The 2018 tornado season across the Great Plains of the US started on a record-breaking quiet note, with very few tornadoes recorded in April. However, through May, the season kicked into life and, over the past week, further tornadic thunderstorms have produced severe weather. One tornado damaged several homes in Gillette, Wyoming, last Friday as well as injuring a number of people.
Meanwhile, in Maryland in the eastern US, 20cm (8in) of rain fell in just one day in the historic Ellicott City, resulting in flooding that devastated the centre of the city and claimed the life of one citizen. The torrential rain and flash flooding came just two years after a similar flood tore through the city.
Following extreme heat recently across parts of India and Pakistan, the monsoon season has begun over the past 10 days in south-western India, creating new rainfall records. In Mangaluru, 334mm (13in) of rain fell in just in 24 hours during Tuesday of last week. Put into perspective, this is more than half of the rainfall that London would expect to see during a whole year.
