Storms
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Environment Canada confirms 2nd tornado touched down in Alberta

Phil Heidenreich
Globalnews.ca
Sat, 15 Jul 2017 05:42 UTC

After already confirming a tornado touched down near Breton, Alta. on Thursday, Environment Canada has confirmed a second tornado touched down on the same day near Athabasca, Alta.

"On July 13, a low pressure system moved through central Alberta triggering widespread thunderstorms, many of which became severe," the weather agency said in its summary of the storm posted to its website on Friday evening.

According to Environment Canada the first tornado touched down about 10 kilometres northwest of Breton at about 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. They gave it a preliminary rating of EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which ranges from the weakest (EF-0) to the strongest (EF-5). The twister's estimated wind speed was between 135 km/h to 175 km/h.

On Friday morning, Environment Canada said it received a report of a second tornado that touched down the same afternoon as the Breton one. It was spotted at 5:56 p.m. over an open field near Athabasca and the weather agency confirmed it did touch down.

Comment: The Weather Network reported almost baseball-sized hail battered homes in Alberta with reports of a tornado touching down near Breton.

Rancher loses 10 head of cattle to lightning bolt in Jewett, Texas

Josh Chapin
khou.com
Thu, 13 Jul 2017 17:06 UTC

It was a hot Wednesday evening at Bar M Ranch in Jewett, but the heat didn't stop Brett Mitchell from tending to and feeding his prized cattle, or at least the ones he has left.

"A storm came through here early July 4th morning," Mitchell said. "It struck our tree and it had 8 cattle laying around it."

In all Mitchell, who lives in Katy, lost ten cattle: four cows with one calf each; a steer and a heifer during the lightning strike.

He estimates the loss is around $20,000.

"Everything in a 20-foot radius around that tree was dead," Michell said. "They were killed instantly. It's one thing to deal with maybe one cow, but to be overwhelmed with so many it was pretty hard."

Mysterious red flashes during thunderstorm spark UFO landing fears in Hungary

BSP News
YouTube
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 17:01 UTC

Red flashes during thunderstorm in Budapest

Mysterious red flashes spotted streaking across the sky during thunderstorm prompt fears of alien spaceship invasion

Flashing red-lights spotted in the sky sparked fears of a landing by UFOs and invasion by extraterrestrials. Several residents in Budapest, Hungary, described a "UFO landing" - following a late-night thunderstorm in the country.

Martin Szoter captured mystery red lights in the sky from near where he lives in Budapest's 21st district, Csepel. Martin believed it to be a crash landing - and that there may have even been more than one extraterrestrial visitor.

UFOs landed in Budapest XXI. District, in the thunderstorm," he wrote.

But Martin was far from the only person to witness the mysterious light source.

Online user 'HU MFM' noted that they saw this strange phenomenon "five times", calling it a "red 'something'" appearing before every lightning strike.

There has been no official explanation from local officials or meteorological experts.

Monster storm batters the city of Chengdu, China

Tracy You
Daily Mail
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 12:54 UTC

A huge explosion occurred in the city centre at around 6pm after power cables caught fire

A heavy rainstorm yesterday ravaged the Chinese city of Chengdu during evening rush hours, causing traffic chaos.

Terrifying video clips circulating on social media show high wind gusts pushing cars on the road like toys and smashing down the glass doors of an office building.

The extreme weather also caused a huge explosion in the city centre after power cables caught fire, according to local reports.

The storm is said to be the most severe one that has struck Chengdu this year, reported Sichuan News.

It began at around 5pm local time yesterday and lasted for about three hours.

Traffic came to a grinding halt as the high winds and heavy rain battered the provincial capital city of 16 million residents.

New Zealand hit by huge swells and constant snow after three days of storms

9news
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 05:17 UTC

Swell lines charging across the open sea have left passengers crossing New Zealand's Cook Strait grasping for something steady to keep them upright.

Video of the treacherous crossing shows the ferry Interislander crashing through walls of water whipped up by three days of storms.

Passenger Nathan Pilcher told stuff.co.uk it was like a 90-minute rollercoaster.

"Everyone was sitting on the floor, holding on, sitting down with vomit bags and people were lying down in the toilets," he said.

Pilcher said the lengthy journey was made even worse by the nagging "smell of vomit".

On Wednesday, the Kaliarahi ferry was close to running out of vomit bags when the vessel battled seven-metre-high swells.

The high seas were caused by winds as strong as 167kph.

Waterspout captured on Lake Simcoe, Ontario

The Weather Network
YouTube
Thu, 13 Jul 2017 13:52 UTC

A family on Lake Simcoe captured a local waterspout spinning during widespread storms on July 12th across Ontario.

Severe hail storm strikes Watertown, South Dakota

Roger Whittle
Watertown Public Opinion
Wed, 12 Jul 2017 13:24 UTC

A strong storm system that moved through the Watertown area Tuesday night dropped a record amount of precipitation and some eye-popping hailstones.

The hail - some stones the size of baseballs - also left many parts of town covered with tree debris and many cars covered with dents. Social media sites were rife with photos and videos from the storm and its aftermath.

There were no reports of major damage as of early this morning. The hail did force the cancellation of softball action at the Koch Complex and the second game of the Post 17 American Legion baseball team's doubleheader with Sioux Falls East at the Watertown Stadium.

"Watertown had been in a slight risk of severe weather last evening," said Ryan Vipond, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Aberdeen. "The severe risk was supposed to be farther to the east, so it looks like it developed a little to the south and west of where the main stuff was supposed to be."

1 killed, 3 injured by lightning bolt near Mexico city

National Post
Wed, 12 Jul 2017 19:03 UTC

Authorities say one person was killed and three injured in a lightning strike on a mountainside in central Mexico's highlands.

The civil defence office in the state of Tlaxcala says the lightning bolt struck near a shack and a communication antenna in a rural area on the slopes of the La Malinche volcano east of Mexico City.

Two women and a baby survived the lightning strike with no serious injuries.

Source: The Associated Press

Man killed by lightning at campground in Florida's Panhandle

Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
Wed, 12 Jul 2017 18:47 UTC

A man was killed by lightning Monday at a campground in Florida's Panhandle.

Jeremy Harper, 35, was standing under a tree outside his tent during a thunderstorm. Officials believe the tree was struck by lightning and knocked him to the ground, according to the Navarre Newspaper.

Harper lived in Kentucky, but was camping with family in Okaloosa County.

His death is the fifth this year attributed to lightning and the third in Florida.

Florida traditionally leads the nation in lightning deaths.

Since 2007, there have been 51 people killed in the state by lightning. That's more than double the second leading state of Texas, which totaled 21 deaths.

'Pretty crazy': Hail as big as billiard balls batter Evansburg, Alberta

CBC News
Mon, 10 Jul 2017 13:32 UTC

The community of Evansburg was battered with massive hail Sunday night.

Hail the size of billiard balls fell from the skies over Evansburg Sunday, causing a damaging racket.

Environment Canada had issued a severe thunderstorm watch for a large area west of Edmonton, and shortly before 5:30 p.m. the storm struck — battering homes and vehicles for nearly half an hour.

'It was insanely loud'

Once the storm passed, many residents took to social media to share photographs and video of the hail, which ranged from the size of a chicken egg to baseball-sized pellets.

Becki Kehler was at Camp Evansburg when the wind started howling and hail rained down from black clouds above.

"It was pretty crazy. It was insanely loud. That's what startled me the most was how loud it was," Kehler said.