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Netherlands Councillors Call for Fines for Wrong Weather Forecasts

Martin Banks
The Telegraph
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:31 UTC
Weather Forecast
© languageguide.org
The demand comes from Labour councillors in Hoek van Holland who say that "bad" forecasts are spoiling the local seaside trade.

It follow claims that wrong forecasts in both the Netherlands and Belgium are damaging outdoor attractions as day trippers cancel plans to go out because of poor weather prospects.

Joep Thonissen, head of Recron, the Dutch tourist attraction association, said "incorrect" forecasts were causing "considerable damage" to visitor attractions.

He said, "Last week it was really good weather over most of the country but the weather forecasts were full of heavy rain and thunderstorms, so people stayed home."

KNMI, the commercial weather bureau, based at Hilversum, near Amsterdam, whose forecasts are widely used by Dutch TV and newspapers, has been blamed with Mr Thonissen saying: "Heavy rain above Hilversum does not mean that is the case in the rest of the country."
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Cloud Lightning

Unusual Storm Pattern Strikes Camp Nathanael

Jordan Thomas Hall
TroublesomeCreekTimes
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:11 UTC
Weather Damage
© Jordan Thomas Hall
Many buildings and cabins, like Israel, pictured here, received damage from downed trees following a storm on July 5.
(Kentucky) Last Thursday's storms were especially devastating for a Knott County religion- based camp. The well- known Camp Nathanael in Emmalena fell victim to a strange weather occurrence Thursday afternoon, July 5. Cleanup efforts are still ongoing.

Three storm systems coming from the north, east, and west converged outside of Hindman. According to meteorologist Tony Edwards with the National Weather Service in Jackson, a downburst occurred. A downburst is caused by rain and wind being shot down from a storm and high winds being spread out rapidly when reaching the ground.

At 7:30 p.m. Camp Nathanael Director Roy Hodson reported 25-40 large trees were down on the premises. Widespread property damage was suffered by the camp including several cabins that had been occupied only hours earlier. Trees blocked roadways and downed power lines. Winds were estimated to be between 80 to 100 mph.
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Bizarro Earth

Magellanic Penguin Deaths In Brazil Being Investigated


RedOrbit
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:10 UTC
Penguin
© ruigsantos / Shutterstock
Biologists are investigating the deaths of hundreds of penguins that were discovered washed up on the beaches at Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state, various media outlets reported over the weekend.

Officials with the Center of Coastal and Marine Studies (Ceclimar) told AFP reporters on Friday that the 512 Magellanic penguin bodies were found on the coast between the towns of Tramandai and Cidreira.

They added that samples from the deceased birds had been taken to Porto Alegre University for further study. The results of that analysis were expected to be released in approximately one month's time.

According to Nick Allen of the Telegraph, the penguins, which were migrating north from Argentina in order to find food in warmer waters, showed no signs of injury, hunger or oil stains. The massive amount of the dead birds coupled with the lack of injury or signs of exhaustion have veterinarians puzzled, he added.
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Stop

Urban noise 'killing baby house sparrows'

Mark Kinver
BBC
Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:45 UTC
Image
© Isabel Winney
The UK's house sparrow population has been declining since the 1970s
Noise in urban areas could be increasing the mortality rate among young house sparrows, a study has suggested.

Researchers say the noise could stop adult birds hearing the hunger calls from their dependent offspring.

In their study, the team found that birds nesting in noisy areas were less effective at feeding their chicks as those that nested in quieter places.

The findings have been published in the journal Plos One.

Scientists from the University of Sheffield reached their conclusion after carrying out a study on Lundy, a 445-hectare (1,100-acre) island located 19km (12mi) off the North Devon coast.

Co-author Julia Schroeder explained that the project happened more-or-less by chance.

"When I first went to the island, which is very remote and quiet - apart from gulls and shearwaters - I entered a barn and it was very loud," she recalled.

The barn contained an electricity generator, yet sparrows were still choosing to nest in the building, so Dr Schroeder wondered whether the conditions affected the songbirds.

"I found that there was a reduced fitness - a reduced reproductive output from the nest boxes located in the noisy area," she told BBC News.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills two, and injures third in Houston, Texas


Christian Science Monitor
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:28 UTC
Image
© Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle/AP
Sheriff's Deputy Joe Shriver points to where he saw the first victim that was killed by a lighting strike at a soccer field on Sunday, July 15, 2012, in Houston.
Two soccer players are dead and another is injured after lightning struck a tree that they were standing beneath to shelter from a storm in Houston. Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Thomas Gilliland says rain halted a men's league soccer club around noon on Sunday and the players all run for cover under some nearby trees.

Gilliland says lightning struck one of the trees, killing one of the men. Two others were also hit and taken to a Houston hospital, where a second man was pronounced dead.

The third man is in stable condition at Ben Taub General Hospital.

Authorities have not released the names of any of the men.

The Houston area has been drenched by rain the past week, flooding between 50 and 100 homes.
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Cloud Lightning

Massive tornadoes ravage Polish countryside


Al Jazeerae
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 02:56 UTC
Scenes of devastation left in aftermath of freak summer twisters that flattened at least 400 hectares and 100 homes.

At least one person has been killed and another 10 injured after a freak wave of summer tornadoes struck the north and west of Poland.

Bory Tucholskie forest, a national park and popular tourist destination, and surrounding villages were badly hit by a twister that was between 800m and 1,000m wide, local media reported.


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Igloo

Anchorage Experiences Coldest First Half of July Ever

Brian Edwards
AccuWeather
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 15:27 UTC
Cold July
© Photos.com
Looking for relief from the heat over much of the Lower 48 states? Head to coastal Alaska where they are experiencing the coldest first half of July on record!

Through the first 14 days of July, the average temperature in Anchorage was 53.1 degrees factoring in daily highs and lows, which makes it the coldest first half of the month on record according to the National Weather Service in Anchorage.

Should this temperature trend continue, it could threaten the record for the coldest July ever, which occurred in 1920 and had an average temperature of 54.4 degrees.

Typically this stretch of time is the warmest of the year. Instead, temperatures in the city of Anchorage are running 5.3 degrees below average.

Somedays have even turned out colder than cities on the Arctic Coast such as Barrow. On July 12th, the high temperature topped out at 54 degrees in Anchorage, while temperatures soared to 62 in Barrow (a whooping 15 degrees above average.)

Not only has it been cool, but residents of the Alaska city haven't seen much sunlight due to overcast skies and a persistent flow off the ocean. Rainfall through the first 14 days is running slightly above normal at 120 percent. But the clouds and cool temperatures have been the bigger story.
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Bizarro Earth

Landslide in Alaska May Be the Largest Recorded in North America

Deborah Byrd
EarthSky
Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© National Park Service
Glacier Bay National Park is located in the southeastern Alaska wilderness. It can be reached via a short flight from Juneau, Alaska.
Landslides occur in all 50 U.S. states and territories, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Appalachian Mountains, the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coastal Ranges and some parts of Alaska and Hawaii have severe landslide problems. AP had a great story yesterday about a massive rock slide in Glacier Bay National Park earlier this summer. The event took place on June 11, 2012, but no one noticed it until a pilot happened to fly past the area a month later. According to AP's story, some are now saying this landslide - which sent rock and ice pouring down a valley, over the top of a glacier - might be the largest ever recorded in North America.
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Cloud Lightning

Freak wave of tornadoes carve trail of destruction through northern Poland, leaving 1 dead

Rob Strybel
Reuters
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 08:02 UTC
Polish Tornado Damage_1
© TVN24
A freak wave of tornadoes ripped through northern Poland on Sunday, wrecking houses and swathes of forest and leaving one person dead and another 10 injured.Tornadoes are not unknown in the European Union's largest eastern country but the scope and power of Sunday's twisters was unusual and comes in a summer already marked by flash floods, hailstorms and gales.

Some 1,200 rescuers were working to remove fallen trees, unblock roads and restore utilities in the hardest hit Baltic region of Pomerania.Trees were uprooted, buildings damaged and power lines downed, while some 550 hectares of woodlands in the Tuchola Forest area were flattened.

"I saw a black column coming our way," an injured inhabitant of the Wycinki village, whose farm was destroyed by the tornado told state television. "It carried everything away with it ... birds, debris, sucked up water from the lake."
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Cloud Lightning

Flashy Storm Slashes Area, Turns Night into Day Over Tri-Cities, Washington

Kristin M. Kraemer
Tri-City Herald
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 15:10 UTC
Lightning Storm
© Cisco Wilkinson
Cisco Wilkinson of west Pasco took this photo at 4 a.m. Saturday. “It was so bright, I was temporarily blinded,” Wilkinson said. “It looks like it’s daytime.”
There were a lot of tired people in the Tri-Cities on Saturday after an early morning electrical storm rattled homes and flashed bright lights through windows.

The system that led to a severe thunderstorm warning from the National Weather Service also cooled down the Mid-Columbia after a string of 100-plus degree days.

The light show and downpour didn't appear to cause any significant damage, with police and fire officials surprised at how few calls were received.

However, it might not be over, with the forecast calling for a slight chance of thunderstorms through the rest of the week as the temperatures heat up again.

Those storms continue to bring the threat of lightning sparking wildfires.

Today's thermometer should top out around 87 degrees before moving into breezy conditions for the evening, said Rob Brooks, a hydrometeorological technician with the National Weather Service in Pendleton.
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