Weather tracker: historic rainfall wreaks havoc in New Zealand

Historic rainfall deed New Zealand successful nan past week pinch a one-in-170-year flooding arena hitting Auckland. Auckland airdrome reported 249mm of rainfall successful a 24-hour play connected 27 January, pinch a month’s worthy of rainfall falling successful in little than an hour. Another station, Albert Park, saw 280mm successful 1 day, pinch 211mm falling successful little than six hours.

These totals are much than 8.5 times higher than a emblematic January, and much than 2.5 times higher than an full emblematic summer. Overall, Auckland has seen nan wettest January since records began, pinch much than half a metre of rainfall falling successful places. The rainfall has caused galore landslips, flooding and harm to roads and properties pinch 4 group killed and 350 successful request of emergency accommodation. More than 9,000 group are still stranded arsenic flights successful and retired of Auckland experiencing delays and cancellations.

Last play successful nan US, a beardown acold beforehand progressed southward into Texas, pinch sites successful Oklahoma signaling a 10-20F driblet successful somesthesia wrong an hour. Cold aerial lingered astatine and adjacent nan aboveground successful nan Southern Plains into this week, but south-westerly travel astatine higher altitudes advected warmer aerial complete nan apical of this shallow acold layer.

This operation helped nutrient freezing rain, a arena wherever rainfall becomes supercooled done nan acold aboveground layer, landing and turning to crystal arsenic it hits immoderate surfaces. The freezing rainfall coated roads and weighed down trees pinch a glazing of ice, causing galore roadworthy accidents. Where nan acold furniture was somewhat deeper, nan droplets froze into crystal pellets, pinch “thundersleet” observed successful Dallas, Texas earlier this week.

Parts of bluish Asia person had their coldest period successful much than a decade, pinch temperatures falling to -62.7C successful Siberia. More than 170 group and 70,000 livestock successful Afghanistan person been reported dormant successful nan past 2 weeks arsenic temperatures autumn to -34C. The United Nations has said 28 cardinal Afghans are successful request of urgent attraction pinch galore agrarian communities incapable to spend to power their homes.