A severe cold snap has gripped the Nordic region, with Sweden experiencing its coldest January night in 25 years. This extreme weather has caused widespread disruption across Scandinavia, closing schools and halting transport, while Storm Henk brought heavy rain and strong winds to Western Europe, leading to one fatality and widespread damage.
A major X5.0 solar flare erupted from Active Region 3536 at 21:55 UTC on December 31, 2023. The event started at 21:36 and ended at 22:08 UTC. This is now the strongest solar flare of the current solar cycle — Solar Cycle 25 — and the strongest flare since X9.3 on September 6, 2017.
NASA’s MERRA-2 climate model reveals that the Arctic stratosphere has reached a 40-year record low for December, creating a sudden appearance of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) far beyond their usual Arctic confines.
Eastern Europe is still grappling with the aftermath of Storm Bettina, a severe snowstorm that rapidly intensified over the Black Sea and impacted the region on November 26 and 27, 2023. Ukraine has reported significant casualties, with at least five deaths and 19 injuries in the Odesa region. The storm has not only disrupted life in Ukraine but also inflicted damage and caused fatalities in neighboring countries such as Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Russia.
The Dominican Republic has been severely impacted by a tropical disturbance that brought record-breaking rainfall and catastrophic flooding across various regions.
In a dramatic shift from drought to deluge, Somalia is experiencing unprecedented flooding described as a ‘once-in-a-century’ event by the UN. This natural disaster, exacerbated by El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole, has put approximately 1.6 million people at risk, with over 1.24 million already affected. The nation faces a severe humanitarian challenge as it contends with the aftermath of these extreme weather conditions.
On November 5, 2023, observers across the globe were treated to a striking light show, courtesy of a G3 – Strong geomagnetic storm. This solar event was powerful enough to push the typically high-latitude auroras into lower latitudes, with sightings as far south as Texas and Arizona in the United States, as well as in European countries like Italy and Greece. Sightings were also reported in Australia and New Zealand.
Storm Ciarán — the 5th named and the most powerful storm of the 2023/24 European windstorm season — wreaked havoc across Western Europe on November 2, 2023, with record winds reaching 200 km/h (124 mph), leading to floods, blackouts, and major disruptions. Ciarán underwent explosive cyclogenesis, affecting Western Europe and culminating in numerous fatalities, record-breaking wind speeds, and extensive power outages.
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2023 UR10 flew past Earth at just 0.036 LD / 0.00009 AU (13 951 km / 8 669 miles) from the center of our planet at 04:27 UTC on October 20, 2023. This is about 7 580 km (4 709 miles) from the surface.
Tropical Storm “Otis” explosively intensified from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane in just 12 hours and continued intensifying on its way toward Mexico where it made landfall at 06:25 UTC on October 25, 2023, as a Category 5 hurricane. This is now one of the fastest-intensifying hurricanes in the world’s history.
