GLOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

JUNE 2020

MEXICO

Heavy rains and hail accompanied by winds of 40 to 50 km/h hit Mexico City, causing severe flooding in various parts of the city (8^th). Rapidly rising waters flooded streets and stranded drivers, leading to emergency rescues.

ASIA

At least 800,000 people have been affected by heavy rains and flooding in central and southern China over the past couple of days (6^th-7^th). At least 2 people have been killed and 4 are still missing. The worst affected provinces are Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangxi. Neighboring Jiangxi has been under heavy rain since 2 June. Flooding in the province has affected almost 380,000 people and forced 21 000 to evacuate. Provincial authorities said 117 homes were destroyed and wide areas of crops damaged.

A severe sandstorm hit Mongolia's Dundgobi Province (9^th). The storm packed winds of up to 126 km/h, according to the meteorological agency. It swept through areas in Deren, Gurvansaikhan, and Mandalgobi. This type of sandstorm, known to Mongolian.

Floods and mudslides in south China have uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and left dozens dead or missing, according to state media (11^th). The bad weather has wreaked havoc on popular tourist areas that had already suffered through months of travel restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak. Torrential downpours unleashed floods and mudslides that caused nearly 230,000 people to be relocated and destroyed more than 1,300 houses, official state news agency Xinhua reported, citing the ministry of emergency management. In southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, six people were reported dead and one missing, Xinhua said. Streets were water logged in popular tourist destination Yangshuo, forcing residents and visitors to evacuate on bamboo rafts. The local government said more than 1,000 hotels had been flooded and more than 30 tourist sites damaged.

It's been a very wet start to the wet season in southern China as rounds of flooding rain and thunderstorms continue to track across the region (14^th). Multiple deaths and a massive evacuation for hundreds of thousands of people are being blamed on the persistent deluge. Heavy rainfall tracked across southern China last week and over the weekend. Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi provinces as well as Chongqing municipality were, and continue to be, some of the hardest hit provinces. The downpours turned streets into rivers and flooded buildings in parts of Chongqing on Sunday. More than 30,000 people have been affected by the flooding in the municipality, including over 7,000 who were forced from their homes. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland have been destroyed by the deluge of rain.

More than 100 people in northern India have been killed by dozens of lightning strikes across two states in recent days, officials say (25^th). The disaster management team in Bihar state said 83 were killed there, while another 20 were in hospital with injuries. At least 20 more people are reported dead in neighboring Uttar Pradesh. Lightning strikes are common in India during heavy monsoon rains. Meanwhile the rain and thunderstorms have caused widespread damage to trees and property.

EUROPE

At least one person died while dozens were rescued as flash flooding hit Czech Republic's eastern region due to overnight torrential rains (7^th-8^th). The Oskava river has hit 3.3 m, almost reaching the extreme danger level of 3.4 m. On Sunday evening, fire services in the Olomouc region evacuated dozens of residents in several villages, including Sumvald, Dolni Sukolom, Brevenec, and Oskava. Local media said up to 1 m of floodwater inundated some areas. Images posted by the police and fire departments showed extensive damage as streets were covered in mud and debris.

In just a few hours, nearly two months' worth of rain deluged portions of Ajaccio, the capital city of Corsica (11^th). Training thunderstorms, or storms that impact the same area repeatedly, formed over the city of Ajaccio, Corsica, late on Thursday morning. According to Meteo France, 44 mm of rain fell in just four hours at the Ajaccio reporting station. This rainfall amount is the equivalent of double the typical rainfall recorded for the entire month of June, according to Meteo France. At the onset of heavy rain, flash flooding became an issue for the coastal city almost immediately. Roads essentially became rivers while parked cars and large recycling bins alike were swept away during the torrential rains. Due to the very localized nature of the heavy downpours from these training thunderstorms, some portions of Ajaccio received much more rain than the official reporting station. Portions of the city received up to 120 mm of rainfall during the event, according to Meteo France.

UNITED STATES

After warm weather over the weekend drove temperatures into summer territory, a rare June snowstorm pushed through the Rocky Mountain region, bringing accumulating snowfall to several states (8^th-9^th). Ahead of the cold and snow, portions of the area experienced temperatures well above average to start the week. On Sunday, the temperature at Colorado Springs Airport reached 88F, 12 F above average for this time of year. Once the heat moved out, high-wind warnings covered Colorado and Wyoming on Monday night as a weather system rolled through the area with thunderstorms and even hail for portions of the Denver metro area. A storm that produced snowfall for parts of Nevada and Utah started to push toward the Rocky Mountain States during the overnight hours and into Tuesday morning. Alta, Utah, picked up more than a foot of snow, with a three-day storm total of 16.6 inches, as of Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

Miami, Florida, had its warmest week on record for any month, with the mean temperature over a seven-day span averaging 88.1F ending today, according to the NWS (28^th). The previous seven-day record was 87.8F, set last year in the final week of June, according to Eric Blake, a hurricane scientist with the NWS. Records date back to 1895.

RUSSIA

After an early start to summer across much of Siberia, winter weather made a dramatic return across southern parts of the region during the first days of June (11^th).  Meteorological summer began on June 1, but people across western Siberia have reported signs of summer since the middle of May. Many record high temperatures were set across the region last month. Residents reported orchids blooming in the Krasnoyarsk region as well as being able to harvest berries and mushrooms in the Novosibirsk region weeks ahead of schedule, according to The Siberian Times. Heavy thunderstorms in recent weeks also caused several state of emergency declarations to be issued by separate districts in Krasnoyarsk as flooding destroyed buildings and washed away three bridges, the Siberian Times reported. Meanwhile, areas in south-central Russia reported accumulating snow to start the month. Khakassia, nicknamed "Warm Siberia" due to the mild climate compared to locations farther north in Siberia, reported enough snow to cover roads and impact travel in early June.

CANADA

A severe hailstorm pounded Calgary, Canada, turning a summer day into a virtual winter wonderland as chunks of ice the size of tennis balls ricocheted out of the sky (13^th). Wind-driven hailstones shattered windows and windshields, peeled the siding off homes and businesses, and coated the ground several inches thick, making it a monochromatic icy landscape. Trees were stripped bare in some areas where heavy hail shredded vegetation. Elsewhere, reports of funnel clouds accompanied the storm. The same storms produced serious flooding, inundating streets and leaving numerous vehicles up to their canopies in water. The region had been under a severe thunderstorm watch for much of the afternoon. Calgary International Airport first reported thunder at 6:40 p.m.. Hail began falling at the airport at 7:02 p.m., the temperature slipping 3 C in six minutes as ice piled up and cooled the ground.

ARCTIC

Temperatures in the Arctic Circle are likely to have hit an all-time record today, reaching 38C in Verkhoyansk, a Siberian town (20^th). The record still needs to be verified, but it appears to have been 18 C higher than the average maximum daily temperature in June. Hot summer weather is not uncommon in the Arctic Circle, but recent months have seen abnormally high temperatures. The Arctic is believed to be warming twice as fast as the global average. Verkhoyansk, home to about 1,300 people, sits just inside the Arctic Circle, in Siberia. It has an extreme climate with temperatures falling in January to an average maximum of -42C and then rising in June to 20C. But a persistent heatwave this year in the Arctic Circle has worried meteorologists. In March, April and May, the Copernicus Climate Change service reported that the average temperature was around 10 C above normal.