A destructive tornado outbreak with at least 78 tornadoes impacted the U.S. Plains on Friday, April 26, 2024, leaving a trail of damage and more than a dozen injuries. The outbreak occurred as a part of a multi-day severe weather threat covering over 60 million Americans. The threat of EF2 – EF5 tornadoes will continue into Sunday, April 28.
A severe weather warning covers the Plains, threatening over 55 million residents with strong tornadoes, hail the size of baseballs, and damaging wind gusts. The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch as the region braces for potentially destructive weather through the weekend.
Kenya is facing a severe flood crisis with 38 confirmed deaths and more than 40 000 displaced due to continuous heavy rains since mid-March 2024. The floods have particularly devastated Nairobi and surrounding regions, prompting urgent national emergency responses.
Europe experienced one of the most rapid temperature flips on record in April 2024, shifting from widespread record-breaking summer-like warmth at the start of the month to late-April frost and cold temperature records. According to climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, Europe has never experienced a month with such extreme temperature contrasts.
Record-breaking rainfall affecting China’s Guangdong Province since Friday, April 19, 2024, pushed water levels in the Bei River, a tributary of the Pearl River, to exceed 50-year highs, causing widespread floods in which at least 4 people died and 10 others went missing. The floods caused extensive damage, including the destruction of 36 houses and severe damage to 48 others, incurring direct economic losses of nearly 140.6 million yuan.
A powerful storm rolled over South Carolina on April 20, 2024, bringing strong winds, heavy rain, and golf to softball-sized hail. The storm system affected the larger areas of Lancaster and York counties but focused its most intense effects in northeast-central York County, causing significant structural damage and power outages.
The southern Chinese province of Guangdong faces severe flooding risks with the Bei River’s water levels predicted to peak at 37.3 m (122 feet) early on April 22, 2024. This event, deemed a ‘once-in-a-century’ occurrence, comes after the region experienced record-breaking rainfall, affecting millions of people.
Solar wind conditions became enhanced beginning at 04:13 UTC on April 19, 2024, due to coronal mass ejection (CME) impact, resulting in unexpected G3 – Strong geomagnetic storming just before 20:00 UTC.
A series of powerful eruptions took place at Ruang volcano in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province starting at 17:08 UTC on April 16, 2024 (01:08 LT, April 17). As a result, the Aviation Color Code was raised to Red, the Alert Level to 3 of 4, and local authorities started evacuating more than 800 people living on the island as a preventive measure. The last eruptive episode at this volcano was in September 2002 (VEI 4).
There is an Enhanced Risk (Level 3 of 5) for severe thunderstorms on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, with threats for significant severe hail and tornado potential over southern Iowa into northern Missouri and west-central Illinois, the National Weather Service (NWS) warns. Additionally, elevated to critical fire weather is possible Tuesday due to gusty winds and dry conditions over parts of the southern High Plains and northeastern Montana.
