The active north Atlantic hurricane season continued through last week with Hurricane Eta making landfall as a category 4 storm to the south of Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua. The storm weakened as it moved slowly inland towards Honduras through the week. Some areas saw as much as 550mm of rain (22 inches), leading to landslides and flooding. At least 100 people have died as a result.
Spain and Portugal also had some anomalously high rainfall totals last week as low pressure lingered nearby. Eastern Spain was particularly wet with Valencia getting 100mm on 5 November, compared with the November monthly average of just 37mm. Flash flooding followed, leading to the suspension of schools and road closures. Wind and hail also damaged and estimated €8m (£7m) worth of crops.
Across large parts of the US, it was notably warm for the time of year last week with cities such as Denver, Boston, Minneapolis and Chicago surpassing 20C on numerous days. Temperatures of 26C and 25C in Denver on 3 and 4 November respectively broke daily records for the city, which extend back to 1872. The heat was even more notable in Phoenix, which recorded 37C on 5 November, its hottest November day since records began in 1895.
