In May, while a large cyclone struck Bangladesh and eastern India, the north of India experienced temperatures of up to 47℃.

The latest seasonal outlooks estimate that drought conditions may extend westwards and persist into 2021, complicating the recovery from a difficult year. Other impacts included crop damage from one in 50 year dry soil moisture conditions and a rise in dust storms reminiscent of the 1930s Dust Bowl.

The Rio Grande river, a major source of water supply for southwest states, would have completely ceased to flow had water providers not decided to pause existing water diversion schemes. This coincided with abnormally hot summer temperatures and over 2 million acres of land burned nationwide, further enhancing drought conditions in a vicious cycle. By the peak in summer, a third of the US was in a moderate drought and much of the west was under severe to extreme drought. The severe drought across central and western US is the first billion-dollar drought of 2020, contributing to a record-breaking 16 weather and climate disasters with USD$1 billion or more in damages in the US in 2020 alone.Ĭonditions during 2020 represented the latest phase of a “mega-drought” over the past 20 years. Water crises caused by droughts and resource mismanagement were ranked as the fifth highest risk in terms of impact in the 2020 Global Risks Report - greater than infectious diseases and unemployment. The wet conditions were also ideal for further breeding of desert locusts. Though the rainfall was predicted in advance, locust outbreaks and COVID meant vulnerable people were already less able to handle the floods and secondary hazards such as widespread landslides and a cholera outbreak. The previous dry season was particularly wet, and was followed by above average rainfall during the “long rains” of March-May, meaning the vast Lake Victoria had twice its normal rainfall. At least 430 lives were lost and an estimated 116,000 people were displaced in Kenya alone. The world’s deadliest flooding this year took place in east Africa in March through May. This is a humanitarian crisis yet one that has received relatively little attention overseas. They made landfall in the region in November, just two weeks and 15 miles apart. Two major hurricanes, Eta and Iota, caused significant damage in Honduras and Nicaragua. The single costliest storm of the season, Hurricane Laura, made landfall in Haiti and Louisiana, killing 77 people and causing more than US$14 billion (£10 billion) in damages. In the North Atlantic, 2020 was the busiest hurricane season on record, with 30 named storms and six major hurricanes. More than 136,000 homes were flooded and more than 100 people died. Tropical storms Linfa and Nangka caused significant flooding across Vietnam, exacerbating the problems caused by an unusually active monsoon. One of the strongest storms to ever make landfall worldwide, Goni directly affected nearly nearly 70 million people, leading to at least 26 fatalities – a number that would have undoubtedly been higher if not for the evacuation of almost 1 million people.īut it wasn’t just wind that posed serious hazards in the western Pacific in 2020. In November, super typhoon Goni made landfall in the Philippines while at maximum intensity, with sustained wind speeds of 195mph. In 2020 there were actually 66% more fires in that month, but attention was elsewhere. In September 2019, fires in the Amazon had made worldwide headlines.

Savage xr mac crash