Storms
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Cloud Lightning

Polish hikers killed by lightning in Pieniny mountains


BBC
Sat, 28 Jul 2012 17:32 UTC
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© ReutersA storm punctuated by repeated lightning strikes hit the area where the four hikers were last seen.
Four people hiking in mountains in southern Poland were killed by lightning, Polish media report.

The four, a couple in their 50s, their daughter and her boyfriend were last seen on Wednesday when they went off the trail in search of shelter from a violent storm.

Their bodies were found on Friday at the bottom of a ravine in the Pieniny mountains, near the Slovak border.
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Cloud Lightning

Arizona 'Haboob' Dust Storm Hits Phoenix Area

Darren Halas
Z6Mag
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 03:57 UTC
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© twitpic.com/aamwfv
Yes, the name sounds a little crazy, but the term often associated with a major dust storm in an arid region is called a haboob. It's Arabic for "strong wind" and is something people living in Arizona and the Phoenix area are becoming used to.

The massive Arizona dust storm slammed into the Phoenix area on Saturday July 21st, 2012. The dust storm was relentless with extremely strong winds knocking out power to over 9,000 customers as reported by the Tucson Citzen. Other areas close by effected by the dust storm were Mesa, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Apache Junction, Santan Valley, Chandler and Casa Grande.

The winds reached gusts as high as 45mph throughout the Phoenix area. Some drivers had to pull of off the road due to zero visibility situations from the thick cloud of dust spreading across the city. Some area residents reported damages to roofs and vehicles. One resident of the Tempe area shared a video on YouTube that you can watch below that showed their roof being nearly ripped off.

People have been sharing numerous pictures & tweets from Twitter of the storm that they are hash tagging as #haboob. Some of their accounts are below:
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Cloud Lightning

El Nino could strike as early as third quarter forecaster warns

Rene Pastor
Reuters
Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:55 UTC
El Nino
© File / NOAAThis satellite image illustrates the classic El Nino condition of warm water piling up in the eastern Pacific.
The feared El Nino weather phenomenon could strike as early as the third quarter of 2012, raising prospects of wreaking weather havoc from North and South America to Asia, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said on Thursday.

"Overall, the forecaster consensus reflects increased chances for El Nino beginning in July-September 2012," the agency said in a monthly update.

The monthly report is the strongest prediction yet about when the El Nino weather phenomenon could emerge this year. Last month, it issued an El Nino watch, warning the phenomenon could materialize in the second half of the year, but said conditions were still neutral between June and August.
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Cloud Lightning

4 tornadoes confirmed in Saskatchewan


CBC News
Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:15 UTC
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© Kathy RosenkranzA twister was reported near Davin, Sask., 36 kilometres east of Regina.
Environment Canada says four tornadoes have been confirmed in Saskatchewan Tuesday afternoon by trained spotters.

Officials said one twister hit an area west of the town of Assiniboia, a second touched down near the village of Fillmore, a third hit an area southwest of the town of Grenfell and the fourth was caught on tape by a storm chaser just east of Regina near the Town of Balgonie.

Greg Johnson, a dedicated tornado hunter, was following a late afternoon storm that roared through southern Saskatchewan Tuesday.

He said the twister touched ground for about six or seven minutes on a farm property about 10 kilometres south of the Trans-Canada Highway near Balgonie.

"We watched it rip through a farmyard," Johnson said. "[It] kicked up a lot of debris. We stopped in at the home and fortunately everything was OK. The house was spared but a number of the outbuildings were destroyed."
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Umbrella

Flooding in Central Nigeria Kills at Least 35

Anne Look
Voice of America
Tue, 24 Jul 2012 04:48 UTC
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© BBCSeveral neighbourhoods of Jos city were inundated with the flood waters
Rescue workers in central Nigeria continue to search for survivors of flooding that has killed at least 35 people and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Rescue workers say dozens of residents are missing after a flash flood early Monday left hundreds homeless and at least 35 dead in the central Nigerian city of Jos.

The flood waters are receding, but residents said the tragedy is far from over. Families searched their homes for salvageable belongings on Tuesday, while others mourned the loss of loved ones.

Abdullhamid Useni lost seven of his children. He says the family was sleeping when the flood waters came. He says they tried, but could not get everyone out. He says he has recovered six of the children's bodies, but the house collapsed Monday before he could reach the last one. The family is hungry, he says, and needs food.
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Cloud Lightning

Severe Storms, Derecho Possible in Northeast Tomorrow

Brian K. Sullivan
Bloomberg
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:33 UTC
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© National Weather ServiceThree-dimensional schematic of a mature derecho showing inflow and outflow channels
A derecho, the kind of storm that knocked out power to millions in Washington last month, may accompany bad weather forecast for New York City and the rest of the Northeast tomorrow, the U.S. Storm Prediction Center said.

There's a moderate chance the rare windstorm will develop in an area from Indiana to Massachusetts, the center said on its website. The region is also at risk for severe thunderstorms, hail and possible tornadoes after noon, according to John Hart, a meteorologist at the agency's Norman, Oklahoma, offices.

"The environment is going to be favorable for considerably severe weather right across the area even if we don't get a derecho," Hart said by telephone.
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Attention

Another landslide in Dorset, England: Woman trapped under rocks

Matthew Taylor and Steven Morris
The Guardian
Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:20 UTC
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© Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesEmergency services at the beach near Bridport, Dorset, where this week's landslide struck.
Rescuers are searching for a young woman trapped after a cliff in Dorset collapsed sending hundreds of tons of earth and rock onto a busy beach.

Horrified onlookers - including the woman's father and boyfriend - tried to get to her before another huge section of cliff gave way, forcing them back.

Gary Rafferty, 36, from Bournemouth, went to help when the first part of the cliff collapsed. "I rushed to help and helped a man aged in his 50s out of the debris. I saw his son who had also been trapped. I said to him 'are you alright' and he said 'no, my girlfriend's trapped under there.' He was quite hysterical."

Rafferty said they had struggled to reach the woman before the second landslide struck.

Comment: 17 July 2012: Two feared dead in English landslide as worsening weather causes chaos

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Arrow Down

Flash floods and mudslides in Austria leave 1 dead and isolate dozens of Alpine villages


Extinction Protocol
Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:24 UTC
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Heavy rains hit the province of Styria, in central Austria, causing floods, landslides and mudslides. One person has been killed in Austria after torrential rains triggered mudslides and flooding across several provinces. Whole provinces were inundated with rivers of mud. 360 people living in an alpine region were forced to evacuate their homes after a torrent of mud swept through. The rain has destroyed houses, cut off villages and damaged roads. More rain is forecast over the coming days.


Source: Sky News
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Cloud Lightning

Huddled in Beijing As 20-Hour Killer Storm Strikes City

Sarah Simpson
Discovery News
Mon, 23 Jul 2012 20:36 UTC
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I was stunned to learn that a 20-hour thunderstorm that kept my family huddled in our Beijing apartment all day Saturday killed at least 37 people.

Late Sunday the Beijing city government issued a statement saying that 25 people drowned, six were crushed in collapsed homes, one was hit by lightning and five were electrocuted by fallen power lines. That death toll is more than double the dozen deaths reported earlier that day.

Overall, the rain and flooding in Beijing and its suburbs forced evacuation of nearly 57,000 residents and caused damage of at least 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), the official China Daily newspaper added this morning. That doesn't count the death and destruction from dozens of other storms reported elsewhere in the country.

Whew! Even as the storm progressed, I'd had no idea we were experiencing the heaviest rain to hit China's capital in six decades.
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Cloud Lightning

Mudslides and Flooding Devastate Austria

Phase Super
YouTube
Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:37 UTC
Mudslides and flooding in Austria have left one man dead and many other people injured.

Hundreds were evacuated from their homes and some villages were cut off.
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