Weather tracker: storms race through Balearics as colder air pushes east

 

Analysis

Weather tracker: storms race through Balearics as colder air pushes east

Jodie Woodcock for MetDesk

Extreme heat over Mediterranean begins to break down with cold front and low pressure creating strong winds

 

Mon 28 Aug 2023 10.55 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/28/weather-tracker-storms-race-through-balearics-as-colder-air-pushes-east

 

The extreme heat that had been affecting the Mediterranean began to break down over the weekend as colder air surged south-eastwards. A strong cold front, in conjunction with a rapidly deepening area of low pressure in the Mediterranean Sea led to an explosive show on Sunday, with severe thunderstorms racing through the Balearics towards Sardinia.

 

Palm trees were ripped out from the ground and boats toppled in harbours as strong winds raced through the archipelago, with a couple of official weather stations in Mallorca recording wind gusts of about 66mph (106kmph). Roads turned into rivers under the torrential downpours.

 

Many weather stations across the islands recorded 45mm of rain falling in less than half an hour, more than double the average rainfall for the whole month of August. As the colder air pushes east over the coming days temperatures are expected to fall to about 10C below the average for the time of year, with this airmass bearing upon Greece and the Balkans by Thursday.

 

Unrelenting heat continues to affect Canada’s western provinces, with temperatures likely to climb close to 15C above the seasonal norm. Heat warnings are in place as temperatures are expected to reach about 33C in the Northwest Territories, as well as northern British Columbia and Alberta on Monday and Tuesday before the heat subsides from Wednesday.

 

Air quality warnings are also in force across these regions as wildfires continue to rage across the forests, with 1,143 active fires recorded across Canada on Sunday. From Wednesday the heat should begin to subside, however, with air temperatures falling a little closer to the seasonal norm.

 

Typhoon Saola formed over the north Philippine Sea on Friday bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds to Luzon in the Philippines over the weekend. Sunday evening saw the typhoon eventually begin the loop round to the north to eventually track towards Taiwan.

 

Saola reached violent typhoon status on Sunday night, where sustained wind speeds exceeded 194 kmph (121mph) within a 10-minute period. Current forecasts have Saola just skirting south of Taiwan on Tuesday, but it is still likely to be a violent typhoon bringing up to 250mm of rainfall within 24 hours to parts of Taiwan on Thursday.