tagged w/ Storms
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The toll from Europe's killer cold snap hit at least 360 on Monday with nine new victims found in Poland, most of them homeless, and five drowned when a Bulgarian dam burst after torrential rain.
The rain and snowstorms lashing southern Bulgaria collapsed the dam early Monday, submerging the small village of Biser under 2.5 metres (eight feet) of water, emergency services said.
Biser mayor Zlatka Valkova told state news agency BTA three elderly men had drowned in their homes and a massive rescue effort was under way in the village of about 800 people. National radio reported two other people were killed when their car was swept off a bridge.
"People are in panic," regional mayor Mihail Liskov said on national radio. "Ninety percent of the village is under water."
Two larger dams in southern Bulgaria risked spilling over and residents were told to prepare to evacuate. Heavy rains also triggered a landslide that derailed a train near the Turkish border. No injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, temperatures in Poland plunged to as low as minus 24 degrees Celsius (minus 11 Fahrenheit), bringing another deadly night for the homeless.
As has been the case throughout the 10-day-old cold snap, transients have borne the brunt of the suffering, with frozen victims found in abandoned and unheated homes, fire escapes or makeshift shelters on Europe's streets.
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Overall, 107 people have died of hypothermia in Poland since winter hit in November. The current cold snap began at the end of January and across the continent, authorities have reported at least 360 weather-related deaths.
In neighbouring Lithuania, where the mercury has dipped to minus 31 Celsius (minus 24 Fahrenheit), the deaths of 12 more people over the weekend brought the cold snap's toll to 23.
Hungarian authorities have reported at least 12 dead since the onset of the cold.
Italian authorities continued to clear up after a rare snow storm blanketed Rome over the weekend and crews struggled to restore power to about 60,000 homes across the country, especially in the Tuscan cities of Siena and Arezzo.
Italian energy giant ENI warned earned it may have to cut gas supplied to customers after shortfalls in gas imports from Russia.
Elsewhere across Europe, authorities struggled to clear clogged roads and runways that left tens of thousands of travellers stranded over the weekend.
After cancelling half its flights Sunday, operators of London's Heathrow Airport, the world's busiest passenger hub, said its schedule was almost back to normal Monday.
While parts of Britain were beginning to warm above freezing, other European nations remained in an icy grip.
In the Czech town of Kvilda, near the Czech-German border, the temperature hit minus 39.4 Celsius (minus 38.92 Fahrenheit), the lowest recorded in the country this winter.
Switzerland also recorded year lows, dropping to minus 35.1 Celsius (minus 31 Fahrenheit) in the eastern Graubuenden canton on Sunday night.
The bitter cold has engulfed most of Europe and even crossed the Mediterranean into north Africa, where as many as 16 people were killed on Algeria's snow-slicked roads or in other weather-related accidents.
Rare snow also fell in southern Tunisia for the first timme in some 40 years, media reported, with temperatures well below freezing in some areas of the country and villages cut off.
In France, 39 of the country's 101 regions were on alert for deep cold or snow, down from more than half the regions at the weekend, as a new record for electricity consumption was predicted later Monday.
Five people have died in weather-related incidents since the cold snap hit France, the latest a 56-year-old homeless man who is believed to have succumbed to hypothermia in a suburb of Paris.
More at the linkThe toll from Europe's killer cold snap hit at least 360 on Monday with nine new... more
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Six more weeks of winter, eh? The bizarre weather outside is more like spring, with a blizzard in Denver and tornado warnings and watches elsewhere all in the same day.
One day after the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil "forecasted" six more weeks of winter, a potentially record-breaking blizzard is socking Denver today (Feb. 3). By the time the storm passes on Sunday, it could set a February snowfall record in the city. This storm is odd because big snowstorms in Denver are actually more common in spring than winter.
And more springlike weather is sweeping across the southern United States as well, with tornado watches and warnings under way from Oklahoma to Louisiana.
Rare winter storm
In Denver, a foot (0.3 meters) of snow has fallen this morning, forcing schools to cancel classes and grounding more than 400 flights at Denver International Airport, according to AccuWeather. With temperatures around 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 12 degrees Celsius), winds of 40 mph (64 kph), and whiteout conditions due to snow falling at rates of up to 2 inches (5 cm) an hour, the weather in Denver is downright nasty.
Adding insult to injury, the snow is falling east of the Continental Divide, where many ski resorts are, so they will get little benefit from the blizzard.
A winter storm warning is in effect for Denver until 5 a.m. Mountain Time (7 a.m. EST) tomorrow (Feb. 4). Close to 2 feet (0.6 m) of snow could fall by then. [Weirdo Weather: 7 Rare Weather Events]
This blizzard is unusual for Denver because big storms typically hit here in the fall and spring, not the winter, according to the Weather Channel's Eric Fisher (A wild snowstorm hit Denver this past October).
Southern 'spring'
Springlike conditions are also sweeping the South, with a tornado watch in effect this morning for parts of central Oklahoma and the southeastern Texas panhandle.
"We have a fairly warm and somewhat unstable air mass over the area right now and that's partly contributing to the rounds of severe weather," said meteorologist Andy Patrick with the National Weather Service office in Lake Charles, La.
Earlier this morning, tornado warnings were issued for parts of the Texas-Louisiana border, but no tornadoes were reported to the nation's Storm Prediction Center. This springlike weather will continue to move east throughout the weekend, and "could make it somewhat favorable for some tornadoes," Patrick told OurAmazingPlanet.
A "tornado watch" is issued by the NWS when conditions in the atmosphere are favorable for tornadoes. A "tornado warning" is issued when a tornado has been spotted or after radar suggests that a tornado has formed. A "tornado emergency" is the highest level of warning, and is issued when a large, violent tornado could cause widespread damage.
While winter in much of the United States has been wimpy with little cold or snow, January saw above-average tornado action. January tornadoes are not as common as spring tornadoes, but severe weather can strike any time of the year.
Central Alabama, where tornadoes took a deadly toll in 2011, is braving the twisters again in 2012. Alabama had 10 tornadoes on Jan. 23 and another one on Jan. 26. The tornadoes included an EF-3 on the tornado damage scale, and three people were killed during the outbreak.
More at the linkSix more weeks of winter, eh? The bizarre weather outside is more like spring, with a... more
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Fierce winter storms battered Britain on Tuesday, leaving two men dead and causing widespread chaos for air, sea and rail travellers.
Winds of more than 100 miles per hour (160 kilometres per hour) swept in, closing the English Channel port of Dover for several hours and causing major disruption to train services across Britain and flights at Scottish airports.
A van driver in his 50s died after his stationary vehicle was crushed by a falling oak tree in Tunbridge Wells, a town southeast of London, police said.
A second man died after a chemical tanker was hit by a large wave in the Channel amid stormy conditions, coastguards said. A Navy helicopter evacuated the man, who was unconscious, from the vessel, but he died later in hospital.
The renowned Epsom racecourse, home of the English Derby in southeast England, was evacuated after part of the grandstand roof blew off, although there were no spectators there at the time.
Some of the worst weather was in Scotland, where at least 35 flights were cancelled at Glasgow airport and 40 at Edinburgh airport.
In Dunoon in western Scotland, five people were injured when high winds overturned caravans, while 15 people were rescued from a boat that was blown away as it was being repaired in a west coast shipyard.
Many train services that normally take passengers from England to Scotland were forced to halt their journeys in northern England due to the high winds, while bridges across Scotland were forced to close.
In Northern Ireland, 10,000 properties were left without electricity after fallen trees and severe winds damaged power lines.Fierce winter storms battered Britain on Tuesday, leaving two men dead and causing... more
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This is part two of my recap of climate extremes globally for 2011. The first video dealt with the global effects in other countries for almost the first half of 2011. This part deals with the U.S. Part 3 coming up will deal with the global effects from the second half of 2011 with some other information added. I hope this is at least informative and puts the totality and urgency of what we now face into perspective. I can say that making this even though I already understand these effects has been a sad and sobering experience.
My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones, homes, wildlife and farms.
2012 must be the year we collectively wake up.This is part two of my recap of climate extremes globally for 2011. The first video... more
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The death toll from Tropical Storm Washi, which struck the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines over the weekend, has reached at least 900 and climbing. The storm may soon become the deadliest storm of 2011, beating out flash floods in Brazil in January.
Although the Philippines overall is a country that is no stranger to tropical cyclones, these storms typically bypass the southernmost areas, which means that Washi struck a relatively unprepared population.
NASA satellite view of Tropical Storm Washi as the storm approached the island of Mindanao in the Philippines on Saturday.
Washi made landfall on Saturday night as a minimal tropical storm with 45 mph winds, but it was embedded within a massive plume of tropical moisture that contributed to heavy rainfall on the island that lasted for as long as 100 hours. The flash flooding that resulted swept people from their homes, leaving destroyed communities in their wake. As the New York Times reports:
In neighborhoods throughout the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, similar stories could be heard: Flash floods caused by Tropical Storm Washi surged into the homes of sleeping families, and hundreds were drowned or dragged to their deaths by the currents.
The storm hit an area in the Philippines that is not accustomed to tropical storms and typhoons, since such storms typically form and make landfall to the north of the island of Mindanao. This unfamiliarity with such storms heightened the risks of a mass casualty event.
Over at Weather Underground, Jeff Masters notes the presence of unusually warm sea surface temperatures offshore, which contributed to the heavy rainfall.
More at the linkThe death toll from Tropical Storm Washi, which struck the southern island of Mindanao... more
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Texas, Alabama and Missouri topped the list of states hardest hit by the unrelenting assault of extreme weather in 2011.
Severe weather across much of the nation has raised the question of whether global warming has already begun to influence shorter-term weather patterns, and the specter of even more extreme years to come as global temperatures continue to rise.
STATES OF DISASTER: TOP 10 STATES
#1- Texas
#2- Alabama
#3- Missouri
#4- North Carolina
#5- Oklahoma
#6- Tennessee
#7- Kansas
#8- Connecticut
#9- Vermont
#10- New Jersey
According to climate studies, the short answer is- yes: the new climate environment created by global warming is more conducive to some extreme events, particularly heat waves and heavy precipitation events: these are now more likely to occur and be more intense when they do take place. Climate models have more difficulty predicting how climate change may be influencing other types of extremes, such as severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, but a warming climate provides more fuel to these events in the form of increased water vapor and heat in the atmosphere.
And those extreme events -- searing heat waves, parching drought, deadly tornadoes, blizzards and floods -- cost billions of dollars in damage, affected millions of lives and tragically, killed more than a thousand people across the U.S.
By some measures, 2011 was the most extreme year for the U.S. since reliable record-keeping began in the 19thcentury -- and the costs have been enormous: according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2011 set a record for the most billion dollar disasters in a single year. There were 12, breaking the old record of nine set in 2009. The aggregate damage from these 12 events totals at least $52 billion, NOAA found.
More at the link-click on the picture here to see more.Texas, Alabama and Missouri topped the list of states hardest hit by the unrelenting... more
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Take note US law enforcement: no pepper spray, no raids, no beatings.
This is it. This is the crux of the global economic and environmental crises we face and this was the place to take it. It is always the 1% that is heard even at these conferences above the voices of the poor, the indigenous peoples and those in this world who are being disproportionately affected most by climate change. It is our time now. Failure here is a failure of and for humanity, our water, our land, other species and our economies. The science is indisputable. The effects to water, agriculture and social structure are now a reality and becoming more severe. It is time to put humanity first.
Occupy climate justice.Take note US law enforcement: no pepper spray, no raids, no beatings.
This is it.... more
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Freakish weather disasters – from the sudden October snowstorm in the Northeast U.S. to the record floods in Thailand – are striking more often. And global warming is likely to spawn more similar weather extremes at a huge cost, says a draft summary of an international climate report obtained by The Associated Press.
The final draft of the report from a panel of the world’s top climate scientists paints a wild future for a world already weary of weather catastrophes costing billions of dollars. The report says costs will rise and perhaps some locations will become “increasingly marginal as places to live.”
The report from the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will be issued in a few weeks, after a meeting in Uganda. It says there is at least a 2-in-3 probability that climate extremes have already worsened because of man-made greenhouse gases.
This marks a change in climate science from focusing on subtle changes in daily average temperatures to concentrating on the harder-to-analyze freak events that grab headlines, cause economic damage and kill people. The most recent bizarre weather extreme, the pre-Halloween snowstorm in the U.S., is typical of the damage climate scientists warn will occur – but it’s not typical of the events they tie to global warming.
“The extremes are a really noticeable aspect of climate change,” said Jerry Meehl, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “I think people realize that the extremes are where we are going to see a lot of the impacts of climate change.”
The snow-bearing Nor’easter cannot be blamed on climate change and probably isn’t the type of storm that will increase with global warming, four meteorologists and climate scientists said. They agree more study is needed. But experts on extreme storms have focused more closely on the increasing numbers of super-heavy rainstorms, not snow, NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt said.
The opposite kind of disaster – the drought in Texas and the Southwest U.S. – is also the type of event scientists are saying will happen more often as the world warms, said Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Meehl, who reviewed part of the climate panel report. No studies have specifically tied global warming to the drought, but it is consistent with computer models that indicate current climate trends will worsen existing droughts, Mr. Meehl said.
Studies also have predicted more intense monsoons with climate change. Warmer air can hold more water and puts more energy into weather systems, changing the dynamics of storms and where and how they hit.
Thailand is now coping with massive flooding from monsoonal rains that illustrate how climate is also interconnected with other manmade issues such as population and urban development, river management and sinking lands, Schmidt said. In fact, the report says that “for some climate extremes in many regions, the main driver for future increases in losses will be socioeconomic in nature” rather than greenhouse gases.
There’s an 80 per cent chance that the killer Russian heat wave of 2010 wouldn’t have happened without the added push of global warming, according to a study published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
So while in the past the climate change panel, formed by the United Nations and World Meteorological Organization, has discussed extreme events in snippets in its report, this time the scientists are putting them all together. The report, which needs approval by diplomats at the mid-November meeting, tries to measure the confidence scientists have in their assessment of climate extremes both future and past.
Chris Field, one of the leaders of the climate change panel, said he and other authors won’t comment because the report still is subject to change. The summary chapter of the report didn’t detail which regions of the world might suffer extremes so severe as to leave them marginally habitable.
The report does say scientists are “virtually certain” – 99 per cent – that the world will have more extreme spells of heat and fewer of cold. Heat waves could peak as much as 5 degrees hotter by mid-century and even 9 degrees hotter by the end of the century.
More at the link
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More intense rains due to increased moisture and temperature in the atmosphere exacerbated by human forcings cause sea level rise as well as thermal expansion of the oceans. Water evaporation then brings water back up from the oceans and dumps it back down on the land washing away topsoil and sediment. Sea level rise is causing salt water intrusion and erosion and combines with subsidence to cause the land to crumble and shift. The question that never really gets the proper attention in all of this is, where will the people go when their land is either gone or unliveable? We have no global plan to deal with the huge amounts of climate refugees that we will (and already) have as a result of these conditions. Matter of fact, infrastructure, land management, deforestation, etc. are only exacerbating this. Oh well, I guess we as humans really are not up to this task.Freakish weather disasters – from the sudden October snowstorm in the Northeast... more
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The Phillippines has also been hit very hard by these storms, but it is the flooding that is causing the most danger.The Phillippines has also been hit very hard by these storms, but it is the flooding... more
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Forget about a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness – autumn looks instead set to feature 80mph winds as Hurricane Katia, which is currently crossing the Atlantic, lines up to strike Britain this weekend.
Though it failed to make landfall in the United States, forecasters are warning Katia may cause trees to fall, along with structural damage and travel delays, in the UK. The first high winds could arrive tomorrow night and severe weather warnings have been issued along the entire western and south western coasts.
The most exposed areas could be hit by 50ft waves, and the predicted gales could coincide with high tides that cause localised flooding – although experts have played down comparisons to the Great Storm of 1987, in which 18 people died.
However, the Met Office admitted that it may be hard to predict where and when the deep, slow-moving depression will strike and advised people to keep up to date with the changing forecast if they were planning to travel. As it sweeps northwards, Katia is expected to lose its tropical character, arriving in the UK as an Atlantic gale.
Chief forecaster at the Met Office, Eddie Carroll, said: "Although it will be very windy everywhere, it is uncertain exactly which parts of the country will see the strongest winds." The extremely windy weather is expected to ease by the middle of the week, although it will remain blustery – continuing the wet start to the autumn, after the coolest summer for 18 years.
More at the linkForget about a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness – autumn looks instead... more
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From Maryland to New England, the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee flooded roads and highways, swelled waterways and put emergency responders still weary from dealing with last week's cleanup back on alert.
As rivers and streams rose dangerously from flash flooding, many East Coast residents Wednesday began the now familiar process of bailing water from basements or even heading to public shelters.
At least one rain-related death was reported. Police in Derry Township, Pa., said a man who was removing water from his basement was killed when the house's foundation collapsed.
"Now it's getting on my last nerves," said Carol Slater, 53, of Huntersfield, N.Y., on the northern edge of New York's Catskill Mountains and just outside of hard-hit Prattsville.
As rain washed out the tennis matches for the second straight day at the U.S. Open in New York City, the National Weather Service predicted it would continue to fall heavily across the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states through Thursday with anywhere from 4 to 7 more inches falling and up to 10 inches in isolated pockets. Flood watches and warnings were up throughout the region.
Tom Russell, meteorologist at CBS affiliate WHP in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, reports that homeowners in Little Falls, New Jersey can't seem to catch a break. The Passaic river is expected to keep rising, and not crest until this weekend.
"My wife's going into labor tonight. She's getting induced, so we have to get out of here, and with all this that's going on, it's insane," Little Falls resident Raffaelle LaGonigro lamented. "It's supposed to be a happy time, and right now she's stressed out, she's crying."
In Pennsylvania, rain set off flash flooding across a wide swath of the state, shutting down roads, closing some schools early and forcing evacuations.
"The same areas are getting hit repeatedly," by rain, said Larry Nierenberg, a national weather service spokesman who monitors an area that includes Greater Philadelphia and most of New Jersey.
On Wednesday, near Trenton, N.J., he said a half inch of rain fell in 10 minutes. "You get something like that and it can drop 2-3 inches of rain in an hour, and then it will move on."
New York positioned rescue workers, swift-water boats and helicopters with hoists to respond quickly in the event of flash flooding. Teams stood by in Vermont, which bore the brunt of Irene's remnants last week, and hundreds of Pennsylvania residents were told to flee a rising creek.
Areas of New York's Broome County, including portions of downtown Binghamton, were being evacuated Wednesday night as heavy rains caused flood levels on the Susquehanna River and other creeks and tributaries. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was installing flood control gates in several locations throughout the county, according to a statement from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who planned to tour the region on Thursday.
Numerous sections of the New York Thruway, including exit ramps, flooded Wednesday night and motorists were advised to take alternate roads, but many of them, too, were covered with water.
More at the linkFrom Maryland to New England, the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee flooded roads and... more
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Rescue teams carried out a painstaking search Monday for the missing after a typhoon pounded western Japan leaving at least 31 people dead and more than 50 unaccounted for, local authorities said.
Torrential rain brought by powerful Typhoon Talas, which made landfall Saturday and was one of the deadliest in years, caused rivers to swell and triggered floods and landslides that swept away buildings, homes and roads.
Police and firefighters resumed a search for the missing early Monday, warning that the number of victims was set to rise as the continued threat of landslides and damaged access routes hampered relief efforts.
In the deadliest typhoon since an October 2004 storm killed nearly 100 people, floods triggered by Typhoon Talas gave rise to scenes eerily reminiscent of the aftermath of the March 11 tsunami that hit northeast Japan.
In Nachikatsuura town, a railway bridge was swept into a river, while TV footage showed splintered trees, crushed houses and cars tossed onto walls and buildings by the raging floodwaters that inundated entire neighbourhoods.
By Sunday, Talas had been downgraded to a tropical storm after it moved over Japan and into the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the Meteorological Agency said, but risks of further landslides posed a threat to rescue and recovery efforts.
The storm came after new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was sworn in on Friday, replacing Naoto Kan, who was heavily criticised for the government's response in the aftermath of the March 11 disasters.
"We will do our best in saving lives and finding the missing," Noda told reporters Monday.
The Talas weather system, moving as slow as 10 kilometres (six miles) per hour, dumped 1.8 metres (six feet) of rain on a village in Nara prefecture for five days through Sunday, more than Tokyo's annual average rainfall, said the Yomiuri daily.
Wakayama prefecture was the hardest hit region, where 21 people were killed and 35 were missing. More than 200 rescue workers continued the search on the ground on Monday.
"We are struggling to get a hold on the current situation... electricity is out and destroyed roads are preventing our vehicles from going into affected areas," said an official at the fire department in Tanabe, Wakayama prefecture.
More at the linkRescue teams carried out a painstaking search Monday for the missing after a typhoon... more
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Crippling blizzards, roof-ripping tornadoes, hurricane evacuations -- get used to it, New York, the weather is only going to get worse, according to scientists.
"I think it's a trend we expect to see with climate change," said Dr. Malcolm Bowman, an oceanography professor and member of the mayor's panel on climate change. "Extreme weather can be expected."
Although there are still some doubters out there, most scientists agree that the planet is heating up and polar ice is melting - with a clear impact on local weather.
"As the sea level rises, the base level of water is now lapping at the sea wall," said Bowman. As a result, he said, "Manhattan can be flooded more easily."
Tornadoes, once a weather phenomenon that New Yorkers associated with the movies, are now a reality for the city.
During Hurricane Irene the National Weather Service put the five boroughs under a tornado watch.
Last September, 45,000 customers lost power in Brooklyn and Queens after a powerful storm with 70 mph winds knocked down trees and powerlines.
Witness reported seeing funnel clouds in Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn.
In 2007, a tornado touched down in Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, tearing the roofs off homes and toppling trees.
The Christmas blizzard last year can also be blamed on global warming, which increases humidity in the atmosphere, creating greater precipitation all year round.
"We seem to be pushing extreme temperatures in both directions," said Bowman.
A Columbia University study in 2007 projected the number of heat-related deaths in the city could rise nearly 50 percent from the 1990s to 2061.
Temperatures could rise as much as 6.5 degrees if the current trend continues apace, the study concluded.
The challenge for the city is how to prepare for the inevitable.
"What is important is that people realize that the city is vulnerable to weather extremes - whether it is from hurricane-related storm surges, intense rain events, blizzards etc. and that we build enough resilience to take them all on," said Dr. Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist at the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies.Crippling blizzards, roof-ripping tornadoes, hurricane evacuations -- get used to it,... more
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This blog has previously touched on two vitally important topics: alcohol consumption and weather. Today, we combine these two wonderful themes and the Jim Cantore Drinking Games are born.This blog has previously touched on two vitally important topics: alcohol consumption... more
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A slow-moving tropical depression was slogging toward the Gulf coast Friday, packing walloping rains that could drench the region with up to 20 inches.
Louisiana's governor declared a state of emergency Thursday because of the threat of flash flooding.
Tropical storm warnings were issued from Mississippi to Texas including New Orleans. The National Hurricane Center said the system will dump 10 to 15 inches of rain over southern areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama through Sunday and as much as 20 inches in some spots.
The depression also could become Tropical Storm Lee, the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Forecasts were for landfall over the weekend on southern Louisiana's coast. The depression had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph) Friday morning. It was drifting slowly north near 1 mph (2 kph) with the hurricane center predicting slow, possibly erratic motion.
"Wow. This could be a very heavy, prolific rainmaker," National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Revitte said.
According to a hurricane center chart, maximum sustained winds could reach 60 mph by Saturday, lower than hurricane strength of 74 mph.
As hurricane season is hitting its peak in the Atlantic, storm watchers were monitoring three disturbances. Besides the Gulf depression, Tropical Storm Katia (KAH'-tee-yah) was spinning in open waters. It weakened from a hurricane Thursday, though forecasters said it would again grow stronger.
It was about 750 miles (1,205 kilometers) east of the northern Leeward Islands and moving west-northwest near 15 mph (24 kph) with maximum sustained winds early Friday near 70 mph (110 kph). It could regain hurricane strength this weekend but forecasters said it's too early to tell if it would hit the U.S. It was expected to pass north of the Caribbean.
In yet another system, a slow-moving low pressure system about 450 miles (724 kilometers) south of Nova Scotia, Canada, had a 60 percent chance early Friday of becoming a tropical cyclone in the next two days.
They all come on the heels of Hurricane Irene, which brought destruction from North Carolina to New England late last month.
In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal said he was concerned about the serious threat of flash flooding in his state, leading to his emergency action. After devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005, nothing is taken for granted.
Craig Taffaro, president of coastal St. Bernard Parish, said some flood gates were being closed along bayous and residents were being warned to brace for heavy rain. Still, in a parish that was nearly wiped out six years ago by Katrina, Taffaro wasn't expecting a major event.
"We'd like the public to use this as a drill. Hopefully that's all it will be," he said early Thursday afternoon.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates major flood control structures at New Orleans, was monitoring developments but didn't plan on closing any flood control structures yet, spokesman Ricky Boyett said in an email.
Emergency officials along Mississippi's Gulf Coast expected to get plans in place Friday to deal with the effects from the tropical depression. Jackson County spokesman Ken Flanagan said conference calls were scheduled Friday with Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, along with weather officials.
In Alabama, Gov. Robert Bentley ordered state emergency management and other agencies to be ready to respond if needed.
Already, the storm has forced two major petroleum producers to remove crews from a handful of production platforms. Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil said they would also cut off a small amount of production. Both moves affect only a fraction of production.
Louisiana needs rain — just not that much, that fast. Both Texas and Louisiana have been suffering through drought. New Orleans, which was least affected by the drought, already was being pelted by sporadic rain. More of a problem is stubborn marsh fire that has blanketed the city with smoke, though the rain will help extinguish it.
"Sometimes you get what you ask for," New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. "Unfortunately it looks like we're going to get more than we needed."
More at the linkA slow-moving tropical depression was slogging toward the Gulf coast Friday, packing... more
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Seeing even only a little bit of what Irene as a tropical storm did in my little community you get a sense of the totality of it. I did today and it also got me thinking that maybe, just maybe the way this trash was lifted from the bay and pushed up onto the grass so strategically was a way for mother nature to tell us that we better start taking responsibility for our actions.
And as I was walking today I saw many downed trees, trees pulled out of the ground from their roots and one beautiful big tree snapped like a twig as if struck by lightning. It's simply physics we need to understand now.Seeing even only a little bit of what Irene as a tropical storm did in my little... more
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Super-typhoon Nanmadol killed at least eight people and left flattened bridges and blocked roads in its wake as it moved away from the Philippines and churned towards Taiwan, officials said on Sunday.
The toll of dead and missing is likely to rise as officials assess the full impact of the storm, the strongest to hit the country this year, said Emilia Tadeo of the civil defence damage report section.
"After the rains have subsided, that is only when we find the additional casualties and damages, when the local responders submit them to us," Tadeo told AFP.
Five were killed by landslides including two children buried by an avalanche of rubbish at a tip in the northern mountain city of Baguio, the civil defence office said.
Two people drowned while another was crushed by a falling wall, weakened by the rain.
A further six people are considered missing after vanishing at sea or being swept away by overflowing rivers as Nanmadol brought heavy rain to the northern Philippines, the civil defence office said.
More than 57,000 people were forced to flee their homes due to the risk of floods and landslides in the mountainous north, the office added.
President Benigno Aquino's spokeswoman Abigail Valte said the government had pre-positioned relief goods and rescue personnel at vulnerable areas to help those affected by the storm.
Eight bridges were destroyed and 20 major roads rendered impassable when Nanmadol hit with gusts of up to 230 kilometres (145 miles) per hour, the civil defence office added.
The typhoon had weakened after clipping the northern edge of the main Philippine island of Luzon but storm alerts remained in force on Sunday as the typhoon slowly moved towards Taiwan.
An average of 20 storms and typhoons, many of them deadly, hit the Philippines annually. The last storms, Nock-ten and Muifa, left at least 70 dead when they hit in July.
Nanmadol, named after an ancient site in Micronesia, is forecast to hit Taiwan on Tuesday before cutting across to China.
At 1100 GMT, the typhoon was 60 kilometres (36 miles) southeast of the southernmost tip of Taiwan, the island's Central Weather Bureau said.
It said the storm was packing gusts of 137 kilometres an hour and moving north at 10 kilometres an hour.
More at the linkSuper-typhoon Nanmadol killed at least eight people and left flattened bridges and... more
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This is just a short view early this morning. The wind woke me so I decided to make a short view of it in my corner of NJ. Half a million people in NJ alone without power, but I and others here were spared. The only damage here are downed trees and minor flooding. And we didn't get 20 inches, but it was close to ten. We were lucky here this time.Towns around me however have flooded and the clean up is just beginning. Thanks to everybody who wished me well. I hope all of you in these areas are doing OK. If you are and can comment here please let us know you are alright.This is just a short view early this morning. The wind woke me so I decided to make a... more
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Hurricane IRENE is on her way to New York City shutting down the city, subways, baseball games, broadway shows, beaches and forcing evacuations throughout the Jersey Shore and NYC! Here is what she has to say about all the panic!Hurricane IRENE is on her way to New York City shutting down the city, subways,... more
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