Let's take stock of major global extreme weather events between July and August 2026. Notable events include Super Typhoon Bavi, record-shattering heatwaves across western United States, wildfires near Indonesia's Bromo Volcano, intensified Siberian wildfires, and rainstorms with frequent lightning in South Asia.

China's FENGYUN (FY) meteorological satellites monitored these hazards through cloud imagery, land-surface temperature readings, fire-spot detection and lightning data. They captured disaster structures and evolution processes, delivering global meteorological observation services to support worldwide disaster risk mitigation and relief.

Figure 1 At 18.3°N, 130.0°E, Super Typhoon Bavi, the 9th typhoon of 2026, reached super‑typhoon intensity. True‑color stereoscopic cloud image from  FY‑4B, captured at 06:15 UTC on July  9 2026, shows that Bavi exhibited a symmetric circulation structure, with its outer cloud bands impacting the Philippine Archipelago. Filamentous cirrus plumes developed over its spiral rainbands, indicating strong upper‑level divergence.

Figure 2 Extreme and persistent heatwaves swept across the western and mid‑western contiguous United States, with multiple states consecutively smashing their all‑time highest‑temperature records. Land‑surface maximum temperature observations from the FY‑3D for July11‑21 2026, reveal a west‑high‑east‑low spatial pattern of land‑surface temperature over the contiguous US. Extensive areas in central and western US registered land‑surface maximum temperatures above 40 °C, with local peaks exceeding 45 °C. By contrast, the eastern plains and Atlantic coast exhibited relatively lower land‑surface temperatures, with overall weaker thermal intensity than the western inland regions.

Figure 3 A large‑scale wildfire broke out abruptly at the Bromo Volcano scenic site on August 3  2026. Fanned by strong winds, the fire re‑ignited on the night of 8 August and intensified, burning large tracts of volcanic grassland ecosystems. The scenic area was temporarily closed starting from the night of August 8 due to the ongoing spreading wildfire. The fire‑pixel‑overlaid true‑color image from the FY‑3F acquired on  August  8 2026 detected multiple fire pixels in East Java Province, Indonesia. Extensive thick smoke drifted westward and impacted surrounding villages and towns.

Figure 4 Since mid‑August 2026, fueled by persistent heat‑drought conditions and frequent dry thunderstorms, wildfires have intensified markedly across high‑latitude Siberia of Russia, mainly within 60°N‑70°N. Fire‑monitoring image from FY‑3H on August 24  2026 shows that the wildfires are concentrated in three zones: the Yamal‑Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the west, Krasnoyarsk Krai in central Siberia, and the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic in the east. Smoke plumes have expanded further, indicating continuous smoke dispersion aloft.

Figure 5 Driven by an active monsoon low‑pressure system, persistent rainfall has battered eastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Heavy rainfall, accompanied by local severe thunderstorms, occurred over western Nepal, the Bay of Bengal, as well as Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh in India. Lightning data observations from FY‑4C reveal dense lightning activity across parts of Nepal and the Bay of Bengal, featuring high accumulated lightning energy and long‑duration events. In addition, the lightning core zones largely overlap with the positions of intense convective cloud clusters.

In collaboration with National Satellite Meteorological Centre (NSMC) of the China Meteorological Administration

Image source: NSMC

Planner/Editor: LIU Shuqiao