Storms
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Snowflake

Winter storm moving into Las Vegas area

Dave Toplikar
Las Vegas Sun
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:09 UTC
High winds today, rain tonight and possibly some snow on Saturday for western foothills of Spring Mountains, forecasters say

Get ready for a mostly cloudy and breezy day, with winds gusting as high as 50 mph in the Las Vegas Valley.

Temperatures will climb to the low 60s today, but the National Weather Service has issued weather advisories and warnings as a winter storm rolls in tonight, bringing wet weather and snow for the weekend.

The wind advisory, which runs from 10 a.m. today until 1 a.m. Saturday, includes Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Summerlin, Nellis, Mountains Edge, Seven Hills and Blue Diamond, the weather service said.
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Cloud Lightning

Heavy Rain, Winds Bring Flood Threat to U.S. Northeast

Brian K. Sullivan
Bloomberg
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 05:05 UTC
Flights to airports in parts of the U.S. Northeast were delayed as much as three hours or more as a storm packing 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain and wind gusts as high as 60 mph (97 kph) moved across the northern U.S.

Winter storm warnings range from Ohio to Maine, while high wind warnings and watches extend from North Carolina to Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service (link). Almost 1,100 flights were canceled today, the FlightAware tracking service reported.

A cold front will move through the New York City area about 3 p.m., raising sustained winds to as high as 30 mph with gusts of 60 mph or higher, said Lauren Nash, a weather service meteorologist in Upton, New York.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Body of 4th Amish child swept away by flood waters found


wbir.com
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:22 UTC
Image
© unknown
Emergency workers in rural Kentucky have found the body of a fourth Amish child killed a buggy flipped in a rain-swollen creek.

The discovery dashed hopes that the 11-year-old girl might have been alive and clinging to a tree or rock through the night.
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Bizarro Earth

The Mysterious Rumble of Thundersnow

Dauna Coulter
NASA
Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:58 UTC


NASA atmospheric scientists got an unexpected chance to study a curious phenomenon called "thundersnow" when a recent storm unleashed it right over their heads.

Walt Petersen and Kevin Knupp have traveled far and wide to study winter storms. They never dreamed that the most extraordinary one they'd see - featuring freakish thundersnow, a 50-mile long lightning bolt, and almost a dozen gravity waves -- would erupt in their own back yards. The storm hit Huntsville, Alabama, on the evening of January 9th.

"This incredible storm rolled right over the National Space Science and Technology Center where we work," says Knupp. "What luck!"

Snowstorms usually slip in silently, with soft snowflakes drifting noiselessly to Earth. Yet this Alabama snowstorm swept in with the fanfare of lightning and the growl of thunder.

Eyewitness Steve Coulter described the night's events: "It was as if a wizard was hurling lightning behind a huge white curtain. The flashes, muted inside thick, low hanging clouds, glowed purplish blue, like light through a prism. And then the thunder rumbled deep and low. This was one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced.'"
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Bizarro Earth

NASA Captures Massive Dust Plume Over Mediterranean


The Big Wobble
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:07 UTC
As protests continue to rock North Africa, heavy winter winds are also kicking up huge dust storms.

Image
© Nasa
On Wednesday, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured a photo of a massive dust plume over the Mediterranean Sea. The cloud of debris spans hundreds of miles--from the coast of Egypt, slightly west of the Nile River delta, all the way to Crete.

Though the source of the plume is not apparent from the photograph, NASA believes it to be a result of huge dust storms that occurred recently over Egypt and Libya.

Take a look at the dust plume in the natural-color photo (below), and scroll down further to see the storm that may have caused it. Then, look through our slideshow of the world's most severe snowstorms seen from space.
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Igloo

US: A Snowy Drought In January


Earth Observatory
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:01 UTC
Snow Cover
© NASA Earth ObservatoryNASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, based on data from the MODIS Snow and Sea Ice Global Mapping Project.
January 2011 was marked by a series of crippling snow storms across the United States. By January 12, about 71 percent of the country had snow on the ground, the fifth-largest snow cover extent in the last 45 years. This image, made with data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite (from the monthly snow cover product), shows the maximum snow cover for the month. The image shows that every state in the contiguous United States, with the exception of Florida, got snow in January.

The image provides a gauge for both snow extent and the length of time snow stayed on the ground. Areas that are white in this image were entirely covered with snow for most of the month. Pale green areas had snow for just part of the month or were only partly snowy, with areas of exposed ground. Dark green areas are places where MODIS did not observe snow during the month. The sensor does not see through clouds, so it does not see snow that is only on the ground on cloudy days.

With all the snow, it would be easy to think that the United States received plenty of winter moisture, but snow is deceptive. It takes about 10 inches of fresh snow to make an inch of liquid water when it melts. The winter storms brought more snow, but less rain to much of the United States, said the National Climatic Data Center. January 2011 was the ninth-driest January in the United States in 117 years. The southern half of the country was particularly hard hit. New Mexico experienced its driest January on record.
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Igloo

US: Cold, Snow To Put Icy Grip On Bay Area Starting Thursday Evening


CBS News
Wed, 23 Feb 2011 04:40 UTC
Image
© San Francisco ChronicleOne to two inches of snow fell in San Francisco on February 5, 1976, and dusting the Marin Headlands
Cold, wet weather will once again put an icy grip on the Bay Area as we head toward this weekend, bringing with it a chance that San Francisco residents could see some snow, forecasters said Wednesday.

Talk began swirling in recent days that snow could drop on San Francisco for the first time in 35 years.

National Weather Service forecaster Bob Benjamin said that while snow would likely fall at elevations lower than last weekend, it was still too soon to know for certain if there would be flurries in the city.

If the coldest predictions materialize, "In some form, people at or near sea level will see snow in the air," Benjamin said.

A southern-moving unstable cold front carrying moisture was expected to coast into the Bay Area come late Thursday, Benjamin said.

The front was expected to sit over the Bay Area and by Sunday morning bring record-breaking cold temperatures, with 20s to lower 30s forecast over the North Bay valleys, upper 20s to lower 30s around most of the San Francisco Bay shoreline southward through the Santa Clara and Salinas valleys. Higher elevation spots were expected to mostly be in the 20s.
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Bizarro Earth

Bolivia: 50 Dead in Floods, Declares State of Emergency


Arirang
Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:09 UTC
Image
At least 50 people have been killed and tens of thousands left homeless after torrential rains hit Bolivia.

Spanish news agency EFE reported on Tuesday that the government has declared a state of emergency after flash floods and landslides swept through the country, caused by heavy rain that has continued since the beginning of the year.

The downpour has caused river levels to rise, leaving some 20 highways underwater.

Bolivia's defense minister promised 20 million US dollars in emergency aid to use for reconstructing the affected areas and help residents in those regions.
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Snowman

Canada: Snow Blankets Victoria and Fraser Valley


CBC News
Wed, 23 Feb 2011 04:07 UTC
Heavy snow blanketed many areas of the South Coast of B.C. on Wednesday morning, including Victoria and the Fraser Valley between Chilliwack and Hope, causing traffic chaos on the roads.

East of Vancouver, Highway 1 eastbound near Lickman Road was shut down after a semi truck jackknifed. There were reports of several other vehicles in the ditches slowing traffic in other areas.

The cold conditions are forecast to continue for the next few days, but most of the snow is expected to pass south of Vancouver.

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Cloud Lightning

Australia: Tropical Cyclone Carlos hits mining, oil


Agence France-Presse
Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:01 UTC
Image
© Melissa Taniora60 homes in Karratha are without power after lines came down in a mini tornado yesterday
A tropical cyclone lashing Australia's northwest mining coast Tuesday damaged dozens of homes and forced the closure of offshore oil rigs and ports handling iron-ore exports, officials said. Tropical Cyclone Carlos, measuring category two on a five-point scale, howled along Western Australia's Pilbara coast, shutting Port Hedland -- the nation's biggest iron-ore terminal -- and halting offshore oil drilling. The companies BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both have major iron-ore projects in the Pilbara region, and they said the wild weather had also forced the closure of rail and roads.

Woodside Petroleum, Australia's second-largest energy firm, froze production at its Enfield and Cossack Pioneer platforms, while Apache also halted work at its Stag and Van Gogh fields. Mining towns including Karratha and Dampier were on red alert as Carlos battered the coast, bringing heavy rains and winds gusting in excess of 140 kilometres (87 miles) per hour, emergency officials said. "There is a threat to lives and homes. You are in danger and need to act immediately," the Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) warned residents, advising them to shelter in the safest part of their house.
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