GLOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

DECEMBER 2005

UNITED STATES
West and Plains

Moderate to severe drought lingering across parts of the Rockies. More
significant drought plagued northern Illinois while exceptional drought
classification was noted over parts of the Arklatex region.

Southeast

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms across portions of the Southeast
United States on the 28th produced hail, high winds and a few
tornadoes. The states of Georgia and Tennessee were the most affected.

Freezing rain and ice pellets fell throughout portions of the Southeast
U.S. on the 15th. The accumulation of ice caused about 683,000
utilities customers to lose power from northern Georgia northward
through the western Carolinas.
The power outages were the result of ice accretions of up to 1.9 cm
(three-quarter inch) in thickness. The ice storm was blamed for at
least 4 deaths (Associated Press).

AFRICA
eastern

The lack of any significant rainfall across the eastern half of Kenya
and southern Somalia has left the region in both a hydrological and an
agricultural drought . In eastern Kenya, an estimated 2.5 million
people were in need of emergency food and other aid, while in the
affected districts, 30 percent of the livestock had died (IFRC

In Western Sahara, heavy rainfall during late December produced
flooding that cut off the main town of Laayoune. Water up to one meter
(3.3 feet) deep inundated houses and cut roads in and around the city
after several days of heavy rainfall (AFP).

ASIA

Heavy amounts of rain associated with the northeast monsoon contributed
to significant amounts of flooding across the central Philippines
during early December. Flooding affected over 190,000 people, and there
were at least 4 deaths in Quezon Province due to landslides (OCHA).

The northeast monsoon also produced extremely heavy amounts of rainfall
in parts of the Malay Peninsula during mid-December. In Thailand, 52
deaths were attributed to flooding in what was described as the
region's worst flooding in nearly 30 years, according to Thailand's
Interior Ministry (Associated Press/Reuters). The floods (associated
with the heavy seasonal tropical rains) damaged 14 bridges, cut 463
roads and inundated 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of agricultural
land, including many rubber plantations. In Vietnam, flooding had
claimed 69 lives (Associated Press). Farther south in Malaysia, at
least nine people were killed by flooding, and over 17,000 people were
driven into relief shelters. (Associated Press/AFP).

In Japan, very heavy snowfall affected parts of the county during
December 20-25, where 6 fatalities were blamed on the severe winter
weather (Reuters). Some of the heaviest snowfall on record for the
month of December occurred in parts of the country. An express train
derailed in northern Japan on the 25th due to the snow, while in the
western prefecture of Fukui, more than 200 cm (78 inches) of snow had
accumulated. In the northern prefecture of Niigata, as many as 650,000
homes and businesses suffered snow-related power outages.

INDIA

Tropical Cyclone Fanoos developed in the Bay of Bengal on the 6th and
moved ashore in southern India in flood-ravaged Tamil Nadu state on
10th. The cyclone peaked with maximum sustained winds near 120 km/hr
(65 knots or 75 mph) on the 9th, but weakened prior to landfall. The
primary effect from Fanoos was heavy rainfall in southern India, where
flooding in October and November

ATLANTIC


While Hurricane Epsilon did not affect land areas, it became the 26th
named storm and the 14th hurricane of the unprecedented 2005 Atlantic
season. Epsilon was also only the 6th hurricane to ever form in the
month of December in the Atlantic Basin.