Valencia, Spain Smashed By Extreme Deadly Flood

The latest victim of extreme, deadly, unprecedented floods that have been happening around the world with increasing frequency is Valencia, Spain. 

Extreme flash floods this week piled up these cars
in Valencia, Spain. 

 

At least 158 people have died in the flooding and that toll is rising fast as more bodies are discovered.

The toll had been increased from 95 that were in news reports this morning. 

Per the Washington Post: 

"As much as a foot of rain.... fell in mere hours late Tuesday, leading to catastrophic flooding in and around the city of Valencia. Totals throughout the day were reportedly as high as 20 inches. In the town of Chiba, about 20 miles from Valencia, the rainfall in eight hours equaled the normal total in a year, Spain's meteorological agency said."

 Judging from the videos, the flooding in Valencia, Spain this week looks like some of the very worst I've ever seen. Valencia is a region in eastern Spain that includes the city of Valencia. It's a magnet for tourists attracted to its beaches, citrus orchards and food. 

The extreme power of the water pushed hundreds of cars down streets and highways, piling them up as if they were giant junkyards. Searchers on Thursday were finding bodies in some of those cars. 

 The flash floods in Spain looked even more intense in some instances of what we saw in North Carolina with Hurricane Helene.  The flood erupted when an area of low pressure stuck near the Strait of Gibraltar fed off the warm water of the Mediterranean Sea to send persistent waves and lines of torrential thunderstorms into parts of Spain.

As of Wednesday, the low pressure system that caused the Spanish flood havoc was still there, although it was weakening. It could still set off renewed flooding, though, Spanish meteorologists warned. 

 It didn't help that the Mediterranean Sea is unusually warm for this time of year. Warmer water feeding into a storm produces heavier rainfall.

The sea water there reached a record high temperature this year, exceeding records set last year. The water has cooled a bit from a summertime peak, but is still three to six degrees warmer than normal. That can make a big difference with rainfall. 

As usual with this type of disaster, scientists are pointing fingers at human-caused climate change. A large reason why the Mediterranean Sea is so warm is because of climate change.

There's been a rash of extreme flooding worldwide this year, and in recent years for that matter. Just this year, we've had the extreme flooding in North Carolina with Helene. Another enormous flood from a stalled storm in September caused catastrophic flooding in eastern Europe. Also in September, another unprecedented flood hit areas in and around Nigeria.

As many readers well know, we in Vermont have not escaped these big floods. A flash flood damaged areas in Washington County on June 23, only to be followed by much larger, catastrophic flooding on July 10-11.

Then, on July 30, extreme downpours of eight inches in a few hours - something pretty much previously unheard of in Vermont, struck the Northeast Kingdom. 

Videos of the flooding around Valencia are insane. I've found a few.

First one is a news summary showing scenes from the flooding. As always in this blog thingy, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below click on that. 

More news footage, this time from the Associated Press. Again, click on this link or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

Great Britain Braces For Hottest Day Ever As Another Extreme Heat Wave Roasts Western Europe

A man carries a sheep on his back as they flee a wildfire in
Letria, Portugal during record heat this past week. Photo by
Paulo Cunha/EPA via Shutterstock/NBC News

 What is described as a "national emergency" is about to engulf Great Britain. It's an unprecedented heat wave that could cause a significant death toll in a nation not equipped for the type of heat in the forecast for the beginning of the week.   

The British Met Office says it is now likely that at least one city in England will reach 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit. 

If that happens, it would shatter England's record for all time hottest temperature, which was 101.6 degrees on July 25, 2019.

London currently is expecting a high temperature of 100 degrees Monday and 97 degrees on Tuesday.

By American standards, these forecasts don't seem too, too bad. Torrid, yes, but these are temperatures that have been experienced frequently outside the northern tier of states.

However, Great Britain isn't built for heat waves. And they were pretty rare in the past. You'd get a few years, like 1976, that were horribly hot. But England's damp, cool reputation held until recent years. Climate change is rewriting the rules of British summers.

The average high temperature in most of Great Britain this time of year is in the mid-70s. So who needs air conditioning? As you can see, since most places there don't have air conditioning, this is an especially dangerous situation for the elderly and for people already dealing with health problems. Estimates are that only three percent of British households have air conditioning. 

And the fit are at risk too, apparently.  The Met Office has declared the impending heat wave a Level 4 Red Alert. According to Reuters:

"On the Met Office website, a Level 4 red alert is defined as a national emergency, and is used when a heat wave 'is so severe and/or prolonged that its effects extend outside the health and social care system. At this level, illness and death may occur among the fit and healthy, and not just in high-risk groups."

As the Washington Post reports. the UK Met Office, which is the equivalent of the National Weather Service in the United States, doesn't usually use strong language in even the most noteworthy weather events. This time, though, at least compared to past performances, the people at the Met Office are pulling out their hair. Especially since there's a connection to climate change.

"'The chances of seeing 40 degree C days in the U.K. could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence,' said Nikos Christidis, a climate attribution scientist at the Met Office. 'The likelihood of exceeding 40 degrees C anywhere in the U.K. in a give year has also been rapidly increasing, and, even with current pledges on emissions reductions, such extremes could be taking place every 15 years in the climate of 2100."

The British torrid spell is part of a heat wave that blossomed in Morocco moved north in recent days into Portugal, Spain and France.

Pinhao, Portugal on Thursday reached 47 degrees Celsius or 116.6 degrees Fahrenheit, for the hottest July temperature on record for that nation.

Several cities in Portugal have set all time record highs in recent days. The hot, dry weather has set off huge forest fires in Portugal and adjacent Spain.

As of Friday morning, the number of deaths associated with the heat continued to rise. At least 281 heat-related deaths were reported in Spain and Portugal and the heat intensified and spread. There could be well over 1,000 deaths before this is over. 

Thankfully the heat is forecast to subside, at least for now,  by midweek in much of Great Britain and France. Highs from Tuesday onward through the rest of the week in London are forecast to be in the reasonable mid to upper 70s, with 80s forecast in places like Paris. 

Of course, it's only mid-July.  Deadly heat could re-assert itself through August. The current heat in Europe is making many people remember, and fear a repeat of, the catastrophic European heat wave of 2003.

The longer a heat wave lasts, the worse things get and the more people die. The 2003 heat wave started in June, and pretty much continued through August, culminating in all time record highs in much of western Europe during August.

About 30,000 people are thought to have died during that long 2003 heat wave. 

Deadly heat waves have gotten more likely with climate change world wide. The expected heat in the next few days in Great Britain is just one more example of that. 

Here in Vermont, we continue to be one of the few places spared so far this summer. It will turn very warm and humid for most of the upcoming week, but we won't come close to record highs. However, the weather pattern does look very active during the week, so expect bouts of thunderstorms and locally heavy rain. 

 

Where Is The Snow, Continued. Madrid Edition (Texas, Too!)

Madrid, Spain near the La Almudena Cathedral. Photo by
Pablo Blazquez/Getty Images

 We Vermonters are still in the depth of a January snow drought, with  no signs of any real accumulation for at least a week or so. 

We've watched while other places, including ones that are not normally winter wonderlands, get buried. 

The latest is Madrid, Spain, which just received its biggest snowstorm since at least 1971. The city if 6.6 million people basically shut down in the snowy onslaught.

According to Reuters:

"In the Madrid area, rescuers reached 1,500 people trapped in cars, while on the usually traffic-clogged Gran Via, residents snowboarded and pelted each other with snowballs as well as ski."

Four people have died in the storm so far including two who drowned in heavy rains to the south of the snow zone in Spain and two people who froze to death. 

Besides those stuck in their cars that have been rescued, thousands of other people were trapped for 12 hours or more in airports, train stations and businesses.  The city's airport was closed as were train services, according to CBS News.

The weight of the snow, up to 20 inches in the Madrid area, caused quite a bit of tree damage as well.

It does snow in Madrid most winters, but amounts almost always amount to a dusting or so. The last real snowstorm in Madrid before this one appears to have been in February, 2005 when four inches fell. 

There are ski resorts in the mountains north of Madrid that normally do get pretty heavy snows.

Normal temperatures this time of year in Madrid are around 50 for highs and around 32 degrees at night. Temperatures in Madrid are forecast to all into the mid-teens over the next couple of nights, which is unusual for that region. It will also guarantee that snow will stay on the ground for awhile. 

TEXAS SNOW

Meanwhile, a storm was dumping snow today in a broad band clear across central Texas from the New Mexico border all the way to north of Houston. The snow was also spreading into northern and central Louisiana.

Heavy snow was simultaneously falling in Waco  in east central Texas and Lubbock in northwestern Texas at mid-morning today.

People in the Texas snow zone are being told to avoid travel today due to the slippery roads. Plus the fact they're not used to it and don't have snow tires. 

The storm causing the snow is expected to eventually weaken over the northern Gulf of Mexico and have absolutely no effects on us here in Vermont. 

Below are some videos of the Madrid snow. As always in this blog, click on the YouTube logo on each video to make them bigger and easier to see.

An overview from The Telegraph:

This Al Jazeera video mixes in some of the joy of the Madrid snow with the trouble it caused: