Storms
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Cloud Lightning

US: Record rainfall in Grand Rapids

Julie Hoogland
The Grand Rapids Press
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:27 UTC
Image
© Cory Olsen, The Grand Rapids PressJonas Bouma, 2, of Grand Rapids, looks out at the rain while being carried by his mother, Mindy, Wednesday at the Holland Farmer's Market.
The 3.49 inches of rain that fell in Grand Rapids Wednesday sets a new record for July 27, splashing away the old record of 2.96 inches for the day set in 2006.

But the Rockford area, which got 5.08 inches, is the center of the heaviest rainfall reports so far, the National Weather Service said.

Update: Lowell is the new top spot in Kent County, with a 5.33 inch rainfall reading.

Totals ranged from 3 to 5 inches throughout much of the region, with other top spots including 6.8 inches in Barry County's Nashville and 5.45 inches in Eaton Rapids.

Here are some of the 24-hour rainfall reports coming in from weather spotters in or near these communities:
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Cloud Lightning

South Korea: Seoul officials under fire for allegedly "man-made" disasters as "freakishly heavy downpour" toll hits 59


Agence France-Presse
Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:40 UTC
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© AFP, Jang Seung-YoonSouth Korean men take pictures of a mass of mud after a landslide hit a street in southern Seoul
Authorities came under fire Friday for allegedly "man-made" disasters in South Korea as the toll from this week's record rainfall rose to 59 dead and 10 missing.

Among the dead were 16 killed when mudslides hit southern parts of Seoul on Wednesday and 13 who perished in a landslide in the Chuncheon region, 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the capital.

Three others died in a landslide at Paju north of Seoul.

Experts and news media attacked Seoul city authorities, accusing them of making the situation worse through an allegedly reckless development of hills near residential areas in the south of the capital.

Some hillsides were redeveloped into public parks and hiking tracks, meaning rainwater could not be absorbed so easily, and natural waterways were changed to make artificial lakes, critics said.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Pennsylvania girl, 11, hit by lightning on sunny afternoon


Associated Press
Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:08 UTC
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Canonsburg, Pennsylvania - An 11-year-old western Pennsylvania girl is recovering after she was struck by a bolt from the blue.

Lisa Wehrle tells the Observer-Reporter newspaper of Washington, Pa., that the sun was shining when her daughter, Britney, was struck by lightning Friday, apparently from a storm several miles away.

Lisa Wehrle says, "There was no rain. It was a beautiful day. All she heard was some thunder."

The lightning hit Britney as she was walking down a hill in North Strabane Township with a friend about 2:30 p.m. that day. The bolt hit her on the left shoulder, leaving a burn-like mark and exited her wrist, where it left another mark.

She was treated at a Pittsburgh hospital. Doctors discovered her arm was broken, but otherwise she's OK.
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Cloud Lightning

US, Iowa: Record rainfall, flash flooding and fires in Dubuque

Mike Verlo
WREX
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:10 UTC
10.92 inches of rain fell in Dubuque overnight and rain continues to fall over eastern Iowa. That's a record for the day in Dubuque, and the most of any July day in history. There were unofficial reports of 12 inches in Galena and Peosta.


The rain caused widespread flash flooding, which covered parts of Highway 20 and forced officials to shut down both directions of traffic. Highway 20 was closed between Epworth and Peosta and also from mile marker 313 to the Illinois border. Highway 52 was closed from mile marker 51 to 52.

There were tornado warnings earlier in the evening Wednesday, but there have been no confirmed reports of tornado touchdowns or damage.

Dubuque County emergency responders were busy all night long helping people stranded in vehicles and putting out fires started as a result of the weather.
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Phoenix

US: Unusual Lightning Strike Sparks Three Minnesota Fires


Duluth News Tribune
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:57 UTC
Lightning hitting a tree caused three fires on East Ninth Street in Duluth this morning, extensively damaging one house.

The fires were reported at 4:10 a.m. Firefighters arrived on the scene to find the front of the house at 21 E. Ninth St. fully involved. That fire was causing the siding on the house at 19 E. Ninth St. to melt and burn.

Three people living at 21 E. Ninth St. escaped the burning building.

The exterior fire at 21 E. Ninth St. was knocked down but could not be completely extinguished due to a gas-line break at ground level under the deck at the front of the house. Interior operations were delayed until it was determined that there was not a danger of an explosion. After that, firefighters entered the building to attack the blaze. The burning gas under the deck burned for more than an hour after the main fire was extinguished while city crews worked to find valves to stop the flow of gas to the building.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Tropical Storm Don Moving Across the Gulf of Mexico Toward Southeastern Texas


Washington Post
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:21 UTC
Miami - Tropical Storm Don is over the central Gulf of Mexico but the system is not expected to become a hurricane as it moves toward southeastern Texas.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Don's maximum sustained winds Thursday were 45 mph (75 kph) with gradual strengthening forecast in the next 36 hours.

The storm is expected to make landfall on the Texas coast late Friday or Saturday.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast from Port Mansfield to San Luis Pass.

The storm is centered about 425 miles (684 kilometers) east-southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, and is moving northwest at 16 mph (26 kph).
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Cloud Lightning

Philippines: Tropical storm 'Juaning' triggers floods, landslides, accidents

Alexis Romero
The Philippine Star
Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:00 UTC
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© Manny MarceloA passenger bus lies on the service road after it crashed and fell from the Skyway in Sucat, Parañaque yesterday. The driver and two passengers were killed.
At least 10 people died and four others were reported missing as tropical storm "Juaning" (international codename Nock-Ten) intensified further and moved closer to the country yesterday, officials said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said storm warning signal no. 2 was hoisted over

Camarines provinces; Albay; Catanduanes; Pangasinan; Nueva Ecija; Zambales; Pampanga; Tarlac; Bulacan; Bataan; Rizal; Cavite; Laguna; Batangas; Quezon; Polillo Island and Metro Manila as of 5 p.m. yesterday.

Signal no. 1, meanwhile, was up in Ilocos Norte; Ilocos Sur; Apayao; Cagayan; Abra; Kalinga; Isabela; Mountain Province; Ifugao; La Union; Benguet; Nueva Vizcaya; Quirino; Aurora; Mindoro provinces; Lubang Island; Marinduque; Romblon; Burias Island; Masbate; Ticao Island and Sorsogon.

Citing field reports, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Benito Ramos said all the fatalities were residents of the Bicol region.

Raffy Alejandro, civil defense director for Bicol, said seven of the fatalities were from Albay province. He said two persons were reported killed in Catanduanes while one died in Camarines Sur.
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Snowman

Record snowfalls in New Zealand

Isaac Davison & Paul Harper
New Zealand Herald
Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:09 UTC
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© Simon BakerSnow covers the earthquake damaged DTZ House in central Christchurch.
The big clean up is well underway across the country following yesterday's record snowfalls in what may well end up being the coldest day of 2011.

Most state highways have now reopened and city councils in Dunedin and Christchurch have set about clearing most of the local roads of snow and ice.

Snowfalls made way to harsh frosts this morning, particularly in the South Island, although some snow is expected on Arthurs Pass, Milford Rd and the Desert Road later today.

Westerlies are forecast to strengthen over the South Island today, with heavy rain forecast of the west of the country, however temperatures are forecast to pick up following a frigid past few days.

WeatherWatch head analyst Philip Duncan said yesterday may well have been the coldest day of the year.

The national high was just 12 degrees recorded in Northland yesterday.
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Bizarro Earth

South Korea Landslides Leave 32 Dead, 10 Missing

Sam Kim and Hyung-Jim Kim
The Associated Press
Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:28 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Lee Sang-hakSouth Korean rescue workers carry a survivor who was rescued from a collapsed house as a midnight landslide caused by torrential rains swept away several houses in Chuncheon, South Korea.
A blast of heavy rain sent landslides barreling through South Korea's capital and a northern town Wednesday, killing at least 32 people, including 10 college students doing volunteer work.

The students died as mud and debris engulfed them as they slept in a resort cabin in Chuncheon, about 68 miles (110 kilometers) northeast of the capital Seoul, said Byun In-soo of the town's fire station. A married couple and a convenience store owner also died.

About 500 officials and residents worked to rescue people trapped in the mud and wreckage. Twenty-four people were injured and several buildings destroyed, officials said. Witnesses interviewed on television likened the sound of the landslide to a massive explosion or a screaming freight train and described the screaming they heard as buildings were carried away by rivers of mud.

In southern Seoul, 16 people died when mud crashed through residences at the foot of a mountain, emergency official Kim Jong-seon said. Three others also died after a stream just south of Seoul flooded, Kim said, and 10 people were reported missing throughout the country.
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Bizarro Earth

Earth's Tallest Lightning Seen in Unprecedented Detail

Charles Q. Choi
Our Amazing Planet
Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:29 UTC
Lightning
© Steven CummerTrees form a horizon from which a gigantic jet emerges; the thunderstorm is 200 miles away.
Mysterious and gigantic jets of lightning that shoot up to near the edge of space have now been observed in unprecedented detail, revealing just how much charge they pack and how they form.

More than 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth's surface, extreme ultraviolet radiation from the sun reacts with air molecules to produce highly charged particles, generating an energetic region known as the ionosphere.

In 2001, scientists discovered gigantic jets of lightning arcing up from clouds in the lowest portion of the atmosphere, the troposphere, to the ionosphere. These rarities apparently are caused by the profound difference in electric charge between the ionosphere and the rest of the atmosphere, but much else about them remained unclear.

"People wonder if these gigantic jets might threaten spacecraft, aircraft and passengers," said researcher Gaopeng Lu at Duke University. "This actually makes the study of gigantic jets and other lightning-related phenomena above active thunderstorms meaningful and of practical concern."
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