Satellite images captured a massive ice crack of over 128 km (80 miles) in length forming over Lake Erie on February 8, 2026, after it nearly froze over for the first time in two decades.
A strong stratospheric warming event is underway over the Arctic in early February 2026, rapidly weakening the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex. Forecasts indicate stratospheric westerly wind reversal and vortex split around mid-February, with cores separating further later.
Flooding caused by Storm Leonardo left one person dead in Portugal and a child missing in southern Spain between Tuesday and early Thursday, February 3–5, 2026, as exceptional rainfall inundated towns across the Iberian Peninsula. Emergency services carried out evacuations and search operations as river levels rose rapidly.
Tropical Storm Basyang is forecast to make multiple landfalls across the southern and central Philippines, beginning with Surigao del Sur late February 5 or early February 6, 2026. The system is forecast to cross Mindanao and may pass close to or make landfall over Siquijor and southern Negros Oriental before moving toward Palawan.
At least 12 people were killed and more than 77 000 affected after Tropical Cyclone Fytia struck northwestern Madagascar at 01:40 UTC on January 31, 2026. Winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) and intense rainfall caused severe damage across 35 districts, with Soalala and Mitsinjo among the hardest hit. Fytia is the 7th named storm of the 2025/26 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season.
Severe drought conditions are affecting over 2 million people across Kenya as of February 2026, following the failure of the short rain season between October and December 2025, which was the driest since 1981. Rainfall across most arid and semi-arid counties reached only 30%–60% of the long-term average, significantly worsening food and water insecurity.
Four atmospheric rivers affected the Pacific Northwest between January 27 and February 1, 2026, producing 150–300 mm (6–12 inches) of rain in the Olympic Mountains and 100–200 mm (4–8 inches) in the North Cascades. Snowfall reached up to 900 mm (36 inches) in high elevations near Mount Rainier, while snowpack remains below 50% of normal.
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.1 struck the Kermadec Islands region, New Zealand at 10:39 UTC on February 4, 2026. The agency is reporting a depth of 184.2 km (114 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.1 at a depth of 197 km (122 miles).
Cuba saw historic low temperatures on February 3, 2026, with a weather station in the province of Matanzas recording a temperature of 0°C (32°F) for the first time on record.
A powerful Arctic blast is forecast to bring extreme cold and dangerous wind chills across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic from the weekend into the second week of February. Below-normal temperatures and record lows are expected in some areas, with the cold forecast to persist until February 11, 2026.
