earth science

Weather of 2015

Weather of 2015 is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Weather of 2015 rather than just read about it. In short: The following is a list of weather events that occurred on Earth in 2015. There were several natural disasters around the world from various types of weather, including blizzards, cold waves, droughts, heat waves, tornadoes, and tropical cyclones.

Key takeaways

Weather of 2015 belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Weather of 2015 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Weather of 2015 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The following is a list of weather events that occurred on Earth in 2015. There were several natural disasters around the world from various types of weather, including blizzards, cold waves, droughts, heat waves, tornadoes, and tropical cyclones. Some of the deadliest weather events were a pair of heat waves affecting India and Pakistan which together killed around 4,500 people. Also in Asia, Cyclone Komen in July killed 187 people. A series of monsoonal floods in India killed 470 people in the last three months of the year. In October, heavy rainfall in Guatemala triggered a major landslide in a village near Guatemala City, killing at least 280 people. The costliest single weather event of the year was Typhoon Mujigae, which left ¥27 billion (US$4.3 billion) in damage and caused 27 deaths in southern China. In October, Hurricane Patricia became the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, when it attained 1 minute sustained winds of 215 mph (345 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 872 mbar (25.8 inHg) off the west coast of Mexico.

Winter storms and cold waves

In February, blizzard and avalanches killed more than 300 people in Afghanistan. Also in February, a blizzard affected much of North America amid a cold wave, killing 30 people and leaving US$3.5 billion in damage.

Droughts, heat waves, and wildfires

From February to April, South Africa experienced wildfires. In April, wildfires in Russia killed 33 people. The yearly wildfires in the state of California killed nine people and left more than US$4.7 billion in damage. The yearly wildfires in the state of Washington was the largest in state history, with more than one million acres (400,000 ha; 1,600 sq mi) burning across the state from June to September. In November, wildfires in Western Australia killed four people. In May, a heat wave in India killed at least 2,500 people. A month later, a heat wave in neighboring Pakistan killed about 2,000 people. Drought across the western United States throughout the year caused more than US$5 billion in damage, mostly related to agriculture losses.

Floods

In January, floods in southeastern Africa killed more than 214 people in Malawi and Mozambique. In March, floods in Chile killed 25 people, and forced 3,000 people to stay in emergency shelters. Also in the month, floods in Tanzania killed 50 people. In April, a landslide in Salvador, Brazil killed at least 14 people. Also in the month, snowmelt triggered a landslide in Afghanistan, killing 52 people. In May, heavy rainfall triggered a landslide in Salgar, Colombia, killing 83 people. In June, floods in the country of Georgia killed 20 people. Also in June, heavy rainfall caused floods in Accra, the capital of the African nation of Ghana; the floods killed at least 25 people, while a petrol station explosion caused by the flooding killed at least 200 more people. In July, floods in Gujarat in western India killed 71 people and more than 81,000 cattle. Monsoon floods in India from October to December killed at least 470 people. In October, heavy rainfall in Guatemala triggered a major landslide in a village near Guatemala City, killing at least 280 people. Also in October, a cold front drew moisture from Hurricane Joaquin to produce floods across the eastern United States, killing 25 people and causing US$2.4 billion in damage.

Tornadoes

During the year, there were at least 1,178 tornadoes in the United States, which resulted in 36 fatalities. In April, a tornado killed three people in Myanmar. A tornado outbreak in Pakistan killed 45 people. Also in April, a tornado in Brazil killed two people. In addition, the 2015 Rochelle–Fairdale, Illinois tornado caused 2 deaths, 19 injuries and $11 million across central Illinois. Finally in April, a tornado in Pakistan causes 45 deaths. An outbreak in May killed at least five people and left US$1.5 billion in damage. Also in May, a tornado in Mexico, part of the 2015 Texas-Oklahoma flood and tornado outbreak, killed 14 people. As a result of the storm's damaging effects, 45 people were killed and over 200 were wounded. In July, a tornado in Italy killed one person. In late December, a tornado outbreak produced an EF4 tornado in Holly Springs, Mississippi with winds of 170 mph (270 km/h), causing 9 deaths.

Tropical cyclones

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Weather of 2015

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Weather of 2015 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Weather of 2015 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Weather of 2015 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Weather of 2015

In research: Weather of 2015 appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Weather of 2015 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Weather of 2015 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2015-related lists, Meteorological events in 2015, Weather-related lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Weather of 2015 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Weather of 2015 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Weather of 2015 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Weather of 2015 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Weather of 2015 in simple terms?

Why does Weather of 2015 matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Weather of 2015?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Weather of 2015.