Tropical Cyclone "Ula", formed on December 30, 2015, intensified on January 7 after moving away from Fiji in the Southern Pacific Ocean. The system is expected to reach its second peak by January 10 while staying east of Noumea, New Caledonia and then turn…
A catastrophic "tumbling wave" of wildfire devastated a small town in southwest Australia and burned over 58 000 hectares of bushland on the evening of January 7, 2016 (local time). Residents were evacuated and several firefighters sustained injuries while…
Heavy rainfalls caused severe flooding in Aberdeenshire, Scotland as the River Don overflew its banks on the night of January 7 to 8, 2016. Numerous evacuations have taken place in the Inverurie town in the center of the county as water levels reached record high…
Record high temperatures were recorded in Johannesburg, South Africa on January 7, 2016. The region has been facing persistent drought conditions and related food shortage since December 2015 when the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued an alert…
A state of emergency was declared over a large natural gas leak pouring high quantities of methane and other gases into a Los Angeles neighborhood on January 6, 2016. Numerous residents reported health issues and thousands of people have been forced to evacuate the…
New activity/unrest was observed at 5 volcanoes from December 30, 2015 – January 5, 2016. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 12 volcanoes. New activity/unrest: Etna, Sicily (Italy) | Kanlaon, Philippines | Nevados de Chillán, Chile …
A strong spell of cold weather gripped Poland on the weekend of January 2, 2016. Temperatures dropped to -17.8 ºC (0 ºF) causing 21 people to freeze to death. After unseasonably mild Christmas weather in the period between December 18 and 28, 2015,…
Strong thunderstorms battered southern California since January 5, 2016. Heavy rainfalls, thought to be fueled by the El Niño phenomena, inundated streets and caused streams to overflow, disrupting traffic across the affected areas. Another strong storm is on…
A slow-moving low pressure system near Port Stephens (Hunter Region), New South Wales, Australia produced very heavy rain between January 5 and 6, 2016, causing both riverine and flash flooding from the Central Coast to the Mid North Coast. The severe weather has…
The UK Met Office has confirmed today that December 2015 has broken records for both rainfall and temperature. "The month was not only the wettest December on record, but also the wettest calendar month overall since the records began in 1910," Met Office…
