Storms
S


Snowflake

Spring storm dumps 3 FEET of snow on the Sierra

SNOW STORM
A pair of Spring storm fronts swept through the Sierra over the weekend and on Monday morning, forcing travelers to use chains on mountain passes on I-80 and Highway 50 and blanketing the region with as much as 3 feet of new snow at the higher elevations.

What would have been a late season boost to the Tahoe area ski industry has been transformed into a "what if" moment as resorts from Squaw Valley to Heavenly Valley have been shuttered for the season since late March because of the current coronavirus outbreak and social distancing requirements.

A winter weather advisory expires at noon Monday for Tahoe where 13 inches of snow fell at Incline Village. Mammoth Mountain ski resort reported 35 inches.



Attention

Massive sandstorm hits Baicheng, China

sandstorm
Massive sandstorm hits Baicheng China, April 2020.


Cloud Precipitation

Hailstorms and flash floods in Saudi Arabia

hail
Dawadmi or Ad Dawadimi (Arabic: الدوادمي‎) is a town in Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia. As of the 2004 census it had a population of 53,071 people.


Tornado1

A *monster* Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Harold will graze Vanuatu islands over the next 24 hours

Cyclone harold vanatu islande
Destructive 120-130 knots winds and flooding expected

Tropical Cyclone #Harold has done an unprecedented intensification into a powerful monster tropical system. It is packing 120 knots (140 mph / 225 km/h) maximum sustained winds and 936 mbar (914 mbar per Vanuatu Met. office) central pressure. This officially puts Harold into a Category 5 system, based on the Australian/Fiji classification. That is a Category 4 equivalent tropical system based on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Harold is already affecting the westernmost islands Espiritu Santo and Malakula, and continue due east at slow speed. This will be destructive for the archipelago over the next 24-36 hours as Harold's very slow movement across the islands will result in significant wind damage and flooding.

The satellite imagery is beyond exceptional. Soon after Harold completed the EWRC (Eyewall replacement cycle), a very large eye appeared with a fully closed eyewall and almost symmetrical CDO (Central dense overcast) cloud signature. A truly remarkable monster system. This is the worst-case scenario for the Vanuatu islands, as there is basically no return now. The full force of a violent system will blast across the country. Also, a very interesting thing happened a few hours ago - it seems that Harold's eye began to clear soon after the outflow 'shockwave' pushed to the N and NW. This shockwave can be seen on 3rd animation below:

Boat

28 swept overboard, feared dead after Solomons ferry ignores Cyclone Harold warning

Cyclone Harold
Cyclone Harold
At least 28 ferry passengers were swept overboard in a powerful storm off the Solomon Islands, reports said on Saturday (April 4), with the captain unaware he had lost anyone until the boat docked.

The passengers were heading from the capital Honiara to West Are'are, more than 120km away, under a government programme to evacuate people to their home villages during the global coronavirus epidemic.

The MV Taimareho set sail on Thursday night as tropical cyclone Harold bore down on the Solomons, and with weather forecasters warning against any unnecessary voyages.

Cloud Precipitation

Extratropical cyclone hits Brazil coast - floods in states of Santa Catarina & Rio Grande

storm
Extratropical cyclone hits Brazil coast! High winds and flooding in Santa Catarina & Rio Grande


Cloud Lightning

More than 150 wild birds in Iraq killed by lightning strike

More than 150 wild birds die in lightning strike
A large number of birds died in a lightning strike in the Kurdistan Region's Halgurd-Sakran National Park on Friday, officials have confirmed.

"At this time of the year, these [birds] migrate from the hot to cold places. While flying towards the Caspian sea in Iran, a lightning strike hit them," Mohammed Abdulla, an employee at the Halgurd-Sakran National Park, told Rudaw English. "We have so far managed to discover around 150 of them."

"There are many others that we have not yet been able to discover as their bodies have dispersed across the mountain," he added.

Sulaiman Tameer, head of the Kurdistan Organization for Animal Rights Protection categorized the birds as common cranes, a medium-sized species most commonly found in Europe.

Snowflake Cold

Power outages as spring storm brings heavy snow, freezing rain to Manitoba, Canada

snow
Gusty winds and freezing rain led to numerous power outages in southern Manitoba Thursday

A potent low triggered a series of snowfall warnings, special weather statements, and freezing rain warnings across the eastern Prairies and northwestern Ontario Thursday, many of which still remain Friday morning.

There were reports of several early-morning highway closures, along with roughly 3,000 power outages by Thursday morning. By the evening, Manitoba Hydro tweeted that they were "finishing up" restoring power to the last of their affected customers.

As the storm tracks east, heavy snow will still continue behind it for parts of northern Manitoba, meanwhile, freezing rain and the risk of ice pellets remain for northern Ontario.


Cloud Precipitation

Flash floods hit Castellón, Spain after highest rainfall in 30 years - nearly 8 inches in 24 hours

Flood rescue in Castellon, Spain, April 2020.
© Diputació de CastellónFlood rescue in Castellon, Spain, April 2020.
Torrential rain caused flash flooding in coastal areas of Province of Castellón in the Valencia Region of Spain on 01 April 2020.

Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET) said some areas recorded their highest daily rainfall totals in more than 30 years. La Pobla Tornesa recorded 197.6mm of rain in 24 hours to 01 April. On the same day, 48 mm of rain fell in 4 hours in Vilafamés.

The worst affected areas were the towns of Almassora, Borriana, Oropesa and Vilafamés. The provincial government also reported some flooding in Benicàssim, Villarreal, Vinaròs, Traiguera, Benicarló and Peñíscola.


Snowflake

Winterlike storm dumps up to 23 inches of fresh snow in Montana and Wyoming

snow reports
The proverb 'April showers bring May flowers' might not apply to the north-central United States this year as the start of the new month brought a far-reaching snowstorm to the region.

The largest snowfall accumulations were reported in the higher elevations, with a general 10 to 20 inches of snow falling over the mountains of Wyoming and Montana. One mountain just north of Cooke City, Montana, was buried under 23 inches of fresh snow, the highest snow total reported across the region.

By daybreak on Thursday, most of the snow had shifted over the Dakotas as the storm tracked eastward, covering the Black Hills with nearly a foot of snow.

Rapid City, South Dakota, measured 6.5 inches on Wednesday, making it the snowiest start to April on record, according to the National Weather Service office in Rapid City. The previous snowfall record for April 1 was 3 inches set back in 1927. A few more inches of accumulation are in the forecast before the snow tapers off by the weekend.