Parts of Russia again plunged towards -60 °C last night, while parts of Australia are in the middle of the summer and a strong heat wave, with temperatures approaching 50 °C. Yesterday, the difference between the two areas was over 100 °C!
Temperatures plunged down to -57.5 °C in Delyankir (Oykmyakonski District, Sakha Republic) in far eastern Russia last night. This part of Russia is the one of the coldest places on Earth and the coldest inhabited area - the (fairly) nearby Oymyakon holds the official lowest recorded temperature in the northern hemisphere: -67.7 °C on February 6, 1933.
Austria is snowed under — to the delight of skiers and the horror of homeowners. Even older Austrians are amazed by the amount of snow that's fallen in a matter of days. Soldiers, firefighters and volunteers are helping in the most affected areas.
Austria is used to dealing with large amounts of snow, but this year the country has received far more than usual. Meter-high piles cover the rooftops and rising temperatures are leading to rising fears that roofs could collapse. In the village of Altaussee in Styria, residents whose homes lay below the Loser Mountain were evacuated due to the risk of an avalanche.
Thousands of birds have been found dead at one of Western Australia's most important inland wetlands.
A Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development veterinarian arrived at Lake Gregory in the East Kimberley earlier this month to take sample, and found a number of wild birds in "poor conditions with low body weights".
On a department inspection, it was found several thousand birds had died at the wetland, but the cause of death remains a mystery.
Lake Gregory is a permanent freshwater lake located between the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert and was previously described by the department as the most important inland wetland in Australia.
A pall of gloom descended on Balisutura village under Jashipur Police limits of Mayurbhanj district after a Class I student was mauled to death by stray dogs today.
As per reports, the student of Rahanga UP School was on his way to his school and was suddenly attacked by a group of 10-12 stray dogs while he was passing through a farmland. According to sources, the attack was so swift and severe that the child could not escape from the clutches of the canines. He succumbed to the injuries on the spot.
After receiving information, Jashipur Police reached the spot and has sent the body for post mortem.
Comments from family members and police could not be obtained.
Atif Qayum and Khalidur Rehman Samaa Tue, 22 Jan 2019 11:57 UTC
A woman and her two children were killed because of a landslide in Kehal near Abbottabad on Tuesday morning.
A huge rock fell on their house and completely destroyed it. The landslide occurred because it has been raining since the last two days in the area.
The police and rescue teams reached the site after being informed of the landslide.
The deceased has been identified Rafiq's wife Kaalijan and her two children, 17-year-old Khawar and 14-year-old Mubashir. The bodies have been shifted to Benazir Shaheed Hospital.
Heavy rainfall that began late on 19 January, 2019, has caused landslides and flooding in Antananarivo, capital city of Madagascar.
Local media, quoting fire service and civil protection sources, say that at least several people have died, some are still missing and several were injured after buildings collapsed due to heavy rain, landslides and flooding. AFP news agency reports suggest the death toll is 9.
Heavy rainfall frequently makes many of the slopes and hillsides around the city dangerously unstable. The city saw several landslides in March 2015 (see photo) and at least 7 people were killed in a landslide in the city in February last year.
An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck south of the Indonesian town of Raba, off the central island of Sumbawa, the U.S. Geological Survey said, the second quake to hit the area on Tuesday.
There was no immediate tsunami warning or reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which hit at a depth of 36 km (22 miles), at a distance of about 230 km (143 miles) south of Raba in the east of the island, which forms part of West Nusa Tenggara province.
The quake followed one of magnitude 6 that struck in the same area.
Reporting by Clarence Fernandez; Editing by Robert Birsel
The winter storm that, as of Sunday afternoon, is still passing through the region, was the coldest & snowiest Ottawa has seen since before the dawn of the 20th century.
Rolf Campbell, who tweets @YOW_Weather, observed that the storm - with a high reaching minus 18 degrees and two-day snow accumulation in surplus of 25 centimetres - was rivaled only by Feb. 8, 1895, when the max temperature was 17.8 degrees and accumulation exceeded 45 centimetres.
(There was also a snowstorm on Jan. 18, 1934 where it was minus 18.3 degrees, but the accumulation was only 15.2 centimetres.)
Third year in a row of extreme snowfall events for Europe. Grand Solar Minimum intensification forecast these amplifications, and these are the totals for 2019, but the real extremes will show around 2020-2021.
Comment: Details of the earlier event: Storms bring 4 feet of snow in 48 hours to Sierra Nevada resorts