Storms
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 3 in Satkhira, Bangladesh


The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Wed, 10 Jun 2015 11:18 UTC
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Three people including a woman were killed and three injured in lightning during a storm that swept through three villages in Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira this morning.

The dead were identified as Abdul Hamid of Taranipur village, Sajida Begum, 25, wife of Azet Ali of Patrakhola, and Ziad Ali, 65, of Paranpur village of the upazila, our Satkhira correspondent reports quoting witnesses.

Hamid was killed by lightning when he was going to his shrimp farm while Sajida hit by thunderbolt when she was working at her house, Ramzan Nagar union parishad chairman Akbar Ali confirmed to the Daily Star.

Ziad was struck by thunderbolt at an open space, leaving him dead on the spot.
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Fire

Hundreds of lightning strikes have sparked dozens of wildfires in Oregon

Nick Budnick
The Oregonian
Tue, 09 Jun 2015 18:12 UTC
Oregon wildfires
© Douglas Forest Protective AssociationThe Corn Creek Fire is burning about 14 miles east of Canyonville, near the community of Milo.
Hundreds of lightning strikes have sparked dozens of wildfires on state and federal land in southern Oregon since Monday, and continued thunderstorms and high winds have prompted a "red flag" fire warning for Hood River, Curry, Josephine, Jackson, and Klamath counties.

On a day when the Obama administration warned of potentially catastrophic wildfires in the Northwest and Southwest this summer, Oregon officials say fire season has begun far earlier than usual.

"This is the earliest that I can remember in a long time," said Don Ferguson, a spokesman for BLM's Medford district. "I heard someone say it's burning like August out there. "

Fire officials in Klamath and Lake counties made it official on Friday, declaring that fire season regulations are in effect.

The recent lightning strikes have often come without significant rainfall. Officials on Tuesday said state and federal fire teams had started battling the majority of fires by late afternoon. While most of them were a tenth of an acre, there were exceptions.

Comment: In Germany, 33 people have been injured after lightning struck one of the country's biggest music festivals.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills man in Largo, Florida


wptv.com
Tue, 09 Jun 2015 12:30 UTC
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An 81-year-old man was struck and killed Friday morning by lightning, police said.

Jay Freres, who had a lengthy career with the U.S. State Department, was out for a walk when a storm developed, police said.

Lightning struck him about 11:30 a.m. in a residential area near Sandpiper and Egret drives.

He was alone at the time.

During his career, Freres served as deputy chief of missions in Bahrain, according to the State Department. He also served in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Afghanistan, among other countries.

His first tour was in 1963 in Guatemala. He became a deputy chief of missions in 1989.

Freres also worked in the department's counter terrorism office from 2002 to 2005.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 2, injures 7 in Nashik, India

Himanshu Nitnaware
The Times of India
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 18:02 UTC
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Pre-monsoon thunderstorms and lightning on Saturday claimed two lives in the district and injured three. Four people were injured on Sunday afternoon after being struck by lightning.

The district collectorate has registered 16mm of rainfall on Saturday evening across four talukas. The city received fresh spell of showers on Sunday afternoon which lasted for about half an hour.

Pithi Kashinath Valhekar (45) and Gauri Shravan Waghmare (35) died after being struck by lightning in Mahalkeda, Yeola taluka on Saturday. Nikhil Lakshman Walhekar (10) was injured in the incident.

An official from the district collectorate said that the victims were labourers from Raigad district. Cows and sheep were also killed due to lightning.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill three in Bangladesh


The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 17:54 UTC
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Three people were killed by lightning in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts on Saturday.

In Sylhet, a man was killed by lightning at Noagaon village in Osmaninagar upazila of the district.The deceased is Azam Ali, 50, son of Haris Ullah of the village.

Police said a thunderbolt hit Azam while he was working at a cropland near his house around 6:30pm.

Away in Sunamganj, two children were killed by lightning in Sadar and Dharmapasha upazila of the district the same day.

The victims are Afzal Mia, 12, son of Ayub Ali of Rupabali village in Jamalganj upazila, and Phulmati Begum, 8, of Tepikona village in Dharmapasha upazila.

Police said Afzal, a Class VI student of Rupabali Government Primary School, was struck by lightning in Dhopakhali area in the town around 7:30pm. He died instantly.

A thunderbolt hit Phulmati while she was playing in the yard around 7:00pm.
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Windsock

Incredible time-lapse footage of supercell storm forming over Kansas which spewed hailstones bigger than baseballs

Jack Crone
Mail Online
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 12:49 UTC
supercell storm in Kansas
© Robert Sinner / LSM / BarcroftFormidable: The giant rotating thunderstorm was captured on camera on Wednesday as it spread across the countryside in Kansas
This incredible sped-up footage captures a supercell storm evolving and moving across Kansas last week.

The phenomenon was filmed on June 4 by extreme weather fan Robert Sinner and shows the rotating thunderstorm moving across the countryside in Hanston.

Supercells are among the most powerful weather formations found on land and the latest to terrorise Kansas spewed hailstones larger than baseballs.

supercell storm in kansas
© Robert Sinner / LSM / BarcroftAstonishing footage: A bolt of lightning shoots across the sky as the rare weather phenomenon tears through Hanston in Kansas last week
Describing Wednesday night's supercell, Mr Sinner said: 'I have chased hundreds of storms, but finding a rare low precipitation supercell with a sunset, which is isolated with no other storms around is rare.

'It had a breathtaking structure showing the rotation and updraft of the cell, along with the biggest hail stones I have ever seen, which measured over three inches wide.

'In the video you can see the updraft rotating and the storm topping out between 48,000 to 50,000ft is a perfect mix for large hailstones.'

Disabled army veteran Robert, 34, who lives in Kansas, became interested in storm-chasing four years ago.

He said: 'I was already a keen photographer when I chased my first storm and tornado in 2011.

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Cloud Lightning

Massive Colorado thunderstorm appears to spawn rare 'twin' tornadoes

Andrew Freedman
Mashable UK
Sun, 07 Jun 2015 13:23 UTC
Twin tornadoes in Colorado
© Kelly DelayA supercell thunderstorm produces two tornadoes at the same time near Simla, Colorado on June 4, 2015
Storm chaser and professional photographer Kelly Delay took an epic picture of a particularly productive supercell thunderstorm near Simla, Colorado, on June 4.

The storm produced at least four tornadoes, according to reports and footage from Delay and other chasers who also followed the storm. At least one of these tornadoes destroyed a handful of homes.

Delay captured the image, which shows two tornadoes at the same time, or possibly one tornado on the right and a landspout funnel on the left.

Landspouts are tornadoes that are not spawned by the larger area of rotation in a supercell thunderstorm, which is known as the mesocyclone. These tornadoes generally form underneath thunderstorms, even non-severe ones, and are often thought of as the landform of waterspouts because they are weak tornadoes.

It is possible that this particular thunderstorm, though, produced two tornadoes at the same time. Twin tornadoes were observed in one Nebraska storm last year, and are not regarded as freak events, but rather just relatively rare occurrences.
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Cloud Lightning

Two killed, 15 injured by lightning bolt in Maharashtra, India


indiatvnews.com
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 12:12 UTC
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Two labourers were killed while 15 others were injured as lightning struck them in a tribal dominated village here, police said today.

The incident took place last night when untimely rains lashed parts of the district including Sadadpada village in Peint taluka where a bunch of labourers were working at a small nullah site (Kolhapur type ware), when lightning struck the hut, they all had rushed to take refuge in.

Two labourers, Salik Krishna Rathad (20) and Krishna Choudhari (65) died on the spot, while 15 others sustained injuries and were taken to a rural hospital in Peint, said inspector V D Sase.

Surgana, Trimbakeshwar and other parts of Nashik witnessed unseasonal rains last night while downpour along with hailstorm at many places has damaged standing crops in the last fortnight.
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Cloud Precipitation

Overnight storms in Denver bring piles of hail


denver.cbslocal.com
Fri, 05 Jun 2015 17:49 UTC
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© CBS
A lengthy hailstorm caused a mess in a Denver neighborhood overnight.

The neighborhood in the area of South Irving Street and West Alaska Place had several feet of hail piled up on the roads and sidewalks early Friday morning after daybreak.

It caused a lot of work for residents like Sinforoso Sanchez. They had to use snow shovels to get their cars out.

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© CBSHail in Denver
"It was ridiculous," he said. "It was like a rushing river of hail coming through here. I mean, vehicles sideways being pushed away from the curb and everybody in the neighborhood was helping everybody else try to get people out of cars.

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Boat

Yangtze ship disaster: 396 confirmed dead, investigation continues as local fisherman disputes cyclone explanation


BBC
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 07:53 UTC
Eastern Star boat
© Getty ImagesMost of the bodies were recovered when the ship was turned upright on Friday

The death toll from the Chinese ferry disaster now stands at 396, the authorities say, as emergency workers search the vessel in the Yangtze River.

The ship, the Eastern Star, capsized in a storm on Monday and was turned upright in an operation on Friday.

Just 14 of the 456 passengers and crew are known to have survived. More than 40 are still missing.

The tragedy looks set to be China's worst shipping disaster in more than 60 years of Communist rule.

Eastern Star boat
© ReutersThe ship was held in place by cranes as it was turned over
Hooks were welded onto the ship and a net stretched around the entire structure in order to lift it by crane.

Most of the bodies retrieved were inside the vessel. State TV says the focus of the recovery operation is the top and bottom decks of the ship.

By first light on Friday, the ship could be seen lying on its side with its name visible just above the water.

Officials said there had been no further signs of life inside the ship, Xinhua news agency reports.

Chinese President Xi Jinping promised a thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster, after angry relatives protested at the scene.

Authorities tightly controlled access to the site, leading family members and journalists to complain about a lack of information.

Comment: The investigation into this terrible tragedy continues, and police have detained the captain and chief engineer for questioning, but an initial probe found the ship was not overloaded and had enough life vests on board.

Survivors have said the ship capsized "incredibly fast" and "within a minute". The captain Zhang Shunwen, and chief engineer Yang Zhongquan both reportedly the vessel was caught in a 'freak storm' and one passenger described it as tilting at a "45-degree angle" before going down. This was backed up by meteorologists in China who confirmed that a "sudden, strong and violent" storm hit the area at the time of the incident.

However a local fisherman Feng Xianming, who saw the ship passing upstream, said that 'although the weather was bad, it was not a cyclone', and his riverside shack 'wouldn't have survived if there had been a cyclone'.

Pending further evidence, it seems that whatever did happen to the Eastern Star on Monday night, it was very intense and very localized.

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