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Sat, 23 Oct 2021
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Cloud Lightning

Rare California tornado damages greenhouses in Monterey Bay

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© National Weather Service
Damage from Saturday's tornado in Watsonville is seen.
One of only 7 tornadoes to hit Bay Area counties over the last decade

A small tornado in Santa Cruz County near Watsonville last Saturday lasted only three minutes but knocked down walls of some greenhouses
and uprooted trees in its path, a spokesman for the National Weather Service
said.

The tornado started as a waterspout on the surface of Monterey Bay at 6:59 a.m., crossed over Sunset State Beach and grew to 20 yards wide with winds reaching 75 mph as it swept east to inland areas, said Logan Johnson, a weather service spokesman in Monterey.

The swirling winds crossed over a large farm, sent fiberglass and plastic sheeting flying off of the walls of some greenhouses and caused the metal support structure of one to cave in and damage crops growing inside, Johnson said.

The twister also blew out fiberglass windows in two other greenhouses and propelled debris into a field 30 to 50 yards from the greenhouses, Johnson said.

Airplane

United flight skids off runway at Albany County Airport, no injuries reported

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© Albany County Airport
Albany, New York - A spokesman for the Albany County Airport Authority says a regional jet skidded into a snow bank and became stuck, stranding passengers. No injuries were reported.

The United flight was leaving the gate in Albany en route to Chicago Saturday when it slid off the paved road. The 65 passengers and crew were uninjured and were evacuated from the plane, put on a bus and sent back to the airport.

Airport authority spokesman Doug Myers says the accident didn't case any other airport delays. The plane was removed from the snow bank and will be inspected for any problems.

Myers said the airline would determine what happened with the jet. It was snowing lightly at the airport Saturday.

Snowflake

Record-breaking snowfall in Montreal: 47 centimetres of snow in one day

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© CTV News
Montreal's massive snow clearing operation will start on Friday morning. Claudine Nicol took this photo of parked cars entombed in snow in Villeray on Thursday.
The City of Montreal said snow removal is going to take longer than expected following Thursday's record snowfall.

Michel Frenette, a spokesman for the city, said snow removal will take about nine days to accomplish.

The nine days also includes a break period for workers.

"We will stop operations on the evening of the 31st and come back 36 hours later on the morning of Jan. 2," said Frenette.

He said it is taking longer because snow blowers have to go over the same area multiple times to remove all of the snow.

Three thousand people are working to clear the snow.

Igloo

Atlantic Canadians brace for 2nd winter wallop

As much as 40 centimetres of snow expected from 'significant nor'easter'.
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© CBC News
Atlantic Canada is bracing for more harsh winter weather set to hit Saturday night.
With another blast of winter weather headed for Atlantic Canada, people are being urged to prepare for a lot of snow throughout the Maritimes and up to 140 km/h wind gusts in Newfoundland.

The storm is expected to start Saturday night in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I.

Nova Scotia may see 40 centimetres of snow by Sunday night in the province's north and the Annapolis Valley.

Meteorologist Andy Firth said the nor'easter would bring snow, blowing snow and rain to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, as well as southern and eastern New Brunswick.

"This is a significant nor'easter storm," Firth said from Dartmouth, N.S., on Saturday. "We have warnings out for snowfall, blowing snow and storm surges."

Firth said parts of New Brunswick and P.E.I. would see around 15 to 30 centimetres of snow.

Flurries were expected to begin over the western Maritimes on Saturday evening, with heavy snow beginning around midnight and continuing until around noon Sunday.

Snowflake Cold

Heavy snow in South Korea breaks December record

Korean Blizzard
© NEWSIS
Soldiers are mobilized yesterday morning to remove snow from roads in front of tollgates near the Baekyang Tunnel in Sasang District, Busan. As snow was not cleared in time, dangerous roads caused traffic jams during rush hour. Heavy snowfall is rarely seen in the southern port city.
Yesterday's rush hour was a nightmare for a 47-year-old civil servant surnamed Roh who commutes from Gimhae to Changwon, South Gyeongsang, every day.

He left home at 6:15 a.m. and reached the Changwon Tunnel that connects the two cities in 10 minutes, but soon had to turn his car around as the tunnel was closed due to snow.

Roh then passed through Jangyu and Dongmasan IC (interchange) and finally arrived at his office in Changwon at 9:40 a.m.

It usually takes only 25 minutes if he takes the tunnel route, but it took 3 hours and 25 minutes.

On his way to the office, many vehicles were waiting for assistance after being damaged in car accidents due to the slippery roads.

"It doesn't snow much in Gimhae," Roh told the JoongAng Ilbo. "Not many drivers have tire chains. It was terrible to drive because many roads are icy due to the early morning snow."

Snowflake Cold

Coldest winter in decades for Russia with snow as much as 5 meters (16½ ft) deep - Plows cannot reach roads to clear them

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© Reuters
A homeless woman has a charity meal distributed by volunteers in Russia's southern city of Stavropol on Dec. 25, 2012.
As temperatures plummet to -50 Celsius in some parts of Russia, thousands have been evacuated from their homes in the country's Far East and Siberia. More than 120 people have died from the severe cold -- at least seven in the last 24 hours.

Meteorologists say the country is experiencing one of its coldest winters in decades.

In the Far East region of Magadan, 300 kilometers of roads remain blocked by heavy snow. Plows and machines can not reach those roads to clear them. In some places, snow is as much as five meters deep.

Irina Bryarkina lives in the Tyva region of Siberia where temperatures have been -40 C for several days. It is so cold that many heating pipes have frozen and thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes.

Comment:
"One change to occur in 21st Century is sudden glacial rebound, over Eurasia first, then North America. Ice ages develop much, much, much faster than thought."
We're seeing it right now.


Arrow Down

Giant sinkhole opens up at busy Shanxi intersection

Image
© China Daily
The sinkhole strikes again! While not as epic as the gaping Xi'an collapse in May, a road in Shanxi has imploded, damaging gas and infrastructure in the area. No one was hurt, and the only significant harm was caused to underground pipes. Shanxi should be glad not to have the bus-eating holes of Nanjing or pedestrian-assassins of Xi'an.

Fireball 3

More evidence of comet dust-loading: Luminescent clouds in the sky over Arizona

Residents of Douglas in Arizona have been treated to a rare and stunning phenomenon - fire rainbows.

Caused when ice crystals splits sunlight into different colours, they cause the sky to flicker with colour.

Brandon Rios, who captured the amazing images with his father, said he was 'completely astonished' by the phenomenon.

Fire Rainbow
© Brandon Rios/Rex Features
Fire rainbows, known by the proper name of circumhorizon arc, occur when the sun hits plate shaped ice cystals in the clouds, causing the colours of sunlight to separate.
'Although my father was the one to take the pictures I was with him at the time,' said Brandon after the pair spotted the rainbows over their home in Douglas, Arizona.

Snowflake Cold

Record-breaking storm moves to Newfoundland

Montreal blanketed by more than 45 cm of snow from storm moving east.


The winter storm that dumped a record-breaking amount of snow on Montreal is now hitting Newfoundland, with Environment Canada saying northern and central parts of the province can expect 20 to 30 centimetres.

"Heavy snow and strong easterly winds over southwestern Newfoundland this morning will spread northeastward today," Environment Canada said.

By 2:30 p.m. local time, there were snowfall accumulations of 13 centimetres in Deer Lake, seven centimetres in Gander and less than a centimetre in St. John's, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Rodney Barney.

Winter storm warnings are in effect in many parts of central and northern Newfoundland, with Environment Canada warning that "dangerous winter weather conditions" are expected in some areas.

The low-pressure system producing the storm is expected to move from southern Nova Scotia to near Cape Breton by Friday evening. The system will then track across eastern Newfoundland at night before moving to the northeast of the province on Saturday.

Cloud Lightning

Just in case? Brevard County, Florida works toward being 'tsunami ready'

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Brevard County, Florida
Central Florida isn't likely to be hit by a tsunami, but officials there want to be ready, just in case. Brevard County's emergency managers are working with the National Weather Service to be one of the first "tsunami-ready" counties in Florida.Emergency Management Director Kimberly Prosser tells Florida Today that Brevard County wants to be as ready for tsunamis as it is for hurricanes and wildfires. Officials will establish protocols to follow when tsunami warnings are issued and designate evacuation routes.

The National Weather Service in Melbourne says the most likely trigger for a tsunami along Brevard County would be an earthquake in Portugal or Puerto Rico.

"Rogue waves" also are potential threats. That happened in 1992 when a 10-foot-high, 27-mile-long wave crashed into Daytona Beach, injuring 75 people.