Category: Official Source

14 August 2024

Dry July in Belgium

August 1st, 2024. The head of forecasting at the Belgian Royal Meteorological Institute advised that there had only been 5 days of rain in Brussels in July 2024, the lowest for 137 years. The observation site at Uccle, in the southern suburbs of Brussels has been collecting data since 1833. Lower numbers of rain days were were observed in 1885 (2 days),1869 (4 days) and 1835 (4 days). The Belgian drought comes 3 years after the wettest July on record at the site.

1 August 2024

Vermont Flooding

30th July, 2024. Around 8 inches of rain fell in 5 hours in the Northeast Kingdom (Essex, Orleans, and Caledonia counties), causing major infrastructure damage with homes carried away by the flood. The 24 hour state record for Vermont remains 9.92 inches (252mm) from a 1999 event. Observer data from St Johnsbury cited 4.99 inches in 1 day as the local record from 1913. Data from the National Weather Service shows totals of 7.81 inches (198mm) in 5 hours, 4.38 inches (111mm) in 2 hours. Multiple media sites suggest this event correlates to a 1:1000 annual chance (unverified). Significant rain and floods had occurred in the area earlier in July from Hurricane Beryl resulting in greater runoff.

31 July 2024

Typhoon Gaemi

July 29th, 2024. Multiple locations in Kaohsiung City County, Taiwan received over 1300mm rainfall in 24 hours during Typhoon Gaemi with event totals of around 1900mm over 3 days.

25 July 2024

Hottest Day

July 21st, 22nd and 23rd this year all exceeded the previous 2023 record for global temperature with 22nd setting the new record in data going back to 1980.

17 July 2024

Intense Rainfall for Toronto

16th July, 2024. Environment Canada confirm over 4 inches, (100mm) fell in the City in about 2.5 hours during the morning of Tuesday 16th, making it the 5th wettest day at Pearson Airport. Intensities of 30mm in 30 minutes were observed in the city, caused by training thunderstorms. This followed storms on the afternoon of 15th. The Don Valley area saw the greatest impact, largely related to road flooding. The Don Valley had a significant population living close to the watercourse until Hurricane Hazel in 1954, after which the homes were expropriated and land used for an expressway and parkland.

Don Valley Parkway. 16th July, 2024 (Source Globe and Mail)

3 July 2024

Switzerland – Rhone River Records

June 30th, 2024. The Rhone River exceeded peak height records at multiple locations above Lake Geneva, in Valais Canton. The peak discharge at Reckingen was 32% greater than any previous rated discharge in 101 years of available record, commencing 1903. Stations at Sion (108 year record) , Branson (83 year record) and Brig (59 year record) also exceeded previous record flood peaks.

25 June 2024

Minnesota Partial Dam Failure

June 25th, 2024. Southern Minnesota. Rapidan Dam partially failed with water eroding the left abutment during a flood event . The dam was built in 1910 for hydroelectricity by impounding the Blue Earth River, but ceased energy production in 2019 following flood damage. Ice damage also occurred in 2020. The 87 ft (26.5 metres) high dam dam has a catchment of 2430 square miles, or 6239 Km2.

23 June 2024

Swiss Flash Floods and Intense Rainfall

June 21st, 2024. Switzerland. Rainfall led to significant flash flood impacts in the Moesa River valley in Switzerland. Official totals show around 100mm of rain within 1 hour around Grono, with unofficial data showing 15mm in five minutes ending at 19:35 at one site. Landslides resulted in fatalities. Part of the A13 road was undermined by erosion. The discharge at Lumino increased from 214m3/s to 594 m3/s in 30 minutes from 19:45, according to Swiss Govt flood warning data. The catchment area to Lumino is 472km2.

15 March 2024

Brisbane Overnight Temperature

March 15th, 2024. Bureau of Meteorology. Brisbane recorded 74 nights above 20°C before the minimum dropped. This broke the previous record, set in 1978, of 59 days.

11 March 2024

Hobart Overnight Temperature Confusion

March 10th, 2024. Bureau of Meteorology. The overnight temperature in Hobart (9-10th) was reported in the media to be the hottest for 112 years. Official records show a discrepancy. The March record minimum of 21.1 (March, 1906) and the overall minimum record of 24.7 °C, set in February 1912 remain. The discrepancy is due to timing. Temperatures above 26°C were recorded overnight in Hobart but by about 6am on 10th March, the temperature had started to fall meaning in the 24 hours to 9am, the minimum was 16.9°C.

1 March 2024

Whakaari White Island Judgement

The sentencing and judgement into the Whakaari White Island eruption contains learnings on the application of monitoring and managing natural hazard risk in so far as reasonably practicable. (SFARP). Key learnings relate to training, communication and systems testing.

UK February Temperature Records

March 1st 2024. UK Met Office. England and Wales had the warmest February in a record kept since 1884. Considering the whole UK, February was the second warmest, with four of the top ten occurring in the last five years. 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2019. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2024/february-2024-warm-and-wet-for-the-uk

18 February 2024

Carnarvon (WA) Temperature Record

February 18th, 2024. A maximum temperature of 49.9°C was recorded at Carnarvon Airport on 18th February. This broke the previous record of 47.7°C by 2.2 degrees, set on on both 20th January 2015 and 6th March 2007. The old February record was 46.9°C on 9th February 1984. Continuous temperature records commenced at Carnarvon Airport in September 1948.

2 February 2024

New Wind Speed Records In Norway and Sweden

February 2nd, 2024. Storm Ingunn. Provisional new records set for sustained winds in Norway and Sweden on February 1st. In Norway, 54m/s (121.6 mph) was recorded at Kvaløyfjellet in Sømna. Data sourced by Norsk Climate Centre. In Sweden, a sustained 10 minute wind speed of 51.8m/s was recorded in Stekenjokk. Data sourced from Finnish Meteorological Institute.

31 January 2024

Brisbane – 250mm in 90 Minutes

January 30th, 2024. 250mm in 90 minutes was recorded at multiple Bureau flood warning stations in the South Pine River catchment, immediately north of Brisbane, Queensland. A major riverine flash flood event resulted along Four Mile Creek causing significant damage. The day prior had seen a record precipitable water value of 70.8mm at Brisbane Airport according to the Aerological Diagram, sourced form the Bureau of Meteorology. Intense rainfall also impacted the Caboolture River catchment to the north.

30 November 2023

French Floods Re-write Response Plans

30th November 2023. Several catchments in northern France have seen flood peaks exceed the previous record multiple times in a single month. As an example, the Laine River, near Boulogne, exceeded the previous 2012 peak 4 times in November (Record back to 1970). The new maximum discharge of 68m3/s is 20% greater than the 2012 value. The catchment is about 250km2. The associated rain gauge at Wirwignes (62896001, record back to 1988) achieved new records for every duration examined from 1-14 days during November. According to Meteo France, such rain accumulations have only been seen once before in the Pas De Calais. The ongoing disaster meant response plans required revision given the lengthy impact on utilities and services, even for those not directly flooded. €50 Million has been allocated to assist by the French Government, and €11.6 million provided by the EU. The French Public reinsurer estimates the cost of the floods to be €640 Million.

1 March 2022

Enoggera Dam – Unusual Loading

March 1st, 2022. Brisbane. The Enoggera Reservoir peak lake level of 81.39mAHD in February 2022, had a flood loading just shy of 1:10000 Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) (1:10000 AEP level listed as 81.4mAHD) according to the approved Emergency Action Plan. Rainfall frequency assessments for the catchment indicate the 2022 event was between a 1:200 and 1:500 AEP representing a discrepancy between the flood frequency and rainfall frequency.