GLOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

NOVEMBER 2024

EUROPE

More than 500 homes and businesses were flooded across Wales and England during Storm Bert, it has emerged, as forecasters issued another severe weather warning for rain in parts of southern Britain. In Wales, the first minister, Eluned Morgan, said 400 homes had been damaged as well as businesses and infrastructure, and reviews were being done to find out why some householders appeared not to have received warnings in time. She said her administration would be asking for more money from the UK government to keep old coal tips safe after a landslip in Cwmtillery, south Wales, forced people out of their homes. The UK environment secretary, Steve Reed, said 107 properties had been hit in England and that more flooding was likely but its impacts should be less severe than they were at the weekend.

Authorities in eastern and southern Spain have closed schools and begun evacuating some residents as the country is pounded by further torrential rains two weeks after the catastrophic floods that killed at least 215 people and unleashed a bitter political blame game.  On Wednesday morning, the state meteorological agency, Aemet, put large parts of eastern and southern Spain on amber alert and issued the highest level of warning for the provinces Tarragona in Catalonia and Málaga in Andalucía.  The Andalucían government closed schools in the provinces of Málaga and Granada, and 3,000 people were evacuated from neighborhoods near the Guadalhorce river, which runs through Málaga province. High-speed rail services connecting Madrid to Málaga and Valencia were suspended on Wednesday afternoon until at least midday on Thursday.  Málaga airport cancelled one flight and diverted five others, operator Aena wrote on X, while the local metro was shut.

UNITED STATES

Millions of Americans will face severe weather – and low temperatures – as they travel for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.  The National Weather Service (NWS) issued an announcement on Monday that an Arctic blast is expected to bring “dangerous wind chills, lake effect snow, and severe thunderstorms”.  The “Arctic outbreak” will likely hit the Northern Rockies, which includes parts of Idaho, Montana and Washington State, as well as the Northern Plains region on Thursday before advancing into the Midwest area this weekend, the NWS reported.  Severe thunderstorms could also hit the south-east, forecasters warned, as increased rain is predicted for swaths of the US.

A major storm pummeled northern California with rain and snow on Thursday and threatened to cause flash flooding and rockslides, in the latest wave of damaging weather to wash over the west coast.  The National Weather Service (NWS) extended a flood watch into Saturday for areas north of San Francisco as the strongest atmospheric river â€“ a large plume of moisture flowing onshore – that California and the Pacific north-west has seen this season inundated the region. The storm system unleashed winds the night before that left two people dead and hundreds of thousands without power in Washington state.  The weather service office in Sacramento, California, said early on Thursday in a social media post that slick roads with ponding water were observed across parts of the valley and foothills, and there were some snow-covered roads in the mountains.  Up to 16in of rain (about 41cm) was forecast in northern California and south-western Oregon through Friday. By Wednesday evening, some areas in northern California had experienced heavy rain, including Santa Rosa, which had seen about 5in within 24 hours, according to Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the NWS.

Dangerous flash flooding, rockslides and debris flows were possible, particularly in areas affected by wildfires in recent months, officials warned. About a dozen small landslides had struck in northern California in the last 24 hours, including one on Highway 281 on Wednesday morning that caused a vehicle crash, said Chenard.

A day after tornadoes injured at least 11 people while downing trees, power lines and gas lines, communities in Oklahoma on Monday were navigating fresh warnings of  destructive weather.  Six or more tornadoes hit the state overnight into Sunday – and more “tornadoes (some strong), large hail, and severe thunderstorm gusts, are expected today into tonight from the Southern Plains into the Ozarks and mid Mississippi Valley”, the US’s National Weather Service (NWS) said on Monday. Local meteorologists expect damaging winds of between 70 and 80mph.  Power outages persist as a result of the severe weather heading into Sunday. More than 11,800 customers remained without power as of Monday. A post on X from the Oklahoma governor, Kevin Stitt, told residents on Sunday night that power restoration was under way – and warned that “potentially life-threatening conditions continue to move across the state”. Stitt’s post added: “Stay weather aware!”

TROPICAL

Hurricane Rafael has intensified into a category 3 hurricane as it nears the coast of western Cuba, which is still reeling from a recent blackout and Hurricane Oscar. Early on Wednesday it was about 160 miles (260km) south-east of Havana and packing winds of 99mph (160km/h), making it a category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Five is the strongest.  The National Hurricane Center in the US said the storm would become a major hurricane before it makes landfall, bringing with it a “life-threatening storm surge, damaging hurricane-force winds, and flash flooding”.  Writing on X, Cuba’s meteorological institute, Insmet, earlier said it expected Rafael to be “very close to a category 3” when it slams into the west of the island, between Pinar del Río and Artemisa provinces. Nine provinces in west and central Cuba, including the capital, Havana, have been placed on cyclone alert. According to Cuban media, more than 70,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, mostly in Guantánamo in the east, where eight people were killed by Hurricane Oscar last month.  While Guantánamo is not expected to experience hurricane conditions, persistent rain this week has left the ground saturated.  The office of the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, reported on Tuesday that it was mobilising the national defense council, consisting of military personnel, due to the storm. “We have activated the national defense council to provide the maximum attention to the passage of Hurricane Rafael,” Díaz-Canel said on X.

“Measures have been taken in each place to protect our people and material resources,” he added. “As we have always done since the Revolution, we will overcome this situation.”