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Snowflake Cold

Snow set to blast Scotland as forecasters warn of 'coldest August spell in a century'

Jenny Awford
Daily Mail UK
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 08:54 UTC
Image

Stormy seas battering Blackpool Promenade this morning. Forecasters are predicting scattered showers, cool temperatures and windy weather for the next two weeks.
Bitter Arctic winds could plunge parts of Britain into the coldest spell of August weather for almost a century.

Thermometers are set to plummet as a stubborn band of low pressure drags air in from the north - with two weeks of wet, windy and cold weather on the horizon.

There is even a chance of snow and sleet over the mountains of Scotland as it dips to near freezing overnight. Government figures show the last time it was this cold in August was in 1919 when the mercury rose no higher than 8.9C for four days in Yorkshire and Cumbria.It is not expected to rise above 9C in parts of the north during the day all week with chilly winds making it feel much colder.

The Met Office said Loadpot Hill, in Cumbria, is unlikely to see a maximum daytime temperature of more than 8C on Thursday.

Forecasters blame an area of low pressure circling off the north of the UK for the cold and miserable week ahead. Met Office spokeswoman Charlie Powell said: 'The lowest daily maximum temperature we have is in Cumbria, Yorkshire and Shetland which was 8.9C in 1919. At the moment it looks like Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week will see temperatures in that bracket.' Laura Young from the Met Office said: 'It is going to be much cooler this week, unseasonably cool due to much colder air coming down from the north.
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Snowflake Cold

The Netherlands: Is this summer? This August is one of the coldest since 1980


DutchNews
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 10:55 UTC
Image
© ANP
This August is the second coldest in 34 years with an average afternoon temperature of 17 Celsius at the De Bilt weather station.

In the average year, the temperature is around 22 Celsius in mid August, according to forecasting bureau Weerplaza.
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Bizarro Earth

Iceland tells airlines Bardarbunga volcano under glacier may erupt, raises alert to orange

Omar R. Valdimarsson
Bloomberg
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 08:37 UTC
Bardarbunga

File photo: Bardarbunga, 7 November 1996
Seismic activity has been detected at Bardarbunga, including a strong earthquake
Iceland warned airlines that there may be an eruption at one of the island's largest volcanoes located underneath Vatnajokull, Europe's biggest glacier.

The alert level at Bardarbunga was raised to "orange," indicating "heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption," the Reykjavik-based Met Office said in a statement on its website. Over 250 tremors have been measured in the area since midnight. The agency said there are still no visible indications of an eruption.

The volcano is 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) wide and rises about 1,900 meters above sea level. Bardarbunga, which last erupted in 1996, can spew both ash and molten lava.

Comment: Given the news, this quote from an article that we published in 2011 seems timely and pertinent:
Bardarbunga's last major eruption was horrendous. It changed the weather pattern in northern Europe and darkened the skies for months during 1477. That gigantic eruption generated the largest lava flow in 10,000 years and significantly expanded Iceland's land mass.

Grim experts concede that if the volcano's current activity culminates in an eruption equal to that of 1477, all of Scandinavia and much of northern Russia and Europe will be left reeling.The UK will be slammed by choking volcanic dust, grit and poisonous superheated gases. Commerce will grind to a halt, the skies will blacken for weeks, perhaps months, and agriculture would be severely affected.

The late Cornell University professor, astronomer Carl Sagan, used the consequences of large volcanic eruptions impact on global cooling as part of his theoretical model for the frightening prospect of a nuclear winter.

Ken Caldeira, an earth scientist at Stanford University, California, and member of Britain's prestigious Royal Society working group on geo-engineering, explained that "dust sprayed into the stratosphere in volcanic eruptions is known to cool the Earth by reflecting light back into space."

That simple process has led to the starvation of whole nations in the past. Volcanic gases and dust suspended in the atmosphere cool the Earth to a point where the growing seasons significantly shrink and crops cannot reach maturity.


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Windsock

Container ship crashes into Fremantle bridge as wild storm lashes Western Australia


abc.net.au
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 14:52 UTC
Perth bridge damage
© ABC News
A storm causes a container ship to break its moorings and hit the Fremantle rail bridge.
A wild storm that lashed Perth and WA's south-west overnight caused a container ship to break its moorings and crash into the rail bridge in the port of Fremantle.

Wind gusts of 122kph hit Busselton, while 34 millimetres of rain was recorded in Donnybrook and 22 in Swanbourne.

About 20,000 homes lost power overnight, although Western Power said only 2,400 customers - mostly in Manjimup - remained without electricity this morning.

The ship that crashed into the Fremantle rail bridge was unloading a cargo of cars when its stern rope snapped, causing it to swing out into the port.

A second cargo vessel also broke its moorings and hit the refuelling vessel Parmelia 1, which was docked near the bridge.
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Cloud Precipitation

Update: Nepal, India floods leave nearly 200 dead, scores missing


Yahoo News
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 09:00 UTC
India floods
© European Pressphoto Agency
A woman returned by boat after tending her livestock on Monday in the flood-affected Morigaon district of Assam state, India.

Floods and landslides in Nepal and northern India have killed nearly 200 people and scores more are missing, local authorities said Monday.

Nepal has been worst hit, with 105 people confirmed dead after torrential rain triggered landslides and flooding, devastating entire villages in what the country's prime minister termed a "national tragedy".

Another 136 people are missing, and authorities are battling to prevent an outbreak of cholera after some survivors showed symptoms of the potentially fatal disease.

Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala pledged to "expedite the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts" and expressed his sorrow over the deaths.

In neighbouring India's Uttar Pradesh state, flooding has claimed at least 48 lives and forced around 500,000 people to leave their homes, relief commissioner KS Bhadoriya told AFP.
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Cloud Lightning

Torrential rain, hailstorm kills 16 in Pakistan


india.com
Sat, 16 Aug 2014 00:38 UTC
Pakistan floods

A view of heavy rain in Peshawar.

At least 16 people, including nine children, were killed and over 80 others injured on Friday in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as roofs and walls of buildings collapsed due to heavy rain.

According to reports, 10 people, including six children and two women, were killed and 50 others injured when the roof of a madrasa and boundary walls collapsed in the city.

Six more persons died in the similar incidents in other areas. The badly hit areas of the city included Akhundabad, Gujjarabad, Wazirbagh, Faqirabad and other suburban areas.

The death toll might go up as the rescue workers were still busy in rescue work.
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Blue Planet

250 injured after strong earthquake hits Iran near border with Iraq


CNN
Sun, 17 Aug 2014 23:31 UTC
Iran earthquake
© AFP Photo/Frederick Florin
The US Geological Survey, reporting the magnitude of the quake at 6.3, said it struck 36 kilometres (22 miles) southeast of the city of Abdanan, near the border with Iraq.
A powerful earthquake struck early Monday in western Iran, injuring at least 250 people in a region near the border with Iraq.

Local authorities said they fear the quake may have caused widespread destruction in rural areas.

The 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit at a depth of around 10 kilometers (6 miles) in an area 36 kilometers southeast of the Iranian city of Abdanan, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was followed by a series of aftershocks.

The quake injured at least 250 people in the province of Ilam, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported, citing local disaster management authorities. The tremors cut off water, electricity and phone lines in Abdanan.
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Extinguisher

Massive fires sweep across Siberia, 3.6 thousand hectares destroyed


Famagusta Gazette
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 06:42 UTC
siberia fires

As many as 896 forest security officers and fire-fighting paratroopers, 139 units of fire trucks and 11 aircrafts were involved in fire-fighting.
Forest fire area has grown sharply by 700 hectares over the past day to reach 3.6 thousand hectares in Siberia.

On Tuesday morning, 60 fires were reported in six regions of the district, the forestry department in the Siberian Federal District said on Tuesday.

The Republic of Tyva (2.4 thousand hectares) and the Republic of Buryatia (0.5 thousand hectares) are affected by fires more than other regions.

Comment: Prepare for the Ice Age: Weather goes crazy in Siberia - with record high temperatures, then July snow and wildfires

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Phoenix

Junction fire threatens Oakhurst, California; evacuations ordered

Marc Benjamin and Brianna Vaccari
The Fresno Bee
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:25 UTC
oakhurst_fire
© Ron Orozco / The Fresno Bee
A plume of smoke from a brush fire rises above Oakhurst Monday, August 18, 2014.

A brush fire near Oakhurst has prompted Madera County officials to order 1,562 homes evacuated Monday afternoon as fire crews and emergency workers from throughout the region converge on the foothill community.

The blaze, called the Junction fire, quickly blackened about 300 acres north of the town and is moving east from its starting point near Avenue 425-A and Quail Drive. Spot fires are being reported south of Highway 41 in Oakhurst.

Two structures are confirmed on fire or lost, and 300 homes are threatened. Power was reported out in Oakhurst.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for all businesses and residents along the Highway 41 corridor between Highway 49 and Road 632 (Sky Ranch Road).

Evacuation orders include: Jean Road East and West, Scott Road, and Taylor Mountain (at the end of John West Road).

An evacuation warning has been issued for John West Road subdivision, and Indian Springs, Road 427, Pierce subdivision.

The fire also reportedly jumped Lewis Creek and is moving toward Road 222.

A major concern was the fire inside the Suburban Propane building at 41441 Highway 41, toward the northeast end of the community.

Suburban Propane started as a spot fire when flames jumped Highway 41, he said. The fire got into the attic and fire crews can't stop it without risking significant lives, according to one fire official.

Firefighters are concerned about building and the 30,000-gallon tanks on site. If the fire spreads beyond the building and heads for the tanks, firefighters were ordered to end the fight to save the facility. Evacuations were done a half-mile around Suburban Propane, said Don Stein, the division chief for Madera County Cal Fire.

"We will be in there as long as we can, but firefighter safety is an issue," he said.

Another fire official was heard on a scanner saying, "The tanks are going to do what they are going to do and it's going to be bad."

Propane in Oakhurst
© The Fresno Bee
Crews work to keep a fire at Suburban Propane in Oakhurst from threatening large propane tanks on Monday, Aug. 18, 2014.
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Attention

Bárdarbunga volcano: Earthquake swarm continues, possible sub-glacial eruption


Theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 14:44 UTC
Image
© Theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com
An intense earthquake swarm started yesterday under Bárðarbunga volcano, located under the northwestern part of the Vatnajökull ice cap. It is continuing at the moment and accompanied by elevated harmonic tremor. This might indicate a sub-glacial eruption at the volcano, but this needs yet to be confirmed. The last eruption of Bárðarbunga volcano was in 1797, while another eruption in 1910 took place at neighboring Hamarinn volcano.

Comment: Earthquake swarm in Iceland raises threat level on Bárðarbunga volcano

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