Worst Heatwave In 50 Years As Rio Hits 115 F - At Least 32 Elderly Dead From Heat

[hatrack]

RIO DE JANEIRO — The worst heatwave to hit Rio de Janeiro in 50 years turned the city into a pre-Carnival furnace Wednesday, and killed 32 elderly people further south, officials said.

According to the Inmet national weather service, recorded temperatures in Rio were well above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees) -- and felt more like above 50 degrees. "The heatwave in Rio is seen as historic. February right now is the hottest month for the past 50 years," meteorologist Giovanni Dolif told the O Globo daily.

On Monday and Tuesday, the scalding conditions proved deadly for 32 elderly residents in Santos, a city close to Sao Paulo and 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of Rio. Half of them succumbed in their homes and the other half died as they sought help in clinics, a spokeswoman for the city's health service told AFP.

The heatwave made Rio the hottest place on the planet on Tuesday, save for Ada, a town in eastern Ghana, according to data from the World Meteorological Organization. Rio's recorded temperature that day was 46.3 degrees Celsius -- less than even the Sahara desert, which came in at a milder 33 degrees.

EDIT

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hNQaqAMnwvIsEmuWYAZG1aDYtHZw

[FormerDittoHead]

1. But it's snowing in Washington! Drill, baby, DRILL! :sarcasm: n/t

[Jester Messiah]

5. As a native of Northern VA, I volunteer to take some of the heat from Rio.

No, no, don't thank me. I just want to do what's right. :-)

[Bitwit1234]

2. Oh dear that heat wave has to be caused by our current ICE Age.

[The Croquist]

3. The heat wave is just weather

just like the eastern US and Vancouver is weather.

[kestrel91316]

4. I'm SOOO glad there's no such thing as climate change to mess up the weather.

[bik0]

6. So is this proof... of anything?

These types of posts do nothing to either prove or disprove global warming, climate change or whatever you want to call it. Why is someone flamed when a news article is posted about unusually frigid weather or record low temperatures but when there's a heat wave or unusually hot temperatures it's interpreted as proof or evidence of GW? Both types of articles should be equally ridiculed as anomalies and not proof or evidence of anything.

[hatrack]

8. Did the article say it was proof of anything?

Did I say it was proof of anything?

:shrug:

[guardian]

10. That will NEVER happen

>>>Both types of articles should be equally ridiculed as anomalies and not proof or evidence of anything.

A fundamental tenant of the doomer cult is hypocrisy.

[Snow Bird]

7. Wish they would leave out that part about

worst in 50 years. It might give some people some wiggle room to argue. Like see, it's happened before, how do you explain that?

[guardian]

11. "Wish they would leave out that part about"

So you wish they'd hide the facts to promote your doomer cult theory? All the better to exaggerate a normal condition to make it sound worse than it really is. Quick! Let's scare the public. It makes a good sound bite.

This is the same mentality that got the CRU, Jones, Mann, et al, in trouble with Climategate. Doomers of a feather flock together.

[Snow Bird]

12. *wink*

[guardian]

9. Oh goody. Another weather report from hatrack.

I guess you don't know the difference between weather and climate. Are you going to startle us by saying is is hot in equatorial Africa too?

For decades you doomers have been trying to ram these inconsequential weather reports down the public's throat as proof of your AGW doomsday. You are "stunned" when a 100 year flood occurs for the first time ....... in a 100 years. Yes proof of global warming.

There is always some 'unusual' weather somewhere. Always has been. Always will be. Just because weather patterns might be different from the first time you smoked a joint as teenager doesn't mean anything. Well if weather reports are relevant then here is one for you. And MY weather report trumps YOUR weather report because the number of reported deaths is higher!



http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/01/06/winter-kills-excess-deaths-in-the-winter-months/

108,500 Deaths in the US in 2008; 36,700 in England and Wales Last Winter; 5,600 in Canada (2006); 7,000 in Australia (1997-2006 Average); Thousands in Other Developed Countries