Snow Obsession Waning, So Let's Look At Weather Disasters Elsewhere

Areas in purple can expect major spring flooding. Areas
in yellow and red can expect at least some flooding.

It's been all snow all the time in this weather blog thingy for the past few days so it's time to move on.  At least for now.

While we have been suffering from our snow blindness, other weather events and disasters have been continuing apace worldwide. Time for a news update on those. Let's start in the Good Ole US of A.

MIDWEST FLOODING

The flood disaster in Nebraska and many other states that started earlier this month has not gone away.

True, it hasn't rained all that much in the middle of the country since that "bomb cyclone" initiated the worst of the flooding a couple weeks ago.

However, no rain is needed at the moment to keep this disaster going.  The spring snow melt is on, feeding more water into dozens upon dozens of already flooding rivers.

Where snow is still melting in Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin and elsewhere, high temperatures this week, depending on where you are in the region, will be somewhere between the 40s and 60s, ensuring a steady supply of water.

The flooding, with its epicenter in Nebraska and extending across at least seven states, has already caused an estimated $3 billion, with a "B" in damage, so this is an immense calamity. In farm country that has already flooded, farmers won't be able to plant this year, so the expense of this will keep going up, even if there's no new flooding.

There is going to be new flooding. Last Thursday, NOAA released its latest spring flood outlook and the news from that was all bad.  Basically, the report says already terrible conditions will get worse and stay really, really bad at least into May.

In a statement, Ed Clark, director or NOAA's National Water Center in Tuscaloosa Alabama, had this to say: "The extensive flooding we've seen in the past two weeks will continue through May and become more dire and may be exacerbated in the coming weeks as the water flows downstream....This is shaping up to be a potentially unprecedented flood season, with more than 200 million people at risk for flooding in their communities."

The flood outlook predicts continued major flooding in the states that are already experiencing it. The major flooding will also continue along the length of the Mississippi River, and much of the Missouri River.

The Mississippi River flooding is expected to continue into the summer.

(As an aside, NOAA's spring flood outlook shows a somewhat lesser, but still real flood risk in the coming weeks here in Vermont.)

CYCLONE IDAI IN AFRICA

Destruction from Cylone Idai in Africa. Photo by Wiklus de Wet
AFP/Getty Images

Last week, I mentioned the death and destruction from Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.  I have bad news on this front, too: Things are getting even worse there.

The latest death toll has climbed to at least 750, and that is likely to continue rising. More than 110,000 are in temporary camps, disease is likely to spread and many areas remain flooded.

Aid workers are scrambling to distribute food, and get water and electric systems up and running.  But it's a tough slog, and this cyclone will continue to cause a lot of suffering for a long time.

CYCLONES IN AUSTRALIA

Two cyclones hit Australia within 48 hours of each other in the past week. (Note that cyclones are the name for hurricanes in many parts of the world, including Africa and Australia.)

Cyclone Trevor came first, hitting a relatively remote areas of northern Australia, making landfall with top winds of 155 mph, so this was a big one. People along the coast where the storm hit were evacuated ahead of it, which definitely minimized casualties.

Next up was Cyclone Veronica, which hit the west coast of Australia Sunday. It was a Category 3 storm with winds of more than 100 mph.  Extensive flooding is likely.