Currently — June 23rd, 2022
The weather, currently.
— saurabh kumar (@SaurabhKrRJD) June 19, 2022
Nearly 10 million people have been affected in India and Bangladesh due to extremely intense monsoon rains, including more than 100,000 water rescues in India alone.The small town of Mawsynram in the Indian state of Meghalaya received an astonishing 1003 mm (40 in) of rain in a single day on June 17, enough to be considered the rainiest place on Earth. Besides creating unimaginable waterfalls, the deluge has created historic flooding across the region and in neighboring Bangladesh.“The flooding is the worst in 122 years in the Sylhet region,” said Atiqul Haque, Director General of Bangladesh’s Department of Disaster Management in an interview with Reuters.Climate change driven by fossil fuel pollution is making the South Asian monsoon season increasingly erratic and individual rainfall events like this one more extreme. The floods come as parts of South Asia are still recovering from one of the longest and most intense heatwaves in recorded history earlier this year.
—Eric Holthaus
What you need to know, currently.
We have a short piece up today from our founder, Eric Holthaus, on the heatwave stretching across the central United States this week.
“Despite being fairly preventable, heat-related illness is one of the most deadly weather-related impacts,” Holthaus writes. “And, while severe heat may seem less alarming than being struck by a hurricane or tornado, heat illness is much more common and is particularly dangerous for children, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses. It is also difficult to avoid if you do not have access to air conditioning or if you work outside.”