Some shots from last night's storms just S of Bonn. Nothing to write home about in terms of (much needed) rainfall though. #weather
Lars Lowinski
@larswx.bsky.social
RMetS Chartered Meteorologist, photographer, occasional storm chaser. Interested in severe weather, natural hazards and risk communication. Opinions are my own. My photography: larslowinski.com
August 3, 2008: France's most recent violent tornado ravaged several communities. Per the ESSL, the F4 had a 10.5-kilometer-long path and was up to 200 meters wide. Hundreds of homes and other buildings were damaged or destroyed in Hautmont. Three people were killed.
Sub-surface Pacific temperatures are now warmer than ever recorded having exceeded 1997's peak by 0.36°C. Further warming is still likely before they peak, little doubt now that this will be the strongest El Nino event in recorded history.
It’s now official: June–July 2026 was the most anomalously warm two-month period ever recorded in France by a staggering margin. France is now virtually certain to record its warmest summer on record.
Extremely warm and dry midday profiles ahead of the line of showers and storms in W Germany today. Hybrid/inverted-V profiles supporting strong outflow and locally damaging winds as the storms generate increasingly large cold pools this afternoon. #weather
Some smoke has made it's way from France to far W and SW Germany with an increase in aerosol content before the arrival of the gusty line of showers and storms. The plot on the right shows ceilometer data from near Bonn, Germany. #weather
Thursday is a potentially big weather day for Germany in particular. Extreme heat followed by high-based thunderstorms with a significant wind, dust and wildfire risk in many areas. Another situation that has previously been pretty rare. #weather
Unusually high fire danger developing across parts of E France and SW/W Germany as well this Thursday as strong, gusty winds develop in association with scattered storms, some of which may produce little rainfall (source: EFFIS, copernicus.eu) #weather
Fires in France have now burned over 91,000 acres, by far the most of any year since the satellite record started in 2006. Current area burned is about 34x larger than this date in a typical (median) year:
The UK has just recorded its first three week long heatwave on record, based on recent Met Office observations - 21 days at Exeter Airport and Usk beats the record of 17 days at Cambridge in 1976 by 4 days. It has been a notable summer so far, with records continuing to tumble.
Remarkably low heights for the time of year across N Europe in a cool and unsettled pattern this weekend before the next ridge develops late next week which is set to bring the next heatwave over large parts of central Europe. #weather
➡️ Climate change is driving drought in Europe - but not how you might expect. While there isn't a clear signal for climate change impacting the dry weather, extreme heat is sucking more moisture out of the landscape. (1/3)
Overnight lows in the single digits across parts of central Europe last night. The drier than normal soils will have contributed to the cooling effect under clear skies. #weather
Another, previously "unthinkable" temperature event, this time caused by exceptionally hot and dry downslope winds in Argentina. This would have been pretty extreme even during their (southern hemisphere) summer #weather
Nahel Belgherze@wxnb.bsky.social · 2w agoI've never seen anything like it. Salta, Argentina, has just recorded its hottest night on record during the climatologically coldest time of the year. The minimum overnight temperature did not fall below 26°C (78.8°F), pulverizing the previous monthly record by 7°C.
The marine heatwave in the western Mediterranean is continuing and has even intensified in recent days. The spatial average sea surface temperature could reach around 27.7 °C, which is very close to the historical maximum for August 2024.
The current wildfire smoke event extending from the Great Lakes to the Northeast U.S. represents yet another dead canary in our collective coal mine. We're getting an impressive and exponentially increasing collection of dead canaries! yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/07/dang...
Dangerous and historic wildfire smoke pollution event engulfs the U.S. and Canada » Yale Climate Connections
Most of the fires grew out of control under extreme heat conditions made up to five times more likely by climate change.
yaleclimateconnections.org
And exactly five years ago today, large parts of western Europe were under the influence of a slow-moving upper low which caused extreme rainfall and catastrophic flooding in W Germany, E Belgium, Luxembourg and the SE Netherlands. What a contrast...
Simon Proud@simonsat.bsky.social · 3w agoDrought conditions across Western Europe - the effects of our hot, dry, summer so far These two pics were taken by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission ~7 weeks apart. The effects of limited rainfall and hot, clear, weather are clearly visible: Much of Western Europe is looking desert-like from space.
Just wow! 🤩
OTUS Project@otusproject.bsky.social · 3w agoNo words. Here is a peak at one of our most incredible drone flights around a #tornado to date near Tulliby Lake, AB. This will likely be one of our last intercepts of the season, thank you so much to everyone for following along! #stormchasing #nature #weather
🌡 The June #C3S Climate Bulletin reports the second-warmest June globally, 1.39°C above the pre-industrial level. Western Europe saw its warmest June on record amid an intense heatwave, while the average sea surface temperature (SST) over 60°S–60°N reached 20.86°C, the highest on record for June. ⬇️
Everyone's talking about the heat, but there's more than that: A small, but exceptionally powerful summer-cyclone is causing severe winds over the Baltic Sea and parts of east-central Europe on Wednesday. Wind speeds exceeding 100 km/h - and even over 120 km/h in exposed areas - are possible.
While the unprecedented European heatwave is pretty much over (for now...), large parts of the central and eastern US are seeing dangerously high temperatures and humidity this week. #weather
National Weather Service@nws.noaa.gov · last mo.“It’s Summer, it’s Hot.” We hear ya, but this is no ordinary heat. Several all-time heat records are likely to be broken across the Eastern U.S. this weekend, with triple-digit heat up and down the East Coast. Stay hydrated, have a cooling plan and #StayCoolforthe4th
The 2003 heatwave (record in terms of intensity in F), was shattered by the June heatwave, occurring 1.5 month earlier! 🔥 Wait... temp. will not even drop below thresholds marking the end of a heatwave before the arrival of a new one expected as early as this weekend! ☠️ Via @sergezaka.bsky.social
An unprecedented heatwave for June has set all-time heat records at 9 European nations or territories, and we expect a renewed resurgence early next week. For the rest of this week, it's the United States' turn to roast in a mega heat wave. @bhensonweather.bsky.social and I have the details:
Eastern U.S. to broil after heat wave kills over 1,300 in Europe » Yale Climate Connections
'Extreme heat is already reaching the limits of our societies’ ability to cope,' as a result of climate change, one expert group said.
yaleclimateconnections.org
The latest estofex.org outlook. Widespread severe thunderstorms are likely today from NE France to N Germany, though with some uncertainties. The air mass is extremely unstable once again, with CAPE values close to the upper bound of climatology across large sections of the level 2 area. #weather
Today’s max temperature would have been the highest on record for the UK prior to 2003 — now “only” sixth
MetJam@metjam.co.uk · last mo.37.3°C at Santon Downham in Suffolk is provisionally the hottest UK June day in history, beating 35.6°C set at Southampton in 1976 by 1.7°C. It is the sixth hottest day in UK history, beating 37.1°C at Cheltenham in August 1990, which was once the all-time UK record. An unprecedented heatwave.
The June 2026 heatwave will go down as the most statistically anomalous heat event ever observed at any time of year in metropolitan France. The 4-day mean temperature anomaly breached the extraordinary +10°C mark.
The current estofex.org convective outlook for today and tonight with a broad Level 2 in far NW Europe. It is important to stress that a combination of extreme instability (up to 3500 J/kg) and strong shear is extremely rare in Ireland and Scotland. A meteorologically fascinating pattern. #weather
