Russia records its hottest temperature in history

[Nicko999]

Russia records its hottest temperature in history

A heat wave of unprecedented intensity has brought the world's largest country its hottest temperature in history. On July 11, the ongoing Russian heat wave sent the mercury to 44.0°C (111.2°F) in Yashkul, Kalmykia Republic, in the European portion of Russia near the Kazakhstan border. The previous hottest temperature in Russia (not including the former Soviet republics) was the 43.8°C (110.8°F) reading measured at Alexander Gaj, Kalmykia Republic, on August 6, 1940. The remarkable heat in Russia this year has not been limited just to the European portion of the country--the Asian portion of Russia also recorded its hottest temperature in history this year, a 42.3°C (108.1°F) reading at Belogorsk, near the Amur River border with China. The previous record for the Asian portion of Russia was 41.7°C (107.1°F) at nearby Aksha on July 21, 2004.

As I commented in Friday's post, six nations in Asia and Africa set new all-time hottest temperature marks in June. Two nations, Myanmar and Pakistan, set all-time hottest temperature marks in May, including Asia's hottest temperature ever, the astonishing 53.5°C (128.3°F) mark set on May 26 in Pakistan. Last week's record in Russia makes nine countries this year that have recorded their hottest temperature in history, making 2010 the year with the most national extreme heat records. My source for previous all-time records is the book Extreme Weather by Chris Burt. I thank Mr. Burt and weather records researchers Maximiliano Herrera and Howard Rainford for their assistance identifying this year's new extreme temperature records.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=1546

[Aslkahuna]

As I mentioned before, Both Israel and Kuwait, which are geographically part of Asia, have hit 53.9C (129F) and 54.0C (129.2F) so the 53.5C (128.3F) set in Pakistan is only a record for Pakistan and NOT Asia.

Steve

[brunota2003]

I've seen thermometers pegged out (usually 120*F for the ones around the bases in Iraq, the home and garden type), and even with extra lines on them for temps past 120. We hit 119 in Baghdad at the airport in early June., so temperatures just 10 degrees higher than that are not out of the question. The highest I recorded (in the shade under my wooden crate doorstep to my room) was 112.

[Aslkahuna]

Well, the record high for Arizona is 128F also recorded just before monsoon onset when the high heat comes in which is part of the setup that leads to the monsoon. CA of course has seen 134F and even the Dakotas have seen 120F.

Steve

[Nicko999]

Moscow just recorded its warmest temperature ever!!!

The temperature in Moscow, Russia reached 37°C (98.6°F) today, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city. According to Wikipedia, Moscow's previous highest temperature ever recorded was 36.8°C (98.2°F) in August 1920. With the wunderground.com forecast for Moscow calling for continued temperatures in the mid to upper nineties for the next week, Moscow should easily be able break its record for warmest July since record keeping began in 1879.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html

[Aslkahuna]

Phoenix and Tucson are also in the running for the same record and you KNOW it's hot when those two places are running 4F above normal. There have been no record highs but a number of record high lows. To add to the misery, the dewpoints have been above normal as well and mid 60 dews at 105-112F are not comfortable-Arizona dry heat anyone?

Steve

[Nicko999]

Moscow does it again...

Moscow Sets All-Time Record High; Relief is in Sight

The ongoing and brutal heat wave in Moscow reached unprecedented temperatures today. The heat will continue to bake the city into midweek, but then relief is in sight.

Unprecedented Heat Sets Records

Temperatures today soared to 100 degrees (37.5 degrees C) in Moscow at 4 p.m. local time (8 a.m. EDT). That is the hottest temperature ever measured in the city's recorded history. The previous all-time record high was 98.2 degrees (36.8 degrees C) on August 7, 1920.

The 99 degrees measured at 4 p.m. is not the official high for today. It is possible that temperatures may creep to the century mark before the day is over.

Temperatures have been nearing the century mark in Moscow daily since Friday. Saturday's high of 98.1 degrees (36.7 degrees C) inched past the previous July record high of 97.7 degrees (36.5 degrees C) that was set on July 30, 1936.

Today obviously now holds that July record.

Though the heat has reached extreme levels recently, hot weather has dominated Moscow this entire summer.

Temperatures have rose to or exceeded 85 degrees 27 out of the last 45 days (including today). The number of 90-degree days stands at 12.

Temperatures in Moscow this time of year typically warm to only 72 degrees, which was actually the city's low this morning.

To put the heat further into perspective, consider the fact that temperatures are averaging nearly 14 degrees above normal this month.

Smoke Worsens Situation for Moscow

It is not just the heat that residents of Moscow are enduring. Smoke from nearby fires has also blanketed the city.

BBC News reports that firefighters were working to extinguish 60 fires in the countryside outside of Moscow today. The blazes are covering 145 acres.

The fires are being fueled by woods and peat bog. Peat bog is a type of wetland that has been dried out from the extremely dry conditions accompanying this summer's heat wave.

AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Jim Andrews states that when peat bog burns it tends to smolder and be quite smoky.

Moscow has received only 0.50 of an inch of rain since the middle of June. Moscow averages 3.07 inches of rain each July.

Heat Relief is in Sight

The dome of high pressure that has been baking Moscow recently will continue to do so through midweek. Thursday could actually prove to be even hotter than today.

The passage of a cold front late Thursday should cause the heat to ease later this week. There are also indications that more substantial cooling will grace Moscow early next week.

http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/s ... rd-hig.asp

[Nicko999]

Just WOW!
Moscow sees second heat record in week

Moscow's heat record was broken for the second time in a week on Thursday as temperatures soared to 37.7 degrees Celsius (99.86 degrees Fahrenheit).

This beat Monday's record of 37.5 degrees Celsius.
"At 15:00 Moscow time (11:00 GMT) the principal meteorological station at the National Exhibition Center registered 37.7 degrees Celsius," an expert from a local meteorological bureau said. "This is 0.2 degrees higher than the maximum temperature ever registered in Moscow."

July 2010 has become the hottest month on record in Moscow.

Temperatures near Domodedovo and Bykovo airports, to the southeast of the capital, reached 38 degrees Centigrade (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Temperatures across much of western Russia have topped 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) during the past five weeks, causing peat bog fires and creating what is thought to be the worst drought since 1972.

Russian environmentalists suggest that the heat wave may be a symptom of global warming.

Meteorologists suggested however that the temperature could fall by as much as 10 degrees Celsius at the weekend. Rain is also expected to clear away much of the heavy smog that has hung over the city since the start of the week.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100729/159994984.html

[Aslkahuna]

Problem is, peat bog fires have a nasty tendency to smolder and throw off smoke for a long time even when it rains.

Steve

[jinftl]

Posted by: JeffMasters, 1:54 AM GMT on July 30, 2010

At 4pm local time today in Moscow, Russia, the temperature surpassed 100°F for the first time in recorded history. The high temperature of 100.8°F (37.8°C) recorded at the Moscow Observatory, the official weather location for Moscow, beat Moscow's previous record of 99.5°F (37.5°C), set just three days ago, on July 26. Prior to 2010, Moscow's hottest temperature of all-time was 36.6°C (98.2°F), set in August, 1920. Records in Moscow go back to 1879. Baltschug, another official downtown Moscow weather site, hit an astonishing 102.2°F (39.0°C) today. Finland also recorded its hottest temperature in its history today, when the mercury hit 99°F (37.2°C) at Joensuu. The old (undisputed) record was 95°F (35°C) at Jvaskyla on July 9, 1914. There is little relief in sight, as the latest forecast for Moscow predicts continued highs in the 90s for most of the coming week.

My source for extreme temperature records is Chris Burt, author of the book Extreme Weather. July in Moscow is easily going to smash the record for hottest month in Moscow's history. By my rough estimate, the temperature has been 18°F (10°C) above average this month.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... 0&month=07

[HurricaneRobert]

That's awful. It is also the only place in the world next to Brazil with most of its old growth forests intact.

[Nicko999]

That's insanity...

Russia Heat Wave Trashes Weather Record Books

The sweltering heat that has gripped European Russia this summer has shifted, at least temporarily, the climate hundreds of miles southward from where it should be.

In Moscow, July brought the highest temperature in about 130 years of weather records when, on the 29th, the mercury soared above the 100-degree F mark for the first time. The actual maximum for the day was 38.2 C, or 101 F. The previous record, a fraction below 100 F, was set on two previous days in July, the 26th and the 28th.

More stunning, perhaps, is that the monthly average temperature, which is reportedly 26.1 C, or 79.1 F, made it the warmest (or hottest, if one will) month of all historical record in Moscow.

However, here is where the extremity of this Russian summer comes into true focus. The old record for highest temperature of any month was that of July 1938, when the average temperature was 23.3 C, or 73.9 F.

So that is a more than 5-degree F departure above any previous monthly mean temperature reached in over 130 years of weather history. Talk about shattering a record!

For perspective, the normal monthly temperature for June in Moscow is about 17 C, or 63 F, but the 79 F monthly average registered in July 2010 would be about par for a normal July in Washington, D.C.--at a latitude 1,170 miles nearer to the Equator!

http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/s ... -weath.asp

[HurricaneRobert]

No longer any reason to be skeptical about climate change. We're going toward a future with a growing population and shrinking amount of arable land.

[Aslkahuna]

Actually, there is every reason to be skeptical as skepticism is what turns hypotheses into theories. The skepticism is NOT about the actuality of change but in how it will proceed and what factors are involved. As far as the growing population of the most destructive species Earth has ever seen, well that's just proof that Human stupidity is indeed endemic.

Steve

[HurricaneRobert]

The media is being silent on this story. It is a huge story and it is not even being mentioned on Fox. I think a 15 degree anomaly for over a month would scare the population and provide lots of ammo for environmentalists.

[Nicko999]

This is the biggest heat wave I've ever seen!!! 4th time Moscow breaks an all-time record this summer. Of course, the all-time record was once again broken today.

The Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 continues

One of the most remarkable weather events of my lifetime is unfolding this summer in Russia, where an unprecedented heat wave has brought another day of 102°F heat to the nation's capital. At 3:30 pm local time today, the mercury hit 39°C (102.2°F) at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport. Moscow had never recorded a temperature exceeding 100°F prior to this year, and this is the second time the city has beaten the 100°F mark. The first time was on July 29, when the Moscow observatory recorded 100.8°C and Baltschug, another official downtown Moscow weather site, hit an astonishing 102.2°F (39.0°C). Prior to this year, the hottest temperature in Moscow's history was 37.2°C (99°F), set in August 1920. The Moscow Observatory has now matched or exceeded this 1920 all-time record four times in the past eleven days. The 2010 average July temperature in Moscow was 7.8°C (14°F) above normal, smashing the previous record for hottest July, set in 1938 (5.3°C above normal.) July 2010 also set the record for most July days in excess of 30°C--twenty-two. The previous record was 13 such days, set in July 1972. The past 24 days in a row have exceeded 30°C in Moscow, and there is no relief in sight--the latest forecast for Moscow calls for high temperatures near 100°F (37.8°C) for the next seven days. It is stunning to me that the country whose famous winters stopped the armies of Napoleon and Hitler is experiencing day after day of heat near 100°F, with no end in sight.

The extreme heat has led to the worst drought conditions in European Russia in a half-century, prompting the Russian government to suspend wheat exports. The drought has caused extreme fire danger over most of European Russia (Figure 3), and fires in Russia have killed at least 50 people in the past week and leveled thousands of homes. The fires are the worst since 1972, when massive forest and peat bog fires burned an area of 100,000 square km and killed at 104 people in the Moscow region alone. Smoke from the current fires spans a region over 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from east to west, approximately the distance from San Francisco to Chicago. Numerous flights were canceled at Moscow's airports today, thanks to visibilities of 200 meters in smoke. Also of concern is fires that have hit the Bryansk region of western Russia, which suffered radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in nearby Ukraine. There are fears that fires may burn through the contaminated area, releasing harmful radiation into the atmosphere.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=1568

[Nicko999]

Smog in Moscow...

[Portastorm]

Wow ... that is quite bad. There must be some serious adverse health effects on the citizens of Moscow.

[Nicko999]

The smoke from the fires is now as big as a volcanic ash cloud and could eventually reach Europe.


Fires lay ghostly shroud of smoke on Moscow

MOSCOW — A miasma of smoke from wildfires cloaked the sweltering Russian capital on Friday, turning the city's spires into ominous blurs and grounding flights while glum pedestrians trudged the streets with faces hidden by surgical masks and water-soaked bandanas.

The smoke crept into many buildings, hovering about the ceiling in entryways. The State Historical Museum, on Red Square was forced to close because it couldn't stop its smoke detectors from going off.

Airborne pollutants such as carbon monoxide were four times higher than average readings — the worst seen to date in Moscow, city health officials reported. The concentration appeared likely to intensify; the state news agency ITAR-Tass reported smoke was thickening in the city's southeast late Friday.

The fires, which are raging across much of western Russia, come after weeks of extraordinary heat — daily highs of up to 100 (38 C) compared with the summer average of 75 — and practically no rain.

Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trenev said Friday that there's no water shortage yet because officials had kept reservoir levels high. But he noted that river levels are down by more than 20 percent, due to increased demands for water to battle the fires and practically no water flowing in.

The fires drew comment from officials and activists at international climate-change talks in Bonn, Germany.

Chief U.S. delegate said Russia's situation and the recent floods that have devastated Pakistan are "consistent with the kind of changes we would expect to see from climate change and they will only get worse unless we act quickly."

But the environmental group Greenpeace said the negotiators weren't getting the message.

"Russia is burning and Pakistan is drowning -- yet they seem happy to continue as if they have all the time in the world," the group's climate policy director Wendel Trio said in a statement from Bonn.

Dozens of flights were grounded and others were diverted away from the capital's airports as visibility deteriorated to as little as 200 yards (meters) during the day. By Friday evening, the three airports reportedly were resuming normal service.

Visibility in the capital was down to a few dozen yards due to the smoke, which is forecast to hang around for days due to the lack of wind.

"It's just impossible to work," said Moscow resident Mikhail Borodin, in his late 20s, as he removed a face mask to puff on a cigarette. "I don't know what the government is doing, they should just cancel office hours."

Russian health officials have urged those who have to go outdoors to don face masks and told people staying inside to hang wet towels to attract dust and cool the airflow. The Health Ministry said hundreds have needed medical attention due to the smog.

Ken Donaldson, professor of respiratory toxicology at the University of Edinburgh, said people with asthma, bronchitis, lung disease or heart problems were the most vulnerable to the smog.

"For people with underlying health problems, the particles in the smog could be the straw that breaks the camel's back," he said, causing them to have a serious lung problem or a heart attack.

He said concentrations of carbon monoxide, even at four times higher than normal, was not alarming unless people became trapped in an enclosed space. The more dangerous gases are ozone or sulfur dioxide, he said, but those are not usually produced by burning.

More than 500 separate blazes were burning nationwide Friday, mainly across western Russia, amid the country's most intense heat wave in 130 years.

"All high-temperature records have been beaten, never has this country seen anything like this, and we simply have no experience of working in such conditions," Moscow emergency official Yuri Besedin said Friday, adding that 31 forest fires and 15 peat-bog fires were burning in the Moscow region alone.

At least 52 people have died and 2,000 homes have been destroyed in the blazes. Russian officials have admitted that the 10,000 firefighters battling the blazes aren't enough — an assessment echoed by many villagers, who said the fires swept through their hamlets in minutes.

To minimize further damage, Russian workers evacuated explosives from military facilities and were sending planes, helicopters and even robots in to help control blazes around the country's top nuclear research facility in Sarov, 300 miles (480 kilometers) east of Moscow.

A wildfire last week caused huge damage at a Russian naval air base outside Moscow.

Moscow faces temperatures approaching 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) for the next week, according to the forecast, in contrast to its average summer temperature of around 23 C (75 F).

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... AD9HE5SS80

[Nicko999]

According to NASA, the smoke plume covering western Russia would span from San Francisco to Chicago if it were situated over the United States.