Below-freezing temperatures, blustering wind and deep snow made for a disaster at the foot of the Andes Mountains in Chile, on the border of Argentina, over the weekend. Over 400 people were trapped in the mountain pass on both sides of the border, reported Socialpost, most of them were tourists and truck drivers.
The storm started on July 9 after shifting winds brought massive snowfall to the road, which is at an altitude of about 9,800 feet -- higher than the peak of Mount Olympus in Washington. Visibility was at a minimum, as videos show people unable to see beyond a few feet in front of them.
"There are temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius [14 degrees Fahrenheit] and snow accumulation of more than one meter [3.3 feet] on the roads," Hector Tello, a municipal official in Argentina, told C5N, an Argentinian TV news network. "There were cars that could not continue their journey because of the fog and could not even open the doors to get out."
UTC time: Monday, July 11, 2022 21:10 PM
Your time: Monday, July 11, 2022 at 10:10 PM GMT+1
Magnitude Type: mww
USGS page: M 6.0 - 84 km ESE of Port-Vila, Vanuatu USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist
Reports from the public: 3 people
A sustained recent period of hot, dry weather, which has seen temperatures reach around 38°C (100°F) in some places, has left over half of Poland at serious risk of drought, says Polish Waters (PGW WP), a state agency.
Over 170 municipalities (gminy) around the country have introduced restrictions on the use of water, with many Polish rivers and other water supplies running dangerously low.
More than 3,000 firefighters battle blazes as EU offers emergency help and temperatures could hit 43C
Wildfires in Portugal have left 29 people injured as thousands of firefighters and dozens of aircraft battle the blazes.
Authorities said 12 firefighters and 17 civilians required medical treatment for minor injuries, as reported by the Portuguese state broadcaster RTP and local media.
By Sunday afternoon, Portugal's civil protection agency said more than 3,000 firefighters were tackling active blazes.
The country is enduring a heatwave that is due to worsen, with temperatures expected to reach up to 43C (109F) on Tuesday.
The Dulgalakh River in Russia's Sakha Republic overflowed its banks after heavy rainfall descending on the area, leaving the village of Suordakh practically submerged.
Esther Onyegbula Vanguard Sat, 09 Jul 2022 12:18 UTC
One of the affected vehicles.
Six people have been reportedly swept off by erosion in Fatoki area of Orile Agege, Lagos.
The victims were in two separate vehicles when the incident happened.
Three persons were in each vehicle when flood water overflowed an uncompleted drainage and submerged their vehicles.
It was learned that residents in the community reportedly warned the victims to desist from driving through the road, but they were adamant and continued till their vehicles were submerged in the flood.
Avalanches happen in the mountains on a regular basis during all seasons of the year. Even the Canadian Rockies recently had a summer avalanche warning.
However, most snow slides, while they can often be deadly, don't create such a dramatic visual show. This week in the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Harry Shimmin was on a guided tour when he caught a big avalanche on video.
"Once it was over, the adrenaline rush hit me," he noted with the video. "I knew the rest of the group was further away from the avalanche so should be okay. When I rejoined them I could see they were all safe, although one had cut her knee quite badly and rode one of the horses to the nearest medical facility. Another had fallen off a horse and sustained some heavy bruising."
This week there were several major news stories related to volcanoes. In Guatemala, Volcan Fuego produced a long duration pyroclastic flow which travelled 6 kilometers away from its summit. It stopped only a short distance from a local town.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the Phivolcs disaster agency released a special warning regarding the Kanlaon volcano. And, in Alaska, two volcanoes which have each not erupted in about a century produced a several thousand foot tall plume of ash.
This video will discuss these volcano related news stories, as told and analyzed by a volcanologist.
The second named system of the year in the Atlantic Basin, which crossed over Central America and became a post-tropical cyclone away from land in the Eastern Pacific basin on Sunday, July 3, was anything but a typical tropical cyclone. From its unusual track to the locations it has impacted, Bonnie was full of surprises.
1 of only 3 storms to cross over and become a major hurricane
After making landfall along the Atlantic coast of Central America near the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Bonnie maintained its circulation as the system traveled over Central America and even after it emerged into the Eastern Pacific as a tropical storm.
Comment: A few days earlier: Heavy snowfall reaches the roofs of houses in city of Caviahue, Argentina on July 7