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Snowboarder and ski patroller killed in California avalanches brought on by near-record snowfall

Bob Egelko
San Francisco Gate
Wed, 26 Dec 2012 06:44 UTC
Image

A 49-year-old snowboarder was found dead in an avalanche of snow in the Lake Tahoe area Monday, officials said.
Because of deadly avalanches that killed a snowboarder and a ski patroller, the Sierra Avalanche Center issued a warning Tuesday about "considerable risk" of further slides. Two other skiers were injured in a separate avalanche.

Ski resorts, meanwhile, reported near-record snowfalls and brisk business.

The Avalanche Center advised skiers and hikers to choose their routes carefully, particularly on steep back-country terrain, said Marvin Boyd of the National Weather Service in Reno. He said the Sierra snowpack is weak and vulnerable to collapse after a snowfall of nearly 5 feet since Friday.

On Monday, the body of snowboarder Steven Mark Anderson, 49, a resident of Hirschdale near Truckee, was found by a Nevada County sheriff's search dog beneath 2 to 3 feet of snow at the Donner Ski Ranch.
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Cloud Precipitation

Four dead as worst rains in 30 years flood Baghdad


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:41 UTC
Image
© AFP
Tangled electrical wires over a flooded street in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on December 26, 2012. The worst rains to hit Baghdad in 30 years left four people dead and many of the Iraqi capital's residents struggling to cope with heavy flooding on Wednesday as the government declared a national holiday.
The worst rains to hit Baghdad in 30 years left four people dead and many of the Iraqi capital's residents struggling to cope with heavy flooding on Wednesday as the government declared a national holiday.

Patients reported long and difficult journeys to hospitals, shopkeepers complained of a lack of business and several roads were immersed in water, in some cases as much as waist-high.

In the predominantly-Shiite northeastern district of Sadr City, the area surrounding Fatima al-Zahra hospital was completely flooded, and patients said trips that normally took 15 minutes had taken them as long as two hours.

"They told me I need to go and get an ultrasound from outside the hospital, but we do not know where to go, we are afraid the roads will be flooded and we will not be able to come back," said a woman who identified herself only as Umm Laith, or mother of Laith.
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Windsock

Tropical Cyclone 4 hits Somali coast


sabahionline.com
Wed, 26 Dec 2012 06:11 UTC
Image
© US Navy
A satellite image of Tropical Cyclone 4 in the Indian Ocean.
Tropical Cyclone 4 hit the eastern coast of Somalia on Tuesday (December 25th) with wind speeds reaching 65 kilometres per hour, UN-funded Radio Bar-Kulan reported.

Galkayo and Bandar Beyla have experienced heavy rainfall, with flooding in some areas, according to Bandar Beyla District Commissioner Said Mohamed Anteno. Heavy rains have also been reported in Eyl, Gara'ad, Jariban and Hobyo.

The strong winds caused local communications and power companies to lose power.

No casualties have been reported, however a boat carrying commodities to Mogadishu capsized near Bandar Beyla after being caught in strong winds, said Puntland Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Mohamed Farah Aadan.

Bandar Bayla District Commissioner Said Mohamed Anteno said they have rescued all crew members on board.
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Galaxy

Cyclone frequency in Indonesia increases 28-fold since 2002

Takver
indybay.org
Wed, 26 Dec 2012 06:01 UTC
Cyclone frequency in Indonesia in 2012 is 28 times that for the year 2002, according to the Indonesian Disaster Management Agency BNPB, with the increase attributed to the persistent impact of systemic climate change.
Image
© NASA
Sutopo Purwo Yuwono, spokesperson with the Indonesian disaster management agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana) BNPB told the Xinhua newsagency, "Global warming has resulted in the formation of more cumulonimbus clouds that could incite cyclones."

Sutopo went on to predict that more cyclones would hit in Indonesia in March to April next year. Floods and landslides are expected to strike from January to March.
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Radar

Magnitude 5.5 earthquake at Bio-Bio, Chile, 26 December 2012


USGS
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 05:48 UTC
Image
© neic.usgs.gov
Magnitude: 5.5

Date-Time: Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 13:17:56 UTC

Location: 37.281°S, 73.363°W

Depth: 24.7 km (15.3 miles)

Region: BIO-BIO, CHILE

Distances:
11 km (6 miles) WSW of Arauco, Chile

19 km (11 miles) NNW of Curanilahue, Chile

33 km (20 miles) SW of Lota, Chile

40 km (24 miles) NNE of Lebu, Chile
Location Uncertainty: horizontal +/- 19.7 km (12.2 miles); depth +/- 5.1 km (3.2 miles)

Parameters: NST=315, Nph=330, Dmin=283.9 km, Rmss=0.62 sec, Gp= 68°,

M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=B

Source:
Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID: usc000eg5v
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Cloud Lightning

Severe U.S. snowstorm kills five


Irish Times
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 05:27 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/The Gleaner, Mike Lawrence
Traffic moves in the U.S. 41 By-Pass in Henderson, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 as a snow storm moves through the area making travel treacherous.
A powerful winter storm that has claimed at least five lives pounded the US midwest and northeast and disrupted post-Christmas travel last night.

Heavy snow and high winds prompted National Weather Service blizzard and winter storm warnings for the Ohio River Valley and into the Northeast. Approximately 37cm of snow was recorded at New Baltimore, Michigan, as the storm headed north and east. An estimated 200,000 thousand people are without electricity.

About 1,500 US flights were cancelled yesterday, according to FlightAware.com, a site that tracks flights. Some 170 flights also have been called off today, and several airlines waived ticket change fees for affected customers.

All four runways at Philadelphia International Airport were open, but some travellers still faced some cancelled flights.

The National Weather Service warned that between 30 to 45cm of snow was expected in northern New England, with snow falling through until tomorrow morning. The storm was accompanied by freezing rain and sleet, making driving treacherous, it said.
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Cloud Lightning

Videos: Tornado descends on Mobile, Alabama, exploding power transformers and lifting SUVs clear off the ground

Nick Carbone
Time
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 05:14 UTC
It was a white Christmas in many parts of the U.S., and while the weather made the holidays pretty to look at it also caused plenty of holiday chaos. More than 10 inches of snow fell on parts of central and northern Arkansas, with the state capital Little Rock receiving 9 inches - breaking an 86-year-old snowfall record. Parts of southern Illinois and Indiana found themselves digging out from 7-inches of accumulation on Christmas Day.

But the worst weather hit parts of Alabama and Louisiana, where tornadoes slammed into Gulf Coast towns on Christmas Day. In Mobile, Ala., one twister touched down just before 5 p.m., and was captured live by local news station WALA.

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Cloud Lightning

Christmas storm brings record tornado outbreak in Southern U.S., heavy snow, rain to North

Jason Samenow
Washington Post
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 05:08 UTC
Image
© NOAA
Satellite image of the storm in the early afternoon of 26 Dec.. Notice the circulation, and convection firing off along the cold front on the eastern side.
From a record Christmas Day tornado outbreak to today's heavy snows in the Ohio Valley, interior Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, the storm coming up the East Coast has left quite a mark.

On Christmas Day, more than 30 tornado reports were logged from eastern Texas to southern Alabama. That number easily exceeds the most previously recorded (12 in 1969) on December 25 (dating back to 1950). The twisters caused some damage, but there have been no reports of fatalities, fortunately.

Although no tornadoes have touched down so far today, a tornado watch is in effect for eastern North Carolina through 5 p.m. ET.

While tornadoes swarmed near the Gulf Coast, double digit snowfall totals were recorded in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri Christmas Day.

Heavy snows are blanketing parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, western Maryland, and Ohio on this Boxing Day - with strong winds creating near blizzard conditions in some areas.

Here are a few more impressive images and photos of the storm...
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Camera

'Wave Clouds' roll across morning Maine sky


Spaceweather.com
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 04:08 UTC
On Christmas morning, Gene Hart of Jonesport, Maine, woke up early to enjoy the sunrise before opening presents. What he saw may have been the best gift of all. "There was a cloud formation showing a remarkable series of wave shapes," says Hart. "They were backlit by the rising sun over Moosabec Reach." He snapped this picture of the harbor using a 14-megapixel digital camera:
Image
© Gene Hart

Comment: Somehow it doesn't seem likely that this is what Van Gogh had in mind when he painted Starry Night. These 'Wave Clouds' and similarly novel clouds have been appearing a lot more often in recent years:

US: Giant Tsunami-Shape Clouds Roll Across Alabama Sky

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Moon

Double halo appears around Quarter Moon, 21 December 2012


Spaceweather.com
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 03:55 UTC
Many sky watchers have witnessed a halo around the moon--a ring of light that surrounds the lunar disk at a radius of 22 degrees. The phenomenon is caused by pencil-shaped ice crystals in cirrus clouds that bend moonlight. On Dec. 21st, Harald Edens of Magdalena, New Mexico, witnessed a rare double halo:

Image
© Harald Edens

Comment: Moon halos usually appear in conjunction with a full moon, but on 21st December the moon was only at first quarter. Besides producing two halos, the planet's changing atmosphere probably made it appear to be full.

See also: Chemtrails, Disinformation and the Sixth Extinction

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