29th January - Today's News: Storms Hit Scotland and Australia

Scotland battered by Storm Gertrude, with 90mph gusts recorded and 100mph now forecast for Shetland.  In Ireland,a status Orange alert as 130kph winds batter country.  However the Express, as usual, get it totally wrong suggesting the storm is heading for the south.  And they don't mean south Unst ....  (a front will bring some rain to England overnight though).  But Norway braces for wrath of mighty storm Tor (as the Scandinavians dub it).

In Australia, man hit by falling tree in Hervey Bay as massive storm sweeps southern Queensland, in another Sydney storm: Commuter headaches as wild weather batters city whilst flash flooding eases in Tasmania's north east but forecasters expect more rain and the season's first WA cyclone: Alerts issued for Pilbara and Kimberley as Stan moves towards coast

Meanwhile in the US, deadly winter storm Jonas now ranks as fourth largest blizzard to hit the Northeast and why was the Blizzard of 2016 so easy to predict? We can trace it to the tropics

Snow falls in Kuwait for 'first time ever'

Somewhat less unusual, temperatures drop, snow blankets Turkey

And a new study of tree rings shows Europe's recent summers were the 'warmest in 2,000 years'