Storms
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Cloud Lightning

First-of-its-kind satellite promises a 'quantum leap' in storm forecasting

Doyle Rice
USA Today
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 11:00 UTC
Lightning strikes from space
© NOAALightning strikes (yellow and red flashes) over the course of one hour on Feb. 14, 2017.
Every second, dozens of bolts of lightning crack across the sky with flashes that can have a temperature of 50,000 degrees — five times as hot as the surface of the sun.

Pinpointing exactly where and when these dangerous bolts hit the Earth is key for forecasting severe weather outbreaks. Now, for the first time, thanks to a new satellite instrument, forecasters are getting the best views ever of where lightning flashes.

The first images from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper, a new instrument onboard the recently launched GOES-16 satellite, were released Monday. The instrument is "transmitting data never before available to forecasters," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.

They're not only spectacular images, they will also help meteorologists increase lead times for severe storm warnings. It's "a quantum leap in forecasting severe weather such as tornadoes," said engineer Tim Gasparrini of Lockheed Martin, which designed and built the instrument.

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Tornado1

National Weather Service upgrades deadly Perryville, Missouri tornado to EF-4


STLtoday.com
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 22:32 UTC
Tornado damage in Perryville, Mo.
© KMOVTornado damage in Perryville, Mo.
The National Weather Service has upgraded the classification of the tornado that killed one motorist and destroyed dozens of homes in Perryville on Tuesday night to an EF-4.

The reclassification is an upgrade from preliminary estimates that the tornado was an EF-3, according to an update Saturday from the weather service.

The Joplin, Mo., tornado in May 2011 that killed 161 people and injured more than 1,000 was an EF-5, with winds estimated at more than 200 mph.

In Tuesday's tornado, wind bursts reached 180 mph. The tornado was six-tenths of a mile wide and traveled 50.4 miles, the longest track of a tornado in the weather service's Paducah, Ky., coverage area in 25 years.

The coverage area includes parts of southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, western Kentucky and southwestern Indiana.

The tornado started about 5 miles northwest of Perryville and ended about 2 miles southwest of Christopher, Ill.


Comment: Not only was the twister the longest-track tornado in the region since 1981 - spending an incredible one hour and 2 minutes on the ground - but its parent supercell thunderstorm also followed a similar path to that of the 1925 Tri-State tornado (the deadliest tornado in U.S. history) according to the NWS.

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Cloud Lightning

3 sisters killed by lightning bolt in South Africa


ENCA
Fri, 03 Mar 2017 13:44 UTC
Three sisters were fatally struck by lightning in the Mantshilibeni Location.
Three sisters were fatally struck by lightning in the Mantshilibeni Location.
Three sisters aged 7, 10 and 18 were fatally struck by lightning in the Mantshilibeni Location, Vonqo Village, Dutywa, police said in a statement.

South African Police Service spokesperson Captain Jackson Manatha said the incident occurred Thursday night at around 7pm.

"All of them passed away at the scene. It is alleged that the deceased were in a rondavel hut when lightning struck them."

Manatha said the parents of the children were not at home when the incident happened, and their grandmother was in a separate house.

"She was not struck by the lighting."

Dutywa police have opened an inquest docket.

Source: African News Agency
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Snowflake

Blizzard warnings in Hawaii, 46 avalanches across Pakistan & floods unearth ancient lunar calendar in Iran

Adapt 2030
YouTube
Thu, 02 Mar 2017 07:10 UTC
Pakistan avalanches
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
More than 10 inches of snow on the summits of the Big Island in Hawaii with blizzard warnings, Pakistan villages cut off by 46 avalanches and villagers are without food and medicine in the Hindukush area. Floods unearthed a 7th century lunar calendar cemetery in Iran and epic lightning storms over the Amazon.

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Cloud Lightning

Airline pilot captures terrifying photographs of apocalyptic-looking lightning storm looming over the Amazon

Sadie Whitelocks
Daily Mail
Thu, 02 Mar 2017 20:22 UTC
These stunning images show you exactly why you should always ask for a window seat on a plane.
These stunning images show you exactly why you should always ask for a window seat on a plane.
If you're a fearful flier than these electrifying images of a lightning storm outside an aeroplane window are set to fill you with dread.

Off-duty pilot Santiago Borja Lopez captured the terrifying moment a bolt of lightning struck through the night sky over the Amazon rainforest.

The powerful shot shows a flash of white illuminating the inky-dark sky, with a sea of clouds ballooning around it.

Based in Quito, Ecuador, his work for a major South American airline often involves flying over regions that experience amazing natural phenomenon.

Mr Borja said he had 'never seen lightning like it' before and incredibly he had his camera out at just the right time.

The pilot was flying on a commercial Boeing 767-300ER en route to Europe when the lightning suddenly struck.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills 8 cattle in Boyle County, Kentucky


lex18.com
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:55 UTC
Lightning
A Boyle County farmer says a single lightning strike killed thousands of dollars worth of livestock this afternoon.

For Matt Nolan, Tuesday morning's round of storms proved devastating for his livestock, though it took him several hours to learn how.

"I fed them at eleven o'clock, put the bale out, and i went to the house because it started storming again," he said.

Nolan said that storm brought heavy rain and intense lightning. One strike sounded like it hit just outside his home.

Hours later he learned it did and the proof was what he found around this bale feeder.

"They have hay still in their mouths, so it knocked them out quick," Nolan said.

Nolan believes that lightning strike hit the bale ring and each cow feeding from it.
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Tornado2

Tornadoes and large hail hit US Midwest leaving at least 2 dead

JULIA JACOBO and MELISSA GRIFFIN
ABC News
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 01:00 UTC
Tornado watch in Illinois
© ABCA tornado watch and severe thunderstorm watch were issued for several parts of Illinois Tuesday night.
Parts of the Midwest were hit with severe weather Tuesday evening, including tornadoes and thunderstorms that are expected to continue into early Wednesday morning. At least two fatalities have been reported.

As of late Tuesday night, a tornado watch was in effect until 4 a.m. for parts of Illinois and Indiana.

Some of the most widespread damage was found in Ottawa, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The warning for this area described the tornado responsible for the damage as particularly dangerous.

The deputy chief of the Ottawa Fire Department tells ABC News that the city has sustained one fatality.

And according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, an apparent tornado picked up at least 15 cars from a junkyard near I-55, and dumped them on the interstate. One of the junk cars hit an occupied vehicle on the Interstate, killing its occupant, a resident of nearby Perryville.


Comment: First ever February tornado hits Massachusetts

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Gold Bar

Storm runoff could trigger new California gold rush

Joe Vazquez
CBS San Francisco Bay Area
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 15:21 UTC
Gold panning in California
© YouTube/CBS SF Bay Area (screen capture)
Weeks of rainy weather across Northern California and the storm runoff through the hills of gold country have triggered a new gold rush.

"Miner Gary" Thomas said he always finds at least a little gold here on his property near Jamestown in Tuolumne County, but this year, there's so much more runoff than normal and it's shaking the gold from these hills.

Thomas said it could provide a "Eureka" moment for those inclined to come up here and look for it. "(The runoff) kind of 'etch-a-sketches' everything," said Thomas. "Everything I had dug up and now my dig spots are all gone."

The known gold digs were washed out, trees uprooted, and landscape eroded. The runoffs have also removed gold out of the old abandoned mines and sent it down the river.

"It's going to bring down more gold," said Thomas. "It's going to bring up new areas that I never got to."

Thomas runs tour groups through his property and said now is the optimum time for gold hunting because the storms have just finished churning the landscape.

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Tornado2

First ever February tornado hits Massachusetts


RT
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 19:18 UTC
EF1 tornado was confirmed in Goshen & Conway MA map
© NWS Boston
A tornado, packing winds of up to 110 miles per hour, has slammed into the tiny town of Conway, Massachusetts - the first ever in the state. The twister was so powerful it cut a 5-mile path, ripped roofs off houses, and left at least one person injured.

"This was a highly unusual occurrence. In fact, there has never been a tornado during the month of February since official tornado statistics have been kept, dating back to 1950," the National Weather Service (NWS) stated, confirming the EF-1 tornado hit the town of Conway on Saturday, with a brief touchdown in Goshen.

Comment: Last month the US experienced the deadliest tornado outbreak since 1969 exceeding the entire 2016 death toll in just two days.

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Attention

Mass extinction: Vatican embraces science to battle immense threats to humanity


RT
Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:55 UTC
Vatican
© Stefano Rellandini / ReutersA general view of Saint Peter's Square, Vatican.
One in five species already face extinction on our planet, population growth projections are bewildering and climate change shows few, if any, signs of abating. Now, a group of experts are meeting to tackle the problem in the unlikeliest of venues.

Leading biologists, ecologists and economists from around the world have been invited to a conference in the Vatican this week, where the impending mass extinction event facing our planet will be addressed and possible solutions formulated.

"By the beginning of the next century we face the prospect of losing half our wildlife... The extinctions we face pose an even greater threat to civilization than climate change - for the simple reason they are irreversible," biology Professor Peter Raven, of the Missouri Botanical Garden told the Observer.

"That the symposia are being held at the Papal Academy is also symbolic. It shows that the ancient hostility between science and the church, at least on the issue of preserving Earth's services, has been quelled," said economist Sir Partha Dasgupta, of Cambridge University.

Comment: To understand what's going on, check out our book explaining how all these events are part of a natural climate shift, and why it's taking place now: Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.

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