There was unusually heavy snowfall this week in the highlands of the mountainous region of eastern Gangwon province in South Korea. Between 5.30pm local time on Wednesday and 9am on Thursday, as much as 40cm fell at the Socheong shelter of Seoraksan national park, while 20cm was recorded at its Jungcheong shelter.
This unexpected snowfall has caused damage ahead of a harvest on wild vegetable farms that operate on the mountains. Conditions over the next few days are expected to improve, with warmer and drier weather over the weekend.
In south-west Australia, a powerful tornado with a recorded width of 60 metres and wind speeds of more than 150km/h (90mph) hit the city of Bunbury last Friday afternoon. The tornado touched down in the South Bunbury area and caused damage to several buildings in the area. Severe damage occurred to the Bunbury police and citizens youth club and one person was taken to hospital. At the Bunbury regional prison, the tornado blew the roof off part of the minimum-security section, which resulted in a prisoner being taken to hospital, while 16 others were moved to another facility.
The storm also downed power lines in the area, leading to about 3,300 homes being without power in Bunbury, South Bunbury, Dalyellup, Withers, Carey Park and Usher. One of the worst-hit areas was the Hay Park sports area, where asbestos was among the debris, requiring rescuers to wear hazmat suits to limit their exposure to the harmful material.
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Significant storms have also affected parts of the southern US as hailstones the size of baseballs landed in Texas on Thursday last week. A number of storms developed across the southern US, leading to more than 200,000 people across five states being left without power. Most notably from these storms was significant hail across Texas as Johnson City reported hailstones of at least 12.7cm (5in) in diameter, while one hailstone was an estimated at 15.9cm (6.25in) across, making it the second largest found in Texas.
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