On February 18, 2024, China’s Xinjiang region set a new record with an extreme temperature of -52.3°C, breaking a 64-year-old record for the area. This temperature was shy of the national record of -53°C, recorded in Heilongjiang last January.
The intense cold has caused significant disruptions following the Lunar New Year celebrations, with blizzards and ice stranding travelers on roads and railways.
On the same day, Badu in southern China experienced a maximum temperature of 38°C, creating a remarkable temperature difference of 90.3°C across the country.
This marks the largest temperature contrast ever recorded within a single country, surpassing the previous record set in the US in January 1954.
Tropical Storm Akará forms in the South Atlantic, bringing high waves and winds.Meanwhile, a weather system off the southeastern coast of Brazil intensified into Tropical Storm Akará. According to the Brazilian Navy Hydrographic Center, Akará formed overnight with sustained winds of 40 mph and a pressure of 1,000 millibars.
Tropical cyclones are uncommon in the southern hemisphere due to strong wind shear and limited favorable weather conditions.
Akará is the first named tropical storm in the South Atlantic Ocean since Tropical Storm Iba in 2019 and only the third since Anita in 2010. The only recorded hurricane in the South Atlantic is Hurricane Catarina from 2004.
Akará developed from the remnants of a cold front that had brought heavy rains to South America before moving offshore. The system rapidly intensified into a tropical storm as it moved over warmer waters and was fueled by tropical moisture flowing down the Brazilian coast.
Although the storm did not threaten the mainland due to its trajectory moving southwest over the Atlantic, the Brazilian National Institute of Meteorology forecasted marine impacts, including offshore waves of up to 4.9 meters (16 feet) and winds of up to 50 mph.
By Tuesday, the storm weakened to a tropical depression and further diminished as it moved over cooler waters away from Brazil.