The 2026 typhoon season has officially begun, and it's already off to a swimmingly terrible start. Typhoon Maysak, the first to make landfall in China this year, has pummeled southern and central regions with devastating force. The Guangxi region got a particularly unwelcome soaking, with up to 280mm of rain in just 12 hours. That's enough to make rivers swell, dam walls break, and by Monday morning, leave many residents of Nanning and surrounding areas stranded on rooftops. Because nothing says 'You're safe now' like perching on a roof while your city turns into a swimming pool.

But wait, there's more: flood waters in China come with a bonus threat - snakes. Yes, hundreds of snakes, including cobras, have reportedly escaped from flooded breeding farms. Because why wouldn't a natural disaster also include a reptile uprising? As if that weren't enough, Typhoon Maysak also helped spawn two destructive tornadoes that tore through central China later Monday evening. The recipe: warm air from the south mixed with cold air from the north. The result: the first recorded tornado in the central Hubei region since May 2021, with at least 11 dead and 331 injured, plus over 4,855 houses damaged, according to state news agency Xinhua.

India, meanwhile, is having its own waterlogged week. Parts of Mumbai received over 300mm of rain on Sunday alone, and a nearby site at Matheran recorded more than 850mm between Sunday and Wednesday. That's a lot of rain, even for monsoon season. The deluge led to building collapses in Mumbai's eastern suburbs, killing at least 13 people, including five young children and one woman when a three-storey chawl collapsed. To put that in perspective: 300mm in 24 hours is nearly 50% of July's entire monthly average. So, you know, slightly more than a drizzle.

And finally, for those who thought they could escape to a remote island: a notable winter storm hit the south Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha on Tuesday. Wind speeds of up to 124mph were recorded at the school's amateur weather station. Roofs were ripped off several buildings, but no casualties were reported. The island's 2,000-metre-tall volcano apparently enhances wind speeds by creating 'downslope winds' - which is a fancy way of saying that when you live on a volcano, even the weather is dramatic.