April 12

What happened this week?

One month of rain in just four hours: Downpours cause floods, kill at least 10 in Rio de Janeiro. RIO DE JANEIRO — Heavy rains killed at least 10 people and left a trail of destruction in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, raising questions about the city’s preparedness to deal with recurring extreme weather... Read more

Natural Disasters Monitoring April 11 2019 by Paho. On 10 April, the COEN in Peru, reported recent heavy rain causing floods where communication networks and educational institutions were affected.10 April, the Venezuela Civil Defense reported wildfires in the Macarao National Park where 200 hectares of land was burned. On 11 April, the Guatemala CONRED reported that El Fuego Volcano generated 18 to 22 moderate explosions... Read more

Interesting Facts

Weather or Not: April most active for tornadoes in the ArkLaTex. April is the most active month for tornadoes in our area. According to the National Weather Service, 70% of all tornadoes happen in the ArkLaTex between March and June. Why exactly is this?... Read more

Fact or fiction? A green sky means a tornado is coming. Is it true that a green sky means a tornado will be touching down any minute or is that just a long-standing myth? While it is not uncommon for severe weather to accompany a rare green sky, there is also no direct correlation between the two... Read more

You might not have noticed, but about 25 meteotsunamis hit the East Coast each year. According to local news reports offsite link, the waves then crashed into a jetty where they knocked people into the water, causing injury and property damage. Eyewitnesses reported seeing waves as high as 6 feet. But how? There had been no earthquakes or underwater landslides in the area... Read more

Western Washington faces elevated wildfire risk in 2019.The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) released its April through July fire predictions for the country, and the report shows that Western Washington will be more prone to fires than usual over the coming months. While Western Washington, including Puget Sound, will have a higher risk of fires, much of the risk in Eastern Washington remains average... Read more

Policy Developments and Outlook

U.S. hit with two billion-dollar disasters so far in 2019.  The so-called bomb cyclone that brought heavy snow, blizzard conditions and major flooding to the Midwest in March landed with a resounding meteorological “ka-boom!” and became one of two billion-dollar weather and climate disasters this year... Read more