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Fri, 29 Oct 2021
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Cloud Lightning

Unseasonal severe storm lashes Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne storm
© David Mullins
The Bureau of Meteorology said the weather was unusual for this time of year.
Strong winds and heavy rain lashed parts of Victoria overnight, with hundreds of residents calling the State Emergency Service (SES) for help.

The SES received more than 500 calls, mainly for downed trees and building damage in Warragul and Melbourne's east and south-east.

Most areas received between five and 15 millimetres of rain, but up to 40 millimetres fell in the state's north-east ranges.

Winds of about 100 kilometres per hour were recorded on the bay and in the state's south-west.

SES state duty officer Gerry Sheridan said the storm built up momentum as it moved across the bay.

"The hardest hit suburbs that we've had is Narre Warren, in the south-east suburbs, and places like Monash, Clayton, Mount Waverley and Chadstone," he said.

"As the storm cell moved across the bay, it built up a little bit of momentum. It's those populated areas — the usual suspects get hit again.

"Another location is Lilydale. We're seeing over 50 jobs out that way as well."

Bizarro Earth

Sakurajima volcano awakens with a blast

Sakurajima volcano
© dutchsinse/YouTube
A spectacular eruption happened in southern Japan following an unusual 'silent' period for a volcano in the wake of the island's recent earthquakes.

Sakurajima volcano in Kyushu, situated 50 kilometres from the Sendai nuclear plant, resumed activity from April 29, erupting multiple times and spewing ash sky high.

Footage captured by University of Tokyo webcams situated around the volcano show explosions of ash rising more than 3,500 meters above the crater.

The blast also caused fast-moving currents of hot gas and rock to slide down the side of the volcano.

Blue Planet

3.5 magnitude earthquake rattles La Center, Kentucky

la center ky earthquake
The U.S. Geological Survey reports a small earthquake in western Kentucky.

The USGS says a preliminary magnitude 3.5 quake was recorded at 2:12 a.m. Sunday about 9 miles north-northwest of La Center — and about 39 miles west-northwest of Paducah.

Comment: New Madrid fault zone alive and active


Snowflake Cold

Deep freeze: Cold causing havoc for winegrowers in Switzerland

Farmers in Grisons, Switzerland protecting their vineyards from frost on April 27 with thousands of fire lights.
© Meteo Europe
Farmers in Grisons, Switzerland protecting their vineyards from frost on April 27 with thousands of fire lights.
Temperatures dipped below freezing in many parts of Switzerland on Wednesday night, with the intense cold causing havoc for winegrowers.

April weather is notoriously fickle in Switzerland but Wednesday night was one out of the box.

With temperatures ranging from - 3C to 0C in many parts of the country, winegrowers resorted to desperate measures to save their crops.

In eastern Switzerland's Bündner Herrschaft wine region where clear skies meant frosty conditions, vintners and volunteers braved the cold to lay out so-called frost candles.


Arrow Down

Huge sinkhole opens up in New Orleans, Louisiana

A sinkhole opened up on Canal Street April 29, 2016, near a tunnel running underneath Harrah's Casino
© Robert McClendon/The Times-Picayune
A sinkhole opened up on Canal Street April 29, 2016, near a tunnel running underneath Harrah's Casino
A sinkhole that opened up at the foot of Canal Street Friday (April 29) will take up to six months and $5 million to repair, city officials said.

The collapse, which caved in a 30-foot-wide section of one of New Orleans busiest streets, happened just a few feet away from the spot where Mayor Mitch Landrieu and his infrastructure team had been standing hours earlier in a 50 year-old tunnel that runs underneath the road.

The team was on site to inspect one of the tunnel's walls, which had begun to buckle earlier this month, allowing water to spill in. A few hours after they left, the wall collapsed, taking the road along with it.

"This is nothing short of incredible," Landrieu said. "Unfortunately, it's not a surprise," given the city's creaking infrastructure and unstable soil, he said. "Still, I've never seen anything like it."




Cloud Precipitation

Six killed in Texas floods as yet more severe weather lashes central US

Texas storm damage
© Sarah A. Miller/AP
Household items and debris are scattered along land between houses in Lindale, Texas, after severe weather including flooding and a possible tornado hit the region.

Woman and her four grandchildren, aged between six and nine, are among the dead after being swept away by flood waters


A woman and four of her grandchildren were among six people killed by floods in Texas caused by storms that unleashed tornadoes, damaging hail and torrential rains on several central US states.

The family of flood victims in Palestine, Texas, 100 miles (160km) south - east of Dallas, escaped a house where flood waters had reached the roof line and were then swept away, police captain James Muniz said.

"They were able to get out but they were washed away," he said, adding their bodies were recovered on Saturday.

Those killed were identified as Jamonicka Johnson, six, Von Johnson Junior, seven, Devonte Asberry, eight, Venetia Asberry, nine, and Lenda Asberry, 64, the city said. Palestine police took the bodies to Tyler, Texas, for autopsies, officials said.

A Palestine man, Giovani Olivas, 30, also died when he was swept under flood waters around Anderson County Road 370. His body was found late on Saturday afternoon, according to Anderson County sheriff Greg Taylor.


Question

Mysterious loud booms, shaking rattle residents in High Desert, California

Apple valley, California
© Google Maps
High Desert residents were rattled Friday morning by reports of loud booms and shaking, but no evidence of an earthquake or other abnormal activity was reported, according to the U.S. Geological Service.
The Daily Press received several reports of what initially appeared to be an earthquake just before 10 a.m. Friday. Several residents reported hearing "a loud boom," followed by rumbling and shaking. Another boom was reported just a few minutes later.
Although residents all over the Victor Valley reported the strange occurrence, most reports seemed to come from the Apple Valley area. However, no earthquakes have been reported in the area in the last 24 hours by the USGS.
A Southern California Logistics Airport spokesman said there had been nothing unusual at the airport Friday morning. Aircraft activity did take place but it was nothing out of the ordinary, the spokesman said.
Nevertheless, the occurrence led to many residents speculating on social media about what may have happened. A post on the Daily Press Facebook page asking residents if they had seen or heard anything generated more than 150 comments Friday morning, with most of these comments left in the 30 minutes after the reported booms occurred.
"I didn't feel anything but I heard them," Celeste Lesch, a Hesperia resident, said in a Facebook comment. "Just two; (they) shook my walls and my windows but no movement on the ground. It was weird. Reminded me of a thunderstorm, all noise and no shake."

Cloud Precipitation

The new normal: Baseball-sized hailstones pound Coweta, Oklahoma; damaging vehicles and buildings

Windsceen damaged by giant hailstone
No sooner had a severe thunderstorm warning been issued for the Coweta area around 6 p.m. Friday than a hail storms began pelting portions of the city.

While some areas only experienced heavy rains, others fell victim to stones of ice falling from an angry spring sky.

Mindi Fuser said her daughter, Madison, was a passenger in a car driven by her friend when their windshield was crushed by hail.

"They had just pulled out of the school parking lot when it came down," Fuser explained. "There were cheer tryouts at 6 p.m., and a bunch of girls were coming out of the school and some were coming in. It was chaos."

"The girls were heading to our house five minutes away from the school when the windshield broke. It threw glass in Madison's lap," she continued. "It scared the heck out of them! They didn't know what to do, so they pulled off the road and under a tree and we went to get the car."



Bizarro Earth

Recent earthquake in Japan dries up centuries-old Kumamoto water source

Japan's Shioisha spring
© Nasuka Yamamoto
Shioisha spring in Minami-Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture, has gone dry since the earthquake of April 16.
For hundreds of years, the sacred Shioisha spring here has provided water for drinking and irrigation in this village in the shadow of Mount Aso.

But the fountainhead, which gushed about five tons of spring water a minute, has dried up since the magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck the prefecture early on April 16. Its disappearance has local residents baffled.

"I was absolutely flabbergasted to hear that Shioisha spring has dried up. It turns my world upside down," said 95-year-old Natsuko Goto, who was taking shelter at an elementary school after the earthquake. "What will happen now?"

Shioisha spring is located on the premises of Shioijinja shrine.

Cloud Precipitation

Floods swamp soy crop in Argentina; some residents must commute by boat

Two women row a boat on a flooded street of Villa Paranacito, Entre Rios, Argentina, Thursday, April 28, 2016. The Argentine Red Cross estimates that around 30,000 people have been affected after rains swelled rivers, swamping fields and towns nationwide.
© AP/Natacha Pisarenko
Two women row a boat on a flooded street of Villa Paranacito, Entre Rios, Argentina, Thursday, April 28, 2016. The Argentine Red Cross estimates that around 30,000 people have been affected after rains swelled rivers, swamping fields and towns nationwide.
Water levels in the flooded town of Villa Paranacito have risen so much that the best way for residents to commute is by boat.

The town in eastern Argentina is one of the worst-struck by weeks of heavy rains stemming from the El Nino weather phenomenon. With streets covered by several feet of water from swollen rivers, residents are getting to schools, banks and other town services on boats, the only means of transportation.

Authorities have evacuated thousands of people across Argentina. Flood waters have reached grazing grounds, drowning livestock in the leading meat producing country. They have also swamped about a third of Argentina's soy farms, causing big losses to one of the world's top grains suppliers.

Argentina's Rural Society said Thursday that about 4 million metric tons of soy had been ruined. The losses are estimated at up to $1.3 billion.

Soybean prices at the Chicago Board of Trade fell Friday, after rising for weeks to nearly a one year-high on growing concerns about the damaged crops in Argentina, which is the world's No. 3 soy exporter.