In the west Pacific, Super Typhoon Surigae became the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the month of April on the 17th. Surigae brought peak sustained winds of 190mph, more than two months earlier than any other tropical cyclone recorded. Fortunately, the storm remained over open waters to the east of the Philippines, although it did affect eastern parts of the Visayas region.
Meanwhile, parts of the Middle East have endured a harsh heatwave over the past few weeks. On 23 April, temperatures in Kuwait rose to 45.3C, only 0.3C below the national April record. Damascus, the Syrian capital, tied its April high temperature of 38.4C, while temperatures exceeded 44C in the Libyan desert on the 17 April, close to record values for the time of year. The intense heat looks to continue into early May as well.
After a quiet couple of weeks for the spring storm season in the US, 23 April finally saw a renewed burst of severe thunderstorms across southern states; a particularly intense storm along the Texas/Oklahoma border brought very large hailstones and a few photogenic tornadoes. Tornado season in the US peaks during May, so further intense storms and severe weather should be expected over the next few weeks.
