Experts warn that global heating is exacerbating inherent dangers of high altitude mountaineering
Avalanches in the Himalayas are causing an increasing number of deaths and threatening the safety of climbers, research suggests.
While high-altitude mountaineering comes with an inherent avalanche risk, global heating is exacerbating the danger during the climbing season in the Himalayan mountain range, experts warn.
Continue reading...Category 3 storm causes extensive flooding in south-east US, while heavy rain and winds also hit France and Italy
Hurricane Idalia struck northern Florida on Wednesday, bringing damaging winds and torrential rain. It made landfall near Keaton Beach on Florida’s Big Bend during the morning as a high-end category 3 hurricane, bringing sustained winds speeds near 125mph (200km/h) and a storm surge of 16ft along Florida’s north-west coastline.
Due to very warm sea surface temperatures, the storm strengthened rapidly over the Gulf of Mexico to category 4 status, before weakening to category 3 as it made landfall. It brought extensive flooding as it passed through and damaged power lines, leaving thousands without electricity.
Continue reading...Winds reaching 209km/h recorded as major train lines suspended ahead of typhoon’s expected arrival on Friday
China has issued the highest typhoon warning as Typhoon Saola crawled closer to the south-eastern coastline, threatening Hong Kong and other major manufacturing hubs in neighbouring Guangdong province.
Chinese forecasters issued a typhoon red warning at 6am on Thursday. China’s National Meteorological Centre said Saola, which lies about 295km (183 miles) south-east of Guangdong province, will move north-west across the South China Sea at a speed of about 10km/h (6mph), gradually approaching the coast of Guangdong, then slowly weaken in intensity.
Continue reading...The eye of Hurricane Idalia made landfall along the coast of the Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach around 7.45am Eastern time, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds were near 125 mph.
Continue reading...Storm expected to strengthen to category 3 before it makes landfall on Florida’s Gulf coast on Wednesday
A rapidly intensifying Hurricane Idalia was closing in on Florida’s Gulf coast on Tuesday, with landfall of the first major hurricane to strike the US this year was expected early on Wednesday.
Forecasters predicted Idalia would crash ashore as a higher-end category 3 hurricane. Category 3 hurricanes have winds between 111 and 129mph. Anything above a category 2 – on a scale of up to 5 – is considered major.
One word – leave. It’s not something to discuss.
Two blocks this way, two blocks that way, two blocks that way. Water. And all the other little residential areas are connected by bridges. Any one of those bridges can be taken out. If they do, you’re stuck on your side.
Continue reading...The union representing workers at the grocery chain had asked the company to allow more breaks and cooler working conditions
A Kroger distribution center employee has died on the job in Memphis amid hot working conditions, adding to a national debate in the US over the risk to workers during heatwaves.
The worker was identified as Tony Rufus, members from his union announced.
Continue reading...Extreme heat over Mediterranean begins to break down with cold front and low pressure creating strong winds
The extreme heat that had been affecting the Mediterranean began to break down over the weekend as colder air surged south-eastwards. A strong cold front, in conjunction with a rapidly deepening area of low pressure in the Mediterranean Sea led to an explosive show on Sunday, with severe thunderstorms racing through the Balearics towards Sardinia.
Palm trees were ripped out from the ground and boats toppled in harbours as strong winds raced through the archipelago, with a couple of official weather stations in Mallorca recording wind gusts of about 66mph (106kmph). Roads turned into rivers under the torrential downpours.
Continue reading...Cruise vessel’s mooring ropes snapped in high winds, which blew liner into nearby oil transport ship off coast of Palma
A P&O cruise ship carrying thousands of British holidaymakers has crashed into an oil tanker off the coast of Palma in Mallorca after it snapped its moorings.
The Britannia was blown by gales towards the other vessel on Sunday after a storm battered the island in the Balearics. P&O said a small number of people had sustained minor injuries.
Continue reading...One man confessed to having set four other fires on island of Evia as Greek authorities struggle to contain blazes
Fire department officials in Greece have arrested two men for allegedly starting wildfires on purpose, while hundreds of firefighters battled blazes that have killed at least 21 people in the past week.
One man was arrested on the Greek island of Evia for allegedly setting fire to dried grass in the Karystos area. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.
Continue reading...Amnesty links wildfires and lack of legal migration routes to deaths of 19 people believed to be asylum seekers
Refugees and migrants in Greece are facing off against the “two great injustices of our times”, Amnesty International has said, as it linked wildfires and scant access to legal migration routes to the deaths of 19 people believed to be asylum seekers.
As wildfires continue to rage across swathes of Greece, authorities in the country said they were working to identify the charred remains of 18 people found this week in the dense forests that straddle the country’s north-eastern border with Turkey.
Continue reading...Officials working to identify people found in Alexandroupolis region as firefighters battle second wave of fires
The bodies of 18 people have been found in an area of north-east Greece where firefighters are battling a major wildfire, authorities have said, as a record-breaking late summer heatwave continues to sear swathes of continental Europe.
Hundreds of firefighters were struggling on Tuesday to contain dozens of outbreaks, including several that have burned out of control for days and forced widespread evacuations, in the second deadly wave of blazes in Greece in a month.
Continue reading...Storm downgraded to post-tropical cyclone as of Monday morning but mudslides still possible
First responders rescued over a dozen unhoused people who were trapped in knee-deep water in Southern California, AP reported.
Fire officials saved 13 people who were caught in a flooded homeless encampment near the San Diego River.
Continue reading...Damage from rare tropical storm is less than feared, but experts warn of further danger as it heads to Nevada and Oregon
Vast swaths of the US south-west are reeling after Tropical Storm Hilary pummeled the region with historic amounts of rain and strong winds, even as the storm weakened on its path northward on Monday.
The rare tempest left downed trees, flooded streets, and cascades of mud and debris in its wake after slamming into the US west coast on Sunday. In California, the storm had largely cleared by Monday afternoon, and officials celebrated that damage had been less severe than feared.
Continue reading...Weather ballon climbs to 5,300 metres before temperature falls to 0C amid late summer heatwave
A Swiss weather balloon had to climb to an unprecedented 5,300 metres (17,400ft) before the temperature fell to 0C (32F), meteorologists have said, as a late summer heatwave and wildfires continue to pummel swathes of continental Europe.
A man was found dead in a blaze raging north of Athens on Monday as the Greek government warned of an “extreme” risk of fire across the country, while more than half of mainland France was placed under an amber heat alert.
Continue reading...Storm Hilary expected to cause severe flooding, as other parts of US and Mexico put under extreme heat warnings
For the first time in 84 years, a tropical storm has made landfall in California. Tropical Storm Hilary, with maximum sustained wind gusts of 130mph (210km/h) and a central air pressure of 943mb, advanced towards the Baja California peninsula this weekend as a category 4 hurricane, before arriving as a tropical storm in southern California late on Sunday. The last time a tropical storm made landfall in southern California was in 1939, when it flooded Los Angeles and killed nearly 100 people.
Hilary triggered California’s first ever tropical storm warning, extending from the Mexican border to just north of Los Angeles amid rainfall totals estimated to have reached 70-150mm (3-6in) across southern California. This amount of rainfall is expected to cause life-threatening flooding, and would amount to more than a year’s worth of rain across parts of California and Nevada.
Continue reading...Canary Islands regional president opens inquiry into fire, while people flee from four Greek villages
An out-of-control wildfire on Tenerife that has forced thousands to flee was started deliberately, authorities have said, as four more villages in Greece were evacuated in the face of another advancing blaze and more than half of mainland France was on extreme heat alert.
As much of southern Europe continues to roast after July was named the world’s hottest month on record, the Canary Islands regional president, Fernando Clavijo, said on Sunday that police had confirmed the blaze raging on the Spanish island since Tuesday had been lit intentionally, and had opened three separate lines of inquiry.
Continue reading...Evacuations ordered after wind-fueled blaze expands unchecked near eastern city of Spokane and shuts highway
A wind-driven wildfire in eastern Washington state has destroyed at least 185 structures, closed a major highway and left one person dead, authorities have said.
The blaze began shortly after midday on Friday on the west side of Medical Lake, about 15 miles (24km) west of Spokane, and then expanded, state Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Isabelle Hoygaard said on Saturday.
Continue reading...Premier says days ahead will be ‘extremely challenging’, as firefighters in neighbouring Northwest Territories fight to save city
The premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia has declared a state of emergency, saying authorities there were “facing the worst wildfire season ever”, as thousands were evacuated from cities east of Vancouver.
Premier David Eby said on Friday night: “Over the past 24 hours, the situation has evolved rapidly and we are in for an extremely challenging situation in the days ahead.”
Continue reading...Many weather stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart clocked their highest July temperatures ever as the country’s winters get hotter
Dozens of longstanding temperature records tumbled across Australia during a warm July.
Across the country maximum temperatures were overall about 1.2C above the long-term averages in July and all capital cities except Canberra were warmer than average, Bureau of Meteorology data shows.
Continue reading...Blaze in popular tourist area in the Pyrenees forced evacuation of 2,000 people before it was brought under control
A fire in the south of France burned through 500 hectares (1,240 acres) of land and destroyed a campsite, with 2,000 people evacuated before the blaze was brought under control on Tuesday.
The French environment minister said the climate crisis was exacerbating conditions of drought that fed the fire. No one was injured in the fire, authorities said.
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