Extreme weather news and discussion

[Time_Traveller]

Germany floods: Huge 'sinkhole' emerges after quarry dam collapses causing landslide

16 JUL 2021

A huge sinkhole has formed after a quarry dam collapsed in Germany as Europe continues to be devastated by extreme weather.

Homes and part of a castle in Blessem, near Cologne, were destroyed after heavy rain saw the River Erft burst its banks before the quarry gave way on Friday.

Geographer Matthias Habel said the river rushed into the gravel pit which eventually could no longer withstand the water pressure.

The sinkhole is growing bigger with the erosion currently spanning over 300 metres.

It is understood several people have died as a result of the collapse, while the death toll for the ongoing floods across the country's western region has reached at least 110.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-new ... s-24550790

Here is a picture of a After/Before shot of Blessem.

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Europe Flooding Deaths Pass 125, and Scientists See Fingerprints of Climate Change
Source: nytimes.

Last Updated July 17, 2021, 6:11 a.m. ET 9 minutes ago

Parts of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands were inundated. High waters and damage to roads and bridges hampered rescue efforts in Germany.

The death toll has passed 100 and hundreds more people remain missing in Belgium and Germany after strong rains caused rivers to burst and wash away buildings.CreditCredit...Rhein-Erft-Kreis/Cologne District Government, via Associated Press

Rescue workers toiled on Friday night to reach people in remote German villages hit by some of the most severe flooding Europe had experienced in decades, as questions began to be raised about lapses in the country’s elaborate flood warning system.

The scenes of devastation from the floods came from all around Western Europe as the death toll passed 125 on Friday, with another 1,300 people still missing. Roads buckled and washed away. Cars piled atop one another. Houses were inundated to the roof tiles. Frightened residents were being evacuated in the shovels of earth movers.

But nowhere was affected more than Germany, where hundreds were still unaccounted for and the death toll had reached 106 and was expected to rise as rescue workers combed through the debris. At least 20 were reported dead in Belgium.

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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/16 ... _new=false

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

It was definitely hot this weekend just as i came back to work from hols on Saturday 26C and Sunday was 28C whilst it was 33C in the shade phewww!!!.

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

Chinese army warns dam battered by storms could collapse
21 Jul 2021 02:35AM
(Updated: 21 Jul 2021 08:53AM)

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/as ... e-15257186

BEIJING: The Chinese army warned that a stricken dam in the centre of the country "could collapse at any time" after being severely damaged in torrential storms that killed at least 12 people and brought the region to a standstill.

Weather authorities have issued the highest warning level for central Henan province as downpours caused widespread disruption and the evacuation of residents of flooded streets.

[weatheriscool]

Underground train fills with water as part of China suffers 'heaviest rain in 1,000 years'
Source: Sky News

Parts of China have been hit by "the heaviest rain in 1,000 years" - with footage showing underground train carriages filling with water.

More than 20cm of rain fell on the city of Zhengzhou, Henan province, in a single hour on Tuesday. In the recent European floods, the worst-hit areas of Germany saw 18.2cm over three days.

At least 25 people died and seven went missing in the floods, local authorities said, as 100,000 were forced to flee their homes, according to China's state news agency Xinhua.
...
More than 30 reservoirs in Henan have exceeded their warning levels and overnight the rainfall caused a 20-metre breach in the Yihetan dam in the city of Luoyang west of Zhengzhou.

Read more: https://news.sky.com/story/underground- ... s-12359980

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Extreme Heat is Killing American Workers
by Umair Irfan
July 21, 2021

https://www.vox.com/22560815/heat-wave- ... restaurant

Introduction:

(Vox) Abe Carlin held up an instant-read thermometer in the Portland, Oregon, pizzeria where they worked. It showed 103.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Even with half the ovens off and the air conditioning cranked up, the kitchen was desperately hot on June 27, when a heat dome capped the region.

Outside, temperatures were breaking records as a searing late-June heat wave settled across the Pacific Northwest. Portland reached a record high of 112 degrees Fahrenheit, only to be broken the next day. Portlanders, who have rarely felt such heat, didn’t want to turn on the ovens in their own homes.

So as temperatures started rising, more orders came into the pizzeria. The kitchen staff struggled to keep up with the demand using their limited oven space. And staffers who would have helped out couldn’t make it in as cables melted in Portland’s light rail system and left commuters stranded.

Conditions in Carlin’s pizza restaurant were actually better than many in the food industry. Employees were rotated between the cooler dining room and the warmer kitchen. The break room was stocked with cold Gatorade. Workers were told to take frequent breaks and even spend a few minutes in the cooler if needed.

Finally, the owners decided to close the restaurant early.

[caltrek]

U.S. States Struggle With More extreme Heat as United Farm Workers Union Urges More Protections
by July 20, 2021

https://www.freshfruitportal.com/news/2 ... otections/

Extract:

(FreshFruitPortal.com) In Oregon, advocates urged state officials to institute emergency rules to protect workers following a farmworker's death after he completed a shift outside during the heatwave in late June, US News reports.

Gov. Kate Brown on July 6 directed the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration to put emergency rules in place for employers, including requiring employers to provide shade, cool drinking water and regular breaks for employees, among other regulations.

In other states, worker protections during extreme heat are already in place. California, considered the national leader on the issue, has a statewide occupational heat illness prevention standard that includes training and planning, along with requirements for providing water, shade and breaks for those who work outside.
…
But members of the United Farm Workers noted in a statement that …(Washington) state's protections fell short of California's, urging Gov. Jay Inslee to issue additional emergency protections.
...
On July 13, additional rules took effect in Washington, requiring shaded areas for employees to cool down and ensuring that workers have a paid rest period of at least 10 minutes every two hours to cool down.

The remainder of the article includes reviews of the impact of the heat on the apple crop, cherries, and berries.

[caltrek]

Warnings About Heat Deaths Among the Low-Income Population Went Unheeded
by Alleen Brown
July 23, 2021

https://theintercept.com/2021/07/23/por ... er-income/

Introduction:

(The Intercept) IN THE WAKE of an extreme heat event in the Pacific Northwest that killed at least 200 people, a scientist testified before Congress that the deaths could have been prevented.

“Those who died lacked access to financial capital, social networks, and had aging or injured bodies,” Vivek Shandas, director of the Sustaining Urban Places Research Lab at Portland State University, told the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. To Shandas, the tragic result was not unforeseen.

“We knew who was going to die,” the scientist said. “I wrote a report stating as much in 2009, and yet local agencies had little capacity for taking swift action.”

Shandas is part of a league of scientists that could be called the Cassandra generation, named for the Greek myth about unheeded prophecies. For decades, scientists have predicted a moment like the one we’re living now: climate-driven crises destroying lives and beloved places once assumed safe from catastrophes like extreme heat waves. Scientists like Shandas saw it coming, yet little action was taken.

Conclusion:

“It’s very clear,” he (Aaron Bernstein, interim director of Harvard’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment) said, “that the single best thing we can do to address all of the above is to prevent greenhouse gas emissions in the first place.”

Low income folks may be on the front lines of those suffering from extreme weather. Still, the worse the weather gets, the more likely it will become more than just an inconvenience to the middle class

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Weakening In-Fa to Bring Heavy Rain to China as New Storm Could Affect Tokyo Olympics
by Jackson Dill
July 23, 2021

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/22/weather/ ... index.html

Introduction:

(CNN) A weakening In-fa is beginning to track away from the southern Japanese islands but has its eye set on eastern China by the end of this weekend. The storm could bring extremely heavy rainfall to millions in China.

And behind In-fa, there is a growing tropical threat from newly named Tropical Storm Nepartak for northern and central parts of Japan, which could potentially impact the Olympic Games by early next week.

In-fa is currently located about 275 kilometers (170 miles) west-southwest from Okinawa and is moving northwest. The storm has been a typhoon for much of this week but has now weakened to a strong tropical storm, with winds up to 110 kph (70 mph) near its center, as of the 5 p.m. ET update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

In-fa has been weakening due to dry air, thus weakening its thunderstorms, as well as slightly cooler sea surface temperatures.

The good news is no significant strengthening of this storm is expected because of this. But it will still be a strong tropical storm or weak hurricane impacting land in the northwest Pacific Ocean.

[weatheriscool]

Monsoon rains could bust exceptional drought across the Southwest

(CNN)A surge of monsoonal moisture is bringing rounds of heavy rain and strong thunderstorms to areas of the Southwest that are currently suffering from extreme to exceptional drought conditions.
Nearly 10 million people are under flash flood watches across Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
While expansive rain and thunderstorms will affect much of the Southwest this weekend, the highest rainfall totals are expected across the state of Arizona where some locations could tally upwards of 6 inches. This amount of rain in such a short period of time have prompted significant flash flooding concerns.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/24/weather/ ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

Tornado confirmed in Detroit area; thousands lose power
Source: AP

DETROIT (AP) — The National Weather Service says a storm survey has confirmed a tornado struck the Detroit area on Saturday night.

The EF-1 tornado with winds estimated at 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour) touched down in Oakland County around 7:45 p.m., the weather service said Sunday. Trees were uprooted and snapped, and one person suffered minor injuries after multiple pine trees fell on a home. The tornado traveled about 1.8 miles (2.90 kilometers).

Thousands of utility customers in the Detroit area had no power Sunday following a night of severe storms.

DTE Energy reported nearly 135,000 customers in Oakland and Macomb counties had no service at 10:20 a.m. due to wind damage.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-det ... 8003737004

[caltrek]

Experts Say Climate Change is to Blame for Unprecedented Heat Waves Worldwide, and There’s No End in Sight

by Carson McCullough
July 26, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/exeperts ... -in-sight/

Extract:

(Courthouse News) In a study published Monday in Nature Climate Change, experts say that severe climate change happening across the world is increasing the likelihood that these massive heat waves will happen. Researchers found that it is not the amount of warming itself but the rate at which the warming takes place that really sets the stage for these extreme weather events.

Researchers used a series of complex climate data models and analysis techniques to look for correlations between climate change and surging temperatures. Using these models, experts were able to run through different possible outcomes for the planet that changed depending on the amount of emissions experts projected under each scenario.

What they found was under the high carbon emissions scenario, the probability of experiencing heat waves is likely to skyrocket in the coming years. According to their models, record heat waves lasting more than a week are going to be two to seven times more likely between now and 2050.

And experts say it doesn’t get any better from there. Between 2050 and 2080, just under 60 years from now, experts project heat waves will be three to 21 times more likely than they have been in recent decades.

Researchers also found that heat waves seem to be linked with the ebb and flow of climate change acceleration, with heat waves being more likely to happen in spurts during times of fast-paced climate warming but then slow down when climate warming is less aggressive.

[Time_Traveller]

Extreme weather will be the norm and UK is not prepared, scientists warn

Thu 29 Jul 2021



Extremes of weather will strike the UK more frequently owing to the climate crisis, scientists said after data showed that last year was one of the warmest, as well as one of the wettest and sunniest, on record.

Last year was the first to figure in the top 10 for heat, rain and hours of sunshine, in records stretching back more than a century, as moderate British weather is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, according to a report from the Met Office and climate scientists.

The extremely sunny start to lockdown in the spring of 2020 followed the wettest February, while a heatwave striking in August combined to make 2020 the third warmest year, the fifth wettest and the eighth sunniest on record, according to the State of the UK Climate 2020, published in the International Journal of Climatology.

Mike Kendon, senior climate scientist at the Met Office National Climate Information Centre, and lead author of the study, said: “The UK’s climate is already changing. The warming that we see is broadly consistent with what we see globally … and our climate seems to be getting wetter as well as warmer, and that’s consistent with our broad understanding of the process [of climate change].”

The UK’s weather records go back centuries in some cases, with a temperature series for central England dating to 1659 and other temperature records in an unbroken line from 1884, and rainfall going back to 1862, and in some cases further. The report’s authors amalgamated data from these series, and for sea temperatures and sea levels, and compared them with last year’s findings.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... port-warns

[Time_Traveller]

‘Climate change has become real’: extreme weather sinks prime US tourism site

Thu 29 Jul 2021



At Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, the water line has dropped to a historic low, taking a heavy toll on the local industry

Chaos erupted at Bill West’s business in Page, Arizona, last week when he was forced to tell dozens of paid clients their summer vacations were either canceled or on hold – effective immediately.

West, the owner of a houseboat timeshare company, was scrambling after record-low water levels at Lake Powell – one of the most popular motorized boating destinations in the US – disrupted recreational and tourism activities throughout the region.

The National Park Service abruptly announced earlier this month that houseboats could no longer use the Wahweap Launch Ramp, the busiest boat launch site in the area. Boats already cast out into the water were warned they had less than a week to return to land, or risk getting marooned.

West sat in traffic for more than an hour last Friday trying to corral 30 of his houseboat timeshares from the 180-mile long reservoir before the final deadline. Dozens of vehicles stretched for at least a mile waiting for their turn on a concrete ramp that no longer reached the water. Even four-wheel-drive trucks were getting stuck in the mud as the Lake Powell shoreline retreated faster than federal water managers expected.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ate-crisis

[weatheriscool]

Drought worsens in California as region faces more triple-digit heat, making it tougher to control
Source: CNN

By Aya Elamroussi,

(CNN)The dire drought that has been smothering much of the West for months got even worse this week, with areas in California and the Pacific Northwest seeing an expansion of drier conditions, which have fueled menacing wildfires across the region.

"There isn't a 'normal' anymore. We need to be prepared for anything," said Norm McDonald, the Incident Commander for the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, the nation's largest that was ignited in early July and was only 53% contained by Thursday.

Nearly half of California is currently suffering exceptional drought, which is the worst category designated by the US Drought Monitor.

Last week, a little over a third of the state was under that category. Now, nearly 14.5 million people are impacted, a more than 50% increase from last week, according to the monitor, which is produced through a partnership between US government agencies and the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/30/weather/ ... index.html