Weather of 2016
The following is a list of weather events that occurred in 2016.
Global conditions
Monthly summary
Summary by weather type
Winter storms and cold waves
Floods
Droughts, heat waves, and wildfires
Tornadoes
Tropical cyclones
As the year began, a tropical low was over Australia, and Cyclone Ula was moving toward Tonga. Ula was followed by another 16 tropical cyclones, including Cyclone Winston, which was the most intense tropical cyclone in the Southern Hemisphere on record, with 10 minute sustained winds of 280 km/h (175 mph), and a minimum pressure of 884 mbar (26.1 inHg). At peak intensity, Winston made landfall on Fiji, the strongest ever to hit the country, and one of the strongest landfalls worldwide on record. Damage in Fiji totaled FJ$2.98 billion (US$1.4 billion), and 44 people were killed. In the Australian basin, there were 16 tropical cyclones, which made it the least-active season on record. Activity in the south-west Indian Ocean was also below average, with just tropical cyclones. Among these were Cyclone Fantala in April, which reached 10 minute sustained winds of 250 km/h (155 mph) while near the Seychelles, making it the strongest tropical cyclone on record in the basin.
The first northern hemisphere tropical cyclone was Hurricane Pali, a rare off-season hurricane which formed on January 7 southwest of Hawaii. There were an additional 22 tropical cyclones in the north-east Pacific Ocean during the year, including Hurricane Otto, which crossed from the Caribbean Sea in November, killing 23 people in Central America. Otto was the last of 16 tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. The first, Alex, was a rare January hurricane which hit the Azores. The strongest Atlantic hurricane of the year was Matthew, which attained 1 minute sustained winds of 165 mph (270 km/h) in the Caribbean. Matthew killed 603 people and left at least US$15 billion in damage after its path through Haiti, Cuba, The Bahamas, and offshore the southeastern United States. In August, Hurricane Earl killed 81 people in southeast Mexico after it struck Belize.
In the north Indian Ocean, there were ten tropical cyclones. Among these were Cyclone Roanu in May, which killed 135 people in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, causing over US$2 billion in damage. In contrast to the unusually early start to activity in the north-east Pacific and the Atlantic, the first tropical cyclone in the north-west Pacific did not develop until May 25, when a tropical depression formed. It was the first of 51 tropical cyclones during the year. The strongest of the year was Typhoon Meranti, which reached 10 minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph) while moving through the Batanes in the Philippines. Meranti later struck China, and along its path it killed 47 people, with US$4.79 billion in damage. In July, Typhoon Nepartak killed 111 people and left US$1.89 billion in damage when it struck Taiwan and southeastern China. In August, Typhoon Lionrock became the first storm on record to strike the Tōhoku region of Japan, with 22 deaths in the country and 525 deaths from flooding in North Korea.
Timeline
This is a timeline of weather events during 2016. Please note that entries might cross between months, however, all entries are listed by the month they started.
January
February
March
April
May
- May 15 – A nighttime EF2 tornado in Brazil killed four people and injured 21 others.
June
July
August
September
October
November
- November 20–26 – Hurricane Otto killed 23 people and caused $192.2 million (2016 USD) in damage across Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Hurricane Otto was also the first hurricane since 1996 to survive the crossover from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
December
See also
Weather year articles (2010–2019) |
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2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 |