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NASA’s Spaceweather.com website has announced that the Northeast Fireball of July 23, 2001 was not part of a meteor shower, but may have been a small asteroid like the Yukon Fireball of 2000 or the Peekskill Meteor of 1992.

Neither of these objects produced the kind of massive sonic boom that struck the Northeast yesterday evening, and how an object small enough to go undetected could have generated such a large shockwave remains unexplained.

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Spain?s North African enclave of Melilla, on a small peninsula on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, was hit by freak heatwaves on Monday, sending temperatures shooting up as much by as 30 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of minutes.

Spain?s Meteorological Institute said it registered two heat surges during the morning, the first sending thermometers soaring from 75 F to 105 F before the temperature went down again within 15 minutes. An hour later, the second burst of heat pushed temperatures up by 59 F before again cooling down a few minutes later.
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Thousands of people seeking relief from 100-plus temperatures in Saudi Arabia were panicked by an unprecendented snowfall of several inches. Thousands were trapped in a mountainous area in the southern part of the country.

Civil defense teams were called in after 75 people were injured in the panic that followed. Several hundred people were rescued by helicopters and mountain jeeps.

Saudi Arabia?s normal climate is hot and dry, but frost and freezing temperatures have been reported in winter in the past. Rainfall is rare, with an average annual precipitation of just 4 inches.
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A record-breaking heat wave has caused temperatures to rise near 104 degrees Fahrenheit for days in many regions of Japan, prompting heavy use of air conditioners during the hottest hours. Normally, temperatures above 90-93F are rare in these areas, even during the hottest summers.

Power output by Japan’s 10 utilities peaked at a record 178.72 million kilowatts at 3 p.m. Monday, marking a new high. The output surpassed the previous record of 173.07 million kilowatts on August 25th of last year, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies.

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