The US was struck by violent storms over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, with Sunday named the worst weather day so far this year after more than 600 reports of damage were received from 20 states.
Storms developed across central southern areas on Saturday night before spreading farther east on Sunday, with more than 60 confirmed tornadoes resulting in at least 26 deaths. Northern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky were worst affected, with wind speeds of up to 135mph recorded, strong enough to overturn an 18-wheel truck near Dallas.
This tornado season is proving to be one of the most active of recent years, with 1,063 tornadoes reported as of 29 May, well above the average of 771 by this date. This year could be on track to become the most active season since 2011, which saw 1,612 tornadoes.
About half a million people were left without power after the weekend storms, with recovery efforts hampered by further severe thunderstorms on Tuesday. Strong winds and hail the size of golf balls resulted in more than 1 million people losing power at one stage on Tuesday morning. The majority of these were in northern Texas, with about 300,000 in Dallas County alone, which also saw a number of weather-related fires. Authorities expect that full power restoration will take several days.
Power was in high demand thanks to heatwave conditions across Texas and other southern states. Several cities across Texas and Florida equalled or surpassed daily temperature records over the Memorial Day weekend, with Del Rio in south-west Texas setting a May record of 44.4C (112F), the third-highest temperature ever recorded there.
Meanwhile, northern and central parts of India continued to be gripped by an intense heatwave this week. Temperatures have widely reached the mid-40s each day, with daily highs of about 50C reached more locally. Sunday was particularly extreme, with temperatures exceeding 45C in 37 cities, while Delhi potentially saw a new national temperature record on Wednesday. A weather station in the north of the city recorded 52.3C, which if confirmed would beat the existing record of 51C, set in Phalodi in 2016. However, other stations around the city recorded temperatures no higher than 50C, prompting the India Meteorological Department to investigate whether the higher reading was a result of faulty equipment.
