Informant38

In early April, scientists reported that the early thaw in the Gulf of St. Lawrence the bodies of hundreds of dead seal pups, normally born on ice floes, washed ashore because their mothers were forced to bear them in open water. Researchers worried that the eventual toll might involve hundreds of thousands of harp seals more... In early April, a surprise storm dumped 8 inches of snow on the upper Midwestern U.S. snarling flights and causing hundreds of traffic accidents seals more... In China a prolonged drought, coupled with deforestation, triggered a massive dust storm which dropped more than 50,000 tons of dust on Beijing more... In the Eastern U.S., a prolonged and persistent drought, intensified by the region's second April heat wave in the last 100 years, threatened to exact major economic impacts on housing, agriculture and manufacturing businesses more... A long period of droughts and floods have left more than 2.5 million people at risk of severe malnutrition in Southern Africa, according to U.N. food officials more... In April, a team of climate scientists in the U.K. announced that the first three months of 2002 were the hottest such months ever recorded. That warmth was especially significant given the lack of an El Nino this spring more... In late April, Shackelford County, Texas was inundated when it received 11 inches of rain in six hours more... The worst-ever epidemic of dengue fever in Rio de Janeiro, which followed the area's heaviest rains in 30 years, began to abate in late April, giving way to an unusual rise in malaria more... At the end of April, parts of the Midwestern U.S. received 20 inches of snow, leaving more than 100,000 homes without power more... At the same time, an unusually wide swath of tornadoes and thunderstorms damaged communities from Missouri to Maryland more... By the end of April, torrential rains and mudslides had destroyed more than 9,000 homes in Ecuador more...