My column in Mindanao Daily, BusinessWeek Mindanao and Cagayan de Oro Times
In the Philippines, we experience the rainy season right now. "Breakthrough" insights into atmospheric dynamics are emerging from "high-maths" —scrutiny of satellite data, say scientists. Their Nature magazine article identifies "significant connections" between extreme rain events, often far apart. Their premise: global rainfall distribution stems "probably" from planetary waves named after the late Swedish-born American meteorologist Carl-Gustaf Rossby. Just wild weather or is it a climate disruption?
Normally, monsoon rains over northern Queensland last a "few days," says Australia's Bureau of Meteorology. Unprecedented downpours began a week ago, with more forecast and troops sent to a disaster zone. Evacuations have included these residents of Rossela, near Townsville, and German and Swiss tourists plucked from the Diamantina River catchment by a local farmer using his private helicopter.
Indonesia, like much of Asia including the Philippines i.e., weathers annual monsoon rains. Last weekend, the Sulawesi islands counted its toll: at least 70 people were killed as rivers burst their banks and landslides buried village homes. Authorities said a state of emergency would remain in place.
My home country Germany experiences records all-time hottest June temperature. Imagine: the last day of June 2019 has beaten all previous temperature highs for the month. Heat-related deaths have been reported in several European countries. Yes, whole Europe is melting.
A pharmacy sign in Carpentras, a village in southeastern France, which shortly held the country's all-time heat record of 44.3 degrees on Friday. The record was topped again later in the afternoon in the southern village of Villevieille, 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the east, which measured a thermometer-busting 45.1 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).
Germany set its all-time highest June temperature on last Sunday, with 38.9 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The country has been baking in an early summer heat wave; however, Germany's all-time high of 40.3 degrees Celsius still stands.
Fifty-seven runners at Hamburg's half marathon were hospitalized on Sunday after many collapsed in temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius, officials said. Some 141 runners needed treatment in what fire service officials described as "an emergency with mass casualties."
Temperatures in the country's central Rhine-Main region and into eastern Germany were expected to reach up to 39 degrees on Sunday, according to the German Weather Service (DWD).
Organizers of Sunday's Frankfurt Ironman event made contingency plans to keep athletes from overheating.
As huge crowds gathered in Paris for the annual gay pride parade, firefighters sprayed water on revelers, some of whom used rainbow-colored fans and umbrellas to counter the heat, which was expected to hit 38 degrees.
Heat-related deaths have been reported in Germany and France, mainly among the elderly. At least eight people drowned in bathing accidents across the two countries.
France's new record temperature of 45.9 degrees was set on Friday near the southern city of Montpellier, the Meteo-France weather service said. It is just the seventh European nation — along with Bulgaria, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece and North Macedonia — to record temperatures above 45 degrees.
During Sunday prayers in Rome, Pope Francis said he was praying "for those who have suffered the most from the consequences of this heat."
Meteorologists blamed a blast of hot air from northern Africa for the scorching early European summer, but temperatures are set to drop for the remainder of the week over much of Europe.
Drownings and wildfires - the amazing side effects of climate change.The heatwave sparked large blazes including in Spain, where firefighters on Saturday fought wildfires just as they finally contained another inferno after nearly 72 hours.Wildfires burned down several houses and at least 550 hectares (1,359 acres) of land in the south of France as temperatures hit upwards of 45 degrees on Saturday.The blistering heat also claimed the lives of a 17-year-old harvest worker in Spain and a 72-year-old homeless man in Italy.
Just wild weather or climate change? Do you know the answer, my dear readers?
Suddenly, Durianburg is closer to the world with the establishment of the Honorary Consulate of Hungary in Davao in a simple reception last October 12 at the function room of Verdon Parc.
