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Umbrella

Why Ike Could Be Texas' Worst Nightmare

Andrea Thompson
LiveScience
Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:22 UTC
As Hurricane Ike revs up again over the Gulf of Mexico, residents of coastal Texas, especially Houston and Galveston, are preparing for the arrival of the monstrous storm, which could be the most devastating that the Lone Star State has seen Hurricane Alicia came ashore in 1983, causing nearly $6 billion in damage and 21 fatalities.

Ike is huge. Hurricane-force winds extend out 120 miles (195 kilometers) from the storm's center, and tropical storm-force winds reach out 275 miles (445 km), both measurements exceeding what's seen with many storms. Ike could reach major hurricane status as a Category 3 before it makes landfall late Friday or early Saturday morning somewhere along the Texas coast.

Galveston, Texas after 1900 hurricane
©NOAA
The unnamed Category 4 hurricane that slammed into Galveston, Texas Sept. 8, 1900 remains the deadliest ever to hit the United States, having killed at least 8,000 people (estimates vary) and leveling virtually the entire town.

And right now it looks like that somewhere will be the Houston/Galveston area.
      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Airlines curtail flights to Texas cities in path of hurricane Ike


The Canadian Press
Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:18 UTC
Airlines prepared to curtail service Friday to Texas cities in the path of hurricane Ike and offered to waive ticket-changing fees for passengers whose flights were scrubbed.

Aviation officials in Houston said flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport would be suspended at 2 p.m. CT on Friday and 3:30 p.m. CT at the smaller Hobby Airport.

Houston-based Continental Airlines Inc., whose largest hub is at Bush Intercontinental, said it might also stop flights early Friday afternoon at other airports along the Gulf. It said service in Houston and any other affected cities was likely to resume Sunday.
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Cloud Lightning

Ike strands freighter in Gulf; Houston braces for nightmare scenario


Associated Press
Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:35 UTC
A sprawling and strengthening Hurricane Ike steamed through the Gulf of Mexico on Friday on a track toward the nation's fourth-largest city, where authorities told residents to brace rather than flee.

Ike
©NASA
Hurricane Ike as viewed from International Space Station.
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Attention

Dire Warning as Hurricane Ike Nears Texas - People Face "Certain Death" If They Stay Behind

James McKinnley, Jr.
New York Times
Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:26 UTC
As Hurricane Ike bore down on the Houston area on Friday morning, the National Weather Service issued a stern warning to people living in small houses on Galveston Island that they faced "certain death" from flooding if they remained in their homes.

Ike
©Carlos Barria/Reuters
A resident took pictures next to the ocean as Hurricane Ike approached the coast of Galveston, Tex., on Friday.
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Life Preserver

'Extreme waves' driven by climate change batter Australia's coastline

Phil Mercer
BBC News
Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:18 UTC
Australia's coastline is increasingly being battered by extreme waves that are driven in part by climate change, government scientists say.

Research has shown that bigger waves are bearing down on the coastline as severe storms become more frequent.

Surfer
©AP
Scientists say coastal areas will see more and more extreme waves
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Red Flag

Earth's windiest region, Greenland's Cape Farewell, confirmed by crewed flight

Catherine Brahic
New Scientist
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:05 UTC
For the first time, research planes have flown in the windiest region on Earth. The location - the appropriately named Cape Farewell in Greenland - generated the winds likely to have carried Viking explorers from Iceland and Greenland to North America, making them the first Europeans to discover the continent.
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Umbrella

UK recent bad weather blamed on southerly position of jet stream; wettest August for Northern Ireland

Darren Bett
BBC News
Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:51 UTC
Monthly summary

Unsettled weather is expected to continue into the beginning of October with the best hope of any drier brighter weather in the south and east.

August was an average month in only one respect, temperatures hovered around the seasonal average.

It was a very wet month for most of us with widespread flooding in Northern Ireland and parts of eastern Scotland. Northern Ireland had its wettest August since records began back in 1914.

Comment:
The reason for the above average wind and rain is down to the southerly position of our jet stream. These are strong winds in the upper atmosphere, which act like a road steering low pressure systems across the Atlantic to our shores.
And is there any particular reason for the jet stream being out of position? Any implications for the global climate system?

Consider this article, which reads:
Global importance

Climatologists have suggested that the winds, known as the Greenland tip jet, could be a key force in driving the world's climate and the global ocean circulation by pushing cold, dense water to the ocean floor and triggering the thermohaline circulation.

This massive "conveyor belt" carries seawater around the world's oceans. The North Atlantic is a critical point, where warm surface water coming from the tropics on the Gulf Stream is cooled and becomes denser. In doing so, it sinks to the ocean bed and pushes the deep segment of the conveyor belt forward.

Robert Pickart of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, US, and colleagues have suggested that the exceptional winds at Cape Farewell trigger this overturning (Nature vol 424, p 152).

"They cool and evaporate the surface water making it more salty, and therefore more dense, just south of Greenland," explains Renfrew.

If this is true, then the Cape Farewell winds help drive the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe warm, despite their high latitude.
And what happens if the "conveyor belt" shifts position, or even worse, stops its motion?

      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Cars, trucks stream inland in Texas as Ike near


Associated Press
Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:36 UTC
HOUSTON - Cars and trucks streamed inland and chemical companies buttoned up their plants Thursday as a gigantic Hurricane Ike took aim at the heart of the U.S. refining industry and threatened to send a wall of water crashing toward Houston.

Traffic
©AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Traffic lines Interstate 45 leaving Houston as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas Gulf Coast Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 in The Woodlands, Texas.
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Info

British team capture first pictures of Africa's 'unicorn'


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:59 UTC
London - The okapi, an African animal so elusive that it was once believed to be a mythical unicorn, has been photographed in the wild for the first time, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said Thursday.

Image
©AFP/Zoological Society Of London
An okapi, pictured in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is so elusive that it was once believed to be a mythical unicorn.
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Arrow Down

UK Farmers fear harvest could be the worst for 40 years!

Valerie Elliott
Times Online
Wed, 10 Sep 2008 08:03 UTC
Britain is facing its worst harvest for at least 40 years as 30 per cent of the country's grain lies in waterlogged or sodden ground. Hilary Benn, the Rural Affairs Secretary, is expected to give the go-ahead today for farmers to salvage what is left of their crops by using heavy machinery on wet fields.

European Union rules ban farmers from using combine harvesters on wet land to protect soil quality. Those who flout the ban can be prosecuted. The exemption is expected to last for about three weeks.

The poor harvest is unlikely to lead to a rise in the price of bread, cakes, biscuits and flour, however. Gordon Polson, director of the Federation of Bakers, said that although much of the milling wheat was of a poor quality it could still be used for bread and flour.

He said: "The poorer wheat means it has less protein, but manufacturers can add gluten to ensure the proper quality for making bread. We are not happy and we may still have to import some milling wheat, but no one is talking about price rises for bread."
      Read More...
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