While we experienced above average temperatures here in the Twin Tiers for the month of November with below average rainfall and snowfall, other places across the globe experienced the complete opposite.
Severe winter weather and heavy snowfall affected portions of Northern China on November 11th and 12th. The Chinese Central Meteorological Observatory says the Hebei Province experienced the heaviest snowfall in 55 years and the Shaanxi Province had its heaviest snowfall in history. Some snow was also observed in Beijing. The impacts of the storm killed at least 38 people. Officials have reported that about 9,000 building collapsed and 190,400 hectacres of crops were affected. This caused direct economic losses of about $659 million U.S. dollars.
Australia has experienced the other extreme. An unusual spring heat wave in South Australia broke numerous records and left the land extremely vulnerable to fire danger. Some locations experienced the first spring heat wave since records began in 1887 with 8 consecutive days reaching temperatures above 95°F. That’s about 14°F above the normal average. Much of South Australia had to be evacuated due to catastrophic fires. The extremely warm temperatures across the South Australia are typical of El Niño events.
While Austrailia was dry and hot, other places were very wet with extreme flooding. Tropical Depression 11 which eventually strengthened to become Hurricane Ida, caused torrential rainfall in El Salvador on November 4th through 6th. The airflow around the disturbances pulled large amounts of moist Pacific air into the coastal mountains and produced 17.4 inches of rainfall. At least 192 were killed by the floods and landslides (Source: AP). The small town of Verapaz suffered a loss with 300 homes destroyed. An estimated 10,000 people were displaced and living in shelters across the small Central American Country.
Ida then formed off the coast of Nicaragua on November 4th and strengthened to a category 1 hurricane before making landfall in that country on November 5th. Up to 11 inches of rain was observed across Nicaragua and Honduras. Ida then strengthened to a category 2 before weakening to a tropical storm and making landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast near Dauphin Island, Alabama on November 10th. It was there that heavy rainfall occurred along with coastal flooding and beach erosion with a 3-6 foot storm surge.
Remnants of Ida moved off the Southeast U.S. Coast and helped to spin up a large and strong extratropical cyclone which moved along the east coast. Record storm surges were recorded along the coasts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware on November 12th through 13th. Norfolk, Virginia recorded its highest storm surge ever at 5.96 feet since observations began in 2003. The storm produced rainfall up to 11 inches, wind gusts over 75 mph, and coastal flooding. At least 6 people were killed by this storms impacts.
Across the Bay of Bengal over in Vietnam, Typhoon Mirinae made landfall as a category 1 tropical cyclone, producing heavy rains in that Country and also Cambodia. The flooding caused by Mirinae induced landslides that killed at least 130 people in Vietnam and another 2 in Cambodia. The storm also killed 27 people when it made landfall in the Philippines in late October. The rain and wind from the storm destroyed about 1,800 hectacres of farmland and delayed coffee harvesting in parts of the country’s coffee belt. The dense population along the Southeast Asian coast make the region susceptible to a high number of fatalities each typhoon season.
For more information on global climate, head to www.ncdc.noaa.gov
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