Earth ChangesS


Tornado1

Tornadoes, flooding causes severe damage in Minnesota

Sean Breslin and Jon Erdman
The Weather Channel
Wed, 13 Jul 2016 00:29 UTC
Storm damage to homes in Litchfield, Minnesota
© KARE 11Storm damage to homes in Litchfield, Minnesota.
A combination of flooding rain and tornadoes hammered parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin Monday into early Tuesday morning in the latest round of severe weather to hit the Midwest.

One twister left widespread moderate damage on the northwest side of Litchfield, Minnesota, just after 5:30 p.m. CDT. Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze said 15 to 20 homes sustained damaged and two other dwellings are a total loss. The tornado was confirmed and rated EF2 by the National Weather Service; the twister had maximum wind speeds of 115 mph.

"We heard the siren and we knew we had to move, so we took off," Litchfield resident Diane Kelbing told KARE-TV. "The garage is gone, the shed is gone the snowmobile trailer is gone, we've got a snow plow in the tree."

Litchfield Mayor Keith Johnson told Fox 9 this is the worst tornado damage he has ever seen in the city.

"I've lived in this town 52 years and I've never seen a storm like this in our community," Johnson told KARE.

Another confirmed tornado in progress near Watkins was also relayed by the NWS. Homes and a nursing home were reportedly damaged, and there were minor injuries in Watkins, the AP also said. Electricity was out Monday evening in Watkins and northwestern Litchfield.

An EF2 tornado was also confirmed in Watkins, and the twister that hit this town had wind speeds as high as 125 mph, according to the NWS. It carved a damage path two miles long, the survey revealed.

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Snowflake

Cold front brings July snow to Klamath, Oregon

Stephen Floyd
Herald and News
Tue, 12 Jul 2016 21:31 UTC
Crater Lake snow
© Crater Lake National ParkCrater Lake snow
An unseasonal cold snap brought snow to northern Klamath County Sunday with additional cold weather possibly arriving next weekend.

Areas such as Crescent and Crater Lake National Park saw between 2 and 3 inches of snow, while other parts of the region saw temperatures dip as low as the 30s.

Meteorologist Mike Petrucelli, of the National Weather Center's Medford office, said both cool and moist weather is abnormal for mid-July, but not impossible.

"It's not unheard of, but just unusual" said Petrucelli.
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Health

Beaver attacks paddle boarder in Asheville, North Carolina

John Boyle
wcsh6.com
Mon, 11 Jul 2016 18:30 UTC
Beaver
Beaver
A beaver suspected of carrying rabies attacked a paddle boarder on Beaver Lake, inflicting multiple lacerations.

An animal control officer with the Asheville Police Department caught the beaver Saturday, less than a day after the 3:30 p.m. ET Friday incident. It was euthanized and was being tested Monday at a state laboratory in Raleigh N.C., for the virus.

"I saw a big splash, but I didn't see what the splash was from," said Betsy Bent, 67, who has used Beaver Lake for 22 years. "It came up under my board and knocked my board over, and then it latched onto my leg and wouldn't let go. I didn't know what it was at that time. I didn't think there was any 'Jaws' in Beaver Lake."

Once Bent fell in the water, the beaver kept attacking.

"I was yelling, 'Help, I'm being bitten!' " she said. " A very nice fisherman was talking to me and motioning me to come over, and then it turned around and attacked me again and latched onto my hand. Then it came around a third time and latched onto my other hand."
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Attention

Dangerous plant: Giant Hogweed - here's what you need to know

Mike Brown
Gazette Live
Tue, 12 Jul 2016 15:08 UTC
giant Hogweed
© Dept of Environmental ConservationGiant Hogweed Giant hogweed can grow to 14 feet or more
River Tees Trust warns of 'very serious consequences' if children come into contact with it

The battle against the dangerous Giant Hogweed plant on Teesside continues. As these pictures show, the plant, which can cause serious burns and blisters to the skin, is still rife across the area.
giant hogweed burns
An example of the burns to the skin that Giant Hogweed can cause
Around 11 hectares of the plant have been treated in the Roundhill area of Ingleby Barwick , close to thousands of residential homes.

Giant Hogweed does not originate from Britain - but has spread like wildfire since its accidental introduction in the 19th Century.
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Cloud Precipitation

3 inch wide hailstones pound Killdeer, North Dakota

Sydney Mook
Grand Forks Herald
Mon, 11 Jul 2016 14:20 UTC
Hailstones
Eric Fleming was hoping to spend his birthday having fun and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Medora Musical on Sunday night. Instead, he spent the evening boarding up windows and cleaning up glass after a thunderstorm that produced high winds and golf-ball-sized hail tore through his hometown of Killdeer.

"It just kind of looks like a bomb went off," Fleming said. "I've worked outside all my life, I've seen a lot of storms. But this one -- just seeing it on the radar I knew it was going to be really bad one."

Fleming said he and his fiancee, Ann McKinney, were about two-thirds of the way to Medora when Ann's mother called her and told her that hail was coming into the house and hitting the bathtub in their home. He said they quickly turned around and came back to Killdeer, only to find most of their back windows blown out and the backyard torn apart with dead birds lying in what little was left of his garden. The hail came in at such high speeds that it pelted the ground, leaving divots that were up to 2 inches deep.



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Cloud Precipitation

Damaging floods hit Estevan, Saskatchewan; over 5 inches of rain in 3 hours

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Tue, 12 Jul 2016 13:06 UTC
Downtown Estevan
© Daphne LavinaDowntown Estevan
The city of Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada, declared a state of emergency on 11 July 2016 after a 3 hour torrential downpour caused damaging floods.

In a statement, Mayor Roy Ludwig, said that Estevan experienced over 5 inches (127 mm) of rain in a very short time frame on during the afternoon.

Areas of the city of around 11,000 inhabitants have been closed and the public warned to stay away. The flooding caused power outages at the local water treatment plant.



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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 2 in Crimea


Ukrinform
Mon, 11 Jul 2016 12:30 UTC
Lightning
Two people were killed as a result of lightning strikes in Crimea, site Sobytiya has reported.

"Lightning has struck people twice, the victims died in both cases," the report said citing the so-called Crimean emergencies service.

One of the victims, a 27-year-old resident of Kerch, was struck by lightning while he was spending his holidays in the village of Zolote on a local beach. The second victim of the deadly incidents was a 32-year-old resident of Feodosiya who was vacationing in the village of Solyane in the Arbat Spit.

Two months earlier, lightning struck an umbrella above a 42-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl in the village of Ordzhonikidze which led to their hospitalization.
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Snowflake Cold

July snow in Western USA, Atlantic ice whirlpools and the 'Cold Blob' switches oceans

Adapt 2030
YouTube
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 08:10 UTC
Cold Atlantic Blob
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
October like temps are expected across the western USA along with SNOW over the next week well into July. Interesting how the warmest year ever has snow in July. A unique ice whirlpool visible from space off the coast of eastern Canada. The "Cold Blob" has switched oceans and become hot, well at least in the media.


Comment: See also:

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Bizarro Earth

Incredible nighttime thunderstorm photo captured by pilot over the Pacific Ocean

Angela Fritz
Washington Post
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 03:17 UTC
Thunderstorm
© Santiago BorjaA developing thunderstorm climbs high into the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean south of Panama.
This is one of the most striking thunderstorm photos we've seen.

Taken from a plane at the moment of a lightning flash, it illustrates both the ferocity of a turbulent atmosphere and the beauty of Mother Nature. A strong, roiling updraft; a smooth, flat anvil; and the overshooting top — all features of intense developing thunderstorms.

The photo was taken over the Pacific Ocean from the cockpit of an airplane. The photographer and pilot, Santiago Borja, says he was circling around it at 37,000 feet altitude en route to South America when he captured this spectacular view.

Borja said it was difficult to get the shot in near-darkness and during a bumpy ride. "Storms are tricky because the lightning is so fast, there is no tripod and there is a lot of reflection from inside lights," Borja told The Washington Post in an email.

"I like this photo so much because you can feel the amazing size of the storm and its power," Borja said. "But at the same time it's wonderful how peacefully you can fly around it in still air without touching it."

The photo was taken with his Nikon D750 camera south of Panama on a Boeing 767-300.

"I primarily enjoy nature, landscape and cityscape photography," Borja said. "Since I carry my camera everywhere, I started trying to capture storms and in-flight experiences some time ago combining my two greatest passions: flying and photography."
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Sun

Stunning solar effect captured above Redcar, UK

Graham Corking
Gazette Live
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 16:44 UTC
Solar halo Teesside, UK
© Tom LoweSun halo and smaller halo over Redcar.
There was an optical phenomenon over the skies of the Redcar the other day.

No, little green men weren't spotted over Teesside , but there was something looking rather other-worldly...A sun Halo.

A Sun halo is formed when light is refracted in millions of hexagonal ice crystals which are suspended in the atmosphere and can be formed at different degrees.

"Over the past few years I have become increasingly interested in observing and photographing atmospheric optical phenomena," Said Tom Lowe who took the picture in Redcar.

"So when the sky is full of hazy high cirrus cloud as it was over Redcar, I regularly glance towards (never at) the sun.

"This is because these clouds are formed of tiny hexagonal ice crystals which reflect and refract sunlight in predictable ways, forming impressive and sometimes spectacular halos and arcs in the sky."

And while the large halo is actually quite common - we just end up missing them due to cleverly not staring at the Sun - the smaller halo is very rare. "The 9-degree halo is a much rarer sight, and this was the first I have seen. An aircraft contrail bisects the halos, itself casting a thin dark shadow on the cirrus, and to the left of this is a patch of much lower cloud, probably altocumulus.
Sun halo and smaller halo
© Tom Lowe
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