Weekly Global Climate Highlights

1. California:

STILL UNSEASONABLY COOL Temperatures were as much as 5°C below normal in California, with lows reaching 7°C at Blue Canyon (39.3°N) and dropping below 20°C throughout the state, except for a few locations along the Arizona border [COLD - 2 to 3 weeks].

2. Central United States:

DRYNESS SPREADS ACROSS REGION Scattered moderate to heavy showers dropped 20 to 100 mm of rain on southeastern Missouri and adjacent parts of Arkansas and Illinois, but little or no rain fell elsewhere as dryness developed across the region. Short-term moisture deficits (June 1 - August 7) were generally less than 100 mm, but approached 200 mm in parts of Kentucky and West Virginia [DRY - 4 to 9 weeks].

3. Northeastern United States:

STILL EXTREMELY DRY Little or no rain was reported across the region as long-term dryness persisted. Moisture shortages since June 1 ranged from 100 to 250 mm across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic [DRY - 4 to 20 weeks].

4. Eastern United States and Southeastern Canada:

COOLER AIR OVERSPREADS REGION Canadian air abruptly ended the heat wave across the Great Lakes and northern New England, but weekly departures of +1°C to +2°C remained throughout the mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. Highs climbed above 30°C throughout the region and reached 40°C in parts of eastern South Carolina and southeastern Georgia. Despite the cooling trend, the high temperatures exacerbated the dryness across the East (see items 2 and 3 above) [WARM - Ended at 2 to 18 weeks].

5. East-Central South America:

WET WEATHER EASES Between 10 and 50 mm of rain fell on Uruguay while little or none was reported elsewhere. Since the beginning of June, precipitation surpluses of 100 to 400 mm accumulated across the region [WET - Ending at 4 to 11 weeks].

6. Northern Europe:

UNUSUALLY DRY CONDITIONS DEVELOP Although a few isolated showers dropped 20 to 100 mm of rain, most of the region received less than 25 mm of precipitation, allowing abnormally dry conditions to spread across northern Europe [DRY - 4 to 5 weeks].

7. Southeastern Europe:

RAINS ABATE Light to moderate rains (10 to 50 mm) fell on scattered locations throughout the region, but most areas received little or none. Moisture surpluses since June 1 ranged from 100 to 235 mm in Hungary and adjacent parts of former Yugoslavia, but dropped below 100 mm elsewhere [WET - Ending at 5 to 13 weeks].

8. Southwestern Asia:

WARM ANOMALY EXPANDS EASTWARD Temperatures averaged as much as 6°C above normal from Turkey and southwestern Russia eastward through Kazakhstan, with the mercury soaring to 46°C as far north as Sam, Kazakhstan (45.4°N) and exceeding 40°C throughout much of western and southern Kazakhstan [WARM - 2 to 10 weeks].

9. Pakistan and Northwestern India:

DRYNESS REMAINS Little or no rain continued the dryness in the Punjab states of India and Pakistan and India's Himachal Pradesh. Since the first of June, as little as 40 to 85 mm has fallen over most of the area which is 150 to 260 mm less than normal [DRY - 4 to 9 weeks].

10. Southern China:

THUNDERSTORMS BRING MORE HEAVY RAIN Scattered Thunderstorms soaked parts of southern China from Yunnan eastward to Guangdong and Fujian with heavy rain (50 to 120 mm) while light to moderate amounts (10 to 50 mm) dampened most of the remainder of the region. Since June 1st, 550 to 1050 mm has fallen in much of the region which is 140 to 690 mm above normal [WET - 4 to 12 weeks].

11. East-Central Asia:

WARMTH REMAINS ENTRENCHED Temperatures again averaged 2°C to 5°C above normal across central and eastern Mongolia and adjacent Siberia southward into the Huang Ho Valley of China. According to media accounts, the recent heat was responsible for the deaths of at least a half dozen people and caused numerous power failures [WARM - 2 to 7 weeks].

12. East-Central China:

DRYNESS CONTINUES Light to moderate rain (10 to 60 mm) was widely scattered across northeastern China from Shanxi and Henan eastward to the Yellow Sea, providing limited relief to the dryness. Between 40 and 150 mm has fallen over parts the region since June 1, yielding moisture deficits of 140 to 220 mm [DRY - 4 to 7 weeks].

13. Korean Peninsula and Southern Japan:

HEAVY RAINS TRIGGER LANDSLIDES Typhoon Olga (packing winds of 120 kph) added to torrential rains (160 to 550 mm) that inundated the central Korean Peninsula and Japan's eastern Kyushu and southeastern Shikoku. Moderate to heavy rain (25 to 150 mm) drenched the remainder of the Koreas and southern Japan. According to press reports, the rains triggered floods and landslides in Korea that killed dozens of people and forced thousands to flee their homes [Episodic Event].

14. Japan:

HEAT PREVAILS Weekly temperature departures ranged from +4°C to +6°C across all but the southern portion of Japan's main islands. The mercury generally reached into the mid to upper 30's (°C) and climbed to as high as 38°C at Niigata (38°N) [WARM - 2 to 7 weeks].