Severe weather warnings have been issued across the Canary Islands this weekend as torrential rain brings chaos and forced the closure of schools.
All schools were closed on Friday as storms hit the archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of west Africa.
Spain's meteorological agency AEMET put the region on amber alert and warned that the eastern most islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote were likely to be the worst hit with rain of up to 30 litres per square meter per hour expected.
Those tourists willing to brave the wind and rain and head for the popular resort of Playa del Ingles in Gran Canaria may have spotted an unusual weather phenomenon just off the beach.
There were no reported casualties and officials said the damage might not be as catastrophic as feared
One of the strongest ever hurricanes lashed western Mexico with rain and winds of up to 165 mph (266 km/h), causing chaos in coastal towns and resorts but less damage than feared before weakening on Saturday as it moved inland.
Mowing down trees, flooding streets and battering buildings, Hurricane Patricia plowed into Mexico as a Category 5 storm on Friday before grinding inland, where it began to lose power in the mountains that rise up along the Pacific coast.
Around 15,000 tourists were hurriedly evacuated from the beach resort of Puerto Vallarta as people scrambled to get away from the advancing hurricane, whose massive swirl over Mexico could be seen clearly from space.
"It sparked chaos here, it ruined a lot of things, took down the roof, lots of trees. Things are in a bad state where we work," said Domingo Hernandez, a hotel worker in the resort of Barra de Navidad near to the major port of Manzanillo.
Thousands of residents and tourists ended up in improvised shelters but there were no early reports of fatalities and many felt they had escaped lightly.
The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere has struck Mexico's Pacific Coast, destroying houses and forcing thousands to evacuate. Heavy flooding and mud-slides are also feared along the hurricane's path.
Hurricane Patricia grew at an "incredible rate" on Friday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said. It became a hurricane overnight, carrying maximum sustained winds of about 200 miles per hour (325 km per hour) as it moved north-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).
A Florida woman filming a sunset in Florida had a "freak out" when she spotted a mysterious "planet" -- but the object was likely an illusion known as a sundog.
Melissa Huffman posted a video to YouTube showing the large light in the sky near the sun as she was filming from Florida's Sanibel causeway near sunset.
Huffman refers to the object as a "very clear planet" -- showing the moon hanging elsewhere in the sky -- and mentions it probably isn't Mercury or Venus.
"Somebody tell me what it is, thank you," Huffman says in the video.
When an unusually powerful El Niño struck in 1997, civil conflicts erupted across the tropics, from Sudan to Peru -- as floods, droughts and fires devastated crops, fisheries and livelihoods.
It wasn't an isolated case, suggests growing evidence that links El Niño's extreme weather with a spike in violent conflicts in tropical regions. As one of the strongest El Niño events in recorded history gains steam this fall, some experts are warning of the potential for more unrest to come - and the urgent need to take preventive action.
"Half the world's population is exposed to a higher risk of violence this year," says Solomon Hsiang, professor of public policy at Berkeley. "Now that we know what to expect, we shouldn't necessarily sit back and watch sparks fly. There are a lot of things we can do."
Comment: The SOTT Earth Changes Summaries that have been tracking the weather have already shown the planet to be in a state of extreme turmoil, and now things are expected to get worse? How long before the cumulative effect of localized disasters reaches critical mass and causes the global supply chain to be unable to function, leaving most people of the world without access to basic necessities?
Met department officials say they have no record of heavy snowfall in the Valley during the month of October
Even though it's the middle of autumn, in parts of Kashmir it seems like winter. Cold temperatures have brought unseasonal snowfall at higher reaches of the valley.
For last two days Mughal Road that connects Kashmir valley with Pirpanjal region has remained closed and hundreds of trucks were stranded along the key passage.
At an altitude of 11,000 feet, Peer Ki Gali, the highest spot on Mughal Road has seen about two feet of snowfall in last 48 hours. But as the weather improved today and sun came out, officials increased their efforts to clear the road.
"Snow clearance machines are at work since yesterday and road will be fully functional today. We have already cleared over 500 trucks yesterday evening," said Nisar Ahmad, an engineer at Mughal Road.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.7 occurred off northwest Vancouver Island this afternoon.
The earthquake occurred at 4:07 p.m., about 200 kilometres west of Port Hardy, according to Earthquakes Canada. It occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres.
Port Hardy Coun. Patricia Corbett-Labatt was at a meeting at the district's office and said no one there noticed it.
Earthquakes Canada said it had not received any reports from people who felt the quake. There are no reports of damage, and none would be expected, the federal agency said.
Comment: See also: Hurricane Patricia becomes strongest hurricane ever recorded