A damaging tornado hit the town of Levin, New Zealand’s North Island on May 20, 2022, causing widespread damage and injuring several people. New Zealand’s Met Service recorded a wind gust of 140 km/h (86 mph) in the town but at the time of press, it was still not able to determine whether it was indeed a tornado that caused the damage, or a thunderstorm collapsing on itself.
Drastically colder air will surge across the western U.S., culminating with a late-season wintry weather event over the central Rockies/High Plains late Friday into Saturday, May 20 into 21, 2022.
Hurricane-force winds and heavy rain brought by Subtropical Storm “Yakecan” hit parts of Uruguay and Brazil over the past couple of days, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power and at least 2person dead.
Wheat prices in Europe and Australia hit record highs this week after India – the world’s second-largest wheat producer – announced an immediate export ban due to a severe heatwave affecting the country since March. Global wheat prices have soared 40% since February 2022, increasing famine and sparking social unrest.
More than 3 000 earthquakes have been automatically detected near Eldvörp in the Reykjanes/Svartsengi volcanic system in the past week, the Icelandic Met Office reports. In addition, recent deformation observations identified the onset of a new inflation event west of Thorbjörn which is likely caused by magma intrusion.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its fourth consecutive failed rain season and the worst drought since 1981. At least 15 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are already affected and there are fears this number could jump to 20 million.
A fast-moving line of severe thunderstorms, known as a derecho, developed in central Nebraska on May 12, 2022, bringing hurricane-force winds and creating a rare, large wall of dust that swept over parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota, creating near-zero visibility on state highways.
A series of strong explosions took place at Stromboli volcano, Italy on May 13, 2022. The first event was a moderately strong explosion at 14:42 UTC, followed by a dozen other events over the next three minutes of which the most energetic was at 14:43 UTC.
The Volcanic Alert Level for Awu volcano, located in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, was raised from Level 2 to 3 on May 11, 2022, after earthquake energy values showed a drastic increase on May 9 and 10. The last eruption of this volcano took place in June 2004 (VEI 2).
Much of Queensland, Australia experienced unseasonably heavy rain and flooding this week, with parts of the state receiving between 3 to 4 months’ worth of rain in 48 to 72 hours.
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