diff --git a/city_events.py b/city_events.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fb08a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/city_events.py
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+"""Hand-curated "notable weather/climate event" per city.
+
+Unlike the auto-fetched Wikipedia summaries (cities_flavor.json), these are written
+and fact-checked by hand — a keyword search can't reliably tell the *right* iconic
+event from a wrong one, so this stays a small, verified, editable list. Cities not
+listed here simply show their flavor blurb instead. Add entries as {slug: {text, url}};
+`text` should be one or two accurate sentences, `url` the Wikipedia event article.
+"""
+
+EVENTS: dict[str, dict] = {
+ # --- United States ---
+ "new-orleans-louisiana-us": {
+ "text": "In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the city's levees and flooded roughly 80% of New Orleans, one of the deadliest and costliest disasters in U.S. history.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Katrina_in_New_Orleans"},
+ "houston-texas-us": {
+ "text": "In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey stalled over the region and dropped more than 50 inches of rain — a record for a U.S. tropical cyclone — causing catastrophic flooding across Houston.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Harvey"},
+ "chicago-illinois-us": {
+ "text": "A brutal heat wave in July 1995 pushed the heat index past 120°F and caused an estimated 700 heat-related deaths in Chicago, reshaping how the city prepares for extreme heat.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Chicago_heat_wave"},
+ "new-york-city-new-york-us": {
+ "text": "In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy drove a record storm surge into New York City, flooding subway tunnels and much of Lower Manhattan and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy"},
+ "miami-florida-us": {
+ "text": "In August 1992, Category 5 Hurricane Andrew devastated the Miami metropolitan area just south of the city, destroying tens of thousands of homes around Homestead.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Andrew"},
+ "boston-massachusetts-us": {
+ "text": "The Blizzard of 1978 paralyzed Boston for a week, dropping about 27 inches of snow, stranding thousands of motorists, and flooding coastal neighborhoods.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_blizzard_of_1978"},
+ "seattle-washington-us": {
+ "text": "During the June 2021 Western North America heat wave, Seattle hit an all-time record 108°F — a temperature the normally mild city had never before approached.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Western_North_America_heat_wave"},
+ "portland-oregon-us": {
+ "text": "In the June 2021 heat dome, Portland reached an all-time record 116°F across three consecutive record-shattering days.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Western_North_America_heat_wave"},
+ "phoenix-arizona-us": {
+ "text": "In July 2023, Phoenix endured a record 31 straight days at or above 110°F during one of the most extreme urban heat waves ever recorded in the U.S.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_North_American_heat_waves"},
+ "oklahoma-city-oklahoma-us": {
+ "text": "Deep in Tornado Alley, the Oklahoma City area was struck by the May 3, 1999 tornado, which produced the highest wind speed ever measured on Earth, around 302 mph.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Bridge_Creek%E2%80%93Moore_tornado"},
+
+ # --- Canada ---
+ "toronto-ontario-ca": {
+ "text": "In December 2013, a major ice storm coated Toronto in freezing rain, downing trees and power lines and leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity over the holidays.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2013_North_American_storm_complex"},
+ "calgary-alberta-ca": {
+ "text": "The June 2013 Alberta floods, among the costliest disasters in Canadian history, forced the evacuation of downtown Calgary as the Bow and Elbow rivers overflowed.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Alberta_floods"},
+ "montreal-quebec-ca": {
+ "text": "The January 1998 ice storm encased Montreal in ice, collapsing power pylons and leaving parts of the region without electricity for weeks in midwinter.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_1998_North_American_ice_storm"},
+
+ # --- UK / Europe ---
+ "london-england-gb": {
+ "text": "The Great Smog of December 1952 blanketed London in toxic coal fog for days, killing thousands and prompting the UK's landmark Clean Air Act.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London"},
+ "paris-ile-de-france-fr": {
+ "text": "The August 2003 European heat wave was catastrophic around Paris, contributing to roughly 15,000 heat-related deaths across France.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave"},
+
+ # --- Australia ---
+ "sydney-new-south-wales-au": {
+ "text": "During the 2019–20 'Black Summer' bushfires, hazardous smoke repeatedly blanketed Sydney, pushing its air quality to some of the worst of any major city.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Australian_bushfire_season"},
+ "melbourne-victoria-au": {
+ "text": "On 'Black Saturday' in February 2009, extreme heat and wind drove bushfires across Victoria, around Melbourne, that killed 173 people — Australia's deadliest bushfires.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_bushfires"},
+ "brisbane-queensland-au": {
+ "text": "The 2010–11 Queensland floods peaked in January 2011 when the Brisbane River burst its banks, flooding thousands of homes and businesses across the city.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%9311_Queensland_floods"},
+
+ # --- Asia ---
+ "mumbai-maharashtra-in": {
+ "text": "On 26 July 2005, a record ~944 mm of rain fell on Mumbai in a single day, paralyzing the city and killing hundreds in the Maharashtra floods.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharashtra_floods_of_2005"},
+ "chennai-tamil-nadu-in": {
+ "text": "The December 2015 South Indian floods submerged much of Chennai after its heaviest rains in over a century, displacing hundreds of thousands.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_South_India_floods"},
+ "kolkata-west-bengal-in": {
+ "text": "In May 2020, Cyclone Amphan — the most powerful storm recorded in the Bay of Bengal — struck Kolkata directly, uprooting trees and cutting power across the city.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Amphan"},
+ "karachi-sindh-pk": {
+ "text": "A severe heat wave in June 2015 killed an estimated 1,200 people in Karachi as temperatures reached about 45°C during Ramadan.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Pakistani_heat_wave"},
+ "manila-national-capital-region-ph": {
+ "text": "In September 2009, Tropical Storm Ketsana (Ondoy) dumped a month's worth of rain on Metro Manila in hours, causing some of the worst flooding the capital had ever seen.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Ketsana"},
+ "jakarta-id": {
+ "text": "Low-lying, subsiding Jakarta floods most rainy seasons; the January 2020 floods were among the worst, inundating large areas of the capital and displacing tens of thousands.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Jakarta_flood"},
+ "bangkok-th": {
+ "text": "The 2011 Thailand floods, the country's worst in decades, inundated areas around Bangkok for months and disrupted global electronics and auto supply chains.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Thailand_floods"},
+ "dhaka-dhaka-division-bd": {
+ "text": "Low-lying Dhaka floods severely in heavy monsoons; the 1998 floods submerged about two-thirds of Bangladesh and much of the capital for weeks.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Bangladesh_flood"},
+ "beijing-cn": {
+ "text": "On 21 July 2012, Beijing's heaviest rain in six decades triggered sudden flooding that killed at least 79 people and stranded thousands.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Beijing_flood"},
+ "hong-kong-hk": {
+ "text": "Super Typhoon Mangkhut battered Hong Kong in September 2018 with fierce winds and a storm surge, flooding low-lying districts and swaying skyscrapers.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Mangkhut"},
+ "tokyo-jp": {
+ "text": "In October 2019, Typhoon Hagibis — one of the most powerful to strike Japan in decades — brought record rainfall and widespread flooding to the Tokyo region.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Hagibis"},
+
+ # --- Africa ---
+ "cape-town-western-cape-za": {
+ "text": "From 2015 to 2018 a severe drought pushed Cape Town toward 'Day Zero' — the day municipal taps would be shut off — narrowly averted through drastic water conservation.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town_water_crisis"},
+ "durban-kwazulu-natal-za": {
+ "text": "In April 2022, extreme rainfall triggered catastrophic floods and landslides around Durban, killing more than 400 people in one of South Africa's deadliest storms.",
+ "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_KwaZulu-Natal_floods"},
+}
+
+
+def get(slug: str) -> dict | None:
+ return EVENTS.get(slug)
diff --git a/content.py b/content.py
index c0e2ae8..4f9f218 100644
--- a/content.py
+++ b/content.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ from fastapi.responses import PlainTextResponse
from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader, select_autoescape
import cities
+import city_events
import climate
import grading
import grid
@@ -211,6 +212,7 @@ def _city_context(request, city, cell, history) -> dict:
# Unique editorial blurb (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA) so the page isn't just templated
# stats, and a travel/comfort CTA that pre-fills this city on the compare page.
flavor = cities.flavor(city["slug"])
+ event = city_events.get(city["slug"]) # hand-curated; None → page falls back to the blurb
compare_url = f"{BASE}/compare#loc={city['lat']:.4f},{city['lon']:.4f}"
breadcrumb = [("Home", f"{BASE}/"), ("Climate", f"{BASE}/climate")]
@@ -247,7 +249,7 @@ def _city_context(request, city, cell, history) -> dict:
"year_range": year_range, "n_years": year_range[1] - year_range[0],
"months": months, "warmest": warmest, "coldest": coldest, "wettest": wettest,
"records": records, "today": _today_vs_normal(history, cell),
- "tool_hash": tool_hash, "flavor": flavor, "compare_url": compare_url,
+ "tool_hash": tool_hash, "flavor": flavor, "event": event, "compare_url": compare_url,
"breadcrumb": breadcrumb,
"canonical_path": f"/climate/{city['slug']}",
"page_title": f"{display} climate: average temperatures, records & how today compares",
diff --git a/templates/city.html.j2 b/templates/city.html.j2
index faafad5..e060575 100644
--- a/templates/city.html.j2
+++ b/templates/city.html.j2
@@ -40,6 +40,13 @@
{% endif %}
+ {% if event %}
+
+ Notable weather in {{ name }}
+ {{ event.text }}{% if event.url %} Read more →{% endif %}
+
+ {% endif %}
+
{{ name }} average temperatures by month
Typical daily high and low, and average precipitation, for each month in {{ display }},
diff --git a/tests/test_content.py b/tests/test_content.py
index 466aeff..b4f3c5e 100644
--- a/tests/test_content.py
+++ b/tests/test_content.py
@@ -60,6 +60,25 @@ def test_city_404(client):
assert client.get(f"{B}/climate/nope-not-a-city").status_code == 404
+def test_curated_events_have_valid_slugs():
+ import city_events
+ slugs = set(cities.all_slugs())
+ assert len(city_events.EVENTS) >= 20
+ assert all(s in slugs for s in city_events.EVENTS), \
+ [s for s in city_events.EVENTS if s not in slugs]
+
+
+def test_curated_event_renders(client):
+ b = client.get(f"{B}/climate/new-orleans-louisiana-us").text
+ assert "Notable weather in New Orleans" in b
+ assert "Hurricane Katrina" in b
+
+
+def test_uncurated_city_has_no_event_section(client):
+ b = client.get(f"{B}/climate/shanghai-cn").text
+ assert "city-event" not in b # falls back to the flavor blurb
+
+
def test_city_travel_cta_prefills_compare(client):
b = client.get(f"{B}/climate/{SLUG}").text
assert "Thinking of visiting" in b