Tropical Cyclone Oma has been meandering through the Coral Sea, east of Australia, for the past two weeks. Though the heaviest rainfall has remained offshore, Oma has brought gale-force winds and hazardous surf to the east coast of Queensland, with 10-metre-high waves recorded offshore at Byron Bay.
The cyclone was downgraded last weekend as drier air from the north wrapped around the system, suppressing convection, and a ridge of high pressure pushed Oma further east into the Coral Sea.
Meanwhile, holidaymakers in Las Vegas have had to swap bathing suits for thermals as a winter storm, Quiana, swept along the US west coast, delivering an unusually cold blast of air to the south-west.
Last week was the first time in more than a decade that any measurable snow had fallen on the Las Vegas strip. Nearby suburban towns were blanketed, with 20cm recorded in Summerlin, 12 miles west of the strip.
Across the Apennines of central Italy, hurricane-force bora winds have been blowing in excess of 75mph. A bora is a dry and gusty wind that moves in from the north-east along the Adriatic Sea, as a result of the katabatic (downslope) gravity flow of colder and denser air.