Tropical Storm Boris formed Monday and was expected to bring heavy rain, flooding and possible mudslides to parts of southern Mexico's Pacific coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Boris was located about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Acapulco and 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Punta Maldonado, according to the Miami-based weather center. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving northeast at 2 mph (3 kph).

Firefighters battled a grass fire in Edinburgh and temperature records toppled as a spring heatwave scorched parts of Western Europe, triggering government warnings about risks to life.

London recorded a rare "tropical night," defined as one in which the temperature does not fall below 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), and Britain's Met Office weather service said the temperature in southern England could hit 35 C (95 F) on Tuesday.

Roads and markets have emptied during afternoons and some farmers have switched to nighttime work to avoid scorching temperatures as a heat wave grips large parts of India.

The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures Thursday of around 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in the capital, New Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary "cooling zones" to help people cope.

Torrential rain and floods hit parts of China this week, killing at least 12 people and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate, state media reported.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday five deaths and 11 people missing in Shimen County of Hunan province in central China after rain battered the region. A rescue operation is underway. By Tuesday evening, more than 19,000 had been relocated, Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported.

A long-lasting weather pattern is poised to blast hot air like a furnace across the eastern United States, with the unusual heat wave threatening to shatter record high temperatures on Wednesday in big cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

The heat is unusual for April, not only because it's scorching much of the nation so early in the year but also for its duration. The near-record temperatures are expected to last into this weekend, forecasters say.

A toxic algae bloom known as a red tide is causing the mass deaths of crayfish and other ocean life on parts of South Africa's west coast.

The environment ministry warned people on Thursday against collecting and eating the crayfish, which could be toxic, and police were deployed on some beaches.

Human-driven climate change intensified torrential downpours that killed dozens and forced thousands of people from their homes across Spain, Portugal and Morocco earlier this year, a network of climate scientists said Thursday.

When turbulent weather with whipping winds and heavy snow is in the forecast, meteorologists sometimes warn that a storm could "bomb out" or become a bomb cyclone. But what exactly does this mean?

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, certain storms undergo bombogenesis, which happens when a storm's central pressure drops at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. These storms are sometimes called bomb cyclones. Storm intensity is measured by central pressure, so the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.

Snowplows cleared the way for ambulances and fire trucks in Rhode Island. New York City workers geared up to dump massive basins of warm water on piles of snow and ice. And in Boston, officials tried to clear sidewalks coated in packed snow that cut off access for people using wheelchairs.

The gigantic snowstorm this week across the Northeast U.S. dropped piles of powder from Maryland to Maine and left cities on Wednesday scrambling to clear towering heaps that were not showing signs of melting anytime soon.

Millions of people in New York City and a large swath of the northeastern U.S. were stuck at home under road travel bans and blizzard warnings Monday as heavy snow and strong winds intensified, creating whiteout conditions in the densely populated region.

Snow fell at a rate of 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.6 centimeters) an hour early Monday from New York through Massachusetts. Some areas have gotten well over a foot (30 centimeters) of snow since Sunday, along with wind gusts of over 30 mph (48 kph) and low visibility.