A car and home damaged by Hurricane Dorian show the extent of the damage to the island of Great Abaco even six months after the storm in February 2020. Photo: David Common / CBC

Six months after Hurricane Dorian levelled Bahamas, in places it still looks like it just hit – “What do people do? They have nowhere to come back to. When they do come, there is nothing.”

By David Common and Melissa Mancini 1 March 2020 (CBC News) – Ten minutes away from the restored and gleaming cruise ship terminals on Grand Bahama island, just beyond the multi-millionaires’ beach compounds, is the real Bahamas — and it lies in ruins. It’s six months since Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the island nation, […]

A rainbow appears over flooded fields in the Wye Valley, near the hamlet of Wellesley, in Hereford, England following Storm Dennis on 17 February 2020. Storm Dennis is the second named storm to bring extreme weather in a week, following Storm Ciara. Photo: Christopher Furlong / Getty Images

“Immediate evacuation” ordered in English town as flood barriers overwhelmed – River Severn may surpass record level set in November 2000

26 February 2020 (Sky News) – An “immediate evacuation” has been ordered in a town in Shropshire after rising water levels from the River Severn breached flood barriers. West Mercia Police said it is “currently carrying out an immediate evacuation in Ironbridge due to the temporary barriers becoming overwhelmed”. Chief Superintendent Tom Harding said the […]

A 929 millibar beast followed by another meteorological bomb as the pressure of Storm Dennis dropped to 920, one of the lowest on record in this part of the world, and then the two combined into a massive cyclone while doing a Fujiwhara dance, 16 February 2020. Video: Stu Ostro / The Weather Channel / Twitter

Two-fisted storm system pummels Iceland, British Isles – “This is not normal flooding, we are in uncharted territory”

By Bob Henson 17 February 2020 (Weather Underground) – A rapid-fire pair of winter storms swept across the North Atlantic from late last week into the weekend, bringing the most widespread flood alerts on record for the United Kingdom and one of the lowest surface pressures ever recorded in this part of the world. The […]

Kathy Covington, center, watches the powerful floodwaters of the Pearl River rush through her Florence, Mississippi, yard on 16 February 2020. Photo: Barbara Gauntt / Clarion Ledger

“Historic, unprecedented” flooding swamps southern U.S. – Mississippi Governor declares state of emergency – “We do not anticipate this situation to end anytime soon. It will be days before we are out of the woods and the waters recede.”

By Doyle Rice, Luke Ramseth, and Wilton Jackson 17 February 2020 JACKSON, Mississippi (USA TODAY) – Weeks of heavy rain have inundated a large portion of the southern U.S., bringing near-record flooding to Mississippi and Tennessee. In Jackson, Mississippi, hundreds of residents either watched their homes flood over the weekend or worried their residence would […]

Flood water surrounds tomb stones at a graveyard in Tenbury Wells, after the River Teme burst its banks in western England, 16 February 2020. Photo: Oli Scarff

Storm Dennis, 2nd-strongest bomb cyclone on record in North Atlantic, wreaks havoc across UK, parts of France – Record 594 flood warnings and alerts issued in UK

17 February 2020 (AFP) – Britain on Monday began to clear up after Storm Dennis battered the country over the weekend, leading the government’s weather agency to issue a rare “danger to life” warning amid widespread flooding and high winds. Hundreds of flood warnings remained in place, including five “severe” warnings around the River Teme […]

Swimmers observe beach erosion is seen at Collaroy on the Northern Beaches as a high tide and large waves impact the coast on 10 February 2020 in Sydney, Australia. The Sydney area experienced its wettest weekend in more than 20 years, with strong winds and torrential rain causing flash flooding across the city. Photo: Brook Mitchell / Getty Images

Heaviest rain in decades brings Australia drought, fire relief – Scientists rush to predict mudflows from denuded hillsides

By Ainslie Chandler 10 February 2020 (Bloomberg) – Torrential rains along Australia’s east coast caused widespread power outages and property damage at the weekend, and while the downpour has doused many wildfires there are now concerns that drinking water supplies will be contaminated by the flooding. Sydney experienced its wettest 24 hours since 1992, with […]

Average U.S. temperature for December and January combined, from December-January 1895-96 to 2019-20. Graphic: NOAA / NCEI

January 2020 sees warmest winter in U.S. history so far

By Bob Henson 6 February 2020 (Weather Underground) – The first two months of meteorological winter (December 2019 – January 2020) were the warmest on record for the contiguous U.S. in data going back to 1895. NOAA provided the January data and images on Thursday ahead of its monthly U.S. climate report. The average national temperature […]

A boy plays on a phone after the flood in Bekasi, Indonesia, on 3 January 2020. Photo: Sijori Images / Barcroft Media / Getty Images

Flooding in Jakarta is the worst for over a decade, more rainfall expected – “It was like the end of the world”

9 January 2020 (The Economist) – “It was like the end of the world,” says Nurhayati, dabbing her eyes with the hem of her hijab. On December 31st swollen clouds emptied over Indonesia’s capital, dumping 377 millimetres of rain in one day. That is the most since records began in 1886, according to the state […]

Precipitation averages in the contiguous U.S. for overlapping two-year calendar periods, 1895-2019. The period 2018-19 was the wettest of these, with 69.43” coming in well above the previous record of 68.62” from 1982-83. Graphic: NOAA / NCEI

Second wettest year in U.S. history – Warmest year on record in Alaska

By Bob Henson 8 January 2020 (Weather Underground) – Capping a spectacularly soggy period that spanned parts of two calendar years, the contiguous United States saw its second wettest year on record in 2019, according to NOAA’s annual summary issued on Wednesday. The national average temperature wasn’t especially hot by recent standards, but there were […]

Beth Ford, CEO of Land O’Lakes, spoke on Thursday, 9 January 2020, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ 2020 Regional Economic Conditions Conference. Photo: Land O’Lakes

“We will lose rural America” warns Land O’Lakes CEO at annual Fed summit – “The towns are rolling up on us. That is the truth.”

By Joy Wiltermuth 11 January 2020 (MarketWatch) – Rural America needs help. That was the key message from Beth Ford, president and CEO of Land O’Lakes, Inc., while speaking Thursday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ annual economic outlook conference for the Ninth District. “Farmers want trade. They want a robust marketplace and they […]

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