1. Hawaii:
DRY ANOMALY DEVELOPS
Little or no rain fell on the Hawaiian Islands last week as unusually dry
weather persisted. Fewer than 60 mm of rain has fallen on the leeward sides
of the islands during the past 8 weeks, yielding moisture deficits of 90
to 310 mm. Windward stations, like Hilo, received as much as 350 mm since
January 9, but moisture shortages were also in the 100 to 300 mm range
[DRY - Up to 6 weeks].
2. Western United States:
MORE WET WEATHER
Pacific storms delivered more heavy precipitation (up to 150 mm) to exposed
areas of California and Oregon, but little or none was reported to the
lee of the mountains. Between 200 and 500 mm of precipitation has fallen
on exposed and orographically-favored areas, resulting in moisture excesses
of 50 to 200 mm. Further east, 8-week precipitation totals ranged from
50 to 200 mm, but moisture surpluses remained below 50 mm [WET - Up to
7 weeks].
3. Central and Eastern North America:
VERY WARM CONDITIONS SPREAD EASTWARD
Temperatures averaged 6°C to 14°C above normal across much of Canada
and the northern United States from the Rockies eastward to the Atlantic
Seaboard while weekly departures of +3°C to +6°C prevailed across
the southern and central United States and northeastern Mexico. The mercury
soared above 30°C as far north as central Texas while highs above 20°C
reached as far north as central North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.
Lows failed to reach freezing from eastern Texas and northern Arkansas
southeastward to the Georgia coastline [WARM - Up to 9 weeks].
4. Southeastern United States:
STILL VERY DRY
Little or no rain fell on Louisiana, Mississippi, and most of northern
and central Florida while 10 to 50 mm dampened Alabama, Georgia, and adjacent
parts of western South Carolina and extreme northern Florida. Short-term
(January 9 - March 4) moisture deficits of 100 to 200 mm dominated the
region [DRY - Up to 8 weeks].
5. Colombia:
HEAVY RAINS REPORTED
Between 25 and 200 mm of rain soaked west-central Colombia during the past
week. Short-term (8-week) totals ranged from 100 to 620 mm across the region,
resulting in moisture excesses of 50 to 300 mm [WET - Up to 5 weeks].
6. Northern Scandinavia:
WETNESS REMAINS
Relatively heavy precipitation (20 to 60 mm) kept much of northern Norway,
northern Sweden and northwestern Finland wet. Between 150 and 350 mm has
fallen in much of the region during the last 8 weeks, yielding excesses
of 70 to 200 mm [WET - Up to 9 weeks].
7. Western Europe:
STORMS BRING HEAVY PRECIPITATION
Storms swept across the British Isles, the Black Sea, and into adjacent
western Europe, spreading moderate to heavy precipitation (20 to 60 mm).
During the last 8 weeks, amounts of 120 to 385 mm have accumulated in the
region, with precipitation surpluses ranging from 70 to 135 mm [WET - Up
to 7 weeks].
8. Southwestern Europe and Northwestern Africa:
DRYNESS CONTINUES
Little or no rain again fell over the Iberian Peninsula, the western Mediterranean
Islands, Morocco and the Canary Islands. The region has generally received
less than 100 mm of rain since January 9th, resulting in moisture shortages
of 50 to 250 mm [DRY - Up to 12 weeks].
9. Central Africa:
DRY ANOMALY PERSISTS
Dry weather again prevailed across southern Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea,
northern Gabon and adjacent Congo. Precipitation shortfalls across the
region ranged from 85 to 255 mm [DRY - Up to 6 weeks].
10. Southern Africa:
MORE RAIN AGGRAVATES FLOODING
Moderate to heavy rains (25 to 85 mm) soaked much of Mozambique, Zimbabwe,
northeastern South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana and eastern Namibia, aggravating
previous moderate to severe flooding. During the last 8 weeks, amounts
of 250 to 1365 mm have inundated the region, causing mositure excesses
of 100 to 1000 mm to accumulate. According to media accounts, hundreds
of deaths have been reported, and tens of thousands made homeless [WET
- Up to 17 weeks].
11. Japan:
DRY ANOMALY PERSISTS
Little or no rain fell across northeastern Honshu and eastern Hokkaido.
Short-term (8-week) precipitation deficits ranged from 60 to 130 mm [DRY
- Up to 6 weeks].
12. South-Central Asia:
UNUSUALLY COOL CONDITIONS REPORTED
Temperatures were as much as 3°C below normal from eastern India eastward
into south-central China; however, subfreezing lows were limited to higher
elevations of southwestern China. Highs reached 20°C at most locations,
but the mercury climbed above 30°C at most locations in eastern India
[COLD - Up to 2 weeks].
13. Western Australia:
SUBNORMAL TEMPERATURES PREVAIL
Weekly departures were as large as -3°C in west-central Western Australia,
with lows dipping below 2°C as far north as Williamtown (33°S)
[COLD - Up to 4 weeks].
14. Australia:
TROPICAL STORM STEVE DRENCHES NORTH; A RELATIVELY DRY WEEK ELSEWHERE
Heavy rains (100 to 500 mm), fueled by Tropical Storm Steve, dominated
northern Australia, with weekly totals diminishing towards 20°S. Little
or no rain was reported south of 20°S, except for 25 to 200 mm along
the coast and southeastern Queensland and 10 to 100 mm in western Western
Australia. During the last 8 weeks, highly variable rainfall totals (100
to locally 1000 mm) were reported, with moisture excesses generally ranging
from 50 to 230 mm [WET - Up to 7 weeks].
15. Southeastern Australia:
WARM ANOMALY EXPANDS
Temperatures were 2°C to 7°C above normal in eastern South Australia,
western Victoria, and Tasmania, with readings reaching 40°C as far
south as southeastern Australia and exceeding 30°C across eastern Tasmania
[WARM - Up to 5 weeks].