Storms
S


Igloo

Arizona cities buried in rare snowstorm as much of U.S. enjoys balmy weather


The Christian Science Monitor
Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:58 UTC
Image
© Joshua Lott/REUTERSFlagstaff, Arizona was hit with a late winter storm that dumped more than of foot of snow in the area on March 18.
A winter storm and high winds struck parts of Arizona and New Mexico on Sunday, causing hazardous driving conditions, power outages and school cancellations. The fast moving storm forced the National Weather Service to place parts of northern New Mexico under a winter storm warning until midnight Monday as heavy snow and wind from Arizona quickly blanketed the area.

The electric company PNM reported that around 33,000 customers were out of power at one point Sunday afternoon in the Albuquerque area due to high winds. A spokesman for PNM said emergency crews were working to restore power, and by 9 p.m. the number without electricity was down to 4,500.

Heavy winds and blowing dust forced the closure of parts Interstate 10 in southern New Mexico due to low visibility, but the road was back open later in the day. A flight carrying the University of New Mexico men's basketball team home after its loss in the NCAA tournament was delayed due to high winds.

Arizona Department of Transportation crews were fully deployed Sunday after heavy snow in Arizona fell from Flagstaff to the White Mountains. The winter storm forced officials to temporary close Interstate 40 in both directions and parts of Interstate 17. Both highways later reopened Sunday afternoon.
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Umbrella

Australia: Cyclone Lua hammers the Pilbara region


ABC News
Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:10 UTC

As residents in Western Australia's Pilbara region assess the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Lua overnight, Queensland's Gulf communities are being warned to prepare for a cyclone heading their way.

Pilbara residents emerged from a night of wild weather this morning after a cyclone crossed the coast north of Port Hedland as a category four system yesterday afternoon, before later weakening to category two strength.

There are reports of extensive damage at the small community of Pardoo, while Nullagine, Newman and Marble Bar were also in the firing line overnight.
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Cloud Lightning

St. Patrick's Day Strong Storms: Missouri to Indiana

Kristina Pydynowski,
AccuWeather.com
Sat, 17 Mar 2012 12:43 UTC
Image
© Paul KPhoto of a towering thunderstorm cloud, submitted by AccuWeather.com Facebook fan Paul K. on Saturday.
Strong thunderstorms are threatening to ruin St. Patrick's Day celebrations from southern Missouri to southern Indiana into this evening.

The stage is set for potent thunderstorms to erupt from St. Louis and Poplar Bluff, Mo., to Louisville, Ky., with record warmth and moist air in place.

Other cities at risk include Cape Girardeau, Mo., Paducah, Ky., and Evansville, Ind.

Some of the same areas being threatened this St. Patrick's Day were the targets of the massive tornado outbreak earlier this month.

A repeat of that outbreak is not expected since any tornado that touches down into this evening will be an isolated event. Damaging winds, hail and downpours are greater concerns.
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Cloud Lightning

Washington state dust storm


The Guardian
Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:18 UTC
A severe dust storm sweeps through Washington state, causing five vehicles to crash on a major road 160 miles south-east of Seattle. State officials closed the road for five hours. One man was taken to hospital for treatment, according to Washington state police

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Evil Rays

Scientists detect unusual seismic signals from tornado


Terra Daily / SPX
Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:15 UTC
Image
© Unknown
An Indiana University geophysical experiment detected unusual seismic signals associated with tornadoes that struck regions across the Midwest last week - information that may have value for meteorologists studying the atmospheric activity that precedes tornado disasters. The experiment by IU researchers involves deployment of more than 100 state-of-the-art digital seismographs in a broad swath of the U.S. midcontinent. One of the twisters that struck southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois on Feb. 29 passed through the seismic detection array.

"In examining the seismograms, we recorded unusual seismic signals on three of our stations in southern Illinois," said Michael Hamburger, professor in the department of geological sciences at IU Bloomington and one of the researchers conducting the experiment. "The seismograms show a strong, low-frequency pulse beginning around 4:45 a.m. on Feb. 29. Our preliminary interpretation, based on other seismic records of tornadoes, suggests that we were recording not the tornado itself, but a large atmospheric pressure transient related to the large thunderstorms that spawned the tornadoes."
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Attention

White Cliffs of Dover Suffer Large Collapse

Rob Cooper
The Daily Mail
Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:03 UTC
Thousands of tons of chalk from the famous White Cliffs of Dover have collapsed into the sea following a huge rockfall.

Tons of cliff-face sheared off near an area known as Crab Bay, but no-one was injured, the coastguard said.

The collapse may have been caused by rain over the winter months being absorbed into the chalk and freezing.
White cliff rockslide
© John McLellanAn aerial view of the latest chalk slip at the White Cliffs of Dover
The collapse may have been caused by rain over the winter months being absorbed into the chalk and freezing here.

Comment: Considering the sentimental value the Cliffs have for the British people, a collapse of this magnitude could be taken as a symbol of their current state.

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Cloud Lightning

NASA sees double tropical trouble in northern Australia


PhysOrg.com
Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:11 UTC
When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over northern Australia on March 12 at 1711 UTC and March 13 at 0539 UTC it captured the two tropical disturbances close enough to appear on one image. Tropical Cyclone Lau appears on the left side of both days of satellite imagery, while System 96P appears on the right side of the images. Lua is located in the Southern Indian Ocean, while System 96P is in the Southern Pacific Ocean. Both systems seemed to grow closer over the two days and both are affecting coastal areas in northern Australia on March 13.

Aqua captured an infrared image of both storms' cloud top temperatures using the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument. AIRS data showed that the coldest cloud top temperatures were colder than -63F/-52.7C around the center of circulation in both systems.
Image
© NASA/JPL, Ed Olsen
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Cloud Lightning

Louisiana: 15 inches of rain in five hours


MSNBC
Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:20 UTC

States of emergency were in force Tuesday in four Louisiana parishes after torrential rain left homes and roads under several feet of water. Hundreds fled their homes and dozens of motorists had to be rescued.

Flooding closed the major highway through St. Landry Parish, and many roads across the four parishes remained closed on Tuesday.

"In my 28 years in law enforcement I have never seen the interstate closed," St. Landry Sheriff's Capt. Jimmy Darbonne told weather.com.

Dozens of homes in Carencro, a town in Lafayette Parish, were evacuated on Monday when some 15 inches of rain fell within five hours.

"We had up to 7 feet of water on some streets," said Capt. Kip Judice, the local sheriff's spokesman. "We had no deaths or injuries but a lot of near calls."
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Bizarro Earth

Rare Tornado Touches Down on Oahu


MSNBC
Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:00 UTC
Tornado Damage
© Craig T. Kojima / staradvertiser.comA home in Lanikai was severely damaged by a waterspout that came ashore in Oahu on Friday, March 9. The front and back of home was damaged.
A rare tornado blew roofs off homes and left other damage in its path through the Hawaiian communities of Lanikai and Enchanted Lake on Oahu, weather officials confirmed Friday.

A National Weather Service team surveying damage and talking to witnesses determined a waterspout came ashore and was reclassified as a tornado in Lanikai about 7:30 a.m. The 20-yard-wide tornado traveled about 1.5 miles in 15 minutes to Enchanted Lake with wind speeds reaching 60 to 70 mph before dissipating, officials said.

Hawaii, known for its famous sunshine, has been hit with unusually harsh weather for about a week.

A 30-minute hail storm on Friday in Oahu was "unprecedented ," Tom Birchard, senior meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Honolulu, told the Associated Press. Some of the hail stones have been unusually large for the islands -- the size of marbles and discs more than a half inch long, weather.com reported.
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Stop

Weather bomb hits New Zealand, afterwards, huge eels found swimming in the streets

Anthony Bond
The Daily Mail
Mon, 05 Mar 2012 02:18 UTC
They are one of the least attractive of all fish species and are normally found lurking in oceans and rivers.

But when part of New Zealand was hit by a 'weather bomb' recently, a number of eels suddenly sprung up in some surprising locations.

Residents in one street in Masterton, Wellington, were left shocked to discover dozens of the slimy creatures swimming in large puddles and gutters in the road.

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© YoutubeSlimy: When part of New Zealand was hit by a 'weather bomb' recently, a number of eels suddenly sprung up in the streets
Image
© YoutubeWhat lies beneath: Residents in a street in Masterton, Wellington, discovered dozens of eels swimming in large puddles and gutters
People could be spotted in the streets attempting to help the eels back into deeper water as a number became stranded on the side of the road.

It follows days of appalling weather in the region.
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