A fast-moving wildfire named the Rio Grande Fire has burned approximately 61 ha (150 acres) near Bosque Farms in Valencia County, New Mexico, with 0% containment as of early April 18, 2025. The fire started just before 16:00 MDT on April 17 at the far west end of Lillie Drive, burning through the Bosque area…
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.
M5.2 earthquake that struck San Diego County near Julian on April 14, 2025, occurred along the Elsinore Fault Zone, a major strike-slip fault in Southern California capable of producing earthquakes up to magnitude 7.8. The fault runs near densely populated areas including Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Riverside, and its long period of limited activity may indicate an increased potential for a significant seismic event, according to recent research.
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.
Volcanic ash has been increasingly detected in the steam and gas plume at White Island volcano, New Zealand, over the past few months, prompting authorities to raise the Volcanic Alert Level to 3 on April 17, 2025. Intermittent explosive activity observed during aerial monitoring supports the assessment of elevated volcanic unrest.
New activity/unrest was reported for 3 volcanoes from April 9 to 15, 2025. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 20 volcanoes.
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.
Unseasonably warm, dry, and windy conditions spread across much of New Mexico and parts of Texas, Colorado, and Arizona on April 16, 2025, prompting Critical to Extremely Critical Fire Weather Outlooks from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC). Fire danger is expected to remain elevated through the weekend.
