Tuesday, August 5, 2014

First 100°F Temperature on Record in the Baltics

By: Christopher C. Burt , 7:24PM,GMT on August 5,2014

First 100°F Temperature on Record in the Baltics

The 37.8°C (100.0°F) temperature observed at Ventspils, Latvia on August 4th was the first time on record that a reading of 100°F has been measured in any of the Baltic nations (Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania). The heat wave has also affected Poland, Belarus, and Sweden where a massive forest fire, said to be the worst in the nation's modern history, rages out of control.



It has been a warm past month in Ventspils, Latvia with 10 out of the past 30 days reaching 30°C (86°F) or more. The normal daily maximum temperature for July and early August is just 19°C (66°F). The 36.6°C (97.9°F) on August 3rd was a new Latvian national record only to be shattered the following day with the 37.8°C (100.0°F) reading. Climate table from OGIMET.

The record was especially unusual since Ventspils (also known as Ventspili) is a coastal location situated right along the shores of the Baltic Sea. The previous Latvian record of 36.4°C (97.5°F) on August 4, 1943 (same date!) was measured at Daugavpils which is an inland location near the border of Belarus and where hotter temperatures might be expected vis-à-vis a coastal location. The reason for the excessive temperature at Ventspils, this time around, was a strong offshore flow caused by a high-pressure system centered over northeast Russia and Finland.



A strong surface high pressure centered over Finland and northeast Russia (bottom map) along with a 210-meter positive height anomaly (top map) created a southeast (offshore) flow over the Baltic nations early this week leading to the record temperatures at the Latvian coastal location of Ventspils. Maps of 12Z ECMWF models for August 4th courtesy of Nick Wiltgen at The Weather Channel.

Aside from Latvia, record or near-record temperatures have also been observed in Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, and Sweden. The capital city of Minsk in Belarus broke its all-time heat record on August 3rd with a 35.6°C (96.1°F) reading which surpassed its former record of 35.0°C (95.0°C). The top temperature in all of Belarus was 36.5°C (97.7°F) at Ma’rina Gorka (also on August 3rd) which was short of the national record of 38.9°C (102.0°F) set at Gomel on August 8, 2010. In Lithuania it reached 36.6°C (97.9°F) at Klaipeda on August 3rd (short of the national record of 37.5°C/99.5°F set at Zarasai on July 30, 1994) and in Estonia top honor went to Niqula with 33.5°C (92.3°F) on August 4th, well short, however, of the national record of 35.6°C (96.1°F) at Voru on August 11, 1992. The heat wave has also affected Poland where temperatures as high as 35.4°C (95.7°F) were observed at Ustka on August 3rd.

Late word from blog reader Blair Trewin (Australian Bureau of Meteorology) notes that the Swedish met service (SMHI) has reported at temperature of 35.1°C (95.2°F) at the town of Falun on August 4th and that this is the hottest August temperature observed in Sweden since 1992. Sweden’s national record is 38.0°C (100.4°F) set at Ultuna on July 9, 1933 and also at Malilla on June 29, 1947. A massive 15,000-hectare (37,000 acre) forest fire in central Sweden, described in the press as “the largest in modern [Swedish] history” is threatening the town of Norberg (population 4,500). One death has so far been attributed to the conflagration.



This large forest fire in central Sweden is threatening the evacuation of the entire population of the town of Norberg (population 4,500). Photo credited to TT, ‘The Local: Sweden’s news in English’.

KUDOS: Thanks to Maximiliano Herrera, Blair Trewin, and Nick Wiltgen for their contributions to the data and blog reader barbamz for news about the Swedish fire.

Christopher C Burt
Weather Historian

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