After a particularly active monsoon across central parts of China, with places recording more than double the normal amount of rain across June and July, the water pressure on the Three Gorges dam has increased significantly, leading to a slight deformation of the structure during July. Luckily, the dam has been declared safe, as millions of people live downstream of the river, in towns such as the now well-known town of Wuhan.
Northern parts of the Persian Gulf are not new to intense heat during the summer months, although temperatures rose to between 50C (122F) and 53C during last week. Basra international airport in southern Iraq recorded 53C on Thursday 30 July, very close to the all-time record for that area of 53.8C and against a July average of just 41.3C.
July ended with the ice extent of the Arctic Sea just over 6m sq km, the lowest ever recorded during July, and more than 2m sq km of ice less than the 1981-2010 average. This record-breaking low extent of the ice comes after months of significantly high temperature anomalies across northern parts of Siberia, leading to a rapid melting of ice along Russian coasts and over the Laptev and Barents seas.
