Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Severe thunderstorms leave thousands without power in Long Island, NY


RT
Tue, 04 Aug 2015 15:18 UTC
long island storm damage august 2015
A total of 42,500 people are currently without power on Long Island following intense thunderstorms, according to PSEG Long Island.

All of the power outages are in Suffolk County, and most of them are in Brookhaven. A map of the outages can be found here.

The severe storms hit the area on Tuesday morning, downing trees and leading to the partial suspension of the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Port Jefferson branch.
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Bizarro Earth

Tampa, Florida under water after days of torrential rainfall - worst flooding in over 65 years


RT
Tue, 04 Aug 2015 06:22 UTC
floods tampa florida
© noshoes / YouTube
Days of torrential rainfall have left large portions of Tampa, Florida under water. With more than half a foot of rain reported in some areas, dozens of roads have been closed and rescue workers have saved more than three dozen people.

In fact, there has been so much flooding that the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said that it is supposed to be the worst situation in more than 65 years.

The Tampa area has seen significant amounts of rainfall every day since July 20, the Washington Post reported. On several days, between two and three inches of rain have fallen, while this past Saturday and Sunday some four inches of rain were reported.
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Cloud Precipitation

July was Northern Ireland's coldest in 22 years


u.tv
Mon, 03 Aug 2015 14:02 UTC
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Dark, heavy clouds were a common sight in July - here they hang over Ballintoy church in County Antrim
According to the Met Office, the mean temperature was 13.4C - the lowest on record since 1993.

The figures cover as far as 29 July, however forecasters said the final two days of the month were also chilly, so the statistics are expected to stand.

Meanwhile local data from the Armagh Observatory said the month was also duller and wetter than average.

It saw the least amount of sunshine and the largest amount of rainfall in three years.
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Cloud Precipitation

At teast 4 killed by floods in Tetovo, Macedonia

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Tue, 04 Aug 2015 13:37 UTC
Image
Flood aftermath in Tetovo
Strong winds and heavy rainfall in the Polog Region of north-western Macedonia, yesterday, 03 August 2015, caused the Pena and Porojska rivers to overflow, as well as flash flooding and storm damage.

The worst affected areas are Tetovo city and municipality, and surrounding areas. Roads and buildings have been damaged, particularly in Shipkovica and Golema Rechica, according to ECHO.

The city of Tetovo is located in the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River, making it vulnerable to both storm run-off and river flooding. The storms and floods have been described as the worst to hit the area in over a decade.
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Snowflake

Helicopter rescues 10 people stuck in heavy snow in Tasmania, Australia


The Guardian
Tue, 04 Aug 2015 13:28 UTC
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© Sergeant Paul Steane/Police and Marine Rescue Services Tasmanian emergency crews rescued two men whose car was snowed in. The pair were reached on foot after almost 24 hours after hazardous conditions thwarted earlier attempts by snowplough and helicopter.
Nine adults and a child winched to safety from Mount Field national park, a day after police rescued two men from snowbound car in same park

Police have rescued 10 people who were stranded for more than a day after heavy snow in Tasmania.

Two men were rescued in Mount Field national park late on Monday night after their car was snowed in, but police were not aware of the other party until Tuesday.

At about 1pm on Tuesday, a helicopter winched nine adults and a child to safety from the same national park, north-west of Hobart.

Four had taken shelter in a hut - details of the others were not immediately released.

"All persons were in good condition and spirits," police search and rescue spokesman Michael Preshaw said.
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Snowflake

First major snowfall in almost 30 years for Hobart, Australia


9news.com.au
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 13:06 UTC
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© Daniel JolleySnow in West Hobart
Residents of Hobart have woken up to a winter wonderland after the most significant snow event to hit the city since 1986 blanketed the rooftops and streets in white powder.

Weather Zone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said the snow had fallen as low as sea level on some of the beaches around Hobart.

"It's very cold air that's travelled up from Antarctica and it's been moving up with an intense cold front," he said.

He said that there was another snowfall in the city in 2005 but it was not as widespread as this morning's.

Image
© Daniel JolleyWest Hobart
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Umbrella

Soudelor, strongest typhoon of the year, spins towards China, Taiwan, Japan; winds up to 220 mph


weather.com
Mon, 03 Aug 2015 22:28 UTC
Image
  • Super Typhoon Soudelor underwent rapid intensification Monday and has become the strongest tropical cyclone on Earth so far in 2015.
  • Soudelor is expected to continue to track to the west-northwest the next several days over open waters of the western Pacific Ocean.
  • This track may bring it near Japan's far southwest Ryukyu Islands, including Ishigakijima and Miyakojima, as well as Taiwan and eastern China late this week.
  • Soudelor is expected to weaken as it approaches these areas, but it may still be a strong, formidable typhoon.
Soudelor is intensifying rapidly over the western Pacific Ocean after raking through Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth in the northern Mariana Islands, Sunday night and early Monday.

Super Typhoon Soudelor became the fifth super typhoon of this year Monday after undergoing a replacement of its eyewall, a process which occurs in all intense tropical cyclones. A super typhoon is defined by sustained wind speeds of at least 150 mph.


According to Monday's 5 p.m. EDT bulletin from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Soudelor had strengthened into the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (one-minute average) with gusts to 220 mph.

Soudelor has maintained its strength and as of 11 p.m. EDT Monday, Soudelor continues to have maximum sustained winds of 180 mph and some additional strengthening is possible.

Low wind shear and very warm sea surface temperatures have allowed Soudelor to ramp up quickly; the cyclone was just a minimal typhoon 36 hours earlier.
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Fire

Wildfires continue to destroy California - 60,000 acres burn, more than 13,000 evacuated

Tim Stelloh and Henry Austin
NBC News
Mon, 03 Aug 2015 20:14 UTC
Image
© AP/Jeff Chiu
Thousands of people were ordered out of their homes Monday after wind-whipped wildfires burned dozens of buildings across northern California.

Described as "unprecedented" by authorities, the largest blaze — which is known as the Rocky Fire — had torn across Lake County, north of San Francisco, growing to almost 60,000 acres, or 93 square miles, by Monday afternoon, CalFire spokesman Officer Daniel Berlant said.

Describing the fire as "erratic" and "destructive," Berlant said that "it is burning in whatever direction it wants to."


At one point on Monday afternoon, the fire even jumped the highway along its northern border.

Even so, the nearly 3,000 firefighters who are battling the blaze have made some progress, Berlant added, increasing the fire containment area from five percent o to 12.

Comment: Rapidly growing wildfire burns unchecked in Northern California

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Cloud Lightning

Giant crater left behind after lightning strikes underground fuel tank

Maureen Hagrman
WLWT
Mon, 03 Aug 2015 23:40 UTC
Lightning strike hits underground fuel tank in Fairfield
FAIRFIELD, Ohio —A giant crater was left behind after a lightning strike Monday evening caused an explosion of an underground fuel storage tank near Dixie Highway.

Police said told WLWT that lightning struck and ignited a 10,000 gallon underground fuel storage tank at the Gas Depot at 4871 Dixie Highway.

The blast left behind a crater 40 feet in diameter by 8 feet deep. Firefighters said there were two customers at the station when the bolt hit, but luckily no one was pumping gas at the time.

"Very loud! Like I said, the concussion when I was sitting there, it threw me back and I looked up and saw as soon as it came up there was an instant puff of black smoke that came up and I knew it was close," said Roger Tucker, who watched from his porch about a half a mile away.

Even seasoned firefighters were wowed after they say lightning hit the fill dome of a 10,000 gallon underground diesel fuel tank at Fairfield's Gas Depot.

"I can tell you in my 45 year career, I have never seen anything like this. Underground storage tanks are put there to reduce the potential for fire," said Fairfield Fire Chief Donald Bennett.

Comment: There seems to be an increase in underground explosions and wildfires recently. As well as apartment building, wood flour mill, industrial plant, transformer, boat, car explosions and the unexplained explosion on a Rhode Island beach.

Could some of these have been 'sparked' by the increase in atmospheric electric discharge events - which in this case manifested as a lightning strike?

Could some of these other incidents be related to increased 'outgassing' as Earth 'opens up' from a build up of methane and other gases from deep below the planet's surface?

See: SOTT Exclusive: Solar System 'grounding':Transformer explosions and electrical anomalies

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Binoculars

Lost Tropical Kingbird turns up far north of normal range, near Savage, Minnesota

Ron Taube
Anoka County Union Herald
Mon, 03 Aug 2015 18:27 UTC
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© Ron TaubeTropical kingbird photographed in Murphy-Hanrehan Park in Savage. Likely the first seen in Minnesota.
Recently on the Minnesota Ornithological Union's rare bird alert a tropical kingbird was reported. To my knowledge, this was the first reporting of this bird in Minnesota's history.

It was spotted by a keen observer down in the Murphy-Hanrehan Park, part of the Three Rivers Park district in Savage, Minnesota. The tropical kingbird is most often seen in Texas, Arizona and in Central and South America. No one really knows what it is doing so far out of its area, but nevertheless, it is here.

After going down to Murphy-Hanrehan once and failing to find the bird my wife, Carolyn, and I went down again a few days later to try again. I read several reports of its sightings, and it seemed that you had your best chance early in the morning or from 6 p.m. on, so we timed our visit to arrive in the evening.

The tropical kingbird is between 8 1/2 and 9 inches long. It has a pale gray head with a darkened mask-like area around its eyes and a gray bill. The back is gray-green and it has a forked tail. The throat is grayish and then beneath that is an olive yellow that turns into yellow on the belly and on down.
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