GLOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

APRIL 2023

ASIA

A severe heatwave has swept across much of Asia, causing deaths and school closures in India and record-breaking temperatures in China (19^th).  Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian, described the unusually high temperatures as the “worst April heatwave in Asian history”.  In China, local media reported that record temperatures for April had been observed in many locations, including Chengdu, Zhejiang, Nanjing, Hangzhou and other areas of the Yangtze River delta region.  Unusually hot temperatures have also been reported in south-east Asia in recent days, including in Luang Prabang, Laos, which recorded 42.7C this week, the highest reliable temperature in its history, according to Herrera. Vientiane also recorded 41.4C, the hottest day ever for the capital, on Saturday. In Thailand, a government monitoring station in Tak in the north-west of the country recorded 45.4C on Saturday, breaking the previous high of 44.6C reached in Mae Hong Son on 28 April 2016. The record was not included in the government’s official summary statistics, however, which reported the temperature in Tak as 44.6C.  In Bangladesh, a country at the forefront of the climate crisis, temperatures soared above 40C in the capital, Dhaka, on Saturday, the hottest day in 58 years, causing road surfaces to melt. An official from the ministry of environment, forests and climate change said that if the heat did not abate, they would declare a temperature emergency in certain areas.

Sandstorms whipped up from the Gobi Desert have spread from northern China to Thailand and South Korea and as far east as Japan, causing a reduction in visibility and an increase in respiratory illness.  There have been four sandstorms in the space of a month in China this year,

EUROPE

A swathe of stormy weather with heavy rain and strong gusts is set to sweep across the UK on Wednesday.  The weather system, named Storm Noa by Météo-France, is predicted to grow stronger over the course of the day with coastal areas in south-west England, particularly Devon and Cornwall, likely to be worst affected.  The Met Office has warned of potential short-term losses of power and disruption to road and ferry travel in the region. A yellow weather warning for wind has also been extended to the south-east of England, where the storm is predicted to migrate over the course of the day.  The forecaster said there was a chance of “heavy outbreaks of rain and thunder” in south-east England by Wednesday evening. The Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon said: “There’s likely to be some warning updates from us of winds with some associated rain throughout the day with gusts up to 60 to 70 miles per hour this morning and some heavy rains accompanying.  “Coastal areas, particularly Devon and Cornwall, are likely to see the worst of this with potential short-term losses of power and disruption to travel. This is a low-pressure system that is building in from the west and is set to get worse throughout the course of the day.”

The record figure was reached in Cordoba airport in southern Spain just after 17:00 local time (16:00 BST).For days a blistering heatwave has hit the country with temperatures 10-15C warmer than expected for April.It's been driven by a mass of very hot air from Africa, coupled with a slow moving weather system."This is not normal. Temperatures are completely out of control this year," Cayetano Torres, a spokesman for Spain's meteorological office, told BBC News.  Experts were surprised by the scale of the heat experienced across southern Spain in recent days.

CLIMATE

The temperature of the world’s ocean surface has hit an all-time high since satellite records began, leading to marine heatwaves around the globe, according to US government data. Climate scientists said preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) showed the average temperature at the ocean’s surface has been 21.1C the start of April – beating the previous high of 21C set in 2016.

Tulare Lake was drained a century ago. Now locals fear flooding as agencies rush in sandbags and rebuild levees. Kayode Kadara is worried about the rising waters near his home. Just a few months ago, this landscape in California’s Central Valley was a dry basin filled with pistachio and almond groves.  Then a winter of historic rain and snow brought Tulare Lake – a huge freshwater body drained a century ago by agricultural canals – rushing back from the dead. Workers from state agencies have brought sandbags in by helicopter, rebuilt levees and constructed walls to hold the deluge back.

UNITED STATES

At least 32 people have been killed after a slew of tornadoes tore through parts of the southern and midwestern states in recent days, leaving immense destruction and debris in its path, according to officials (3^rd).  A monster storm system struck at least eight states over the weekend, prompting at least 50 preliminary reports of tornadoes. The states affected include Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Delaware and Alabama.  Home to 85 million people, the affected area saw at least 900,000 places without power after the storms began tearing through Friday evening.  On Sunday morning, Joe Biden announced the approval of an expedited major disaster declaration to quickly provide federal assistance to Arkansas. The president also announced that federal organizations are working closely with Indiana and other impacted states as the storms’ widespread damage remains under assessment.

TROPICAL

Eleven Indonesian fishers have been rescued from a remote island off western Australia after their vessel was destroyed by Cyclone Ilsa (18^th).  The men were shipwrecked without food and water for six days on a remote island in the Rowley Shoals, about 300km west of Broome.  But nine of their shipmates are missing, feared dead, after the ferocious storm.  The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the surviving crew had ben rescued late on Monday after a surveillance flight spotted their makeshift camp and beached boat on small sandy island.  “The survivors reported that there had been two fishing vessels with 10 crew each but one vessel had sunk in the extreme conditions of the cyclone,” a spokesperson on Tuesday. “The remaining vessel managed to rescue the only survivor before being washed ashore on Bedwell Island.”

A tropical cyclone is expected to make landfall in western Australia on Thursday, bringing winds strong enough to damage roofing, knock over trees and caravans and cause widespread power outages, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned.  Category 3 tropical Cyclone Ilsa was about 340km north-west of Broome on Wednesday evening, and was expected to strengthen to a category 4 by the time it made landfall between Broome and Port Hedland on Thursday. That would make it the first storm of such magnitude to strike the region in more than a decade.

Eleven Indonesian fishers have been rescued from a remote island off western Australia  after their vessel was destroyed by Cyclone Ilsa.  The men were shipwrecked without food and water for six days on a remote island in the Rowley Shoals, about 300km west of Broome.