Extreme weather continues to batter California. Heavy rains, flooding, hurricane-force winds, and tornadoes left hundreds of thousands without power and prompted evacuations from the hardest-hit areas. To top it off, the state reported the second snowiest late winter on record and the third snowiest month on record. The anomalously heavy snow buried Southern California mountain communities under 12.5 feet of snow and caused the indefinite closure of Yosemite National Park, which received 15 feet of snow and broke a decades-old snowfall record in the process.
Utah also recorded its snowiest late winter, breaking a record set in 1983. Snowbasin Resort in Weber County officially had its snowiest month on record.
And the same system that affected parts of the West Coast also hit southern states with snow, flooding, golf-ball-sized hail, and tornadoes, leaving more than 1 million without power and killing at least 13. And the northeastern U.S. also got its share of extreme weather, as a nor'easter brought 3 feet of snow, rain, gusty winds, and coastal flooding.
Tropical Cyclone Freddy made a rare second landfall in southern Africa, killing at least 216 people. Malawi and Mozambique were the hardest hit, with 190 deaths, 19,000 displaced, and thousands without power.
In Brazil, heavy rains and the overflowing Acre River flooded large areas of the city of Rio Branco, Acre. The Acre River in Rio Branco rose from about 26 feet to 51 in 24 hours. Hundreds of homes were damaged and at least 2,000 people were evacuated.
Other major floods worldwide this month:
- Johor, Malaysia - 4 dead and 40,000 displaced after heavy flooding
- Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi, Indonesia - 4 dead, 7 missing after floods and landslides
- Somalia - At least 14 dead in flash floods
- Kenya - 7 dead and 25 families left homeless after flash floods
- Şanlıurfa and Adıyaman, Turkey - Flash floods leave 14 dead
- Bolivia - Thousands affected by severe flooding
- Cauca, Colombia - 1,500 families affected by floods and landslides
- Northern Australia - Hundreds evacuated after rivers overflow
An estimated 461 people were injured and 13 people died after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck southern Ecuador. Many buildings in Cuenca, one of the country's largest cities, reported structural damage.
Another magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck much of Pakistan and Afghanistan. At least 13 people were reported dead and twelve injured.
Finally, after the strongest solar storm in over five years, massive auroras were seen over Tasmania, Australia, and New Zealand, and Northern Lights were reported as far south as North Carolina and Phoenix, Arizona, almost to the Mexican border.
All this and more in our SOTT Earth Changes Summary for March 2023:
