• Historic winter storm hits California: record-breaking cold and snow in Bay Area, rare blizzard warning issued

    A historic winter storm is currently affecting parts of California, particularly the San Francisco Bay area, where a 132-year-old daily temperature record was broken on Friday, February 24, 2023. In addition, a rare blizzard warning is in effect for the mountains of Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino. This is only the second such warning on record for the mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura counties and the first for San Bernardino County’s peaks.

  • Intense Tropical Cyclone “Freddy” heading toward Madagascar and Mozambique

    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.

  • Long-duration X2.2 solar flare erupts from Region 3229, full halo CME produced

    A long-duration solar flare measuring X2.2 at its peak erupted from AR 3229 (beta) at 20:16 UTC on February 17, 2023. The event started at 19:38 and ended at 20:50 UTC. A full halo Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) was produced and it appears there is an Earth-directed component. The estimated time of arrival is February 20.

  • National state of emergency declared as Cyclone Gabrielle causes widespread destruction across New Zealand’s North Island

    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.

  • Thousands of buildings in Auckland unsafe for living after worst rains in 170 years, New Zealand

    Thousands of buildings in New Zealand’s Auckland area are currently unsafe for living after the region was hit by extreme rainfall and severe flooding at the end of January. The amount of rain that fell in a matter of days made January 2023 Auckland’s wettest month in at least the last 170 years. The flooding has put the public’s focus on nature-based alternatives to traditional stormwater systems.

  • Series of destructive landslides in Peru claim at least 40 lives, destroy 200 homes

    At least 40 people have lost their lives and 200 houses have been swept away by a series of landslides caused by heavy rains in the Peruvian department of Arequipa. The landslides began on Sunday, February 5, 2023, and affected the town of Secocha and other localities in the province of Camaná.