May 14, 2012 – PACIFIC - Tuesday, May 15 is the official start for the eastern Pacific’s tropical cyclone season, and that area is beginning the season one day early with “Tropical Depression One-E.” The first tropical depression of the season has formed over the eastern Pacific Ocean, but it was not a threat to land. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Monday that the system was far from the coast, about 645 miles (1038 kilometers) south of Manzanillo, Mexico. Forecasters say it could get stronger in the next day or so and may become a tropical storm before it starts weakening. The depression was moving west, away from land, at about 5 mph (8 kph). Maximum sustained winds were at 35 mph (56 kph). Tropical meteorologists forecasting with the NHC said overnight, “This system has a high chance, 80 percent, of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48.” This did indeed happen as it drifts slowly westward at 5 mph. If it continues to strengthen and becomes a Tropical Storm, it will be named Aletta. The latest update from the NHC states, “The depression could become a tropical storm on Tuesday before weakening begins.” -CBS 6
Tornado and hail move through Oxfordshire, UK
May 9, 2012 – UK - Britain could be braced for more thunder and lightning following a storm which brought a tornado to Oxfordshire. The thunderstorm started in Wiltshire, and moved across Oxfordshire, where a tornado was reported in several places including Bicester, Eynsham and Witney, and then moved to Buckinghamshire. Richard Glazer drove through the tornado with his wife and son on the A34 near Kidlington, Oxfordshire. “It was very wet, we were just driving on the A34 and looked up and realized one part of the sky was moving in one direction and another in the opposite direction,” he said. I thought, ‘that looks like a tornado!’ We pretty much drove through it, we were right underneath it. Forecasters said it was almost certainly a tornado. Heavy rain has been predicted for much of the country in the coming week, with the possibility of thunder and lightning. Brendan Jones, a forecaster at MeteoGroup, said he believed the tornado was caused a by ‘supercell,’ a type of storm more commonly seen in the US in which the air inside is spinning or rotating. Mr Jones said: “It’s going to remain unsettled, there will be rain and showers around and there is a definite chance of more thunderstorm activity. “This particular thunderstorm developed over the northern part of Wiltshire, and then gradually over the next three hours that storm tracked through Oxfordshire and into part of Buckinghamshire before eventually dying out before it got to Cambridgeshire.” –Telegraph
40 killed in violent hailstorm in China: hailstorms relentless since May 8
May 14, 2012 – CHINA – Forty people were killed when a brief but violent hailstorm and torrential rain swept through a mountainous region of northwest China. Eighteen others remained missing in Min County, a disaster-prone area of Gansu province, while 87 had been sent to hospital, the local government said. Officials said 29,300 people were evacuated after rain and hail battered the county for just an hour late on Thursday afternoon. It “wreaked havoc” on all of the county’s 18 townships and affected more than two-thirds of its 450,000 residents, the state-controlled Xinhua news agency reported. “Roads were blocked, houses collapsed, farmland was destroyed, and the power supply and telecommunications services were disrupted by the extreme weather,” the agency said, quoting Xu Guangyao, a senior county official. Min County is 90 miles from Zhouqu County, where a rain-triggered mudslide killed about 1,500 people in August 2010. Hailstorms in the central province of Hunan have also killed six people and left one missing, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Sunday, Xinhua reported. Since May 8, hailstorms have struck across the province, affecting 3.42 million people, the ministry said. About 64,000 people have been relocated to safer areas and 7,600 houses have collapsed. –Telegraph
Heatwaves and bushfires perdicted to hammer NSW, Australia
May 15, 2012 – AUSTRALIA - The Climate Commission has released a report predicting record heat-waves, bushfires and rising sea levels in New South Wales because of climate change. The report says the temperature in Sydney tops 35 degrees on just three days a year, but based on climate modeling, it will be 14 days per year by the end of the century. Federal Climate Commissioner Professor Lesley Hughes says western Sydney is getting disproportionally hotter and drier than the rest of Sydney. “If we compare western Sydney with the rest of Sydney, the number of hot days in western Sydney used to be three times as many as eastern Sydney, and now it’s four times,” she said. “So what we are seeing is not only rising temperatures but some parts of the country are getting disproportionally hotter.” The report, part of the Commission’s series titled “The Critical Decade”, predicts by century’s end that sea-levels will rise by 1.1 meters, putting more than 40,000 New South Wales homes and 250 kilometers of highway at risk. Particularly vulnerable areas include Lake Macquarie and Wollongong. Professor Hughes says there will also be more bushfires. “The number of very high fire danger days could increase by over 20 per cent by 2020, by up to 70 per cent by 2070,” she said. Chief climate commissioner Tim Flannery says some of the negative impacts of warmer weather in Sydney’s west are not immediately obvious. “What happens when we get these very, very hot days is that elderly people and the very young particularly are vulnerable and people get a little bit confused because they’re heat stressed,” he said. But Professor Hughes does say New South Wales is well-placed to capitalise on the trend towards clean energy, citing the state’s uptake of solar panels. A climate scientist with the University of Newcastle, Stewart Franks, has questioned the tone of the report, saying it tends towards scare mongering. “The whole thrust of the report is what the climate’s going to be, going into the future,” he said. “Now unfortunately, we know that the climate models that are used to actually do that job actually don’t represent key modes of climate which are very important. I’m thinking specifically things like El Nino and La Nina.” Professor Tim Flannery says the report is not political. “The job is to provide the best quality information we can from a scientific perspective,” he said. Greens Senator Christine Milne says the climate science is clear. “Every report that comes out anywhere in the world has shown that climate change is accelerating,” she says. –Yahoo 7 News
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
Winter returns to Bosnia: Sarajevo hit by latest snow storm in 50 years
May 15, 2012 – SARAJEVO — The Bosnian capital and its surroundings were covered by snow on Monday, the first time in half a century snow has settled in Sarajevo at this time of year, as temperatures plunged to just above freezing. “The snow was nine centimetres (over three inches) high at 0500 GMT. It is the first time in the past 50 years that we have snow that remained in Sarajevo in May,” Dzenan Zulum of the national meteorological institute told AFP. Zulum said snow had previously covered the capital in May in 1962 and 1953, adding that it also fell in Sarajevo in May 2005, but immediately melted. Temperatures have plummeted in the past two days from 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday to 0.3 degrees Celsius on Monday. Farmers have reported that many orchards had been damaged by the unseasonal cold snap, as snow also fell in central and eastern parts of Bosnia. However forecasts for the next few days predict temperatures soaring back above 20 degrees Celsius. Like much of Europe, Bosnia suffered a harsh winter, with snow falls up to two metres (over six feet) high. -AFP
May 27, 2012 - The U.S. coast between central Florida and South Carolina is getting drenched this morning. Subtropical Storm Beryl is passing through the region, with winds of 85 km/h. Forecasters say it's the rain, not the wind , that poses the greatest threat. Beryl is expected to dump about 150 millimetres of rain along the coastal area, creating fears of flooding. The storm's eye is expected to cross the Florida coast near Jacksonville tonight.
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
Environment Canada has confirmed that two tornadoes — one of which was classed as a moderate F-1 packing winds of up to 150 km/h — touched down near Montreal Friday night, causing millions of dollars in damage.
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
Young boys submerge themselves in water to cool off on a hot day in Jaunpur, India, on Friday. The weather in northern India has been extremely hot in recent days, with temperatures reaching as high as 113 degrees.
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – The fire had charred more than 354 square miles of the Gila National Forest by Saturday morning and more than 1,200 firefighters who are battling the nation's largest wildfire in rugged mountains and canyons of southwestern New Mexico were racing Saturday to build lines to corral the massive blaze before more threatening winds and dry conditions developed.
(Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beryl cut a soggy path across the U.S. southeast on Monday after swirling ashore in Florida at near hurricane strength.The second named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season lashed the East Coast from north Florida to southern parts of North Carolina, and created a risk of flooding inland, even after it was downgraded to a tropical depression late Monday morning."The main concern with slow moving Beryl continues to be very heavy rains which are expected to occur from northern Florida to southeastern North Carolina during the next day or two," the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory late Monday afternoon. At 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), Beryl's top sustained winds had dropped to 30 miles per hour and its center was 150 miles southwest of Savannah, Georgia.
Subtropical Storm Beryl threatens flooding along southeast U.S. coast[/center] May 26, 2012 – FLORIDA – Subtropical Storm Beryl churned toward the U.S. southeast coast on Saturday, threatening heavy rains and dangerous surf on Sunday to northeastern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Beryl was centered about 230 miles (375 km) east-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, carrying maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph). It was moving southwest with tropical storm force winds extending about 115 miles (185 km) from the storm’s center. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Sunday from the Volusia/Brevard County line in northern Florida to Edisto Beach, South Carolina. Forecasters predict the storm will eventually turn back toward the Atlantic on Monday or Tuesday, posing no threat to oil and gas production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane center said dangerous surf conditions and unusually high tides are possible along the coasts of northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina over the Memorial Day weekend. Beryl is being called a subtropical storm, which usually have a broader wind field than tropical storms and shower and thunderstorm activity farther removed from the storm’s center. Beryl formed off the South Carolina coast late on Friday and is the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which has had an early start. The season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. -Reuters
Environment Canada has confirmed that two tornadoes — one of which was classed as a moderate F-1 packing winds of up to 150 km/h — touched down near Montreal Friday night, causing millions of dollars in damage.
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
June 4, 2012 – CHINA - Heavy rainfall has been sweeping across parts of Northern and Northeast China. The storms caused traffic delays and many flights have been delayed or cancelled. Beijing received a huge sudden downpour at around 3pm Sunday, local time. The clouds were so heavy that the capital almost fell into darkness. Some vehicles became stranded on the roads, and the storm prompted officials to declare a “Blue alarm” – the lowest emergency level. Northeast China also suffered torrential rain, with thunder and hail storms. Some areas saw over 50 millimeters of rainfall within just 2 hours. Parts of the country’s south also suffered severe storms. Weather forecasters say the bad weather could last another 3 or 4 days. It’s prompting fears that flooding could occur along the country’s waterways. –RSOE
Stockholm has coldest day in 84 years- Sweden coldest temperature in 20 years
June 4, 2012 – SWEDEN – The English language The Local here writes that “Stockholm broke an 84-year-old cold record on Saturday, as the capital’s temperature only reached 6 degrees Celsius, the lowest June maximum daily temperature the city has seen since 1928.” Indeed, you could be excused for thinking that the current chill is more like winter than summer. It was actually colder in the capital yesterday than on Christmas Eve. ‘The temperature was a degree lower than it was at Christmas in Stockholm, so it is colder. And it’s windier, too,’ said SMHI’s meteorologist Lisa Frost to newspaper Dagens Nyheter.” Just two days ago The Local here reported that snow blanketed northern parts. Residents in northern Sweden were forced to grab shovels rather than sun lotion on what was supposed to be the first day of summer, as much of the region was left covered in a thick blanket of snow on Friday. As much as 20 centimetres of thick, wet snow fell in parts of Västerbotten County, giving residents quite a shock when they woke up Friday morning.” The mercury also dropped to minus 6 degrees Celsius in one town, making it the coldest June Sweden recording in 20 years. The Local adds: The weather agency forecasts that the first weekend in June will feel more like the start of winter than the start of summer.” -NTZ
Large tornado outbreak hits U.S. East Coast – 9 tornadoes reported
June 3, 2012 – MARYLAND – High winds, heavy rains and at least 9 tornadoes have descended on the mid-Atlantic region, causing at least one serious injury but no deaths and damaging homes, businesses and boats, officials said on Saturday. The violent storms that struck Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia on Friday collapsed a fabric dome near Pittsburgh, stranded motorists on flooded roads, and ruined homes and boats. The National Weather Service said in a post on Twitter late on Saturday that six tornadoes had been confirmed as part of the weather outbreak. No other details were immediately available. One man in Bel Air, Maryland, near Baltimore suffered broken bones when the concrete block wall of his automotive garage business collapsed on him during the storm. Another man inside the garage had minor injuries, Edward Hopkins of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency said. An alert employee evacuated 11 others from the fabric golf dome at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania a minute before winds caused it to collapse on Friday. They escaped unhurt, the university said in a statement. Tens of thousands of people lost power in Washington and its Maryland suburbs on Friday, but outages were down to around 250 customers by Saturday, said Myra Oppel, a spokeswoman for Potomac Electric Power Company.”It was really nasty weather,” Oppel said in a telephone interview. “I’ve never heard so many tornado warnings.” Baltimore Gas and Electric Company also had tens of thousands of customers lose power, though all but roughly 2,500 customers had their power restored, the company said on its website. Flash flooding along the Interstate 95 corridor inundated roads and stranded motorists, some of whom had to be rescued, said Howard Silverman of the National Weather Service in Maryland. Experts were out determining whether tornadoes had caused the damage, Silverman said. “There are trees on roofs, and tarps, it’s really a mess,” McCormick said. Boats in a parking lot were tossed off their trailers, she said. Residents were being kept out of two hard-hit neighborhoods where crews were replacing downed power poles and clearing debris that blocked roads. –Reuters
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
June 15, 2012 – DALLAS, TX – Dallas residents set to work Thursday cleaning up and repairing damage from a sudden hailstorm forecasters called one of the city’s worst in 10 years. Tennis ball-sized hailstones began to shower down with alarming speed around 6 p.m. Wednesday, smashing windows and skylights, tearing apart trees and denting cars — although no injuries were reported –The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday. “This will definitely be up there in the rankings of Dallas’ worst hailstorms in the last 10 years,” said Nick Hampshire of the National Weather Service. Greens-keepers got busy early Thursday repairing countless divots left in the Lakewood Country Club golf course. The Lakewood Theater’s tower and marquee will remain dark for some time, the handmade neon tubes destroyed by the hail. -UPI
June 4, 2012 – CHINA - Heavy rainfall has been sweeping across parts of Northern and Northeast China. The storms caused traffic delays and many flights have been delayed or cancelled. Beijing received a huge sudden downpour at around 3pm Sunday, local time. The clouds were so heavy that the capital almost fell into darkness. Some vehicles became stranded on the roads, and the storm prompted officials to declare a “Blue alarm” – the lowest emergency level. Northeast China also suffered torrential rain, with thunder and hail storms. Some areas saw over 50 millimeters of rainfall within just 2 hours. Parts of the country’s south also suffered severe storms. Weather forecasters say the bad weather could last another 3 or 4 days. It’s prompting fears that flooding could occur along the country’s waterways. –RSOE
Stockholm has coldest day in 84 years- Sweden coldest temperature in 20 years
June 4, 2012 – SWEDEN – The English language The Local here writes that “Stockholm broke an 84-year-old cold record on Saturday, as the capital’s temperature only reached 6 degrees Celsius, the lowest June maximum daily temperature the city has seen since 1928.” Indeed, you could be excused for thinking that the current chill is more like winter than summer. It was actually colder in the capital yesterday than on Christmas Eve. ‘The temperature was a degree lower than it was at Christmas in Stockholm, so it is colder. And it’s windier, too,’ said SMHI’s meteorologist Lisa Frost to newspaper Dagens Nyheter.” Just two days ago The Local here reported that snow blanketed northern parts. Residents in northern Sweden were forced to grab shovels rather than sun lotion on what was supposed to be the first day of summer, as much of the region was left covered in a thick blanket of snow on Friday. As much as 20 centimetres of thick, wet snow fell in parts of Västerbotten County, giving residents quite a shock when they woke up Friday morning.” The mercury also dropped to minus 6 degrees Celsius in one town, making it the coldest June Sweden recording in 20 years. The Local adds: The weather agency forecasts that the first weekend in June will feel more like the start of winter than the start of summer.” -NTZ
June 14, 2012 – COSTA RICA – Ruta 32, the route that connects San José with Guapiles and Limón, is once again closed due to a landslide occurring at kilometer 30 in the area of the Zurquí, some 10 km east of the tunnel. The road is expected to remain closed for most of the day today, Thursday, as work crews clean up the debris strewn across the road. The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (CONAVI) says it is in the process of removing some 6.400 cubic metres of mud and other materials that coves some 8 metres (25 feet) of roadway. The CONAVI says that the road will be re-open today if the weather conditions allow the work to continue and no new landslides occur. –Inside Costa Rica
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_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
June 14, 2012 – TAIWAN – At least six people have been killed after flooding hit Taiwan. Torrential rain brought floods to counties in numerous parts of the country, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes. Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Centre said more than 7,000 people were moved, with the help of the military, according to Reuters news agency. The flooding caused landslides, as well as power cuts and water shortages to tens of thousands of homes. The emergency centre said flooding had caused power cuts to more than 87,000 homes and water shortages to 12,000. While it was reported that six people had died, a further two were said to be missing. The Associated Press said two people had been killed in a makeshift shelter in a landslide in Taichung, while two more were killed in landslide in Nantou county. Reuters said the agricultural loss to the country had been estimated at more than NT$172m ($5.76m/£3.69m). Taiwan’s Central News Agency quoted President Ma Ying-jeou as saying those losses would be compensated. He said this would take place through more generous subsidies and an easier application process for funding. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has more than 47,000 personnel ready for relief assistance, according to the Taipei Times. The newspaper said 411 rivers across the country had been placed on red alert for mud flows with a further 416 on yellow alert. –BBC
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
Typhoon Guchol takes aim at Japan, may make landfall Wednesday
June 18, 2012 – JAPAN – Typhoon Guchol is a category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds of 110 mph, gusting to 130mph. Guchol is on a path to southern Japan, where it is expected to make landfall Tuesday evening. The typhoon is moving north-northeast at 20 mph, and has been weakening, a trend that the Joint Typhoon Warning Center thinks will continue. Guchol’s eye is completely clouded over, and the heavy thunderstorms on the west side of the typhoon have weakened, possibly due to an increase in wind shear from the west. Both Guchol and Talim, a tropical storm in the South China Sea, are drenched in tropical moisture. The elements that prevent Guchol from maintaining its strength are increasing wind shear and decreasing sea surface temperature. Guchol is forecast to weaken further as it continues its track northeast toward Japan. Sea surface temperature will decrease as the typhoon moves north out of favorable water, and wind shear is expected to continue to increase. Guchol will probably start to become non-tropical as it makes landfall near Kyoto. However, tropical storm conditions, heavy rain and gusty winds will likely affect a large portion of Japan through Wednesday. The Japan Meteorological Agency forecasts that up to 16 inches of rain (40 cm) is possible from Guchol, and so flash flooding and landslides are a potential hazard from the storm. –Wunderground
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
