Storms
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Cloud Lightning

El Nino could strike as early as third quarter forecaster warns

Rene Pastor
Reuters
Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:55 UTC
El Nino
© File / NOAAThis satellite image illustrates the classic El Nino condition of warm water piling up in the eastern Pacific.
The feared El Nino weather phenomenon could strike as early as the third quarter of 2012, raising prospects of wreaking weather havoc from North and South America to Asia, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said on Thursday.

"Overall, the forecaster consensus reflects increased chances for El Nino beginning in July-September 2012," the agency said in a monthly update.

The monthly report is the strongest prediction yet about when the El Nino weather phenomenon could emerge this year. Last month, it issued an El Nino watch, warning the phenomenon could materialize in the second half of the year, but said conditions were still neutral between June and August.
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Cloud Lightning

4 tornadoes confirmed in Saskatchewan


CBC News
Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:15 UTC
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© Kathy RosenkranzA twister was reported near Davin, Sask., 36 kilometres east of Regina.
Environment Canada says four tornadoes have been confirmed in Saskatchewan Tuesday afternoon by trained spotters.

Officials said one twister hit an area west of the town of Assiniboia, a second touched down near the village of Fillmore, a third hit an area southwest of the town of Grenfell and the fourth was caught on tape by a storm chaser just east of Regina near the Town of Balgonie.

Greg Johnson, a dedicated tornado hunter, was following a late afternoon storm that roared through southern Saskatchewan Tuesday.

He said the twister touched ground for about six or seven minutes on a farm property about 10 kilometres south of the Trans-Canada Highway near Balgonie.

"We watched it rip through a farmyard," Johnson said. "[It] kicked up a lot of debris. We stopped in at the home and fortunately everything was OK. The house was spared but a number of the outbuildings were destroyed."
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Umbrella

Flooding in Central Nigeria Kills at Least 35

Anne Look
Voice of America
Tue, 24 Jul 2012 04:48 UTC
Image
© BBCSeveral neighbourhoods of Jos city were inundated with the flood waters
Rescue workers in central Nigeria continue to search for survivors of flooding that has killed at least 35 people and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Rescue workers say dozens of residents are missing after a flash flood early Monday left hundreds homeless and at least 35 dead in the central Nigerian city of Jos.

The flood waters are receding, but residents said the tragedy is far from over. Families searched their homes for salvageable belongings on Tuesday, while others mourned the loss of loved ones.

Abdullhamid Useni lost seven of his children. He says the family was sleeping when the flood waters came. He says they tried, but could not get everyone out. He says he has recovered six of the children's bodies, but the house collapsed Monday before he could reach the last one. The family is hungry, he says, and needs food.
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Cloud Lightning

Severe Storms, Derecho Possible in Northeast Tomorrow

Brian K. Sullivan
Bloomberg
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:33 UTC
Image
© National Weather ServiceThree-dimensional schematic of a mature derecho showing inflow and outflow channels
A derecho, the kind of storm that knocked out power to millions in Washington last month, may accompany bad weather forecast for New York City and the rest of the Northeast tomorrow, the U.S. Storm Prediction Center said.

There's a moderate chance the rare windstorm will develop in an area from Indiana to Massachusetts, the center said on its website. The region is also at risk for severe thunderstorms, hail and possible tornadoes after noon, according to John Hart, a meteorologist at the agency's Norman, Oklahoma, offices.

"The environment is going to be favorable for considerably severe weather right across the area even if we don't get a derecho," Hart said by telephone.
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Attention

Another landslide in Dorset, England: Woman trapped under rocks

Matthew Taylor and Steven Morris
The Guardian
Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:20 UTC
Image
© Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesEmergency services at the beach near Bridport, Dorset, where this week's landslide struck.
Rescuers are searching for a young woman trapped after a cliff in Dorset collapsed sending hundreds of tons of earth and rock onto a busy beach.

Horrified onlookers - including the woman's father and boyfriend - tried to get to her before another huge section of cliff gave way, forcing them back.

Gary Rafferty, 36, from Bournemouth, went to help when the first part of the cliff collapsed. "I rushed to help and helped a man aged in his 50s out of the debris. I saw his son who had also been trapped. I said to him 'are you alright' and he said 'no, my girlfriend's trapped under there.' He was quite hysterical."

Rafferty said they had struggled to reach the woman before the second landslide struck.

Comment: 17 July 2012: Two feared dead in English landslide as worsening weather causes chaos

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Arrow Down

Flash floods and mudslides in Austria leave 1 dead and isolate dozens of Alpine villages


Extinction Protocol
Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:24 UTC
Image
Heavy rains hit the province of Styria, in central Austria, causing floods, landslides and mudslides. One person has been killed in Austria after torrential rains triggered mudslides and flooding across several provinces. Whole provinces were inundated with rivers of mud. 360 people living in an alpine region were forced to evacuate their homes after a torrent of mud swept through. The rain has destroyed houses, cut off villages and damaged roads. More rain is forecast over the coming days.


Source: Sky News
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Cloud Lightning

Huddled in Beijing As 20-Hour Killer Storm Strikes City

Sarah Simpson
Discovery News
Mon, 23 Jul 2012 20:36 UTC
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I was stunned to learn that a 20-hour thunderstorm that kept my family huddled in our Beijing apartment all day Saturday killed at least 37 people.

Late Sunday the Beijing city government issued a statement saying that 25 people drowned, six were crushed in collapsed homes, one was hit by lightning and five were electrocuted by fallen power lines. That death toll is more than double the dozen deaths reported earlier that day.

Overall, the rain and flooding in Beijing and its suburbs forced evacuation of nearly 57,000 residents and caused damage of at least 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), the official China Daily newspaper added this morning. That doesn't count the death and destruction from dozens of other storms reported elsewhere in the country.

Whew! Even as the storm progressed, I'd had no idea we were experiencing the heaviest rain to hit China's capital in six decades.
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Cloud Lightning

Mudslides and Flooding Devastate Austria

Phase Super
YouTube
Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:37 UTC
Mudslides and flooding in Austria have left one man dead and many other people injured.

Hundreds were evacuated from their homes and some villages were cut off.
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Cloud Lightning

Severe typhoon hits Hong Kong and south China

James Pomfret
Reuters
Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:01 UTC
Hong Kong raised its highest tropical cyclone warning on Tuesday as an intensifying severe typhoon edged closer towards the financial hub, grounding flights and forcing the port to close.

Financial markets, schools, businesses and non-essential government services close when any No. 8 or above signal is hoisted, posing a disruption to business in the capitalist hub and former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The Hong Kong observatory said it expected the No. 10 signal to remain in force overnight, meaning markets could be shut down in the morning.

Separately, China's National Meteorological Center issued an orange alert for Typhoon Vicente, the second highest warning level in China's four-tier typhoon warning system, state media reported.

Strengthening gale force winds overturned trees, churned up huge waves in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour and sent debris flying, injuring some 30 people as Vicente edged closer to the city and the western reaches of China's Guangdong province.

Twelve flights were cancelled and over 200 delayed late on Monday evening in Hong Kong, aviation authorities said.
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Stop

Extreme Weather: Thirty-Seven Killed in Record Beijing Rains


RIA Novosti
Sun, 22 Jul 2012 18:05 UTC
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© Reuters/ China DailyA woman pushes her bicycle on a flooded street amid heavy rain in Beijing on July 21, 2012
Thirty-seven people were killed as the heaviest downpours in more than half a century have flooded China's capital, Beijing, state-run new agency Xinhua reported.

Only 22 victims were identified. Most of them drowned, but some were killed by houses brought down by the flood or electrocuted, and one was hit by lightning, the report said.

Some 14,500 Beijing residents have been evacuated from flood-hit areas as of early Sunday, China Network Television (CNTV) said on its website.

Heavy rains began in Beijing on Saturday morning, with 220 mm of rain falling over the city of 14 million, the report said. The rains were the heaviest to hit China's capital in 61 years.
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