120 Degrees in the Shade?! Record-Breaking, 'Dangerous' Heat Wave Bakes Western U.S.https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1419639001https://beta.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/06/11/san-francisco-soars-degrees-record-heat-wave-torches-california-west-coast/?outputType=amphttps://twitter.com/i/status/1138430430808629249Folks in the western U.S. are sweltering under an unusually intense June heat wave, with temperatures soaring to near-record highs from Oregon to Arizona.
Heat warnings and/or advisories were in effect Tuesday for a number of major metro areas in the West, including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento and San Francisco.https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1138288224655138816/photo/1On Monday, normally mild San Francisco soared to a brutal high of 100 degrees, the first time that city has ever hit the century mark in June. (... 102° at 4:57 PM PDT.) The heat warped tracks on the city's transit lines, the Weather Channel said, and led to tens of thousands of power outages. A number of records were demolished in the Bay Area as well, such as 107 degrees in King City and 105 degrees in Salinas.
Monday was also only the seventh time on record the city reached 100 degrees, AccuWeather said.
More record heat was forecast for Tuesday, where the average high is in the upper 60s.Monday's low temp of 72° in San Francisco broke the city's monthly maximum low temp record, previously 70° [set on 6/24/1976 & 6/6/1883]. It was also the 3rd all-time warmest night on record, behind the all-time maximum low of 75° [set on 9/2/2017 & 9/8/1904]
https://mobile.twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1138424056779137024 An excessive-heat warning was even in effect in typically hellish Death Valley, California, where a high of 120 degrees was forecast for Wednesday.
... One expert, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain tweeted Monday that "our recent work suggests that we're reached the point where a majority (perhaps even a vast majority) of unprecedented extreme heat events globally have a detectable human fingerprint."----------------
India Staring at Longest Heatwave in 3 Decadeshttps://m.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-staring-at-longest-heatwave-in-3-decades/story-zM1sSWQ3p63smxTErFVClJ_amp.html The Capital, Delhi, which sweltered on its hottest June day in history on Monday (48 degrees Celsius) recorded a maximum temperature of 45.4 degrees Celcius at Palam in spite of a spell of light rain in the morning. Dholpur in nearby Rajasthan was worse at 51°C. It was the fourth time that the temperature crossed 50°C in June in the state, according to Indian Meteorological Department.With a heatwave spell stretching 32 days, 2019 has already seen the second-longest spell of scorching temperature ever recorded. If the mercury doesn’t dramatically drop in the next two days, 2019 will become the year with the longest heatwave spell in recorded history — with three weeks to go in June.
... The blazing heatwave is in line with predictions made by a number of scientific studies based on IMD data that show that the intensity of heatwaves is rising. DS Pai, a scientist at IMD, Pune, said their study of long-term heatwave data of 35 metrological sub-divisions showed a
threefold increase in heatwaves every year since 1991. “Our observation indicates that the increase was steeper in the last two decades,” he said. ... “With climate change, the frequency and intensity of heat waves in India will increase,” [/iS Krishnan, a senior scientist at IITM, said.
... In major cities across northern India, the demand for power and water surged even as many sources of water – such as rivers and reservoirs – ran dry. The peak power demand in Delhi broke all records of this season on Monday and touched a high of 6,686 MW, reported the discoms. In the hinterlands, where there are often no secondary sources of water such as tanks and pipes, the situation is worse.
In Sonbhadra district on the eastern tip of Uttar Pradesh, for example, the scorching sun has forced many villagers to dig pits in the riverbed and wait for groundwater to ooze out. As the temperatures rise, the pits will go dry and villagers will have to trek kilometres for a pot of water. Hand pumps often don’t work in these regions because in many pockets, the water level has dipped below 300 feet.
The sweltering heat has driven tens of thousands of people into hill stations (mountain park hotels) that are ill-equipped to handle a rush of such magnitude. Uttarakhand’s Nainital has seen an average of 15,000 to 20,000 tourists arrive daily in a city with a capacity of just 8,000 rooms. Mussoorie, which has 2,000 rooms, has seen 190,030 tourists flood the town since May.
As many as 15,000 vehicles have entered Manali and Shimla on weekends this month, translating to roughly 60,000 people — about a third of the population of these towns.
The tourist influx is repeatedly choking all approach roads to the small Himalayan hill stations (mountain park hotels) and causing massive traffic snarls in the mountains. Moreover, the hills have received no respite from the blistering sun — Monday’s maximum temperature for Mussoorie was six degrees above normal at 30.5 degrees Celsius while Dharamsala recording a maximum of 33.8 degrees Celsius.
--------------------
Indian Villages Lie Empty as Drought Forces Thousands to Fleehttps://amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/12/indian-villages-lie-empty-as-drought-forces-thousands-to-fleeHundreds of Indian villages have been evacuated as a historic drought forces families to abandon their homes in search of water.The country has seen extremely high temperatures in recent weeks. On Monday the capital, Delhi, saw its highest ever June temperature of 48C. In Rajasthan, the city of Churu recently experienced highs of 50.8C, making it the hottest place on the planet.
Further south, less than 250 miles from the country’s commercial capital, Mumbai, village after village lies deserted. Estimates suggest up to 90% of the area’s population has fled, leaving the sick and elderly to fend for themselves in the face of a water crisis that shows no sign of abating.
... Wells and handpumps have run dry in the 45C heatwave. The drought, which officials say is worse than the 1972 famine that affected 25 million people across the state, began early in December. By the end of May, Hatkarwadi had been deserted with only 10-15 families remaining out of a population of more than 2,000.
With 80% of districts in neighbouring Karnataka and 72% in Maharashtra hit by drought and crop failure, the 8 million farmers in these two states are struggling to survive.
--------------------
Parts of India: Heat wave causes vegetable prices to rise 40% in one weekhttps://www.freshplaza.com/article/9113284/parts-of-india-heat-wave-causes-vegetable-prices-to-rise-40-in-one-week/ The heatwave sweeping through large parts of India has made vegetable prices skyrocket with some areas seeing a 25-40% rise in bills in the past 10 days. Traders said prices are likely to remain volatile until monsoon rain covers the main growing areas in the country. In April, wholesale prices of food rose 3.4%, but fruits and vegetable prices were up 14%.
Kailash Tajne, president of the Vashi Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), said that vegetables were selling for 30-40% more than usual price since the past 10 days.