After the some of the worst flooding in decades, Japan has experienced a punishing heat wave for much of July and August with temperatures soaring ever 41°C. Needless to say, many people lost their lives, and the impact of climate change is becoming ever more visceral.
#Temperature anomalies 1880-2017 by country 🌡. No matter how you visualize it, it looks scary! #GISTEMP #dataviz #climatechange #globalwarming
— Antti Lipponen (@anttilip) August 25, 2018
Download / watch hi-res 🎞: https://t.co/ZdGPVTM5yO pic.twitter.com/cAn9wG8FPU
Spending any considerable time outside has been unbearable so I spent much of the last two months cocooned in my air-conditioned apartment, only venturing out for a daily dip in the pool and to nip to the supermarket. Such are the perks of working from home.
Things came to a head last Monday (Aug 26) evening with one of the biggest storms I have ever witnessed. The barrage of thunder and lightning lasted for over an hour with the sound ricocheting continuously off buildings, amplifying its apocalyptic presence.
This thunderstorm displayed a textbook Cumulonimbus capillatus incus shape: a powerful convective updraft and a well-defined anvil at the top. It also produced an impressive ‘bolt from the blue’ lightning bolt: such a bolt starts in the updraft or even in the anvil and strikes out and away from the thunderstorm. This type of lightning bolt can strike up to ~30 km from the thunderstorm; the skies can be blue with hardly a sign of an ongoing thunderstorm, hence the name ‘bolt from the blue’.
Severe Weather Europe
Several Twitter users captured jaw dropping photos and video of the event:
昨日の積乱雲と雷の約1.5hをタイムラプスで。遠く茨城の雷から急に手前の前橋辺りがもりもりと発達。絶え間なく光ってました。上昇気流に乗って盛り上がった雲が成層圏を飛び出すオーバーシュートもよく見える。#今日の積乱雲 pic.twitter.com/8HXCKs9ZAZ
— さむりぃ (@realpizza2) August 27, 2018
関東北部にすごい積乱雲
— 東山正宜 (@itaimecom) August 26, 2018
さきほど東京から撮影 pic.twitter.com/8Zir3yb5nd
昨夜東京を襲った雷雨の写真です。
— KAGAYA (@KAGAYA_11949) August 27, 2018
積乱雲が近づき、雷が鳴り出したらお天気が急に変わるかもしれません。どうぞご注意ください。
いずれも安全な場所から撮影しています。（雷雲が接近しているときは野外での撮影は危険です） pic.twitter.com/dhPDJhDjFJ
Quite a view over Tokyo tonight! 🌩#lightning #雷 https://t.co/iaUDPHFJKQ pic.twitter.com/yc1h4Ldjo0
— Joseph Tame (@tamegoeswild) August 27, 2018
The changing weather looks set to drive sales of air-conditioners in places which haven’t
Top photo by KAGAYA.
