At least 3 people have died in flooding and storms that have affected several provinces of Argentina over the last few days.

Heavy rain and flooding was reported in Corrientes, Tucumán, Santa Fe and Chaco, while strong winds caused damage in Santiago del Estero. Record rainfall was recorded in Resistencia, Chaco.

Meanwhile authorities have warned that the Uruguay River could reach danger levels in Concordia, Entre Rios, Argentina.

The Uruguay River has already broken its banks upstream, causing flooding in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, where some areas have recorded almost 500mm of rain in the last 3 days. Stormy weather has also caused at least one fatality in the state.

Heavy rain has also affected parts of Uruguay, including in the cities of Durazno and Sarandí del Yí, where the overflowing Yí river has prompted evacuations.

A massive swarm of locusts plagued Mecca, Saudi Arabia, earlier this week, prompting authorities at Islam's holiest site to launch a cleaning operation to remove them.

Videos posted to social media showed the insects swarming around cleaners and worshipers in the city's Grand Mosque, where millions of Muslim pilgrims congregate every year.

"Specialized teams have been directed to work in the fight to eliminate these insects," authorities in Mecca said, according to the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site.

Residents of Saratov, a city in southern Russia, are competing online over who can post the scariest photo of snow-trapped cars and ice-bound houses in the wake of a weather quirk that hit their community.

This week, Saratov was hit by a record-high amount of precipitation unseen in three decades combined with temperatures alternating between thaw and freeze. City services were unprepared for it and are now saying it will take at least two weeks to clear all of the snow and ice from rooftops and streets.

As the city struggles to deal with the situation with its limited resources, Saratov residents are finding at least some solace in the disaster, a unique photo opportunity. Dozens of images showing the aftermath of the weather quirk were shared online. A hashtag which translates to #IcicleBattle is being used by people claiming to have found the weirdest ice formation.

Central and eastern China experienced one of the most intense winters so far; Beijing had to endure one of the coldest Decembers on record, and heavy rains and landslides hit the Southwest, leaving 4 dead.

After the most extensive snow cover on record for the US in November, storm Diego blanketed the Southeast leaving 400,000 without power, while unusually intense snowfalls hit the Southwest, and parts of the Northeast and West.

South Korea had bitterly cold temperatures so early in the season, while heavy snowfalls hit Japan, delivering 80 inches in the district of Yamagata.

Snow also disrupted normal life in Bosnia, Romania and Bulgaria, forcing schools to close and causing power outages. Meanwhile, Austria got 55 inches of snow in just 7 days... And winter has just started!

A "swarm" of meteor fireballs streaked across the skies of Spain during the last couple of months, 3 of them made their passage in just 5 hours in December. Mexico, Texas and San Francisco also had their share of spectacular fireballs this month.

Saudi Arabia continues to be battered by hail, heavy rain and floods that have triggered greening of the desert in some parts. While flash floods displaced 45,000 people in Indonesia, and Sri Lanka was inundated by 14 inches of rainfall in one night.

Unseasonable tornadoes wreaked havoc in Florida, Washington and Illinois, while a twister in Java, Indonesia, destroyed 156 houses.

A strong eruption of the Krakatoa volcano caused a tsunami in Indonesia leaving 430 dead and 22,000 displaced, and another volcanic eruption in Vanuatu triggered a series of earthquakes that cracked open parts of the island of Ambrym.

Venezuela was also hit by earthshaking events, a 5.6 magnitude quake hit the region of Carabobo opening fissures in the ground and buildings.

Watch our summary below:

New temperature numbers out even though NOAA is shut down in the US due to the government shutdown, 2018 is 6th warmest on record and December 2018 was cooler than December 2017. IPCC climate models will never reflect reality until they are told to do so by those giving the orders on how to structure society.


Sources

2019 starts with a cold bang: farmers in Sonora, Mexico are lighting tires on fire to keep their crops warm. Massive cold, frosts, and snows have descended also in Europe and Asia, bringing a "death sentence" to modern agriculture.

Christian explores the Grand Solar Minimum's influence on a weak jet stream, triggering these temperature and precipitation extremes, as well as shares resources on how to start germinating seeds for this coming growing season.


Sources

In the wake of cold waves affecting large parts of India, reports of frost are emerging from multiple states. The frost may pose an additional risk to rabi crops, which already face an uncertain future due to the deficient northeast monsoon and feeble Western Disturbances (critical precipitation-bearing systems) in December.

Air frost occurs when ground-level air temperature is below zero degrees Celsius. Ground frost, meanwhile, refers to icy deposits on the ground formed when soil moisture freezes. Recently, in Kerala's Munnar, minimum (night-time) temperatures plunged to -4°C, blanketing the hills in white frost. Pretty though the sight was, it was bad news for tea plantation owners in the hill station, who say frost has resulted in huge losses for a second consecutive year.

A large waterspout that emerged from a cloud over the sea at Cancun caught the attention of many, including geologist Sergio Almazán.

Almazán, who is an engineer from the National Polytechnic Institute, was out walking when he spotted the large funnel. On his social media account, he posted a 42-second video of the unusual spout as it hovered over Cancun waters.

While not unheard of in regions such as the Florida Keys where they see 200 a year, waterspouts in this region are not common, however, several are spotted each year along the Quintana Roo coast.

A raccoon that lunged at an Oakville woman as she was getting into her car in December has tested negative for rabies, says the Oakville and Milton Humane Society.

Janet King, 62, says she had just finished walking her dog Cookie in Lakeside Park when the attack occurred. It was about 1 p.m. on Dec. 13, and she was sitting sideways in her car's driver's seat, with her feet still on the street.

"I felt this sharp pain," she told the Oakville Beaver on Monday. "I looked down and this big, giant raccoon had a hold of my leg and was biting away."

"Three of its teeth just went right into my leg. I didn't know if it wanted (to get) in the car, wanted the dog or what."

A mud volcano that erupted on a fenceline between two Gisborne farms is continuing to spew mud a month after it appeared.

A mud volcano is an eruption of mud, cold water and gases. This one, in the Waimata Valley, began on December 15.

Gisborne District Council scientist Murry Cave said the main eruption lasted five hours and spewed thousands of tonnes of mud over some 1.3 hectares, destroying a fenceline and partially burying trees.

"We've been monitoring the area for the last year or so because the area uplifted in the Te Araroa earthquake [in September 2016] and there were a lot of cracks," he said.