Back to the world weather... by Elizabeth Saary
With the worst of our wintry weather coming to an end for the time being, I thought today would be a good day to resume our normal daily look at some weather news stories from around the world.
The first place that caught my eye was Singapore – perhaps because of how different conditions are there to here! February is normally one of the drier months in Singapore, but that does not mean that they don’t get any rain. The average amount for February is 165mm, but with only just over 1mm falling in the first 23 days of this month, it has been exceptionally dry. There have also been higher than normal temperatures recorded and this has led to a problem with bushfires. So far this month there have been nearly as many separate bushfires as occurred in the whole of 2004.
Staying in Asia, Hong Kong has been afflicted by some different weather. Lots of humid air moving across southern China has led to problems with fog and smog. At times the visibility has been reduced so severely that air and sea traffic has been forced into delays and diversions. The problem is enhanced by high levels of pollution being blown in from the nearby industrialised Pearl River Delta region.
Whilst in the Pacific region, it is worth having an update on the tropical cyclone situation. Islands in the Southwest Pacific have suffered quite badly recently from cyclones ‘Olaf’, ‘Nancy’ and ‘Meena’. A new cyclone, ‘Percy’ has now formed and is being closely watched. It looks like the system will strengthen significantly in the coming few days as it heads to the north of Samoa. The island group of Tokelau lies in the immediate path of the cyclone and warnings have already been issued.
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