Northern hemisphere heatwave sets records
WELLINGTON: From Tokyo to Toronto, from Stockholm to Seoul, and from Lapland to London, there’s one word on everyone lips — ‘‘hot’’.
Much of the northern hemisphere is sweltering in a heatwave which is rewriting the record books and causing drought and wildfires.
Britain baked in its hottest day of the year on Thursday, when temperatures hit 35degC — hotter than spots on the Mediterranean such as Greece, Italy and the south of France.
The high was recorded at London’s Heathrow Airport.
It was predicted the mercury could soar as high as 37degC yesterday — sparking warnings of what is already being dubbed ‘‘Furnace Friday’’.
Hundreds of Eurotunnel passengers face having to abandon their travel plans this weekend.
The CrossChannel rail operator said it had taken the ‘‘unprecedented decision to cancel daytrip/overnight tickets’’ for travel yesterday, after the extreme temperatures buckled airconditioning units on the trains.
Passengers on the London Underground have also described hellish conditions.
A mix of toxic air, extreme highs and a lack of cloud cover have caused a ‘‘high’’ air pollution alert to be issued for London.
However, one silver lining was that the extreme temperatures led to a temporary relaxing of the strict dress code for cricket spectators in the Pavilion at Lord’s.
Male members of Marylebone Cricket Club are normally expected to wear jackets when arriving at the ground and while in the Pavilion area but the rule was waived due to the heat.
But it is in far north Europe where the summer weather has been exceptionally unusual. The temperature in the Arctic Circle reached 30degC.
Record temperatures have been reported in northern Norway with a top temperature of 33degC — more than 15degC higher than normal, according to the Norwegian meteorological institute.
And near the Arctic Circle at Kvikkjokk, in Sweden, temperatures climbed to 32.5degC last week, while in Finnish Lapland it was 33.4degC.
More than 65 deaths have been linked to heatrelated illnesses.
In South Korea, 42degC was recorded in the capital, Seoul, with overnight temperatures only falling to 30degC — which was a nighttime record.
Records have also fallen in Africa, where a temperature of 51.3degC in Algeria set a record, and in Oman on the Arabian Peninsula, a world record overnight minimum temperature of 42.6degC was set.
In the US, California has been under scorching heat, including record temperatures on July 6 of 48.9degC in Chino in the west of the state, and the next day 47.2degC in the Van Nuys neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
At the Furnace Creek station in Death Valley on July 8, the mercury registered 52degC — still below the contested 56.7degC hit on July 10, 1913.
Meteorologists have said that a key factor is that the jet stream, which keeps air flowing round the northern hemisphere at high altitudes, has been weaker than usual and has stalled over Europe for the past two months.
As a result, regions of high pressure have been trapped, creating cloudless, windless and hot conditions.
There are also suggestions that the rapid Arctic warming is playing a role. — RNZ