This year’s hurricane season has been unusually quiet, but just as it was coming to an end Tropical Storm Ida blew up in the Caribbean.

Nicaragua’s remote Miskito coast and Honduras were battered with cascades of rain that set off landslides, before the storm headed towards the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. The storm could then turn more ferocious as it feeds off the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and possibly hits the US next week.

East Africa has gone from one extreme to another. After years of drought, torrential rains have set off floods in Kenya and Somalia. Although this is the rainy season, this year’s rains are unusually heavy, boosted by a growing El Niño in the Pacific. Homes and roads have been swamped, and there are fears of disease spreading in the floodwaters.

The Philippines are reeling from the fourth typhoon in a month. Last week Typhoon Mirinae dumped even more rain on an already swamped landscape, killing at least 12 people. Mirinae went on to hit Vietnam as a tropical storm on Monday, dropping 338mm (13in) of rain and killing about 100 people.

Last Friday was one of the hottest days on record in Argentina, when the town of Catamarca recorded 47C (117F). This is close to the record for Argentina of 49C (120F), set in 1905, which is also the highest temperature record for South America.

There is good news for skiers. The skiing season got off to a flying start when decent snows fell on the Alps last month. Last week saw some good snowfalls, and heavier ones are expected this weekend and into next week.

How long this sort of weather will last is anyone’s guess, but a good base of snow this early bodes well for the rest of the season.