Storms
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike burns house down in Scotland

Mattha Busby
Independent
Mon, 11 Jun 2018 16:11 UTC
House destroyed by fire after lightning strike in Scotland
© @impaulharperThe roof of a detached house stands ablaze following a lightning strike.
A lightning strike set a house on fire which went on to destroy the property near Glasgow.

As flames tore through the home in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, residents in neighbouring properties watched and posted photos of the scene on social media.

The blaze could be seen burning through the roof.

The resident family - a couple and two children - managed to safely escape after neighbours alerted them to the blaze.

Comment: The nature of weather is changing and the danger associated with it is increasing: For more information on our changing planet, check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?

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Cloud Lightning

Three people struck by lightning at Patterson Park, Baltimore


cbslocal.com
Sat, 09 Jun 2018 10:49 UTC
lightning
Two kids and one adult have been struck by lightning, according to Baltimore fire officials.

Fire chief Roman Clark confirmed the lightning strike happened near the tennis courts in Patterson Park Saturday afternoon.

"She just said that they got struck by lightening, just be careful," Ashley Blackford of Baltimore said.

Baltimore fire officials say the victims were transported to an area hospital with serious injuries.

"I mean, we've had rain for the last month. You just don't expect something horrible to happen from it," Kim Jolley of Baltimore said.

The identities of the victims or any other information has not been released.

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Cloud Lightning

Unusual outburst of red sprites during storm over Europe, and cosmic ray mapping expands


Sapce Weather
Mon, 11 Jun 2018 09:44 UTC
Red Sprites
© Martin PopekRed Sprites June 8, 2018 @ Nýdek, Czech republic


Sprite lightning storm over Europe

This weekend, a powerful mesoscale convective system (MSC) of thunderstorms over central Europe produced a furious outburst of sprites. "It was unreal," says Martin Popek of Nýdek, Czechia, a veteran photographer of the upward directed bolts. "I recorded more than 250 sprites in only 4.5 hours of observation! That's nearly as many as I typically see in the entire summer thunderstorm season."

This is a jellyfish sprite--so called because it resembles the eponymous sea creature. Jellyfish sprites are typically very large, stretching as much as 50 km between the tops of their heads to the tips of their tentacles below. "Regular jellyfish sprites are associated with very strong positive cloud-to-ground lightning strokes in the underlying convective storms," notes lightning scientist Oscar van der Velde of the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain.

However, not all of the jellyfish were regular. Some were "decapitated"--without heads. "I recorded about 20 sets of tentacles only," says Popek.

Here is one example of many:

Comment: We're seeing a surge of unusual phenomena on earth and in tandem similar changes are happening in our skies: For more, check out SOTTs monthly documentary: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - April 2018: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning caused more deaths than floods, landslides across India in 2015 - with 2,641 fatalities


The Times of India
Sat, 09 Jun 2018 14:49 UTC
chart
On June 8, 2018, at least 11 people were killed and 13 got injured in lightning strikes in Bihar.

Few are aware that lightning has been killing more people than other natural causes like floods, landslides, etc
.
In 2015, it claimed 2,641 lives when the total deaths due to natural causes stood at 10,510.

Surprisingly, lightning is not considered a natural disaster and victims are not entitled for financial compensation.

Here are some facts about lightning deaths you should know...


Comment: Sott Exclusive: Shocking weather! Lightning fatalities across the planet on the increase

29 killed in lightning strikes in 24 hours across Bangladesh - 112 such deaths in May so far

Lightning strikes have killed 65 people and 69 cattle across Cambodia so far this year

Lightning strikes kill 3 in Rwanda - over 50 such fatalities so far in 2018

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Cloud Lightning

Man dies after lightning strike in Maumelle, Arkansas

Susan El Khoury
kark.com
Sat, 09 Jun 2018 11:27 UTC
lightning
A 27-year-old man is dead after lightning struck while he worked on a water main project in Maumelle Friday.

Family is remembering Tyler Grisham as a devoted husband and father to his 2 young daughters.

"He was one in a million," said Grisham's Father-in-law Wade Boughner. "Whatever you needed Tyler was there."

Boughner says his family's world shattered when they got the news.

"He was here one minute and then just blink of an eye he's gone. He never even had a chance," Boughner said.

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Cloud Precipitation

Over 70,000 evacuate as floods and landslides hit in the wake of Typhoon Ewiniar in East and South China - nearly 10 inches of rain in 24 hours

Richard Davies
FloodList
Sat, 09 Jun 2018 13:45 UTC
NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Depression Ewiniar on June 7 at 2:05 p.m. EDT (1805 UTC) and saw coldest cloud top temperatures (purple) around the center of circulation in a small area on the southeastern China coast.
© NASA JPL/Ed OlsenNASA’s Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Depression Ewiniar on June 7 at 2:05 p.m. EDT (1805 UTC) and saw coldest cloud top temperatures (purple) around the center of circulation in a small area on the southeastern China coast.
Typhoon Ewiniar has brought torrential downpours to China's Guangdong Province, with some areas recording over 250 mm of rain in 24 hours, 08 to 09 June, 2018.

Guangdong provincial civil affairs department said that rainfall from Ewiniar affected Meizhou, Jiangmen, Yangjiang, Zhanjiang and Yunfu.

As of 08 June, 73,000 people had been evacuated to safe locations. The storms also led to flight delays in Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong.

Heavy rain from Typhoon Ewiniar triggered landslides in the city of Yunfu, causing houses to collapse and landslides that killed five people. One person is still missing according to Guangdong civil affairs officials.

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Bizarro Earth

Bad news: Study claims hurricanes' translational speed is slowing down, potentially increasing damage

Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That?
Sat, 09 Jun 2018 14:04 UTC
hurricane


From the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON and the "yes but we need Category 6 now due to violently increased wind speeds" department comes this gloom and doom study.

MADISON, Wis. - Some hurricanes are moving more slowly, spending increased time over land and leading to catastrophic local rainfall and flooding, according to a new study published Wednesday (June 6) in the journal Nature.

While hurricanes batter coastal regions with destructive wind speeds, study author James Kossin says the speed at which hurricanes track along their paths - their translational speed - can also play a role in the damage and devastation they cause. Their movement influences how much rain falls in a given area.

This is especially true as global temperatures increase.

"Just a 10 percent slowdown in hurricane translational speed can double the increase in rainfall totals caused by 1 degree Celsius of global warming," says Kossin, a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Center for Weather and Climate. He is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Comment: An interesting and alarming study, although we do not believe that the cause of these changes is 'global warming'. For an alternative, more likely explanation, see:



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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 8, injure 7 in the Indian state of Odisha


Daily Pioneer
Sat, 09 Jun 2018 13:06 UTC
lightning
Lightning on Friday wreaked a havoc in different parts of the State, killing eight people and injuring seven others.

In the first incident, two youths were killed and two others were injured after lightning struck them at Tanar village of Kendrapada district.

The deceased were identified as Himanshu Gahan and Sudhansu Gahan. Sources said there was heavy rain accompanied by lightning in the area in the afternoon.

The incident took place when both the deceased and their injured friends had gone for a picnic near the village. Both Himanshu and Sudhansu died on the spot.

Comment: On the same day in the state of Jharkhand, 9 were killed and 8 injured while other states reported a total of at least 18 fatalities with 13 injured.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 18 in three states, heavy rains lash parts of north India


Hindustan Times
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 16:30 UTC
The MeT department forecast thunderstorm in Delhi on Friday night and light rains on Saturday.
© AFPThe MeT department forecast thunderstorm in Delhi on Friday night and light rains on Saturday.
At least 18 people were killed and 13 injured as lightning struck parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha on Friday, officials said.

According to the officials of the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority, six people were killed in Saharsa district, four in Darbhanga and one in Madhepura district. The injured have been admitted to local hospitals for treatment.

In Uttar Pradesh, five people were killed in separate incidents of lightning strikes in Jaunpur and Rae Bareli districts with isolated places in the state experiencing light to moderate and heavy rains.

Lightning also killed two people in Odisha's Kendrapara district.

"The Bihar state government has ordered an ex gratia payment of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of those who lost their lives in the lightning strikes," said an official.
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Tornado2

Storms whip up multiple waterspouts and hail in the Florida Keys


Palm Beach Post
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 15:21 UTC
Waterspout north of Upper Sugarloaf Key
© Jason HardingWaterspout north of Upper Sugarloaf Key
Parts of the Florida Keys got more than 3 inches of rain on Wednesday and pea-sized hail with afternoon thunderstorms that rolled through on the west winds.

The storms also spun up multiple waterspouts.

Researchers estimate about 500 waterspouts form off Florida each year, and many of those are concentrated along the state's southeast shore.

When waterspouts form from storm clouds, those clouds can carry them onshore, at which point they are considered tornadoes. But they are usually much weaker, and of shorter duration, than a tornado that has formed over land. A typical waterspout is more stationary than a tornado, and lasts only about 5 to 10 minutes.

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