World Weather 2013

2013 has been in some places a pretty quiet year for weather.

 The USA saw very few Hurricanes this season following on from 2012s horrible events which included Hurricane Sandy.

 

But for other places around the world it has been wild!

Australian Bush fires devastated large areas of land following on from the hottest spring on record . Temperatures reached 2 degrees Celsius above average. It was also very dry with 30% less rainfall in areas and 50% less in Southern Australia. New South Wales saw the dry season start earlier than usual.

Smoke was seen from the forest fires masking the capitals.

 

 

Parts of Europe so severe snow storms with parts of the UK seeing the worst snowfall and largest snow drifts recorded. With a severe snowfall event affecting the Channel Islands.

 

This year we saw the strongest storm ever recorded. Typhoon Haiyan hit the Phillipines causing devastation on the scale of the Boxing Day Tsunami with winds up to 200mph seen.

Thousands of people were killed and areas were affected by a 13ft sea surge.

 

The monsoon season in India started earlier than usual and saw the fastest advance in 70 years. The weather saw a 1/3 more rainfall over a longer period of time.

 

The Italian island of Sardinia was hit by a severe storm killing around 20 people with homes and bridges swept away.

 

A small village in Northern Sweden saw one of the largest changes in temperatures ever recorded. On 3rd December an unseasonably warm 4.7C, though 2 days later the temperature had dropped to a bone-chilling -40.8C but on 10 December it rose again in just a few hours to a balmy 7.7C. The 48.5C rise in under 48 hours is one of the greatest ever recorded.

 

A strong winter storm has killed many people across Eastern USA and Canada with hundreds of people without power. The vast temperature variance between the two air masses above the US has caused an unusually strong Jet Stream which has been funnelling many strong depressions across to Western Europe. Britain has been hit hard by some strong winds and flooding over the Christmas period.

 

 

The worst storm surge in 60 years hit the North Sea. With flooding affecting Eastern coast of England and Western Europe.

 

Overall it was the 7th warmest year on record. However unusually the Arctic saw nowhere near as much sea ice loss as the exceptional 2012 when all records were broken. The second lowest temperatures ever measured were also measured in July in the centre of Antarctica plateau.

 

Again it has been a year of ferocious storms, topsy turvy weather and droughts.

With some record breaking weather.

info from bbc and wunderground.com