A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said. Put another way, that means the inferno was no longer simply being propelled by the weather. It was making its own. The thundercloud also produced violent, erratic winds capable of driving the flames in new directions. The phenomenon, called a pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb, is rare in Europe...
Typhoon Noul is the strongest to make landfall in China so far this year, according to state media.
Extreme heat is fuelling wildfires across North Africa, with major fires burning in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
Footage shows the aftermath of Typhoon Noul after it battered southern China's coastal regions.
High-speed rail services and flights across Guangdong province were cancelled on Sunday after Typhoon Noul made landfall in the province, bringing heavy rainfall to large parts of southern China. Noul – the strongest typhoon to hit China so far this year – made landfall at Huizhou city in Guangdong at around 3.50am on Sunday. The National Meteorological Centre issued its first red typhoon warning of the year – the highest alert level in a four-tier system – on Saturday evening. The following...
Videos shared with the BBC show debris flying through the air as the storm swept through Ezhou and Huanggang in Hubei province.