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Severe weather reports in U.S. tally 5,000+ so far this year; more than double the average

Chris Dolce
The Weather Channel
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 12:00 UTC
Cost of severe US weather events 2017
© YouTube/the Weather Channel (screen capture)Weather Disasters Costing U.S. Billions. The first three months of 2017 have proven to be very costly, after a series of weather disasters ranging from tornadoes to floods to crop-killing freezes.
The U.S. has endured a destructive start to 2017 from the multiple severe weather outbreaks since January.

There have been 5,372 preliminary reports of severe weather across the United States in 2017 through April 8, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC). That figure includes reports of tornadoes, large hail and wind damage.

This is more than than double the average of 2,274 for the same period of time during the past 10 years (2007-2016). In that decade, only 2008 had about the same number of severe weather reports by this point in the year with 5,242.

The animation below shows how the occurrences of wind damage, large hail and tornadoes have piled up month-by-month this year. Portions of the South have been hit the hardest, but the Midwest has also seen a high concentration of severe weather reports.

Comment: For more coverage on the extreme weather affecting the entire planet, check out our monthly SOTT Earth Changes Summaries. Last month:

SOTT Earth Changes Summary - March 2017: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

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Fireball

SOTT Focus: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - March 2017: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs


Sott.net
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 17:30 UTC
Wildfires USA March 2017
Planetary environmental chaos continued unabated this month. Several spectacular fireballs were seen from one end of the world to the other. Wildfires ravaged several mid-West states while unusually strong winds hit Illinois and New York. Madagascar got slammed by a ferocious storm as did Brazil, New Zealand and France.

Severe flooding hit several parts of the globe, but the worst affected was Peru where dozens of people died and hundreds of thousands have been left with no homes. With freak tidal waves from Iran to South Africa, strange 'gas' explosions in the UK and methane gas leaks in Russia, not to mention snow off the coast of Africa and lightning scoring direct strikes on cars, March was a pretty intense month for the planet and its inhabitants.
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Dramatic videos show wildfires blazing across the west of Ireland

Erica Doyle Higgins
The Irish Post
Mon, 27 Mar 2017 15:21 UTC
The fire rips through the rural Gaeltacht areas of Galway last weekend.
© Enda Cunningham/TwitterThe fire rips through the rural Gaeltacht areas of Galway last weekend.
Dramatic videos have captured the scenes as wild fire ripped through gorse in rural West of Ireland areas over the weekend.

Fire and Rescue teams in Co. Galway were called to two areas of the Gaelteacht, Toureen yesterday and Baile na hAbhainn on Saturday, March 25 as they were engulfed by wildfire.

Although the Toureen and Baile na hAbhainn fires were captured on video, fire services also attended blazes in Loughrea, Clifton, Costello Connemara, Tuam, and Gort.
Thank you to Galway Fire and Rescue for their difficult work last night in tackling the gorse fires and preventing spread to homes. pic.twitter.com/H3jJIMRTNm
— Enda Cunningham (@endacunningham) March 26, 2017
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U.S. witnesses furious start to the wildfire season; 10 times the average

Doyle Rice
USA Today
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 15:41 UTC
Wildfire
Wildfires have charred a whopping 2 million acres across the U.S. so far this year, an area larger than the state of Delaware.

It's a gigantic number for so early in the season, roughly 10 times the average and also the most acres burned as of mid-March since 2006, according to spokeswoman Jessica Gardetto of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

Many of the blazes have been massive grass fires in Oklahoma and Kansas, which have both set records for number of acres burned in March, Gardetto said.

An Oklahoma truck driver died two weeks ago in Clark County, Kan., due to smoke inhalation from a fire, the Kansas state fire marshal's office reported. There have also been at least seven fire-related injuries, two of whom were first responders.
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Mass evacuations as wildfire threatens Boulder, Colorado


RT
Sun, 19 Mar 2017 20:55 UTC
Boulder, CO fires
© louisville_colorado_love / Instagram
Firefighters are battling to contain a raging wildfire just outside Boulder, Colorado which has already forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 homes.

The fire broke out overnight and quickly expanded to cover 62 acres, according to the Boulder Office of Emergency Management (OEM). The blaze lies just west of the city of Boulder.

Authorities are struggling to contain the fire and the Denver Post reports that the flames is moving in a southerly direction towards downtown Boulder.
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Fire

Wildfires in Oklahoma and Texas burn nearly 1 million acres, killing 7 people


whnt.com
Wed, 15 Mar 2017 13:13 UTC
wildfires near Lipscomb, Texas
© REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Rancher Nancy Schwerzenbach walks with dogs through pasture burned by wildfires near Lipscomb, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2017.
Wildfires across the country had consumed more than 1 million acres by Tuesday night, taking at least 7 lives.

The Oklahoma Forestry Service told CNN the fires burned 400,000 acres, and prompted Gov. Mary Fallin to declare a state of emergency for 22 counties.

Officials in four other states said that 400,000 acres were destroyed in Kansas, 325,000 in the Texas Panhandle and 30,000 in Colorado — not to mention the 6,000 acres burning in the Florida swamps near Naples that resulted in mandatory evacuations.

Three ranchers trying to save their cattle died in a wildfire in Gray County, Texas, according to Sandi Martin, coordinator with Gray County Emergency Management.

The three were among five people killed by wildfires in the Texas Panhandle as fires continue to scorch swaths of the Southwest and Great Plains. The Gray County blaze scorched 100,000 acres, but has since been contained, Martin said. State fire marshals are working to determine the cause.

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Drone video shows Kansas has burned into Apocalypse


PrepForThat
Wed, 08 Mar 2017 15:34 UTC
kansas_fire
© Youtube
"It's horrible, just horrible. I left the house with (60) shells and used them all," Konrade said. He said he probably killed 40 cows, "and in a lot of places there weren't even very many left alive to put down."

"All in all, I'd guess I seen between 300 and 400 dead cattle," he said. "It was just a matter of putting animals out of their misery, doing them a favor. They were going to die anyway.

"It's horrible out there, the things I saw today. The fire was so big, and so much of Clark County burned, I don't see how anything lived through it."

The state of Kansas is burning at unprecedented levels. Parts of it are literally scorched earth at this point. And many people are having to shoot their own cattle in order to avoid the perils from all the smoke and fire. Clark county has been burned almost entirely. An entire county, smoldering in ashes.
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Fireball

SOTT Focus: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - February 2017: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs


Sott.net
Wed, 08 Mar 2017 08:35 UTC
Fireball Illinois
Februrary 2017 continued on as January started. Massive flooding in California due to "atmospheric rivers" dumping large amounts of rain on coastal areas and snow on the Sierra Nevada. The snow melt from this caused further flooding in Nevada. Eastern Canada also experienced record snowfall, as did Iran, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Japan.

Wildfires broke out in Eastern Australia and New Zealand while record rainfall inundated Western Australia. Major flooding also hit several South American nations including Chile, Peru and Colombia.

There are at least 30 active volcanoes around the world right now, including a really impressive one in Guatemala. Massive earth cracks opened in Pakistan and Italy.

These are just some of the chaotic events we present in this month's Sott 'Earth Changes' video compilation.

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Wildfire rages in Ibiza town, Spain


The Local Es
Tue, 07 Mar 2017 18:35 UTC
The fire sent smoke across Ibiza Town.
© IBANATThe fire sent smoke across Ibiza Town.
A wildfire raged out of control in the heart of Ibiza Town forcing several homes to be evacuated and blocking roads.

Flames six metres high were fuelled by strong gusts of wind as the fire spread from protected parkland in the centre of Ibiza Town threatening to engulf residential areas.

The fire broke out for reasons as yet unknown shortly before 1pm on Monday. The area where the fire raged is a protected wetland home to an estimated 140 species of bird.

It also served as an area popular with the homeless who slept out in makeshift shelters in the reeds and canes, according to El Mundo.
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Three killed in Texas wildfire, blazes also strike Oklahoma and Colorado

Jon Herskovitz
Reuters
Tue, 07 Mar 2017 18:28 UTC
Potter County wildfire.
© CNN VAN Potter County wildfire
Three ranch hands have been killed while trying to protect livestock from a wildfire in the Texas Panhandle, where blazes have scorched about 125,000 acres (50,585 hectares), officials said on Tuesday.

Wildfires driven by high winds and dry conditions have also hit Colorado and Oklahoma, prompting evacuations and destroying structures.

A woman and two men were killed on Monday in a fire that hit in Gray County, Texas. One was overcome by smoke and died in an area hospital and the other two died from burns, said County Judge Richard Peet.

"They were trying to move cattle away from the oncoming fire," he said in a telephone interview. The names of the three people have not yet been released.

The largest fire currently blazing in Texas is the so-called Perryton blaze that has covered 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares) in the Texas Panhandle and is only 5 percent contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service, which tracks wildfires. That fire has destroyed two houses.
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