World weather news

World weather news, December 2019

3rd: At least two people died when Typhoon Kammuri tore through the Philippines, forcing Manila airport to shut. At least 200,000 residents were evacuated from coastal and mountainous areas over fears of flooding, storm surges and landslides. The storm landed south of the capital Manila. The deaths were reported on the central island of Mindoro. Some events at the Southeast Asian Games, which opened on Saturday, were cancelled or re-scheduled. Operations at Manila airport were suspended for 12 hours starting 0300 GMT.
8th: Flooding in Uganda has claimed at least 16 lives, the Red Cross says, as the region reels from weeks of rain. Rescuers have been recovering the bodies of victims swept to their deaths by the flash floods in the western Bundibugyo area, the aid group said. Homes have been washed away and a number of roads blocked or destroyed. Large parts of east Africa have suffered floods and landslides in recent weeks. Hundreds have died and millions have been displaced.
10th: Heavy rains have battered parts of South Africa, submerging whole neighbourhoods and flooding coal mines and power stations in a nation already hit by electricity blackouts. At least 700 homes have been washed away near the capital, Pretoria, public broadcaster SABC reported. The state-run power company warned of further electricity cuts, saying heavy rains had affected its operations. The power cuts, known as load shedding in South Africa, have halted gold and diamond production at some leading mines.
10th: A shroud of smoke from Australia's bushfires has caused chaos in Sydney, bringing dangerous air quality, setting off smoke alarms and ruining visibility in its typically sparkling harbour. The haze was described by many people as the thickest to blanket the city amid this year's fire crisis. It caused the cancellation of ferry and boat rides, while smoke permeating buildings forced evacuations citywide.
10th-11th: Much of Iceland is digging out following a potent blizzard that brought winds topping 100 mph and yards of snow to some areas amid what one Icelandic meteorologist referred to as a "10 year storm." As many as 20,000 people are without power as temperatures tumble into the teens and 20s, with a few communities completely isolated. The storm was so severe that it prompted the Icelandic Met Office to issue an unprecedented "red alert;"; this was the first red alert issued with the new warning system that has been in use since 2017. The red alert was hoisted for northern parts of the country, while orange-level warnings covered the country's capital, Reykjavik. The storm's most intense impact struck on Tuesday. Gusts reached as high as 149 mph Skalafell - which is about 20 miles east-northeast of Reykjavik. There were unconfirmed reports that the winds there gusted to 159 mph. Sustained winds hit 63 mph in Reykjavik.
13th-14th: Stormy conditions led to two deaths in south-west France. In addition to floods, strong winds raged in many departments, from Normandy to Corsica. Five other people were injured by falling trees on their vehicle in Lot-et-Garonne. The south-west has experienced heavy rains in recent days. Eleven departments were placed on orange alert on Saturday by Meteo France. In Lot-et-Garonne, the rising waters were expected to continue until Sunday, causing the closure of many flooded roads.
17th: A state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales, Australia, amid fears a record-breaking heatwave will exacerbate the state's bushfire crisis. The nation endured its hottest-ever day on Tuesday, but that record was smashed again on Wednesday - which saw a national average maximum temperature of 41.9C. Tuesday's 40.9C had eclipsed the previous record of 40.3C, set in 2013. The Bureau of Meteorology said individual December temperature records had been broken in a number of places - with temperatures in the southern city of Adelaide hitting 45.3C. Nullarbor, also in southern Australia, reached 49.9C.
24th-25th: Typhoon Phanfone has killed at least 10 people in the Philippines, leaving a trail of devastation through the centre of the country. The storm, also known as Ursula, carried gusts of close to 190 km/h and made landfall several times across various islands, officials say. Tens of thousands of people were left stranded in ports as they tried to make their way home for Christmas. Phanfone struck close to regions devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Typhoon Phanfone first made landfall on Tuesday night, but continued to pass over the many islands of the central Philippines throughout Christmas Day. Most deaths occurred in Iloilo and Capiz provinces.
29th: One person was killed in Fiji and one was missing as tropical cyclone Sarai battered the country with strong wind and heavy rain, authorities said. The Fiji National Disaster Management Office said one person was in intensive care and more than 2,500 people had been moved to 70 evacuation centres. The category two tropical cyclone was not expected to make landfall in Fiji though its weather service issued storm and flood warnings for parts of the country. Close to its centre the cyclone was expected to have average winds of up to 110km/h with momentary gusts to 150km/h, the Fiji Meteorological Service said.
30th: Moscow has been so warm this December that the government has resorted to sending trucks filled with artificial snow to decorate a new year display in the city centre. Videos of the delivery for a snowboarding hill went viral as observers noted the irony of bringing snow to a city that spends millions each year on its removal. The Moscow region is in the throes of one of its warmest winters since temperatures began to be systematically recorded 140 years ago. The temperature in the Russian capital rose to 5.4C on 18 December, topping the previous record for the month set in 1886. Then on the 22nd 6.2C was reported in Moscow.
30th: At least 40 flights were cancelled and hundreds delayed as dense fog shrouded Delhi (India), drastically reducing visibility. Delhi recorded its coldest day since 1901, with the maximum temperature rising to 9.4C. "This December is the second coldest December since 1901. Usually, January is the coldest winter month, but this time, the mercury has broken decades' record in December itself," said Kuldeep Shrivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, New Delhi.
30th-31st: Australian military aircraft and vessels will be deployed to help emergency services in the fire-ravaged states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. Thousands of people fled to beaches in the south-eastern states on Tuesday as emergency-level fires spread. Two more people have been confirmed dead in NSW, bringing the fire-linked death toll to 12. Authorities say four people are missing in Victoria and another in NSW. Several holiday spots along the coast have been cut off and the main road in the region - the Princes Highway - has been closed. Temperatures exceeded 40C in every state and territory at the start of the week, with strong winds and lightning strikes bolstering the flames. Meteorologists say a climate system in the Indian Ocean, known as the dipole, is the main driver behind the extreme heat in Australia.

World weather news, November 2019

3rd: Tens of thousands of homes have been left without power in France, as Storm Amelie brought heavy winds and rains to the Atlantic coast and southern areas. French electricity supplier Enedis said power cuts were affecting 55,000 homes, mostly in the western Nouvelle Aquitaine region, at 17:00 (16:00 GMT). A number of departments were placed on "orange alert" throughout the day because of the extreme weather. Winds in some places had exceeded 100 mph. Emergency services responded to hundreds of callouts on Sunday, as heavy winds brought down trees and electricity cables. Railway operator SNCF said several trains were cancelled or delayed because of the extreme weather, while two motorways were temporarily closed.
4th: Air pollution in the north of India has "reached unbearable levels," the capital Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says. In many areas of Delhi air quality deteriorated into the "hazardous" category, with the potential to cause respiratory illnesses. Low visibility caused more than 30 flights to be diverted on Sunday. Rules have now gone into effect allowing only cars with odd or even number plates to drive on given days. The initiative is aimed at getting more vehicles off the road in an effort to curb air pollution. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain advised the city's residents to "avoid outdoor physical activities, especially during morning and late evening hours".
10th: Cyclone Bulbul has ripped through coastal areas of Bangladesh and India, killing at least 13 people while more than two million others were forced to spend a night in storm shelters. The storm packed winds of up to 120 km/h, injuring dozens and destroying thousands of homes. Officials say that further casualties were avoided because people were evacuated in time. Seven people were killed in the Indian state of West Bengal, the state's minister for disaster management told reporters. The five victims hit by trees in Bangladesh included a 52-year old woman who died when a tree dropped onto her house. A 60-year-old fisherman also lost his life after ignoring evacuation warnings. Around 1,200 tourists, most of them Bangladeshi, were stuck on St Martin's Island, part of Cox's Bazar district, an official told the Reuters news agency. Bangladesh's two biggest ports, Mongla and Chittagong, were closed and flights into Chittagong airport were stopped.
11th: Across New South Wales more than 575 schools were closed today, while aged care homes remained on high alert and animal shelters scrambled to re-home pets as much of the state prepares for catastrophic fire conditions. The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, declared a week-long state of emergency on Monday in the wake of devastating fires on the state's mid-north coast in which three people died and at least 150 homes were destroyed. While favourable conditions helped ease the bushfire threat on Monday, more than 60 bushfires continue to ravage the state and the Bureau of Meteorology has forecast "hot, dry and gusty winds" on Tuesday which "will generate very dangerous fire conditions across large parts of the state". More than 1,300 firefighters have been mobilised and the chief of the defence force has ordered defence bases to provide any assistance requested by local firefighters. The severe fire danger prompted the Rural Fire Service to declare a catastrophic fire danger warning for large chunks of the state, including in the greater Sydney area, the Hunter, Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions. It is the first time the warning has been issued in greater Sydney and the first state of emergency since October 2013, when major bushfires killed two people and destroyed hundreds of homes in the state's Blue Mountains region.
11th-12th: Severe flooding in Venice that has left much of the Italian city under water is a direct result of climate change, the mayor says. The highest water levels in the region in more than 50 years will leave "a permanent mark", Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro tweeted. The waters in Venice peaked at 1.87 m, according to the tide monitoring centre. Only once since official records began in 1923 has the tide been higher, reaching 1.94 m in 1966. Images showed popular tourist sites left completely flooded and people wading through the streets as Venice was hit by a storm. St Mark's Square - one of the lowest parts of the city - was one of the worst hit areas. St Mark's Basilica was flooded for the sixth time in 1,200 years, according to church records. Pierpaolo Campostrini, a member of St Mark's council, said four of those floods had now occurred within the past 20 years. The city of Venice is made up of more than 100 islands inside a lagoon off the north-east coast of Italy. Two people died on the island of Pellestrina, a thin strip of land that separates the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. A man was electrocuted as he tried to start a pump in his home and a second person was found dead elsewhere.
12th: An Arctic air mass has brought record-breaking low temperatures to several places in the US. The Arctic blast, which began in Siberia, has brought heavy snow and ice to many areas. Daily records have been set in states including Kansas and Illinois. Four traffic deaths have been linked to the bad weather and more than 1,000 flights have been cancelled. Schools have also been closed in some areas. The National Weather Service (NSW) said the air mass was continuing to spread from the Plains towards the East Coast. Several cities in Kansas set record low temperatures on Tuesday, when compared to the same date in previous years. The lowest temperature was recorded in Garden City, where it dropped to -1F (-18C), breaking the record of 7F set last year. Chicago recorded a low of 7F, breaking the previous record of 8F set in 1986, the NWS said. The city also set a daily record for snowfall on Monday. A temperature of 8F in Indianapolis marked the city's earliest recorded autumn temperature in single digits (F).
17th: Hailstones up to 6 cm in diameter hit north of Brisbane as dangerous thunderstorms moved across southeast Queensland, causing severe damage to cars and homes. The hail came shortly after an emergency warning was issued for bushfires north of Toowomba, and prompting residents to evacuate. Severe hailstorm caused significant damage to cars and homes, and left at least 23,000 homes across South East Queensland without power.
18th-20th: Two severe weather events battered New Zealand's Canterbury region over the past 3 days - a severe hailstorm in Timaru on November 20, 2019, and a destructive tornado that ripped through Christchurch on November 18. After the catastrophic events, farmers found themselves salvaging spared crops, with fears that as much as 80% was lost. Insurers reported that they have received hundreds of claims after a severe hailstorm with hail the size of golf balls, saying, "It's been pretty extensive, it's done a lot of damage to a broad range of crops - wheat and barley, particularly."
19th: People in Sydney woke up to a city shrouded in smoke on Tuesday, as scores of bushfires rage across the region. Strong winds overnight brought smoke from fires inland, pushing the air quality in Australia's largest city to beyond "hazardous" levels at times. Six people have died in bushfires in the state's north since October. Sydney residents were warned about severe fire danger on Tuesday, as temperatures soared to 37C in the city's west. Parts of the city recorded air pollution levels at eight times higher than the national benchmark. Health officials advised people to stay indoors and avoid physical activity. They also shared first aid guides on how to help asthma sufferers and others with respiratory problems.
20th: On November 11, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center began monitoring a disturbance situated only a couple hundred miles off the coast of the Philippines. It quickly organized as sea surface temperatures became very conducive for development. Later, it developed into Tropical Depression 27W, and subsequently was named Ramon. Ramon intensified into a tropical storm by November 13, and was given the name Kalmaegi by the JMA. On November 17, Kalmaegi entered favourable waters and then intensified into a severe tropical storm. By the next day, Kalmaegi intensified into a Category 1 typhoon. On November 20, it hit Santa Ana, Cagayan in the Phillipines and rapidly dissipated inland, as about to be absorbed by nearby Tropical Storm Fung-wong east of it.
21st: Over 211,000 people in Chad have been affected by flooding due to heavy rain, resulting in deaths, damage to homes and property. In the Mayo-Kebbi Est province alone, the number of people affected comes to 80,600, in a region already impacted by an ongoing cholera epidemic.
21st-22nd: A powerful storm unleashed torrential rain resulting in widespread flooding across southern France, Italy and western Greece in recent days. The storm, which was named Cecilia by Spain's State Meteorological Agency, first struck the Iberian Peninsula on Thursday and Friday with damaging winds and downpours. The storm caused a large transport ship to run aground in northwest Spain on Friday. After departing Spain, the storm unleashed torrential rainfall on southern France and northern Italy where multiple deaths were reported. Rainfall amounts of 75-150 mm were common across parts of Spain, southeastern France and northwestern Italy. The severe weather resulted in thousands of power outages and hundreds of evacuations across northern Italy, according to EuroNews, before eventually making a final stop in southern Italy and Greece from Sunday into Monday. At least nine deaths have been reported from the storm in France, Italy and Greece, according to the Associated Press. That number may rise as flooding continues across the region.
23rd: Heavy rains unleashed overnight floods that have killed 34 people in western Kenya, including 29 feared buried in mudslides, authorities said Saturday. West Pokot County Commissioner Apollo Okello said five other people died when their car was swept away on the road between Kitale and Lodwar after two rivers overflowed their banks. More than 1 million people in East Africa have been affected by flooding after higher-than-normal rainfall. The International Rescue Committee said this month that many people had been reeling from an earlier severe drought. Now rains in parts of Somalia, South Sudan and Kenya are expected for four to six more weeks.
25th: Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases once again reached new highs in 2018. The World Meteorological Organization says the increase in CO2 was just above the average rise recorded over the last decade. Levels of other warming gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, have also surged by above average amounts. Since 1990 there's been an increase of 43% in the warming effect on the climate of long lived greenhouse gases.
25th-26th: A major snowstorm has caused headaches for early Thanksgiving travellers in Colorado (USA) with feet of snow piling up in some parts of the state. The storm began to unfold over Colorado late Monday and intensified overnight. Most of Denver and the city's suburbs woke up to 6 to 12 inches of snow on Tuesday with several feet falling over the nearby mountains. Pinewood Springs, Colorado, located near Rocky Mountain National Park, was one of the snowiest spots in the state with nearly 32 inches of snow falling as of 7 a.m. MST Tuesday. Snow has also spread into Nebraska with a general 3 to 6 inches falling over the state's midsection as of late Tuesday morning.

World weather news, October 2019

1st-2nd: The first two days of the month featured record warmth from New Orleans to New York City as millions sweltered in conditions more typical of July. Temperatures in the 90s F were widespread across the region. The extreme temperatures on Wednesday forced some school districts across the region to dismiss classes early or to cancel classes entirely. On Tuesday alone, over 30 cities set new all-time high temperatures for the month of October. The heat turned up even more on Wednesday with several cities breaking monthly temperature records set just 24 hours earlier. New Orleans was one of these cities, hitting 96F on Wednesday, breaking the old October temperature record of 95F set on Tuesday. Birmingham, Alabama, topped out at a record-shattering 103F on Wednesday; however, the National Weather Service is investigating to verify the record. If it holds, it would not only be the hottest day of the year for the city, but it would fall just 2 degF shy of the highest temperature ever observed east of the Mississippi River during the month of October. The heat on Wednesday in Birmingham easily, if the temperature record is verified, exceeded anything the city experienced even in the middle of summer this year.
8th-9th: It may be early October, but parts of the northern United States have been transformed into a winter wonderland as an early-season snowstorm unloads record-setting snow across the region. This is the second storm in less than two weeks to spread snow over parts of the northern USA. However, unlike the late-September storm, this new storm is stronger and forecast to evolve into a full-on blizzard by week's end. Snow started to fall on Tuesday from the Cascades to the northern Rockies as the storm began to unfold. Spokane, Washington, was one town that was hit particularly hard by the snow on Tuesday. A record-breaking 3.3 inches of snow fell, the first measurable snow in the month of October since 2001. It also made this month the third-snowiest October on record, following 3.9 inches in October of 1975 and 6.1 inches in October of 1957. This contributed to the 30,000 power outages across the Spokane area on Wednesday morning. The unusual early-season snow combined with the power outages caused the Spokane School District to close on Wednesday. By Wednesday morning, the worst of the storm had shifted east, focusing on Montana. One of the snowiest spots was just south of Helena, Montana, where a National Weather Service trained spotter measured over 16 inches of snow and ‘significant drifting.' Snow from this storm brought the two-week snow total in Great Falls, Montana, to over 26 inches. This is more snow than the city received from September through December of last year.
9th: The 2019 southwest monsoon over the Indian subcontinent finally began to withdraw, lagging more than a month behind normal and setting a new record delay. This year's monsoon had already moved into uncharted territory last week when it surpassed the previous record late start of the withdrawal which took place on 1 October 1961, according to the India Meteorological Department. Further advancement of the withdrawal is expected across northern and north-central parts of the country in the coming days. Dry air pushed into New Delhi and the National Capital Region earlier this week, and that pattern will hold for the next several weeks. Despite the monsoon withdrawal beginning in the far northwest, weeks of additional rainfall is expected in southern parts of the country as the dry air slowly builds from northwest to southeast. In addition to its historic duration, this year's monsoon has also gone down as one of the wettest in recent decades with 110% of normal rainfall reported across the country as a whole from June through September. This is the wettest monsoon season since 1994 based on government data. What makes this season's surplus of rainfall even more dramatic is that a 33% shortage compared to normal was reported across the country during the month of June.
9th: A super typhoon in the Pacific Ocean could hit Japan on Saturday, potentially causing grave damage in Tokyo, experts said. The centre of Super Typhoon Hagibis was roughly 950 miles south of Tokyo as of Thursday morning local time. The storm was moving about nine miles per hour to the north, and expected to pass along the east coast of Japan on Saturday evening, he said. The fastest sustained winds of the storm, as estimated by satellites, were 160 mph, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane; a storm with sustained winds of over 150 mph is classified as a super typhoon. One side effect of the typhoon is that games have been cancelled in the Rugby Union World Cup, meaning that Italy (and possibly Scotland) will be eliminated from the tournament as a result.
14th: Rescuers were searching for survivors in Japan in the wake of super-typhoon Hagibis, which has already claimed 40 lives. The storm, which over the weekend dumped 40% of average annual rainfall on some areas, caused at least 25 rivers across the country to burst their banks, leading to vast tracts of land being flooded. By Monday at least 16 people were still missing and 200 were confirmed injured. Hagibis had made landfall in Japan just before 7 p.m. local time on Saturday, 12 October, moving ashore near Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture with winds of the equivalent strength as a Category 2 hurricane in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Ocean basins. NHK reported that a record level of nearly 1,000 mm of rain, from the storm had fallen over Hakone Town in the Kanagawa Prefecture over a time span of 48 hours. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued level 5 heavy rain emergencies the highest level of warning in the JMA's five-level warning system across at least seven prefectures during the height of the storm. Observations from Tokyo recorded 209 mm of rainfall and a maximum wind gust of 150 km/h. The heavy rainfall also caused at least 140 mudslides across the country damaging buildings and making roadways impassible. Tens of thousands of personnel from the Self-Defence Forces, Coast Guard, police and fire departments were deployed as emergency crews attempted to rescue some people still trapped on the upper floors of homes and other buildings in the worst affected areas. Teams were also digging through mud and landslides, as well as searching swollen rivers for the missing. Nagano Prefecture in central Japan was one of the worst-hit areas. Both the Chikuma and Abukuma rivers burst their banks and floodwaters topped four metres in places, according to the Japan Geospatial Information Authority. A five-kilometre stretch near the Chikuma River was flooded. In Saitama's Higashi Matsuyama city, northwest of Tokyo, rice and flower farmers were counting their losses, with water submerging warehouses full of freshly harvested produce.
19th: Tropical storm Nestor made landfall on St. Vincent Island, a nature preserve off of Florida's northern Gulf Coast. Tornado victims are starting the recovery process after 8 reported tornadoes were spawned by Nestor. There were six tornadoes in Florida on Friday and two tornadoes on Saturday, one in Florida and one in Georgia. Tornado damage was also reported near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A confirmed tornado was reported near Lakeland, Florida on Friday night. There were reports of damage to homes and a church in Kathleen, Florida, which is located just northwest of Lakeland.
21st: Eastern and central Europe have experienced unseasonably warm conditions in the last two weeks. Temperatures across much of the Balkans region have been more than 10 degC above normal for this time of year. In Belgrade, Serbia, 27C has been exceeded several times this week the average maximum temperature for late October is 17C.
23rd: A man's body has been found and five people are missing after flooding hit parts of north-east Spain. Flash floods in northern Italy left two people dead on Tuesday and roads in the south of France were blocked as rivers burst their banks. Parts of Narbonne Plage and Beziers were inundated by floodwater. Ten departments in southern France were placed on orange alert. Cars were submerged and the waters of the River Orb rose dangerously beneath a historic bridge in Beziers as the town saw 198 mm fall - or the equivalent of two months' average rainfall - in just six hours on Wednesday morning. Meteorologists said the Herault area saw 240 mm of rain in the past 24 hours, a 50-year record. Local prefect Jacques Witkowski told reporters that shelter had been given to more than 1,000 people whose homes had been flooded. In Spain, the area around Tarragona was among the worst affected. The roof of the baroque church at Savalla del Comtat caved in. Meteorologists blamed the torrential rain on a cold front known as a high-level isolated depression. Torrential rain also caused major disruption in northern Italy. Two people died and the Piedmont region asked for a state of emergency to be declared in the Alessandria area.
30th: Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are at risk of losing their homes as entire cities sink under rising seas over the next three decades, according to researchers. The findings, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, put nearly three times as many people in coastal areas at risk from flooding than previously thought, and are the result of new advances in elevation modeling technology. Global sea levels are expected to rise between two to seven feet (0.6 to 2.1 m) - and possibly more - over the course of the 21st century. And by 2050, land that is currently home to about 300 million people will fall below the elevation of the average annual coastal flood - meaning they could face severe floods at least once a year. By 2100, land that is home to 200 million people could sit permanently below the high tide line, rendering those coastal areas all but unlivable.
31st: A herd of ravenous goats played a role in saving the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library after a fresh wildfire erupted Wednesday near Simi Valley in Southern California, forcing officials to order evacuations of nearby homes. In addition the firefighters and aircraft crews that responded Wednesday, a hungry herd of as many as 500 goats had helped create a firebreak months ago in the brush that surrounds the hilltop complex, officials said. The goats last spring ate up vegetation that could have fueled the fire. "One of the firefighters mentioned that they do believe the goats' fire line helped them fight this fire," library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said. "They just proved today how useful they really are." Named the Easy Fire, the blaze - one of several California wildfires burning in dry and windy conditions - began Wednesday morning in the hills near Simi Valley and has already burned 1,300 acres, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. It threatened 6,500 homes and forced school closures.

World weather news, September 2019

1st: Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the Bahamas at lunchtime on Sunday, its sustained 185 mph winds tearing apart buildings and ripping off roofs, and destroying or severely damaging thousands of homes. The hurricane, which brought "catastrophic winds" and a storm surge above 6 metres to the Caribbean island nation, also claimed its first recorded fatality, an eight-year-old boy who drowned on Abaco Island. At landfall the central pressure was 910 mb.
3rd: Hurricane Dorian has stalled over the Bahamas, lashing the islands with wind, rain and storm surges, and killing at least five people. Thousands of homes were inundated by floodwater as rescue operations tried to reach stranded residents, many trapped on roofs. Dorian, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, has been hovering over Grand Bahama Island for more than a day. It has weakened to a Category 3 hurricane but is still battering the Bahamas with winds of 120 mph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory issued at 0600 GMT. The ferocious storm's centre was about 30 miles north-east of Freeport on Grand Bahama Island and about 100 miles east of West Palm Beach, Florida. The NHC urged residents to remain in shelters as they continued to be pounded by the storm's "eyewall". The storm's strongest winds are usually close to the eye. In an earlier update, it said Dorian was "continuing to thrash" Grand Bahama and would cause "extreme destruction" into Tuesday morning. At least five people have been killed in the Abaco Islands, in the northern Bahamas, the country's prime minister, Hubert Minnis, said on Monday. "We are in the midst of a historic tragedy in parts of our northern Bahamas," Minnis said. "Our mission and focus now is search, rescue and recovery." Abaco and Grand Bahama, neither much more than 40 feet (12 metres) above sea level at their highest points, are home to 70,000 people. Bahamian officials said they received a "tremendous" number of calls from people in flooded homes. One radio station said it received more than 2,000 distress messages, including reports of a five-month-old baby stranded on a roof and a woman with six grandchildren who cut a hole in a roof to escape rising floodwaters. At least two designated storm shelters flooded.
6th: After flirting with touching the East Coast for nearly four days, Hurricane Dorian made landfall in the United States at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on Friday morning as a Category 1 hurricane. Landfall came around 8:35 a.m., EDT, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph and a minimum central pressure of 956 mb. Dorian still brought damaging winds and inundating storm surge along the coast, particularly along the Outer Banks in North Carolina.
7th: Typhoon winds toppled trees, grounded planes and left thousands of South Korean homes without electricity as a powerful storm system brushed up against the Korean Peninsula. Strong winds and rain from Typhoon Lingling caused power outages in more than 31,000 homes on the southern resort island of Jeju and in southern mainland regions. The typhoon was passing seas 110 km west of the central mainland city of Seosan as of 12:20 p.m. Saturday, moving north at 42 km/h with winds of up to 133 km/h, the Korea Meteorological Association said. It was expected to affect a broader part of the country as it passed off South Korea's west coast later on Saturday before making landfall in North Korea at around 3 p.m.. The storm toppled trees and streetlamps, blew signboards off buildings and damaged traffic signs across the mainland and Jeju. Dozens of flights were grounded at airports nationwide, while 38 people were forced to evacuate from their flooded homes in Gwangju, a city near Seoul.
7th: Dorian was downgraded to a post-tropical storm as it made landfall near Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Saturday evening, but wind speeds still reached 150 km/h, similar in intensity to a category 2 hurricane. Trees, power lines and even a crane in downtown Halifax were knocked down by the powerful gusts, leaving half a million people without power and in many cases, without cellphone service. More than 100mm of rain also fell in less than 24 hours. Widespread damage nonetheless left emergency crews scrambling throughout the collection of Maritime provinces. Power technicians from Ontario, Quebec, Maine and as far away as Florida were dispatched to assist local crews restore power. The Canadian military also deployed forces to help clear roads. By Monday (9th), as power was restored in some areas, residents were left to assess damage. Many of the streets in Halifax, the largest city on the east coast, had large trees uprooted, tearing up sidewalks and roads and pulling down power lines. At least 200,000 remained without electricity in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.
9th: A powerful typhoon landed near Tokyo early this morning, killing at least three people and injuring about 40 as well as affecting hundreds of thousands of rush-hour commuters in the metropolitan area at the start of the week. East Japan Railway Co., also known as JR East, had suspended all lines in the greater Tokyo area as Typhoon Faxai made landfall near the city of Chiba, shortly before 5 a.m., as one of the strongest typhoons on record in the Kanto region. A woman in her 50s in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, was confirmed dead after a security camera captured her being blown off her feet and into a wall, according to police. The weather agency had warned that central and eastern Japan, including Tokyo, could see record winds, forcing airlines to cancel flights and some major roads to be closed. Authorities issued voluntary evacuation warnings to more than 390,000 people, as forecasters cautioned the rain and wind could reach "record" proportions.
10th: Three tornadoes that hit Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Tuesday, have left residents reeling. In its wake, extensive damage from the twister has left an Advanced Auto Parts store in shambles and also caused severe damage to the Avera Heart Hospital. On Wednesday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said a preliminary survey revealed that three EF2 tornadoes had briefly touched down in Sioux Falls late Tuesday night, packing estimated winds of 125 mph.
11th: Heatstroke has killed two people in Japan, officials said, as nearly half a million homes struggled with electricity outages after a powerful typhoon battered Tokyo and the surrounding area. A 93-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man were found unconscious at their respective homes on Tuesday and were later confirmed dead by doctors. At least 48 other people were sent to hospital for symptoms of heatstroke Tuesday, as the mercury rose above 35C in areas where electricity is still out after Typhoon Faxai hit on Monday. By Wednesday morning, some 456,000 households were still without power, Tokyo Electric Co. (TEPCO) said in a statement.
13th: At least six people have died and 3,500 have been evacuated from their homes after flash floods struck south-eastern Spain. Rivers burst their banks as some areas of Valencia, Murcia and eastern Andalucía saw the heaviest rainfall on record. Torrential rain caused chaos on roads and public transport with two airports in Murcia and Almeria closing down, leaving travellers stranded. Thousands of police, fire-fighters and soldiers have been deployed in a rescue operation, some in boats and helicopters. Several railway lines and many schools in the region were shut down by the adverse weather conditions, with 689,000 students affected in Valencia alone, according to AFP.
15th: A new storm has brought heavy rain to the Bahamas two weeks after Hurricane Dorian devastated the islands. Tropical Depression Nine strengthened into Tropical Storm Humberto on Friday night, bringing heavy rain and strong winds. It is now slowly moving north away from the Bahamas and is expected to steer clear of the US coastline. Although the hurricane will not threaten land, it will bring dangerous swell, surf and rip tides to the south-eastern US coastline and the north-western Bahamas.
17th: Weather observers atop New Hampshire's 6,288-feet high Mount Washington saw the first ice accumulation this season. Mount Washington Observatory Weather Observer Ryan Knapp said Monday morning's coating of ice was the mountain's first accumulation since June.
19th: The slow-churning remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda flooded parts of Texas, leaving at least two people dead and rescue crews with boats scrambling to reach stranded drivers and families trapped in their homes during a relentless downpour that drew comparisons to Hurricane Harvey two years ago. Officials in Harris county, which includes Houston, said there had been a combination of at least 1,000 high-water rescues and evacuations to get people to shelter. The storm also flooded parts of south-western Louisiana. More than 900 flights were cancelled or delayed in Houston. Further along the Texas Gulf coast, authorities at one point warned that a levee could break near Beaumont in Jefferson county, as the longevity and intensity of the rain quickly came to surprise even those who had been bracing for floods.
20th: Largely dry conditions are expected to continue across parts of south-east Asia over the next couple of days as crews continue to fight fires raging in the region. The Associated Press has reported that "the Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency detected 4,319 hotspots across the country on Thursday." Most of the fires have been deliberately set for agricultural purposes, which is typical for the time of year. But excessively dry conditions across this part of the world are providing plenty of fuel for fires to spread. Dry conditions will also exacerbate the threat from the fires by spreading smoke throughout the region. Parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand are reporting impacts from the haze. Hazy conditions are reducing visibility and creating dangerous air quality for many.
23rd: Flooding downpours and locally severe storms brought some drought relief for the south-west USA on Monday, but with the relief came the headache of road closures, stuck cars, multiple water rescues and a possible tornado across Arizona. At least five water rescues were performed in Apache Junction, Arizona, on Monday, according to Superstition Fire & Medical District (SFMD). Schools in the area were dismissed early due to the ongoing flooding, according to the school district. Apache Junction, Arizona, was one community that was hit hard by flooding downpours with more than a month's worth of rain falling in under an hour. There was a report of 3.5 inches of rain in an hour-and-40-minute period just north of Apache Junction. Apache Junction is located just east of Phoenix, which averages just 0.64 inches of rain in all of September.
23rd: Typhoon Tapah, which left dozens of people injured in southern and southwestern Japan, weakened to an extratropical cyclone Monday in the Sea of Japan, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The season's 17th typhoon, which travelled over the sea through Monday morning, has left more than 50 people injured in the Okinawa and Kyushu regions as it brought strong winds over the weekend, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Kyushu Electric Power Co. said blackouts affected prefectures on the island of Kyushu, with over 30,000 homes without power at one point. Some air and rail traffic disruption also continued in the region, Kyushu Railway Co. and airlines said.
24th: Tropical storm Hikaa intensified into a 'very severe storm' before making landfall around Duqm in Al Wusta around 7 p.m., as four ministries of the Omani government issued advisories to deal with the situation. Soon after the landfall, Oman's Directorate General of Meteorology downgraded it to 'tropical storm' with surface wind speed around the centre ranging between 45 knots and 55 knots. On Tuesday morning, heavy rain was reported from Masirah Island in South Sharqiyah, while during the evening widespread flooding was reported in the wilayat of Duqm in Al Wusta governorate after torrential rains tore through the wilayat with gale force winds.
26th: Torrential rainfall triggered deadly flooding around Pune, India, on Thursday with at least 17 fatalities reported. At least four people have been reported missing as flooding continues in the region. More than 15,000 people have been rescued or evacuated due to the flooding, including some from rooftops and others who were forced to cling to trees.
28th: Sean and Brittany Tuohy meticulously planned their wedding for nearly a year. They booked a mountaintop venue in Spokane, Washington, for today, hoping for a perfect autumn day when a stunning array of autumnal leaves would provide a picturesque backdrop. Instead they ended up posing in freezing temperatures as wind blew snow all around them. It has never snowed in Spokane on 28 September, according to the National Weather Service.
28th-29th: The snowstorm that hit the northern Rockies over the weekend was unusually early in the season. The storm unloaded up to 3-4 feet of snow in spots, caused blizzard conditions and set several new daily snowfall records across Montana. The highest snowfall amount was 52 inches in Babb, Montana, while Browning was blanketed with 48 inches.

World weather news, August 2019

1st: A heatwave helped push Alaska to its warmest month ever recorded in July, with the state's vast coastline left completely barren of sea ice. Alaska's average temperature in July was a record 14.5C, about 0.5 degC above the previous monthly high set in July 2004, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Cities and towns across the vast US state, such as Anchorage, Utqiagvik and Kodiak all had their warmest month in 125 years of record-keeping. This heat, 3 degC warmer than the long-term average for July, helped spur wildfires that shrouded much of Alaska in a pall of smoke and has now resulted in a remarkable melting away of shoreline ice. There is now no sea ice within 150 miles of Alaskan shores, according to an analysis by the National Weather Service. The pace of ice loss is 'unprecedented' in 40 years of satellite records, scientists said, with the Bering Sea, which separates Alaska from Russia, left completely ice-free.
5th-6th: Dangerous heat gripped the western United States on Monday and Tuesday, toppling several longstanding high temperature records. Daily record highs were set on Monday at a number of locations over the interior West. Those records were shattered in places such as Palm Springs, California, as well as Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. Palm Springs hit an all-time high of 121F on Monday, breaking the previous record of 120F for that day. Phoenix rose to 115F which shattered the old record of 114F on Monday. Monday's high of 115 was just 2 degF off the all-time August record in Phoenix.
9th-10th: Friday and Saturday were active days in the north-west USA as an unusually potent storm swept through the region. In several cities, Saturday entered record books in terms of daily rainfall. The 0.80 of an inch officially recorded in Portland, Oregon, was the wettest August day since 29 August 2005 when 1.05 inches fell.
10th: Footage has emerged of kangaroos bounding through a field in Australia that has been blanketed in snow. After strong winds and freezing winter conditions swept across three south-eastern states, parts of the country experienced rare snowfall. Twitter user Stephen Grenfell filmed the kangaroos as he drove past their paddock in New South Wales on Saturday. Meteorologists have said this is one of the coldest outbreaks to hit Australia in recent years. In the capital Canberra local media reported that an Australian rules football match was played in the snow for the first time. The cold front also caused flights cancellations and power cuts in about 10,000 homes in the south of the country.
10th-12th: A powerful typhoon has left at least 44 people dead in China, after a landslide backed up a river that broke through debris and inundated homes, state media reported. More than a million people were evacuated from their homes after Typhoon Lekima hit the eastern province of Zhejiang on Saturday with maximum winds of 187 km/h, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The landslide occurred in Yongjia county on the outskirts of Wenzhou, a major port city. Heavy rain caused a natural dam to collapse and the resulting landslide blocked a river which rose to a level of 10 metres within 10 minutes, trapping 120 villagers. Thousands of flights were cancelled in eastern China with most flights into and out of Shanghai's two main airports called off on Saturday afternoon. China's weather bureau on Saturday issued an orange alert - its second highest - after posting a red alert on Friday, when the storm forced flight cancellations in Taiwan and shut markets and businesses on the island. Nearly 200 hundred trains through the city of Jinan in Shandong province had been suspended until Monday. More than 250,000 residents in Shanghai and 800,000 in Zhejiang province had been evacuated due to the typhoon, and 2.72m households in Zhejiang had power blackouts as strong wind and rain downed electricity transmission lines.
13th: Britain is in the grip of a cauliflower crisis, with supermarket shelves emptying after heavy rain destroyed this year's crop in Lincolnshire, while alternative European supplies are drying up after the continental heatwave. Tesco only has organic cauliflowers left for sale on its online site, telling buyers that standard single cauliflowers and large cauliflowers are not available. Wholesalers said there was a huge shortage of cauliflowers, with one leading supplier telling restaurants to take cauliflower-related meals off their menus. The wholesale price for cauliflowers has soared by 400%, with the few remaining suppliers in Holland, Italy and France demanding £3 a cauliflower, compared with the normal price of about 60p.
13th: Large hail fell fell in areas of the central United States, shattering a state record. A hailstone with an unofficial measurement of a maximum diameter of 4.83 inches fell in Bethune, Colorado, on Tuesday afternoon. The record was confirmed on Wednesday evening by the Colorado Climate Center and the National Weather Service office in Goodland, Kansas. The previous state record in Colorado was 4.5 inches.
14th: A powerful thunderstorm unleashed significant amounts of hail in Michigan. In some places, as much as 45 cm of hail accumulated across southern portions of Kalamazoo County, Michigan. The severe thunderstorm dumped dime- to ping-pong-ball-sized hail across southern portions of Kalamazoo County; the slow speed at which the storm moved through the area - just 15 mph - is what caused the unusually large hail accumulation.
14th: India has issued a fresh flood alert for parts of the southern state of Kerala as the nationwide death toll from the annual monsoon rose to at least 244. On Wednesday authorities warned Kerala residents of heavy rainfall over the next 24-48 hours in some of the worst-affected regions of the state. Heavy rain in parts of four Indian states - Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat - has forced more than 1.2 million people to leave their homes, mostly for government-run relief camps. Kerala was hit by its worst floods in almost a century last year, when 450 people died, and the state is still recovering from the damage to public infrastructure including railways and roads.
15th: At least two people died and 49 have been injured after a tropical storm moved through parts of Japan, state broadcaster NHK reported. Storm Krosa made landfall near Hiroshima in southern Japan on Thursday and is now moving north, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency. More than 400,000 people were advised to evacuate. Around 800 flights and train services have been cancelled, sabotaging travel during the summer holiday season.
15th: At least 50 people have been injured and hundreds of flights canceled as Krosa slammed Japan with more than 800 mm of rain and wind gusts of nearly 90 mph. Around 3 p.m., local time, Krosa moved ashore near Kure City in Hiroshima as a severe tropical storm, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. This makes Krosa the third tropical cyclone to make landfall across mainland Japan in as many weeks following Typhoon Francisco and Tropical Storm Nari. Three people have been killed, according to The Japan Times. An 11-year-old girl is among the dead. She was swept away by rough seas along the coast of Shimoda. Her older sister was also caught up in the waves but managed to return to the beach. An 82-year-old man was killed after falling when tying up a ship amid strong winds and rough seas in Onomichi on Thursday morning. Another man, age 71, was found dead in the Chikusa River on Friday. He was reportedly fishing and got swept away by the rising river. Those injured during the storm span 13 prefectures.
17th: A torrential downpour inundated Istanbul, Turkey, and other northwestern cities of the country, resulting in the death of at least one person. The torrential downpour produced 110 mm. The downpour came just a few days after a heat wave that brought temperatures about 4 degC above normal. There had been previous flash flood warnings over the past few days, according to the Turkish news outlet Daily Sabah. Lower and seafront areas of the city reported flash floods, according to the news source. It also reports that the pedestrian underpass in Eminonu Square was filled with flood waters, severely damaging the shops inside.
18th: Authorities confirmed that seven children and two adults were injured after lightning struck down a tree at the Dolphin Swim Club in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. The tree fell onto a tent being used as a picnic area. Severe weather rolled through swaths of Pennsylvania on Sunday afternoon, downing several trees and power lines across the state.
20th: Iowa's strongest tornado since October 2013 wreaked havoc over Lacona but miraculously, no one was reportedly hurt. The EF3 twister knocked down trees and power lines as it inflicted significant damage on homes. Surveyors examined the path of the tornado and found debris scattered over a quarter of a mile into nearby fields. They determined the path length of the tornado to be 5.5 miles and the maximum width of the tornado to be 700 yards.
21st: Nearly 200 US cities have seen an increase in the number of days each year that soar beyond a heat index of 90F (32.2C) or higher, according to an analysis of the last four decades. "These extreme heat days are now comprising much of the summer for many cities in the south and south-west, while areas of the country that had relatively few summer days reach the 90F heat index in the past are now experiencing weeks of them," said the report from the climate communications organization Climate Central. The higher temperatures are threatening public health and making outdoor activities and sports more dangerous. A July heatwave in the midwest and eastern US forced the cancellation of the New York City Triathlon, as well as other running and horse races.
22nd: At least five people, including two children, have died and more than 100 have been injured during a sudden thunderstorm in Poland and Slovakia's Tatra mountains, according to rescuers. Most of the victims were in Poland, where lightning struck a metal cross atop Mount Giewont as well as a metal chain near the summit, according to local media. The four dead in Poland included two children, a spokeswoman for the Polish air ambulance service, Kinga Czerwinska, told the news broadcaster TVN24. One person died in Slovakia. Rescuers believe many hikers were present when lightning struck the cross on Giewont's summit. They had set out to climb Poland's highest mountains when the skies were clear earlier in the day.
24th: Six spectators were injured from a lightning strike during the PGA Tour Championship at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, USA. The bolt reportedly struck a 60-foot pine tree, sending debris flying. In a PGA Tour statement on Sunday morning, the Atlanta Police Department and Atlanta Fire and Rescue confirmed that five individuals were injured and transported to nearby hospitals; a sixth person was treated and released at the scene.
26th: Madrid and the surrounding area were battered by violent storms, torrential hail, and flash flooding. Roads around the Spanish capital were flooded, flights diverted from Barajas airport and underground services affected on Monday night as an isolated depression at high levels moved across the centre of the Iberian peninsula. The skies over Madrid were lit up by more than 9,300 bolts of lightning, according to Spain's state meteorological office, Aemet. One of the worst-hit areas was the satellite town of Arganda del Rey, where cars and rubbish bins were carried away by the torrents and residents used shovels to clear roads and pavements of drifts of hail. Aemet said the town had experienced 46.4 mm of rainfall as the storms rolled in. Arganda's underground station remained closed on Tuesday morning and the council set up a centre to help those affected by the floods.
26th: Two people were injured in the Black Sea town of Terme, Turkey, when a city bridge collapsed due to heavy rain.
28th: Over 800,000 people were ordered to evacuate as downpours brought flooding and mudslides to Japan. The downpours began on Tuesday, and the hardest-hit areas from Tuesday into Wednesday night were across northwestern Kyushu where more than 500 mm was reported in Hirado. Rainfall in excess of 300 mm was also reported in Sasebo and Saga, leading to significant flooding. More than 100 mm fell in an hour during the heaviest rainfall on Tuesday, and mudslide warnings have been issued for parts of Nagasaki, Saga and Fukuoka prefectures. Mudslides were reported in Takeo, and the Ogi and Imari rivers overflowed their banks on Wednesday, according to the Japan Times. At least two deaths were reported due to the flooding, and another person was still missing after multiple automobiles were swept away in flood waters.
30th: Hurricane Dorian became a major hurricane today, as government officials and residents in the United States and Bahamas continued to prepare for the potentially devastating storm that is forecast to unleash a three-pronged assault of extreme winds, devastating storm surge and severe flooding.

World weather news, July 2019

3rd: More than one million people across the Japanese island of Kyushu have been ordered to evacuate, amid warnings of landslides and floods brought on by heavy rain. Authorities urged residents in parts of Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures to move to safety immediately. One elderly woman in Kagoshima city died after a mudslide hit her home. Kagoshima prefecture has asked Japan's self-defence forces to help with the relief efforts, Governor Satoshi Mitazono reportedly said. The entire populations of Kagoshima city, Kirishima and Aira were ordered to leave. Another 930,000 people in the south of the island were also advised to move. But by 1600 local time (0700 GMT), the country's Fire and Disaster Management Agency reportedly said fewer than 4,000 people had been evacuated. Weather officials say 1,000 mm of rain has fallen on Kyushu island since Friday (28 June), and Japan's Meteorological Agency forecasts the rains will continue into next week.
4th: The US state of Alaska, part of which lies inside the Arctic Circle, is sweltering under a heatwave, with record temperatures recorded in several areas, including its largest city. Temperatures reached 90F in Anchorage, shattering the city's previous record of 85F. Several other places in southern Alaska also set all-time or daily records. Anchorage's record temperature of 90F was recorded at its airport at 17:00 on Thursday (01:00 Friday GMT), according to the National Weather Service. The previous all-time record for the city was set in 1969.
4th: All-time highest rainfall triggered deadly mudslides in southern parts of Japan's Kyushu Island the first few days of July. Rainfall from Monday to Wednesday totalled 554.0 mm in Nichinan City in Miyazaki Prefecture, shattering the previous all-time three-day record of 457.5 mm from 30 October 2017. On Wednesday alone, several locations in Kagoshima Prefecture registered their wettest-ever day. This included Kanoya, where 472.5 mm exceeded the previous all-time wettest calendar day of 403 mm from 6 September 2005. Rainfall from Monday to Wednesday at Kanoya totaled 641.5 mm, shattering the July three-day record of 510 mm from 7 July 1993. Records were also broken in southern Kyushu and south-central Honshu Island for the most amount of rain to fall in an hour during the month of July. A total of 77 mm inundated Toshima village on Wednesday morning in one hour.
4th: As many as 12 people were struck by lightning on the banks of the Black River at Lawshee Plantation in Georgetown County, South Carolina, around 2:10 p.m. EDT Thursday - during Independence Day celebrations. According to a report from local emergency management, one person was killed and four people were found unresponsive. This is the first lightning fatality in South Carolina since 27 June 2015, according to John Jensenius of the National Lightning Safety Council.
8th: Commuters in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore area (USA) faced an extremely difficult and dangerous drive back to work on Monday morning as heavy downpours flooded local roadways. Several water rescues were performed as high waters overflowed the roads. Numerous roads in downtown Washington, D.C., as well as surrounding areas, were closed on Monday morning due to deep floodwaters. Much of D.C., Arlington, Montgomery, Frederick, and Carroll counties received 2 to 4 inches of rain, with many areas picking up those amounts in only 1 or 2 hours. About 6.3 inches of rain fell near Frederick, Maryland. This heavy rainfall prompted street flooding, collapsed trees and water rescues. In Arlington, Virginia, 3.3 inches of rain fell over the course of an hour at Reagan National Airport early on Monday; the climatological July monthly total is 3.7 inches.
10th: Seven people, including six tourists, have been killed in a violent storm that swept across a region of northern Greece on Wednesday night. Gale-force winds, heavy rain and hailstorms lashed Halkidiki, near the city of Thessaloniki. A Czech couple died when their caravan was blown away, and two Romanians and two Russians also died. A seventh body was later found in the sea. Officials say at least 100 others were injured, with 23 people hospitalised. A state of emergency has been declared, with dozens of rescue workers dispatched to help.
10th-12th: Tropical Storm Barry, which is currently moving over the Gulf of Mexico, is likely to develop into a hurricane. It is forecast to hit the US city of New Orleans, which has already seen thunderstorms and flash floods. A state of emergency is in effect and residents in some low-lying areas have been asked to evacuate. The Mississippi river could come dangerously close to overtopping banks shielding the city, officials warn. On Wednesday morning, the New Orleans metro area was hit by as much as eight inches of rain over a three-hour period. Swamped streets saw rubbish bins overturned and vehicles flooded. Some parts of the city saw streets turn into lakes as deep as four feet. Kayakers were seen paddling on roadways.
14th: Tropical Storm Barry dumped rain as it slowly swept inland through Gulf coast states on Sunday, sparing New Orleans a direct hit but stoking fears elsewhere of flooding, tornadoes and prolonged power outages. Though winds weakened steadily after the storm made landfall on Saturday in Louisiana, rain bands created a flooding and tornado threat from central Louisiana to eastern Mississippi and beyond. Several parishes or counties in both states were under flash flood warnings. Tornado warnings were issued on Sunday morning in both states, though no serious damage or injuries were reported. Forecasters warned of a continued threat of heavy rains into Monday as the center of the storm trudged inland. The National Hurricane Center said parts of south-central Louisiana could still have rainfall totals of up to 12in, with isolated pockets of 15in. In Mississippi, forecasters said 200 mm of rain had fallen in parts of Jasper and Jones counties, with several more inches possible. With torrential rain pounding the Interstate 59 corridor, only the headlights of oncoming cars were visible on the highway and water flowed like a creek in the median.
16th: More than 100 people have been killed and millions more affected by devastating floods and landslides across parts of south Asia. Heavy monsoon rains over the past week have left many dead in Nepal and Bangladesh, and submerged vast areas of north-east India. In the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, among the worst-hit areas, agencies were working on a "war footing" to deal with the situation, the chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said. About 4.3 million people in Assam have been affected by flooding, while 83,000 have been forced to seek shelter in relief camps on higher ground. In Bihar, east India, a further 2.56 million people were hit by flash floods, with many homes quickly submerged in brown water.
22nd: Lightning is being blamed for igniting a rapidly-spreading wildfire on Monday evening on the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site, near Idaho Falls, according to officials. Named the Sheep Fire for its proximity to a nearby dirt access road called Sheep Road, the blaze had seared more than 113,000 acres by Wednesday night. All non-essential personnel were evacuated from areas facing a potential risk, including the INL.
22nd: Hundreds of thousands of residents in the northeastern U.S. had to deal with dangerous flash flooding and power outages on Monday night as deadly severe thunderstorms spread through the region. At least two people died: an 89-year-old Maryland man who perished after storms knocked over a tree in his driveway and a 17-year-old boy who died in a house fire during the severe weather in New Jersey. In the Garden State, more than 300,000 customers were impacted by power outages at the storm's height, according to Gov. Phil Murphy. As storms ripped through the Northeast, officials warned people to stay off the roads to avoid closed roads, knocked-out traffic signals, trees scattered across roadways and downed utility lines. Many trees reportedly hit homes and vehicles. In Cape Cod, two tornadoes with wind speeds of 110 mph touched down, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The rare EF1 twisters triggered a state of emergency in Harwich, Massachusetts, as they damaged hotels and other structures in the area.
23rd-25th: Cool air has descended on the southern United States and broken records more than a century old. An unusually strong cold front, by late July standards, pushed through much of the Southern states and triggered severe weather on Tuesday. During Thursday morning, the temperature came within 1 degF of the record low of 64F in San Antonio. At Dallas the temperature came within 2 degF of the record low of 65F set in 1915. The existing record was set in 1911. However, a new record low for July 25 was established at Victoria, Texas, with a low of 62F, breaking the old record of 64F set in 1915. The record low of 70F set in 1976 at Corpus Christi, Texas, was eclipsed by 1 degF. Charlotte, North Carolina, also drifted below the record of 62F set in 1947 with a low of 61F on Thursday morning.
26th: The Arctic is suffering its worst wildfire season on record, with huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia and Alaska producing plumes of smoke that can be seen from space. The Arctic region has recorded its hottest June ever. Since the start of that month, more than 100 wildfires have burned in the Arctic circle. In Russia, 11 of 49 regions are experiencing wildfires. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations' weather and climate monitoring service, has called the Arctic fires "unprecedented". The largest blazes, believed to have been caused by lightning, are located in Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Buryatia. Winds carrying smoke have caused air quality to plummet in Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia.
26th: Egan Bernal took the yellow jersey of the Tour de France in bizarre circumstances as a hailstorm and landslides forced stage 19 to be stopped before the final climb into Tignes. Heavy hail began to fall in the Val d'Isere shortly before 3.30pm, and 15 minutes later race organisers made the call to cancel the stage. Parts of the course quickly became flooded with ice and water, which turned to slush, and one video posted to Twitter shows a small landslide tumbling down the mountain onto the road.
26th: Europe's second heat wave of the summer spread record high temperatures across the continent, making Paris surpass its hottest temperature ever recorded. The city has never been hotter than it was on Thursday, as the heat wave pushed temperatures to soar near 43C. The grueling heat, that lasted from July 21-26, wreaked havoc in places such as Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. At least five deaths in France have been reported due to the heat, and people experienced widespread travel disruptions in France and Britain. All-time national high temperature records were set in England (Cambridge 38.7C), Belgium (Begijnendijk 41.8C), Luxembourg (Luxembourg 39.0C), Holland (Gilze-Rijen 40.7C) and Germany (Lingen 42.6C), according to Meteo France. Following a record-warm start to the day, Thursday brought the peak of the deadly heat wave in France as temperatures soared to 42.6C in Paris. That reading shattered the city's all-time high temperature record of 40.4C at Parc Montsouris, set more than 70 years ago.
26th-28th: Over the weekend of 27/28 July the heat focus moved north to the Nordic nations, where Helsinki saw its highest temperature since records began in 1844. Helsinki Kaisaniemi weather station recorded 33.2C on the 28th. The highest temperature ever recorded in Bergen (Norway) was 33.4C on the 26th.
27th: Indian navy helicopters and emergency service boats came to the rescue of more than 800 people stranded on a train in floods near Mumbai on Saturday. Some reports have the number of people affected at over 1,000. The Mahalaxmi Express left Mumbai late on Friday for Kolhapur but travelled only 60 km before it became stranded after a river burst its banks in torrential rain, covering the tracks. The train was stuck for about 12 hours in Thane district before authorities called in the Indian navy and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) who deployed helicopters, boats, and divers.
30th: Monsoon downpours have spread across much of India in recent weeks bringing the country vital rainfall for water supplies and agriculture. However, India's southeast state of Tamil Nadu has been largely missed by any significant rainfall since the start of the yearly Southwest monsoon. Some downpours dampened northeast parts of the state, including Chennai, in late July. However, this has not been able to put more than a dent in the water shortages currently affecting the city of approximately 10 million people. Authorities have had to take extreme action to keep water flowing to the residents of the city, including a daily train delivery of 2.5 million litres, according to the Associated Press. The water is gathered from a dam on the Cauvery River, more than 200 km from Chennai, which is located on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
30th: At least six people were injured after getting struck by lightning while working on a rooftop in Florida on Tuesday, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue reported. Two were taken to a trauma centre, two were taken to a non-trauma centre, and two were treated and released at the scene.
30th: Japan is suffering from heatwave conditions after a historic lengthy rainy spell earlier this month, raising fresh concerns over Tokyo's preparedness to protect athletes and spectators from the heat at the Olympic Games this time next year. The government said that 11 people died and 5,664 people were taken to hospital with heat exhaustion symptoms in the week ending Sunday. Of those taken to hospital last week, one in two was a senior citizen aged 65 and above, while one in three was between the ages of 18 and 65. The number of victims nearly tripled from the 1,948 in the previous week. On Monday the Japan Meteorological Agency officially announced the end of the tsuyu rainy season in the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo and the neighbouring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba. This was 30 days later than last year, and eight days later than in an average year. This came after central Tokyo experienced its cloudiest July in decades, with three hours or less of sunshine for 20 straight days ending on July 16, in what was the longest streak since 1961. Tokyo's highest temperature today was 35.4C, recorded in Nerima ward in the north-west.

World weather news, June 2019

1st-6th: With monsoon rains still several weeks away, intense heat will maintain a firm grip on northern India, as well as neighbouring Pakistan into the middle of June. The heat began to build across central and northern India during mid- to late-May and intensified further last week as many locations, including New Delhi, reported their highest temperatures of the year. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were the hottest days so far this year in the National Capital Region. Temperatures soared to 46.8 C on Thursday at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Friday and Saturday saw similar conditions with a high around 46 C both days. High temperatures of 42-44 C were reported from Sunday to Thursday.
4th: The summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire was coated in nearly an inch of snow and rime ice earlier this week as winter weather continued during what some are calling "June-uary." Rime ice is not rare in June, but is not common either. On Tuesday morning, observers on Mount Washington reported that 0.9 of an inch of fresh snow had accumulated since Monday morning. In addition to the snow and ice, fierce winds were recorded. A 102-mph wind gust was reported Monday night. The mountain, with its peak reaching an altitude of 6,288 feet, is the tallest mountain in the northeastern United States and is notorious for experiencing wild weather.
4th: Snow turned the ground white in parts of southern Queensland. Snowfall is quite rare in the Australia state which is in a subtropical climate; however, it does occur in the higher terrain near the border with New South Wales. The last such occurrence was four years ago in 2015 and continues a very snowy start to the winter season across Australia. Snow in May allowed ski resorts in Victoria to open early with at least one resort offering free skiing for its opening weekend.
5th: The Texas coast was inundated by drenching rain Wednesday night into Thursday with some places seeing a month's worth of precipitation in a 24-hour period. The heavy rains sparked flash flooding, which is being blamed for at least one death, and triggered chaos across the south-central U.S. where an outbreak of severe weather also erupted, leading to reports of at least four tornadoes touching down in Louisiana. Both Wharton and Palacios, Texas, reported 8 inches of rain in less than 12 hours on Wednesday.
7th: A rescue boat has overturned in the Atlantic off the west coast of France leaving three crew dead, amid winds of up to 80 mph. They were part of a crew of seven who had gone to the aid of another boat which had got into difficulty as Storm Miguel struck the area. Winds of up to 147km/h hit northern Spain earlier, swirling around the Bay of Biscay and moving on to France. The storm is unusual, coming at the start of the summer tourist season. Four of the seven crew aboard the rescue boat managed to swim to shore.
9th: A woman died and at least six people were injured when a crane collapsed on to an apartment building in Dallas amid severe thunderstorms early on Sunday afternoon. Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans told reporters first responders searching the Elan City Lights building found a woman inside an apartment who was later pronounced dead. Two people were taken to hospital in critical condition and three in non-critical but serious condition, Evans said. One person sustained a minor injury and was discharged.
10th: A strong hailstorm hit parts of southeastern Germany's Bavaria region on Monday evening, injuring several people. Witnesses caught up in the storm posted videos to social media showing hailstones the size of golf balls pummelling water and thudding on decking around Lake Ammersee, or shredding foliage in some gardens.
11th: At least 24 people are dead with others missing after yet another round of heavy rain struck southern China. More downpours threaten to exacerbate the flooding situation across the region through the remainder of the month. An estimated 2.2 million people have been affected by the onslaught of heavy rain and flooding that commenced last Thursday, according to UPI. The flooding has damaged about 146,100 hectares (360,000 acres) of farmland and 6,000 buildings. The deadly flooding and onslaught of downpours is the result of the Mei-yu front being displaced from its normal position. The Mei-yu front is a semi-stationary boundary that is draped across southeastern Asia from late spring through the summer and is notorious for triggering torrential rainfall. A weather observation site in Fogang in Guangdong reported 117 mm in the 24 hours ending on Thursday morning. A total of 416.6 mm of rain fell at Guilin, located in northern Guangxi Province, from June 6 to 11.
15th: France will declare a state of natural disaster after rain and hail storms lashed a swathe of the south-east on Saturday, devastating crops. The flash storms, which brought hailstones as big as pingpong balls to some areas, killed two people in France and Switzerland, and injured at least 10 others. The worst-hit area, the Auvergne-Rhone-Alps region, is at the heart of France's food production and known as the "orchard of France". Didier Guillaume, the agriculture minister, said the government would organise a "general mobilisation" and introduce emergency measures to deal with what he described as a catastrophe for farmers. The bad weather struck western Switzerland on Saturday afternoon, bringing hail and winds reaching up to 110 kilometres per hour, according to the national forecaster MeteoSwiss.
15th: The Italian island of Sardinia is dealing with its worst swarm of locusts in 70 years as the insects destroy crops, infest houses and devastate animal grazing pastures covering 6,200 acres, according to Reuters. Weather patterns played a role in Sardinia, as droughts in 2017 and heavy rains in 2018 created "the ideal climate for locusts to emerge from fallow land and then move to cultivated fields to eat," Michele Arbau from the Italian agricultural association Coldiretti said. In 2013, a massive swarm of locusts roughly 30 million strong hit Egypt and the Middle East, and in 2004, an infestation in Africa and the Middle East cost $400 million as well as harvest losses of $2.5 billion, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.
15th: Another round of tornadoes struck the central United States from North Dakota and Oklahoma to Indiana during the weekend. Saturday held 26 preliminary tornado reports from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. Severe storms produced three tornadoes, two of which were confirmed EF2 tornadoes in Des Moines County, Iowa, that downed trees, power lines, destroyed outbuildings and "severely damaged a house off its foundation," according to an NWS storm survey. The third tornado was a confirmed EF0 west of Mediapolis. The two EF2 tornadoes struck Oakville, Iowa, where one reached peak wind speeds of 120 mph. It destroyed a farm building, threw farm equipment 40 yards and moved a pickup truck about 20 yards, according to the NWS storm survey. The second EF2 tornado destroyed a big farm. The survey photos from both tornadoes show wooden beams torn asunder and scattered across a field, a windshield impaled by a wooden pole and farm equipment flipped on its side.
16th: Weekend showers provided a much-needed but partial respite to parts of India sweltering in a brutal heatwave. In Bihar, however, one of the poorest areas of the country, 49 people died on Saturday in just 24 hours. With temperatures in Bihar hovering consistently at around 45C (113F), hospitals were inundated with people suffering from heatstroke. The death toll has since risen to at least 60 and, with many heatstroke victims still in hospital, is expected to rise further. Schools in Bihar will remain closed until Wednesday.
21st: Severe thunderstorms roared from Georgia through New Jersey on Thursday afternoon, leaving behind widespread power outages and disruptive flooding across the region. Over 3,500 flights were delayed in the eastern U.S. on Thursday, according to Flightstats, with a majority of the delays being reported at airports around New York City. Airports, such as Newark and JFK airports were subject to ground delays as rain and storms moved through the city. The worst of the storms focused on the Carolinas with many storms whipping up winds past 50 mph, strong enough to bring down trees and power lines. Around 145,000 were without power in North Carolina and South Carolina on Thursday evening, accounting for more than two-thirds of the outages across the eastern U.S. Over 215,000 were without power in the East on Thursday evening.
23rd: Severe weather cut power to hundreds of people in Missouri and Kansas. Southwestern Missouri was one of the hardest-hit locations where multiple water rescues had to be performed. A storm rolled into Jefferson County, Missouri, on Saturday evening, bringing rains that would inundate the ground and contribute to the flooding in the southern portion of the state later in the night into Sunday morning. Local law enforcement reported flash flooding in the warned area before 10 a.m. CDT Sunday. Up to 150 mm of rain had fallen and already triggered flash flooding. There were reports of multiple water rescues, roads washed out and buildings damaged or destroyed in these areas.
27th: The formation of the first tropical storm (Alvin) of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season came much later than average. Alvin was upgraded to a hurricane when it was determined that the storm contained sustained winds of 75 mph on Thursday evening. Alvin maintained hurricane status for about six hours Thursday night, before slipping back to tropical storm strength. Two years share the same date for the record latest start to the Eastern Pacific hurricane season during the satellite era, which began in 1966. In 2016, and decades earlier in 1969, the first named tropical systems formed on July 2.
28th: India is facing the worst water crisis in its history. A government report estimates that 21 cities will run out of groundwater by 2020. Chennai, the southern metropolis with a population of 10 million, is the first of them. Despite recent rains, the north-west monsoon has failed to fill the four main reservoirs which are currently an expanse of cracked soil languishing under the sun and the city is suffering its worst drought for 70 years.
28th: Montpellier (France), both on red alert for a heatwave and rated as a "severe" wildfire risk, is baking hot. It was confirmed that temperatures reached a record high for the country of 45.9C in Gallargues-le-Montueux, a nearby village. Seven hundred firefighters battled wildfires in the Gard in some areas the fires had closed sections of the motorway. Fifteen firefighters were hurt but no serious injuries were reported, although in the neighbouring region of Vaucluse, a cyclist died after collapsing in the heat while riding in the mountains. His was the sixth heat-related death in the sweltering weather covering much of western Europe. Three people died as a result of the heat in Italy, where Milan was hit by power cuts caused by the demand for air conditioning. For a fourth consecutive day, in Spain, temperatures rose above 43C on Saturday, causing two people to die from heat-related complications. Forty of Spain's 50 regions were placed under weather alert, with seven of them considered to be at extreme risk, the national meteorological agency said. Swaths of the continent are experiencing extreme heat. Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic have also all recorded their highest-ever June temperatures.
28th: Mumbai endured an onslaught of torrential rain as nearly 152 mm fell from Friday morning to the early nighttime hours, local time. This was the first heavy rain event since the monsoon began about two weeks behind schedule, which officials told the Times of India that the season's delayed start was the longest in 45 years. The monsoon typically is declared in Mumbai around June 10. Streets became flooded and motorists faced disruptions across parts of the city. Three people died due to separate electrocution incidents amid the heavy rain, according to the Times of India. Five people sustained injures in other rain-related issues, including when a retaining wall collapsed in the city's Dadar suburb on Friday afternoon.
29th: Firefighters in central Spain are battling strong winds and high temperatures as they struggle to control a fire that has already destroyed over 5,000 acres in the provinces of Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid. The fire broke out in Almorox near Toledo on Friday just as the one in Tarragona province in north-east Spain was brought under control, having reduced some 15,000 acres of woodland to ashes. With temperatures expected to reach 38C on Sunday, 250 firefighters, supported by two planes and five helicopters, were working to contain the blaze. About 400 people were evacuated from the village of Entrepinos and spent the night in a sports centre at San Martín de Valdeiglesias.
30th: A freak hail storm has struck Guadalajara, one of Mexico's most populous cities, burying vehicles in a deluge of ice pellets up to two metres deep. Guadalajara, located north of Mexico City and with a population of around five million, has been experiencing summer temperature of around 31C in recent days. While seasonal hail storms do occur, there is no record of anything so heavy. At least six neighbourhoods in the city outskirts woke up to ice pellets up to two metres deep. While children scampered around and hurled iceballs at each other, civil protection personnel and soldiers brought out heavy machinery to clear the roads. Nearly 200 homes and businesses reported hail damage, and at least 50 vehicles were swept away by the deluge of ice in hilly areas, some buried under piles of pellets. While no casualties were reported, two people showed "early signs of hypothermia," the state civil protection office said.

World weather news, May 2019

2nd: Namibia is facing a "natural disaster" because of poor rains, President Hage Geingob says. He has declared a state of emergency - the second in three years - over the situation, mobilising all government agencies to respond to the drought. The lack of rain has already left 500,000 people - one in five Namibians - without access to enough food, the government says. The sparsely-populated country has seen a succession of droughts since 2013. The government had set aside $40m to buy food and water tanks, and to transport livestock to and from grazing areas.
3rd-4th: The strongest cyclone to hit India in five years killed at least 36 people in the eastern state of Odisha, before swinging north-eastwards into Bangladesh on Saturday, where more than a million people have been moved to safety. After hitting land on Friday, Cyclone Fani lost some of its power and was downgraded to a deep depression by the India Meteorological Department. A storm surge still breached embankments to submerge dozens of villages on Bangladesh's low-lying coast, a disaster ministry official in Dhaka said. About 1.2 million people living in the most vulnerable districts in Bangladesh had been moved to 4,000 shelters. In India, authorities were assessing the casualties and damage caused by Fani, which had spent days building power over the northern reaches of the Bay of Bengal before tearing into Odisha. Indian media reported that at least 12 people died across the state, most as a result of falling trees. A mass evacuation of more than a million people in the 24 hours before the tropical cyclone made landfall is likely to have averted a greater loss of life.
7th: Mississippi has experienced a historic start to the tornado season in 2019. A state with an average of 21 tornadoes through April has seen roughly four times as many, with 83 through the first four months of the year, according to data from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The tornado data is preliminary and subject to revision. The state averages 45.1 tornadoes a year and has already been hit with more twisters this year than each of the last four full years. Mississippi suffered a worse start in 2011 when 131 tornadoes touched down through April, largely a result of the four-day 2011 Super Outbreak that struck the southeastern U.S., resulting in $11 billion in damages and leaving an estimated 321 people dead. Other states have experienced an above-normal start, too; Alabama (71 tornadoes compared to an average of 22 through April), Georgia (53 compared to 14) and Missouri (44 compared to 16) also have been uncharacteristically hard hit early.
8th-9th: A storm system led to snowfalls along a zone from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to Duluth, Minnesota. While not accumulating, snowflakes even managed to fall in parts of Minneapolis. Through Thursday morning, Duluth was blanketed with 10.6 inches of snow for this event and 10.9 inches total for the month, leading to a number of broken snowfall records, according to data from the National Weather Service. One spot just southwest of Duluth reported 12 inches of snow as of Thursday afternoon. The 8.3 inches on Wednesday, May 8, set the all-time record for most snow on a single day in the month of May. The previous record was 5.5 inches, set on May 10, 1902. The burst of May snow also shattered the record for the snowiest month of May ever in Duluth, eclipsing the previous record of 8.1 total inches of snow set in May of 1954. It was also the snowiest May 8 in Duluth history as the more than 8 inches of snow surpassed the previous record for the day of 5 inches set way back in 1924. Record-keeping began in 1884.
9th-10th: A severe weather event took place across southeastern Texas on Thursday night with large hail, gusty winds and flood-creating downpours. Houston was hit hard with drenching showers on Tuesday as between 3 to as much as 10 inches of rain fell in and around the city. Baseball-sized hail and even larger sizes were reported across the region on Thursday evening, damaging homes and vehicles in the area. Houston Intercontinental Airport officials issued a ground stop through 1 a.m. CDT Friday as a result of the severe storms, causing all inbound flights to Houston to be held at their origins. All of the Houston Independent School District and offices were closed due to flooding on Friday.
10th: According to government officials in Paraguay, approximately 40,000 people have been displaced since March as a consequence of the recent floods in the South American nation. Since March, intense rains have led to significant floods caused by increasing water levels in the Paraguay River.
13th: A potent thunderstorm hammered areas north and east of Raleigh, North Carolina, before midday. Hail as large as quarters and golf balls pelted these areas as downpours swept through. Multiple trees were downed by strong wind gusts, including some on homes near Knightdale, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Downed trees blocked traffic near Pilot as traffic lights were knocked down by gusts. Some structures were also reportedly damaged in the area. A tornado may have touched down near Zebulon, North Carolina, but the National Weather Service has not confirmed the tornado.
15th: The imminent impact on the health of Mexicans continues to increase as a result of the wildfires roaring out of control in and around the country's capital over the past four days. The Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis reported that the level of Extraordinary Atmospheric Environmental Contingency is being maintained due to dangerously high levels of ash particles and ozone in the Metropolitan Zone of the Valley of Mexico. Although the emergency declaration was not accompanied by customary driving restrictions, it was later ordered that most cars leave the road from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., under the "Do not Travel Today" traffic control system. A high pressure system is preventing the dispersion of pollutants, and high temperatures are prolonging the drought that has affected the country in recent months.
15th-16th: California and surrounding states are getting soaked by a major storm more typical of the winter months. Rain began overspreading northern portions of the state at midweek. San Francisco picked up its average rainfall for all of May on Wednesday alone as 0.47 inches fell. Venado, California, recorded 5 inches of rain as of early Thursday morning, which set a new rainfall record for any day in May. The previous record at Venado was 3.28 inches set on 18 May 2005.
16th: North Korea has said it is suffering its worst drought in 37 years and called on its citizens to "battle" against the crop damage caused by it. It comes after the UN said that up to 10 million North Koreans were "in urgent need of food assistance". North Koreans had been surviving on just 300g (10.5 oz) of food a day so far this year, the UN report said. In the 1990s, a devastating famine is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of North Koreans. North Korea's state media outlet KCNA said 54.4mm of rain fell throughout the country in the first five months of the year. It said this was the lowest level recorded since 1982.
16th-17th: Powerful thunderstorms erupted across the central U.S. on Friday afternoon from western Texas through Nebraska, unleashing dozens of tornadoes. There were nearly 40 preliminary tornado reports in Nebraska and Kansas on Friday and Friday night, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. Many of these twisters were spawned by two separate violent storms, known as supercells, that tracked for hundreds of miles. The multi-day severe weather outbreak first got underway Thursday across the parts of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. Wind gusts of 86 mph were recorded in Washington, Iowa, while hail the size of baseballs fell in Westville, Illinois. A tornado was reported in Sheridan, Illinois, about 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. No injuries were reported.
22nd-23rd: A tornado has killed three people in the US state of Missouri, including an elderly couple who were hurled hundreds of feet from their home. All three fatalities were in Golden City. Another tornado carved a three-mile swathe of destruction through the state capital, Jefferson City. It brought the death toll from US Midwest twisters this week to seven. Missouri saw two other weather-related deaths earlier this week, along with one in Oklahoma and another in Iowa.
23rd-24th: The hottest weather in recent years helped fuel several dangerous wildfires across Israel late last week. Temperatures peaked at 44C in Tel Aviv on Thursday and this was followed by a high of 42C on Friday. The normal high is only 29C for late May. Around 3,500 people were forced to evacuate their homes as fires destroyed dozens of residences across the country, according to the Jerusalem Post.
25th: A tornado levelled a motel and tore through a mobile home park near Oklahoma City, killing two people and injuring at least 29 others. The twister touched down in El Reno, about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City, late on Saturday night. It crossed an interstate and hit the American Budget Value Inn before ripping through the Skyview Estates trailer park, flipping and leveling homes, El Reno's mayor, Matt White, said at a news conference. The two people who were killed were in the mobile home park, White said, adding that everyone at the motel was accounted for but searchers were still going through the mobile home park.
25th-29th: Saturday's high temperature of 100 F at Savannah, Georgia, tied the record for the earliest occurrence of triple-digit heat in the city. On Sunday, the city set an all-time record high for May as the temperature soared to 102F. Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, reached 100F for the first time ever in May on Sunday. Wednesday marked the fourth-consecutive day of temperatures near the century mark in Charleston. A high in the mid-80s (F) is more common at this time of year.
26th: All-time high temperature records were broken on Sunday in Japan as temperatures soared over 38C. Summerlike temperatures took over Japan on Sunday with temperatures rising to 39.5C on the island of Hokkaido, according to the Japanese Meteorological Agency. This was the first time the temperature has ever risen past 38C in Hokkaido during any month of the year. This temperature also set a new record for the highest temperature during the month of May in all of Japan. The previous record-high temperature in Hokkaido was 37.8C set in Otofuke on 3 June 2014. The heat turned deadly when two people died on Sunday in northern Japan. A third person is in serious condition after collapsing during a marathon. At least 575 people were hospitalized across the country due to heat-related symptoms according to the Japan Times.
26th-27th: The first widespread significant snowfall of the season blanketed the higher elevations of Victoria and southern New South Wales (Australia) from Sunday into Monday. More than 30 cm of snow fell in parts of the Victorian Alps, bringing delight to skiers and snowboarders as the season got off to an early start. Snowfall as of Tuesday had totalled 40 cm at Perisher and Hotham ski resorts.
27th: Evacuations are underway as flooding is impacting areas across Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and parts of Nebraska and Iowa (USA). Nine fatalities have been reported as a result of the flooding. One driver attempted to cross a flooded roadway in Perkins, Oklahoma, while two other bodies were found in a submerged vehicle near the Mississippi River in Missouri. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson declared a state of emergency on Friday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is warning Arkansans about the possibility of historic flooding along the Arkansas River. By Sunday evening, the Arkansas River levels at Van Buren, near Fort Smith, Arkansas, broke the previous water level record of 38.1 feet, which was set in 1945. By 5 p.m. CDT, the water levels reached 38.3 feet.
27th-28th: At least one person was killed and 130 were injured as a rapid-fire line of tornadoes tore across Indiana and Ohio, packed so closely together that one crossed the path carved by another. The storms were among 55 tornadoes that meteorologists said may have touched down Monday across eight states stretching eastward from Idaho and Colorado. Tuesday offered no respite, as a large and dangerous tornado touched down on the western edge of Kansas City, Kansas, late in the day. The past couple of weeks have seen unusually high tornado activity in the US, with no immediate end to the pattern in sight. Monday marked the record-tying 11th straight day with at least eight tornadoes in the US, said Patrick Marsh, a Storm Prediction Center meteorologist. The last such stretch was in 1980.
28th: There was a massive tornado in the evening near Lawrence (Kansas). The monstrous twister eventually tracked across the northeastern part of the state, pummelling several communities and prompting tornado emergencies in Kansas City and surrounding areas. At least a dozen homes were damaged or destroyed in Linwood, Kansas, according to the Kansas City Star. At least 18 injuries were reported in Douglas County, emergency management officials said. On Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Kansas City released its final damage survey and determined that the tornado that ripped through Linwood was an EF4 storm with maximum winds of 170 mph. It was on the ground for more than 31 miles and had a maximum width of one mile. This is only the second EF4 tornado of 2019 - the first occurred in early March and was blamed for killing 23 in Lee County, Alabama. In 2018, there were no tornadoes stronger than an EF3 anywhere in the U.S.

World weather news, April 2019

2nd: A wintry weather event unfolded over a small area of North Carolina and South Carolina, making the second day of April feel more like the second day of January. Snow fell along the western edge of a strengthening powerful spring storm that tracked up the East Coast on Tueday into Wednesday. This was not a major snowstorm, but it was very unusual for the region for this time of year, and the storm system that brought the rare snowfall became a bomb cyclone. Charlotte, North Carolina, was one of the bigger cities to see some snow accumulate. Tuesday was only the second time since 1915 that the city saw measurable snowfall during the month of April; the other occurrence took place in 1982.
3rd: April snow coated roads across Scotland and northern England from Tuesday night into Wednesday, causing numerous travel disruptions. Multiple accidents resulted in the closure of the M55 near Blackpool and the A9 near Slochd. A slow morning commute was reported throughout Scotland and northern England, and multiple schools were forced to close in the Highlands. The snow fell as cold air from Iceland descended on the United Kingdom, sending emperatures several degrees below normal. Over 40 cm of snow was reported to have has fallen on the Cairngorms.
4th: The death toll from major floods in Iran over the past 15 days has risen to 62, the head of the Iranian Legal Medicine Organisation has told local media. The southern province of Fars had been hardest hit with 21 dead. Flood-related deaths have been reported in 11 of Iran's 31 provinces. The semi-official Isna news agency said the current toll was a tally of the victims whose bodies had been transferred to coroners across the country, indicating the count could still rise. Most of the country has been affected by flooding since March. The north-east was swamped on 19 March before the west and south-west of the country were inundated on 25 March, killing 45 people. Flooding in the west and south-west continued on 1 April, when heavy rains returned. "Seventy-eight intercity roads have been blocked, as many as 2,199 rural roads and 84 bridges have been washed away," Behnam Saeedi, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Organisation, told state TV. "Across 15 provinces, 141 rivers burst their banks and around 400 landslides were reported."
8th-9th: A state of emergency was declared in Rio de Janeiro after torrential downpours caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 10 people on Monday and Tuesday. Emergency personnel acted quickly to rescue people trapped in cars and on the streets. Large parts of the city have been inundated, including Copacabana and the neighborhoods of Botafogo and Jardim Botanico. Major roads remain closed and impassable by flooding, fallen trees and broken pavement. More than 380 mm of rain fell in the Copacabana neighbourhood within a 24-hour period causing roadways to turn into raging rivers. "These rains are absolutely abnormal for this time of year; none of us expected so much rain at this time," Mayor Marcelo Crivella told an early morning news conference. Although April is still one of the wetter months in Rio de Janeiro, normal rainfall for the entire month is only around 107 mm.
14th: Powerful storms swept across the southern US, after unleashing suspected tornadoes and flooding that killed at least six people, including three children, injured dozens and flattened much of a Texas town. Nearly 90,000 customers were without power in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Georgia as of midday Sunday. Two children were killed on a back road in east Texas when a pine tree fell on to the car in which they were riding in a severe thunderstorm on Saturday near Pollok, about 150 miles south-east of Dallas. At least 25 people were taken to hospitals for treatment after a suspected tornado struck the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in east Texas during a Native American cultural event in Alto, about 130 miles south-east of Dallas, said police chief Jeremy Jackson. At least eight were critically hurt.
14th-16th: An outbreak of severe weather, including tornadoes, tore across the southern and eastern United States over the weekend, causing at least nine deaths, dozens of injuries and widespread destruction. Tornado and severe thunderstorm watches and warnings were issued from Texas to as far north as Massachusetts from early Saturday into Monday. There have been 42 tornadoes confirmed and surveyed by the National Weather Service, including 3 EF3, 10 EF2, 16 EF1, and 13 EF0 tornadoes in eight states from Texas to Pennsylvania.
14th: In parts of the USA, winter made an abrupt return bringing significant snowfall to Chicago as well as places in Missouri, Indiana and Michigan. Chicago's O'Hare Airport reported 5.3 inches of snow on Sunday. That made April 14 one of the top-two snowiest days this late in the season. The snowiest day in the city's history from April 14 to early May is 5.4 inches of snow on April 16, 1961. It was enough to bring Chicago O'Hare and Chicago Midway airports to a ground stop for arriving flights, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). O'Hare cancelled 436 flights on Sunday amid snow and ice, according to Flight Aware.
17th: A third day of severe weather brought further death and destruction to areas from northern India to Afghanistan. The slow-moving storm system, which has triggered damaging thunderstorms, blinding dust storms and flooding downpours, has claimed at least 39 lives in Pakistan, 47 in India and 15 in Afghanistan, according to Anadolu Agency.
21st: The holiday hotspot of Alicante in eastern Spain has experienced some of the heaviest rainfall in its history, leading to the evacuation of more than 300 people during the Easter holidays. In the nearby town of Xabia Sunday's downpour saw 250 mm of rainfall, flooding hundreds of homes and leaving cars floating in the streets.
21st: At least 28 people were killed in a landslide in the southwestern Colombian province of Cauca. Five other people were injured by the mudslide, which also damaged or destroyed several homes in the village. The landslide, which was caused by heavy rain, occurred early Sunday morning in Rosas, a municipality in the Cauca department.
21st: Melbourne residents haven't felt a day this warm this late in the season in 57 years. Saturday's high in Melbourne was 30.2C. This is the fourth time the city temperature has exceeded 30C (9 degC abve the April average) this late in autumn. Meanwhile, residents in Australia's Stirling Ranges woke up to a record snowfall for the first time in 49 years. A frontal system pushed Antarctic air into Western Australia, giving Perth the coldest April day since 1939. According to the Bureau of Meteorology there is only one instance before, in the last 100 years, of snow as early as this on top of the Stirling Ranges.
23rd: More than 70 people have been killed in South Africa after torrential rains along the eastern coast, officials said on Thursday, and rescuers were still recovering bodies. Most of the deaths were reported from KwaZulu-Natal province, after the downpours led to flooding and mudslides. Some of the worst-hit areas were informal settlements in KwaZulu-Natal, where people live in flimsy houses without proper foundations or drainage systems. Residents recounted how floodwaters and mudslides crashed through houses, many with people inside, and destroyed roads and other infrastructure. The rains carved chunks out of hills and roads in the region, with cars, tin roofs and other rubble swept into the deep muddy trenches left behind. Over 100 mm of rain was recorded as falling at numerous stations within the area between Monday morning and Tuesday.
25th: A state of emergency was declared in Louisiana after a tornado tore through a college town this week during the overnight hours, leaving the area in tatters and at least two people dead. A weather system packing severe storms moved across the southern United States Wednesday night into Thursday, spawning a total of at least eight tornadoes across east Texas and Louisiana, according to a preliminary report by the National Weather Service (NWS). One powerful twister that hit the northern Louisiana town of Ruston is blamed for the deaths of a mother and her teen child.
25th: Five people have died and aid workers have reported scenes of destruction in the wake of Cyclone Kenneth, the second tropical cyclone to lay waste to swathes of Mozambique in five weeks. Rescuers have moved in to help people trapped by rapidly rising flood water in the northern city of Pemba, home to 200,000 people, a United Nations spokesman said, as Kenneth dumped more rain on the region. The storm slammed into the province of Cabo Delgado on Thursday, killing five people, and since then has pounded an area prone to floods and landslides with rain, fuelling fears rivers could burst their banks and leave vast areas underwater. Homes were flattened, roofs blown off and palm trees toppled in images posted online by one UN agency. (By Sunday, there was extensive flooding in the provincial capital of Pemba, with water pouring down roads in a number of neighbourhoods, and the authorities trying to evacuate at-risk communities with the help of the Red Cross. The death toll had risen to 38 by Monday 29th.)
27th: Thousands of homes lost power as Storm Hannah swept across the Ireland. As a result of the strong winds, more than 33,000 homes lost power during the height of the storm in Ireland. Rail, ferry and air travellers also faced disruptions.
27th: North-central United States residents witnessed an unusual sight as more than 2 inches of snow fell in Chicago this late in the year for the first time in more than a century. Chicago O'Hare International Airport picked up 2.5 inches of snow on Saturday, which shattered the record for the date of 0.2 of an inch set in 1950. The last time 2 inches of snow fell this late was back in 1910. The latest date on record for any measurable snow is May 11, 1966, but snowflakes have been seen as late as May 22 in 1917. The snow in Chicago led to more than 700 cancelled flights at the city's O'Hare International and Midway International airports on Saturday.
29th: More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in eastern Canada in recent days as spring floods broke record levels set in 2017, officials said Monday, warning that it could take weeks for the waters to recede. Hardest hit was the town of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, west of Montreal, where more than 6,000 people were forced to flee rising waters over the weekend after a natural dike was breached. Flooding in the town "is stabilizing," Quebec Public Safety Minister Genevieve Guilbault told a press conference. "Water levels are falling and we hope that we can protect the area," she said, noting that construction of new gravel barriers was underway to keep waters at bay. About 9,000 people have been displaced in Quebec province, or twice the number in 2017, which had seen the region's worst flooding in a half-century.

World weather news, March 2019

3rd: Four tornadoes ripped through central Alabama (USA), according to the National Weather Service in Birmingham, leaving behind a trail of destruction. Authorities in one Alabama county hit hardest by the tornadoes said on Monday morning the death toll was likely to rise from the confirmed 23, as search-and-rescue efforts continued in the south-eastern part of the state. The Lee county sheriff, Jay Jones, said "several people" were still unaccounted for in Beauregard, a community south of the city of Opelika that took the brunt of the assault from a pair of powerful tornadoes that touched down with winds estimated at between 136 mph and 165 mph. The tornado that ripped apart Beauregard was later reclassified as EF-4, meaning winds of 166200 mph, a higher classification that experts said was consistent with the devastation they saw: trailers overturned, homes torn from their foundations and trees uprooted.
3rd: At least five properties and multiple other structures have been destroyed and more losses are expected as fires continue to rage across Victoria on Sunday with temperatures reaching almost 40C. The largest fire was burning in Bunyip state park about 65 km east of Melbourne and fire crews reported assessment of the damage was being hindered by the difficult terrain and active fire. That fire, in the state's Gippsland area, had grown to 6,500 hectares. The fires burning throughout the state were sparked by lightning strikes.
6th: Poor air quality has become a rising concern throughout South Korea in recent months as below-normal rainfall and air stagnation have resulted in worsening air quality. Air quality is often measured by the concentration of dangerous microscopic particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air at any given time. From Tuesday into Wednesday, the PM2.5 measured between 162 and 237 in Seoul, falling into the unhealthy to very unhealthy categories. South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced on Wednesday a proposed joint project with China to create artificial rain in an attempt to lower levels of air pollution both in China and South Korea, according to the Associated Press. The South Korean government is hopeful that creating artificial rain over the Yellow Sea would help air quality in both countries. Government officials were also instructed to end the use of coal-burning power plants that have been operating for more than 30 years as quickly as possible.
6th: Flash floods, heavy rains and snowfall have killed at least 59 people across Afghanistan during the past two weeks and left thousands homeless, with the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar the worst-hit, an Afghan official said. Some 5,000 people were displaced in Kandahar alone, the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) said, though a U.N. relief agency reckoned at least 15,300 people in the province had been affected by the calamitous weather. Hashmat Khan Bahaduri, spokesman for ANDMA, said the damage and casualty estimates could rise as some provinces had still to conduct assessments. Afghanistan has also suffered a bad drought in recent years. Kandahar province received 75mm of rainfall last year, much less than the required level of at least 400 a year.
9th: Severe turbulence led to dozens of passengers being injured on a Turkish Airlines flight Saturday evening shortly before it was due to land in New York. Flight 001 was coming in from Istanbul, Turkey, about 45 minutes away from landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport when it encountered turbulent conditions, leaving dozens hurt, according to the Port Authority and the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). The FDNY reported that 29 passengers were hurt during the bumpy flight aboard the Boeing 777, which carried 326 passengers and 21 crew.
10th: One man is dead after Storm Eberhard caused chaos for travellers and one football team across Germany on Sunday. A 47-year-old man died when a tree fell on his car in Bestwig, Germany - about 100 km NE of Cologne, where winds gusted to 63 mph at the city's airport on Sunday.0 Two flights headed to the Cologne-Bonn Airport had to be diverted due to the strong winds. Dozens of flights were cancelled at the Frankfurt International Airport. Disruptions extended to the railways as Deutsche Bahn canceled services in North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday. Additional cancellations followed on Monday as crews worked to clear storm debris from tracks. Downed trees blocked many roads in other areas of Germany hit by the storm. This included the road that connected the village of Thuringia with other areas, effectively cutting off residents from receiving storm aid and supplies. Worsening the situation, power in the village was cut during the storm.
12th-13th: Damaging thunderstorms with powerful winds tore across parts of the south-central United States Tuesday night into Wednesday. Tornado damage was reported in Chaves County, New Mexico, Tuesday night, according to the Chaves County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office said the rain-wrapped tornado moved into the town of Dexter and damaged several homes. Another tornado was reported near Loving, New Mexico. Winds approaching hurricane force were reported Wednesday morning, in Texas, including around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. A 78 mph wind gust was measured at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), while an 80 mph wind gust occurred at Grand Prairie Municipal Airport in Grand Prairie, Texas. A 71 mph gust was recorded at the airport in Addison, Texas. The Dallas Morning News later reported that a wind gust of 109 mph was reported by the Grand Prairie Airport control tower. Structural damage was reported at the Gran Prairie airport, according to local media. Over 140,000 were listed without power in Texas on Wednesday morning, according to website Poweroutage.us. Baseball-sized hail was observed north of Pecos, Texas. Two warehouses were heavily damaged near O'Donnell, Texas, due to wind and a semi-trailer was blown over on Texas State Highway 87. The driver suffered a minor injury.
13th: A winter storm that slammed the Rockies and central Plains contributed to the death of a Colorado State Patrol corporal on Wednesday. The 'bomb cyclone' packed blizzard conditions, tropical storm-force winds, and hazardous travel. The National Weather Service deemed the storm a "cyclone of historic proportions." As the blizzard developed, heavy snow lashed northern Colorado, including Denver, western Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, central South Dakota, and southeastern North Dakota. The storm strengthened over the High Plains on Wednesday with the rate of intensification resulting in bombogenesis, which occurs when the barometric pressure rapidly plummets. There were gusts close to 100 mph in the snow in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Airlines cancelled almost 2,000 flights and delayed another 2,700 due to the wind and severe weather.
15th: More than 1,000 people are feared dead in a devastating cyclone that hit Mozambique on Friday, the country's president has said. Filipe Nyusi told Mozambican radio he had seen "many bodies floating in the overflowing Pungwe and Busi rivers. "It appears that we can register more than 1,000 deaths, he said, adding that more than 100,000 people were at risk because of severe flooding. At least 215 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds are missing across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe from Tropical Cyclone Idai, according to government agencies and the Red Cross, which said 1.5 million people had been affected. A more precise death toll and the true scale of the damage is not likely to be known soon, as many areas are cut off. "I think this is the biggest natural disaster Mozambique has ever faced. Everything is destroyed, Celso Correia, the environment minister, said. "Our priority now is to save human lives. Residents of the devastated port city of Beira, where the Pungwe and Busi rivers flow into the sea, have had no communications since Idai hit. Many families have been frantically trying to get information about their relatives, but with no phones or internet access, no electricity and great chunks of the main road into Beira washed away and blocked by flooding, all they can do is wait.
16th: At least 50 people have been killed by flash floods in Indonesia's eastern Papua province. The floods in Sentani, near the provincial capital of Jayapura, were triggered by torrential rain and subsequent landslides on Saturday, and also left 59 people injured. Dozens of homes were damaged by floodwaters, the national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. The waters had receded but officials were still trying to evacuate people.
17th: Authorities were using boats and large vehicles on Saturday to rescue and evacuate residents in parts of the US midwest where rainwater and snowmelt has poured over frozen ground, overwhelming creeks and rivers. At least one person was dead. In eastern Nebraska, rescue efforts were hampered by reports of levee breaches and washouts of bridges and roads, including part of Nebraska Highway 92, leading in and out of south-west Omaha. Authorities confirmed that a bridge on that highway that crosses the Elkhorn river had been washed out. In Fremont, west of Omaha, the Dodge County sheriff's office issued a mandatory evacuation order for some residents after floodwaters broke a levee along the Platte river. And in Mills county, Iowa, authorities ordered people in some rural areas to evacuate after the Missouri river overtopped levees. The flooding followed days of snow and rain, record-setting in some places, that swept through the west and midwest. The deluge pushed some waterways to record levels in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. The flooding was the worst in nearly a decade in places. Further east, the Mississippi river saw moderate flooding in Illinois from Rock Island south to Gladstone. Meteorologist Brian Pierce with the National Weather Service's Quad Cities office in Davenport, Iowa, said flooding on the Mississippi could get worse a few weeks as more snow melts in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
19th: Seattle is experiencing a string of rare weather following one of the snowiest Februarys on record that has led to record-breaking warmth in the Emerald City. Seattle experienced its warmest winter day on record on Tuesday when temperatures topped out at 79F at 3 p.m. local time, a mark that beat the previous record of 76F, which was set on Monday. Typically, mid-March temperatures in Seattle are 54F. Spring begins on Wednesday. The 79-degree reading also made for the warmest March day on record, according to the National Weather Service, edging out the previous record for the month, 78F, set on March 29, 2004. Tuesday was the hottest March day in the city's history dating back to 1894, when officials began keeping records.
20th: The flooding disaster that continues to unfold over the central United States is likely to continue well into April, putting more communities and farmland at risk. The disaster was set in motion during the second week of March, when a 'bomb cyclone' struck the region, dropping heavy rain and triggering massive snowmelt, which led to an excess of runoff into rivers and waterways. The flooding has led to several deaths, the evacuation of an entire town in Missouri and over $1 billion in damage thus far. Aerial photo shows flooding near the Platte River in in Plattsmouth, Neb., south of Omaha. The National Weather Service is warning that flooding in parts of South Dakota and northern Iowa could soon reach historic levels. A Weather Service hydrologist says "major and perhaps historic" flooding is possible later this month at some spots on the Big Sioux and James rivers. The worst of the flooding so far has been in Nebraska, southwestern Iowa and northwestern Missouri. While rivers are receding across the hardest-hit areas of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, water draining downstream is causing the Missouri River to rise across northeastern Kansas and Missouri. The Missouri River at Rulo, Nebraska, hit a record crest of 28.14 feet late Wednesday, which exceeded the previous high mark of 27.26 feet set on 27 June 2011.
22nd: Twin cyclones approaching Western Australia and the Northern Territory (NT) have forced the largest evacuation since Cyclone Tracey in 1974 with remaining residents advised to seek shelter. Air evacuations have now been suspended in the NT before Cyclone Trevor's crossing as a category four system. Chief minister Michael Gunner this week announced a state of emergency as the top end embarked on its largest pre-cyclone evacuation in the territory's history. Three Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft on Wednesday and Thursday were evacuating people from Groote Eylandt and McArthur River Mine near Borroloola. Tents were set up at sites in Darwin and Katherine for evacuees and public cyclone shelters prepared.
26th: A woman died in New Zealand following a severe downpour that washed away a bridge and prompted a state of emergency in the South Island. Police said the elderly woman's body had washed up on a riverbank north of the town of Hokitika, in the West Coast region. The once-in-a-century storm saw rainfall of more than 800 mm in some areas. A storm battering the region saw the Waiho Bridge, near the town of Franz Josef, destroyed by a torrential river on Tuesday night. About 50 tourists spent the night in a welfare centre set up in a town hall in the tiny, remote town of Haast.
31st: An abnormally hot summer in Australia ended with the warmest March on record, new data from the Bureau of Meteorology shows. The latest monthly climate breakdown shows that despite two severe tropical cyclones in the northern states, temperatures across Australia were 2.13 degC above the average throughout last month in part due to an unusually dry summer in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The record temperatures in March follow records in January, while February was in the top five on record. Last year was Australia's third-warmest year on record. It beat the previous third-place holder, 2017.
31st: Temperature records in Alaska were shattered in March, making it the warmest March to date for many locations in the state. In Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow) this was the warmest March on record. March 2019 ended up averaging 10.3 degC above the 1981-2010 normal average and 3.6 degC above the previous warmest March on record, which happened to be 2018. This past Saturday was only the third day in the past 99 years that the temperature in Utqiagvik was above freezing with a high of 0.6C.
31st: Severe thunderstorms ripped through parts of Nepal, causing widespread damage and killing at least 31 people, the Kathmandu Post reported. More than 600 other people were injured by the violent storms. Although infrequent, severe thunderstorms can occur in Nepal during March and April as heat builds northward from India and storm systems track into the region from the Middle East. Just across the border in India, temperatures soared to 38C in Lucknow and Patna on Sunday, setting the stage for the storms to develop. People were caught off guard as the storms quickly swept into Bara and Parsa districts on Sunday afternoon.
31st: A powerful dust devil blew away an inflatable bouncy in central China's Shangqiu City, killing at least two children. A dramatic video shows an inflatable bouncy castle being blown into the air by the dust devil and nearby people fleeing away quickly as the vortex lifts up various small objects. The terrifying scene occurred at a tourist attraction that was packed with visitors.

World weather news, February 2019

1st: The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is warning communities in Queensland's north to prepare for further widespread heavy falls and flooding over the weekend and well into next week as the monsoon trough continues to influence weather across the tropics. A number of sites including Upper Bluewater [1230mm], Paluma [1181mm], Upper Black River [1034mm] and Woolshed [1008mm] have recorded more than a metre of rainfall over the past seven days [to 9am this morning]. The Flood Watch area covers a huge stretch of the state including coastal catchments from Daintree to Mackay, which includes Cairns, Townsville, and also parts of western Cape York Peninsula and Gulf. We are now beginning to see flooding emerge across the Gulf. Increasing monsoonal winds are forecast for the Gulf waters and Torres Strait Islands and are likely to cause tides to exceed the highest of the year, with coastal inundation possible during the weekend.
1st: At least eight people have died in one of the worst cold snaps to hit the US Midwest in decades. Hospitals have been treating patients reporting frostbite as life across a swathe of the country grinds to a halt. Ninety million people - a third of the US - have seen temperatures of -17C (0F) or below. Some 250 million Americans overall have experienced the "polar vortex" conditions. The National Weather Service (NWS) announced Rockford, Illinois, west of Chicago, broke its all-time low record of -32C (-27F) when temperatures dipped to -34C (-30F) on Thursday morning. Cotton, Minnesota, was the coldest place in the US on Thursday, however, with a low of -48C (-56F) based on preliminary data. With wind chill factored in, the Midwest and Great Lakes have felt temperatures closer to -40C ( 40F) and -53C (-63F), which is enough to cause frostbite in under five minutes.
5th: Two men have died in floodwaters that have forced large-scale evacuations in the Australian city of Townsville. The pair's bodies were found near a park on Tuesday, following what has been described as a "once in a century" flood in the northern Queensland city. Thousands of houses may have been flooded, officials said on Tuesday. Townsville has received more than a metre of rain in the past 10 days - the equivalent of the region's total annual rainfall. On Sunday, authorities were forced to open the gates of the city's main dam after it swelled to double its capacity - releasing up to 1,900 cubic metres of water a second.
8th-10th: A major storm sweeping through the Hawaiian Islands has left one person dead and tens of thousands without power. The storm, known as a Kona low, brought widespread wind gusts of 40-60 mph across the islands, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). A wind gust of 67 mph was reported at Port Allen in Kauai County, while winds whipped to 191 mph at the top of Mauna Kea. The winds stirred dangerously rough surf on the north- and west-facing beaches. The Associated Press reported that one man died after getting stuck in rough seas in Napili Bay, off northwest Maui, this past Friday.
10th: Strong winds are expected to fan forest fires that have been burning for a week through New Zealand's South Island, forcing thousands of people from their homes. Early on Sunday, 155 firefighters were battling the blaze on the ground with air support from 23 helicopters and three fixed wing planes, making it the largest aerial firefight on record in New Zealand. Up to 3,000 people have been forced to leave the Wakefield and Pigeon Valley areas, the civil defence controller, Roger Ball, told a news conference on Saturday. More people were likely to be forced from their homes on Sunday. Much of the affected area south of Nelson was used for forestry but it also has many small farms. Some livestock has also been moved to safety. Fires started on Monday and Tuesday and quickly spread. On Wednesday, authorities declared a state of emergency.
11th: In north-west Queensland it hadn't rained to any great extent for more than five years. When the downpour finally came last week, graziers were elated. Now it's feared up to 500,000 cattle, mostly from severely drought-stressed herds, have been killed in widespread flood waters. The full extent of the losses won't be known for weeks; some properties remain underwater and the flood waters are moving south. But the agricultural industry's peak body says the situation has already become "a massive humanitarian crisis", affecting an area twice the size of Victoria. After a prolonged drought, some rural parts of Queensland received three years' worth of average rainfall in a week.
13th-14th: A storm unloaded feet of snow, brought blizzard conditions and shut down travel over the mountains of Arizona, New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. The storm began on Wednesday when it spread disruptive snow over the northern Sierra Nevada, including Donner Summit, California, before shifting over the interior southwestern United States. During Wednesday evening, parts of the valley around Las Vegas picked up over 4 inches of snow. Travel became slick and treacherous in the surrounding area as a result. Thursday set the all-time daily record for snowfall in Flagstaff, Arizona, with 35.9 inches of snow. The previous record was 31 inches set over a century ago on 30 December 1915. This also shattered February's all-time daily snowfall record of 24 inches set on 2 February 1901. The biggest single storm on record in Flagstaff brought 64 inches of snow and concluded on 17 January 1985. The McCarran International Airport near Las Vegas picked up 0.5 inches of snow with this storm. The last time there was enough snow to measure at this location was on 17 December 2008, when 3.6 inches of snow fell.
14th: Waves of heavy rain pounded California, flooding streets, triggering a mudslide that destroyed homes and forcing residents to flee communities scorched by wildfires last year. The powerful system swept in from the Pacific Ocean and unleashed damaging rain, snow and wind across the US west into Wyoming and Colorado after walloping northern California and southern Oregon a day earlier. The National Weather Service reported staggering rainfall amounts across California, including more than 24 cm over 48 hours at one location in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles. The deluge triggered a mudslide in Sausalito, north of San Francisco, that overturned cars, uprooted trees and sent a home sliding down a hill and smashing into another house.
19th: A plane bound for Atlanta was forced to make an emergency landing after it was struck by lightning. The flight from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Atlanta, Georgia, made an emergency landing in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The plane was carrying a total of 164 passengers, all of whom were uninjured. Airport spokesperson Albert Waterhouse confirmed the aircraft landed safely with no injuries just after 4 p.m. local time.
19th: About 3,000 homes north of New Caledonia's main island Grand Terre lost power in the last 24 hours after Tropical Cyclone Oma hit the French territory in the South Pacific. According to local media, trees were brought down and with rainfall totals in excess of 100 mm so far and roads have been flooded. In the town of Kone, on the west coast, the figure for rainfall for 24 hours of stormy downpours was 143 mm, with gusts of wind approaching 100 km/h, blowing from the east. The eye of the cyclone remains out at sea where winds are blowing at about 150 km/h, but the strength of Oma is still increasing. It will likely reach a peak intensity of an equivalent Category 2 hurricane, on the Saffir-Simpson scale. This should be achieved on Wednesday morning. The longevity and slow-moving nature of Cyclone Oma have generated waves more than 8-metres high, which in turn have generated a long-fetch swell heading for the Australian coast. The Bureau of Meteorology in Australia has issued a "hazardous swell warning" for the Queensland coast.
21st: Aboyne has broken Scotland's February temperature record which had stood for more than 120 years. The highest temperature previously recorded for the month in Scotland was 17.9C in Aberdeen on 22 February 1897. However, Aboyne reached 18.3C today.
23rd-24th: A fierce storm whipped through Malta this past weekend, disrupting transportation, downing trees, cutting power and unleashing pounding waves along the coast. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the storm was the worst to hit the islands since October 1982, according to the Times of Malta. The peak wind gust during the storm was 82 mph in Valletta. Other locations across the islands were battered by extreme winds as well. A wind gust of 63 mph recorded at a weather station in Gharb set an all-time record for the site, according to the Times of Malta. The strong winds littered roads with downed trees, power lines and other debris, turning them into an obstacle course for anyone who dared to venture out. Numerous road closures were reported
25th: Wutip, the strongest ever typhoon to churn in the western Pacific Ocean during February, is impacting Guam with flooding rain, strong winds and pounding seas. Wutip strengthened into a super typhoon on Saturday night, local time. It again became a typhoon on Sunday. Wutip surpassed Higos from 2015 as the strongest super typhoon on record during the month of February in the western Pacific Ocean.
25th: The UK is experiencing its warmest February day on record, with the Met Office reporting a temperature of 20.6C at Trawsgoed, Ceredigion. It breaks the UK's record for February, set when the temperature reached 19.7C in Greenwich in 1998. A new English record has also been set with temperatures rising to 20.1C in Hampton Water Works, in south-west London.
25th: Emergency crews responded to a multi-vehicle pileup on Highway 400 near Barrie, Ontario in Canada as near whiteout conditions blinded motorists. The multi-vehicle pileup involved over 70 vehicles, and several minor injuries were reported, according to Barrie Fire officials. "Whiteout conditions right now, snow and blowing snow, zero visibility," Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the Ontario Provincial Police's Highway Safety Division said in a Twitter video. "You do not want to be in this area at this point."
25th: A statewide code red has been declared in South Australia with the state in the grip of a forecast seven-day heatwave. The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast maximum temperatures in Adelaide and most regional centres to stay above 35C until at least Saturday. The Bureau says it will be the longest stretch of hot days this summer. The forecast has prompted the state government to declare the code red which triggers the release of extra funds to provide services for the homeless.
26th: The UK has broken the record for its warmest winter day for the second consecutive day, with a temperature of 21.2C in Kew Gardens, London. Temperatures broke the previous day's record of 20.6C in two other places, the Met Office said. Porthmadog in north-west Wales hit 20.8C while temperatures of 20.7C were reported in Teddington, south-west London. In Northern Ireland, temperatures reached 15.6C in Castlederg, County Tyrone. The February record of 17.8C was recorded in 1998.
26th: Nearly 200 people finally arrived at Oregon Station after being stranded more than 36 hours on an Amtrak train in rural Oregon after the train struck a downed tree on Sunday. The Los Angeles-bound train had left Seattle shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday with 183 passengers on board, but got stuck near the town of Oakridge, about 45 miles south of Eugene, an Amtrak spokesman told OregonLive. The tree was one of many that came down in a storm that has impacted the northwestern United States since Sunday with heavy snow causing downed power lines. A foot of snow was reported at Eugene Airport on Monday, breaking the previous daily record of 6.7 inches on 7 February 2014.

World weather news, January 2019

1st: Rainfall records were shattered across the eastern and southern United States during 2018. Dozens of cities from the lower Mississippi Valley to the southern Atlantic Seaboard, mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley received 125-180 percent of their normal yearly rainfall in 2018. Washington, D.C., received 66.28 inches of rain (the average is 39.74 inches). In addition to Washington, D.C., Baltimore; State College, Lancaster and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Wheeling and Charleston, West Virginia; Jackson and Lexington, Kentucky; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Asheville, Raleigh and Wilmington, North Carolina; are among the other cities where 2018 became the wettest year on record. 0.75 inches of rain on the last day of 2018 at Pittsburgh pushed the city's yearly total to 57.83 inches, surpassing the previous record of 57.41 inches which was set in 2004. In Atlanta, 2018 set its mark as the second wettest year on record, falling just shy of the 71.45 inches of rain that fell in 1948. As the deluge persisted farther east, it was a different story on the West Coast, where drought and wildfires were rampant. The Camp Fire in Northern California became the deadliest and most destructive fire in the state's history in November.
4th: Rain, wind and surging seawater from a tropical storm has buffeted coastal villages and tourist resorts on southern Thailand's east coast, knocking down trees and utility poles and flooding roads. One person was reported dead and another missing after a fishing boat with a crew of six capsized in high waves, but by nightfall it appeared that Tropical Storm Pabuk had caused less damage than feared. Airlines and boat operators suspended operations for safety reasons and some tourists were forced to change travel plans. Beaches were closed but some bars and restaurants on the popular island of Koh Samui remained open.
6th-11th: An 8-year-old Syrian girl has died in Lebanon after she fell into a swollen river and drowned in the northern town of Minyeh, as refugee camps were battered by extreme winter weather. Refugees have been struggling with dangerous conditions including flooding and heavy snow since Sunday when Storm Norma hit, bringing strong winds, rain and colder temperatures across the country. Hundreds of refugee camps and settlements from the Akkar plain in northern Lebanon to the Bekaa Valley in the east were damaged.
8th: A rare January tornado touched down in northeastern Ohio as severe thunderstorms rumbled across the region. It is very uncommon for tornadoes to occur in this part of the country during January. Only six tornadoes have been reported in January across Ohio between 1950 and 2018. The tornado was reported near Mosquito Lake, Ohio, and was later confirmed by the National Weather Service to be an EF1 tornado. No one was injured - but winds up to 100 mph damaged a building and knocked down numerous trees.
11th: Heavy snowfalls brought chaos to parts of Germany and Sweden, leaving roads blocked, trains halted and schools shut. The Red Cross helped drivers stuck on a motorway in the southern German state of Bavaria and a nine-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree. The front of a Swiss hotel was hit by an avalanche and a winter storm made roads impassable in Sweden and Norway. Austrian rescuers had to battle through chest-deep snow to reach a snowboarder. There was some respite in Austria on Friday, after three metres of sno w fell in some parts in previous days. Seven people have died in the past week and two hikers have been missing since Saturday. "Such quantities of snow above 800m altitude only happen once every 30 to 100 years," said Alexander Radlherr from Austria's Central Institution for Meteorology and Geodynamics. The Austrian military sent helicopters to blow snow off treetops to reduce the risk of trees falling on roads and rails. In Sweden wintry storms ravaged parts of the north. One area recorded winds of 111 mph as Storm Jan ravaged Stekenjokk near the Norwegian border. Some of the heaviest snow was in Bavaria where some villages were cut off Rail services were worst hit in the south and east of the state and roads were cut off by drifts and falling trees. The armed forces were sent in when hundreds of people were cut off near Berchtesgaden Roads in the Berchtesgaden area close to the Austrian border were blocked and the army sent up to 200 soldiers to help hundreds of people caught up in the snow.
15th: Port Augusta in South Australia has reached 48.9C on Tuesday, an all-time high there since records began in 1962, as a heatwave sets in across much of Australia threatening more record hot days. All-time highest minimum temperatures have also been broken in three places. Meekatharra in Western Australia (WA) and Fowlers Gap and White Cliffs in New South Wales (NSW) all registered an overnight minimum of 33C on Monday. Severe to extreme heatwave conditions extending from the interior of WA across South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and NSW will bring maximum temperatures of 8C to 12C above average, and in some places up to 16C above average before the end of the week. Port Augusta Hay in NSW had reached a high of 47.2C by Tuesday afternoon and several locations in Victoria reached temperatures in the mid-40s, with Walpeup in the state's north-west recording 45.6C.
16th: While India's air quality problems have become a common problem during this time of year, the issue has spread eastward across much of Indochina, affecting parts of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Poor air quality reported in Bangkok in recent days has forced the government to take action in an attempt to limit the effects on millions of people in the region. Air quality remained a concern in Bangkok on Wednesday as pollution levels climbed to between 150-200, registering on the unhealthy level of the Air Quality Index. Earlier this week, the Tourism Authority of Thailand issued an advisory telling tourists to monitor the pollution levels in their area and take appropriate precautions. The lack of rainfall during Indochina's dry season, which runs from January through April, allows pollutants to build up and create dangerously poor air quality.
16th: Visibility was low in Cairo as an orange cloud of dust blocked out the sky and pedestrians covered their faces from the wind gusts. In Cairo, winds reached over 30 mph, bending palm trees along the River Nile, while in Libya rain, wind and cold weather was driving increased demand for electricity that overloaded the electricity grids and led to power cuts.
16th-17th: A powerful storm has been wreaking havoc in California, further raising concerns of flooding, mudslides and avalanches. Previously, on Monday and Tuesday, Los Angeles received over 1.75 inches of rain, and San Diego picked up just over 0.55 of an inch of rain. The series of storms prompted officials to put communities on alert for mudslides and flooding, as well as creating dangerous travel conditions. Toppled trees, snarled roads and downed power lines could be found all around Northern California on Wednesday, sometimes with deadly consequences. At least six deaths have been reported during this week, as storms pass through the region. Over 20,000 people were without power Wednesday night, according to Pacific Gas & Electric. Blizzard conditions blanketed the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada, prompting a blizzard warning for much of the Sierra Nevada and Lake Tahoe on Wednesday night. Winds gusted up to 164 mph at the summit of Mammoth Mountain, California, on Thursday morning. The heavy snowfall also prompted an avalanche warning in the Sierra Nevada on Wednesday.
17th: Snow and ice have been causing difficult driving conditions across the NE Scotland. A woman was taken to hospital after an unoccupied car slid into her in Quarry Road in the Aberdeen suburb of Cults. Collisions and breakdowns have also closed the A920 at Huntly and the A947 between Turriff and Oldmeldrum. The road problems also led to transport issues at several schools.
19th: Severe thunderstorms rumbled across the Deep South (USA) on Saturday afternoon, with one storm producing a tornado that caused extensive damage in the town of Wetumpka, Alabama. Photos on social media showed damage to buildings throughout the town. Injuries have also been reported. A storm survey from the National Weather Service said that a tornado with a rating of EF2 caused the damage.
20th: A major winter storm continues to create travel nightmares and a risk of power outages in the northeastern United States with an ice storm across southern New England and feet of snow to the north. At least two semi-trucks and a handful of other vehicles slid off roadways around Danforth, Ill., on Saturday, local officials reported. Visibility was severely poor in parts of eastern Illinois on Saturday afternoon amid a massive snowstorm. Thousands lost power in Connecticut. After starting with snow, the storm transitioned to sleet and freezing rain from far northeastern Pennsylvania to southern and eastern New England.
24th: All-time Australian temperature records were set in South Australia with 49.5C being the highest temperature recorded (at Port Augusta) and Adelaide recording its highest temperature on record with 46.6C.
28th: A tornado and pounding rain have hit Havana, Cuba, toppling trees, bending electricity poles and throwing shards of metal roofing through the air as the storm cut across eastern Havana. President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Monday at least three people had been killed and 172 injured, as power was cut to many areas. A government meteorologist said the tornado was category F3, with winds between 155 and 199 mph. Miguel Angel Hernandez of the Cuban Meteorology Institute said tornadoes were unusual around the capital and a strong one had not hit the city in decades. Sunday night's storm was produced when a cold front hit Cuba's northern coast.
31st: January was Australia's warmest month on record. The mean temperature for January averaged across country exceeded 30 degrees, the first time this has occurred in any month. The main contributor to this heat was a persistent high pressure system in the Tasman sea which was blocking any cold fronts and cooler air from impacting the south of the country. Tasmania experienced one of its warmest Januarys on record for mean, minimum and maximum temperatures. It was also the state's driest January on record. Hobart experienced its warmest and driest month on record. For the first time since 1957, the Bureau of Meteorology's Adelaide city site recorded zero rainfall for the month. Western Australia had one of the warmest Januarys on record for the state as a whole, but temperatures were cooler than average in parts of the west coast and southwest. Rainfall for the state was below average and the driest since 2005. Perth had a cool month, recording its coolest January in more than a decade.

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Last updated 31 December 2019.