The top weather story of 2008 has to be the catastrophic impact of Cyclone Nargis on the nation of Myanmar (formerly Burma). Nargis (the Urdu word for 'daffodil') hit the low-lying, densely populated Irrawaddy Delta region of Myanmar on May 2, 2008. Nargis' Category 4 winds of 135 mph brought a storm surge of up to 4 meters (13 feet) to the coast, inundating regions up to 40 km inland. At least
Weather Underground Forecast for Wednesday, January 07, 2009.
The tail end of a front to the north will trigger showers along the eastern and southern portions of Mexico on Wednesday. High pressure will provide mostly sunny skies for the rest of the country during the day. To the south, a low pressure system over Panama will fire up heavy rain and storms over the southern half of Central America on Wednesday. Flooding is possible anywhere across Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Over the Caribbean, a front will produce showers and storms over parts of Cuba and the Bahamas during the day. The rest of the Caribbean Islands can expect seasonable sunny skies with the occasional shower.
The lowest temperature reading for North America of -81 degrees was set at Snag, Yukon Territory on February 2, 1947. This value was in jeopardy on this date in 1982 when a reading of -96 degrees was recorded along an Alaskan highway west of Ft. Nelson, British Columbia. While this reading is considered accurate, it was not made official.