• Extremely heavy rains hit Brazil, leaving at least 46 people dead

    ByTW

    Brazil’s southeastern coastal areas were hit with exceptionally heavy rainfall on February 18 and 19, 2023, causing floods and landslides that killed 40 people, injured 23 others, and displaced thousands more. The region experienced some of the country’s highest recorded rainfall totals for a 24-hour period, with Bertioga registering 694 mm (27.32 inches) and São Sebastião recording 649 mm (25.55 inches) during the same timeframe.

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

    ByTeo Blašković

    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.

  • Europe experienced record number of hailstorms in 2022 for the second year in row

    ByTW

    2022 saw a record-breaking number of hailstorms in Europe with 8 224 large hail reports. That is 2 791 large hail reports more than in 2021, which was already a record-breaking year. France had the most reports with 2 461 and was also the country with the largest economic impact of 4.8 billion €.

  • The greatest concentration of lightning ever recorded

    ByTeo Blašković

    The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption on January 15, 2022, has set a new record for the greatest concentration of lightning ever detected. According to data from Vaisala’s Global Lightning Dataset GLD360, nearly 400 000 lightning events were detected within just six hours of the eruption, making it a truly exceptional phenomenon.