I am an Assistant Editor and Severe Weather & Science Journalist at The Watchers, specializing in real-time severe weather coverage, geophysical event reporting, and research-driven scientific analysis. You can reach me at rishav(at)watchers(.)news.
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.
Severe thunderstorms swept through West Virginia on Monday, April 14, 2025, bringing intense hail and causing widespread damage across the state. The cold front also triggered hail fog in parts of Ohio, leading to a car slide-off near Wheelsburg.
A severe dust storm swept through Iraq on April 14, 2025, hospitalizing over 2 700 people due to suffocation and respiratory issues, primarily in the southern provinces. The storm covered regions in a blood-red and orange haze, disrupted travel, and overwhelmed hospitals in Maysan, Basra, and Muthanna.
Crops worth hundreds of millions of dollars have been reportedly damaged across Turkey as the worst agricultural frost event since 2014 struck the country during a three-day cold spell from April 10 to 12, 2025. Farmers across the country are trying desperate measures such as lighting fires around the crops to save them from the frost and avoid further losses.
