Severe weather, including heavy rain and strong winds has affected several parts of southern Italy, including Sicily, Calabria and Sardinia, causing storm damage, flooding and landslides.

The Italian news agency ANSA reports that two rivers have overflowed in Syracuse (Siracusano) in Sicily, where flooding has also been reported in the provinces of Agrigento, Messina, Trapani, Palermo, Catania. One man died after his car was swept away by flood water in Castronovo di Sicilia, in the Palermo area of Sicily.

Agrigento was severely hit by flooding in November 2016 when 160 mm of rain fell in just 3 hours.

Heavy rainfall brought dangerous flooding to parts of Southern California and Arizona, and in some areas, people were trapped and needed rescue.

Near Phoenix, firefighters from several agencies worked together to save two men who were trapped in a wash, according to the Associated Press. Each of the two men was lifted separately out of the vehicle that got stuck in the rushing waters, and neither were injured in the ordeal, the report added.

The men were only identified by a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesperson as a father and a son, the AP also said.

A pair of researchers affiliated with the Natural History Museum in Chemnitz and Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, both in Germany, has found evidence in ancient tree rings of a solar sunspot cycle millions of years ago similar to the one observed in more modern times. In their paper published in the journal Geology, Ludwig Luthardt and Ronny Rößler describe how they gathered an assortment of petrified tree samples from a region in Germany and used them to count sunspot cycles.

Scientists know that the sun undergoes a sunspot cycle of approximately 11 years—some spots appear, grow cooler and then slowly move toward the equator and eventually disappear—the changes to the sun spots cause changes to the brightness level of the sun—as the level waxes and wanes, plants here on Earth respond, growing more or less in a given year—this can be seen in the width of tree rings. In this new effort, the researchers gathered petrified tree samples from a region of Germany that was covered by lava during a volcanic eruption approximately 290 million years ago (during the Permian period), offering a historical record of sun activity.

The research pair obtained 43 petrified tree specimens (tree-trunk slices) and report that they were able to count 1,917 rings which were preserved well enough to allow for observation under a microscope. Because the trees had all died at the same time, the researchers were able to establish a baseline between them which allowed for comparing tree ring growth between samples over the same time periods—which covered 79 years. Doing so, they report, revealed very clearly a cycle of growth similar to that seen in modern trees, though in this case, it was slightly different. Today the cycle is an average of 11.2 years, back then it was 10.6—close enough, the researchers suggest, to conclude that the sun has been behaving very predictably for at least 290 million years.

It should be noted that not everyone agrees with the theory that sunspot activity leaves such a clear record in tree rings—other factors might be involved such as general global temperature, weather patterns or even outbreaks of insect populations.

More information: Ludwig Luthardt et al. Fossil forest reveals sunspot activity in the early Permian, Geology(2017)

The number of victims of the flood disaster in southern Thailand continues to rise as the flood situation continues in 6 provinces. However, the Thai Meteorological Department are warning of more heavy rain for the next 6 days.

Death toll rises

Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) reported earlier today that 43 people have now died in the flood disaster that has affected 12 provinces in southern Thailand since 01 January 2017.

The Ministry of Interior says that more than 1.6 million people have so far been affected by the floods and that more than 530,000 homes have been damaged by flood water.

Heavy rain was a result of the tail-end of a cold front and low pressure area has caused deadly floods have in Eastern Visayas and Northern Mindanao, Philippines. Over 13,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

Philippines News Agency (PNA) reports that at least 4 people have died in the floods in Cagayan De Oro City, Misamis Oriental, one of the worst hit areas. Local media say that the death toll is higher, with flood related fatalities reported in other areas of the province.

The city council declared Cagayan de Oro under a state of calamity in the early hours of Tuesday, 17 January. Schools have been suspended in the area.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reports that, as of late 17 January (local time) flooding had affected 15,283 people from 3,499 families in 78 barangays in the regions of Eastern Visayas and Northern Mindanao.

DSWD reports that there are currently 13,559 people displaced and staying in 71 evacuation centres. As many as 4,672 people have been disaplced in Cagayan De Oro and 2,844 in Gingoog, also in Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao.

The powerful storms that soaked Northern California over the past week did more than trigger power outages, mudslides and flash floods.

They sent roughly 350 billion gallons of water pouring into California's biggest reservoirs — boosting their storage to levels not seen in years, forcing dam operators to release water to reduce flood risks and all but ending the five-year drought across much of Northern California, even though it remains in the south, experts said Monday.

"California is a dry state and probably always will be in most years, but we certainly don't have a statewide drought right now," said Jay Lund, a professor of engineering and director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis.

"We have to be careful about crying wolf here," he said. "You have to maintain credibility with the public when there are critically dry years, so you have to call it like it is when conditions improve."

Category 5 hurricane winds in California, Cat 3 winds in Colorado, Cat 4 winds in Europe's blizzards and the media uses a few tweets and a 10 second story to report, but a Cat 1 hurricane and its 24/7 news in summer so the media can hype global warming. All the while refusing to discuss cosmic ray intensity increasing which is the real cause of out of season floods happening globally.

California has been hit by seven days of major rain storms, causing flooding all over the state and prompting evacuations. More heavy rain is forecasted for the Golden State in the coming days. After six years of drought, parts of California have received record amounts of rain, causing rivers to flood, roads to close, trees to fall, power to go out and businesses to shut down.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued several warnings across the state, and authorities have advised thousands of Californians to evacuate their homes after rivers overflowed.Just outside of the state capital, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department advised 2,000 residents of Wilton to leave their homes.

In Sonoma County, 3,000 residents were placed under an evacuation advisory as the Russian River flooded by more than 35 feet on Monday.

Two people have drowned in the flash floods in Mpumalanga.

NSRI officials at the scene have confirmed that both bodies have been recovered.

The deceased were a woman and a rescue worker, both of whom were swept away by floodwater in Frischgewaagd village near Kwaggafontein in Mpumalanga, police said.

The incident happened amid occasional heavy rain that started in the early hours of Saturday morning, Mpumalanga police spokesman Brigadier Leonard Hlathi told the African News Agency (ANA).

He said that the woman drowned when the minibus taxi she was travelling in was caught in floodwater on the road.

A massive winter storm that could be the biggest to slam the region in more than a decade prompted the evacuation of hundreds of homes in northern Nevada and triggered flooding and mudslides that blocked major highways and stranded motorists in Northern California.

Crews in California cleared trees and debris Sunday following mudslides caused by steady rain accompanying the system that could dump 15 inches in the foothills of the Sierra and heavy snow on the mountain tops before it's expected to move east early Monday. Forecasters warned a second storm is expected to hit the already drenched area Monday night.

In Nevada, emergency officials voluntarily evacuated a total of 400 homes affecting about 1,300 residents in a south Reno neighborhood Sunday afternoon as the Truckee River began to leave its banks and drainage ditches started to overflow south of U.S. Interstate 80.