Lagos, Nigeria. Image by Omoeko Media. Southern West Africa experienced unusually excessive humid heat early in the season. The southern coastal zone of Western Africa – also called the Guinea zone – experienced abnormal early season heat in February 2024. A combination of high temperatures and relatively humid air resulted in area average Heat Index…
Following heavy rainfall, a landslide hit Masara, a small town in the in the Davao Region. Image by Office Civil Defense, Davao Region. From the 28th of January, the Mindanao Island which is among the most populous regions in the Philippines was hit by heavy rainfall caused by a trough of a low pressure area…
Skip to content Flooding in Midleton, southern Ireland. Image by Guileen Coast Guard. In October 2023, County Cork was struck by two days of extreme rainfall from Storm Babet that fell on already saturated soils. Swollen rivers led to severe flooding in Midleton. The storm brought extreme rainfall to southwestern Ireland leading to extreme river…
Image by Red Cross Chile. Extreme wildfires in coastal-central Chile have been fuelled by intense and persistent fire-conducive weather conditions in the region since the beginning of the year favouring the spread of severe fires in Viña del Mar (33°S, 71°W) in early February. During the early days of February 2024, a low-pressure system formed…
Skip to content More than 80% of people living in poverty in Madagascar, making the population highly vulnerable to prolonged periods of high temperatures. Image taken in 2016 by Didier Revol for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Madagascar, in particular the most populated region around the capital of Antananarivo experienced in 2023 its…
Oulu, Finland. Image by Valtteri Härkönen / Finnish Meteorological Institute. Under the influence of a lingering anticyclone, Fennoscandia experienced extremely cold winter temperatures during early January 2024. In early January, very cold air masses from the Arctic flowed from the northeast over Northern Fennoscandia, with clear-sky stable conditions allowing the surface to cool further still…
Skip to content A portrait of a man standing in front of the dried-up River Jasser, Iraq, photographed in November 2021 by Mike Mustafa Khalafa. The man told the Red Cross: “This river, behind me, used to be so abundant that it was cited in poems. Now it’s just a ditch….” From boreal winter 2020…
Skip to content Image by Diego Torres Silvestre. Large parts of South America suffered from extremely high temperatures for an extended period of time, reaching above 40ºC in central and Northern Brazil during mid-September, despite it being the spring season. The early and prolonged heat affected millions of people across Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia….
Skip to content During the first two weeks of September 2023 torrential rain fell in several countries across the Mediterranean, caused by low-pressure systems forming around a blocking high centred over the Netherlands. On the 3rd of September torrential rain fell within a few hours in Spain, followed by very heavy rain and floods caused…
On average, wildfires burn about 2.5 million hectares in Canada each year. In 2023, wildfires have already burned nearly 14 million hectares. Photo by Audrey Marcoux, SOPFEU. During May and June 2023 Canada witnessed exceptionally extreme fire-weather conditions, leading to extensive wildfires that burned over 13 million hectares. Extreme wildfire conditions in Canada have been…
English