Deadly heat wave, nicknamed ‘Lucifer,’ engulfs Europe

A summer of record-breaking heat continues around the world, as Europe sweats under a heatwave so intense locals have dubbed it “Lucifer.”

The heat wave, which stretches from Eastern Europe to parts of France, Italy, and Spain, has already caused at least six deaths, slowed traffic, and sparked wildfires. Over the weekend, temperatures in southern Spain reached high as 111°F, while the south of France saw temperatures near 104°F.

India Heat Wave Persists, Claiming Over 1,400 Lives

HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- Eating onions, lying in the shade and splashing into rivers, Indians were doing whatever they could Thursday to stay cool during a brutal heat wave that has killed more than 1,400 in the past month.

But some had no choice but to venture into the heat.

Climate Change Study Ties Recent Heat Waves To Global Warming

WASHINGTON — The relentless, weather-gone-crazy type of heat that has blistered the United States and other parts of the world in recent years is so rare that it can't be anything but man-made global warming, says a new statistical analysis from a top government scientist.

The research by a man often called the "godfather of global warming" says that the likelihood of such temperatures occurring from the 1950s through the 1980s was rarer than 1 in 300. Now, the odds are closer to 1 in 10, according to the study by NASA scientist James Hansen. He says that statistically what's happening is not random or normal, but pure and simple climate change.

Extreme weather fails to trigger discussion on climate change

As one sweltering day melted into another this month, it occurred to me that perhaps climate change is a hoax.

How else to explain the way the media all but ignore the subject of climate change in the midst of extreme weather? Is it weird to think there could be a connection?

So I felt relieved last week when CBC TV’s The National announced a report on this summer’s “wicked weather.” Finally, I felt sure I’d hear something raising the climate change question.

Feel the Burn: Making the 2012 Heat Wave Matter

There have been two, maybe three, landmark heat waves in the history of man-made global warming. The first was in 1988. Then as now, the eastern two-thirds of the United States was broiling while relentless drought parched soil and withered crops across the Midwest. But in Washington, the underlying problem was being named for the first time. On June 23, NASA scientist James Hansen testified to the Senate that man-made global warming had begun. The New York Times reported his remarks on Page 1, and the rest of the media at home and abroad followed suit. By year’s end, “global warming” had become a common phrase in news bureaus, government ministries and living rooms around the world.

In Texas, Arguing That Heat Can Be a Death Sentence for Prisoners

HOUSTON — Last summer’s record-breaking heat wave had a grim impact on Texas, playing a role in the deaths of roughly 150 people. Many of them were found in their homes or apartments, but a few were discovered somewhere else — in their prison cells. 

 Ten inmates of the state prison system died of heat-related causes last summer in a 26-day period in July and August, a death toll that has alarmed prisoners’ rights advocates who believe that the lack of air-conditioning in most state prisons puts inmates’ lives at risk.

Ontario’s corn crop withers under drought

Beneath the blistering sun the parched cornfields of Ontario are “wavy like a roller-coaster.”

In a few grateful pockets (mostly south and west of London) the million-dollar rain has come, giving some fields tall, green stalks and potentially bumper yields.

In others, “the crops look completely burnt off, as if they’ve been dead for two weeks,” says Greg Stewart, a corn specialist at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Extreme weather hits hard, costs taxpayers billions

While the Harper government deployed Canadian diplomats to lobby Fortune 500 companies in the United States to counter a global warming campaign, 2011 proved to be the year of weather extremes in the States. In fact, fourteen extreme weather events caused losses of US$1 billion each. The worst tornado outbreak in history hit the southern states, with April recording a staggering 753 tornadoes, and beating the previous monthly record of 542 by a startling 39%.

The United States was not alone. Rainfall records were set in Australia, Japan and Korea, whereas the Yangtze Basin in China experienced record drought.

Blackouts as four power plants shut down

EDMONTON - Monday’s rolling power blackouts were caused by a combination of high demand for power and the unexpected outage of several coal power plants in Alberta, made worse by exceptionally poor output from becalmed wind generators.

A total of four power generators were down at once on Monday, said Cathy O’Connell, a spokesman for the Alberta Electric System Operator.

TransAlta Utilities’ 362-megawatt Sundance 3 has been out of commission since Friday, but was joined early Monday morning by Atco Power’s Battle River No. 5 and then, in quick succession in the early afternoon by TransAlta’s 406-MW Keephills 1, Capital Power’s 400-MW Genesee 2 and Atco Power’s 385-MW Joffre CT201.

Heat Wave: St. Louis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis And Chicago Near Record High Temperatures

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The temperatures in Casimir Brandon's basement bedroom grew so stifling that the exhausted Madison man began riding city buses in the morning, from one end of the line to the other, so he could grab a few hours of air-conditioned sleep.

Brandon is among those searching for any kind of relief as oppressive heat slams the middle of the country with record temperatures that aren't going away after the sun goes down. So when the city of Madison transformed a vacant convention center into a 24-hour cooling center, Brandon jumped at the chance to sleep in comfort.

Heat Wave Hits Much Of The United States This Weekend

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fiery reds and oranges nearly covered the United States on meteorologist maps as a massive heat wave hit hard in much of the country on Saturday.

Temperatures averaged up to 15 degrees above normal, with most peaks in the 90s but triple digit heat expected to strike from Montana to New Mexico, according to lead meteorologists for The Weather Channel and The National Weather Service.

Paired with oppressive humidity, temperatures will feel even hotter, as measured by the heat indexes.