After period of extreme heatwaves and severe winds in the region and persisting blocking high over Eastern Europe, Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East /https://mkweather.com/2020/10/11/atmospheric-circulation-in-northern-hemisphere-europa-and-north-america-during-the-first-half-of-autumn-2020//, one of the worst wildfires for last decades has appeared above Lebanon and Syria during the first half of October 2020.
Thanks to powerful hurricane season, Windstorm Alex /https://mkweather.com/2020/10/09/windstorm-alex-the-costliest-european-catastrophe-in-2020-15-dead-21-missing/; https://mkweather.com/2020/10/06/windstorm-alex-the-worst-rainfall-since-1958-9-dead-a-total-destruction-big-photogallery-from-france-and-italy/; https://mkweather.com/2020/10/04/2-killed-25-missing-in-france-500-mm-24-h-and-italy-630-mm-24-h-heavy-rains-from-windstorm-alex-until-wednesday// and Mediterranean storms /https://mkweather.com/2020/10/12/mediterranean-system-floods-winds-and-tornadoes-in-italy-montenegro-greece-austria-bosnia-and-croatia-on-monday/; https://mkweather.com/2020/09/28/italy-and-adriatic-region-hit-expected-floods-city-in-the-corsica-4-days-with-wind-126-155-km-h/; https://mkweather.com/2020/09/20/medicane-lanos-with-strength-of-cat-1-hurricane-hit-greece-500-mm-rain-20-inches-326-km-h-estimated-winds-2-dead// unseasonably heatwaves hit region during September and October 2020 /last heatwave is documented here: https://mkweather.com/2020/10/09/egypt-429c-israel-423c-turkey-385c-ukraine-304c/; https://mkweather.com/2020/10/06/turkey-392c-cyprus-370c-greece-364c-romania-334c-bulgaria-328c-serbia-318c-ukraine-284c-extreme-october-heatwave-is-continuing/; https://mkweather.com/2020/10/04/tropical-and-summer-weather-in-eastern-southern-europe-before-windstorm-alex-palermo-375c-greece-340c-croatia-314c-serbia-309c-hungary-290c-austria-264// wildfires hit territories of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Turkey and according to some sources Iraq and Iran, too.
The worst situation has been last days in Lebanon and Syria, where wildfires killed 3 and fire has spread from Mediterranean forests to populated areas.
The blazes started in Lebanon’s western mountains, but have spread to other, more continental regions according to BBC.
3 dead has been reported from Homs, Tartus and Latakia provinces in Syria.
On the Lebanese and Syrian borders with Israel, some of fires triggering explosions of land mines placed along the heavily-guarded front according apnews.com.
Fires destroyed lot of olive trees only a little time before their harvest in the region.
“Dozens of fires hit Lebanon in mid-October last year, amid unusually high temperatures and strong winds. The government faced heavy criticism and accusations of ill-preparedness over its response to the 2019 blazes.” according to arabnews.com.
According to ogimet.com, the hottest air hast shifted more to the south and east from the region – on Wednesday, 14. October 2020 has been reported +43,0°C in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, +39,6°C in Abadan, Iran and +39,3°C in Basrah, Iraq.
Extreme hot air has shifter over southwestern Russia and Caucasus for a time – Zugdidi in Georgia has reported +32,8°C and Armavir and Majkop in Russia +31,8°C / +31,2°C on Tuesday, 13. October 2020. Measured temperatures in Turkey, Cyprus and Israel you will find in links to previous articles above.
Forecasts for the rest of the October are still tropical or supertropical (over 30°C or 35°C) for the region (Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey), with a possibility of temperatures above +40°C in desert regions. Only between 20.-25. October is forecasted coldwave in the region, linked with extremely cold air over Europe.
Infographics:
T850 hPa over the region 18.10. (the hottest day) and 23.10. (the coldest day) 2020, cold period should come between 20.-25. October /wxcharts.com:
