Climate forecasts and alerts on extreme weather

At least 12 people were killed and up to 40 more are missing following a flash flood caused by torrential rain in central Afghanistan, a government spokesman said Sunday.

Zabihullah Mujahid said urgent aid was being rushed to the disaster zone in the Jalrez district of Maidan Wardak province.

"With great sadness we have received the news that 12 of our compatriots have been martyred and 40 others are missing," he said in a statement. — AFP

Tens of millions of people were battling dangerously high temperatures around the world on Sunday as record heat forecasts hung over parts of the United States, Europe and Asia, in the latest example of the threat from global warming.

A powerful heatwave stretching from California to Texas was expected to peak, according to the US National Weather Service, which warned of an "extremely hot and dangerous weekend".

Daytime highs were forecast to range between 10 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the west.

Arizona's state capital Phoenix recorded 16 straight days above 109F (43 degrees Celsius), with residents facing temperatures of 111F on Saturday, en route to an expected 115F.

California's Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, is also likely to register new peaks on Sunday, with the mercury possibly rising to 130F (54C).

Authorities have been sounding the alarm, advising people to avoid outdoor activities in the daytime and to be wary of dehydration. — AFP

Brutally high temperatures threatened tens of millions of Americans Saturday, as numerous cities braced to break records under a relentless heat dome that has baked parts of the country all week.

The National Weather Service warned of an "extremely hot and dangerous weekend," with daytime highs routinely ranging between 10 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the US West.

Residents of central and southern California, for example, saw thermometers peaking at 41 to 43 degrees Celsius, it said.

By Saturday afternoon, California's famous Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, had reached a sizzling 124F (51C), with Sunday's peak predicted to soar as high as 129F (54C). Even overnight lows there could exceed 38C.

The heat is forecast to remain anchored over the West for the weekend, "growing hotter in the South by early next week."

Authorities have been sounding the alarm for days, advising people to avoid outdoor activities in the daytime and to be on the watch for signs of dehydration, which can quickly become fatal in such temperatures.

— AFP

One person is dead and three missing in landslides in southwestern Japan, authorities say, as the country's weather agency warned of the "heaviest rain ever" in the region.

A 77-year-old woman was confirmed dead in a landslide that entered her home overnight in rural Fukuoka, the local fire department told AFP.

Her husband was recovered conscious and taken to hospital.

Three people were also missing after a landslide in Karatsu City, in Saga prefecture, which neighbours Fukuoka, local authorities there said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency urged people to take shelter as the heavy downpours risked flooding and landslides across the Fukuoka and Oita regions.

"A special heavy rain warning has been issued for municipalities in Fukuoka Prefecture. This is the heaviest rain ever experienced" by the region, Satoshi Sugimoto of the JMA's forecast division told reporters. — AFP

The El Nino weather phenomenon, which triggers higher global temperatures, is set to continue throughout 2023 and will be "at least of moderate strength", the United Nations says.

El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on June 8 that El Nino had arrived, warning that it "could lead to new records for temperatures". — AFP

China has issued its highest-level heat alert for northern parts of the country on Friday as the capital baked in temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

A day earlier Beijing logged its hottest June day since records began with the mercury edging up to 41.1C, breaking a record set in 1961.

The city is accustomed to sweltering summers but temperatures across China have been unusually high in recent months, with scientists saying the heat is being exacerbated by climate change. — AFP

Swathes of northern China sweltered in 40-degree heat on Thursday, weather data shows, as parts of Beijing and the nearby megacity of Tianjin recorded their highest temperatures for years.

Scientists say rising global temperatures -- caused largely by burning fossil fuels -- are aggravating extreme weather worldwide, and many countries in Asia have experienced deadly heatwaves and record temperatures in recent weeks.

A weather station in Tanghekou in northern Beijing logged 41.8 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) early on Thursday afternoon, making it the hottest place in the country, according to local state-backed media outlet Beijing News.

Another station in the south of the city chalked up its first 40-degree day in nearly a decade, while highs of 40.6 C represented the hottest June day ever recorded in Tianjin's Xiqing district. — AFP

At least 11 people were killed and 20 were missing after a cyclone tore through southern Brazil, local authorities said Saturday.

"According to the state branch of Protection and Civil Defense, 11 people died from the effects of the cyclone," the government of Rio Grande do Sul state, which borders Argentina and Uruguay, said in a statement.

"Eighteen people are still missing in Caraa and two in Tres Forquilhas," it said. 

A total of 2,330 people were left with damaged houses and 602 were evacuated from areas at risk due to the passage of the cyclone between Thursday and Friday.

Rio Grande do Sul governor Eduardo Leite visited the worst-affected areas by helicopter on Saturday together with government and rescue officials.

In Caraa, one of the worst-hit towns, the governor visited a community center used to shelter hundreds of people whose homes were damaged by the storm.

"The situation in Caraa worries us deeply. It is essential that we can, in an integrated manner, quickly map the main affected areas and identify the people who need support," the governor said in the statement.

— AFP

Howling gales and crashing waves pounded the coastline of India and Pakistan on Thursday, hours before the landfall of a powerful cyclone that has prompted mass evacuations.

Nearly 150,000 people have fled the predicted path of Cyclone Biparjoy, which means "disaster" in Bengali, with meteorologists warning it could devastate homes and tear down power lines when it lands at around 1200 GMT.

Powerful winds and storm surges were forecast to hammer a 325-kilometre (200-mile) stretch of coast between Mandvi in India's Gujarat state and Karachi in Pakistan.

Jayantha Bhai, a 35-year-old shopkeeper in India's beach town of Mandvi, told AFP soon after dawn on Thursday that he was afraid for his family's safety.

"This is the first time I've experienced a cyclone," Bhai said, a father of three boys aged between eight and 15, who planned to wait out the cyclone in his small concrete home behind the shop.

"This is nature, we can't fight with it," he said as driving rain lashed his home. — AFP

Three people have died and thousands have been evacuated after heavy rains pummeled eastern and central Cuba in recent days, authorities said Monday.

Heavy rains that started Thursday had subsided by Monday evening, but recovery operations were still underway in several eastern provinces, including Holguin, Camaguey, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Las Tunas, as well as in Sancti Spiritus, in the center of the island.

The Camaguey Civil Defense said in a statement on Monday that a 56-year-old man had been found dead in a dam and that the causes of death of another 67-year-old man are being investigated.

In Granma, nearly 7,500 people had been evacuated from their homes. In nearby Las Tunas, some 700 hectares of crops were damaged.

Granma authorities had reported on Friday the death of a man over the age of 60 from drowning.

"We are going to recover, no one will be helpless," President Miguel Diaz-Canel promised on Sunday. — AFP

Bangladesh has shut thousands of schools as it struggles through its lengthiest heatwave in half a century, with widespread power cuts only compounding locals' misery.

Temperatures in the South Asian nation's capital of Dhaka have surged to around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), with the poor bearing the brunt of the blazing sun.

"We have never seen such a prolonged heatwave since Bangladesh's independence in 1971," said Bazlur Rashid, a senior official at the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

Tens of thousands of primary schools were shut down by the government, and electricity production has been drastically cut, even as demand for air conditioners and fans has surged. — AFP

Typhoon Mawar passed just north of the US territory of Guam on Wednesday, the island's governor said, bringing destructive winds to the Pacific military outpost.

"What we are feeling right now is the eye going over the Rota Channel," Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said in a Facebook post, referring to the body of water between the islands of Guam and Rota. — AFP

Tens of thousands of people in a major Myanmar port city were cut off from contact on Monday after a cyclone tore through the west of the country and neighbouring Bangladesh.

Cyclone Mocha made landfall between Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh and Myanmar's Sittwe packing winds of up to 195 kilometres (120 miles) per hour, in the biggest storm to hit the Bay of Bengal in over a decade.

By late Sunday the storm had largely passed, sparing refugee camps housing almost a million Rohingya in Bangladesh, where officials said there had been no deaths. 

Communications with state capital Sittwe, home to around 150,000 people, which bore the brunt of the storm according to cyclone trackers, were still down on Monday.  — AFP

Cyclone Mocha intensified into the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane as it barrelled through the Bay of Bengal towards Myanmar and Bangladesh, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre says.

The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 knots (259 km/h), the centre said in a forecast update, equivalent to a category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind scale. — AFP

Pagasa issues El Niño Alert, indicating a high chance that the weather phenomenon associated with dry spell and droughts will develop in the next two months.

A severe tropical cyclone lashed northwestern Australia Friday with the strongest sustained winds the country has ever recorded, but officials said towns and cities appeared to have escaped the worst of the storm.

Tropical Cyclone Ilsa was upgraded to a category five storm -- the strongest on the scale -- shortly before making landfall near the sparsely-populated town of Pardoo, about 19 hours' drive northeast of Perth.

The owners of the Pardoo Roadhouse, a small petrol station and caravan park, said on social media that their business looked to have "suffered great damage". 

But authorities said major population centres appeared to have "escaped the brunt of the cyclone", which has since weakened to a category three. 

"We've received no calls for assistance. It appears the larger populated areas have escaped most of the damage," emergency services spokesman Peter Sutton told national broadcaster ABC. — AFP

A powerful tropical cyclone hurtled towards Western Australia on Thursday, triggering a "red alert" emergency and evacuation orders as authorities warned violent winds could toss caravans, tear down trees and turn debris into "missiles".

Tropical Cyclone Ilsa gathered strength over the Indian Ocean and Port Hedland, one of the world's major iron ore-shipping hubs, was cleared of vessels in preparation.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicted the category five storm would bring a "severe impact" with gusts of up to 315 kilometers per hour, making it one of the most powerful cyclones to hit the state in a decade.

The storm was expected to make landfall on Thursday evening or Friday morning, landing somewhere between the coastal towns of Broome and Port Hedland — about 17 hours' drive north of the state capital, Perth.— AFP

A tornado tore through a southern California city Wednesday, ripping roofs off buildings and throwing cars around, as the state's ongoing winter weather drama turned even wilder.

A swirling mass of wind -- of the kind usually seen in the Midwest -- raked the city of Montebello near Los Angeles, breaking windows and sending residents scurrying to safety.

"I was driving... and I saw this tornado in front of me and had to reverse out," one local business owner told broadcaster KTLA.

"The tornado took off the roof of the building. All the windows of the cars are shattered. Cars were destroyed, it was just a mess."

Footage showed what appeared to be roofing material circling above industrial buildings in the city, which lies just a few miles (kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles. — AFP

Tens of thousands of homes in New Zealand were without power Monday and hundreds of flights have been cancelled as a tropical storm lashes the north of the country. 

A state of emergency has been declared in five separate regions in the North Island, covering almost one-third of New Zealand's entire population of 5.1 million.

Although the storm was downgraded as it approached on Sunday, it has already toppled trees, damaged roads and downed power lines.

New Zealand's Wellington-based prime minister Chris Hipkins was among thousands stuck in the northern city of Auckland after the wild weather grounded flights.

"Things will get worse before they get better," Hipkins told New Zealanders in a press conference Monday, calling for them to "be prepared, stay inside if you can".

He said the government had considered declaring a national state of emergency for only the third time in the country's history -- but it wasn't yet necessary.

The government announced an aid package of $7.25 million to help recovery efforts -- AFP

New Zealand's prime minister on Sunday warned residents to hunker down and prepare an evacuation plan as a cyclone began pummelling the northern tip of the country.

Cyclone Gabrielle is forecast to envelop the upper half of the North Island over a 48-hour period from Sunday evening, two weeks after parts of the same region experienced devastating flooding.

Auckland remains under a state of emergency after flash floods swamped the city on January 27, resulting in four deaths and forcing thousands from their homes. 

Debris from that deluge remains on the streets of the country's biggest city, which now faces another bout of heavy rainfall and severe winds.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said everyone should be ready to face the threats posed by flooding, huge ocean swells and strong winds.

"Our main message to people across the country is to please take the severe weather warning seriously and to make sure you're prepared," he told journalists.

"Make sure you've got your grab-and-go kits, make sure you know where you need to go in the event you need to evacuate your homes." -- AFP

New Zealand police said Sunday a fourth body was found after deadly record torrential rain and flooding devastated Auckland.

The country's largest city saw 249 millimetres of rainfall on Friday, smashing the previous record of 161mm in a 24-hour period, and Auckland's 1.6 million residents remain under a state of emergency.

Two bodies were found in floodwater at separate locations Friday night in the northern suburb of Wairau Valley, and a third was discovered Saturday after a landslide brought down a home in central Auckland.

On Sunday a drone operator discovered the body of a man about a kilometre from where he was swept away Friday at Onewhero, south of Auckland.

"The flooding situation has been a traumatic experience for everyone in Auckland," New Zealand's deputy prime minister Carmel Sepuloni said at a press conference in the city Sunday. -- AFP

England will ban a wide range of single-use plastic items from October including plates and cutlery in order to limit their "devastating" effect on the environment, the government says Saturday.

The new legislation will also cover single-use trays and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers, the environment ministry announces.

The department says England uses around 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery per year, mostly plastic, with only one in 10 items recycled. — AFP

The death toll from a fierce winter storm that gripped much of the United States over Christmas rose to at least 61 on Thursday, officials said.

Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz said two more deaths had been reported in the western New York region that bore the brunt of the historic storm, bringing the total to 39.

Erie County includes the snow-battered city of Buffalo, where most of the deaths occurred.

Poloncarz said 17 of the 39 victims were found outside, 11 were in homes, four were in cars, four died while shoveling or snowblowing and three were the result of an inability of emergency responders to reach them in time.

Nine deaths were reported in storm-related car crashes in the midwestern state of Ohio with scattered fatalities in at least half-a-dozen other states. -- AFP

Christmas Day floods in the Philippines forced the evacuation of nearly 46,000 people from their homes, civil defence officials said Monday.

Two people were killed and nine others were missing after heavy seasonal rain inundated parts of the southern region of Mindanao, the officials added.

The disaster dampened celebrations on the mainly Catholic nation's most important holiday.

"The waters rose above the chest in some areas, but today the rains have ceased," civil defence worker Robinson Lacre told AFP by phone from Gingoog city, which accounted for 33,000 of the 45,700 people evacuated from their homes.

The coastguard said it rescued members of more than two dozen families in Ozamiz city and Clarin town at the height of the flooding. -- AFP

At least five people were killed and over 70,000 rushed to evacuation centres in Malaysia after monsoon-triggered floods inundated the country's north, authorities said Wednesday.

Over 31,000 people have fled their homes in Kelantan state while more than 39,000 residents have been evacuated to temporary shelters in neighbouring Terengganu after flooding began over the weekend, the official Bernama news agency said. 

Emergency services officials said a total of five people have died.

"The water levels reached almost three metres (10 feet)," Muhammad Ameenudin Badrul Hisyam from Kuala Krai district in Kelantan told AFP, as he cleared debris from his home after a nearby river overflowed and forced his family to flee. -- AFP

More than 160 people have died in the worst floods to batter DR Congo's capital Kinshasa in years, UN officials estimated Friday, citing authorities.

After an all-night downpour on Tuesday, major roads in the centre of Kinshasa, a city of about 15 million people, were submerged for hours and a key supply route leading to the port of Matadi collapsed.

"As of 16 December, the Congolese authorities reported that at least 169 people have died; around 30 were injured and receiving treatment in hospitals across the city and at least 280 houses were destroyed," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. 

The government has not announced an increased toll since the prime minister's office provisionally put the figure at 120 dead on Tuesday.

The Mont-Ngafula and Ngaliema districts in the capital's west were hardest hit by the torrential rains, according to OCHA, with about 38,000 people affected. -- AFP

Thousands of people were in shelters in southwestern Japan on Sunday as powerful Typhoon Nanmadol churned towards the region, prompting authorities to urge nearly three million residents to evacuate.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued a rare "special warning" for the Kagoshima region in southern Kyushu prefecture -- an alert that is issued only when it forecasts conditions seen once in several decades.

By Sunday morning, 25,680 households in Kagoshima and neighbouring Miyazaki were already without power, while regional train services, flights and ferry runs were cancelled until the passage of the storm, local utilities and transport services said.

The JMA has warned the region could face "unprecedented" danger from high winds, storm surges and torrential rain.

"Maximum caution is required," Ryuta Kurora, head of the JMA's forecast unit said on Saturday. -- AFP

The death toll from monsoon flooding in Pakistan since June has reached 1,033, according to figures released Sunday by the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

It said 119 people had died in the previous 24 hours as heavy rains continued to lash parts of the country.

The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but each year it also brings a wave of destruction. -- AFP

At first light, children from one of Kenya's smallest and most isolated tribes put on life jackets and board a fishing boat for the journey across the lake to school.

Until recently, they could walk the distance. A road connected the El Molo with the world beyond their tiny village, a lifeline for a secluded community of fishers and craftspeople subsisting on the shores of Lake Turkana.

But three years ago the lake started rising dramatically, lapping at the El Molo's dome-shaped huts draped in dry fish, then pushing inland, forcing villagers to higher ground.

As the tide reached levels not seen in living memory, the El Molo watched their only freshwater pipeline slip beneath the surface, as well as the burial mounds of their ancestors.

Eventually, the road to the mainland disappeared completely, marooning the El Molo on an island in a lake so large and imposing it is sometimes called the "Jade Sea".

"There never used to be water here," said El Molo fisherman Julius Akolong as he crossed the wide channel that today separates his community from the rest of far northern Kenya.

"You could drive a jeep across."

Turkana, already the world's largest desert lake, stretching 250 kilometers (155 miles) tip to tip, grew 10 percent in the decade to 2020, according to a government study published last year.

That expansion submerged nearly 800 additional square kilometers (about 300 square miles) of land including around El Molo Bay, where the tribespeople live on Turkana's eastern shores.

Extreme rainfall over catchment areas -– a climatic event linked to global warming -- greater soil runoff from deforestation and farming, and tectonic activity were all cited as contributing causes. -- AFP

Greece, scorched by a heatwave ravaging parts of Europe, deployed planes and helicopters early Wednesday to stop wildfires from spreading to mountainside suburbs north of Athens.

Nearly 500 firefighters, 120 vehicles, three planes and four helicopters swung into action from dawn to battle the flames from approaching areas such as Gerakas, which is home to some 29,000 people.

The heatwave — the second to engulf parts of Europe in recent weeks — has contributed to deadly wildfires in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, destroying vast tracts of land.

The wildfires on the foot of Mount Penteli north of Athens were fanned overnight by winds constantly changing direction, a spokesman for the firefighters said Wednesday.

"This makes our task of dousing the flames difficult," he said.

A summer heatwave that has triggered devastating forest fires across southwest Europe showed no signs of abating Sunday, as parts of the continent readied for new temperature records early next week.

Firefighters in France, Portugal, Spain and Greece are battling forest blazes that have ravaged thousands of hectares of land and killed several personnel since the start of the week.

It is the second heatwave engulfing parts of southwest Europe in weeks as scientists blame climate change and predict more frequent and intense episodes of extreme weather.

Firefighters in the coastal town of Arcachon in France's southwestern Gironde region were fighting to control two forest blazes that have devoured more than 10,000 hectares since Tuesday.

"It's a Herculean job," said Lieutenant-Colonel Olivier Chavatte from the fire and rescue service, which has 1,200 firefighters and five planes in action.

Further evacuation orders were given on Saturday for a few hundred residents, firefighter spokesman Arnaud Mendousse told AFP. -- AFP

Rain-swollen rivers spilled mud-brown waters across swathes of Sydney on Tuesday, swamping homes and roads while forcing thousands to flee.

Emergency services have now instructed about 50,000 people to evacuate or to prepare to escape the rising waters in New South Wales, officials said.

Emergency workers carried out 22 flood rescues in Sydney overnight, they said, with the support of 100 army troops deployed to the state.

The floods, heavy rain and powerful winds led to power cuts for 19,000 homes, officials said.

Australia has been at the sharp end of climate change, with droughts, deadly bushfires, bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef and floods becoming more common and intense as global weather patterns change.

Higher temperatures mean the atmosphere holds more moisture, unleashing more rain.

"Sydney is not out of danger, this is not a time to be complacent," State Emergency Services commissioner Carlene York told a news conference.

"It's risky out there." -- AFP

Rapidly rising rivers swamped swathes of rain-lashed Sydney on Monday, forcing thousands to flee "dangerous" floods as the city's largest dam spilled torrents of water.

On the third day of torrential east coast rains, emergency workers said they had rescued more than 80 people since the previous evening.

Many people had been trapped in their cars trying to cross flood-swept roads or were unable to leave homes surrounded by rising waters.

Australia has been at the sharp end of climate change, with droughts, deadly bushfires, bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef and floods becoming more common and intense as global weather patterns change.

Higher temperatures mean the atmosphere holds more moisture, unleashing more rain.

About 32,000 people were ordered to evacuate or be ready to flee across New South Wales, the emergency services department said, with the army sending 100 troops to help operations in the storm-battered state.

"The ground is saturated, the rivers are fast flowing, the dams are overflowing," said State Emergency Services commissioner Carlene York. -- AFP

Thousands of Australians were ordered to evacuate their homes in Sydney on Sunday as torrential rain battered the country's largest city and floodwaters inundated its outskirts.

Roads across the city were cut off and authorities said at least 18 evacuation orders were in place in western Sydney, an area that was inundated with severe flooding in March.

"This is a life-threatening emergency situation," Stephanie Cooke, emergency services minister for the state of New South Wales, told reporters.

Australia has been at the sharp end of climate change, with droughts, deadly bushfires, bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef and floods becoming more common and intense as global weather patterns change. -- AFP

Record floods were expected in parts of southern China Thursday as heavy rains pushed water levels in the Pearl River delta to their highest in almost a century.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from the worst-hit parts of the region, which includes Guangdong province, a manufacturing and logistics hub that is home to China's tech capital Shenzhen.

China's ministry of water resources on Wednesday placed its highest flood alert on the Pearl River basin, saying water levels at one location "surpassed historical records" and that the provincial capital Guangzhou would be impacted.

Images from the city of Shaoguan, north of Guangzhou, showed residents on Wednesday making their way through flooded main roads, as water in some areas reached the tops of cars. -- AFP

Hurricane Agatha, the first of the season, lashed a string of beach resorts on Mexico's Pacific Coast as it barreled ashore Monday, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flood warnings.

Agatha was the strongest storm to make landfall along Mexico's Pacific coast in May since record keeping began in 1949, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

It touched land near Puerto Angel in the southern state of Oaxaca as a Category 2 hurricane — the second lowest on a scale of five. — AFP

The first hurricane of the Pacific season, Agatha, was rapidly strengthening off the western coast of Mexico where it is likely to strike Monday as a Category Three storm, the country's weather service warned.

High sea temperatures and the hurricane's slow speed could give it plenty of time to strengthen before it roars ashore, Alejandra Mendez, general coordinator of Mexico's National Weather Service (SMN), said in a videoconference.

As of Sunday afternoon, Agatha had already climbed to a Category Two storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale as it churned some 295 kilometers (185 miles) west of Puerto Angel, Mexico. — AFP

The sea level is rising twice as fast as previously forecast around parts of New Zealand, according to research published Monday, putting the country's two largest cities at risk decades earlier than expected.

Government-backed data amassed from around the country's coastline found some areas are already sinking three to four millimetres per year, speeding up a long-expected threat.

The projections, labelled "a bit terrifying" by one expert, are the result of an extensive five-year, government-funded research programme ?— NZ SeaRise ?— that was the combined work of dozens of local and international scientists.

Their prognosis means authorities have much less time than expected to introduce climate adaptation plans, including relocating coastal communities.

NZ SeaRise co-leader Tim Naish, a professor at Wellington's Victoria University, said while the global sea level is expected to rise about half a metre by 2100, for substantial parts of New Zealand it could be closer to a metre because the land is sinking at the same time.

It is stark news for the capital city, Wellington, which could expect 30 centimeter sea level rise by 2040 ?— a level that had not been expected before 2060.

With that rate of rise, Wellington residents can expect once-a-century flood damage every year on average. ?— AFP

Europe endured record extreme weather in 2021, from the hottest day and the warmest summer to deadly wildfires and flooding, the European Union's climate monitoring service reported Friday.

While Earth's surface was nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels last year, Europe saw an average increase of more than two degrees, a threshold beyond which dangerous extreme weather events become more likely and intense, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said.

The warmest summer on record featured a heatwave along the Mediterranean rim lasting weeks and the hottest day ever registered in Europe, a blistering 48.8C (120 degrees Fahrenheit) in Italy's Sicily. — AFP

A springtime blizzard walloped Canada's western Prairies region and parts of Ontario province this week, closing roads, airports and schools, and leaving a dump of snow to shovel.

Whiteouts were also reported in the US states of North Dakota and Montana.

Natalie Hasell, a meteorologist at Environment Canada, told AFP it was "rare" to see a major weather event dropping 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow in April, when most Canadians are gearing up for spring.

Only two winter storms of this intensity have ever been recorded around this time of year in the region since 1902. The last one of this magnitude, in 1997, pummeled Manitoba province for three days and went into history books as "the storm of the century." — AFP

Torrential downpours triggered flash floods and landslides across Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state, killing at least 14 people including eight children, and leaving five missing, authorities said Saturday.

Two days of heavy rain have battered a broad swathe of the southeastern state's Atlantic coast, the latest in a series of deadly storms in Brazil that experts say are being aggravated by climate change. 

More rain is forecast for the region in the coming days. — AFP

Deadly floods swept Australia's east coast Tuesday, stranding residents on bridges and rooftops and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Flood warnings were in effect for dozens of areas across the states of Queensland and New South Wales, where a week-long "rain bomb" has dumped a meter (3.2 feet) of water on some areas in a week.

Several waterways have already burst their banks or broken through levees, inundating towns and forcing residents to flee or seek safety on higher ground.

Nine people have died and more than a thousand people have been rescued. Authorities have warned that more fatalities are likely.

The latest victim was a woman in her 80s, whose body was found by police inside a home in the country town of Lismore. 

"She is yet to be formally identified," said New South Wales Police. —  AFP

The Malaysian military used boats Tuesday to distribute food to desperate people trapped in their homes after massive floods, as the death toll rose to 14 with over 70,000 displaced. 

Days of torrential rain triggered some of the worst flooding in years across the country at the weekend, swamping cities and villages and cutting off major roads.

Selangor -- the country's wealthiest and most densely populated state, encircling the capital Kuala Lumpur — is one of the worst-hit areas. 

In the city of Shah Alam, some areas were still under water Tuesday and military personnel in boats distributed food to people stuck in their homes and government shelters.

Kartik Subramany fled his house as floodwaters rose, and took refuge in a school for 48 hours before being evacuated with his family to a shelter. 

"My house is totally damaged, my two cars are wrecked," the 29-year-old told AFP. 

"These are the worst floods of my entire life. The federal government has failed the people miserably -- it has failed in its primary function to protect and safeguard lives." — AFP

Tropical Storm Nicholas strengthened to hurricane status just as it is about to slam the US Gulf coast, with Houston in its path, the National Hurricane Center said late Monday.

Nicholas is packing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hours, with higher gusts. The storm is expected to dump up to 18 inches of rain in the Houston area, weather officials said.

Nicholas "is bringing heavy rains, strong winds and storm surges to portions of the central and upper Texas coasts," the NHC said in its 0300 GMT Tuesday bulletin. — AFP

Dozens of small island states most vulnerable to the effects of climate change have called on the world to save "our very future" after a landmark UN report said accelerating global warming and rising sea levels threaten their existence.

The call to action comes after the climate report warned that catastrophic global warming is occurring far more quickly than previously forecast, an assessment met with horror and hopefulness by world leaders and green groups.

"We have to turn this around," Diann Black-Layne, lead climate negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda, said in a statement late Monday.

"The stark fact is that if we keep warming to 1.5C we are still facing half a metre of sea level rise. But if we stop warming from reaching 2°C, we can avoid a long term three metres of sea level rise. That is our very future, right there."

The group comprises 39 states including Cuba, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and the Maldives, the world's lowest-lying country.  — AFP

Lakes at historically low levels, unusually early forest fires, restrictions on water use and now a potentially record heat wave: even before summer's start the US West is suffering the effects of chronic drought made worse by climate change.

Eighty-eight percent of the West was in a state of drought this week, including the entire states of California, Oregon, Utah and Nevada, according to official data.

In a particularly stark symptom of this trend, which is affecting more than 143 million Americans, Lake Mead — the country's largest reservoir, lying at the border of Nevada and Arizona — now stands at its lowest level since its creation in the 1930s.

The lake, formed when the massive Hoover Dam was built across the Colorado River not far from Las Vegas, stands at just 36 percent of capacity, below even a record set in 2016. 

Authorities expected something like this — but not until August. — AFP

Filipinos, especially those residing in northern Luzon, will continue to experience chilly mornings until at least the third week of this month, PAGASA says.

The temperature in Baguio City dipped to 10.2 degrees Celsius on February 1. It is the lowest recorded so far in the city since the northeast monsoon season started in October.

Metro Manila similarly experienced its coldest day so far on February 1 with the temperature dropping to 18.5 degrees Celsius.

— with The STAR/Helen Flores

PAGASA is monitoring two LPAs — one inside the Philippine area of responsibility and bringing rains over eastern Mindanao and parts of Visayas, the other still outside and has the potential to be a tropical cyclone.

The LPA inside PAR was last spotted 795 km east-southeast of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur. The LPA outside PAR is seen to enter the country's jurisdiction by Monday next week.

Australia this week experienced its hottest day on record and the heatwave is expected to worsen, exacerbating an already unprecedented bushfire season, authorities said Wednesday.

The average nationwide temperatures of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday beat the previous record of 40.3 degrees Celsius in January 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

"This heat will only intensify further today," meteorologist Diana Eadie Said.

The heatwave is another alarm bell about global warming in Australia, where this year’s early and intense start to regular summer bushfires has heaped pressure on the Australian government to do more to tackle climate change. — Agence France-Presse

Filipinos can expect warmer weather this week as the cool winds brought by amihan completely weakens while the warm easterlies wind blow from the Pacific Ocean.

PAGASA says Wednesday the easterlies or warm wind blowing from the Pacific Ocean continues to affect the whole country and fair weather is expected. In a weather report Tuesday afternoon, the state weather bureau announced that the northeast monsoon or amihan had completely weakened.

"Yung northeast monsoon ay tuluyan pong humina at hindi na po ito makakaapekto sa bansa. Easterlies po ito yung mainit na hangin galing sa Pacific Ocean kung saan naapektuhan ang buong bansa," PAGASA weather specialist Aldczar Aurelio said Tuesday.

"Kaya asahan po natin ang unti-unting pag-init ng panahon di lamang dito sa Metro Manila kung hindi sa iba't-ibang bahagi ng bansa."

PAGASA says Severe Tropical Storm Kammuri is seen to enter the Philippine area of responsibility by Sunday, adding that it is expected to affect the southern Luzon landmass.

Its center was located 1510 km east of Visayas, the state weather bureau says in an update at 4 a.m. It packs maximum sustained winds of 110 kph and gusts of 110 kph near the center.

An LPA located west of southern Luzon intensifies into a tropical depression and is expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility within 24 hours. Once it does, it will be assigned the name "Quiel."

PAGASA says it is monitoring three weather systems inside the Philippine area of responsibility: the trough of an LPA, the northeast monsoon or amihan and the ITCZ.

Although located west of southern Luzon outside PAR, PAGASA says the tail end of the LPA can still possibly bring rains over Luzon.

The ITCZ, meanwhile, is expected to bring rains over Caraga and Davao Region today.

A severe tropical storm with the international name "Halong" is also monitored outside PAR. It is not likely to affect the country or enter PAR.

"Halong" is located 3,140 km east of Virac, Catanduanes.

PAGASA says the LPA inside the Philippine area of responsibility is expected to bring rains over parts of Visayas and Mindanao today.

The LPA is located 245 km east-northeast of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur.

Meanwhile, the northeast monsoon or amihan is seen to bring light rains over northern Luzon. 

Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon will cloudy skies and scattered rainshowers due to the easterlies, PAGASA says.

Ready your sweaters. PAGASA officially declares the onset of the northeast monsoon or amihan season which is associated with cooler temperatures.

PAGASA is monitoring a new typhoon outside the Philippine area of responsibility which it says is unlikely to enter the country's jurisdiction.

Typhoon Bualoi is located 2,670 km east of southern Luzon. It packs maximum sustained winds of 130 kph and gusts of 160 kph.

The LPA PAGASA is monitoring east of the Philippines may intensify into a tropical cyclone within 24 to 48 hours.

But PAGASA says it is expected to weaken again by the time it nears extreme northern Luzon due to the northeasterly surface wind flow.

It is located at 1,090 km northeast of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, the state weather bureau says in its 5 a.m. weather update.

PAGASA says there is now a low chance that Typhoon Hagibis will enter the Philippine area of responsibility.

"Hagibis" is located 2,020 km east of northern Luzon, the state weather bureau says in its 4 a.m. weather update.

It packs maximum sustained winds of 200 kph near the center and gusts of 245 kph.

Weather watchers are closely observing Typhoon Hagibis, which may enter the Philippine area of responsibility on Friday, noting the rapid intensification in strength of the powerful cyclone.

The Washington Post noted that it gathered strength "at one of the fastest rates ever observed on Earth."

In its 5 a.m. weather update, PAGASA said "Hagibis" is packing 200 kph near the center and gusts of 245 kph. In an update at the same time yesterday, the typhoon was recorded with maximum sustained winds of 120 kph near the center and gusts of 150 kph.

It is located 2,420 east of central Luzon.

A typhoon PAGASA is monitoring is forecast to enter the Philippine area of responsibility by Wednesday or Thursday. But it is unlikely to make landfall.

Internationally named "Hagibis," the typhoon packs maximum sustained winds of 120 kph near the center and gusts of 150 kph.

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PAGASA is monitoring a new LPA inside the Philippine area of responsibility located at 1,025 km east of Legazpi City at 3 p.m. today.

The state weather bureau, however, says it won't affect the country.

PAGASA is monitoring a low pressure area outside the Philippine area of responsibility which can possibly develop into a tropical cyclone.

Photo: In this Aug. 9, 2019 photo, students of Araullo High School in Manila battle strong winds while heading home following the cancellation of classes due to inclement weather caused by monsoon rains as Typhoon Hanna exits the Philippine area of responsibility. The STAR/Miguel de Guzman

Aside from Tropical Storm Hanna, PAGASA is also monitoring three more weather systems — Typhoon Francis northeast of the country, a shallow low pressure area west of northern Luzon and a low pressure area still outside the Philippine area of responsibility.

The shallow LPA is not expected to intensify while the typhoon and LPA are not seen to enter PAR.

PAGASA says it is monitoring two shallow low pressure areas, one inside the Philippine area of responsibility and the other one still outside.

"... ibig sabihin po niyan mas mababa pa po ito sa low pressure area, di pa ganoon ka-established yung mga sentro nitong nasabing weather system," PAGASA weather specialist Gener Quitlong explains in an update early Sunday.

The one inside PAR was spotted at 210 km east-southeast of Casiguran, Aurora and is not expected to intensify into an LPA or tropical cyclone.

The other one outside PAR located at 1,125 east of Guiuan, Eastern Samar at 3 a.m. is seen to enter PAR today. It has the potential to develop into an LPA but is not seen to further intensify into a tropical cyclone.

The LPA PAGASA is monitoring is expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility tonight or early Monday. 

The state weather bureau says the LPA can possibly develop into a tropical cyclone by Tuesday but it is not seen to make landfall.

It is located at 1,345 km east of Visayas as of 3 a.m. today.

PAGASA says it expects two to three tropical cyclones to enter the Philippine area of responsibility in July.

The state weather bureau says there are four usual tracks of tropical cyclones in this month. First, it makes landfall and passes through southern Luzon. Second, it makes landfall and passes through northern Luzon. Third, it passes through extreme northern Luzon. And fourth, it won't make landfall and will "recurve" until it exits PAR.

PHOTO: A group of friends wades through a flooded portion of Araneta Avenue following heavy rain dawn of June 25, 2019. The STAR/Michael Varcas

There is a possibility that the LPA east of Guiuan, Eastern Samar PAGASA is monitoring will intensify into a tropical cyclone in the next few days.

The LPA entered the Philippine area of responsibility at around 9 p.m. on Thursday.

It was last located at 960 km east of Guiuan as of 3 a.m.

PAGASA is monitoring a new LPA  that is still outside the Philippine area of responsibility east of Mindanao as Tropical Depression Dodong exited the country's jurisdiction and is headed toward Japan.

The LPA was last located at 1,295 km east of Mindanao at 3 a.m. today.

Since the LPA is still hovering over the sea there is a possibility that it may develop into a tropical cyclone but PAGASA says their data shows otherwise. The LPA is forecast to enter PAR on Friday or Saturday.

The LPA PAGASA is monitoring is still seen to develop into a tropical cyclone within the next 48 hours.

It is not expected to make landfall.

It was last spotted at 580 km east of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan at 3 a.m. today. 

PAGASA says the LPA located at 760 km east of Casiguran, Aurora at 10 a.m. today may develop into a tropical depression within 48 hours.

In case the LPA develops into a tropical depression while inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility, it will be named "Dodong."

PAGASA says the LPA inside the Philippine area of responsibility it is monitoring is not expected to develop into a tropical cyclone in the next 24 hours. 

The LPA is affecting a large portion of Luzon as well as parts of the Visayas and Mindanao.

It was last spotted at 595 km north-east of Borongan City, Eastern Samar at 3 a.m. on Monday, June 24.

A low pressure area outside the Philippine area of responsibility may possibly develop into a tropical cyclone but is not expected to make landfall, PAGASA says.

The weather disturbance is seen to bring rains in Bicol by Sunday and Monday.

It was last spotted at 1,300 km east of Mindanao as of 3 a.m. Friday.

PAGASA says in an alert issued at 6:11 a.m. that heavy rain showers with lightning and strong winds are expected over Metro Manila, Tarlac, Zambales, Bataan, Pampanga and Bulacan within the next one to two hours. 

Thunderstorm Advisory No. 17 #NCR_PRSD
Issued at: 6:11 AM,14 June 2019 pic.twitter.com/TYfTUxk0vI

— PAGASA-DOST (@dost_pagasa) June 13, 2019

Even as the capital sweats under temperatures as high as 36°C, a resident of Quezon City recorded hail falling in Tandang Sora, a barangay in the city's 6th legislative district.

Facebook user Rafael Antonio Dulce said the the hail was the size of marbles.

Pagasa says on its website that hail is ice from a severe thunderstorm. It forms when it is hot and water evaporates. That vapor can freeze and eventually fall to the ground.

Hail can fall at speeds of more than 100 kph, Pagasa also says.

After a similar hailstorm in Atok, Benguet in the middle of the dry season in 2018, weather observer Winston Lucando said the phenomenon is rare but high temperatures make it more likely.

"Gawa nung itong mainit, summer na tayo. Ngayon ang evaporation sa may Atok, may namuong cumulonimbus sa atmosphere dahil sa intense ng lamig na-freeze yung cumulonimbus, (It's because of the hot temperature. Now due to evaporation, a cumulonimbus cloud was formed in the atmosphere in Atok. Then, because of the intense cold in that area, the cumulonimbus froze producing hail)," Lucano told Philstar.com in a phone interview last year.

PAGASA says the downpour that affected Metro Manila yesterday is a "premonition" that the rainy season is looming. 

"Ito ay isang kung baga sa ano ay premonition of a parang palatandaan na papalapit na iyong tag-ulan. Expected na halos araw-araw may mga ulan na sa hapon at gabi," PAGASA weather forecaster Robert Sawi says in an interview over DZMM.

The state weather bureau explains that the heavy rains yesterday were due to a frontal system enhanced by the two low pressure areas near Luzon. A frontal system is where warm and cold air masses interact.

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