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SPC issued a "moderate risk" of severe storms and tornadoes a total of 5 times, in just 30 days. To put that in perspective between 2008 and early 2010 SPC had issued 5 moderate risks. So we endured (in one month) what had previously taken over 2 years to achieve in terms of elevated weather risk.

Soak up today's blue sky and 80-degree highs, because the latest NAM/WRF model (probably the most accurate & reliable simulation of future weather) is printing out nearly 4" of rain for the metro area Thursday. If that verifies it would be nearly a MONTH'S worth of rain in less than 12 hours.

Finally, the latest from NOAA: June was the warmest month, worldwide, since accurate records were first started in 1880. It was the 4th consecutive month of record warmth around the world, the 304 month in a row where global temperatures were above the 20th century average. 2010 is still on track to be the warmest year (globally) on record, even warmer than 2005. More coincidences? Possibly, but at some point you look at all these trends, scratch your head, and wonder if maybe those climate scientists aren't right (a recent poll of published, active PhD climate scientists showed that 97% of them believe the earth's atmosphere is warming, and man has at least some role in this warming trend). That's good enough for me - should be good enough for all of us mere mortals (who don't study the earth's climate 18 hours/day). The professional (paid) deniers and their "institutes" will come up with more excuses and refutations, citing a global conspiracy among climate scientists. Don't believe them, any more than you'd believe a tobacco lobbyist denying the ill effects of smoking and the link between tobacco and cancer. The trends are apparent to anyone taking the time to really look at the science. No one heat wave, month or year proves anything, but what we have here is a steady trickle of evidence, a gradual accumulation of coincidences that can no longer be denied. Melting glaciers, thinning arctic ice, rising sea levels, an uptick in drought and 1-in-500 year floods are all symptoms. The earth's atmosphere is running a mild fever. The question: do we believe the doctors and treat the patient now, or wait for those symptoms to worsen? It's not ideology, it's not a political litmus test, it's not a "new religion." It's basic science.

The city of Kazan, on the Volga river east of Moscow, was also blanketed in smog on Monday, an eyewitness told the BBC. Marek Zaremba-Pike said Kazan's air "smells of burnt wood and tastes of dust". "Usually we can see the Kazan Kremlin very clearly, but visibility is poor. You can't see it at all, just the river bank." More famous for its bitterly cold winters, the giant country's European part normally enjoys short, warm summers. However July was the hottest month on record. In Moscow, which sees an average high of 23C in the summer months, recorded 37.8C last Thursday.

Yesterday’s temperature in Moscow was the highest since Russia began keeping records 130 years ago, according to the website of the Hydrometeorological Monitoring Service. The previous high was 36.8 degrees in July 1920, during the Civil War. The temperature may rise to 38 degrees on July 29, according to Gidromettsentr, the state weather service. Russia, the world’s third-biggest wheat exporter, will harvest about 80 million metric tons of grain this season, 17 percent less than last year, according to Moscow-based researcher SovEcon. Grain prices rose as much as 33 percent last week on drought concerns, SovEcon said on its website. Drought is likely to have a bigger impact on prices in Russia than in other countries, Orlova said. Food accounts for 38 percent of the consumer price index in Russia, compared with 15 percent in the U.S. and 32 percent in China, Alfa estimates.

The Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC) reported yesterday: "Low winter snowpack in north-central Alaska, warm spring temperatures, and a lack of precipitation has driven fuel conditions to historical maximum levels in Tok and Fairbanks. Current conditions create the potential for rapid fire spread rates, crown fires, and higher intensity fires. A high pressure weather system centered over Alaska exacerbates the existing conditions." The National Weather Service this morning (30 May 2010) has issued "red flag" warnings for much of Alaska's interior, along with portions of the North Slope of the Alaska Range.  The warnings, which extend to late in the evening on 30 May, mean that "conditions are occurring or will occur which could lead to the development of large and dangerous fires."  See NOAA's Alaska Fire Weather for the latest watches and warnings. The AICC also said yesterday that  the current fire behavior and activity "is uncharacteristic for this time of year and is requiring a significant response statewide from Alaskan, Canadian and Lower-48 resources."  By late evening on 29 May, the last 5 available smokejumpers in Alaska were en route to a fire, emptying the smokejumper base in Fairbanks and bringing the total number of jumpers committed to fires to seventy.  The jumper base reported that none of the committed jumpers could be quickly demobilized from current fires to attack new fires.  With such "initial attack" firefighting resources constrained, fires will have more time to grow in size before firefighters arrive. According to today's Situation Report from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC), there are 85 fires burning in the state.  A total of 193 fires have burned 98,163.3 acres so far this year.  The AICC Morning Highlights today said:  "Alaska is experiencing unprecedented fire activity for May that is more characteristic of extreme July conditions."  It added: "On a scale of 1-5, Alaska has now reached Preparedness Level 4. It means that multiple units are experiencing fire starts and there are several large, staffed fires. The probability of ignition is high, and conditions/ resistance to control are high to extreme, and weather conditions exist that promote fire growth. It also reflects the number of instate and out of state resources committed/required."

While researchers are confident that the higher temperatures and resulting changes in snowpack, Colorado River flow, vegetation mortality and wildfires are human-caused, they don't know whether the drought that has plagued the West for the last 10 years – the worst since record-keeping began – is because of humans, Overpeck said.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters said 66 ambulances were dispatched to help people who collapsed from the heat from June to this month, and 60 cases required treatment at hospitals. Emergency ambulances were dispatched for cases of dizziness, fainting or seizures.“The ground is continuously heated from the lack of rain and the steady inflow of hot air from the region southwest of the peninsula,” explained Shin Gi-chang at the Korea Meteorological Administration. The KMA issued heat warnings yesterday for 130 regions nationwide. The only regions that are relatively cool are those located in mountainous terrain or coastal areas.

The KMA said the heat wave started in the latter half of July, with average temperatures 0.8 degrees Celsius higher than temperatures during the same period last year. Tropical-type nights are happening more often than in the past, and Seoul has experienced eight this summer. Over the past decade, there was an average of 8.3 tropical-type nights per summer in the city. Other cities are experiencing the same phenomenon.

The National Institute of Environmental Research recently reported that when the average temperature in seven major cities rose from 27 degrees Celsius to 28, the overall number of deaths increased 2 percent, which comes to an additional 10 deaths a day. They based their conclusion on summer records from 1991 to 2007.

“When average temperatures rise above 26 degrees in the summer,” said Yu Seung-do of the institute, “elderly citizens and children should stay inside and pay more attention to their health.”The weather is expected to cool down slightly as showers are expected on the peninsula this afternoon, said Shin. “But the heat is here to stay at least until early September.”

The storms even afflict patrol officers. The DPS spent $3,800 on goggles for officers because of the stinging sand; some reported workplace injuries from irritated contact lenses, said DPS Sgt. Gary Phelps, who has patrolled northern Arizona for most of his 23-year career. "This is a new phenomenon. We have never had these conditions," Phelps said. "As far as visibility, this is the worst I've ever seen. I've been in blowing snow, but I'd take a snowstorm over a dust storm any day. It's awful."

Drivers must sit in 10-mile backups in both directions, the DPS and ADOT report. Many get frustrated and try to make sometimes dangerous U-turns across the freeway median. Some tourists rely on GPS systems to navigate detours. Often, they get stuck in the same brown cloud, lost on an unfamiliar rural road. Some dust storms can be 20 miles wide.

From 2000 through 2008, the state Department of Public Safety logged no dust-related collisions between Milepost 215, east of Flagstaff, and Milepost 260, just east of Winslow. Last year, Highway Patrol cars responded to 11 such accidents, and so far this year, five. Unlike the sudden, short dust storms that strike Interstate 10 south of the Valley, the recent I-40 closures typically last five hours and have dragged on for eight.

ADOT says that, before spring 2009, it had never closed I-40 because of dust storms. At the beginning of that particularly windy season, officials had to close the stretch of interstate between Flagstaff and Winslow because of a bad accident caused by blinding dust. That's when authorities began to close the highway as a precaution. They watched the weather forecast for high winds and sent spotters into the dust to gauge visibility.

From 1997 to 2008, the area recorded winds of more than 35 mph an average 12 times from March through May, Weather Service forecaster Ken Daniel said. Last year, that happened 14 times, and so far this year, 15 times. Winds above 45 mph had occurred an average 1.5 days during those spring months, but last year, they happened six times, and this year, four. "The springs of 2009 and 2010 have been windier than normal, but these winds we have been recently experiencing are not unprecedented," Daniel said.

Theories vary as to why the winds are thick with dust: Historical flooding of the nearby Little Colorado River left a lake bed that steadily dried out into fine sand. The nearby area has been overgrazed. A decade of drought has dried the soil into dust. "It could be global warming, for all I know," said Phelps, of the DPS.

ADOT says I-40 is the most heavily trucked highway in Arizona. Most are taking freight between Los Angeles and the Midwest. "Any time you have to disrupt the schedule of a delivery, it's not just a financial cost, it disrupts the entire supply chain," said Karen Rasmussen, president of the Arizona Trucking Association. "A truck has to arrive within a specific time slot for delivery." If the schedule is missed, manufacturers may have to shut down a plant because they don't have enough inventory. Grocers may not have enough produce, or perishables may start going bad. Trucks usually have return deliveries to make, and those get delayed. Northern Arizona's dust storms have become a national concern for the trucking industry, Rasmussen said.