Welcome to the November/December edition of the Kingston University newsletter

In The Hurricanes and Cyclones section highlights the impact of Cyclone Gaja in India and the intensification of tropical storm Owen, whilst looking back to recap events from the 2018 hurrican season.

There are reports about the impact of climate change, focussing on the strengthening of precipation, a dieback in Arctic plants, a `browning` of Arctic regions, and on how cold weather still occurs even in cimate warming conditions.

The Earthquake section features Alaska, Italy, Mexico, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. There is also a report on how AI is now capable of accurately simulating earthquakes, which helps scientists better understand the true nature and impact of global seismic events.

Guatemala`s Fuego volcano erupted, leading to unscheduled large scale evacuation.

Another report told the story of how automated forecasting is being introduced to predict activity at Mount Etna in Siciliy. Elsewhere, readers learn that huge amounts of methane are being released from a glacier connected to Katla, one of Iceland`s largest and most active volcanoes.

In the Wildfire section, smoke generated by the deadly California wildfires has swept right across the country and caused a haze to envelop the U.S. eastern seaboard, including Washington DC and New York.

News bulletins from the landlside section saw reports of the death of 14 people from the Vietnamese resort city of Nha Trang, after landlsides destroyed several homes. There was a similar tale in the Spanish press with a train derailment near Barcelona caused by a landslide. The incident resulted in red and one fatality. 

Our Flooding section tells the story of devastating floods that hit the French region of Languedoc and also hit Jordan and the historic town of Petra.