The USA is still counting the cost after the recent spate of storms and tornadoes that wreaked havoc over the Midwest last weekend. The final cost of the damage will run into many millions of dollars.

Elsewhere in the world, the weather has been fairly quiet recently. At present there are no tropical storms, typhoons or hurricanes, but the active season for the northern hemisphere is underway.

At the moment a conference is taking place in Honolulu, Hawaii where researchers are hoping to gain more insight into the link between these storms and El Nino in order to help smaller island communities prepare for these often disastrous weather events.

The goal is to co-ordinate research and share data from around the world to help them plan for typhoons and hurricanes which are thought to be more active in an El Nino year. Hawaii was ravaged by hurricanes Iwa and Iniki in 1982 and 1992 - both El Nino years. El Nino is the name given to a shift in the distribution of warm and cool areas of the ocean, which in turn can have a far-reaching impact on weather patterns.

Joining the researchers in Hawaii are scientists from Guam, Palau, the Marshall Islands, American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and the Federated Statse of Micronesia.

Back in Australia, as autumn comes to an end, there has been some unusually wet weather. The town of Tarcoola, South Australia has seen over a month's worth of rain, 24mm, fall in just 24 hours. The monthly average for June is 18mm.

Parts of Europe have also been a bit washed out. In the Jura region of eastern France, Besancon has received a quarter of the average June rainfall already this month. 27mm of rain fell in just twelve hours early on Tuesday. The average for the month is 93mm.

Weather News from the last five days:
01/06/2004
31/05/2004
30/05/2004
29/05/2004
28/05/2004

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