Storms
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Windsock

Tens of thousands still without power in Quebec, Canada after devastating wind storms


Montreal Gazette
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 14:00 UTC
Quebec wind storm
© Montreal Gazette/YouTube
Three days after devastating wind storms battered much of the province's power grid network and left nearly one million customers without electricity, Hydro-Québec reported on Monday that power has been restored to 94 per cent of its clientele.

"And 1,400 workers are on the ground to reconnect those 56,000 clients still without service," the utility announced on its Twitter account. "Our teams will continue to work until all Quebecers are reconnected."

As of 7 a.m. Monday, 56,781 customers remained in the dark, most of them in the Eastern Townships, the Montérégie and Chaudière-Appalaches regions and the Laurentians.

On Sunday, Hydro-Québec president Eric Martel warned that some areas would not be back on the grid before Tuesday or even Wednesday.

Martel said 70 per cent of the outages that had yet to be repaired affected no more than 20 clients each. He said power would be cut to some customers to allow repair crews to safely carry out their tasks.

The regions that remained without power Monday were those where high winds caused extensive damage to trees, which in turn fell on power lines. Repair crews in those areas prioritized the parts of the grid serving hospitals or water treatment plants.

About 50 schools remained closed on Monday because of the outages.

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Cloud Precipitation

Heavy rainfall and flooding hits Liguria, Italy - 2 inches of rain in 1 hour


IL Globo
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 12:45 UTC
Mayor of Sestri Levante, Valentina Ghio has issued a warning to all people instructing them to remain in their homes to avoid the flooding.
© ANSAMayor of Sestri Levante, Valentina Ghio has issued a warning to all people instructing them to remain in their homes to avoid the flooding.
The region of Liguria has been hit by extreme winds and rain, with many streets and piazzas flooded.

The Italian Riviera area is facing a red alert, with the town of Sestri Levante the most badly affected zone.

Sestri Levante was hit by 57.6 millimetres of rain in one hour.

These extreme levels of rain have caused the rivers to flood, with both the Vara and Petronio rivers rising to dangerous levels.

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Snowflake

It's dumping snow in the Alps and Pyrenees

Patrick Thorne
Inthesnow.com
Sun, 03 Nov 2019 20:11 UTC
Val Thorens
Val Thorens
A major storm system that's hitting the Western side of Europe is bringing heavy snow to the Alps and Pyrenees.

Snow forecasting agencies have been going big on what they're forecasting the storm to dump on ski slopes by the time it blows through on Tuesday/Wednesday, with some resorts predicted to get more than a metre of snow in total up high.

So far there aren't many pretty images, but here's what Courmayeur looked like this afternoon.

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Cloud Lightning

Atlantic storm 'Amelie' batters southern France, leaving over 140,000 without electricity


France24
Sun, 03 Nov 2019 17:01 UTC
storm amalie france floods
© Iroz Gaizka, AFPA man runs by the sea in the Grande Plage of Biarritz in south western France on November 3, 2019, during Storm Amelie
Storm Amelie caused high winds to blast southwest France on Sunday, whipping up giant ocean waves, uprooting trees and leaving some 140,000 people without electricity, authorities said.

Fourteen of the country's 101 departments were placed on high alert as storm Amelie brought heavy rains to the Atlantic coast, with winds exceeding 160 kilometres per hour in places. Emergency services attended to hundreds of callouts as gusts dropped trees on roads and railway tracks, and tore loose live electrical cables.

By midday, rescue services and prefectures had reported only three minor injuries - including one hospitalisation - in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, mainly due to falling branches.


Comment: RT updates on Storm Amelie:
Photographs and videos taken along the coast show the mayhem caused by the terrifying winds, which reportedly surpassed 120kph (75mph) in some areas.


The department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques was hammered by violent waves, with footage showing buildings along the coast getting battered by the extreme weather.

A market in the commune of Martigues, located in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, was torn apart by high winds.




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Snowflake Cold

Best of the Web: Record low temps across much of U.S. threaten to wreck the rest of harvest season

Michael Snyder
End Of The American Dream
Thu, 31 Oct 2019 13:57 UTC
snow
It isn't supposed to be this cold in October. The official start of winter is still almost two months away, and yet the weather in much of the western half of the country right now resembles what we might expect in mid-January. All-time record lows for the month of October are being set in city after city, and this extremely cold air is going to push into the Midwest by the end of the week. Temperatures in the heartland will be up to 50 degrees below normal, and unfortunately about half of all corn still has not been harvested.

Due to unprecedented rainfall and extreme flooding early in the year, many farmers faced extraordinary delays in getting their crops planted, and so they were hoping that good weather at the end of the season would provide time for the crops to fully mature and be harvested. Unfortunately, a nightmare scenario has materialized instead. A couple of monster snow storms have already roared through the Midwest, and now record low temperatures threaten to absolutely wreck the rest of the harvest season.
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Cloud Lightning

Almost 1 million lose power after intense Halloween storm rolls through eastern US

Doug Stanglin
USA Today
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 13:55 UTC
US thunderstorms
© NASA/GOES-East


More than 800,000 customers in 14 states lost electricity as an intense line of thunderstorms swept moved across the eastern U.S. on Halloween knocking down trees and power lines.

As of 4 p.m. ET, more than 420,000 still remained without power in Connecticut, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, according to poweroutage.us, which monitors U.S. utilities systems.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency warned that some residents will likely be in the dark into the weekend following winds that topped 70 mph in the coastal town of Castine.

The Central Maine Power, the state's largest utility, was getting help from crews for other utilities, including some in Canada, and was trying to arrange even more help, but was hampered by damage all over the region.

The damaging winds were spawned by a cold front colliding with unusually warm and humid air in the east, including temperatures in the 70s in New York City and Washington, D.C., according to AccuWeather.com.

The 14 states were clustered in the Great Lakes, Northeast and mid-Atlantic areas that felt the brunt of the storm as it rolled east late Thursday and early Friday.
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Snowflake Cold

"Winterlike" storm breaks 100 year cold and snow records over US Mid West

Maura Kelly
AccuWeather
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 18:37 UTC
Mukwonago
© ABC News OneIn Mukwonago, Wisconsin, the early snowfall caused issues for drivers on the roads.
In Mukwonago, a suburb of Milwaukee, Halloween looked more like mid-winter on Thursday, and many residents struggled to get through the day.

An intensifying winterlike storm dumped disruptive snowfall across parts of the Midwest on Halloween -- and many cities smashed record snowfall amounts for the holiday. The late-month storm pushed October totals to rank among the top five snowiest on record in many locations.

The heaviest snow, up to 6 to 9 inches, buried communities from southern Wisconsin to northern parts of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Hundreds of flights were delayed and canceled across the region on Thursday, and roadway conditions deteriorated as the afternoon hours wore on and snowfall rates increased.
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Cloud Lightning

Best of the Web: Whoa! Lightning strike leaves 15-FOOT HOLE at gas station in Fort Worth, Texas


Strange Sounds
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 18:08 UTC

Comment: Until this happened in Texas yesterday, this wasn't known to have been physically possible...


lightning hole
A powerful lightning strike left a huge hole in a Fort Worth parking lot just after 6 a.m. on Shadydell Drive and Boat Club Road on October 30, 2019.

The parking lot, shared by a Chevron gas station and a strip center now has a 15 feet wide and 3 feet deep hole. I have never heard of such events. Pretty powerful lightning, isn't it?
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Snowflake

Snowy October in the Rockies with well above average snow falls - up to 1.2 metres (almost 4 feet)


Mountain Watch
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 20:04 UTC
Brighton, Utah two days ago.
Brighton, Utah two days ago on Oct 30th
It has been a good month for early season snow falls in the Rocky Mountains with resorts in Colorado, Utah and Alberta, Canada reporting snow totals up to 1.2 metres thanks to regular storms over the past few weeks.

The month finished with a bang with solid snow falls and cold temps combining to produce quality mid-winter powder over the past few days. However, with only a handful of resorts open, keen skiers were heading into the backcountry to enjoy it, but early season avalanche danger was a risk.

Two storms moved through earlier this week with Montana seeing the most snow, Bridger Bowl receiving 35.5cms on Tuesday night. Big Sky didn't miss out with another 28cms this week, taking the October total to 129.5cms, the resort's third snowiest October in 20 years.

In Utah, the resorts around Little Cottonwood Canyon enjoyed over 30cms in the past three days and Brighton and Alta are looking more like mid-January, with both scheduled to open on November 23.

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Snowflake Cold

US braces for arctic blast as Chicago gets earliest snowfall in 30 years, temperatures set to drop 30 degrees

Lauren Edmonds
Daily Mail
Thu, 31 Oct 2019 20:15 UTC
Several areas in Illinois have decided to reschedule Halloween trick-or-treating to this Saturday because of the cold weather and snow
Several areas in Illinois have decided to reschedule Halloween trick-or-treating to this Saturday because of the cold weather and snow
Storms are raging across the central United States from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes ahead of an arctic blast that could bring record shattering cold to the South.

Strong winds have brought down trees and power lines from Tennessee to North Dakota after tropical Storm Olga swept in from the Gulf Coast.

Forecasters say the severe storms could now hit states from Alabama to New England.

And in just a few hours, temperatures are expected to drop as much as 30 degrees as a cold front blows in from Canada.

A freeze warning has been issued for several states across the country, including Texas, regions in California, the Carolinas and Georgia.

Many of those areas will see temperatures dip into the 20s and 20s starting Thursday and continue on into Friday.

Chicago has already seen it earliest snow fall in 30 years and temperatures below zero are being registered in the Rockies and Great Basin.

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