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RTHK
3 hours ago
- RTHK
Temperature records broken in Spain and Portugal
Temperature records broken in Spain and Portugal Tourists walk at Cais das Colunas as temperatures rise in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo: Reuters Portugal recorded its highest-ever single-day temperature in June -- 46.6 degrees Celsius -- while last month was the hottest in Spain, the countries' weather services said on Tuesday. The IPMA agency said the record temperature was registered on Sunday at Mora, about 100 kilometres east of the capital, Lisbon. That beat the previous June high of 44.9C in the southwestern town of Alcacer do Sal in 2017. Some 37 percent of IPMA monitoring stations recorded temperatures higher than 40C on Sunday, it added. A number of regions, including around the capital, were put on red alert on Sunday and Monday because of the heatwave, that has spread across much of Europe. Eight Portuguese inland regions remained on the second-highest alert with the highest risk of forest fires, especially woodland areas in the centre and north of the country. In Spain, the Aemet weather service said the country had its hottest June on record, with an average temperature of 23.6C. The "extremely hot" June "pulverised records", surpassing the normal average for July and August as well as the previous June record of 22.8C set in 2017. Temperatures in southern Spain soared to 46C on Saturday -- another June high -- while scientists said the Mediterranean Sea was warmer than usual at 26.01C on Sunday, another June record. Human-induced climate change is being blamed for stoking hotter and more intense heatwaves, particularly in cities, where tightly packed buildings amplifies temperatures. Michael Byrne, a reader in climate science at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, said heat domes -- when warm air is trapped in the atmosphere -- were nothing new. "What is new are the temperatures heat domes deliver. Europe is more than two degrees Celsius warmer than in pre-industrial times, so when a heat dome occurs it drives a hotter heatwave," he added. "Climate change is loading the dice such that when a heat dome does occur, it brings hotter and more dangerous temperatures," he added. (AFP)
The Standard
5 hours ago
- The Standard
'Bomb cyclone' pummels Sydney with heavy rains, winds
A man runs as storm clouds hover above at Bronte Beach in Sydney, Australia, July 1, 2025. (Reuters)
RTHK
5 days ago
- RTHK
Storm set to pile on the woes for Guangxi
Storm set to pile on the woes for Guangxi Rongjiang county in Guizhou is left to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of Typhoon Wutip and its floodwaters also hit Guangxi on Thursday, just as a tropical depression makes landfall in the province. Photo: Reuters Towns and villages by a major river in Guangxi lay half-submerged as floodwaters from a province upstream roared into the mountainous region, with the expected landfall of a tropical cyclone later on Thursday compounding disaster risk. The massive flooding that overwhelmed the cities of Rongjiang and Congjiang in Guizhou province on Tuesday has spread downstream to other parts of southwest China, including rural settlements in Guangxi by the banks of the Liu river, which originates from Guizhou. The Guangxi township of Meilin was the worst-hit, state media reported on Thursday, with floodwaters at their peak more than four metres above what was considered safe. Even as floodwaters passed and dangerous surface run-off began to recede, southwestern China – from Guizhou and Guangxi to Chongqing, Yunnan and Sichuan – remained on high alert for secondary disasters such as road collapses, landslides and hydro-dam overflows. "Rural areas face significant challenges due to limited infrastructure and resources," said Chen Xiaoguang, professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu. "Strengthening these systems in rural counties will be key to reducing the long-term impact of increasingly severe weather." Urban areas typically have a stronger capacity to respond to floods, he said, but not all cities are equally equipped. Rongjiang, for instance, is a county-level area where resources are more limited. On Tuesday, the Guizhou city of Rongjiang, located at the confluence of three rivers, was hit by a flood on a scale that Chinese meteorologists said could only happen once in 50 years, and at a speed that shocked its 300,000 residents. The flow rate of one section of the Liu river in Rongjiang surged to 11,800 cubic metres per second, the equivalent of nearly five Olympic-sized swimming pools. That was more than 80 times the average rate of flow. At least six people were killed. As deluge-hit areas began to remove silt left behind by the flooding and restore power, telecommunications and water networks, rains from a tropical depression expected to make landfall in Guangxi on Thursday night could affect restoration and cleanup work or even risk a new round of flooding. The tropical depression made landfall on Hainan early on Thursday and later again in Guangdong, bringing more rain to a region still reeling from Typhoon Wutip two weeks ago. Extreme storms and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges for Chinese officials, as they threaten to overwhelm ageing flood defences, displace millions of people and cause billions of dollars in economic losses. (Reuters)
