September 6, 2019

This summer, unusually warm air temperatures have caused record ice melt in the North Atlantic Ocean island of Greenland. During the month of July alone, the island lost more ice than it normally does in an entire year. In just a five-day period, from July 30 to August 3, the island lost about 90 percent of the surface of its ice sheet (a massive glacier)—an estimated 55 billion tons (50 billion metric tons) of ice. The record ice loss is a result of global warming and climate change.

A Danish meteorological team travels across submerged sea ice in Greenland’s Inglefield Bredning fjord on June 13, 2019. The area is normally covered with ice and snow. Credit: Steffen M. Olsen, Danish Meteorological Institute

At the highest point of the Greenland Ice Sheet, 10,550 feet (3,216 meters) above sea level, temperatures topped freezing (32 °F or 0 °C) for more than 16 hours during July 30 and 31, melting some 12.5 billion tons (11.3 billion metric tons) of ice during that brief period. It was the first time ice had melted at that high point since July 2012, and it was just the third such ice melt there in the last 700 years.

Click to view larger image. Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark, stretches from the Arctic to the North Atlantic Ocean. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

The ice sheet that covers Greenland is about the size of Alaska, and it contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by more than 20 feet (6 meters). During an average summer, Greenland will lose some ice from meltwater and from icebergs that calve (break off) into the ocean. But the ice loss typically happens at the sheet’s edges at sea level—not at the highest and coldest points. The amount of ice loss is also normally much less. From 1981 to 2010, the average ice melt from July 30 to August 3 was 15 billion tons (13.6 billion metric tons).

Huge icebergs form where the Jakobshavn Glacier flows into the sea near Ilulissat, Greenland. Credit: © Radius Images, Getty Images

The drastic summer ice melt in Greenland is a continuation of an alarming and worsening trend. In 1972, Landsat satellites (a project then known as the Earth Resources Technology Satellite) began photographing and mapping Greenland’s ice sheet. Landsat, a joint mission of NASA and the United States Geological Survey, uses a series of satellites to produce detailed images of Earth from space.

From 1979 to 2006, satellite images showed a 30 percent rise in the amount of Greenland ice that melts each summer, and the ice loss continues to increase. Greenland’s ice fronts have drastically retreated, rocky peaks have become exposed, and the size and shape of the island’s many fiords have changed significantly. In August 2019, Landsat images showed wet snow and melt ponds at Greenland’s higher elevations, and large parts of the island’s shrinking glaciers appeared brownish grey. The color indicates that the surface has melted, a process that concentrates dust and rock particles and leads to a darker recrystallized ice sheet surface.

Greenland is not the only site of rapidly increasing ice melt. Warmer global temperatures are reducing glaciers and ice fields in the Arctic and Antarctica, as well as in Iceland, the Alps, the Andes, the Himalaya, the Rockies, at Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and in the Sudirman Range in Indonesia.

July 17, 2019

To help reduce pollution in the United States, a Sierra Club program called “Ready for 100” is encouraging communities and individuals to commit to the use of 100 percent renewable energy sources. The Sierra Club, founded in 1892 by the naturalist John Muir, is an organization that works to protect the environment. Ready for 100 is asking business, civic, community, and religious leaders, as well as families and students, to help achieve the goal of complete nationwide reliance on clean, renewable energy by the year 2050.

Renewable energy comes from such sources as the sun, wind, moving water, heat beneath the ground, and plants. Such energy sources are considered “clean” because they cause little or no pollution, and they differ from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Burning fossil fuels causes air pollution and acid rain, and also releases large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The gases trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate change.

Since November 2016, solar panels and battery systems have provided 100 percent of the energy needed to power the island of Ta’u, seen here, in the U.S. Pacific territory of American Samoa. Credit: © SolarCity

There are many benefits to using clean energy sources. They can provide communities with cleaner air and water, lower energy costs, greater energy independence, and greater local ownership of energy systems. More than 50 nations around the world, including Brazil, Canada, and Norway, already get more than 50 percent of their energy supply from renewable sources. Costa Rica expects to be using 100 percent renewable energy by 2021. The U.S. state of Hawaii has promised to be Ready for 100 by 2045, and recent California legislation requires the country’s most populous state to achieve 50 percent renewable energy use by 2030. Such worldwide cities as Munich, New York, and Sydney are also well beyond the 50 percent mark, and they are fast approaching total reliance on renewable energy. To reach 100 percent, the amount of energy generated from renewable sources (for such uses as electric power, heating and cooling, and transportation) must equal or exceed the annual energy consumed.

Hoover Dam on the Colorado River has been providing renewable hydroelectric energy in the southwestern United States since 1935. Credit: U.S. Department of Transportation

So far, 182 U.S. towns and cities from coast to coast have committed to 100 percent renewable energy use by 2050. Aspen, Colorado (since 2015); Burlington, Vermont (2014); Georgetown, Texas (2018); Greensburg, Kansas (2013); Kodiak Island, Alaska (2012); and Rock Port, Missouri (2008) have already hit the 100 percent renewable energy mark, leading the push for cleaner energy and a healthier future.

June 21, 2019

Today, June 21, is the first day of summer, and people in parts of the Midwestern and Southeastern United States can say goodbye to a stormy spring that included record flooding and an unusual number of powerful tornadoes. Beginning in March, snowmelt and repeated heavy rains overflowed the Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and other rivers. Tornadoes ravaged many areas in March and April, and in the month of May alone, an astounding 362 twisters touched down in 12 different states. The combined spring storms killed 64 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.

Mississippi River floodwaters cut off a highway at the Illinois-Missouri border on May 30, 2019. Spring storms ravaged many parts of the Midwest and Southeast in 2019. Credit: © Scott Olson, Getty Images

An unusually cold winter resulted in large snowfalls and frozen ground throughout the Midwest. In March, melting snow added large amounts of water to streams and rivers. Torrential downpours then followed, resulting in floods that affected Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Six people died in the regional flooding, and the waters caused some $8 billion in damage. Powerful thunderstorms and flooding continued in April and May, spreading damage to the states of Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. In some states, more than a month’s worth of rain (compared with the average) fell in a single day. Saturated fields prevented many crops from being planted, and many existing crops were severely damaged.

In early March, tornadoes first struck in the Southeast, killing 23 people and causing extensive damage in parts of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. In April, tornadoes killed 20 more people in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Then, in May, 362 tornadoes killed 15 people across the Midwest. A number of the tornadoes rated EF4—wind speeds of 166 to 200 miles (267 to 322 kilometers) per hour—on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, used to measure a tornado’s intensity. (EF5, with winds over 200 miles (322 kilometers) per hour, is the highest rating.) Destruction was substantial in Dayton, Ohio, and Linwood, Kansas, but no people were killed.

The Midwestern and Southeastern United States are accustomed to bouts of severe spring weather, but this year’s storms were abnormally abundant and strong. The increases in bad weather—in both winter and spring—aligned with what scientists expect as the world’s climate continues to change. As average global temperatures rise, air becomes saturated with moisture, resulting in higher amounts of precipitation. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have warned of increasing episodes of severe weather because of climate change.

April 26, 2019

Last month, in March, Tropical Cyclone Idai struck the southeastern coast of Africa. One of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, Idai caused catastrophic landslides and flooding that killed more than 1,000 people in Mozambique and in neighboring Malawi and Zimbabwe. The storm left more than 300,000 people homeless and led to deadly outbreaks of cholera and increased cases of malaria. More than a month later, thousands of people remain missing in affected areas, and government and international aid agencies continue to struggle to provide badly needed food, water, and medical supplies.

On March 23, 2019, residents of Beira, a coastal city in central Mozambique, survey the damage done by Cyclone Idai. Credit: © Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP/Getty Images

Cyclone Idai formed as a tropical depression over the warm waters of the southwestern Indian Ocean in early March. The storm intensified into a cyclone as it struck central Mozambique on March 4. Torrential rains and deadly winds whipped coastal areas for days as Idai spun along the Mozambique Channel between the African mainland and the island of Madagascar. Idai varied in strength, until reaching peak intensity with winds of 150 miles (240 kilometers) per hour on March 14. After 17 days of damage and deluge, the storm finally weakened and dissipated on March 21.

This satellite image shows Cyclone Idai in the Mozambique Channel on March 14, 2019. Credit: NASA

The broad and determined storm reached inland to Malawi and Zimbabwe and pelted coastal areas of Madagascar. The storm extensively damaged or destroyed vital infrastructure, including communication networks, hospitals, roads, sanitation facilities, and schools. Wide swaths of farmland were ruined, portions of forests were flattened by high winds, and flooding created a temporary inland sea in Mozambique that measured some 80 miles (130 kilometers) long and 15 miles (24 kilometers) wide. Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi called Cyclone Idai a “humanitarian disaster of great proportion.”

Mozambique. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Mozambique’s typically able Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades (National Disasters Management Institute) was overwhelmed by the scale of Idai’s destruction, and an urgent note verbale (formal diplomatic notice) went out requesting international help. The Red Cross and Red Crescent, Doctors Without Borders, and several United Nations organizations came to the rescue, as did the European Union and the governments of Canada, France, Portugal, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Cyclone Idai was the seventh tropical cyclone of the Indian Ocean season, more than twice the average for this time of year. Globally, high-intensity storms have been occurring more frequently in recent years, a trend directly related to climate change. Global warming increases sea temperatures, creating more moisture and instability in the atmosphere—factors crucial to the birth of dangerous cyclones and hurricanes. Tropical cyclones need high humidity and surface water temperatures of 79 °F (26 °C ) or higher to form. Melting glaciers and ice have increased global sea levels, resulting in more frequent and intense flooding in coastal areas around the world.

October 1, 2018

Two weeks ago, early on the morning of Sept. 15, 2018 (September 14 in the United States), Typhoon Mangkhut struck the main Philippine island of Luzon. In a country accustomed to seasonal tempests, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) gives its own names to storms: there, Mangkhut (the named bestowed on the storm by the World Meteorological Organization) was known as Ompong. The typhoon raged regardless of name, causing deadly flooding and landslides that killed 95 people in Luzon. Mangkhut then killed one person on Taiwan and six others in China. On September 20, days after the storm dissipated, waterlogged soil on the central Philippine island of Cebu caused a landslide that killed another 85 people.

Members of the Filipino Bureau of Fire Protection carry a victim of a landslide in Luzon’s Benguet province on Sept. 18, 2018. Credit: © Basilio Sepe, Getty Images

Typhoon Mangkhut formed as a tropical depression over the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific Ocean on September 7. The storm grew into a tropical storm near Bikini Atoll and escalated to a Category 5 (the strongest level) typhoon in the Northern Marianas. Mangkhut roared westward across the Pacific and on September 12 the storm entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), the zone in the northwestern Pacific where PAGASA tracks dangerous weather.

Typhoon Mangkhut (Ompong) hit the northern Philippines and then crossed the South China Sea to Hong Kong and China’s Guangdong Province. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

In preparation for the massive storm, schools and public offices were closed in northern Luzon and people were evacuated from many coastal areas. Across the South China Sea in Hong Kong, officials issued a rare “No. 10” typhoon warning signal, the highest level of storm threat, and briefly shut down public services. Parts of China’s Guangdong Province also issued red alerts and closed schools and public offices.

Mangkhut reached the shores of Cagayán Valley, Luzon’s most northern administrative region, on September 15. The storm lashed Cagayán and the nearby Cordillera and Ilocos regions, where winds as fierce as 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour ripped up trees and houses and torrential rains caused flash flooding and mudslides. Mangkhut then leapt to China, where deadly winds knocked down thousands of trees and shattered windows in swaying high-rise buildings. Floodwaters blocked roads and railways and inundated coastal communities. On nearby Taiwan, the lone death occurred when strong ocean currents related to the storm swept a beachgoer out to sea.

August 10, 2018

Early on July 29 in southern Indonesia (July 28 in the United States), a 6.4-magnitude earthquake destroyed buildings and killed 17 people on the small island of Lombok. As bad as that was, it proved to be only a warning shot. A week later, on the evening of August 5, a second, stronger earthquake struck the island, and this one, a 6.9-magnitude temblor, proved to be much more destructive. The earthquake collapsed numerous buildings already weakened by the earlier quake, and thus far the dead bodies of 259 people have been pulled from the rubble. Thousands of people have been injured in the disaster, and tens of thousands more have been left homeless.

A man searches through the ruins of houses in Pemenang village in northern Lombok on Aug. 7, 2018, two days after a powerful earthquake devastated the area. Credit: © Sonny Tumbelaka, AFP/Getty Images

Lombok is a lovely tropical island popular with tourists. Only about 40 miles (60 kilometers) across, Lombok sits between the islands of Bali and Sumbawa among Indonesia’s Lesser Sunda Islands. More than 3 million people live on Lombok, and tens of thousands of tourists visit the island every year. Lombok has beautiful beaches, highland forests, and a mountainous interior dominated by Mount Rinjani, an active volcano. Lombok lies at the junction of tectonic plates, however, making it prone to earthquakes. Much of Indonesia sits on the infamous Ring of Fire, a turbulent zone of frequent seismic and volcanic activity along the islands and continents rimming the Pacific Ocean.

Click to view larger image
Lombok lies just east of Bali in the Lesser Sunda Islands of southern Indonesia. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

On July 29, the 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Lombok’s northern coast near Mount Rinjani. The earth shook violently near the epicenter for more than 10 seconds, knocking buildings to the ground and causing landslides along the slopes of the volcano. Seventeen people died in the earthquake, and hundreds of hikers were briefly stranded in Mount Rinjani National Park. Some 1,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

On August 5, as people were still cleaning up from the earlier earthquake, the 6.9-magnitude temblor hit in almost the exact same location. Structures collapsed throughout the island, including in the provincial capital of Mataram near Lombok’s west coast. Terrified people fled to soundly built mosques as aftershocks continued, and a tsunami warning caused panic in low-lying coastal areas. No tsunami occurred, but damage from the earthquake was significant. More than 40,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed on Lombok (including several mosques), electric power and communications systems were knocked out, and three bridges collapsed. The death toll stands at 259, but many people remain missing, so that number will almost certainly rise.

Hundreds of aftershocks have since shaken Lombok, the strongest of which, a 5.9-magnitude temblor, hit early on August 9 (August 8 in the United States), causing still more damage and further frightening the population.

The more than 150,000 people left homeless by the earthquakes are now in need of shelter, food, clean water, and medical supplies, but aid is pouring in from elsewhere in Indonesia and from around the world. Several thousand tourists were forced to evacuate resorts and hotels and leave the island. The Lombok temblor was the deadliest to hit the Lesser Sunda Islands since December 1992, when an earthquake and tsunami killed more than 2,000 people on Flores island east of Sumbawa.

August 3, 2018

For many people in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer of 2018 has been touched by fire and obscured by smoke. Summers are typically fire seasons in many areas, but climate change has caused hotter and drier conditions in recent years, and wildfire outbreaks have become more frequent and more destructive. Other causes of increased fire activity include the building of more developments in fire-prone areas, a lack of proper forest management, and, of course, simple human carelessness. In the past weeks, fires have killed more than 100 people and destroyed homes and large swaths of land in Asia, Europe, and North America.

A firefighting helicopter flies over a wildfire in the Greek town of Rafina near Athens on July 23, 2018. The Greek wildfire was the deadliest yet this year, claiming the lives of 92 people. Credit: © Angelos Tzortzinis, AFP/Getty Images

In southeastern Greece, a wildfire erupted July 23, destroying or damaging some 3,500 structures and killing 96 people along the Attica coast. The giant wildfire, just 18 miles (30 kilometers) east of Athens, the Greek capital, burned out of control for several days, gutting seaside resorts and holiday homes. Fanned by high winds, the fast-moving blaze trapped and killed groups of people, including entire families as they huddled between the flames and steep cliffs overlooking the Aegean Sea. The high death toll prompted criticism of the the area’s lack of access roads, warning systems, and other civil protection measures in areas surrounded by forest and at high risk of wildfires.

In far northern Europe, dozens of wildfires have consumed more than 62,000 acres (25,000 hectares) this summer in Sweden, which is experiencing an abnormally lengthy and intense heat wave. Neighboring Finland and Norway are also suffering from unusual heat and wildfire outbreaks, as are Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on the other side of the Baltic Sea. Wildfires also torched drought-stricken areas of Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland.

This week in northern California, firefighters continued to battle the Carr Fire that has killed 8 people, destroyed over 1,500 buildings, and consumed some 125,000 acres (50,000 hectares) of land. The wildfire started on July 23 along Carr Powerhouse Road in Shasta County near the city of Redding. The “mechanical failure of a vehicle” ignited dried grasses and trees, and soon flames were roaring through the forested hills around Whiskeytown Lake west of Redding. The wildfire, aided by hot and dry weather, high winds, an abundance of natural fuel, and steep terrain, has since been chased westward by more than 4,200 firefighters—2 of whom have died fighting the blaze. Reports of  “firenados” (huge, rotating whorls of smoke, flame, and ash) encouraged nearly 40,000 people to obey evacuation orders and leave the fire area (which included parts of nearby Trinity County). Many people will return to find their homes and property in ashes.

The Carr Fire is the largest of 17 wildfires currently burning throughout the state of California. Collectively, wildfires in the western United States have scorched 4.6 million acres (1.86 million hectares) so far this year, a 24 percent increase over the annual average for the past decade. Wildfires have also stricken large areas of western Canada and parts of Mexico this summer.

Wildfires have also consumed vast amounts of territory in Siberia of eastern Russia. Since May, firefighters have been battling immense wildfires in the Amur Oblast region along the Chinese border, where towering pyrocumulus clouds have injected smoke and pollutants high into Earth’s atmosphere. Pyrocumulus clouds are formed by rising heat from wildfires or by plume emissions from fossil fuel-burning industrial plants, and they sharply increase the levels of carbon dioxide and harmful aerosols in the atmosphere.

June 8, 2018

At around noon on Sunday, June 3, the Volcán de Fuego (Volcano of Fire) erupted in southern Guatemala, a nation in Central America. The explosive eruption forced a massive ash cloud more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) into the air, blotting out the sun and darkening the immediate area. The volcano also spewed lava and rock, and a super-heated mass of gas and volcanic material known as a pyroclastic flow raced down the volcano’s sides and engulfed nearby communities. Fuego has since continued to erupt, but its intensity has greatly diminished. The Guatemalan military is helping local firefighters, police, and volunteers rescue people trapped in the ashy mud and recover and count the bodies of the dead. Thus far, the volcanic eruption has killed 109 people and injured more than 300 others. Many people remain missing, and thousands of people have been forced from their homes.

On June 4, 2018, residents of the municipality of Alotenango, Gautemala, carry the coffins of people killed in the violent eruption of the nearby Volcán de Fuego. Credit: © Johan Ordonez, AFP/Getty Images

The towns of El Rodeo, Las Lajas, and San Miguel Los Lotes—those closest to Volcán de Fuego—were partially buried beneath volcanic mud and soot. Other areas were hit too as the pyroclastic flow burned and buried the people, homes, and vehicles in its path. Layers of volcanic ash covered nearby Antigua, a colonial city some 27 miles (44 kilometers) southwest of Guatemala City, the nation’s capital. Ash forced the closure of Guatemala City’s La Aurora International Airport, and the government warned of significant amounts of ash and toxic gases in the air. The government also warned of the threat of mudslides, as heavy rains could dislodge solidified volcanic material from Fuego’s steep sides and foothills. Local streams and waterways are clogged with ash, and the toll on area plant and animal life will be significant.

Fuego’s peak soars 12,346 feet (3,763 meters) above sea level. It is a stratovolcano, a tall volcanic mountain that typically has steep sides. Fuego is one of Central America’s most active volcanoes, and it is in a state of near-constant eruption. It has experienced more than 60 significant eruptions since the arrival of Spanish explorers in the area in 1524, but few of the events have resulted in human fatalities. Sunday’s eruption was by far Fuego’s largest and deadliest. The worst eruption in Guatemala’s recorded history took place at the nearby Volcán Santa María in 1902, an event that killed thousands of people.

Guatemala sits on the infamous Ring of Fire, a turbulent zone of frequent seismic and volcanic activity along the islands and continents rimming the Pacific Ocean. Fuego and its neighbor volcano, Acatenango, form a complex known as La Horqueta (The Pitchfork). People hike and climb the summit of the much quieter and safer Acatenango for a view of the constantly rumbling Volcán de Fuego.

May 30, 2018

Earlier this month, on May 3, Kilauea, a large volcano on the “Big Island” of Hawaii, erupted violently and pumped dangerous lava flows near residential neighborhoods, prompting local officials to order emergency evacuations. Since then, dozens of fissures have opened up along the slopes of the volcano, oozing glowing lava or shooting fountains of it high into the air. The volcano has also produced massive columns of smoke and ash and a haze with varying amounts of poisonous gases. As of today, Kilauea’s eruption proceeds without any signs of stopping, and new lava fissures and cracks appear daily.

A massive column of ash and smoke billows from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano on May 4, 2018, near Pahoa, Hawaii. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey

Volcanologists have used flying drones to monitor Kilauea’s flowing lava as it creeps towards homes and other buildings in the Leilani Estates neighborhood near the town of Pahoa. Hawaii Governor David Ige mobilized the Hawaii National Guard to assist with evacuations and security in the area. So far, 82 homes have been destroyed by lava and around 2,000 residents have been evacuated. Kilauea’s flows have also damaged several other structures, including the Puna Geothermal Venture, a conversion plant that uses heat from volcanic activity to generate electric power.

Lava erupts from a fissure in the Kilauea volcano on May 22, 2018, in Kapoho, Hawaii. Credit: © Mario Tama, Getty Images

Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. The current eruption is only the latest of a highly active eruption cycle that began in January 1983. This month’s eruption was preceded by a swarm of small earthquakes caused by the movement of magma beneath Kilauea and the collapse of a volcanic vent in Kilauae’s crater floor. On May 3, 2018, hours after a magnitude-5.0 earthquake, steam and lava spewed from several surface cracks on the eastern side of Hawaii’s Big Island.

Kilauea rises 4,190 feet (1,227 meters) above sea level and constitutes about 14 percent of the land area of the Big Island. Kilauea and massive Mauna Loa are the stars of the area’s Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Kilauea is a shield volcano, a volcanic mountain with broad, gently sloping sides. Shield volcanoes commonly erupt in fountains of lava. The fountains feed lava lakes within a caldera (large crater), and long, often slow-moving flows seep down the volcano’s sides. Repeated eruptions produce layer upon layer of flows. The layers gradually build the slope upwards and outward, forming a shallow, rounded cone. The name shield volcano refers to such a volcano’s broadly curved shape, which resembles a soldier’s shield. Kilauea’s summit caldera contains a lava lake known as Halema`uma`u. In Hawaiian mythology, the molten lake is the home of the volcano goddess, Pele.

Volcanologists are worried about the many fissures that have opened along the eastern slope of Kilauea, spewing lava, smoke, and ash. Some flows reached the Pacific Ocean, where red-hot lava created huge clouds of steam laced with poisonous and stinky sulfur dioxide. Gases from Kilauea have collected into a toxic volcanic smog that has now drifted as far away as Guam and the Mariana Islands, where residents have been warned to limit outdoor activity.

October 20, 2017

On Monday, October 16, tropical storm Ophelia roared through the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, killing three people in Ireland and causing damage in parts of the United Kingdom. Ophelia, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in that part of the Atlantic, was an unusual occurrence. The last such storm to reach Ireland, Hurricane Debbie, killed 11 people on the island in 1961.

Tropical storm Ophelia slammed the coasts of Ireland and Wales on Oct. 16, 2017. This photo shows Ophelia-driven waves battering the sea wall at Porthcawl in southern Wales. Credit: © Leighton Collins, Shutterstock

Major Atlantic storms typically form in waters off the central and southern coasts of west Africa. Trade winds then carry them westward toward the Caribbean Sea and the southeastern United States. Ophelia began as a cluster of storms farther north, gathering strength near the Azores before driving northeast toward Europe. Classified as a mid-strength Category 3 hurricane, Ophelia was the strongest-ever storm that far east in the Atlantic Ocean. Downgraded to a tropical storm on its jet stream-led course to Ireland, Ophelia remained dangerous. Ireland’s national weather service issued a red alert for severe weather, warning of “violent and destructive gusts” and “potential loss of life.”

This satellite image shows Ophelia coiling over Ireland on Oct. 16, 2017. Credit: NASA

The storm made landfall in Ireland on Monday morning with wind gusts of 109 miles (176 kilometers) per hour at Fastnet Rock, the country’s most southerly point. Torrential rains lashed the southwestern counties of Cork and Kerry, where schools, businesses, public buildings, and hospitals were closed ahead of the storm. Public transportation ceased running in much of Ireland, ferries and flights were canceled, and people were warned to stay indoors.

Ophelia quickly swamped all of the Republic of Ireland, whipping Wales hard too across the Irish Sea. Electric power was lost in many areas of both Ireland and Wales, trees were blown down (causing all three of the deaths in Ireland), rooftops were ripped away, and storm surges breached sea walls in many places. Winds and heavy rains then hit Northern Ireland and Scotland as Ophelia raced back out to sea, dissipating but still carrying severe weather as far as Norway. (The United Kingdom is divided among the political divisions of Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England.)

Ophelia affected other areas, too. In Portugal and Spain, strong winds from the storm fanned wildfires that killed 44 people. Ophelia blew smoke from the fires—and dust from Sahara sandstorms—over England, where the London sky turned an eerie smoky orange. Ophelia was the 10th hurricane of a busy and deadly 2017 Atlantic storm season. Ophelia’s rare path illustrates how rising global temperatures are expanding the range of powerful storms around the world.