The global weather activity of 2010 includes major meteorological events in the Earth's atmosphere during the year, including winter storms (blizzards, ice storms, European windstorms), hailstorms, out of season monsoon rain storms, extratropical cyclones, gales, microbursts, flooding, rainstorms, tropical cyclones, and other severe weather events.
The thunderstorm season for the Northern Hemisphere began near spring, beginning on March 1, and ended on August 31.
January
January 1–3
Overnight snowfall on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day caused disruption in North East England, affecting roads across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Teesside. Snow also fell in parts of East Cumbria. In places, the snow fell as deep as . On January 2, a weather front with a northerly wind brought heavy snow to the northwest of England. Wythenshawe, near Manchester Airport, saw of snow. This affected road transport, particularly in the Greater Manchester area, causing the closure of Snake Pass and poor conditions on the M60, M602 and M66.
As a snowstorm entered Scotland, a number of roads across the country were closed, including three junctions of the M9 and the Newbridge Roundabout in Edinburgh. Rail services between Inverness and Central Scotland were also affected by poor weather.
Between January 1 and 2, 2010, 50- and 70-year record low temperatures and snowfall hit northern China and Korea. Blizzards also hit Mongolia's Dundgobi province.
A heavy storm surge hit northeastern New Brunswick on January 2, leading to over $750,000 in damage in the community of Port Elgin.
Heavy record-breaking snow also fell in Moscow in early January 2010 and light snow briefly fell in Greece and Turkey.
Possibly more than 200 people died in northern India, mostly in Uttar Pradesh, after a cold snap and accidents in heavy fog around January 2 and 3.
Heavy rain fell in parts of southwestern Brazil. The worst affected municipality was Angra dos Reis, about southwest of the city of Rio de Janeiro. At least 35 people were killed at a resort on Ilha Grande after the hotel was buried under a mudslide. In Rio Grande do Sul, at least seven people were dead and 20 missing after a bridge collapsed due to heavy rains. It was reported to be one of the worst mudslides in Rio de Janeiro's history.
January 4–5 On January 4, heavy rain fell in Brazil.
Heavy snow fell in northern China and grounded hundreds of flights on the 4th. Beijing was hit by a blizzard starting the evening of the 2nd, with 70–80% of flights canceled out of Beijing Capital International Airport on January 4. Close to 20 cm of snow fell in the north of the city, and close to 25 cm in Seoul. Schools across the area were closed. Continued snowstorms were forecast for the city of Beijing and the province of Inner Mongolia. It was also predicted on January 7 for snow to reach the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Hubei on January 9 according to China National Radio. One person was killed in Xinjiang Autonomous Region as a result of the storm.
Japan's Hokkaido island was hit by heavier snowfall, causing heavy travel disruption and some airport closures.
By January 4 about 30 people died from cold-related causes in the last 11 days across Bangladesh as snow and a cold wave swept over the north and center of the nation. Freezing fog also occurred on the 4th in Punjab, India. Some parts of Bangladesh were the hardest hit with temperatures plummeting as low as 6 °C.
The New Brunswick villages of Upper Cape and Port Elgin were devastated as a massive hurricane-strength blizzard hit Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island on January 4, causing massive blackouts in its wake.
Light snow briefly fell in Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestine and further snow was reported in Niigata, Japan.
Heavy rain and severe cold hit southern Bangladesh and Italy. Italy suffered from both heavy rain in the south and heavy snow in the north.
On the 4th, the UN issued a Green Alert in Albania as northern rivers swell with melt water
In Scotland, Fife Council became the first local authority to confirm that its supply of grit was exhausted on January 4, after it received less than it had ordered from suppliers. Government Ministers denied there was a shortage of grit and salt and insisted there were "very substantial" supplies for Scotland's roads.
January 4 saw four villages in Sakhalin lose power as a result of a storm. The 2,000 strong town of Tomari was worst hit. Blizzard struck Sakhalin island, a narrow island in the stormy Sea of Okhotsk, off the coast of Siberia and just 25 miles north of Japan's snowy Hokkaido island.
On January 4, many motorways in Shandong were closed and 19 flights canceled in the Yantai International Airport.
January 4 saw Seoul's heaviest snowfall since 1937, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The blizzard dumped of snow on the town.
Avalanches and heavy snow hit the Russian's Sakhalin Island, which was smothered by a snow cyclone and blizzard, the Island's emergency officials said.
Civil authorities were put on a major alert in the province of Shandong on January 4 as more snow fell in both Shandong and Beijing. Travel was affected as the snowstorm paralyzed Beijing on January 4, 2010.
Inner Mongolia was still in a critical situation as teams battled to clear severe rural snow drifts.
4–8 inches (10–20 centimeters) of snow fell in Beijing on the 5th, in the largest snowfall since 1951.
2,000 weather modification offices in China were used to bomb the skies with silver iodide to induce rain or snow. Schools in Beijing and Tianjin were closed. The capital received the harshest Siberian winds in decades. Temperatures for the 5th were forecast to plunge to −16 °C, a 40-year record low, after a daytime maximum of −8 °C. The head of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, Guo Hu, linked the blizzard-like conditions of the first week of January to unusual atmospheric patterns caused by global warming.
Heavy snow started to fall in Seoul, South Korea and it was reported that a leading North Korean Communist party official had frozen to death in his home in Sepo.
On the 4th, many motorways in Shandong were closed and 19 flights were canceled at Yantai International Airport.
In Inner Mongolia, 13 trains were delayed that Monday in Hohhot, the regional capital, according to the Hohhot railway authorities.
The Met Office issued weather warnings for every region in the UK except the Northern Isles. An extreme weather warning was issued for southern areas for overnight snowfall which could bring accumulations from . BBC Weather and the Met Office also warned that temperatures in the Highlands of Scotland could drop to later in the week. The Met Office also confirmed that the UK was experiencing the longest prolonged cold spell since December 1981. The Harrogate district endured over six inches and had been a regular feature on BBC News broadcasts.
A local record of of snow was lying in Aviemore and of snow was recorded within the Cairngorms National Park. Most parts of Scotland had further snowfalls during the night of January 4/5.
Due to shortage of road grit conventionally made from rock salt, road grit was being made by or for road-gritters from cooking-type salt mixed with builders' sand;BBC TV news and the public bought up large amounts of cooking salt and table salt to put on their paths and drives. The government was reported to have reallocated reserve supplies of road salt and grit from Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and sent it to Cumbria and Fife due to the higher priority of even lower salt and grit reserves, along with the greater snow clearance work, according to Radio Oxford.
A heat wave and/or unforeseen monsoon weather also hit parts of Australia in early 2010. Victoria, the scene of horrific bushfires the year before, had a far colder summer, with hot weather arriving more than a month later than usual in 2009. August 17 saw a dust storm at Laguna Mar Chiquita as a major drought hit Argentina, and flooding and hailstorms hit southeastern Australia and Queensland in March 2010. The lack of winter precipitation in parts of China, however, contributed to a severe drought in the southwest. Bolivia, Venezuela, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco and Spain had also seen periods of drought in 2009 and 2010. On between May 12 and 26, both Mauritania, the Sénégal River Area and neighboring parts of both Senegal and Mali faced both a drought and famine in 2010.
January 6–9 Snow and fog occurred in Germany from January 3 to 10. The Finnish railways and Helsinki airport were disrupted by further snowfall and record low temperatures for the Helsinki region.
On January 6, the London Borough of Harrow closed 58 schools. 73 flights were canceled after 3 cm of snow fell at Heathrow Airport.
Continued snowstorms were forecast for the city of Beijing and the province of Inner Mongolia. Electricity rationing started on January 7. Snow started falling in Gangsu province on January 7 ad reached the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Hubei on January 9. One person was killed in Xinjiang Autonomous Region as a result of the storm.
The synoptic situation in northern Europe settled to a steady northeast wind which brought snow showers and belts of snow.
The British Army had to help stranded motorists in southern areas. The Met Office confirmed that of snow fell in some parts of southern England. A "severe" warning issued by the Met Office was in place for every region in the UK. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said Scotland was experiencing its worst winter since 1963. Further deaths in Wales, Shetland and Aberdeenshire were recorded. Roads in the southeast were left with long traffic jams and abandoned cars. 8,000 schools were closed.
In Eastern Parts, there were accumulations of 40 cm to 50 cm in places. In Kent, six inches of snow fell in four hours in the early evening. By January 7, 2010, 22 people had died in the UK because of the freezing conditions.Deaths during Britain's big freeze
Heavy snow blocked many roads in the Irish Republic. Dublin Airport closed on January 6 and again on January 9. Cork Airport closed on January 10. Dublin Bus canceled all services for a time. Ireland West Airport was also closed. A new Irish record low temperature of was recorded in Dublin, Ireland. Temperatures in County Limerick dropped to . Varying amounts of snow fell across Ireland on the 7th and 8th and road salt reserves began to run low.
The snow fell heavily in some places of Spain including Prades (Tarragona, southern Catalonia) which received 120 cm of snow after a storm lasting over 30 hours. The BBC News reported heavy snowfall as far south as Granada, in Spain.
25 people, mostly children, died as a blizzard swept over most of Nepal on January 7.
Heavy snow also fell in Chicago on the 7th
In Norway, temperatures hit on the 7th in the village of Folldal as snow fell across Scandinavia and at Tynset.Tynset , Norway weather statistics on the 8th as Kuusamo in Finland, the lowest registered temperature was . Heavy blizzards and snow storms raged across Germany, Scandinavia and the northwestern parts of European Russia.
In Poland, more snow hit the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, and nine people died across the country in a 48-hour period, bringing the total weather-related deaths to 139 since the start of November, a police spokesman said.
Switzerland's Gotthard Road Tunnel reopened to trucks on the 8th, following heavy snowfalls over the previous 2 days.