cause and manner of deaths and whether heat played a role, the statement said.

Environmental heat exposure can lead to severe or fatal results, particularly in older people, infants and young children and those with chronic illnesses, Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said in a statement.

British Columbia closed schools and universities on Monday as temperatures soared.

Lytton, a town in central British Columbia roughly 200km (124 miles) north of Vancouver, reported a temperature of 46.6°C (115.88°F) on Sunday.

Canada is widely known for its brutal winter and snows, and prior to the weekend the historical high in Canada was 45°C, set in Saskatchewan in 1937, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, which is more accustomed to long bouts of rain than sun, resulted from a high pressure system that wasn’t moving, said Greg Flato, a senior research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada based in Victoria.

(Reporting by Juby Babu and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

‘No news is good news’ for families of Australia’s volunteer firefighters

By Jill Gralow

PICTON, Australia (Reuters) – When Australian volunteer firefighter Andrew Hain is out battling bushfires, he sends emojis to his wife Kate to let her know he is safe.

They’ve also discussed that “no news is good news” and that she shouldn’t needlessly worry if he goes into rugged or remote bushland with no telephone reception.

Hain, a father-of-two, is one of several thousand volunteer firefighters that Australian communities rely on to combat bushfires, an ever pervasive threat in the continent’s hot and dry climate.

This summer fire season, however, is fast turning into one of the worst on record, heaping pressure on volunteers and their families.

Two volunteer firefighters were killed last week when their truck was struck by a falling tree as it traveled to a fire front.

“I have a little emoji of a bald guy with a bit of facial growth giving a thumbs up, and so every hour or so I try and send that emoji to her and she knows that I’m OK,” Andrew Hain told Reuters, shortly after fighting fires in the Wollondilly Shire, south of Sydney.

“We get into some places and there’s not a lot of reception and you know, we’ve got a sort of thing in place that no news is good news, if she doesn’t hear from me. So, we’ve got plans around it to try and put her mind at ease.”

A total of six people have died in bushfires which have destroyed more than 3.7 million hectares (9.1 million acres) across five states since they first erupted in spring in an early and ominous start to the bushfire season.

The eastern state of New South Wales is the worst affected with nearly 100 fires. A mega blaze northwest of Sydney, the country’s largest city, is the biggest bushfire on record, burning some 335,000 hectares (830,000 acres).

A three-year drought and record high temperatures have created more intense bushfires this season, say firefighters, already weary from months on the firegrounds and staring down two more months of summer heat.

Nightly television footage of exhausted volunteer firefighters and the ferocious fires they are battling has sparked debate over whether volunteers should be compensated.

Hain, a flight route planner at airline Qantas, has given up much of his end-of-year holidays to fight the fires. His young family have left their home to stay in Sydney while the fire threat looms.

His wife Kate is proud of him for contributing so strongly to the local community, but says it comes at a cost.

“We get nothing and they expect the amount of time and effort and danger they put themselves in, it’s just expected. I find that just amazing, that nobody gives us anything,” she said.

(Reporting by Jill Gralow in Picton; writing by Jonathan Barrett; Editing by Michael Perry)

‘Once-in-100-year’ storm triggers Sydney chaos as heat fans Queensland fires

A flooded street in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia November 28, 2018, in this still image taken from a video obtained from social media. @DeeCee451/via REUTERS

By Colin Packham

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Torrential rain and gale force winds lashed Australia’s biggest city of Sydney on Wednesday causing commuter chaos, flooding streets, railway stations and homes, grounding flights and leaving hundreds of people without electricity.

Police called on motorists to stay off the roads. One person was killed in a car crash and two police seriously injured when a tree fell on them as they helped a stranded driver.

Greg Transell, an office manager in Sydney’s north, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that strong winds caused widespread disruption to the tower block office where he works.

“I started to go upstairs to see if there was any damage and next minute there was an almighty bang and it ripped panels off the roof in the warehouse,” said Transell.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Sydney got more than 100 mm of rain in just a few hours, a level that the country’s most populous city would normally get through the whole of November.

“That’s the sort of rainfall you’d expect to see once every 100 years,” said Ann Farrell, the bureau’s state manager, told reporters.

The rain offered a welcomed respite to farmers who have suffered through a sustained drought in recent months, but it caused major disruptions to transport.

A Qantas plane takes off during heavy rains in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia November 28, 2018 in this still image taken from a video obtained from social media. Adem Yaglipnar/via REUTERS

A Qantas plane takes off during heavy rains in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia November 28, 2018 in this still image taken from a video obtained from social media. Adem Yaglipnar/via REUTERS

Sydney airport, the country’s busiest, said 130 flights had been canceled or delayed after it was forced to close two of its three runways.

“The storm is pretty intense in and around the airport,” Cait Kyann, an airport spokeswoman, told Reuters.

“We are operating from a single runway so that means that there are delays and likely some flights will be canceled.”

Ausgrid, the nation’s biggest electricity network, said the storm had cut power to 8,100 customers in Sydney and the Central Coast area to its north.

By late afternoon, 1,700 homes and businesses remained without power, Ausgrid said.

The storm struck only hours before the main morning peak hour, transforming some streets into fast-flowing rivers and parks into lakes. Several stranded motorists were plucked from rising floodwaters.

Vehicles drive on a flooded street in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia November 28, 2018 in this still image taken from a video obtained from social media. @DeeCee451/via REUTERS

Vehicles drive on a flooded street in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia November 28, 2018 in this still image taken from a video obtained from social media. @DeeCee451/via REUTERS

“We are asking all road users to reconsider the need to be on the roads throughout what will be a severe rain event,” said New South Wales state Assistant Police Commissioner Michael Corboy.

In contrast, in Australia’s northern state of Queensland, soaring temperatures near 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and strong winds exacerbated major bushfires.

Firefighters have been battling for nearly a week to contain more than 130 fires across Queensland, and 8,000 people were ordered to evacuate the city of Gracemere, about 600 km (370 miles) north of the state capital, Brisbane.

“These are unprecedented conditions,” said state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. “We have not seen the likes of this.”

(Reporting by Colin Packham; additional reporting by Paulina Duran and Byron Kaye; Editing by Michael Perry and Nick Macfie)

Death toll from overheated Florida nursing home rises to 10

FILE PHOTO: The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills is seen in Hollywood, north of Miami, Florida, U.S., September 13, 2017. REUTERS/Andrew Innerarity/File Photo

(Reuters) – A 10th elderly patient at a Miami-area nursing home has died after she was exposed to sweltering heat in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, police said on Thursday.

The resident of the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills died on Wednesday, police in Hollywood, Florida, said in a statement, without giving details.

Police have opened a criminal investigation into the deaths at the center, which city officials have said continued to operate with little or no air conditioning after power was cut off by Irma, which struck the state on Sept. 10.

Julie Allison, a lawyer for the nursing home, did not respond to a request for comment. Calls to the Rehabilitation Center went unanswered.

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration suspended the center’s license on Wednesday and terminated its participation in Medicaid, the federal-state healthcare program for the poor, disabled and elderly.

Medical personnel at the home had delayed calling 911 and residents were not quickly transported to an air-conditioned hospital across the street, the agency said in a statement.

Patients taken to the hospital had temperatures ranging from 107 Fahrenheit to 109.9 Fahrenheit (41.7 Celsius to 43.3 Celsius), it said. Average human body temperature is 98.6 Fahrenheit (37 Celsius).

Staff at the center also made many late entries to patients’ medical records that inaccurately depicted what had happened, the agency’s statement said.

One late entry said a patient was resting in bed with even and unlabored breathing, even though the person had already died, the statement said.

Last week, the agency ordered the center not to take new admissions and suspended it from taking part in Medicaid.

Irma was one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record and killed at least 84 people in its path across the Caribbean and the U.S. mainland.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Marcy Nicholson)