Storms
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Bizarro Earth

Deadly Nighttime Tornadoes in Winter

Brett Israel
OurAmazingPlanet
Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:09 UTC
Night Tornadoes
© OurAmazingPlanet
As recent tornado outbreaks around the country have shown, severe weather is getting a jump on the spring season. The main tornado season may still be weeks away, but the twisters of winter pack an extra threat. The odds of a killer tornado are greatest at night, and the shorter daylight hours of winter increase the chance of nighttime tornadoes.

Nocturnal tornadoes are more than twice as likely to kill people than daytime tornadoes, researchers have found.

More severe weather, and tornadoes, are possible today (Feb. 28) as storms roll across the mid-South. So far, the largest tornado outbreak of the year - 45 twisters - came on Jan. 22. Last Friday (Feb. 24) was the second busiest day for severe weather of the year to date.

While the main tornado season runs from spring to early summer, this year's early outbreaks show that tornadoes can form under a variety of conditions and strike during fall and winter, too. During this period, when the days are short, nighttime tornadoes are a big risk.
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Bizarro Earth

Flash floods set to soak Australia

Malcolm Holland
The Daily Telegraph
Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:38 UTC
Massive amounts of rain are set to soak large parts of NSW, southern and central Australia with falls of up to 100mm starting from later today amid warnings of widespread flooding .

The drenching will be "one of the biggest rain events in recent history'' according to The Weather Channel.


Tom Saunders, Senior Meteorologist at The Weather Channel said this morning that the rain will start today over Victoria, South Australia and southern NSW.

"Thunderstorms will drop up to 100mm of rain, enough to cause severe flash flooding,'' he said.

"The rain and storms will head north on Tuesday and stall over NSW and central Australia until at least Friday.

"Daily rain will exceed 50mm in some regions, enough to cause flash flooding.

"With rain continuing through the week, weekly totals should easily climb above 100mm across the Murray Basin, northern South Australia and the southern Northern Territory.

"Canberra and Sydney's wettest days should be Wednesday and Thursday.''
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Snowflake

Winter Storm Slams US's Midwest; New York, New England Up Next


MSNBC
Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:00 UTC
Image
© MSNBC
A winter storm left a "stripe of snow" across the Midwest before heading toward upstate New York and northern New England on Friday morning, weather.com reported.

Meteorologist Tim Ballisty predicted that Chicago could receive "a half foot or more" of snow.

"On Thursday into Friday, look for a stripe of snow to lay down from the Dakotas into Iowa, northern Illinois, far northern Indiana and lower Michigan," he added. "The bulk of the heaviest snow will fall south of Milwaukee -- closer to the Wisconsin/Illinois border."

Appearing on NBC's Today on Friday, weather.com's Mike Seidel reported that at least 130 flights had been delayed at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. He added that prior to Thursday, Chicago had received only 16 inches of snow all winter.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Hurricane Force Wind Gusts Rock Colorado


WeatherChannel.com
Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:23 UTC
Strong winds and blowing snow are wreaking havoc in Denver. This morning, Interstate 70 from Vail to the Eisenhower Tunnel closed due to heavy snow. There's no estimated reopening time. Strong gusts Wednesday delayed flights arriving in Denver for part of the day, downed power lines and trees, and fueled two wildland fires in Boulder County.

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Igloo

US: Hawaii - Winter storm warning for Big Island summits, Snow at Mauna Loa's summit caldera


Hawaii247.com
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:32 UTC
The National Weather Service in Honolulu has issued a winter storm warning for the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa until 6 a.m. Wednesday (Feb 22) for elevations above 8,000 feet. A winter storm warning means significant amounts of snow, sleet and ice are expected or is occuring. Strong winds are also possible.

Sleet, snow and freezing rain will make for hazardous conditions for drivers and hikers. An additional three to four inches of snowfall is expected this afternoon and evening.

Time-lapse movie of Mauna Loa. This panorama is a composite of a five images from a temporary research camera positioned on the north rim of Mokuʻāweoweo, the summit caldera of Mauna Loa volcano. If you look carefully around early morning or late evening, you may see a few thermal areas emitting steam. Images courtesy of USGS

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Snowflake

US: Winter storm dumps snow on South, knocks out power


MSNBC
Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:30 UTC
Crews work to restore electricity to tens of thousands of households. Following highs in the 60s on Saturday, parts of Virginia saw more snow Sunday than all season.

Image
© Eli Van Zoeren
Richmond, Virginia. - A winter storm that dumped several inches of snow across parts of the South, causing power outages, slippery roads and numerous accidents, moved out to sea Monday.

Crews were working to restore power to tens of thousands of households that lost electricity as a result of the storm.

The storm brought as much as 9 inches of snow to some areas on Sunday as it powered its way from Kentucky and Tennessee to West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

The storm system was expected to push off the coast during Monday morning, with the nation's capital getting only snow flurries, according to the National Weather Service.
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Igloo

Cold Winter Kills at Least 40 in Afghanistan

Rahim Faiez
Associated Press
Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:40 UTC
Kabul Snow Storm
© AP Photo/Musadeq SadeqAn Afghan man, his head covered with his scarf, walks down the street during a snowstorm in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012.
Kabul - More than 40 people, most of them children, have frozen to death in what has been Afghanistan's coldest winter in years, an Afghan health official said Monday.

The government has recorded 41 deaths from freezing in three provinces - Kabul, Ghor and Badakhshan, said Health Ministry spokesman Ghulam Sakhi Kargar.

All but three or four of those deaths were children, he said. Twenty-four of the deaths were in the capital of Kabul, mostly in camps for people who have fled fighting elsewhere in the country.

Kabul has been experiencing its worst cold snap and heaviest snowfall in 15 years, according to the National Weather Center.
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Snowflake

US: Winter Storm Dumps Snow on Parts of South; Crashes, Power Outages Reported


The Washington Post
Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:32 UTC
Image
© Richmond Times-Dispatch, Eva Russo / The Associated Press After a day of teasing, the snow finally starts to accumulate along Broad Street in downtown Richmond, Va., on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012.
A winter storm on Sunday dumped several inches of snow on a band of southern states, triggering accidents on slippery roads and knocking out power to tens of thousands.

The storm brought wet snow to parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

In northern Tennessee, about 20 vehicles were involved in crashes along a three-mile stretch of Interstate 75 near the Kentucky border on Sunday afternoon.

Tennessee Highway Patrol Sgt. Stacy Heatherly said the crashes were reported shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday in near "white-out" conditions caused by heavy snowfall and fog. Police said a juvenile was seriously injured. All lanes of Interstate 75 had reopened by early evening.

Dozens of wrecks were also reported in North Carolina as snow, sleet and rain fell with little accumulation, according to The Winston-Salem Journal.
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Snowflake

Ukraine's death toll from cold spell reaches 151


Associated Press
Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:30 UTC
In most cases, people died because they were under the influence of alcohol, which increases the risk of hypothermia
Image
© Anatolii Stepanov/ReutersPeople spend time in a snow-covered park in Kiev Feb. 16, 2012.
Kiev - Health officials say 151 people have died in the Ukraine during Eastern Europe's record-breaking cold spell, with alcohol regularly a contributing factor. The health ministry said Thursday that nearly 4,000 others have been hospitalized with hypothermia and frostbite.

Emergency officials say in 90 percent of cases, people died because they were under the influence of alcohol, which increases the risk of hypothermia and generally decreases a person's ability to feel and respond to the cold. The cold spell has prompted authorities to close nurseries, schools and colleges across the country. Heavy snowfalls have also caused power outages and trapped hundreds of vehicles on motorways in southern Ukraine, as well as several ships in the Sea of Azov.
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Igloo

US: Hurricane-Force Storm Smacks Alaska


Our Amazing Planet
Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:27 UTC
Image
© NOAAA hurricane-force storm hits Alaska on Feb. 14, 2012
Alaska's wild winter has been relentless, with yet another hurricane-strength blizzard smacking the state yesterday (Feb. 14).

The lower 48 states have had an unusually mild winter, but Alaska has been buried under snow and shivering in frigid temperatures.

Temperatures in some towns have dipped to a whopping 30 degrees below average for this time of year. So much snow had fallen in the town of Cordova in January that Alaska's National Guard had to help dig residents out. The tiny village of Nome needed an emergency shipment of fuel after its final shipment for the winter was blown off course by another fierce storm.

A climate pattern known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation is influencing this wicked winter, as it tends to keep Alaska cooler than normal. La Niña, a cooling of the waters of the equatorial Pacific, has also been in play, and it also typically creates colder temperatures for Alaska.
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