GOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS NOVEMBER 2019

FRANCE

Tens of thousa cls of homes have been left without power in France, as Storm Amelie brought heavy incls and rains to the Atlantic coast and southern areas (Y^d ). French electricity suppl er Enedis said power cuts were affecting 55,000 homes, mostly in the western Nouvel e Aquitaine region, at 17:00 (16:00 GMT). A number of departments were placed on "oran e alert" throughout the day because of the extreme weather. Winds in some places ha exceeded 100 mph. Emergency services responded to hundreds of callouts on Sunday, as eavy winds brought down trees and electricity cables. Railway operator SNCF said seve al trains were cancelled or delayed because of the extreme weather, while two motorways were temporarily closed.

INDIA

Alr pollution In ne north of India nas "reached unbearable levels," the capital Delhi's Chief

AUSTRALIA

Across New So h Wales more than 575 schools were closed today, while aged care homes remained on hi h alert and animal shelters scrambled to re-home pets as much of the state prepares for ca strophic fire conditions (11 ^th ). The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, declared a wee -long state of emergency on Monday in the wake of devastating fires on the state's mid-nor coast in which three people died and at least 150 homes were destroyed. While favorable conditions helped ease the bushfire threat on Monday, more than 60 bushfires contin e to ravage the state and the Bureau of Meteorology has forecast "hot, dry and gusty wind on Tuesday which "will generate very dangerous fire conditions across large parts of t e state". More than 1,300 firefighters have been mobilized and the chief of the defense for e has ordered defence bases to provide any assistance requested by local

firefighters. Th severe fire danger prompted the Rural Fire Service to declare a catastrophic fire danger war ing for large chunks of the state, including in the greater Sydney area, the Hunter, Illawar and Shoalhaven regions. It is the first time the warning has been issued in greater Sydney nd the first state of emergency since October 2013, when major bushfires killed two peopl and destroyed hundreds of homes in the state's Blue Mountains region.

Hailstones up t 6 cm in diameter hit north of Brisbane as dangerous thunderstorms moved across southea Queensland, causing severe damage to cars and homes (17 ^th ). The hail came shortly af er an emergency warning was issued for bushfires north of Toowomba, and prompting resid nts to evacuate, Severe hailstorm caused significant damage to cars and homes, and left at least 23,000 homes across South East Queensland without power.

People in Sydn y woke up to a city shrouded in smoke on Tuesday, as scores of bushfires rage across the region (19^th ). Strong winds overnlgnt brought smoke from fires inland, pushing the air quality in Australia's largest city to beyond "hazardous" levels at times. Six people have di cl in bushfires in the state's north since October. Sydney residents were warned about s2vere fire danger on Tuesday, as temperatures soared to 37C in the city ^t s west. Parts of t city recorded air pollution levels at eight times higher than the national benchmark. He Ith officials advised people to stay indoors and avoid physical activity. They also shared firs aid guides on how to help asthma sufferers and others with respiratory problems.

ITALY

Severe flooding in Venice that has left much of the Italian city under water is a direct result of climate chan e, the mayor says (11-12^th ). The highest water levels in the region in more than 50 years ill leave "a permanent mark", Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro tweeted. The waters in Venic peaked at 1.87 m, according to the tide monitoring center. Only once since official records egan in 1923 has the tide been higher, reaching 1.94 m in 1966. Images showed popula tourist sites left completely flooded and people wading through the streets as Venice was it by a storm. St Mark's Square - one of the lowest parts of the city - was one of the wor hit areas. St Mark's Basilica was flooded for the sixth time in 1,200 years, according to ch rch records. Pierpaolo Campostrini, a member of St Mark's council, said four of those floods ad now occurred within the past 20 years. The city of Venice is made up of more than 100 glands inside a lagoon off the north-east coast of Italy. Two people died on the island of Pe lestrina, a thin strip of land that separates the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. A man was ele:rocuted as he tried to start a pump in his home and a second person was found dead elswhere.

A powerful storI unleashed torrential rain resulting in widespread flooding across southern

France, Italy awestern Greece in recent days (21-22 ^nd ). The storm, which was named

Cecilia by Spais State Meteorological Agency, first struck the Iberian Peninsula on Thursday and Fiday with damaging winds and downpours. The storm caused a large transport ship trun aground in northwest Spain on Friday. After departing Spain, the storm unleashetorrential rainfall on southern France and northern Italy where multiple deaths were reorted. Rainfall amounts of 75-150 mm were common across parts of Spain, southeastern Fnce and northwestern Italy. The severe weather resulted in thousands of power outagesnd hundreds of evacuations across northern Italy, according to EuroNews, before eventual y making a final stop in southern Italy and Greece from Sunday into Monday. At lea nine deaths have been reported from the storm in France, Italy and Greece, accordi g to the Associated Press. That number may rise as flooding continues across the regi l.

UNITED STATES

An Arctic air m ss has brought record-breaking low temperatures to several places in the U.S (12^th ). The rctic blast, which began in Siberia, has brought heavy snow and ice to many areas. Da ly records have been set in states including Kansas and Illinois. Four traffic deaths have be n linked to the bad weather and more than 1,000 flights have been cancelled. Scho s have also been closed in some areas. The National Weather Service (NSW) said the ir mass was continuing to spread from the Plains towards the East Coast. Several cities in Kansas set record low temperatures on Tuesday, when compared to the same date in pr vious years. The lowest temperature was recorded in Garden City, where it dropped to -IF -18C), breaking the record of 7F set last year. Chicago recorded a low of 7F, breaking the)revious record of 8F set in 1986, the NWS said. The city also set a daily record for snowfI on Monday. A temperature of 8F in Indianapolis marked the city's earliest recordedutumn temperature in single digits (F).

A major snowstorn has caused headaches for early Thanksgiving travelers in Colorado with feet of snow pilinup in some parts of the state (25-26^th ). The storm began to unfold over Colorado late MOday and intensified overnight. Most of Denver and the city's suburbs woke up to 6 to 12 inces of snow on Tuesday with several feet falling over the nearby mountains. Pineood Springs, Colorado, located near Rocky Mountain National Park, was one of the snowist spots in the state with nearly 32 inches of snow falling as of 7 a.m. MST Tuesday. Snow hs also spread into Nebraska with a general 3 to 6 inches falling over the state's midsectio as of late Tuesday morning.

NEW ZEALAND

Two severe weat er events battered New Zealand's Canterbury region over the past 3 days - a severe hailst rm in Timaru on November 20, 2019/ and a destructive tornado that ripped through C ristchurch on November 18. After the catastrophic events, farmers found themselves salva ing spared crops, with fears that as much as 80 ⁰/0 was lost. Insurers reported that the have received hundreds of claims after a severe hailstorm with hail the size of golf balls, saying, "It's been pretty extensive, it's done a lot of damage to a broad range of crops -vheat and barley, particularly."

PHILIPPINES

On November 11 the Joint Typhoon Warning Center began monitoring a disturbance situated only a c uple hundred miles off the coast of the Philippines. It quickly organized as sea surface tem ratures became very conducive for development. Later, it developed into Tropical Depress nn 27W, and subsequently was named Ramon. Ramon intensified into a tropical storm b November 13, and was given the name Kalmaegi by the JMA. On November 17, K Imaegi entered favourable waters and then intensified into a severe tropical storm. B the next day, Kalmaegi intensified into a Category 1 typhoon. On November 20, it it Santa Ana, Cagayan in the Phillipines and rapidly dissipated inland, as about to be abso bed by nearby Tropical Storm Fung-wong east of it.

AFRICA

Over 211,000 pe ple in Chad have been affected by flooding due to heavy rain, resulting in deaths, damage b homes and property (21 ^st). In the Mayo-Kebbi Est province alone, the number of peopl affected comes to 80,600, in a region already impacted by an ongoing cholera epidemi

Heavy rains unle shed overnight floods that have killed 34 people in western Kenya, including 29 fear d buried in mudslides, authorities said Saturday (23 ^rd ). West Pokot County Commissioner A 0110 Okello said five other people died when their car was swept away on the road betwee Kitale and Lodwar after two rivers overflowed their banks. More than 1 million people in East Africa have been affected by flooding after higher-than-normal rainfall. The Inte national Rescue Committee said this month that many people had been reeling from an arlier severe drought. Now rains in parts of Somalia, South Sudan and Kenya are expec ed for four to six more weeks.

TROPICAL