Storms
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Windsock

Tuesday's 200-mile-wide dust storm brought 64 mph winds to El Paso, Texas

dust
The sky turned beige and the wind roared Tuesday as a dust storm roughly 200 miles wide engulfed El Paso and neighboring regions as it lumbered toward northeastern New Mexico and other parts of Texas.

The storm's winds reached upwards of 60 mph in East-Central El Paso, where the weather station at the El Paso International Airport recorded a high of 64 mph gusts, according to Joe Delizio, a meteorologist with National Weather Service El Paso.

"Inside the city, but a little bit to the east, we had stronger winds," Delizio said, explaining there were wind gusts "in the 60s and 70s east of the mountain range."


Cloud Lightning

Lighting bolt kills three, injures one in Zimbabwe

lightning
A lightning bolt struck and killed three men and seriously injured one at Mhembwechena business centre in Makonde district last week.

Tongai Gandiwa (32), Stewart Phiri (23) and Shadreck Bvudzijena (age unknown) struck while sitting under a tree and where pronounced dead on arrival at Kenzamba clinic.

Tongai's brother, Shine (30) who sustained serious burns was taken to the same clinic where he was treated.

Snowflake

Blizzard drops up to 4 feet of snow across the Front Range, Colorado

snow
The blizzard that hit Colorado over the weekend was a historic storm that brought Denver's biggest snow in 18 years. Snow totals ranged from a foot to 4 feet across the Front Range. With Buckhorn Mountain in Larimer County, coming in just a bit over 48 inches.

The weekend storm officially brought 27.1 inches of snow to Denver as measured at the airport (DIA). It was a rare storm where DIA got more snow than virtually anywhere else in the Denver metro area.


Cloud Precipitation

15 dead, thousands affected after weeks of severe weather in Colombia

Landslide Antioquia, Colombia, March 2021
© DAGRAN AntioquiaLandslide Antioquia, Colombia, March 2021
Colombia's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) reported that 15 people have lost their lives due to severe weather so far this year (01 January to 12 March 2021).

UNGRD added that a further 16 people have been injured and 2 are still missing. A total of 5,854 families have been directly affected. During this period there have been 289 severe weather events, including 146 landslides, 45 floods and 32 flash floods.

Severe weather events have been registered in 176 municipalities in 23 departments, in particular in Nariño, Huila, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Antioquia and Valle del Cauca.

Parts of Valle del Cauca have seen heavy rain resulting in floods and landslides since around 08 March, 2021. The heavy rain caused flooding in parts of Santiago de Cali, capital of Valle del Cauca Department, on 10 March. Two people died in a landslide in the Siloé district of the city.

Snowflake

Major snowstorm hits the Alps in mid-March - up to 4 feet of snow measured

Lech in Austria is pictured above this morning
Lech in Austria is pictured above this morning
Most of us can't get there, except those lucky enough to live near to an open ski area, but some of us still like to know what's happening in the Alps whilst we dream of returning. The news today, as we reach a year since most of Europe went in to lockdown (a week after Italy and a week before the UK), is that it's dumping down.

"The return of winter" comes with less than a week until the start of springtime and after several months when fresh snowfall has been quite rare, although most areas report good cover on their runs.

The snowfall is widespread but has so far been heaviest in the French and Swiss Alps where many resorts have posted >30-60cm (1-2 feet) of snowfall so far, some as much as 1.2 metres (4 feet) already, and the snowfall is expected to continue through this week.


Snowflake

Best of the Web: Late winter storm buries parts of Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado under several feet of snow, including record-breaking snowfall in Cheyenne

Wyoming Highway Patrol continues to respond to calls for stranded motorists during the March 13-14 storm.
© WHPWyoming Highway Patrol continues to respond to calls for stranded motorists during the March 13-14 storm.
Nearly twenty-six inches fell in Cheyenne by noon, Sunday March 14th. The massive snow storm, a low pressure system fed by gulf moisture dumped, and dumped and dumped some more. By the time this article is being written Sunday afternoon, the snow continues to fall in Cheyenne.


And you read that right - the last time we had this much snow was the same year Cheyenne was hit by the famous tornado of '79. This storm broke records by noon, and it's still not done.


Comment: The storm has since heavily impacted neighboring states. According to USA Today:
More than 2,000 flights were canceled in and out of Denver alone over the weekend. Runways were closed for Sunday night, the Denver International Airport tweeted, as it marked nearly two inches of snow.

Many highways and local roads were closed, including a few with "no alternate route advised."

In Colorado, some areas already had almost 30 inches of snow by noon Sunday. A foot of snow had fallen in Denver, and more was on the way.

"Total snow accumulations of 12-24 inches for the Interstate 25 corridor and up to 3-4 feet in the northern foothills," the National Weather Service warned. "Wind gusts of 30-40 mph will cause some blowing and drifting snow."

The Colorado Department of Transportation reported a slew of highway closures, including swaths of Interstate 70 that runs east to west across the state. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center set the avalanche risk as high, warning of "very dangerous avalanche conditions."

"Slow to ramp up Saturday, storm makes itself known on Sunday," the state Transportation Department tweeted Sunday afternoon. "Return travel from the mountains into #Denver will be extremely challenging Sunday. Motorists please make plans to postpone travel until Monday." [...]

Nebraska's State Patrol tweeted asking people across the western part of the state to stay home to avoid strong winds and blizzard conditions. The Department of Transportation urged people across the state to avoid travel if at all possible, reported the Omaha World-Herald.



Bizarro Earth

China cancels flights during worst sandstorm in a decade

Beijing sandstorm March 2021
© Associated PressThe National Meteorological Center said Monday’s storm had developed in the Gobi Desert in the Inner Mongolia Region, where schools had been advised to close and bus service added to reduce residents’ exposure to the harsh conditions.
China's capital and a wide swath of the country's north were enveloped Monday in the worst sandstorm in a decade, forcing the cancelation of hundreds of flights.

Skyscrapers in the center of Beijing appeared to drop from sight amid the dust and sand. Traffic was snarled and more than 400 flights out of the capital's two main airports were canceled amid high winds and low visibility.

The National Meteorological Center said Monday's storm had developed in the Gobi Desert in the Inner Mongolia Region, where schools had been advised to close and bus service added to reduce residents' exposure to the harsh conditions.

Such storms used to occur regularly in the springtime as sand from western deserts blew eastwards, affecting areas as far as northern Japan.

Comment: Six killed, over 80 missing after heavy dust storm hits Mongolia


Snowflake

Colorado snowfall weekend totals: March 15 - reaching depth of over 3 feet

snow
Colorado snowfall weekend totals: March 15, 2021


Comment:

From 9NEWS on March 15 of overnight video footage taken in Fort Collins:
RAW: Time-lapse of snow building up on a table in Colorado

Blizzard Warnings are now in effect until midnight for the Front Range and foothills. Look for an additional 2-6" of snow and gusty winds near 45mph.


Credit: Eric Frazier, Fort Collins



Windsock

Six killed, over 80 missing after heavy dust storm hits Mongolia

Mongolia dust storm
© YouTube/CGTN (screen capture)
Six people, including five herdsmen and one child, were found dead after a heavy dust storm hit Mongolia, the country's emergency management department said on Monday.

In a statement, the department said it had received reports of 548 missing people from nine provinces across the country between Saturday night and Monday morning.

So far, 467 people have been found and rescuers were trying to locate 81 who were still unaccounted for, it said.

Meanwhile, local media reported that some areas in western Mongolia experienced large-scale power cuts over the weekend due to the storm.

Neighboring China was also affected by the dust storm with large areas in the north, including the capital Beijing, experiencing the largest sandstorms in a decade on Monday.

Comment: The sandstorm created surreal scenes in Beijing, with thick dust turning the sky orange over the Chinese capital. The storm caused an unprecedented spike in air pollution measurements with Beijing's air quality index showed a reading of 999, a level described as "hazardous," the worst possible tier.

Beijing sandstorm
© REUTERS/Thomas PeterA woman walks past Drum Tower during morning rush hour as Beijing, China, is hit by a sandstorm, March 15, 2021.



Snowflake

2,000+ flights canceled in Denver due to Winter Storm Xylia - Interstates closed

snow
More than a dozen roads in Colorado are shut down due to Winter Storm Xylia, including portions of two interstates.

The closures include Interstate 70 in both directions between Burlington and Limon and I25 in both directions from Wellington to the state line.

Other roads affected include several U.S. and state highways.

Air travel is being snarled, too. More than 2,000 flights were canceled this weekend at Denver International Airport.