Storms
S


Bizarro Earth

US: 'Wild and Weird' Weather Leaves its Mark

Doyle Rice and William M. Welch
USA Today
Wed, 08 Jun 2011 01:08 UTC
Image
© Joe Gamm, The Amarillo Globe News, via APJames Dickinson, left, and Alton Pickup of the United States Forest Service Task Force attempt to slow the spread of a wildfire in Randall County, Texas, on May 25.
Monster tornadoes, historic floods, massive wildfires and widespread drought: Springtime has delivered a wallop of weather-related destruction and misery across much of the nation this year. And it may all be related.

Never mind the debate over global warming, its possible causes and effects. We've got "global weirding."

That's how climatologist Bill Patzert describes the wide range of deadly weather effects that have whipped the nation this year, killing hundreds of people and doing billions of dollars in damage to homes, businesses, schools and churches.

"Sometimes it gets wild and weird," says Patzert, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Floods Swamp Earthquake-Ravaged Haiti, Killing 23

Clarens Renois
Agence France-Presse
Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:02 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse / Thony BelizaireChildren make their way to school through a flooded area in Port-au-Prince
Torrential rains lashed Haiti on Tuesday, flooding shanty towns, swamping the squalid camps erected after a 2010 earthquake and killing at least 23 people, officials said.

The worst rains to hit the impoverished country this year -- at the start of the hurricane season -- paralyzed the capital, where most of the deaths took place, according to officials at Haiti's civil protection agency.

Thunderstorms were pounding several north Caribbean islands early Tuesday, but there was little chance of the large low pressure area developing into a hurricane, according to the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Several days of rain had already swelled rivers, however, and the NHC warned of "flash floods and mudslides over portions of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cuba."

Haiti was most at risk of devastation from the wet weather, due to its crumbling infrastructure and ramshackle shelters for tens of thousands left homeless after the catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake in January 2010.

Health officials here also fear an uptick in fatalities from a cholera outbreak that erupted last October. The diarrheal illness thrives in crowded areas where people rely on contaminated water.
Read More...
Snowman

Cold Snap Across South East Australia Brings Wind, Rain and Snow


news.com.au
Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:57 UTC
The ski season is off to a great start, as a cold snap this week will send temperatures plummeting across south-east Australia.

Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Floods Kill 14 In Drought-Stricken China


Sky News
Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:46 UTC
China flood
Vehicles battled the flood waters as streets were turned into rivers
Floodwaters have killed 14 people and left scores missing in China's southwest as other parts of the country suffer their worst drought in 50 years.

The provincial civil affairs bureau said the rain-triggered floods had hit 11 cities and counties in the Guizhou province since Friday, affecting at least 270,000 people.

At least 35 people are missing in the floods, which have toppled thousands of homes, washed away hundreds of cars and destroyed roads and bridges.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Huge Spinning Storm off California... in June!


ModernSurvivalBlog.com
Sat, 04 Jun 2011 09:32 UTC
Having lived in California for 14 years, I have never seen a storm like this during June. It is unheard of. Typically the rainy season has ended long ago, by this time of year.

Image
© Navall Research Laboratory
The size of this monster storm is nearly 1,000 miles in diameter and is nearly perfectly symmetrical! Parts of California are currently getting pummeled with bands of record breaking rainfall for this time of year, while the storm is forecast to continue spinning its way east towards the coast.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

US: Tornadoes and Floods ... and Now Hurricane Season

Janet McConnaughey
The Miami Herald
Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
hurricane season
The spring of tornadoes and floods has made Mississippi and Alabama more prepared for the summer hurricane season, rather than stretching their resources too thin, emergency directors said Friday.

The tornadoes that hit Alabama on April 27 - part of a four-day outbreak that killed more than 300 people in the South and Midwest - showed an emergency preparedness gap created by the state's largest deployment ever of National Guard troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, said Art Faulkner, director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

The National Weather Service said 58 tornadoes touched down in Alabama, killing more than 230 people and injuring thousands. Put together, emergency management officials say the twisters left a path of destruction 10 miles wide and 610 miles long, or about as far as a drive from Birmingham to Columbus, Ohio.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

US: Rare twisters stun Massachusetts survivors

John Pape
Disaster News Network
Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:58 UTC
Image
© Elise Amendola/Associated PressTony Esposito surveys the rubble of his home in Monson, Mass., on Thursday, one day after it was destroyed by a tornado. Esposito said no one was injured at his home.
First tornado fatality in more than 60 years for New England state as survivors assess damages

Massachusetts remained under a state of emergency Thursday after the state was hit by a rare tornado outbreak that left four dead and more than 200 injured.

They were the first tornado deaths in the state in more than 60 years.

In all, as many as 19 different communities sustained damage as the storm front moved across the state late Wednesday afternoon, according to Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick.

Patrick declared a state of emergency Wednesday evening, only hours after the storm system tore though the central and western parts of the state. In response to the disaster declaration, the National Guard called up approximately 1,000 troops to assist in rescue and response efforts.
Read More...
Fish

US: Thousands lose power in Midlands storm

Clif LeBlanc
The (Columbia) State
Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:44 UTC
South Carolina--The vegetable refrigeration units were off, the greenhouse was dank and warm, and hundreds of tilapia were belly-up Friday morning when City Roots urban farm co-owner Eric McClam discovered his new business had no electricity.

An overnight storm with winds gusting to 60 mph ripped tree branches and popped transformers across the Columbia area, leaving up to 53,000 SCE&G customers in the dark, a utility company spokesman said Friday.

That peak of discomfort had eased by late Friday afternoon to 11,300 customers in Richland and Lexington, including McClam's three-acre farm in the Rosewood neighborhood near Jim Hamilton-L.B. Owens Airport. About 1,100 were in apartment complexes off I-20 and Broad River Road, according to a South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. website that tracks outages.
Read More...
Umbrella

Canada: Large hail pounds western Manitoba


CBC News
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:16 UTC
hail manitoba
© Brady Strachan/CBCHail larger than a quarter pummeled Souris on Thursday
Clusters of thunderstorms with extensive lightning and large hail are hitting some areas hard.

"These thunderstorms are tracking east-northeast at 50 km/h and have a history of producing hail the size of golf balls in Melita and Souris earlier this morning," stated a warning issued by Environment Canada at noon.

"Brandon and communities west and south of the city are in the direct path of the strongest thunderstorms in this cluster and should prepare for large hail."
Read More...
House

Canada: Lake Manitoba swallowed homes - residents


CBC News
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:06 UTC
manitoba storm damage
© CBCMany homes and cottages along the south shore of Lake Manitoba have been severely damaged by Tuesday's violent storm
Residents along Twin Beach Road worked hard to protect their properties from flooding, but their efforts proved no match for a storm packing 90 km/h winds on rain-swollen Lake Manitoba.

The storm hit on Tuesday, damaging numerous properties in the Rural Municipality of St. Laurent - Twin Lakes Beach, Laurentian Beach, Delta Beach, and Sandpiper Beach.

David Sawicky said Wednesday he had to wade into rising floodwaters at his home to rescue his father and his dog.

Still, Sawicky said, he didn't expect the damage to his property to be that bad.
Read More...