Newfoundland (Rajeev Sharma): Large parts of Atlantic Canada are under weather warnings as a powerful winter storm brings heavy snow, freezing rain and strong winds across the region, creating dangerous travel and power conditions.
In Newfoundland, snowfall totals reached up to 40 centimetres on Sunday, accompanied by wind gusts of roughly 120 kilometres per hour, producing near-blizzard conditions in some areas. The storm system began late Sunday and is expected to linger until early Tuesday.
Environment officials have issued freezing rain warnings across much of Nova Scotia, including Annapolis and Kings counties, while parts of New Brunswick could receive as much as 25 centimetres of snow on Monday. Authorities are warning residents to prepare for power outages, fallen tree branches and treacherous roadways.
Meteorologists say the severe conditions are being caused by the interaction of two low-pressure systems converging over Atlantic Canada. Freezing rain poses a particular risk, forming when rain falls through warmer air aloft before entering a shallow layer of sub-zero air near the ground. The supercooled droplets freeze instantly on contact, coating roads, trees and power lines with a nearly invisible layer of ice.
Meanwhile, extreme weather is also impacting Australia. Tropical Cyclone Koji developed in the Coral Sea off Queensland’s northern coast over the weekend, making landfall Sunday as a category 1 system between the towns of Ayr and Bowen.
The storm brought intense rainfall and damaging winds, with gusts exceeding 110 kilometres per hour recorded on Hamilton Island. Although Koji has since weakened into a tropical low, it continues to produce severe conditions, including winds nearing 95 kilometres per hour and widespread heavy rainfall.
Some regions recorded about 200 millimetres of rain within 24 hours, with significantly higher totals near Mackay. Rainfall measurements included 362 millimetres in the Clarke Range and 370 millimetres at Cattle Creek. Flooding, road closures and power outages have affected roughly 22,000 people.
Forecasters expect the remnants of Koji to track south-southwest through Queensland, bringing additional rainfall that could exceed 150 millimetres in certain areas and raising the risk of flash flooding.
Australia has also been grappling with extreme heat. Southern parts of the country experienced one of their most severe heatwaves on record late last week, peaking on Saturday. New South Wales saw its hottest temperatures in years as strong northwesterly winds pushed hot air from the interior toward the coast.
Temperatures in parts of Sydney climbed to 43 degrees Celsius, breaking the previous record of 42.5 degrees set in 2018. The intense heat spread across much of the state, with multiple regions surpassing 40 degrees Celsius and pushing wildfire danger to critical levels amid dry conditions and strong winds.
