Coastal New South Wales in Australia was battered by huge waves last week, eroding some exposed coastlines and putting homes at risk of collapse. Waves over 10 metres high were reported, part of a swell associated with a deep area of low pressure off the east coast.
Low pressure systems such as these are a common feature of the southern hemisphere autumn and winter months, but differ from tropical storms that form over the warm waters of the Pacific, usually affecting the north of the country.
Significant flooding occurred the Italian city of Palermo last Wednesday, as a powerful thunderstorm produced intense rainfall which overwhelmed drainage systems. In what is Sicily’s driest month of the year, when it usually rains little more than once, estimated rainfall from this event of around 80-100mm in the space of an hour or two, represented around 15% of typical annual levels.
Death Valley in California, normally an even drier part of the world, recorded the world’s highest air temperature of the year so far. The temperature of 53.3C (128F) was among the hottest conditions ever observed on earth and was just around one degree off the highest widely accepted recorded temperature, also in Death Valley, of 54C( 129.2F).
