Weather tracker: Storm Boris brings catastrophic flooding to central Europe

A deep area of low pressure over central and eastern Europe has resulted in extreme rainfall and catastrophic flooding over the past few days. Named Storm Boris, the severe weather has particularly affected Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Alpine regions of southern Germany, Austria and into Hungary.

As well as the torrential rain and flooding, which has resulted in significant loss of life, exceptional snowfalls have blanketed upland regions of the Alps, with strong winds aiding huge snowdrift formation. The unsettled weather is expected to last through Monday and Tuesday, but gradually high pressure will build from the north, allowing conditions to settle, although it will take several days for river levels to subside. As high temperatures this week cause snow to melt in alpine regions, some rivers may remain elevated.

Across the Atlantic, an area of low pressure is sitting off the coast of the Carolinas. This does not have tropical origins and is more similar in composition to the areas of low pressure often formed across the mid-Atlantic. However, as the depression tracks gradually northwards across the warm waters of the gulf stream, it could become tropical in nature, with showers and thunderstorms organising sufficiently to produce a tropical storm.

Should this occur, potentially damaging winds and rainfall capable of generating flash flooding could affect the south-east and mid-Atlantic US coastline in the next couple of days, together with very large waves.

Japan experienced a number of heatwaves during the summer of 2024, with records broken for maximum temperatures recorded and the longevity of heat. The average temperature for the three summer months was about 1.76C above the long-term norm, equal to 2023’s record-breaking summer.

Unusually hot weather persists this week, especially across the southern half of the country, with temperatures peaking at about 34C (93.2F) in Tokyo later this week, 6-7C above normal for mid-September. It is likely that, as winds switch direction and blow in colder air from the north this weekend and early next week, temperatures will drop by about 10C, a little below the seasonal norm, in some places.