Weather & Earth Science News

Hurricane Laura death toll climbs to 14 in the US whilst b efore and after images show devastation from one of strongest storms to hit US Winchester High Street left underwater after heavy rain on Thursday whilst yesterday, a ‘rare’ tornadic waterspout spotted off Suffolk coast with another 'tornado' spotted above Eastbourne Germany's first 'autumn storm' of 2020 causes chaos around country Niger flooding: At least 45 killed, 226,000 displaced And with this year's minma likely to be one of the lowest on record, how new feedbacks speed up the demise of Arctic sea ice

Hurricane Laura's winds batter Louisiana, killing six but it doesn't appear to have been as bad as some feared More rain here yesterday saw floods across Devon and Cornwall after 'biblical' rainfall whilst in Scotland, Broxburn flooding: People rescued as homes in West Lothian flooded Melbourne storm: Three killed as winds cause widespread damage Typhoon damages buildings, floods roads on Korean Peninsula 'Overwhelmed': No end to flooding woes as rains lash Karachi Well here's a surprise (not): Land use change leads to increased flooding in Indonesia

Hurricane Laura causes flash flooding as it makes landfall in Louisiana with a catastrophic storm surge predicted - no doubt a lot more on this tomorrow. After Wales was ht by Storm Francis: River Wye rescue and evacuations after flooding Our bread price may rise after dire UK wheat harvest caused by extreme weather over the past 12 months And how cold was the ice age? Researchers now know

A bit wet and windy for August yesterday as Storm Francis lashes UK with gusts reaching almost 80mph with dozens evacuated after flooding in Wales whilst on Dartmoor some rather foolish wild camping teens rescued from 'raging torrent' In the US, thousands told to evacuate Gulf Coast as Hurricane Laura nears After an inquiry into last summer's Australia fires: Similar or worse disasters 'will happen again and with spring just around the corner, already NT fire threat severe as dangerous conditions loom over Darwin, Adelaide River . No such worries yet further south though where at the weekend extreme weather conditions force road closures in NSW, good falls in snow fields Afghanistan flooding: Dozens dead, hundreds of homes destroyed Flooded streets, submerged cars as rain causes havoc in Karachi North Korea alert as images show churning eye of devastating typhoon Bavi And how coronavirus restrictions 'severely hampering' South Asia flood relief

Twin Caribbean storms kill seven as they head towards US coast with Hurricane Marco downgraded to a tropical storm as 'unprecedented' back-to-back threats target Louisiana Meanwhile in the west, California braces for 'dangerous' weather as 200,000 near San Francisco told to evacuate due to wildfires And a small Isle of Skye quake caused 'house beams to creak'

Motorists desperately try to escape California wildfires that have killed six with two of the blazes now in the state's top ten biggest ever as Gov. Newsom pleads with Australia and Canada to send help In Australia extreme weather conditions force road closures in NSW, good falls in snow fields Friday saw more flood warnings as severe weather brings disruption to Wales after the 95mph tree-toppling gales of Storm Ellen that left two dead including girl, 15, who drowned in Welsh river Waterspout whipped onshore as tornado, downing trees and spooking South Florida residents With two storms developing in the Gulf of Mexico at the moment, and a third in the Atlantic, could the US and Caribbean be heading for their worst hurricane season? Meanwhile, on the pacific coast tropical storm Genevieve kills two people in western Mexico Water inside China's Three Gorges Dam nears maximum levels Japan's heat wave poses challenge to medical system already hit by virus Last year

Only our 5th named storm since last autumn, Storm Ellen hit Eire with 130,000 homes and businesses without power as winds of 143kmh batter coast but Northern Ireland avoids worst of high winds and rain California fires: Helicopter pilot killed while battling blaze as wildfire smoke chokes Bay Area, creating worst air quality in the world Bureau of Meteorology warns NSW set for 'unusual weather event' this weekend - snow! In the latest China floods: 100,000 on Yangtze evacuated, Leshan Buddha at risk And the microplastic in Atlantic Ocean 'could weigh 21 million tonnes'      

California may have just recorded the 'highest temperature on Earth' as Death Valley, US hits 54.4C  Here, another day, more thunderstorms, more flash floods ....  In Barnstaple: Flash flooding damages homes and businesses whilst heavy rain brings flash flooding to homes in mid Wales A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits the Philippines leaving at least one person dead and causing widespread damage And satellite data suggests that warming Greenland ice sheet passes point of no return

Lots more rain yesterday as thunderstorms continue to hit southern Britain (great weather in Scotland though), particularly East Anglia where parts of region hit by 160mm of rain in one day - a quarter of an average year’s downfall whilst more flash floods damaged buildings and shut roads across southeast England with six inches of rain in two days and in Chelmsford flooding: Kayakers take to water .  More storms expected today .... California wildfire spawns ‘firenado’ as tornado warning issued amid heatwave In Sudan: Dozens dead, thousands of homes destroyed by floods And a lucky photographer captures eerie and majestic sky 'jellyfish' during a storm

  Sweltering heat is shattering records, triggering power outages across California   Houses in France struck by lightning as storm alerts remain   China's Yangtze River sees fourth flood of the year  And a real bolt from the blue: Video captures lightning striking a palm tree - despite clear skies above in Florida

Still no thunderstorm this summer in Evesham .....   Just rain.   But elsewhere in England there were more thunderstorms and flash floods after scorching heat yesterday.  Remaining humid and thundery, but not nearly so hot,  into next week. Meanwhile, in Scotland, storm leaves 30m hole in Union Canal with a major clear-up under way after storms and torrential rain Lightning strikes house and homes flooded in Wales on Wednesday And a Plymouth roofer films spectacular 'tornado' funnel cloud over Dartmoor Thunderstorms have also brought huge hail stones and flooding across southern and central Spain this week Tropical Storm Josephine forms in Atlantic, the 10th storm of a record-setting season ‘Fire tornado’ ripping through California captured in terrifying video Video footage as Typhoon Mekkhala tears though a factory building in China as high winds hit the country's southern regions And ancient genomes suggest woolly rhinos went extinct due to climate change, not overhun

Well, we had some rain and some distant thunder and lightning, but otherwise missed all the excitement again last night.  However, in a Gloucester storm - A46 blocked as police deal with "multiple trees down across county" whilst hospital A&E in Gloucester is evacuated after it was hit by flash flooding . There may be more storms today.  Investigation into fatal Stonehaven train derailment begins - it's assumed the line collapsed in a landslide after heavy rain.  And more on yesterday's events in NE Scotland as torrential rain and thunderstorms bring flooding and disruption Hundreds of firefighters battle to contain monster southern California wildfire that has grown to 10,000 acres Floods leave one third of Bangladesh underwater and displace more than 1.5 million And past evidence supports complete loss of Arctic sea-ice by 2035

Carnage in the NE .....  'Major incident' declared in Fife after thunderstorms whilst there are 'serious injuries' after passenger train derails near Stonehaven during storms - latest information being at least two fatalities, but fortunately only 6 passengers were on board. Meanwhile Evesham saw a nice lightning show for a distant cell in Warwickshire but nothing else last night.  This evening may, possibly, be different ..... Greece declares state of emergency in Evia, Thessaloniki areas after flash floods. Canada's Milne Ice Shelf: Satellites capture Arctic ice split

 In the US, a powerful derecho storm wreaks havoc across the Midwest leaving 1.1M without power as 100mph winds blast beleaguered Chicago  And July set a number of heat records in the US, as seven states report all-time high temperatures over 90F that lasted for weeks Meanwhile, as our heatwave continues with horrendous temperatures,  that are surely illegal under the Geneva Convention,  Wales thunderstorms bring power cuts and flash flooding in Aberwystwth whilst elsewhere in North Wales pelted with hailstones so big they set off car alarms Germany records hottest temperature of year as country braces for more heat Temperatures soar across Japan, topping 40 degrees in Gunma Australia sees atmospheric rivers form in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans, bringing rain from the tropics to the south Typhoon Jangmi strikes South Korea whilst Tropical Storm Mekkhala brings rain to Taiwan, strikes China In Indonesia, Mount Sinabung erupts for second time in three days, sending huge plum

Canada's last fully intact Arctic ice shelf collapses losing more than 40 per cent of its mass in just two days Meanwhile, glaciers in New Zealand's Southern Alps have lost over half of their ice in the last 400 years, study warns Snow falls over Flinders Ranges, creating alpine scenes in South Australia's north Another UK date record fell yesterday with the hottest August day for 17 years as temperatures top 36C - and there looks like being the same today, tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday .....  Much of Europe is also experiencing a heatwave. Dozens evacuated from their homes after huge wildfire in Surrey India landslide: Dozens feared dead after flooding in Kerala However it appears that drop in Co2 emissions from the global lockdown has 'negligible' effect on temperatures whilst more bad news as drying moorland means UK peat emissions could cancel forest benefits

A proper heatwave kicks off in England with the potential for somewhere to see 35c for the next 6 days as the Met Office issues amber health for potentially hottest day of year though I suspect it won't be quite as hot today as last Friday.  At the Rest and Be Thankful: Helicopter helps move giant boulders Tourists evacuated from Italian Alps over fear of falling ice from Mont Blanc Tasmania records its coldest day ever at -14C (think they mean coldest night!)  NOAA warns that an 'extremely active' hurricane season possible for Atlantic Basin Several killed in Yemen floods And shocking 'before and after' pictures of glaciers in Patagonia reveal the dramatic impact of global warming over the last century

In Australia, one SA town records its lowest temperature as bureau forecasts rain and possible snow whilst in Tasmania there's a rare blanketing for Launceston with more wild weather on the way and in Victoria snow blankets parts of Melbourne as state prepares to freeze through its coldest four-day spell in 24 years At least seven people are dead and more than 3 million are without power across the Northeast as Tropical Storm Isaias pummels New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania unleashing tornadoes and flooding South Korea floods and landslides kill 14 after 42 days of rain Red alert issued after heavy rain causes travel chaos in Mumbai Flooding leaves motorists stranded as torrential rain swamps Scotland whilst, yet again, the A83 is closed as heavy rain causes landslip at Rest and Be Thankful Forest fire near Marseille forces hundreds of evacuations There's been some heavy summer snowfall in the Alps - but this does not mean it's a cold summer in Europe! And the newly

Storm Isaias smashes into the Carolinas as a Category 1 hurricane bringing 85mh winds, 'life threatening flooding' and tornadoes An icy blast as two low pressure systems bring snow, rain, hail and frost to southern Australia More rain in Asia as flash floods kill two in Thailand, storm heads for Myanmar whilst torrential rains pound South Korea, causing deadly mudslides at the weekend. Meanwhile Typhoon Hagupit makes landfall in China's Zhejiang How climate change made the melting of New Zealand’s glaciers 10 times more likely The world is now shutting down coal plants faster than it's opening them - China being the exception And early Mars was covered in ice sheets, not flowing rivers, researchers say

Having been downgraded from a hurricane, Tropical Storm Isaias moves up coast of virus-hit Florida on Sunday, with more warnings as Tropical Storm Isaias on track to impact the Carolinas late Monday after moving north off Florida coast Apple Fire: Massive California wildfire forces evacuations And in the Amazon region: Brazil records big increase in fires .  Again ....

Rivers run dry and wildfires destroy homes in France, Germany suffers a drought and Italy issues maximum red weather warning as continent bakes in 101F heatwave whilst in the UK yesterday was officially the third hottest day on record as temperature hits 37.8C - not only is that 2 years running we have seen temperatures reach 100f, but this time it occurred during a brief 2 day spell of hot weather; not even a heatwave in the UK!   This comes after the Met Office report that  climate change 'driving UK's extreme weather' Even hotter in the Middle East though as Iraqis try to stay cool in 51C heatwave Hurricane Isaias is moving through the Bahamas and will track near Florida, East Coast into next week Meanwhile there's a dangerous heat wave forecast for south-western areas of US Satellite images reveal that two ice caps in the Canadian Arctic have disappeared due to global warming Floods kill at least 14 people in Yemen after days of heavy rain And whither now for the