Earth Changes

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

© 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.

Stormageddon: 5,000 cutoff by landslides in Japan as death toll rises to 22

Shingo Ito
AAP
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 11:33 UTC

Troops are airlifting supplies to thousands of people cut off by landslides and torrential downpours that have killed at least 24 in southwest Japan as meteorologists warned of further heavy rain. Television footage on Sunday showed soldiers loading food, water and medical supplies onto military helicopters to send them to mountainous areas in Fukuoka prefecture on Kyushu island.

China, Japan hit by torrential rains

Moscow Time
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 05:25 UTC

Scores of people were killed in flash floods caused by torrential rains in western China earlier this week, officials said on Sunday, adding that more than two million people were affected by the disaster.

Twisters in Poland kill one, hurt nine

RIA
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 04:46 UTC

One person died and nine were injured when hurricanes and tornadoes ripped through northern Poland on Saturday, local media report.

Hailstorms and hurricanes have been raging in various parts of the country for more than week now. The authorities are estimating the damage.

Comment: Tornado in Poland 14 July 2012:

Colorado sinkhole closes highway, continues to grow

Blair Shiff
9News.com
Sat, 14 Jul 2012 02:31 UTC

© Andy Cross, The Denver Post
Colorado Department of Transportation project engineers, Joe Elsen, fourth from left, and Matt Figgs, far right, offer hikers from left to right, Marlowe Kent, Lauren Jerd, and Shane O'Donnell, a safe, private look at large sinkhole Friday morning, July 13th, 2012 that opened up on highway 24 at mile marker 165, between Red Cliff and Leadville Colorado on Monday.

Leadville -The sinkhole on the edge of Highway 24 near Leadville is still growing.

The hole leads down to an old railroad tunnel, which is causing concerns that the highway above the tunnel could fall into the hole.

A section of the highway near the top of Tennessee Pass is closed indefinitely because of the hole.

"Closing a highway is absolutely something we hate to do. We want to keep it open. So we are working very hard to come up with a plan to get it open," Stacy Stegman of the Colorado Department of Transportation said.

CDOT has rerouted traffic to Colorado 91 and Interstate 70. These detours could add time to driver's commute.

Extreme weather: Drought turns to floods as Houston goes under water

Jason Samenow
Washington Post
Fri, 13 Jul 2012 02:24 UTC

Since Tuesday, 5-15" of rain has fallen around Houston producing many instances of flooding.

Heavy rain is drenching the water-plagued area now, and a flash flood warning is in effect through 2:45 p.m. local time.

Writes the SciGuy Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle:

There has already been substantial street flooding in downtown, where three inches of rain have fallen during the last three hours.

It's strange to be talking about flooding in Houston after last summer's historic drought there. Since Tuesday, much of the area has picked up more rain than it did all of last summer.

The Chronicle's Berger pronounced Houston's drought over on Wednesday.

April 2012 saw record number of tornadoes in Oklahoma

Bryan Painter
News OK
Sat, 14 Jul 2012 02:18 UTC

Timing rather than a trend seems to be the key as to why Oklahoma has broken the state record for tornadoes in the month of April the past two years, according to weather officials.

In April 2011, there were 50 confirmed tornadoes in Oklahoma, breaking a record for that month previously set with 40 in 1957. This April, there were 52 tornadoes in the state. So do those 102 in two years mean April bypasses May as the month for the biggest threat of twisters in Oklahoma?

No, say the experts as they look over the official state records for tornadoes that date to 1950.

Gary McManus, of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, said that to see if there is a change in our primary tornado season, you really have to look at the changes in the ingredients that form tornadoes. The weather patterns that have to come together are complex.

Wildfire threatens dozens of homes in Northern California

MSNBC
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 00:30 UTC

A wildfire burning in a steep canyon between the towns of Colfax and Foresthill in Placer County, Calif., destroyed one home, threatened 170 more and injured nine firefighters, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing fire officials.

Cal[ifornia] Fire officials said Saturday that the Robbers Fire has burned 1,950 acres since igniting Wednesday afternoon, and was 20 percent contained. More than 1,900 firefighters are fighting the fire.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday called in more firefighters and the California National Guard to help battle the fire.

Officials said they fire had moved into a rural subdivision Saturday evening known as Brushy Canyon, and three strike teams were being deployed to protect homes in the area, NBC station KCRA reported.

The area is in Placer County, west of Lake Tahoe.

Ken Pimlott, the state fire director, said a two-year reprieve from wildfires in the region appears to be over.

"The exceptionally dry winter has set the stage for a more active fire season this year, and we're seeing fire activity now that we would typically not see until late August," he said in a statement.

This article includes reporting by NBC station KCRA of Sacramento and The Associated Press.

Unpredictable weather has altered bird migration patterns, with many arriving in Wales weeks earlier than expected

BBC
Sat, 14 Jul 2012 18:05 UTC

The National Wetland Centre in Llanelli said 800 curlews, not normally seen until late August, were early arrivals.

About 100 redshank, 90 oystercatcher and 190 black-tailed godwit had also flown in early.

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) said the weather also affected breeding patterns.

Another reason for the birds' early arrival might be that some of them failed to breed in Iceland.

Pamela Styles, the WWT's learning assistant at Llanelli, said: "2012 has been a year of unpredictable weather, and many birds have already been affected.

"We have heard chiffchaffs singing autumn calls in May, the flamingos have laid their eggs two weeks late, the gull-billed tern showed up having been blown off course, and now we are seeing the arrival of hundreds of autumn migratory birds - returning to us over a month earlier than usual.