Category Archives: Extreme weather

Trump’s cuts have exposed US to ‘cascade’ of El Niño dangers, experts warn

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President has taken an axe to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, stalling climate research on and response to extreme weather events

Sweeping cuts to the premier US climate agency under Donald Trump have severely hampered the country’s capacity to forecast, research and respond to extreme weather events, former government officials and scientists have warned, as the US faces a cascade of hazards fueled by a potentially historic El Niño this winter.

From the start of his second term, the president has taken aim at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), slashing staff levels, canceling contracts and grants, and shutting down databases and research laboratories. The agency that has long been considered a global crown jewel in climate science and forecasting, has lost roughly 20% of its staff since January 2025.

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US south-west braces for more flooding after stretch of heavy rain and storms

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More inclement weather forecast in rain-soaked Four Corners region after evacuations and rescues last week

A rain-soaked swath of the south-west US braced on Sunday for another round of potentially heavy showers and thunderstorms after days of rain forced evacuations and water rescues.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for much of the Four Corners – the meeting point of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah – even as local officials forecast further receding of swollen rivers that surged since rains picked up on Wednesday.

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‘Unusually large’ multi-state storm causing severe weather for Australia’s east – with more on the way

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BoM predicts hail, damaging winds, flash flooding and power outages across southern Queensland, western NSW, the ACT and eastern Victoria on Sunday afternoon

Large parts of eastern Australia were put on alert for severe thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon with more potential storms and flood risk in store for Monday.

The Bureau of Meteorology said a broad line of storms had already swept through western New South Wales, while eight flood warnings were in place across southern Queensland after days of torrential rain.

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A possible three tornados wallop Arizona, bringing golf-ball sized hail

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Violent storms overnight knocked over utility poles and trees and carried thunder and heavy winds through state

Yet more severe weather struck Thursday in the US south-west as the Four Corners region surveyed blown-away roofs, trees knocked on to homes and power lines downed from overnight tornadoes that injured one person.

The injuries weren’t life-threatening but rare for an area better known for scalding heat. But this fall has been unusually soggy in the south-west with El Niño conditions that have sent one tropical system after another in from the Pacific, causing the Grand Canyon and surrounding deserts to rage with floods.

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Intense waves and floods batter California waterfront homes and boardwalks

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Boardwalk destroyed in Long Beach and homes damaged, while Baja California in Mexico and Las Vegas also affected

Southern California coastal communities are picking up the pieces after a weekend of extreme weather brought flooding that overtook city streets and intense waves battered beachside homes.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel hit Mexico’s Baja California over the weekend as well as southern California and Las Vegas. While meteorologists noted that Rachel weakened into a post-tropical cyclone as it approached California, it still left a trail of destruction.

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Indonesia wildfire fuelled by El Niño razes almost 300 homes

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Hundreds of people displaced in Bangka Belitung with conditions described as worst in a decade with wildlife also badly hit

A forest fire on Indonesia’s Sumatra island fuelled by El Niño has razed nearly 300 homes, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate, an official has said, as the country battles devastating blazes and haze.

Residents first spotted the fire approaching their village in Bangka Belitung province on Saturday and tried to put it out themselves with portable water pumps, said the head of South Bangka regency, Riza Herdavid.

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Hurricane Simon and Tropical Storm Rachel kill five people on Mexico’s Pacific coast

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Security forces use helicopters to rescue dozens of people as the two storms damage infrastructure and cause flash flooding

At least five people have died after Hurricane Simon and Tropical Storm Rachel pummelled Mexico’s Pacific coast, causing flooding that downed trees and electricity poles, blocked roads and inundated homes.

Simon claimed the life of a 71-year-old man who died when a wall collapsed in Chilpancingo in the southern state of Guerrero, governor Evelyn Salgado said at a press conference.

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Thousands without power in Florida and Alabama as Isaias moves north

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At least four deaths linked to storm amid warnings of flash flooding that could stretch into Appalachians

As what was left of Hurricane Isaias moved north on Sunday, bringing moderate to heavy rainfall across the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic region, nearly 396,000 customers across the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama remained without power.

Heavy rainfall associated with the storm could bring isolated flash flooding and strong wind gusts and remain a threat across the south-eastern US, especially near the southern Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). That could bring scattered power outages and downed trees and power lines. Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were expected to continue along the Gulf and south-eastern Atlantic coasts.

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Dozens injured and buildings damaged as tornadoes hit Sicily

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Marsala on island’s west coast badly affected after powerful storm approached from Mediterranean

Two tornadoes have struck the coastal town of Marsala in western Sicily, injuring dozens of people, damaging buildings including a school, and overturning cars.

A series of videos began to circulate on Friday morning showing two waterspouts approaching the Sicilian town from the sea as people braced for their arrival.

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Key things to know about Hurricane Isaias as millions under evacuation orders

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The hurricane is first in the Atlantic in what has turned into a very late season. Here’s what forecasters are saying about where Isaias will hit and how hard

Hurricane Isaias, which made landfall on the US Gulf coast Friday night, was forecast to bring a dangerous storm surge, significant rainfall, flooding and strong winds across the US Gulf coast this weekend. Millions of people across several states, including Florida, Georgia and Alabama, were under evacuation orders as officials prepared for the storm. All three states issued states of emergency.

The hurricane, the first in the Atlantic in what has turned into a very late 2026 season, made landfall as a category 2 storm, with sustained winds of 105 mph.

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Hurricane Isaias barrels toward Gulf coast as category 3 storm

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States of emergency declared in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi, where residents prepare for ‘long-duration power outages’

Isaias strengthened into a category 3 hurricane on Friday morning as it barreled toward the US Gulf coast, where states of emergency have been declared in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.

The hurricane, the first in the Atlantic in what has turned into a very late 2026 season, is expected to cause a “life-threatening storm surge”, officials said. Isaias is forecast to make landfall on Friday night, somewhere along the Alabama-Florida line with surging seas up to 7ft (2.1 meters) and waves as high as 30ft (9.1 meters).

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Hurricane Isaias forecast to bring dangerous storm surge, with millions under warnings in US

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Residents in areas from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Florida urged to ‘evacuate if told to do so’

Millions of people from Louisiana to Florida are under hurricane warnings on Thursday as Hurricane Isaias heads toward the US Gulf coast, with weather officials warning of dangerous storm surge, hurricane-force winds, heavy rainfall and flooding.

Isaias intensified from a tropical storm into the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season on Wednesday night, and has prompted state of emergency declarations in Florida, Alabama and Georgia, as well as evacuation orders and school closures in several Florida counties as officials urge residents to prepare for its arrival.

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New Zealand greenhouse gas levels hit record highs threatening catastrophic glacier melts

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Government report finds the country could be hit with more frequent and intense heatwaves, as well as damaging storms and cyclones

New Zealand could be hit with more frequent and intense heatwaves and catastrophic glacier melts in the near future, as greenhouse gas levels hit record highs, a new report about the nation’s climate has revealed.

Released on Wednesday, the Our Atmosphere and Climate 2026 report shows New Zealand is experiencing mounting climate pressures, which will have wide-reaching implications for the environment, native species and communities.

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California rushes to prepare for massive ‘Kelvin’ wave and predicted sea level rise

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Wave nearing southern California expected to reach San Francisco Bay Area by October as it crawls toward Alaska

Communities across California are rushing to prepare for the imminent arrival of the so-called “Kelvin wave”, a massive underwater band of warm water threatening to inundate swaths of the vast North American shoreline.

The wave is nearing southern California and expected to reach the San Francisco Bay Area by early October, as it crawls toward Alaska. Waters could rise by a foot along the California coast, according to scientists, who have warned that this could dramatically double the 8-12in rise in sea levels already caused by climate change over the last century.

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World’s oceans absorbed record heat equal to 40 times annual global energy use

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The injection of thermal energy comes amid an increasing rise in sea levels and continuing acidification

A record-breaking 23 zettajoules of heat was sunk into the world’s seas last year, leaving ocean waters hotter, higher and less hospitable, a report has found.

The explosive addition of thermal energy, which was almost 40 times greater than all the energy humanity used that year, comes amid far-reaching changes to the deep water bodies fundamental to life on Earth.

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Bangkok declared a ‘disaster zone’ after flooding, as rainstorms shift direction

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Capital city submerged in waist-high flood water, while elsewhere Hurricane Nolo threatens Hawaii’s Big Island

Bangkok was declared a disaster zone by its city officials towards the end of last week, after streets in Thailand’s capital city were submerged in up to waist-high flood water. The flooding stemmed from an active cell of low pressure across central Thailand that brought continuous heavy rainfall and thunderstorms to Bangkok and surrounding regions.

The heavy rain began early on Thursday when the weak area of low pressure travelled north-westwards up the gulf of Thailand before then sitting over central Thailand by Friday morning. For most of the following two days this low pressure remained roughly in situ, which allowed unrelenting downpours over Bangkok and nearby areas. One weather station near Prachin Buri, just north-east of the capital, recorded 213.5mm within a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday evening local time – for comparison, London receives an average 585mm a year). Fortunately, the centre of the low-pressure cell shifted north-westwards on Sunday and brought an end to the torrential rainfall.

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Nor’easter storm batters US east coast with heavy winds and power outages

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At least one person killed and nearly 150,000 households lost electricity from North Carolina to New England

A strong, deadly storm known as a nor’easter battered the US’s east coast over the weekend, bringing power outages, flooding, damaging winds and hazardous ocean conditions.

Trees and power lines were knocked down across the region, at least one person was killed and hundreds of thousands were left without electricity as officials cautioned that conditions could deteriorate further.

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Hurricane Polo, rapidly intensifying from strong El Niño patterns, rages off coast of Mexico

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Polo, with sustained winds of 165mph, is churning 215 miles south of Zihuatanejo but is unlikely to directly hit Mexico

A tropical storm off the south-west coast of Mexico has intensified into a category 5 monster in fewer than 24 hours, fueled by stronger than usual El Niño weather patterns in the Pacific Ocean.

Hurricane Polo was sending out maximum sustained winds of 165mph (266km/h) on Tuesday as its center churned about 215 miles (346km) south of the coastal city of Zihuatanejo, in Guerrero state.

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At least four people killed in Japan as typhoon Dujuan triggers heavy rain, landslides

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Rescuers search for missing in collapsed homes after storm causes landslides, travel chaos and power outages

Typhoon Dujuan has killed at least four people and injured 22 in Japan, while tens of thousands of houses near Tokyo remained without power after the storm swept through the region, authorities said on Tuesday.

Dujuan – which brought violent winds of 144km/h (89mph) – was moving away from Japan on Tuesday morning, allowing authorities to downgrade most heavy rain and landslide warnings.

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Japanese islands brace for Dujuan to become a typhoon again

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Storm system expected to hit Izu Islands as it strengthens. Meanwhile, Atlantic hurricane season is unusually quiet

Tropical Storm Dujuan is skirting the coast of Japan and despite avoiding a direct landfall, is still expected to leave its mark. Dujuan briefly reached typhoon status on Friday before weakening to a tropical storm again on Sunday morning. But it is expected to restrengthen back to a typhoon by Tuesday morning. Sustained winds could reach 80mph (129km/h), with gusts approaching 100mph.

Although mainland Japan has avoided a direct hit, Dujuan’s track takes it across the Izu Islands, where evacuation warnings are in place. Heavy rain, flooding and landslide alerts are widespread, with high waves adding another threat to exposed coastal areas and islands.

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