U.S. Midwest Freezes, Australia Burns: This Is the Age of Weather Extremes.

In Chicago, officials warned about the risk of almost instant frostbite on what could be the city’s coldest day ever. Warming centers opened around the Midwest. And schools and universities closed throughout the region as rare polar winds streamed down from the Arctic.

The Lake Michigan shore in Chicago on Tuesday. Overnight
temperatures in the city dipped to minus 21 degrees
Fahrenheit, or minus 29 Celsius, near the record low.

At the same time, on the other side of the planet, wildfires raged in Australia’s record-breaking heat. Soaring air-conditioner use overloaded electrical grids and caused widespread power failures. The authorities slowed and canceled trams to save power. Labor leaders called for laws that would require businesses to close when temperatures reached hazardous levels: nearly 116 degrees Fahrenheit, or 47 Celsius, as was the case last week in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.

This is weather in the age of extremes. It comes on top of multiple extremes, all kinds, in all kinds of places.

Read the story from The New York Times by Somini Songupta - “U.S. Midwest Freezes, Australia Burns: This Is the Age of Weather Extremes.”