Extremes: Coldest temperatures in nearly 50 years leave 80 dead in Bangladesh, while Australia bakes in record highs

(Before It's News)

January 11, 2013 – BANGLADESH - A cold snap which saw temperatures drop on Thursday to their lowest point in Bangladesh’s post-independence history has killed around 80 people, officials said. The weather office said the lowest temperature was recorded at 3ºC in the northern town of Syedpur and the Red Crescent said hospitals were packed with patients suffering respiratory illness. Shah Alam, deputy head of the weather office, said the last time the temperature had dropped below 3ºC was in February 1968 when Bangladesh was still part of Pakistan. “The temperature is the lowest in Bangladesh’s history” he said. The Red Crescent Society said impoverished rural areas had been worst hit as many people could not afford warm clothing or heating. “They are not prepared for such extreme weather. Many could not even go to work,” the society’s general-secretary Abu Bakar said. “According to the reports of our district offices and local administrations about 80 people have died due to cold-related diseases such as respiratory problems, pneumonia and cough,” Bakar added. Bangladesh, which is a tropical country, normally sees temperatures fall to around 10ºC at this time of year. The weather office said temperatures were expected to rise from Saturday. –News 24

Australia suffers in record heat: The heat wave across Australia has spiked to unfathomable levels as the ominously-labeled “dome of heat” blankets the continent, sparking wildfires that have caused more than $60 million in damage and claimed more than 120 homes. The average temperature stretched above 39° Celsius (102° F) for six consecutive days, and local temperatures were so high that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology was inclined to add a new hue to their heat map — a deep purple shade — which indicates a temperature above 50° C (122° F). –Time

contribution Patricia L.

• Timelapse views of Comet C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)
• Large AR 1654 rotate more directly into Earth view, C8 solar flare generated
• (Major) Earthquakes list January 11, 2013
• 2012 was warmest and second most extreme year on record for the contiguous U.S.
• Earthquakes and the North American Craton
• Elevated volcanic activity at Mt. Stromboli, Italy – new powerful detonations heard
• LEON – microchips designed by ESA for future space missions
• Measuring a distant planet’s transit (The Exoplant Transit Method)
• Active volcanoes in the world: January 2 – January 8, 2013
• Stable Zones Help Generate Massive Earthquakes Say Scientists