A massive winter storm is expected to impact much of the U.S. this week with a variety of hazards. The storm will spread a large swath of heavy snow from the West Coast to the Northeast from Monday, February 20 to Thursday, February 23, 2023.
Tropical Cyclone “Freddy” is forecast to make landfall over the east-central coast of Madagascar on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, as an intense and very dangerous tropical system. The cyclone will then move over the island nation, exit into the Mozambique Channel on Wednesday and then re-intensify before making landfall over Mozambique.
A series of deadly avalanches caused by heavy snowfall have impacted Afghanistan and Tajikistan over the past couple of days, causing damage and leaving at least 25 people dead. The avalanches struck mountainous regions in both countries, including the Kunar and Badakhshan provinces of Afghanistan and Tajikistan’s eastern Gorno-Badakhshan region.
Strong winds produced by a low pressure system moving through the United States picked up large amounts of dust from California to Oklahoma on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, creating significant reductions in visibility that resulted in multiple car crashes in which at least one person died. In some places, the visibility was reduced to zero.
New Zealand’s North Island has been severely impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle over the past couple of days, with floods, landslides, and ocean swells leaving many people stranded on rooftops. The storm, which caused extensive damage to homes and infrastructure, also closed numerous roads, canceled hundreds of flights, and left about 225 000 people without power. At least 4 people have been killed.
Despite being downgraded from a tropical cyclone, Gabrielle is intensifying and spreading strong winds and heavy rain across a wider area affecting the whole of the North Island in some way.
Heavy rain has wreaked havoc across southern Brazil, particularly in the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro States, over the past two days. Residents have been dealing with flooding, devastating weather-related incidents caused by lightning, and landslides that have resulted in casualties and destruction.
Severe thunderstorms hit New South Wales, Australia on February 9, 2023, bringing heavy rainfall and damaging winds. The storm caused officials to issue flash flooding warnings and prompted the NSW State Emergency Service to respond to over 600 calls for help.
Tropical Cyclone “Gabrielle” has formed in the Coral Sea as the 3rd named storm of the 2023 Australian region cyclone season. The forecast track takes it near Norfolk Island as a severe category 3 before moving toward New Zealand. The cyclone could bring more rounds of heavy rain to parts of North Island, New Zealand, particularly the Auckland area where extremely heavy and record-breaking rainfall amounts were registered recently.
In 2022, there were 782 tornadoes reported in Europe, causing 6 fatalities and 84 injuries.
