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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

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Temperatures in Chile and South Korea have soared this week, whilst China and Japan struggle with severe storms ravaging several regions and destroying homes.

Chile is experiencing temperatures of 37 degrees (99 degrees Fahrenheit) in the middle of the South American country’s winter, which climatologists describe as “extraordinary”.

“It is a temperature anomaly of almost 15 degrees above typical values and unfortunately it is not a local problem, it is a global problem,” said Raul Cordero, a climatologist at the University of Santiago. 

Climatologist and professor at Chile’s University of Concepcion Martin Jacques said that while some of the increase is expected at this time of the year due to atmospheric circulation, these extreme temperatures have been exacerbated by El Nino and an increasingly warming planet.

Chile isn’t the only country experiencing abnormal weather conditions this week, as Miho Oda, a forecaster with the Japan Weather Association, says the storms hitting China and Japan are unusual. “Summer typhoons move in a very complicated way, but even given that, this one is very strange,” said Oda. Scientists interviewed by Reuters attributed the movements of the storm to the rising temperatures of sea waters in the surrounding area. 

Speaking of the sea, keep your eyes peeled on a Reuters video feature on the Sustainability page on Aug. 7 about the impact of rising sea levels on Florida, United States. Scientists and residents at the ‘Big Pine Key’, a low-lying coastal area that is part of the Florida Keys, are witnessing coastal erosion and an increased vulnerability to storm surges.

1.  Winter heat wave in Chile offers ‘window’ to warmer world

A winter heat wave bringing historically high temperatures to Chile is a “window” to an increasingly warm future, according to scientists. Globally, July was already the hottest month on record and the first days of August brought a heat wave to parts of northern and central Chile, with springlike weather in its capital Santiago during its Southern Hemisphere winter.

A technician repairs electricity cables, as a wildfire burns on the island of Rhodes, Greece July 27, 2023. REUTERS/Nicolas Economou

2.  Presidents of Mediterranean states demand climate crisis action

Italy’s president and his counterparts in five European countries have demanded urgent moves to tackle the “climate crisis” after scorching heat waves, wildfires and flooding. There are fears that such extreme summers in southern Europe will harm the tourist industry and also harvests, two mainstays of the economies of the region.

3. South Korea raises heat alert to highest level

South Korea raised the hot weather warning to its highest level for the first time in four years, as parts of the country roasted in temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit), the interior and safety ministry said.

4. Floods hit China’s grain belt as storms following Doksuri head northeast

Rain pelted swathes of China’s biggest grain producing province, submerging farms and worsening floods that have already swamped cities around the country as rescue workers scramble to contain the havoc caused by Typhoon Doksuri. This comes as Typhoon Khanun weakened slightly and hovered in the East China Sea on Friday, but it is still expected to approach Japan’s Okinawa islands again, and even head for the main islands, making it what forecasters said was a “very unusual storm.”

5. Canadian wildfire emissions double previous record as flames rage

Forest fires in Canada this year have released 290 million tonnes of carbon, doubling a previous annual record, and emissions are set to rise as hundreds of flames remain active across the country, according to the EU’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service.

A lavender farmer in Germany, a watermelon farmer in South Korea and a date farmer in Iraq explain how their crops are affected by climate change. Click on the image for the video.

Greece said it will offer a week-long free stay on Rhodes in 2024 to tourists whose vacation was cut short by wildfires that burned for days on the island in July, damaging homes and hotels and forcing thousands to evacuate.

Tourism is the main driver of Greece’s economy which emerged from a debt crisis in 2018, and Rhodes, the ninth-largest island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, is a popular holiday spot.

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The number of rhinos killed in South Africa between Jan. 1 and June 30 for their horns – made primarily of keratin, a protein also found in human hair and fingernails – 28 fewer than the same period last year, South Africa’s environment ministry said.

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