Changing weather prompts more fire fears in California

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An unwelcome change in the weather, with higher winds, temperatures and lightning that threatens to spark new wildfires was coming Sunday to parched Northern California, where firefighters have for nearly a week battled three huge “complexes” of fires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced tens of thousands to flee.

Firefighters made slow but hopeful progress in battling the blazes on Saturday, aided by good weather but hampered by smoky skies that grounded water-dropping aircraft for some of the day. Reinforcements arrived to bolster overwhelmed crews, and evacuation orders were lifted in some areas.

But the changing weather brought fears of new fires overnight and warnings from state and local officials for residents in threatened areas to prepare to flee at any moment.

“There’s not a feeling of pure optimism, but a feeling of resolve, a feeling of we have resources backing us up,” Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore said.

Since Aug. 15, state fire officials said more than 12,000 lightning strikes across the state have ignited more than 500 wildfires. Of those, about two dozen major fires were attracting most of the state’s resources. Most of the damage was caused by three clusters of fire “complexes” that were ravaging forest and rural areas in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. They have burned 1,120 square miles (2,900 square kilometers).

Among the casualties were ancient redwood trees at California’s oldest state park, Big Basin Redwoods, plus the park’s headquarters and campgrounds. Smoke from the fires made the region’s air quality dangerous, forcing people to stay inside.

Overall, the fires have killed five people, torched nearly 700 homes and other structures and forced tens of thousands from their houses.

“Tuesday night when I went to bed I had a beautiful home on a beautiful ranch,” said 81-year-old Hank Hanson of Vacaville. “By Wednesday night, I have nothing but a bunch of ashes.”

The changing weather brought good news for some communities, including Boulder Creek, an old logging community of about 5,000 people in the Santa Cruz mountains. Fire officials said they expected the blaze to reach the community, but they took advantage of recent good weather to try to “herd” flames around the town.

The storms predicted for Sunday were expected to aid those efforts by changing the direction of the wind.

“As bad as that weather prediction is overall for certain parts of this fire, it actually is going to help us move it away from those certain communities,” said Chief Mark Brunton, a battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the state’s firefighting agency.

Responding to the emergency, President Donald Trump issued on Saturday a major disaster declaration to provide federal assistance. Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that the declaration will also help people in counties affected by the fires with crisis counseling, housing and other social services.

Fire officials, meanwhile, struggled to get enough resources to fight the two largest cluster of fires around the San Francisco Bay area that had grown to become the second-largest and third-largest fires in state history by size.

The fire burning in California’s wine country, north of the San Francisco Bay, had only 1,400 firefighters assigned to battle the blaze. By comparison, the state had 5,000 firefighters assigned to the Mendocino Complex in 2018, which still holds the record as the largest fire in state history — for now.

“All of our resources remain stretched to capacity that we have not seen in recent history,” said Shana Jones, the chief for CalFire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit.

Underscoring the danger the fires pose for firefighters, the Sonoma County sheriff’s office released dramatic video of the helicopter rescue Friday night of two firefighters trapped on a ridge line at Point Reyes National Seashore. They were hoisted to safety as flames advanced.

“Had it not been for that helicopter, those firefighters would certainly have perished,” Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said.

Associated Press

Summer unlikely to curb coronavirus pandemic growth: study

WASHINGTON - The higher summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere are unlikely to significantly limit the growth of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Princeton University study published Monday in the journal Science.

Several statistical studies conducted over the past few months have shown a slight correlation between climate and the novel coronavirus -- the hotter and more humid it is, the less likely the virus is to spread.


But the findings remain preliminary, and much remains unknown about the exact relationship between climate and COVID-19.

The Princeton study does not rule out the correlation entirely but concludes that the impact of climate on the spread of the virus is "modest."

"Our findings suggest, without effective control measures, strong outbreaks are likely in more humid climates and summer weather will not substantially limit pandemic growth," the study said.

"We project that warmer or more humid climates will not slow the virus at the early stage of the pandemic," said Rachel Baker, a postdoctoral research associate in the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI).

While climate, particularly humidity, plays a role in the spread of other coronaviruses and the flu, the study said a more important factor is the absence of widespread immunity to COVID-19.

"We do see some influence of climate on the size and timing of the pandemic, but, in general, because there's so much susceptibility in the population, the virus will spread quickly no matter the climate conditions," Baker said. 

Baker said the spread of the virus seen in countries such as Brazil, Ecuador and Australia indicates that warmer conditions do little to halt the pandemic.

"It doesn't seem that climate is regulating spread right now," Baker said.

Without strong containment measures or a vaccine, the coronavirus may continue to infect a large proportion of the world's population, the researchers said, and only become seasonal later, "after the supply of unexposed hosts is reduced."

"Previously circulating human coronaviruses such as the common cold depend strongly on seasonal factors, peaking in the winter outside of the tropics," said co-author Bryan Grenfell, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at PEI.

"If, as seems likely, the novel coronavirus is similarly seasonal, we might expect it to settle down to become a winter virus as it becomes endemic in the population," Grenfell said.

For the study, the researchers conducted simulations on how the pandemic would respond to various climates. They ran scenarios based on what is known about the effect seasonal variations have on similar viruses.

In all three scenarios, climate only became a mitigating factor when large portions of the human population were immune or resistant to the virus. 

"The more that immunity builds up in the population, the more we expect the sensitivity to climate to increase," Baker said. "If you run the model long enough, you have a big pandemic and the outbreak settles into seasonal infection." 

Agence France-Presse

Australian bushfires ease on cooler weather, death toll rises

SYDNEY -- A weather change eased fire threats in southeastern Australia on Sunday after a horror day of blazes that killed one man and injured four firefighters, though authorities said risks remained with a number of fires burning at emergency levels.

Property losses from Saturday's wildfires across eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales were estimated in the hundreds, but authorities said mass evacuations by residents of at-risk areas appear to have prevented major loss of life.

Nearly 150 fires were still burning in New South Wales, and dozens more were burning in Victoria on Sunday morning.

A southerly change that came through on Saturday night has brought cooler temperatures, after they topped 40 C in many areas on Saturday, and there was even the prospect of some light rain in coastal areas in coming days.

"It will be a reprieve of sorts, it will be a psychological reprieve for many, but it's certainly not going to be the sort of relief we're looking for in terms of getting under control all these fires or putting these fires out," NSW Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

The death of a 47-year-old man who was defending a friend's rural property in NSW took the national toll this fire season to 24.

The weather change brought with it strong winds that whipped up fires and kept them burning overnight. In the Southern Highlands region south of Sydney, a new fire was burning out of control after the winds helped drive an existing blaze to jump the Shoalhaven and Kangaroo rivers.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the focus would be on recovery and helping those who were displaced and had lost their homes, as well as containing fires still burning. She said these were unprecedented circumstances.

"We can't pretend that this is something we have experienced before. It's not," she said, pointing to the concurrence of major fires, and threats to towns previously considered safe.

"The weather activity we're seeing, the extent and spread of the fires, the speed at which they're going, the way in which they are attacking communities who have never ever seen fire before is unprecedented. We have to accept that."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Record 42.6 degrees Celsius in Paris as Europe heatwave hits blistering peak

PARIS - Paris on Thursday baked in an all-time high temperature of 42.6 degrees Celsius (108.7 Fahrenheit) as a ferocious heatwave smashed records across northern Europe, sparking concerns about public health and causing new misery for rail travelers.

As records also tumbled in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, Paris beat the previous top of 40.4C set in July 1947.

Trains have been slowed in several European countries to avoid damage to the railway networks. French national operator SNCF urged travelers to delay journeys planned for Thursday, while German railway company Deutsche Bahn offered travelers a chance to change tickets free of charge.

In the sweltering French capital, authorities warned people to keep an eye on those living alone.

At the same time, the scorching weather spelled misery for millions of commuters on public transport.

"It's so hot in the metro, it's unbearable. There are so many people, no air conditioning and everyone is on top of one other," said Paris commuter Petra Ulm, 34, a clinical researcher.

The heatwave, which was expected to ease up on Friday as rain and thunderstorms move in, again focused public attention on the problems caused by climate change.

'GREAT DAY ON THE BEACH'

In Britain, temperatures reached 38.1C in Cambridge, only the second time temperatures over 100 Fahrenheit have been recorded in the UK, weather services said. It was still below the UK's all-time high of 38.5C.

Those lucky enough to be by the sea could still enjoy the weather.

"It's obviously not so good for some people, but if you've got the day off and young kids then it's great for a day on the beach," said Graham Clarke, 50, an insurance agent, enjoying the sands of Broadstairs in southeast England.

In the Netherlands, a new high Thursday of 40.4C in the south broke a record dating back to 1944.

In Amsterdam, crowds jumped into a central square fountain, while municipal workers sprayed water on bridges over the city's famed canals to stop metal structures deforming in the heat.

"I'm just trying not to move too much," said Serona Methorst, a 19-year-old Dutch student sitting under a tree with friends. "We are so used to a colder climate, people are really disturbed by this weather."

In the center of the country, Dutch police jokingly urged criminals not to plan any heists during the heatwave.

"It's tough to work now, not just for you but also for us," the police posted in a Facebook message. "Stay at home, turn on the air-conditioning."

On Thursday, Germany again hit a national record of 41.5 C in Lingen, western Germany.

The Grohnde nuclear plant in western Germany will temporarily shut down on Friday as a way to protect the environment, its operator said. Water used to cool the reactor is poured back into rivers and the shutdown is meant to protect already overheated river ecosystems.

Belgium on Thursday also reached a new record high of 40.6 degrees Celsius, on the Kleine-Brogel military base, in northeastern Belgium.

Two suspected drug smugglers had to call police in the Belgian port city of Antwerp after becoming trapped in a shipping container filled with cocaine, prosecutors said.

TRAIN DISRUPTIONS

Eurostar and Thalys rail services from Brussels to London and Paris also experienced major delays and cancellations after a cable failure the day earlier.

"I ask everyone who can avoid or delay their journeys to do so," said French Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne, advising workers who could do their jobs at home not to go to their offices.

The northern third of France, including Paris, was under a red alert while the rest of the country had a yellow warning and water-use restrictions were in force.

In Austria, a 3-year-old child died of dehydration after falling asleep in a car parked in full sunshine at the family farm, local authorities said.

'LOOK AFTER OTHERS'

France remains haunted by the early summer of 2003 when 15,000 deaths were blamed on the heat and the authorities were hit for not mobilizing fast enough.

"We need to take care of ourselves but above all others, especially those who are alone, and be able to detect the first symptoms of heatstroke," said Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

Local authorities have placed restrictions on water usage in many areas due to drought-like conditions that have seen ground and river water levels fall dramatically.

A June 26-28 blast of heat in France was four degrees Celsius hotter than an equally rare June heatwave would have been in 1900, the World Weather Attribution (WWA) said this month.

One study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology said the deadly weeks-long heatwave across northern Europe in 2018 would have been statistically impossible without climate change.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Nearly 150 million people sweltering through deadly US heat wave

WASHINGTON -- The United States was sweating through a weekend of dangerously hot weather, with major cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington experiencing temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).

An oppressive heat wave stretching from the Midwestern plains to the Atlantic coast had nearly 150 million people struggling to stay cool amid scorching temperatures.

Heat index values -- combining the effect of heat and humidity -- could reach 110 to 115 degrees, particularly in the east, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

It warned that "dangerously high temperatures and humidity could quickly cause heat stress or heat stroke if precautions are not taken."

The heat was expected to continue through late Sunday as a high-pressure system off the Atlantic coast ushered in steamy, subtropical air.

People were being urged to stay hydrated, watch out for the sick and the elderly, stay inside as much as possible and not leave children or animals in cars.

The heat wave already claimed at least three lives, including two earlier in the week in the eastern state of Maryland. 

In Arkansas, former NFL player Mitch Petrus died Thursday after working outside his family's shop. The 32-year-old died of heat stroke, the Pulaski County coroner was quoted as saying in US media.

Heat warnings have also been issued for parts of eastern Canada.

In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a heat emergency. 

The New York City Triathlon, which had been scheduled for Sunday, was cancelled for the first time since its founding in 2001. 

The estimated 4,000 participants, many of whom had traveled long distances to race, will receive full refunds of entry fees of up to $399, organizers said.

The two-day OZY Fest, a food, comedy and music festival set for Central Park this weekend, was also called off. 

In Washington, a popular outdoor jazz concert at the National Galley of Art was cancelled.

'Serious, serious stuff'

New York City opened 500 cooling centers for residents.

"Saturday is going to be really, really bad, on through Sunday," de Blasio said in a warning to the city. "This is serious, serious stuff."

At least three public defenders said on Twitter that inmates in New York's notorious Rikers Island jail complex were suffering with no air conditioning, and that some guards had turned off fans as punishment, resulting in "deadly conditions." 

The Brooklyn Defender Services legal aid group said some inmates didn't have summer clothing, only long underwear provided by the group last winter.

Top officials from the city's Department of Corrections were at the facility monitoring the response to the heat wave to "protect health and safety of everyone in the facility," De Blasio wrote on Twitter. 

The department said in a statment to AFP that extra staff were on hand to distribute summer clothing, and clinics were open around the clock to treat heat-related symptoms. 

Those in units without air conditioning were given access to fans, ice, water and "multiple cool showers."

The city's electrical grid was so far handling the extra demand, which came just a week after a major outage, blamed on mechanical problems, left tens of thousands of Manhattan residents in the dark. 

In Washington, the morning low of 81 degrees was just one degree below the record set in 2015, with "a good chance to hit 100 today for the first time since 2016," The Washington Post reported.

Triple-digit temperatures in the US Northeast are unusual. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer suggested, tongue in cheek, that locals might want to seek relief in normally sweltering Miami or Phoenix, which would be up to 25 degrees cooler. 

Philadelphia looked likely to set a new record for the hottest July 20 since 1930.

In Boston, where the weather service said that Saturday and Sunday would be "major scorchers," city officials scrapped entry fees at public pools. 

In the far northwest, temperatures soared earlier this month in the state of Alaska, which straddles the Arctic Circle, with largest city Anchorage hitting an all-time high of 90 degrees.

Earlier in the week, the National Weather Service office in the Midwestern city of Omaha baked a tray of biscuits -- savory breakfast bread similar to scones -- on the dashboard of a parked car. After nearly eight hours and with temperatures on the pan reaching 185 degrees, the pastries were almost fully cooked.

Climate data showed June was the hottest month on record worldwide, with a heat wave across Europe smashing national records.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Heat wave threatens two-thirds of US

BOSTON — Dangerously hot temperatures are expected to spread across the Central and Eastern United States on Wednesday through the weekend, with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (around 38 degrees Celsius) in the hardest-hit places, the National Weather Service has warned.

And even when the sun dips below the horizon, temperatures in many places are expected to remain in the 80s.

The hottest part of the country? Smack dab in the middle.

Everyone living in the region stretching from northern Oklahoma and central Nebraska through Iowa, Missouri and western Illinois should brace for a “prolonged period of dangerously hot temperatures and high humidity,” the warnings say. People in central and south central Kansas should expect to endure highs of about 102 degrees; the temperature in Des Moines, Iowa, was expected to hover around 100.

Excessive heat warnings have also been posted farther east, for parts of New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

All told, at least 15 million people across the United States are being warned of dangerously high temperatures that could affect human health between Wednesday and Friday.

By the weekend, what meteorologists are calling a “heat dome” in the middle part of the country is expected to spread into the Great Lakes and the East Coast.

Extreme heat can kill. Here’s what you can do to stay safe.

“The combination of heat and humidity can take its toll on someone who is outside and overdoing it,” said Richard Bann, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center. “It can be life-threatening.”

Last year, 108 people died from extreme heat, compared to just 30 who died from cold, according to statistics on weather-related fatalities released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Here are four safety recommendations from the National Weather Service:

— Drink plenty of fluids.

— Stay in an air-conditioned room.

— Stay out of the sun.

— Check on relatives and neighbors, especially the elderly.

Some of the country’s biggest cities can expect to swelter.

So far, Philadelphia is the only major city on the East Coast under an excessive heat warning. Meteorologists are predicting highs there of 100 degrees. But New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston are expected to be uncomfortably hot, with temperatures soaring into the high 90s and above; Chicago can expect the same.

Saturday’s expected highs are 97 in Boston, 100 in Washington and 98 in New York. Chicago is expected to see a high of 97 degrees Friday and 94 on Saturday.

Gentry Trotter, founder of Cool Down St. Louis, a nonprofit that provides utility assistance for low-income families and donates air conditioners to people who are elderly or have disabilities, said that the organization has assisted in more than 1,900 emergency situations over the past three weeks and received 63 percent more requests this year than it did last year.

“It has just been brutal,” he said. “Yesterday we went in a home of an 80-year-old lady, and the heat almost knocked us over.”

In Iowa, football practice is off, but the 2020 campaign rolls on.

Heat warnings have Iowa farmers worrying about their corn, after planting was delayed by a soggy spring that has not left the plants much time to take root.

Despite the scorching heat, Democratic candidates for president have continued to crisscross the state. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota marched 3 miles over the weekend in sauna-like heat, and earlier this week, Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, sweated through a forum on gun violence. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is expected to attend an AARP forum in Sioux City

But ordinary people are shuffling everything from church picnics to sporting activities.

Steven Rogers, director of operations for Eastern Iowa Elite, a middle-school football club, said that two football practices have already been canceled and the team tryouts this coming Saturday have been moved indoors.

“You can’t really expect the kids to perform at the highest level if they are outside in this heat, beyond the fact that its totally dangerous,” he said. “There have been a couple of kids having some pretty bad health issues related to heat and overexertion. It’s just not safe.”

Is this heat wave caused by climate change?

Hot weather is nothing new, of course, especially in July. But climate change is making heat waves like this one more common.

“The meteorological ingredients that make heat waves today are the same ingredients that made them in the past, but climate change is bringing those ingredients together more often, generally speaking,” said Deke Arndt, chief of the climate monitoring branch of the National Centers for Environmental Information.

The 2018 National Climate Assessment, a major scientific report by 13 federal agencies, notes that while the peak of extreme heat in the United States occurred during the 1930s Dust Bowl, the number of hot days is increasing, and the frequency of heat waves in the United States jumped from an average of two per year in the 1960s to six per year by the 2010s. Also, the season for heat waves has stretched to be 45 days longer than it was in the 1960s, according to the report.

It is all part of an overall warming trend: The five warmest years in the history of accurate worldwide record-keeping have been the past five years, and 18 of the 19 warmest years have occurred since 2001; worldwide, June was the hottest ever recorded.

Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center, noted that the jet stream, which generally helps to move weather systems across the country, has been unusually wavy in June and early July. That “always spells trouble,” she said, and can lead to conditions like heat waves stalling in place.


2019 New York Times News Service

source: news.abs-cbn.com

France's June heatwave at least '5 times more likely' with climate change

PARIS - Climate change alone made the record-setting heatwave that pushed temperatures in France above 45 degrees Celsius (113F) last week at least five times more likely, an international team of scientists said Tuesday.

Compared to June weather stretching back more than a century, the peak from June 26-28 was four degrees Celsius warmer than an equally rare heatwave would have been in 1900, the World Weather Attribution team told journalists in a briefing.

The role of global warming in the devastating hot spell, which also paralyzed neighboring European countries for nearly a week, is probably much greater, said Friederike Otto, acting director of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.

"Models are very good at representing large-scale seasonal changes in temperatures," she explained.

"On localized scales, climate models tend to underestimate the increase in temperature."

The findings, presented as a report and to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, focused on metropolitan France and the southern city of Toulouse, where climate statisticians were coincidentally meeting during the heatwave. 

Based purely on temperature records, extreme scorchers like the one last week are now 100 times more likely than in 1900, said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, a senior researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and co-author of the new report.

"But we are unable to say that this is just because of climate change," he said.

Air pollution, the "urban heat island" effect, soil moisture, cloud cover and a host of other factors can also affect the intensity of heatwaves.

And models designed to work on a different scale are consistently "biased" such that they underestimate temperature peaks.

France, Italy, Spain and some central European nations all posted all-time temperatures peaks, with dozens of deaths attributed to the week-long heatwave.

The final death toll is likely to be far higher, but will only show up months from now in statistical records as "excess deaths".

A 2003 heatwave in France claimed at least 15,000 lives, according to government figures. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

France roasts in record heatwave, 2 die in Spain

PARIS/MADRID—France registered its highest temperature since records began on Friday as the death toll rose from a heatwave suffocating much of Europe.

The mercury hit 45.9 degrees Celsius (114.6 Fahrenheit) in Gallargues-le-Montueux, in the southern Provence region, weather forecaster Meteo France said, nearly 2 degrees above the previous high of 44.1 Celsius recorded in Aug. 2003.

Twelve towns in southern France saw new all-time highs on Friday and 3 experienced temperatures above 45 degrees, it said.

The World Meteorological Organization said 2019 was on track to be among the world's hottest years, and that 2015-2019 would then be the hottest 5-year period on record.

It said the European heatwave was "absolutely consistent" with extremes linked to the impact of greenhouse gas emissions.

Four administrative departments in France were placed on red alert, signaling temperatures of "dangerous intensity" that are more typical of Saudi Arabia.

The unusually high temperatures are forecast to last until early next week.

In Spain, where temperature peaked above 43 degrees for the second day running, wildfires raged across 60 sq km (23 sq miles) of land in the northeastern Tarragona province. Officials said firefighters battling the blazes on 20 fronts managed to avoid them from spreading.

In the central region, a fire broke out on the outskirts of Toledo, forcing the evacuation of 2 public buildings, a regional official told Reuters.

To the north in Valladolid, a man of 93 collapsed and died due to the heat, police said. And in a small town outside Cordoba, a 17-year-old died of heat-related effects after jumping into a swimming pool to cool off.

Since 1975, Spain has registered 9 heatwaves in June, including 5 in the last decade, according to the Spanish meteorological office.

In France, a boy was seriously hurt when he was thrown back by a jet of water from a fire hydrant. Some 4,000 schools were either closed or running a limited service to help working parents unable to stay at home.

State-run rail operator SNCF offered free cancellations or exchanges on long-distance trips, social workers helped homeless people cope with the heat, and French families with elderly relatives who were ill or living alone were advised to call or visit them twice a day and take them to cool places.

The greater Paris region, Ile de France, has banned more than half of cars from its roads as the stifling heat worsened air pollution, the toughest restriction provided for—although all cars were to be allowed to leave the city as school holidays began.

The cities of Lyon, Strasbourg and Marseille have also restricted traffic.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

‘Worst is still to come’: Sizzling Europe battles wildfires, health risks

TARRAGONA, Spain/PARIS - Wildfires raged across Catalonia and French authorities stepped up restrictions on water use and driving in cities as swathes of western Europe remained in the grip of an intense heatwave.

Temperatures climbed towards 44 degrees Celsius in parts of northern Spain and southern France, driving many people to seek relief in the sea, rivers, lakes, fountains and swimming pools.

Spanish firefighters struggled to douse wildfires across nearly 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) in the northeastern region of Catalonia. They warned that the affected area could increase as much as fivefold because of the fierce heat and winds.

Helicopters dumped water on the fires, which raged some 80 km (50 miles) inland from the coastal town of Tarragona. There were no reports of casualties, but the regional government said some 30 people had been evacuated from farmhouses in the area.

The wildfires are among the worst Catalonia has seen in 20 years, the regional government said.

In neighboring France to the north, authorities extended restrictions on vehicles, already imposed in Paris and Lyon, to Marseille and Strasbourg in an effort to curb air pollution.

Some schools postponed summer examinations, and parts of northern France were put on drought alert, with water supplies to businesses, farmers and ordinary residents restricted. Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume announced a ban on the transportation of animals until the heatwave has ended.

Grid operator RTE said French electricity demand on Thursday was close to a summer record seen two years ago, as people turned on fans and coolers to full blast for relief from the scorching temperatures.

"Calls to the emergency services are on the rise nationwide. We are seeing the beginning of a clear impact of the heatwave. For us the worst is still to come," said Jerome Saloman, head of national public health.

He said four drownings had been recorded in France since the start of the week directly linked to the heatwave as people try to cool themselves. However, the full toll directly linked to the heatwave would only be known in the days or weeks ahead.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said four administrative regions in the south had been placed on red alert, the highest crisis level, with 76 others on orange alert.

“This episode of heatwave is unprecedented in France. It is exceptional in its intensity,” she told a news conference.

The red alert would mean school outings and outdoor sport and other festive activities are suspended or postponed. She cautioned joggers and other sport lovers to curb their activities.

There was at least relief for northern Germany on Thursday as temperatures slid to more normal levels for June. In Berlin it was 21 degrees Celsius, down from around 37 on Wednesday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

California braces for storm as polar vortex retreats

LOS ANGELES - As the US Midwest and East Coast thawed out from days of bitter, deadly cold, Californians on Friday battened down the hatches ahead of a fierce winter storm carrying heavy rains and high winds that could touch off urban flooding and mudslides.

Though the sun was out in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon and temperatures hovered in the low 60s Fahrenheit, the National Weather Service (NWS) said rain would begin to fall later in the evening and continue without let-up through Saturday night.

"This is a very big storm coming through Southern California" from the eastern Pacific Ocean, said National Weather Service meteorologist Rich Thompson.

The NWS predicted up to 3 inches of rain in coastal and valley areas with 7 to 8 inches forecast for mountain areas. Central and Northern California were also expected to be hit by rain and high winds.

Thompson said the weather service was not expecting the rain to be significant and sustained enough to cause widespread, damaging mudslides in areas left blackened and denuded of trees by major California wildfires late last year.

"There might be the potential for minor mud and debris flows. Traffic accidents, urban flooding. Things like that," he said, adding that trees could fall amid high winds and saturated soil and that coastal waters could be dangerous for boaters.

Winter storm watches were issued for the areas damaged by wildfires, including the foothills above the post seaside community of Malibu left blackened by the Woolsey Fire in November.

An Arctic air mass sent south by a disruption in the polar vortex jet stream brought bone-chilling cold to a large swath of the United States this week, causing more than a dozen deaths, closing schools and halting mail service.

The cold eased on Friday as the jet stream retreated, with temperatures forecast into the mid-40s to low 50s Fahrenheit through the weekend and Monday. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US thaws from Arctic deep freeze, as death toll climbs

An Arctic air mass blamed for the deaths of more than 20 people in the US began moving out to sea Friday, easing its grip on about a dozen states that have endured days of record-breaking cold.

And in an extreme but mostly welcome swing in the weather, forecasters were predicting that this week's deep freeze will be replaced by almost spring-like temperatures by the weekend.

The so-called polar vortex that descended on the US Midwest and Northeast will go down in memory for its scenes of winter at its most bitter.

Blocks of ice crunched down the river that runs through downtown Chicago, the Niagra Falls turned to solid ice in places, and half the Great Lakes were covered in ice.

US media reported as many as 21 weather-related deaths since a snow-storm hit the Midwest early in the week, followed by plunging temperatures Wednesday and Thursday.

Temperature readings were nosing up on Friday and "will continue to moderate," the National Weather Service said. 

Now, though, the concern is the threat of flooding and further stress on already strained infrastructure as the region thaws out.

"In some areas of the Midwest, the coming wild temperature swing will be the most extreme warm-up from record winter cold ever seen in such a short time period," Jeff Masters, meteorologist at the firm Weather Underground, told AFP. 

- Hundreds of new records -

The Arctic air mass that veered off its normal polar route broke more than 340 records in communities across a cluster of states, according to the Midwestern Regional Climate Center. 

With wind chill factored in, temperatures dropped to as low as -53 Celsius in Minnesota, -51 C in Wisconsin, -58 C in Iowa and -48 C in Illinois. 

By Monday, the weather was expected to be comparably balmy -- around 50F in Chicago and Detroit. 

"It's important to remember that the rapid change in weather and snow melt could lead to dangerous flooding," James Joseph, the regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said in a statement. 

In the region around Niagara Falls, officials worried that ice jams could raise water levels in the Upper Niagara River, according to local TV station WIVB. 

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster said they were also working "to avert possible creek flooding once thaw comes."

In Detroit and Chicago, which have already contended with dozens of broken water mains over the last several days, more pipes could burst as rapid warming puts pressure on aging systems. 

- Death toll rises -

Hypothermia and frostbite proved to be major dangers.

The University of Iowa confirmed that among the dead was Gerald Belz, a pre-med student who died January 30. Local media reported that the 18-year-old was found unconscious outside a university building when temperatures were in the negative double digits in Iowa City. 

A 38-year-old Wisconsin woman was found frozen Wednesday night in an unheated home, and a man froze to death in his back yard Thursday afternoon, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

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At least 12 dead as arctic freeze spreads into US Northeast

A wave of frigid arctic air that paralyzed the US Midwest and caused at least a dozen deaths swept across the Northeast on Thursday but was expected to move along by the weekend, making way for warmer weather.

The prospect of a weekend break offered little comfort to those enduring icy conditions, brutal winds and temperatures as low as minus 36 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 37 Celsius) in the Midwest and 3F (-16C) on the East Coast, according to the National Weather Service.

In Washington, where the low hit 10F (-12C) and was expected to peak at only 24F (-4C), a small crowd of tourists braved the cold to take pictures outside the White House.

"We're from a hot country. ... Heavens, it's very cold," said Vijen Nadasan, 49, a tourist from Johannesburg, South Africa, who planned to spend the day sightseeing with his wife and daughter. "We've got to fight it out, right? Stay as warm as much as possible and fight it out."

The bitter cold was due to a southward displacement of the polar vortex, a stratospheric wind pattern that normally swirls over the North Pole.

In Minnesota and Upper Michigan, people battled temperatures as low as minus 25F (minus 31C), said Andrew Orrison, a weather service forecaster.

Central and northern Wisconsin had weather of minus 20F (-29C) and parts of northern Illinois, including parts of the Chicago area, saw temperatures between minus 15F (minus 26C) and minus 10F (minus 23C), he said.

The cold snap brought bitterly cold weather to the East Coast. The overnight low in Boston was at minus 5F (minus 21C) and Islip, New York, on Long Island had a record low of minus 3F (-16C), according to the weather service.

LESS-FRIGID FORECAST

However, relatively balmier weather was on the horizon. By the weekend, Chicago was expected to bask in snow-melting highs in the mid-40s to low 50s Fahrenheit, along with other parts of the Midwest.

"We're gradually seeing the core of the Arctic air mass begin to shift out to the East and up towards Canada," Orrison said in a telephone interview. "It'll be a much different air mass than what we've seen the last couple of days."

The cold has caused at least 12 deaths since Saturday across the Midwest, according to officials and news media reports. Some died in weather-related traffic accidents, others from apparent exposure to the elements.

It has been more than 20 years since a similar Arctic blast covered a swath of the Midwest and Northeast, according to the weather service.

More than 30 record lows were shattered across the Midwest. Cotton, Minnesota had the lowest national temperature recorded on Thursday at minus 56F (minus 48C) before the weather warmed up, the weather service reported.

US homes and businesses used record amounts of natural gas for heating on Wednesday, according to preliminary results from financial data provider Refinitiv.

In Detroit, General Motors Co suspended operations at 11 Michigan plants and its Warren Tech Center after a utility made an emergency appeal to users to conserve natural gas after extreme cold and a fire at a compressor station. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV also canceled a shift on Thursday at 2 of its plants.

"Due to extremely high energy demand, I've turned my thermostat down to 64. I'm asking everyone who is able to please do the same," Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer wrote on Twitter.

More than 2,100 flights were canceled and more than 1,500 were delayed in the United States on Thursday afternoon, with nearly 1,700 of those cancellations occurring at Chicago's O'Hare International and Midway International airports, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.com.

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Subzero temperatures in Chicago

Steam is seen above Lake Michigan during subzero temperatures carried by the polar vortex in Chicago, Illinois, US, Wednesday, in this picture obtained from social media. Temperatures dropped as much as 44-degree Celsius below zero in US Midwest as the polar vortex brought dangerously cold air with the government advising residents to stay indoors.

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Colder than the South Pole: US Midwest gripped by deep freeze

CHICAGO - A blast of polar air brought record-low temperatures to much of the US Midwest on Wednesday, canceling trash pick-ups, halting the mail and forcing residents who pride themselves on their winter hardiness to huddle indoors.

Classes were canceled for Wednesday and Thursday in many cities, including Chicago, home of the nation's third-largest school system, and police warned of the risk of accidents on icy highways. Michigan said all state offices would remain closed through Thursday.

In a rare move, the US Postal Service appeared to temporarily set aside its credo that "neither snow nor rain ... nor gloom of night" would stop its work: it halted deliveries from parts of the Dakotas through Ohio.

Streets in Chicago were nearly empty, with few people walking outside in the painfully cold air as temperatures hovered around minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 28 Celsius).

"It's terrible!" Pasquale Cappellano, a 68-year-old waiter, said as he smoked a cigarette while waiting outside for a bus on Chicago's North Side. "I gotta pick up my medication at Walgreens or else I wouldn't be out the door."

In Minneapolis, chilled to minus 14F (minus 26C), Brian Pierce had ventured out to "embrace the elements" and found himself watching cars slipping on the roads.

"The roads sound really weird, it seems there’s a lack of grip," he said. "And my teeth hurt."

Temperatures in parts of the Northern Plains and Great Lakes plunged to as low as minus 42 (minus 41 Celsius) in Park Rapids, Minnesota, and minus 31 (minus 35C) in Fargo, North Dakota, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The frigid winds were headed for the US East Coast later on Wednesday into Thursday.

At least 5 deaths related to extreme cold weather have been reported since Saturday in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, local media reports said.

Hundreds of flights, more than half of those scheduled, were canceled on Wednesday out of Chicago O'Hare and Chicago Midway international airports, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.

Amtrak canceled all trains in and out of Chicago on Wednesday.

Most federal government offices in Washington D.C. opened 3 hours late on Wednesday due to frigid weather already impacting the area.

'WARM AND TOASTY'

At the Morning Joy Farm in Mercer, North Dakota, Annie Carlson said her horses and sheep were doing fine.

"They can go into the barn if they wish," she said. "They're snuggled in, warm and toasty." Her chickens, ducks and guinea hens were enjoying the 70-degree (21C) climate inside their greenhouse-like hoop house, she said.

Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the NWS, said some of the coldest wind chills were recorded in International Falls, Minnesota, at minus 55 (minus 48C). Even the South Pole in Antarctica was warmer, with an expected low of minus 24 (minus 31C) with wind chill.

Temperatures in Chicago will drop again "quite precipitously" on Wednesday night, Orrison said, potentially breaking the record low of minus 27 (minus 33C) on Jan. 21, 1985, the same day as Ronald Reagan's presidential inauguration.

Banks and stores in the region, including multiple branches of Chase and Trader Joe's, closed for business. Waste Management, a major trash collection company, said it was canceling pick-ups in counties across the region on Wednesday and Thursday.

The bitter cold was caused by a displacement of the polar vortex, a stream of air that normally spins around the stratosphere over the North Pole, but whose current was disrupted and was now pushing south.

An Illinois police department found a fictitious cause for the icy blast, posting on Facebook that its officers had arrested Elsa, the frosty character from the Disney movie "Frozen," for bringing the arctic air to the Midwest.

The McLean Police Department shared a staged photo of officers putting a woman dressed in a blue princess gown in pink handcuffs and escorting her into a police car.

WARMING CENTERS

Officials opened warming centers across the region, and in Chicago, police stations were open to anyone seeking refuge from the cold. Five city buses were also deployed to serve as mobile warming centers for homeless people, while city police handed out hats, jackets and blankets.

The Chicago Police Department said that at most, it could encourage people to get out of the cold. "But we will never force someone," police officer Michael Carroll said.

US homes and businesses will likely use record amounts of natural gas for heating on Wednesday, according to energy analysts.

Some residents just to the north and northwest of the Twin Cities in Minnesota were asked by Xcel Energy to dial down their thermostats to 60 (16C) because of the strains on its natural gas supply system.

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'Lucifer' heat wave holds Italy, eastern Europe in fiery grip

SARAJEVO/BELGRADE - Swathes of southern and eastern Europe sweltered in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104°F) on Friday in a heat wave nicknamed "Lucifer" that has fanned forest fires, triggered weather warning alerts and damaged crops.

Italy and the Balkans were worst affected, though areas as far north as southern Poland also basked in abnormally hot temperatures, and European weather hub Meteoalarm issued its highest grade "red" warnings for 10 countries.


At least two people have died from the heat - one in Romania and one in Poland - and many more have been taken to hospital suffering from sunstroke and other heat-related conditions.

In Albania, 300 firefighters and soldiers struggled to contain as many as 75 forest fires and the country asked the European Union for emergency help. Firefighters were also busy in Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Croatia.

With temperatures expected to stay around 40 degrees Celsius into next week, authorities advised people to increase their water intake and Red Cross volunteers across Europe visited the homeless and elderly and other people at risk.

"This prolonged period of extremely hot weather is particularly dangerous for people with existing health problems such heart conditions, high blood pressure and asthma, as well as older people and children," said Jeya Kulasingam, health coordinator for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Europe.

"It is vital that people stay hydrated and drink plenty of water, keep out of the sun and avoid over-exertion."

Wine growers in Italy have started gathering the grape harvest weeks earlier than usual due to the extreme heat.

Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement, wrote in La Stampa newspaper that the grape harvest had never started before Aug. 15 in living memory.

"The health of the grapes is severely tested by this weather," Petrini wrote, adding that growers ran the risk of finding the fruit "cooked by the sun and the burning heat".

Italian authorities have issued weather risk warnings for 26 cities, including tourist hubs Venice and Rome, where many of the fountains have been turned off due to a lengthy drought.

The world-famous Uffizi art galleries in Florence had to shut temporarily on Friday when the air conditioning system broke down, their director told ANSA news agency.

POLAR BEARS, CROPS SUFFER

In Hungary, keepers at Budapest Zoo provided huge ice blocks to cool down two polar bears, who were also fed ice-cold water melon.

Bosnian officials said the heat wave and drought had nearly halved agricultural output, which accounts for 10 percent of the country's economic output. Neighbouring Serbia reported a similar situation and experts said drought could slash corn and soybean production by a third.

In neighbouring Croatia the heat wave and peak tourist season has driven power demand and spot prices to record levels, officials said on Friday.

Temperatures along parts of Croatia's Adriatic coast, including the major tourist hub of Dubrovnik, already stood at around 32 degrees early on Friday morning and were expected to nudge up to 42 degrees during the day, the weather service said.

The Red Cross distributed water and hand fans to people suffering from the heat in Croatia – especially tourists visiting outdoor events and motorists stuck in typical summer traffic jams.

"In two hours of my shift today I saw four people fainting on the street and complaining of heat exhaustion," a traffic warden who identified himself as Goran told Reuters in the Serbian capital Belgrade. (Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Gareth Jones; editing by Mark Heinrich and Richard Balmforth)

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California's Death Valley heat to reach a searing 127 F

LOS ANGELES - In Death Valley in eastern California and in the town of Needles near the Arizona border, temperatures are expected to reach 127 degrees Fahrenheit (53 Celsius) this week, National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Fisher said on Monday.

The extreme heat, brought on by a high-pressure system camped over the Four Corners region, has already boosted temperatures above normal across much of the Southwest, with the worst forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The heat wave was expected to push temperatures even higher by mid-week, taxing power grids and prompting airlines to warn that flights could be disrupted.

Fisher said the sweltering weather could break records in some areas but was part of a cyclical pattern and not brought on by climate change or any other unusual phenomenon.

"It's not unprecedented at all, things oscillate around," he said. "We've had a fairly cool spring, had 'May Gray' and 'June Gloom', this our first real warmth of the season."

Temperatures were expected to drop by five to 10 degrees F (about 2.5 C to 5 C) later in the week but in the meantime the National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings and advisories across the Southwest. Even in typically cooler San Francisco, residents baked in sultry 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31 C).

The National Park Service in Death Valley, known as the hottest place in America, cautioned tourists about the "EXTREME SUMMER HEAT" in a warning on its website.

"Expect high temperatures of 100°F to over 120°F (38°C to over 49°C). Drink plenty of water and carry extra. Avoid hiking (after 10 am). Travel prepared to survive. In the case of a heat related illness, get to a cool place and seek help ASAP!" the park service said.

"Temperatures like this happen less than once per year on avg. High risk of heat illness if doing strenuous activity outdoors," the Phoenix office of the National Weather Service said in a tweet on Monday morning.

There were no reports of severe heat-related illnesses as of Monday afternoon. Power grid operators and utility companies urged customers to conserve electricity at peak times to avoid the possibility of blackouts.

American Airlines advised passengers flying in or out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport that the intense heat, which can affect the operation of jet airline engines, could cause flight delays or cancellations.

The airline said that Phoenix passengers with flights scheduled to arrive or depart between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. local time would be allowed to change their travel plans without incurring additional fees.

A study in the journal Nature Climate Change published on Monday said that the number of extreme heat waves was expected to climb to affect half of the Earth's population by the year 2100 (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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India says rich world has responsibility to curb climate change

NEW DELHI - India's environment minister said on Monday that the rich world could not wish away its responsibility for man-made global warming, as he urged developed nations to do more to help his country deal with the impact of climate change.

India is one of the last major economies still to submit its plans to tackle global warming ahead of a United Nations summit in December where more than 190 countries will seek a deal to halt a damaging rise in temperatures.

Despite its low per-capita emissions, India is already the world's third-largest carbon emitter. Its huge population of 1.2 billion, a fast-growing economy and rising use of coal make its role crucial if the U.N. summit is to succeed.

Prakash Javadekar said India was in the final stages of preparing its submissions to the U.N., and that he was confident a global deal could be reached at the summit in Paris.

But, he added, the rich world had so far failed to make sufficient money and cutting-edge technology available to help poorer countries that were not to blame for global warming.

"Historical responsibility is a fact. It cannot be wished away. We are just 2.4 percent of the world's historical emissions," he told reporters in New Delhi.

Unlike other large emitters like the United States and China, India has said it will not commit to a "peak year" for its own emissions, arguing that doing so would hamper its drive to beat poverty through economic growth.

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El Nino could be strongest in modern history

The El Nino weather phenomenon that began this year could be among the strongest in 65 years, US government scientists said Thursday.

El Nino comes with a warming in sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, and can cause unusually heavy rains in some parts of the world and drought elsewhere.

This year's El Nino began in March and is forecast to last about a year. Authorities in Australia have already predicted it would be "strong" and "substantial."

That trend is still expected to continue, said Mike Halpert, deputy director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center, on a conference call with reporters to discuss the US agency's latest forecast, released Thursday.

"What is new this month is we are predicting that this El Nino could be among the strongest El Ninos in the historical record dating back to 1950," said Halpert.

The reason for the forecast is the finding that three months of average sea surface temperatures in a key part of the equatorial Pacific "could potentially reach or even exceed two degrees Celsius above normal, which is 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, a value that we have only recorded three times in the last 65 years," he said.

Such temperatures were previously seen in the 1972-73 season, 1982-83 and 1997-98.

The southern United States from Florida to central California may expect higher than normal levels of precipitation, as can the US East coast as far north as New England, Halpert said.

The northern Rockies, Great Lakes, Hawaii and western Alaska may be dryer and warmer than normal, he added.

Even though forecasts of rain will be welcome in drought-ravaged California, Halpert said it would not be enough to refill the state's reservoirs.

"One season of above average rain and snow is very unlikely to erase four years of drought," he said.

The last El Nino, five years ago, had a major impact: it triggered monsoons in Southeast Asia, droughts in southern Australia, the Philippines and Ecuador, blizzards in the United States, heatwaves in Brazil and killer floods in Mexico.

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US Northeast hit by blizzards, cold, after record snow

BOSTON - The U.S. Northeast struggled to dig out from the latest in a series of winter storms that made February the snowiest month in Boston's history, while Kentucky and Indiana braced for heavy snow on Sunday night and Monday.

Blizzard conditions forced the cancellation of more than 1,800 U.S. airline flights on Sunday, most of them into and out of airports in Boston and New York, where wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour (97 kph) were predicted.

A woman in New Jersey was found frozen to death in the snow near her home on Sunday morning. In the Midwest, snow around Lake Michigan caused a three-dozen-car pileup on a major Chicago expressway, sending 12 people to the hospital for injuries.

Temperatures are 25 to 30 degrees (14 to 17 degrees Celsius) below normal for the East Coast, exacerbated by strong winds, said meteorologist Bruce Sullivan of the National Weather Service.

The temperature at 1 p.m. in Boston was around 18 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 8 Celsius), but felt like zero (minus 18 Celsius) thanks to wind chill. By Monday morning, it was likely to feel like minus 20 (minus 29 Celsius), the NWS said.

The latest storm heaped disappointment on retailers who were relying on the Presidents' Day weekend and Valentine's Day to make up for subpar sales during the last three lashings of snow.

Massive snowfall from Boston's fourth major snowstorm in two weeks set a record for the city's snowiest month since weather records were kept, the NWS said.

Boston had seen about 6 feet (1.8 meters) of snow since late January and had already set a record for accumulations in a single week. Bitter cold and huge drifts hampered snow removal efforts.

"Hopefully, it will stop eventually," Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said on Sunday, pleading with drivers to stay off dangerous roads.

KENTUCKY, INDIANA BRACE FOR SNOW

While the Northeast dug out, Kentucky and southern Indiana were bracing for a storm.

"A significant winter storm with snowfall totals potentially in the double digits ... will impact southern Indiana and central Kentucky" Sunday night and Monday, the National Weather Service said, forecasting 10-15 inches across portions of south central Kentucky.

Still, nothing compared with Massachusetts, where 20 inches (50 cm) fell on the coastal town of Ipswich on Sunday and relentless winds were expected to pile up dangerous drifts of the lightweight snow

In Boston restaurants sought to coax customers out of hibernation for a meal or drink on Sunday evening, when the snow was expected to let up. One South Boston eatery added the hashtag "#cabinfever" to its Twitter messages.

"You don't want to stay penned up all day," said Allie Needham, 26, a business analyst at a chemical company, as she walked along an empty street in Cambridge on her way to meet friends for breakfast.

With all public transportation suspended in Boston on Sunday, Bostonians got creative. In the Back Bay neighborhood, a snowboarder hitched a ride from a snowmobile. One resident on Twitter said it was about time for an entrepreneur to start up a dog sled service.

Across the state, about 600 members of the National Guard were helping out during the blizzard, said Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.

Conditions were so bad in New Hampshire that the town of Alton called off its annual ice carnival this weekend.

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Ice cream keeps Rio zoo animals cool in heatwave

RIO DE JANEIR0 - Brazil - Ice cream, fruit and copious helpings of frozen meat helped keep the sweltering inhabitants of Rio's zoo cool Tuesday as temperatures soared.

Zoo staff handed out the treats as the thermometer touched 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Chimpanzee Paulinho, 30, bagged two ice creams before bounding off to seek shade, while orangutan Else, 35, and her daughter Tanga, 20, gobbled an assortment of fruit.

Carla the elephant wolfed down 50 kilos (110 pounds) of ice cream dragged in by her handler, while Gabi, an eight-year-old jaguar, preferred to slurp on a hunk of frozen meat.

"The animals have a problem with the heat like all of us -- sunstroke, dehydration, apathy. So we are taking measures to deal with the problems the heat can generate," zookeeper Karla Cunha told AFP.

The zoo has spent weeks preparing stocks of frozen food for the hot and sticky weather which assails Rio this time of year, high summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

The zoo also must ensure the animals have access to water -- via pools or sprinklers. Meanwhile vegetation is left untrimmed to ensure maximum shade.

Providing cool meals "refreshes the animal and stimulates memory function, as well as the palate," Cunha said.

She noted that some of the meat-eaters, notably the tiger, lie on top of the meat as an additional means of keeping cool.

Watching Gabi the jaguar take a pre-lunch pool dip, visitor Aline Montez wished she could join.

"Look how cool he is over there while we're here baking in the heat," Montez quipped.

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