East Africa has suffered devastating floods after heavy rain in recent weeks, with Kenya particularly badly affected.
Since March, almost 200 people have lost their lives to overflowing rivers and mudslides, while 40,000 have been displaced from their homes. The water levels in Lake Victoria have risen sufficiently over the past week to impact settlements along its banks. Further torrential rain across the border in Uganda has caused flash flooding on numerous rivers over the past few days, forcing people to flee to higher ground.
In Mexico, a strong cold front heading south-eastwards across the country over the weekend spawned thunderstorms, which produced tornadoes. One powerful EF2 tornado, with estimated wind speeds of about 125mph (200km/h), touched down in Apodaca, Nuevo León. Two people were killed and several injured as the tornado damaged buildings and overturned lorries. The same thunderstorm produced 60mm (2.3in) of rain, triggering landslides, which closed a major highway, while large hail damaged more than 100 cars.
Unseasonably cold weather across large portions of the central and eastern US brought subzero temperatures and snow. New York reported falling snow on Saturday morning which tied with the record for the latest May snowfall in the city, back on May 9 1977. Conversely, this follows one of the least snowy October to April periods recorded.
• The headline of this article was amended on 14 May 2020. The original suggested Kenya and Uganda were in central Africa. They are actually in the east of the continent.
