Floods, Heatwaves, Wildfires, and Other Climate Anomalies Around the Globe

On the 22nd (local time), buildings and vehicles destroyed by flooding were tangled together on Simpson Street in Waverly, Tennessee, USA, where record-breaking heavy rain fell.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Extreme weather events such as wildfires, droughts, heatwaves, and floods are continuously occurring around the world.

According to The New York Times (NYT) and others, Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, recorded 4.45 inches (about 11.3 cm) of rainfall on the 22nd (local time) due to the impact of Hurricane Henry. This is a new daily rainfall record for New York City, surpassing the previous record of 4.19 inches (about 10.6 cm) set in 1888. In Tennessee, located in the southeastern U.S., heavy rain since the previous day has caused at least 22 deaths and dozens of people are missing.

In Mexico, on the same day, Hurricane Grace struck the eastern coast, bringing heavy rain that caused flooding in 22 locations in Veracruz state, with at least seven deaths reported in the state capital, Jalapa.

The NYT stated, "The link between hurricanes and climate change is becoming increasingly clear," adding, "As the Earth warms and sea levels rise, we can expect to experience stronger hurricanes that bring more rainfall."

In addition to flooding, heatwaves, wildfires, and droughts are also occurring. In southern Italy’s Sicily, the daytime high temperature reached 48.8 degrees Celsius on the 11th. Other Southern European countries such as Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus have also experienced prolonged record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires.

In Russia, hundreds of large wildfires caused by heatwaves and drought have destroyed over 14 million hectares, and the massive amounts of smoke from the fires were carried by the wind over 3,000 km, reaching the Arctic for the first time ever. Algeria and Tunisia also experienced several days of wildfires amid abnormal high temperatures.

Last month, the western regions of Canada and the U.S. suffered hundreds of deaths due to heatwaves caused by a heat dome phenomenon, and the western U.S., centered on California, has been enduring severe drought for several months.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) analyzed that the Earth's surface temperature in July this year was 16.73 degrees Celsius, 0.93 degrees higher than the 20th-century average of 15.8 degrees, marking the highest July surface temperature (land and sea surface) since records began in 1880.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently warned in a report that "deadly heatwaves and severe droughts will become more frequent due to global warming." Citing this report, The Wall Street Journal stated, "Heatwaves are occurring five times more frequently worldwide than before 1900," and "If the Earth’s temperature rises 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, the frequency could increase up to 14 times."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.