Rishav Kothari is Editor-in-Chief of The Watchers, where he runs the newsroom and covers earthquakes, volcanoes, severe weather and space weather.
Western Michigan experienced mud rain on Friday, April 18, 2025, as thunderstorms moved into the region from Wisconsin, leaving a thin layer of mud on vehicles and homes.
At least 4 people died in Italy and France as Storm Hans battered the countries with heavy rains, floods, and snow since Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Many areas in lowland Italy have received over 300–500 mm (12–20 inches) of rainfall, triggering landslides and causing rivers to swell, while heavy snow in the Alps has caused avalanches in France.
Large-scale pressure changes following a strong sudden stratospheric warming event in mid-March 2025, which caused the collapse of the polar vortex, are expected to drive spring weather patterns across Canada and the United States into May. Northerly winds are expected to bring colder air into parts of North America, while high-pressure zones may lead to warmer conditions in the central U.S. and southern Canada. The shifts in weather patterns are consistent with the typical effects observed following a polar vortex disruption, where the jet stream becomes more erratic, leading to unusual temperature distributions and weather events.
At least 15 tornadoes touched down in Iowa and Nebraska on April 17, 2025, as a severe weather system swept through the region. Tornadoes were confirmed in Omaha, Nebraska, and Essex, Iowa, damaging homes, toppling power lines, and causing significant disruption to local communities.
Severe weather, including heavy rains, flash floods, and thunderstorms, is forecast to impact a broad region from lower Michigan to the southern Plains starting Friday, April 18, 2025, and continuing through the weekend, placing tens of millions of people on alert.
Severe Tropical Cyclone Errol weakened to Category 3 strength on Thursday, April 17, 2025, after having rapidly intensified to a Category 5-equivalent system on April 16 — the first such tropical cyclone of the year globally. The system continues to weaken as it approaches the west Kimberley coast, Australia.
A late-season winter storm is forecast to deliver up to 60 cm (2 feet) of snow across parts of the Rocky Mountains through April 19, 2025, prompting winter storm alerts from Montana to Colorado. Hazardous driving conditions across the Rockies are expected through late week.
A recent study analyzing data from 1980 to 2020 found that atmospheric rivers (ARs), though infrequent, have accounted for up to 70% of extreme snowfall events in East Antarctica since the 1980s, significantly impacting the continent’s ice sheet mass balance.
Nearly 40 million people from Texas to Michigan are under threat of severe weather as an amplifying trough begins affecting the central United States on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The system is forecast to bring strong thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, and damaging winds, with the associated cold front expected to dominate weather conditions through Saturday, April 19, from the Southern Plains to the Great Lakes.
Tropical Cyclone Tam, named by the Fiji Meteorological Service on April 15, 2025, is moving southeast and will bring severe weather to New Zealand’s Upper North Island beginning April 16. The center of the storm is expected to remain west of Cape Reinga, but heavy rain, strong winds, and dangerous coastal conditions are forecast to impact North Island in the days ahead.
