I’m sure by now almost everyone has heard about the current severe flooding in Queensland, the North-Eastern Australian state with the capital Brisbane. Prolonged heavy rainfall over the past month or so has led to a catastrophic situation in much of the state and to the North of its bordering neighbour state, New South Wales.  This event is widely attributed to the effect of “La Niña“, a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon that is the counterpart of “El Niño” which brought drought to the same areas previously.

La Niña, however, isn’t the only ecological hazard and Australia is not the only affected country. Other unusual weather patterns, such as the severe winter weather across Europe in December or masses of snow from Boston to New York and Atlanta more recently are other indicators that these events seem to increase in frequency and severity.

So what do these events mean for you as traveller? There are 3 main impacts you should be aware of:
Continue reading Flood & snow: the impacts for you →