The summer of 2023 is “a summer of extremes” due to the scorching heat, wildfires and floods that have resulted in major damage to people’s health and the environment, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said. Clare Nullis, the spokesperson for the WMO, said at a press briefing here on Friday that dangerous weather, including intense heat and devastating rainfall, has impacted large parts of the world in this “summer of extremes”, reports Xinhua news agency. She said many new station temperature records around the world were broken in July, and the start of August also saw a winter heat wave in parts of South America.

In a series of updates on extreme weather, WMO said earlier this week that many countries like France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Algeria and Tunisia all reported new maximum daytime and overnight station temperature records. Large parts of the US have also been gripped by extensive heat waves. “We need to broaden the focus beyond maximum temperatures because the minimum temperature is most important for health and critical infrastructure,” said WMO extreme heat senior advisor John Nairn. WMO pointed out that heatwaves are among the deadliest natural hazards with thousands of people dying from heat-related causes each year, while the full impact of a heatwave is often not known until weeks or months afterwards.

Records broken all over the world

According to WMO, sea surface temperatures of the Mediterranean are set to be exceptionally high in the coming days and weeks, exceeding 30 degrees Celsius in some parts, and more than 4 degrees Celsius above average in a large part of the western Mediterranean. WMO believes that the impacts of marine heatwaves include migration of species and extinctions, arrival of invasive species with consequences for fisheries and aquaculture. Speaking at Friday’s press briefing, the WMO spokesperson also said that Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record. In Canada, record-breaking wildfires continue to burn big forest areas. More than 650 wildfires were out of control as of July 24.

And earlier this week WMO said wildfires had forced evacuation of hundreds of residents and tourists on the Greek islands of Rhodes, Evia and Corfu since July 17. The emissions of these wildfires have reached record levels. Heavy rains and flooding also caused severe damage and loss of life in parts of the world. “As the planet warms, the expectation is that we will see more and more intense, more frequent, more severe rainfall events, leading also to more severe flooding,” said Stefan Uhlenbrook, director of hydrology, water and cryosphere at WMO. WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas noted that “the extreme weather — an increasingly frequent occurrence in our warming climate — is having a major impact on human health, ecosystems, economies, agriculture, energy and water supplies”. “This underlines the increasing urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and as deeply as possible,” said Taalas.

At least two people have died and 61 others were injured as the powerful typhoon Khanun continued to batter Japan’s southern island prefecture of Okinawa on Thursday. Triggering severe outages in the prefecture, the sixth typhoon of the year left 24 per cent of households in Okinawa without electricity, an official said on Thursday morning. An 89-year-old woman in Uruma City died from burns she sustained when candles being used in a blackout caused a fire, reports Xinhua news agency.

Earlier on Wednesday, a 90-year-old man died in a hospital after he became trapped under the collapsed garage the previous night at his residence. As of Thursday noon, some 61 people were injured due to the typhoon, which also caused traffic light malfunctions in some areas of Okinawa, according to local media outlets. At least 314 flights and over 40,000 passengers are expected to be affected, national broadcaster NHK reported. As of 12 noon on Thursday, the typhoon was northwest of Miyakojima Island, moving west-northwest at 15 km per hour. The storm had an atmospheric pressure of 940 hectopascals at its centre, packing winds of 5 meters per second, Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) said Thursday.

With a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 60 meters per second, the typhoon is projected to slowly head west-northwest on Friday while maintaining its strength over the East China Sea, said the JMA. It urged people in Okinawa to remain on high alert as typhoon Khanun nears Miyakojima Island. Meanwhile, weather officials said the total rainfall through Sunday in Hokkaido could exceed August’s usual monthly average for the northern prefecture, while Okinawa and Amami-Oshima Island in the southwestern Kagoshima prefecture are projected to experience staggering precipitation levels. The weather agency also called on people to be on the alert for swollen rivers and flooding in low-lying areas.