Record heavy spring snowfalls, destructive tornado outbreaks, planes falling out of the sky, catastrophic flooding on every continent, metallic 'sky sounds' heard in diverse locations, multiple meteor fireball sightings, mass animal deaths, sinkholes swallowing moving vehicles... These were just some of the signs of the times in March 2016...

Northern Japan is raising an alarm, as the area surrounding the Fukushima Nuclear disaster zone has been overwhelmed by radioactive wild boars, whose population has increased dramatically over the past 4 years, as they breed freely in the exclusion zone.

With the number of animals steadily growing, the boar population has been devastating the crops of farms in the area. Since the nuclear disaster of 2011, damage to agriculture caused by boars in the Fukushima prefecture has doubled, amounting to some $15 million, according to a report from The Times. Boars also pose a threat to public safety, as reports of rampaging wild beast injuring local residents while roaming the streets have become more frequent over the past few years.

As boars do not have any natural predators to keep their population in check, local governments all over Japan have been organizing big hunting parties to decrease the population. In the three years prior to 2014, the number of boars killed increased more than four times, from 3,000 to 13,000. As reported by Yomiuri news outlet, the government in Fukushima has been offering rewards to hunters in order to "inspire" them to cull the boars. Despite the effort, however, the effect has been limited, as the animals reproduce quickly.

Reeling under an early heat wave, people in Harda district of Madhya Pradesh received a cool surprise — an ice chunk weighing about 30kg falling from the sky.

The chunk, believed to be a megacryometeor (ice-stone) or blue ice, came crashing down in a field on Monday, creating a three-foot-deep crater upon impact. This comes nearly three months after a similar incident in Sagar district in which a 60-year-old woman was injured.

The latest incident occurred at Nousar village in Timarini, 40km from Harda district headquarters. The field belonged to Raj Kumar Patil, whose younger brother Jitendra Patil was irrigating it at the time. On hearing the thundering sound, locals came running to the field to find the chunk had broken into three.

Jitendra said another chunk came crashing down in a field nearby. "I was very scared. Nearly 14 seconds after the first chunk of ice fell, another smaller chunk fell in a nearby field. We informed other villagers who came rushing," he said.

An earthquake measuring 6.7 has struck the northwest of Vanuatu, the third large earthquake in the same region this week.

The United States Geological Service said the earthquake struck 109km west of Sola, in Torba province, at a depth of 33km.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said the quake posed no tsunami threat.

Thursday afternoon's quake came less than 24 hours after another 6.9 magnitude struck slightly to the west in Santo at a depth of 10km.

Another quake of the same magnitude struck the area on Sunday.

A series of small earthquakes swarmed the state's northwest corner after an initial magnitude 2.3 earthquake on the Arizona strip March 29, officials said Tuesday.

The earthquake that struck near Littlefield, Ariz., a community about 20 miles southwest of St. George, Utah, was the first of 18 small-magnitude tremors that lasted through Sunday, according to the Arizona Geological Survey.

The largest event was a 2.6 magnitude quake at about 8:36 a.m. Sunday. The Arizona Geological Survey has not reported any injuries or damage from the series of tremors.

While the amount of quakes to hit the area may seem unusual, Geological Survey researcher Michael Conway said the state has seen swarms before.

Conway said the area is "tectonically active," but this was the first time a swarm has been recorded in the northwest corner of the state, bordering Utah and Nevada.

"Active faults in the vicinity of the earthquake swarm include the Mesquite/Overton Arm," according to an Arizona Geological Survey statement. The area has extensive earthquake history.

After a mild winter where temperatures in Ontario more typical of April often appeared, a large arctic high-pressure area sent temperatures plummeting to values more typical of mid-winter on April 5.

As a result of unseasonable cold, new record low minimums were set in a number of localities across Southern and Northeastern Ontario. "We used up some of our spring-like weather too early, and now we're paying for it," Environment Canada Meteorologist Geoff Coulson said. Coulson added that cold temperatures can be blamed on a combination of a weakening El Niño and polar vortex coming down south.

"The vortex brought with it some colder air, not just for Ontario but also for Quebec, Atlantic Canada, and a good chunk of the midwestern US and northeastern US as well. And with this pattern being fairly stubborn at this point, this cold air is expected to linger at least through mid-month, giving us temperatures more like single digit highs anywhere between 2, 3 °C (35.6, 37.4 °F) when we'd normally be seeing daytime highs of around 10 °C (50 °F)."

The following is a summary of weather event information received by Environment Canada on April 5:

London Airport -12.0 °C (10.4 °F) breaks previous record -10.5 °C (13.1 °F) set in 1995
Delhi -12.2 °C (10.04 °F) breaks previous record -10.5 °C set in 1995
Kitchener -15.5 °C (4.1 °F) breaks previous record -11.5 °C (11.3 °F) set in 1982
Guelph -16.7 °C (1.94 °F) breaks previous record -12.8 °C (8.96 °F) set in 1903
Hamilton -10.9 °C (12.38 °F) breaks previous record -10.8 °C (12.56 °F) set in 1995
Barrie -15.0 °C (5 °F) breaks previous record -14.0 °C (6.8 °F) set in 1982
Timmins -24.5 °C (-12.1 °F) breaks previous record -22.9 °C (-9.22 °F) set in 1995
Kirkland Lake -26.5 °C (-15.7 °F) breaks previous record -22.8 °C (-9.04 °F) set in 1970

The potential movement of a 'cold blob' of water in the North Atlantic Ocean may be the wild card in the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, experts say.

The cold blob refers to a large, anomalous area of colder-than-normal sea-surface temperatures, located east of Newfoundland and south of Greenland.

"This area of colder water started to show up a few years ago and has become larger and more persistent during the past couple of years," AccuWeather Atlantic Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said.

Whether or not ocean currents draw cold water from this blob southward into tropical regions of the Atlantic could determine how active the season becomes. With all potential factors in mind, forecasters are predicting that tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic will total 14 this season, two more than what is considered normal.

If the cooler water migrates southward across the eastern Atlantic, then westward into tropical breeding grounds, it will lower sea-surface temperatures over the region where 85 percent of Atlantic tropical systems develop.Another possibility is that the water from the cold blob could alter the makeup of deep ocean currents and affect the salinity of the water. If this happens, the pattern of warming waters that has been occurring since 1995 will reverse, leading to a period of cooling.

Less than 48 hours after public display of volcanic activity at Yellowstone was intentionally taken OFFLINE from public view, we now know why: Looks like "there's a whole lot a shakin' goin' on!"

Take a look at this reading from Bore Hole 944 inside the super-volcano at Yellowstone National Park:
Folks within 500 miles of Yellowstone National Park may want to keep close watch on the super-volcano there. With readings like you see above, now closed-off to the public, it seems there's something taking place at the deadly volcano.

The unusually harsh summer heat in Telangana has already started taking a huge toll of human life.

With heatwave conditions prevailing across the state, 66 people have died due to sun stroke and other related problems, officials said.

The highest number of deaths — 28 — were reported from Mahbubnagar, followed by 11 in Medak and five each from Karimnagar and Khammam.

Other deaths were reported in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Warangal and Nalgonda.

According to the Meteorological Department Nizamabad, north Telangana continues to be the hottest area in the state with maximum temperatures of 43.4C followed by Medak and Karimnagar with 43C. Hyderabad recorded 41C.

In an indication of the unbearable hot conditions in the state nowhere was the temperature below 40C.

The severe heatwave was forcing the people to stay indoors during the peak hours of the day and the roads and bazaars in Hyderabad and other major cities were wearing deserted look.

The state administration has advised the people to avoid going out into the open from 12 noon.

Telangana normally witnesses heatwave condition only in the month of May but this year the temperatures have been unusually high and harsh right from the beginning of summer.

Last year more than 2,000 people lost their lives in heatwave in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Officials were fearing worst this year as the Meteorological department has warned of even worse days ahead. Officials have warned that the highest temperature this year may reach 46 to 47 degrees at some places.

Rescue workers in northwestern Pakistan dug through debris and mud on Tuesday in hopes of finding survivors after a landslide buried at least 30 people alive on Monday as the death toll from days of torrential rains and flashfloods passed the 200-mark, local officials have said.

Footage aired on local television channels showed army troops and rescue workers digging through the rubble on the outskirts of the Kohistan district where they managed to recover six dead bodies and two survivors.

Some six hundred army troops and engineers are currently engaged in clearing the roads and assisting in rescue operations, an army spokesman said.

Ongoing bad weather has hampered rescue operations, in which desperate local residents have used spades, shovels — even their hands — to help find people trapped under the mud.