Storms
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Cloud Lightning

Storm-battered South Australia braces for more wild weather

Oliver Milman
The Guardian
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 14:29 UTC
Southern Australia wild weather
© Sturt SES unit/ABC NewsA fallen tree blocks the road at Ironbank in the Adelaide Hills.

South Australia is bracing for more wild weather after thousands of properties were left without power due to strong wind and rain.

The State Emergency Service has responded to more than 170 incidents in South Australia after the state was buffeted by wind of more than 90km/h.

Trees and power lines were brought down, with the SES reporting incidents of roof tiles being ripped away and driveways being blocked by debris. The SES advised that people should stay indoors, away from windows, during high winds.

Around 6,000 premises were left without power in South Australia on Monday, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning that the extreme weather would continue for a further day.
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Cloud Lightning

Rare tornado hits eastern Istanbul


Hurriyet Daily News
Thu, 19 Jun 2014 07:55 UTC
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A rare tornado hit eastern Istanbul on June 19, in the latest example of extraordinary weather conditions hitting the city.

Heavy rain and hail affected the daily life of citizens in the evening hours, with officials warning that 50 kilograms of rain per square meter were expected.

A tornado over the Marmara Sea passed through the Pendik and Tuzla neighborhoods in eastern Istanbul and reached Kocaeli province. Images of the tornado were widely shared on Turkish social media.

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Cloud Lightning

South Dakota declares state of emergency as a result of severe flooding


The Republic
Tue, 17 Jun 2014 19:14 UTC
South Dakota flooding
© AP Photo/Dirk LammersA tractor trailer and two smaller trucks work their way through standing water on a closed portion of U.S. Highway 18 at the South Dakota-Iowa border, Tuesday, June 17, 2014, east of Canton, S.D.
The severe flooding affecting southeast South Dakota led Gov. Dennis Daugaard to declare a state of emergency on Tuesday and open an operations center to coordinate the state's response to the areas affected by the aftermath of the torrential rains.

Severe storms moved across parts of eastern South Dakota Monday closing roads, flooding streets, highways and fields, and increasing flows in the Big Sioux River.

Daugaard on Tuesday met with emergency management officials in Elk Point and later toured flood-affected areas in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties.

The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls said rainfall amounts Monday afternoon and overnight were greater than 2.5 inches in most areas, with some reaching more than 4 inches.
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Cloud Lightning

65,000 birds and mammals killed by hailstorms in India


dnaindia.com
Wed, 18 Jun 2014 04:31 UTC
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Carcasses of rosy starling in Baramati, Pune district, and an Indian peafowl at Umarga, Osmanabad district
The hailstorm that hit Maharashtra earlier this year killed more than 65,000 birds and mammals in various parts of the state, according to a special report prepared by the Bombay Natural History Society.

A total 26 species of birds and nine species of mammals were killed in Marathwada and Vidarbha during the period from March 1 to 10 and on May 1 and 2, BNHS stated in the report that was released on Tuesday.

Mass mortality was reported in 27 areas with high mortality in 14 areas, each covering about 25 sq km.

"A high number of deaths were reported for birds that prefer residing near human habitation. Some of these are mynas, owls, parakeets and kites," the report states.

The highest rate of mass mortality was observed at the roosting sites of birds such as rosy starling, the house sparrow and rose-ringed parakeet. Birds such as coucal, bulbul, drongo, quail, lark, egret and bee-eaters were found dead across the study area.
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Cloud Lightning

Tornado destroys up to 100 homes in Essa in Canada's Ontario province


Voice of Russia
Wed, 18 Jun 2014 13:12 UTC
Ontario tornado
© East News/AP Photo/Tulsa World, Gary Crow
A tornado Tuesday afternoon destroyed or badly damaged up to 100 homes in Canada's Ontario province, authorities said Wednesday after surveying the devastation.

"It's pretty bad," government Minister Kellie Leitch told a nationally-televised press conference, adding that the twister destroyed "up to 100 homes."

"Some houses have almost the entire roofs off, some half the roofs off, some the back of the house is collapsed. And it's pretty devastating," she said, AFP reports.

A state of emergency has been declared in the township of Essa, north of Toronto, after Environment Canada reported an "EF-2" twister on the 0-6 Enhanced Fujita scale.

The tornado touched down at 5:20 pm Tuesday in Angus and tracked east for 15 minutes, with winds of up to 180 kilometers (111 miles) per hour.

"The (accompanying) thunderstorms did bring sudden very heavy downpours, gusty winds, and frequent lightning," the government agency said.

The tornado flipped vehicles and scattered debris.

Some 6,000 area homes remained without power Wednesday morning and an emergency shelter has been set up at a nearby military base for as many as 300 people.

There were no reports of serious injuries.
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Cloud Lightning

Nebraska town devastated: How rare are double tornadoes?


Yahoo News
Wed, 18 Jun 2014 10:09 UTC
Twin Tornadoes
© Matt CokerEmerging pattern: fewer tornado days in U.S. - but more tornados!
Twin tornadoes destroyed almost three-quarters of Pilger, a small Nebraska town. According to one expert, the last powerful double tornado on record occurred in 1999.

Residents of a small Nebraska town are returning to what is left of their homes Tuesday after a pair of tornadoes flattened nearly every brick structure in its path. Two people are dead.

"It was flatness," homeowner Jerry Meyer told the Omaha World-Herald. "There was nothing on my whole block."

The twin tornadoes on Monday are blamed for destroying almost three-quarters of Pilger, Neb., a town of 350 people located 60 miles southwest of Sioux City, Iowa. In all, four tornadoes struck the region that includes the nearby towns of Wisner, Stanton, and Pender.

The two tornadoes hitting Pilger so hard touched down within a mile of each other and then merged south of Pilger over the Elkhorn River, the National Weather Service reports. While it is not uncommon for one tornado to emerge following the dissipation of a first, it is rare for two tornadoes to operate simultaneously, meteorologists say.

Comment: Also see: Freak thunderstorm spawns twin tornadoes as severe outbreak hits U.S.

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Bizarro Earth

Freak thunderstorm spawns twin tornadoes as severe outbreak hits U.S.

Andrew Freedman
Mashable
Mon, 16 Jun 2014 22:20 UTC
Twin Tornadoes
© Matt CokerEmerging pattern: fewer tornado days in U.S. - but more tornados!
A deadly severe-weather outbreak, including large hail, damaging straight-line winds and multiple strong tornadoes is underway across several states in the Plains and Midwest. Soon after a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" tornado watch was issued for northeastern Nebraska, a massive thunderstorm spawned at least two tornadoes at the same time near the small town of Pilger, Nebraska at about 4:20 p.m. CT, with reports of heavy damage in that area and at least one death. A nearby hospital in Norfolk, Nebraska reported that 16 people are also in critical condition from injuries sustained in the tornadoes.

Pilger has a population of about 350 people, according to the 2010 Census. Damage was also reported in Stanton, Nebraska, from that same storm.

Although rare, the phenomenon of simultaneous multiple tornadoes associated with the same severe thunderstorm is not unheard of. However, it is extremely rare for both tornadoes to be so intense and long-lasting. A more common phenomenon is to have so-called "satellite tornadoes" rotating around a main funnel, but in this case, it appears there were two independent, long-lived and powerful tornadoes about 1 to 2 miles apart.

Making this even more unusual, from a scientific standpoint, is that both tornadoes were spinning in the same direction.
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Attention

'First ever' tornado hits Korea

Shin Se-min
Arirang News
Wed, 11 Jun 2014 15:40 UTC
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Tornado and Korea are two words you would never normally hear in the same sentence.

But you will now... because a tornado was spotted in Korea earlier this week.

News of this twister, coupled with freak thunderstorms and torrential rain showers in recent days, has people asking if it's all down to climate change.

The worst flooding in the Balkans in over a century... an unusually heavy hailstorm in Sao Paulo, Brazil... and exceptionally heavy snowstorms in the central United States.

The effects of climate change are being seen across the globe through abnormal weather events... and Korea is no exception... as evidenced by the last few days.

A tornado near Ilsan in Gyeonggi-do province this Tuesday... was the first ever spotted on the mainland.

The twister lasted for at least an hour... leaving a trail of destruction in its path... with at least 21 greenhouses destroyed.


Comment: Indeed, 'climate change' is underway, but it's not quite turning out the way authorities predicted.

Clearly what's happening on this planet at this time goes way beyond carbon footprints and fossil fuel consumption.

Check out the recent episode of SOTT Talk Radio where we discussed 'Earth Changes' and what 'climate change' is really all about.

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Cloud Lightning

Floods hit Natal, Brazil before US World Cup game


USA Today
Sun, 15 Jun 2014 15:55 UTC
Natal brazil flooding
Two days of near non-stop rain have dumped a month's worth of precipitation on the World Cup city of Natal, leading to a flood alert and raising worries that the deluge could affect the U.S. team's debut match against Ghana.

No deaths or injuries have been reported in the rains, which began early Friday and abated only on Sunday, dumping in 50 hours as much rain as is usually seen in the northeastern Brazilian city during the entire month of June. With more rains forecast for the next five days, some people worried that the weather could affect the U.S.-Ghana match on Monday afternoon.

Natal's City Hall declared a flood alert on Saturday and evacuated dozens of residents as a precaution in the Mae Luiza neighborhood in the city's west. News reports showed images of residents wading through knee-deep waters as others pushed cars submerged up to the door handles. Additional reports showed a huge crater cutting across a street in a residential neighborhood.
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Cloud Lightning

Flight delays at Gatwick Airport as over 8,000 lightning strikes hit Europe in two hours

Jessica Best
The Mirror, UK
Sat, 14 Jun 2014 14:28 UTC
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© Getty ImagesDelays: Some passengers had to wait hours for their bags
Lightning caused delays for hundreds of passengers at Gatwick Airport this morning, after Europe was hit by more than 8,000 lightning strikes in just two hours.

Travellers were left waiting hours for their bags following a power dip in the local area after lightning hit in the early hours of the morning, causing electrical trips to Gatwick's systems.

This affected check-in and baggage, and although all issues have been resolved and the airport is now operating as normal, passengers were affected by delays.

This morning's lightning strike was one of thousands across Europe in the early hours.

BBC weather tweeted at 6.13am: "In the last two hours across Europe, there have been over 8000 lightning strikes #flashbang"

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