Storms
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Boat

Heavy rainfall causes floods, cars washed away in Minas Gerais, Brazil

flood
The heavy downpour in Uberlândia (Minas Gerais) on Sunday, January 16, flooded homes and businesses in the city.

The city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, registered floods in several areas after heavy rainfall on Sunday afternoon, January 16.

Videos show the damage caused by the waters, which swept away cars and flooded homes and stores.

The Uberlândia City Hall said on social networks that an emergency task force was set up to mitigate the impacts of the rain.


Snowflake Cold

Winter storm leaves more than 25,000 Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity

A powerful storm has left thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity Saturday.
© CBCA powerful storm has left thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity Saturday.
A powerful nor'easter working its way across the province left more than 25,000 Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity Saturday and has cancelled many flights at the Halifax airport.

As of 4:30 p.m. AT, the utility said 25,244 customers did not have power.

The outages covered the entire mainland, with a few hundred people in Cape Breton without power.

In a news release issued Saturday morning, Nova Scotia Power said the company had more than 500 people in the field working to restore power.

Speaking to CBC News on Saturday afternoon, Lia MacDonald, vice-president of transmission, distribution and delivery for Nova Scotia Power, said crews were working to restore power to most parts of the province by Saturday evening subject to weather conditions.


Tornado1

Multiple tornadoes spawned by winter storm damage homes in Florida

damage
Tornadoes spawned by a powerful winter storm moving across the South damaged several homes in southwest Florida Sunday morning.

Video on social media showed multiple waterspouts roaring ashore in Lee County. Waterspouts are just tornadoes over water. When they reach land they are considered tornadoes.

Those tornadoes caused damage across the Fort Myers metro area, the Lee County Sheriff's office confirmed, and injured at least one person.

Fire Department officials in Lee County said 20 homes were destroyed at an RV park in the Fort Myers area, the Associated Press reported. Up to 200 people were forced out of their homes due to the damage, WINK news reports.


Snowflake Cold

6 die due to heavy snowfall in Japan - 21 inches in just 12 hours, bad weather expected to continue

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Six people have died as a strong winter pressure pattern around Japan on Jan. 13 has led to heavy snowfall concentrated on the Sea of Japan side of the northern to western parts of the country.

Amid concerns that heavy snow will continue to fall into Jan. 14, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is urging vigilance against high waves in the Sea of Japan side of the eastern to western parts of the country, and of blizzards and other conditions causing traffic disruptions in northern Japan.

According to the JMA, snow is expected to settle on the plains of the country's Pacific Ocean side through Jan. 14. Due to the effects of an atmospheric pressure trough, there are fears of localized heavy snowfall primarily in parts of central Japan's Hokuriku region.


Snowflake

Snowcat completely buried by recent snowfall in Wolf Creek Ski Area, Colorado - 18 feet of snow so far this season

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© Augie SparrowUnder the snow
Crews at Wolf Creek Ski Area in Pagosa Springs had to do some serious shoveling to dig out buried treasure!

One of their snowcats was completely covered by the recent snowfall.

The only indication of its location was a pole sticking up out of the snow.


They shared photos of the giant project on social media.

"Mining for the goods... extraction of the Horseshoe Bowl Snowcat has begun."

Comment: Related: Yakutat in Alaska declares disaster emergency, citing an imminent threat of roofs collapsing due to heavy snow loads


Boat

Thousands displaced, at least 15 dead after more floods and landslides in Minas Gerais, Brazil - 8 inches of rain in 24 hours

Floods in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil, January 2021.
© Prefeitura de BrumadinhoFloods in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil, January 2021.
Heavy rainfall of more than 200mm in 24 hours in some areas has caused further flooding and landslides in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, where at least 15 people have died in the last few days.

Around 1,200 people have been displaced after wide areas of Brumadinho Municipality were flooded from the overflowing Paraopeba River on 11 January. Civil Defence also reported that 5 people died in a landslide caused by heavy rain in the municipality. Brumadinho is the location of the tailings dam tragedy of January 2019 where 270 people died.

Over 10,000 people were displaced by flooding from the overflowing Doce River in Governor Valadares municipality from around 12 January 2022. Minas Gerais Civil Defence reported around 55,000 people affected by the floods.


Attention

Geomagnetic storm watch issued for Earth: Impact possible late Saturday

NASA equipment can help scientists determine the impacts from coronal holes.
© NASANASA equipment can help scientists determine the impacts from coronal holes.
According to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), G1-class geomagnetic storm is forecast to impact the planet on January 15.

In the latest update from the SWPC, they say the area of impact will primarily be poleward of 60 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude. In this region, weak power grid fluctuations can occur on Earth. In space, minor impact on satellite operations are possible. Elsewhere, Mother Nature may light up the skies more south than usual; aurora could be visible at high latitudes across the northern tier of the United States, such as northern Michigan and Maine.

"Enhanced conditions are expected late on January 15 as a recurrent, negative-polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) becomes geoeffective," said the SWPC in their latest Forecast Discussion.


Snowflake Cold

Snow storms hit northern, northeastern Japan - foot of snow in just 3 hours

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Rapidly developing low-pressure systems are bringing snowstorms to Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido and northeastern region of Tohoku.

The Japan Meteorological Agency says the wintry pressure patterns caused by the two low-pressure systems -- one in the Sea of Japan and the other near Hokkaido -- are bringing heavy snow in northern Japan, Hokuriku and the central region of Tokai.

Otoineppu Village in Hokkaido saw 31 centimeters of snowfall during the three hours to 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

Strong winds are blowing mainly in coastal areas. Gusts of nearly 130 kilometers per hour were recorded in Honbetsu Town, Hokkaido, during the three hours.


Weather officials are warning that blizzards in northern Japan could make driving difficult with nearly zero visibility.


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Waterspout in the Bali Strait, Indonesia

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It was observed on Tuesday 11th from the ASDP Ketapang harbour, in the city of Banyuwangi, on the eastern tip of the island of Java, Indonesia.


Cloud Precipitation

Schools and roads closed as flash floods hit south-west France

The river Gave d'Oloron overflowed its banks on Jan. 10, as heavy rain soaked France'sPyrenees mountains, causing widespread flooding.
The river Gave d'Oloron overflowed its banks on Jan. 10, as heavy rain soaked France'sPyrenees mountains, causing widespread flooding.
Parts of south-west France have been hit by electricity outages and road and rail disruption today (January 10) as heavy rain causes flash floods and high river levels in several departments.

Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes, Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Garonne and Ariège are all under a red weather alert for heavy rain and/or flooding, while Gers and Tarn-et-Garonne have been placed on an orange warning for flooding.

At the time of the last Météo France update, a total of 50-80mm of rain was predicted on lower ground, 100-130mm in the Pyrenean foothills and 150-250mm in the mountains.