Storms
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Bizarro Earth

US: Huge waves knock down bikers, joggers - in Chicago


MSNBC
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:57 UTC
High winds produced dangerous, 10- to 16-foot waves along the lakefront path, knocking down morning bikers and runners on Friday.


Police closed off the path from North Fullerton Avenue, but some runners and bikers didn't heed the warnings. NBCChicago helicopter footage showed several people taking spills into the waves, though no injuries were reported.

By 9 a.m., police were standing at the path to reroute bikers and runners. The path will remain closed until further notice, they said. The waves aren't expected to recede until the afternoon, said meteorologist Andy Avalos.

Overnight, 30 to 35 mph winds with gusts of up to 50 mph hit parts of the area, knocking out power to about 27,000 ComEd customers. The strong winds also were blamed for a building collapse in Little Village and a fire in Glenview, among other local damage.
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Cloud Lightning

Second Typhoon Bears Down on Philippines in Space of Four Days

Jason Samenow
Washington Post Blog
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:20 UTC
Typhoon Nalgae
© NOAATyphoon Nalgae approaches the northern Philippines at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
Just four days after Typhoon Nesat (locally known as Pedring) ripped across the northern Philippines, a second dangerous typhoon threatens the same region. Intensifying Typhoon Nalgae (locally known as Quiel) is poised to tear through the northern part of Luzon island tonight (Saturday morning and afternoon local time).

Packing 135 mph maximum sustained winds, Nalgae reached category 4 strength this morning. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center reports Nalgae "intensified rapidly" over the last 24 hours and predicts some additional strengthening. At landfall, its peak sustained winds may reach 145 mph, capable of significant destruction.
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Cloud Lightning

Projected Path Of Category Two Hurricane Ophelia

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:24 UTC
Ophelia strengthened into a Category Two hurricane over the Atlantic Ocean on Friday morning, forecasters said, and is expected to threaten the British overseas territory of Bermuda during the weekend. Some additional strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours.

Image
© GOES satelliteOphelia is clearly visible (right) in this GOES satellite image from Friday
Ophelia first emerged as a low pressure system in the far eastern Atlantic on September 16 before it strengthened into a tropical storm on September 20 as it headed towards the Caribbean. It eventually degenerated into a remnant low on Sunday but became better organised again on Monday and Tuesday, re-establishing itself as a Tropical Storm on Wednesday.
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Bizarro Earth

Storm forces hundreds of thousands to flee in Vietnam, China

Tran Van Mihn
MSNMC / Associated Press
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:18 UTC
Several Asian countries reeling under floods after some of wildest weather this summer

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© Romeo Ranoco / ReutersA policeman keeps watch as residents wade through floodwater brought by Typhoon Nesat and wait for rescue workers in Candaba, Pampanga province, north of Manila on Friday.
A tropical storm barreled toward Vietnam Friday, forcing 20,000 people to be evacuated, as the Philippines braced for a new typhoon and several Asian countries reeled under floods after some of the wildest weather this summer.

Prolonged monsoon flooding, typhoons and storms have wreaked untold havoc in the region, leaving more than 600 people dead or missing in India, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, China, Pakistan and Vietnam in the last four months. In India alone, the damage is estimated to be worth $1 billion, with the worst-hit Orissa state accounting for $726 million.

The state-run Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology said several studies suggest an intensification of the Asian summer monsoon rainfall with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Still, it is not clear that this is entirely because of climate change, especially in India, it said.

After pummeling the Philippines and China this week, Typhoon Nesat was downgraded to tropical storm as it headed toward Vietnam where it was expected to make landfall later Friday with sustained wind speeds of up to 73 mph, according to the national weather forecasting center.
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Cloud Lightning

Scores die in worst Mekong flooding since 2000

Prak Chan Thul
Reuters
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 07:35 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Samrang PringChildren walk through flood waters with the help of a partially submerged makeshift wooden walkway in Kandal province, Cambodia, September 30, 2011.
At least 150 people in Cambodia and southern Vietnam have died in the worst flooding along the Mekong River in 11 years after heavy rain swamped homes, washed away bridges and forced thousands of people to evacuate.

Worse could be in store if Typhoon Nesat, which killed at least 39 people in China this week and plowed into northern Vietnam on Friday, dumps rain deep enough inland to further swell the Mekong.

Flooding across the fertile Mekong Delta helped drive rice prices to a three-year high in Vietnam this week, traders said, which will add to inflation problems. The delta produces more than half of Vietnam's rice and 90 percent of its exportable grain.

In Cambodia, 141 people have died since August 13 due to Mekong flooding and flash floods, the Cambodian National Disaster Management Committee said.

"Now, more than 200,000 hectares (494,200 acres) of our rice paddies are under water but we don't yet know the full extent of the damage," said Keo Vy, deputy information director at the National Disaster Management Committee.
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Cloud Lightning

Ophelia is fourth hurricane of season

Suzette Porter
TBNweekly.com
Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:00 UTC
Ophelia became the fourth hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season Thursday afternoon.

Hurricane Ophelia was about 770 miles south-southeast of Bermuda at 5 p.m. Maximum sustained winds were 75 mph with higher gusts. Ophelia is a Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Additional strengthening is possible, according to the National Hurricane Center.

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© NWS National Hurricane Center
Movement was to the north-northwest at about 9 mph. A tropical storm watch is in effect for Bermuda. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 175 miles.

The NHC says tropical storm force winds are possible in Bermuda starting late Saturday.
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Bizarro Earth

Philippines evacuates 100,000 as typhoon Nesat nears

Manny Mogato
Reuters
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:22 UTC
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© Reuters/Romeo RanocoA woman uses a sheet of plastic to protect herself from rain brought by typhoon Nesat, known locally as Pedring, while walking along a main street in Manila, September 26, 2011.
The Philippines ordered the evacuation of more than 100,000 people in flood and landslide-prone parts of the main island of Luzon as Typhoon Nesat gathered speed and strength ahead of its expected landfall early on Tuesday.

Six fishermen were reported missing on Monday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said, adding about 50,000 people are now in temporary shelters in the central Albay province.

Nesat was expected to hit the rice- and corn-growing provinces of Aurora and Isabela in the north on Tuesday, crossing mountain regions before exiting via the northwestern Ilocos provinces, weather forecaster Robert Sawi told reporters.

Packing winds of 130 kph (80 mph) with gusts of up to 160 kph, Nesat was 260 km (161 miles) east by southeast of Casiguran town in northern Aurora province, moving west by northwest at 19 kph.
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Sun

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) hits Earth's Magnetosphere Today, Causes Ground Currents In Norway


Space Weather
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:27 UTC
A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetic field at approximately 12:15 UT on Sept. 26th. The impact caused significant ground currents in Norway. Also, the Goddard Space Weather Lab reports a "strong compression of Earth's magnetosphere. Simulations indicate that solar wind plasma [has penetrated] close to geosynchronous orbit starting at 13:00UT." Geosynchronous satellites could therefore be directly exposed to solar wind plasma and magnetic fields.

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© Rob StammesSept.26 2011,at 12.36 UTC a magnificent shockwave from a CME arrived in our atmosphere,with an effect on all of my instruments.The shockwave passed the ACE satellite at 11.52 UTC,just 44 minutes earlier.
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Bizarro Earth

Rare Waterspout Outbreak Hits Lake Michigan; More Possible Today

Julie Hoogland
MLive.com
Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:02 UTC
Watersprout
© National Weather Service and James HallA Lake Michigan waterspout seen from Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee Saturday.
The westside of Lake Michigan put on an impressive waterspout show on Saturday for residents of the Chicago and Milwaukee areas, who saw dozens of the funnel clouds and captured the outbreaks on photo and video. (Videos below.)

Lake Michigan could churn up isolated waterspouts again today, the Grand Rapids National Weather Service office said in its hazardous weather and nearshore marine forecasts.

Cold unstable air and warm water, creating a 25 degree temperature difference, were the two important ingredients that came together Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

The conditions produced "a rare outbreak of waterspouts stretching from off shore of Milwaukee, south to the Chicagoland area," the NWS Milwaukee office said. Its full explanation and more photos are available here.

The NWS office in Chicago explains how meteorologists forecast waterspouts here.
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Cloud Lightning

Hilary weakens some, drops to Category 3 hurricane


Kansas City Star
Sat, 24 Sep 2011 11:12 UTC
hurricane, hillary
This NOAA satellite image taken Friday, September 23, 2011 at 1:45 PM EDT shows Tropical Storm Ophelia located about 635 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands. The system remains at tropical storm strength with maximum sustained winds up to 40 mph. The forecast storm track takes the system northward through the Atlantic Ocean, and is not a threat to the Gulf of Mexico or the East Coast of the U.S.
Forecasters say Hilary has weakened overnight from a Category 4 hurricane to a still-dangerous Category 3 storm as it churns up heavy surf along Mexico's Pacific coast.

Hilary was a Category 4 storm late Saturday evening, with maximum sustained winds near 135 mph (217 kph). But the National Hurricane Center reported at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) Sunday that the winds had decreased to near 125 mph (205 kph).

The center says Hilary is a small hurricane centered about 420 miles (675 kilometers) south-southeast of the southern tip of Baja California. Forecasters say the storm was moving west at 9 mph (15 kph).

The hurricane is not forecast to make landfall as it slowly weakens, but Mexico's southwestern coast continues to be affected by heavy surf from Hilary.
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