A May snowstorm continued to pound the central and northern Rockies on Friday, a day after burying portions of Colorado under three feet of snow.

The storm has created headaches for travelers on highways, caused thousands of power outages and forced schools and businesses to close.

The highest reported snow total was 38.5 inches near Ward, Colo., the National Weather Service said. Many other locations picked up between two and three feet.
More snow is forecast Friday before it tapering off Saturday.

Towns along Queensland's coastline have been hit with record deluges as forecasters warn of potential flash flooding across the state.

Collinsville and Proserpine in the Whitsunday region both had their wettest May day on record, with respective downpours of 120mm and 111mm, the Bureau of Meteorology said on Friday afternoon.

The drenching has seen areas around Townsville in north Queensland drenched by more than 100mm of rain over the 24 hours to Friday morning, while there were also steady falls further down the coast.

The soaking even forced Townsville City Council to cancel Heritage Day, which was set to take place on Sunday, as well as warn residents to be on the look out for pot holes.

Minor flood warnings were also put in place for the Ross River and Houghton River near Townsville and the Don River and Proserpine River near Bowen and Proserpine.

The 2000 acre Azure Organic Farm in Sherman County Oregon will be forcibly sprayed with Milestone, Escort and Roundup herbicides because the farm will only control weeds not eradicate weeds with chemical sprays.

This is government over reach to the point of forcibly removing part of the food supply chain because other farmers in the area using terminator GMO seeds say the weeds from the organic farm are getting into their roundup ready planted / sprayed fields.

This is not about the weeds, it is a litmus test to see the public's reaction when their food supply is taken away.

Will we fight, speak up, back off or take no action. As the grand solar minimum intensifies state and local governments will come for your self grown foods, this is the line in the sand. Stand up now, or never.


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The hottest weather in the nation was in an unlikely place Thursday afternoon: the Northeast.

Cities such as New York, Boston and Portland, Maine, soared into the low- to mid-90s and were hotter than the likes of Phoenix, Los Angeles and Miami.

At 3 p.m., Boston stood out as the hottest city in the nation — something that hardly ever happens. The mercury had risen to a scorching 95 degrees.

Connecticut, according to WeatherBell Analytics meteorologist Ryan Maue, was the warmest state in the nation.

Record highs were falling like flies in New England. Nearly every major city along Interstate 95 set a record for the date, and a few spots were closing in on monthly records.

Some of the records established Thursday afternoon:

• Newark hit 94, breaking a record of 90 from 1986
• LaGuardia Airport in New York hit 96, shattering the record of 86 from 1989 and just one from its monthly record high of 97.
• Central Park in New York hit 91, breaking the record of 90 from 1936
• Providence, R.I., hit 93, breaking the record of 92 from 1936
• Hartford, Conn., hit 96, breaking the record of 90 from 1936
• Boston (Logan Airport) hit 95, breaking the record of 91 from 1936 and tying for the third-hottest May reading on record
• Blue Hill Observatory just outside Boston hit 95, its hottest May day recorded back to 1885.
• Burlington, Vt., hit 93 degrees, breaking the record of 89 from 1989 and tying for the warmest May day on record.
• Concord, N.H., hit 94, shattering the record of 86 from 1906 and 1889.
• Portland hit 91, shattering the record of 82 from 1949

In a number of areas, temperatures were 20-plus degrees warmer than normal.

Multiple tornadoes have touched down Thursday across western Oklahoma.

A tornado touched down Thursday in Jackson County as stormtrackers followed storms throughout the state.

Just after 1:50 p.m. a tornado warning was issued for Jackson, Harmon and Greer counties until 2:45 p.m. While stormtrackers followed the storm FOX 25 Stormtracker Bobby Hines caught a tornado on the ground a few miles north of Duke, Oklahoma.

The storm was on the ground for several minutes before becoming rain-wrapped. The storm was also produced golf ball to tennis ball-sized hail.

A tornado also was confirmed on the ground south of Waynoka near Highway 281.

Tornadoes also reportedly touched down near Cordell and Weatherford.

Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, after two months of increasing volcanic activity.

Since its most recent eruption in 2008, there has been a swarm of earthquakes, which are thought to be a result of the magmatic system's "recharging," according to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.

Similar seismic swarms were detected during recharging periods before a small eruption in 2004 and through a period of volcanic activity that ended in 2008.

In March through May of this year, swarms of deep earthquakes, not even felt on the surface, have been detected.

Seismic swarms do not directly indicate that an eruption is imminent, because volcanic forecasting is difficult, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The 1980 eruption is widely considered the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history. It killed 57 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, 57 bridges and some 200 miles of roads, in addition to leveling tens of thousands of acres of forest.

Rain, heavy at times, drenched downtown Denver on Wednesday night as hail pelted several areas in northern Colorado and snow fell in the mountains.

A strong thunderstorm band swept through the Denver area between 9 and 10 p.m., bringing heavy rain, up to an inch per hour in some areas, along with hail in some spots, according to the National Weather Service.

Pea-size hail fell in the Dacono area along the I-25 corridor north of Denver at about 8:50 p.m. to a depth of 4 inches, according to the weather service.

Snow levels along the Wyoming state line dropped down to 7,500 feet in elevation about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Lightning flashed across the night sky Wednesday as rain and hail swept through the area.

For the first time in its history, the World Meteorological Organization has released world records of the human toll from extreme weather events.

In a press release sent to weather.com Thursday, WMO says it is releasing world records for the highest reported historical death tolls from tropical cyclones, tornadoes, lightning and hailstorms. Previously, the official WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes kept only temperature and weather records to address the impacts of specific events.

Randy Cerveny, Arizona State University professor of geographical science and urban planning, is the chief Rapporteur of Climate and Weather Extremes for WMO. In other words, Cerveny is the "keeper of the world's weather extremes."

"In today's world, it seems like the latest weather disaster is the worst," Cerveny said. "Knowing exactly how bad various types of weather have been in the past has been an integral part of preparing for the future."

Cerveny said you often hear that a storm like Hurricane Katrina, which barreled through the Bahamas before devastating the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, was the deadliest tropical cyclone/hurricane to have ever occurred.

"While Katrina was bad — more than 2,000 died — it pales in comparison to the tropical cyclone that hit the area of present-day Bangladesh in 1970, that killed an estimated 300,000 people," Cerveny said. "This type of extreme (mortality totals) provides a very useful set of baseline numbers against which future disasters can be compared."

WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said this type of record-keeping is important because "extreme weather causes serious destruction and major loss of life."

Missoulians awoke to snapped tree limbs, smothered shrubs and intermittent power outages on Wednesday as a slow-grinding snowstorm delivered as forecast.

Utility vehicles were scrambling up Rattlesnake Drive, where dozens of branches were down across power and communications wires.

For fallen trees and limbs that are not blocking a street or threatening power lines, Missoula residents can call the City Park Operations Office at 552-6253. Those with fallen tree limbs blocking travel can call the City Forester at 552-6270 to get a crew out as soon as possible.

National Weather Service volunteer observers reported 5 inches of snow in many places around Missoula.

Over the last few months there have been record days of limit up futures trading and latest harvests on record in Canada, delayed planting and shortages of vegetables and fruits globally, but that doesn't make the news very often. These area handful of stories I had in my notes from the first part of 2017.


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