They lifted the Smoke Advisory this morning. The change in the air this morning was very noticeable compared to Thursday. What a weird light Thursday produced…. it was as if it was evening all day long. I’ve never seen anything like it growing up in Port Alberni. Would love to hear about anyone else who might have experienced something like that in the Alberni Valley. I feel sorry for anyone who had breathing problems, even I could feel it in my lungs.
Now that that is done, it looks like we might actually get a little rain tonight and tomorrow. The gardens will love it. I fear it won’t be near enough to lower the fire danger rating, but every little bit helps.
Just for context… in the past two months (since June 6) Alberniweather has received a grand total of 9mm of rain. And all of that fell before July 2 (on June 15 and July 1).
But if you think that’s dry, that’s nothing. Consider the extreme heatwave that has gripped European Russia and Eastern Europe this past month and shows no sign of stopping.
In Moscow, records go back to 1880.
At 3:30 pm local time today, the mercury hit 39°C (102.2°F) at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. Moscow had never recorded a temperature exceeding 100°F prior to this year, and today marks the second time the city has beaten the 100°F mark. The first time was on July 29, when the Moscow observatory recorded 100.8°C and Baltschug, another official downtown Moscow weather site, hit an astonishing 102.2°F (39.0°C). Prior to this year, the hottest temperature in Moscow’s history was 37.2°C (99°F), set in August 1920. The Moscow Observatory has now matched or exceeded this 1920 all-time record five times in the past eleven days, including today. The 2010 average July temperature in Moscow was 7.8°C (14°F) above normal, smashing the previous record for hottest July, set in 1938 (5.3°C above normal.) July 2010 also set the record for most July days in excess of 30°C–twenty-two. The previous record was 13 such days, set in July 1972. The past 24 days in a row have exceeded 30°C in Moscow, and there is no relief in sight–the latest forecast for Moscow calls for high temperatures near 100°F (37.8°C) for the next seven days. It is stunning to me that the country whose famous winters stopped the armies of Napoleon and Hitler is experiencing day after day of heat near 100°F, with no end in sight.
As a result, soil moisture in some portions of European Russia has dropped to levels one would expect only once every 500 years.
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