Updated on Jan 19
Devastating Floods
(Jan 18) Almost 150 people were plucked from the roofs of their submerged houses and others from trees where they’d been trapped after torrential rain in the Hoedspuit area in Limpopo, South Africa where up to 300mm of rainfall was measured. (Source)
(Jan 18) Four people have died and more than 4,000 others are without shelter after torrential rains in Mozambique. Three days of storms and high winds have hit water and power supplies and destroyed farm animals and cash crops. (Source)
(Jan 18) In the midst of an intense rainy season, the director of Peru’s Institute of Natural Emergencies and Civil Defence said the country has seen 11 deaths and more than 30,000 victims in the last three wet months due to the heavy rainfall, mostly affecting the country’s south. (Source)
(Jan 14) Intense rains have left streets and homes in outlying Bolivian neighborhoods of Santa Cruz and Trinidad under water. People are walking “with water up to their necks” because of the recent days of rain. Many poor neighborhoods have no sewers or drainage mechanisms to allow water to run off. (Source)
(Jan 16) Fifteen districts of Thailand’s southern province have been declared disaster zones after a flash flood struck following days of heavy rain in Gulf-side southern provinces. (Source)
Severe Storms
(Jan 18) Rare January tornadoes touched down in Mississippi, Indiana and Kentucky on Tuesday. At least 10 tornadoes touched down, a rare event for this time of winter, including two in the Louisville, Kentucky metropolitan area, the National Weather Service said. (Source)
(Jan 16) The extremely odd and rare January tornado in North Carolina was of EF2 strength, with winds of roughly 115 miles an hour – flinging mobile homes into valleys, damaging dozens of buildings and injuring nearly 20 people. (Source)
(Jan 12) The year’s first confirmed tornado in the United States was formed on Jan. 9 in Texas as severe weather, including another reported twister and ping-pong-size hail, caused damage near Galveston, Houston and other cities in the southeastern portion of the state. Spring is prime time for Texas twisters, but they can strike before then so though unusual, it is not unheard of. (Source)
Extreme Cold/Heavy Snow
(Jan 18) The governors of Washington and Oregon declared emergencies in their states. A deadly ice storm and heavy rains swept across the Pacific Northwest on Thursday, leading to flooding and evacuations in Oregon and heightening the misery of residents in Washington state struggling with power outages and treacherous roads since an earlier record snowfall from a winter storm that packed winds of 100 mph and dumped more than a foot of snow. (Source)
(Jan 18) Southern India rarely experiences cold weather and now at least 15 people have died in an unprecedented cold wave sweeping through south India. Some states saw temperatures drop to their lowest in over 100 years. (Source) Much of north India has also been hit by extreme cold weather conditions where nearly 100 people have died. (Source)
(Jan 16) Turkey broke natural gas consumption record as cold weather and snow swept across the country and people consuming more electricity. (Source)
(Jan 16) An unusually powerful storm hit Northern Island of Hokkaido, Japan on Monday, leaving behind mounds of snow nearly two metres deep. Scientists say they can’t confirm exactly how much snow fell because their measuring instruments were damaged in the blizzard. But the island’s meteorological agency said this is the most snow Iwamizawa has been hit with since records began in 1946. (Source)
(Jan 16) The “toughest 300 miles in sled dog racing” was no match for Alaska’s recent massive snowfall. The Copper Basin 300 (about 483 kilometers) was cancelled Sunday (Jan. 15) after a jaw-dropping blizzard on Jan. 9. A record-breaking 81.3 inches (207 centimeters) of snow has fallen in Anchorage this winter, according to the National Weather Service. That’s nearly 7 feet (2.1 meters) of snow. (Source)
(Jan 16) Kashmir was cut off from the rest of the country as moderate to heavy snowfall continued. (Source)
(Jan 11) Many have become stranded because of the heaviest snowfalls in Alps in the past 30 years. As much as 18ft has fallen over the past few days with high winds causing avalanches which cut off numerous towns. (Source)
Extreme Heat/Wildfires
(Jan 19) Authorities in Reno, Nevada, are battling a wind-whipped brush fire that forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people and destroyed at least 20 homes. (Source)
(Jan 16) The disastrous Southern drought, which led to $10 billion in crop and agricultural losses in 2011, is forecast to continue through at least the next three months, government scientists report. A portion of the Cypress Creek Arm of Lake Travis is completely dry near Austin in July.
According to the most recent Drought Monitor, a weekly federal government report, drought is either in place or forecast to develop in a solid 2,500-mile stripe across the southern tier of the USA from California to Virginia. (Source)
