Storms
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Meteor

Sky Lights Up Red And Green As Reports Of Fireball Entering Atmosphere Conflict With CME, Northern Lights Report


The Intel Hub
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC
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Geomagnetic Storm / Incoming CME Impact Throughout Canada And United States

Reports of some sort of meteor event in North and South Carolina as well as Georgia are lighting up the internet as large parts of central and eastern United States witnessed red and green lights across the sky from what was an apparent CME hit.

According to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, a moderate Geomagnetic Storm Monday evening caused the Northern Lights to visible throughout much of the country.
SpaceWeather.com relayed a report from the Goddard Space Weather Lab saying, "the impact [of the CME] caused a strong compression of Earth's magnetic field, allowing solar wind to penetrate all the way down to geosynchronous orbit for a brief period."
At the same time widespread reports have came in that indicate a large fireball/meteor was seen in both South and North Carolina as well as Georgia.
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Binoculars

Red Night Aurora Burst Over U.S. Skies


Space Weather.com
Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Shawn Malone
A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth on Oct. 24th at approximately 1800 UT (2:00 pm EDT). The impact strongly compressed Earth's magnetic field, directly exposing geosynchronous satellites to solar wind plasma, and sparked an intense geomagnetic storm. As night fell over North America, auroras spilled across the Canadian border into the contiguous United States.

"Wow, wow, wow! These were the best Northern Lights I've seen since 2004," says Shawn Malone, who took this picture from the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan.
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Cloud Lightning

Thousands Affected By Flooding In Mexico

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:16 UTC
Several rivers in southeastern Mexico spilled over their banks in recent days. The Usumacinta River alone damaged homes and croplands in multiple cities, and isolated rural areas by washing out roads. The governor of the state of Tabasco estimated that regional floods had affected 90,000 residents.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured these images on October 23, 2011 (top), and October 30, 2009 (bottom). Both images use a combination of infrared and visible light to increase contrast between water and land. Water is dark blue, vegetation is bright green, and clouds are pale blue-green.

MODIS satellite map of Mexico
© MODIS Rapid Response Team/NASA GSFC
MODIS satellite map of Mexico 2
© MODIS Rapid Response Team/NASA GSFC
The Usumacinta River, visible as a thin river in 2009, flows past multiple lakes and ponds en route to the sea. In 2011, many of the water bodies have merged, and water sits on floodplains throughout the region. (This area also experienced severe flooding in 2010.)
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Cloud Lightning

Rina Becomes 17th Hurricane of the Season

Brian K. Sullivan
Bloomberg
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:07 UTC
Rina grew into a Category 1 hurricane today and is expected to become stronger as it moves toward resorts on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Rina map
© Weather Underground
Rina's top winds are now 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, up from 40 mph earlier today, according to a center advisory at about 2 p.m. New York time. The system is the sixth hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic storm season.

"Additional strengthening is expected during the next 48 hours and Rina is forecast to become a major hurricane by late Tuesday," the center said. "Interests in Belize, the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the adjacent islands should monitor the progress of Rina."

Matt Rogers, president of Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland, said Rina won't be a threat to Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production.
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Igloo

Sudden winter weather causes nightmare in Bulgaria


The Extinction Protocol
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:22 UTC
A sudden onset of harsh winter conditions caused transport chaos in Bulgaria on Tuesday, with one man freezing to death, eight people missing in mountains, 600 villages without power and schools closed. A 73-year-old man chopping wood in southeastern Bulgaria died on the way to hospital after being snowbound overnight along with 15 other Roma, including eight children, authorities said.

Image
© Unknown
Six hikers including two children plus two rescue workers were missing in the Balkan mountain range near the eastern city of Sliven, where a tempest blew over trees and fences, even lifting roofs off buildings. Hundreds of vehicles including lorries without winter tyres were stranded along mountain roads, while two trains carrying 100 people were stuck in snowdrifts 10 hours after setting off.
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Arrow Down

Sudden winter weather causes Bulgarian mayhem


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:25 UTC
Image
© AA Heavy snowfall has closed down the roads in Bulgaria, causing huge traffic jams.
A sudden onset of harsh winter conditions caused transport chaos in Bulgaria on Tuesday, with one man freezing to death, eight people missing in mountains, 600 villages without power and schools closed.

A 73-year-old man chopping wood in southeastern Bulgaria died on the way to hospital after being snowbound overnight along with 15 other Roma, including eight children, authorities said.

Six hikers including two children plus two rescue workers were missing in the Balkan mountain range near the eastern city of Sliven, where a tempest blew over trees and fences, even lifting roofs off buildings.
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Cloud Lightning

US: 20-25 foot waves forecast for ... Chicago


MSNBC
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:41 UTC
A high wind warning goes into effect for the Chicago area Wednesday afternoon, and the city could see waves of up to 25 feet along the city's Lake Michigan coast.

Gusts up to 60 mph could lead to a replay of the high waves that knocked down runners and bikers last month along the lakefront (link). Chicago Police closed the lakefront path that day, and on Wednesday they again warned people to stay away.

Milwaukee, along Lake Michigan to Chicago's north, also is expected to see high winds and waves. By 7 a.m. CT, waves were splashing onto the lower portion of the path between North Avenue and Oak Street Beach in Chicago. The Weather Channel reported that today's winds could be strong enough to topple trees and power lines, resulting in some potential power outages. The winds and rain could also cause hazardous road conditions, the forecast said
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Bizarro Earth

US: Huge Haboob Hits Lubbock, Texas


OurAmazingPlanet
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:08 UTC
Dust Storm
© SomeFineFella/YouTubeA screenshot of a video that Sandy Clem shot as the haboob swept over Lubbock.
A giant dust storm known as a haboob swept through Lubbock, Texas, on Monday, blotting out the sun and turning everything a hazy copper.

The 8,000-foot-tall (2,400 meters) dust cloud knocked down trees and power lines, sparked small wildfires and damaged a hangar at the local airport, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Jerald Meadows, a meteorologist based in Lubbock, told the L.A. Times that smaller haboobs of around 1,000 feet (305 m) in height are fairly common in the area, but that yesterday's whopper was "fairly rare." He attributed the storm to the dry condition in the area, which have plagued most of Texas this year, and strong cold front with whipping winds that moved in from the Rockies. The storm traveled at an estimated 75 mph (120 kph).

Haboob is Arabic for "strong wind."
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Cloud Lightning

US: Dust Storm Roils Through Texas South Plains


The Associated Press
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:34 UTC
Winds gusting at more than 70 mph churned up a dust storm that roiled through the Texas South Plains during the Monday afternoon commute. Dust kicked up by westerly breezes ahead of a strong cold front restricted visibility in Lubbock to about 5 miles all afternoon, said National Weather Service Lubbock meteorologist Matt Ziebell.

That was nothing compared to the 8,000-foot-high rolling dust cloud that moved through the city just before 6 p.m., dropping visibility to between zero and less than a quarter of a mile, Ziebell said. North winds gusting as high as 74 mph had begun forming the dust cloud about 100 miles north of Lubbock around 4:30 p.m., he said.

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Cloud Lightning

Thai PM says floods costs to top $3.3bn, death toll reaches 300

Thanaporn Promyamyai
Jakarta Globe
Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:57 UTC
Thailand floods
Three months of heavy rains have deluged about one third of Thailand's provinces
The Thai premier on Monday said reconstruction from massive floods swamping vast swathes of the country is expected to cost the government over $3.3 billion -- a fifth more than previously estimated.

Fears for the capital Bangkok appeared to have eased as authorities battled to contain Thailand's worst flooding in decades, which has claimed over 300 lives, swallowed homes and shut down industry.

But Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra warned: "The original budget to support the recovery of both the industrial and agricultural sectors is not likely to be enough."
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