More heavy rain has hit Queensland, Australia, just weeks after the devastation of Cyclone Alfred. Much of north and central Queensland was put under severe weather alert for heavy rainfall earlier this week, as six-hourly rainfall totals of 30-60mm were anticipated, with risk of seeing a total of up to 120mm locally in this time frame.
In the north-west of the state, this rain allowed waters in the Haughton River to rise rapidly, with levels reaching 2.68 metres on Wednesday night, exceeding the 2.5-metre major flood level.
More centrally, the heavy showers on Tuesday led to the Quilpie Shire, a local government area in Queensland, recording its wettest March day in 15 years, with 130mm of rain falling by 9am. This rainfall cut off many towns from each other, including Eromanga, which is known for being the Australian town farthest from the sea.
The Mediterranean also experienced some severe storms this week. On Tuesday, hailstorms affected the western Mediterranean, with the town of Alhaurín el Grande turning white under a layer of hail. A similar event was seen in Fiuminata, Italy, where a hail layer of 20cm was deposited during a storm and tractors had to be deployed to clear the streets.
On Wednesday, it was the eastern Mediterranean that had the most severe storms, as heavy showers affected the Balkan region. These showers led to severe flooding in Dubrovnik, Croatia, as 82.9mm of rain fell in just 24 hours. This rain triggered landslides across the city, leading to road closures, and turned the sea brown with the amount of soil and debris being washed away.
Meanwhile, after a record-breaking hot spell in China over the last week, high pressure building in the north-east of the country has been driving a sharp temperature drop as cold air pushes south.
Temperatures began to climb in central and eastern parts of China from 16 March, resulting in daytime maximum temperatures reaching the low- to mid-30s in places over the last week, 10 to 15 degrees Celsius above the seasonal average. Beijing’s Haidian district exceeded 30C last Saturday – the earliest on record for the capital.
However, as colder air moved in, temperatures in northern parts of the country plunged, with Beijing reaching just 12.6C on Thursday, a drop of over 15C in days. As the cold air mass continues to advance, temperatures are also expected to fall 15-20C farther south, accompanied by strong winds and dusty conditions.
