Storms

Wild weather: Waterspout spotted over Napier, New Zealand

New Zealand Herald
Wed, 14 Apr 2021 09:58 UTC

Waterspouts have been spotted ripping through Napier amid large thunderstorms pummelling across the North Island.

Aimee Whiting noticed the waterspout - which is a water funnel resembling a tornado - from Emerson St in the town's CBD, calling it "pretty crazy".

The wild wet water was due to a low-pressure system crossing the North Island, the MetService said.

Forecasters reported showers, squally thunderstorms and hail from the Tasman Sea was due to hit in the afternoon and would likely stick around until midnight.

Several funnel cloud sightings across southern Ontario

The Weather Network
Tue, 13 Apr 2021 09:43 UTC

There were several reports of funnel clouds across southwestern Ontario Monday afternoon.

Conditions were just right for the formation of several funnel clouds across southern Ontario Monday afternoon, prompting Environment Canada to issue a weather advisory for London and surrounding areas, which remained in place until 8 pm.

These types of funnel clouds are generated by weak rotation under rapidly growing clouds or even weak thunderstorms, when temperatures aloft are especially cold relative to the lower levels of the atmosphere.

"This temperature contrast creates instability, which causes clouds to grow vertically and stretches a column of the atmosphere," explains Michael Carter, a meteorologist at The Weather Network.

Spring snowstorm hits Yakutsk, Russia

Nature News
YouTube
Mon, 12 Apr 2021 10:28 UTC

Russia's Spring ❄ Terrible snow storm hits Yakutsk! Snow buries homes, cars and streets!

Baseball-sized hail pummels Orange Beach, Alabama during overnight storms

Mary Colurso
AL.com
Sat, 10 Apr 2021 09:47 UTC

As severe storms moved across Alabama early Saturday morning, huge hail fell in at least one coastal city.

People in Orange Beach have posted social media photos of hail that appears as large as your fist -- or a baseball -- along with images of shattered windshields and vehicles damaged by hail.

Multiple severe thunderstorm warnings were issued overnight by the National Weather Service for parts of south Alabama as a strong line of storms moved across the area. The weather service in Mobile got numerous reports of golf ball to baseball size hail in Baldwin County between 3 and 4 a.m.

'Antarctic blast' brings early heavy snow to parts of Australia

Bryant Hevesi
Daily Mail
Sun, 11 Apr 2021 18:07 UTC

An image posted to social media on Sunday from Cradle Mountain, Tasmania with the caption 'We woke to the most beautiful winter wonderland this morning'

Millions of Australians are shivering through the coldest day of the year as an icy front bringing an 'Antarctic blast' sweeps across the country's southeast.

The cold front moved in over Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia on Saturday, bringing freezing conditions, low-level snow, heavy swells and the first frost of the year.

Melbourne on Sunday woke to its coldest morning since October 20 last year according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with the mercury dipping to 8.3C.

The chances of powerful geomagnetic storms may have just doubled

Dr Tony Philipps
Space Weather
Thu, 08 Apr 2021 07:34 UTC

If you think you are safe from geomagnetic storms, think again. A new study just published in the journal Space Weather finds that powerful storms may be twice as likely as previously thought.

Jeffrey Love of the US Geological Survey, who authored the study, analyzed Earth's strongest geomagnetic storms since the early 1900s. Previous studies looked back only to the 1950s. The extra data led to a surprise:

"A storm as intense as, say, the Québec Blackout of 1989 is predicted to occur, on average, about every four solar cycles. This is twice as often as estimated using only the traditional shorter dataset," says Love.

Comment: The Great Québec Blackout was caused by double tap CMEs

Severe storms drop baseball-size hail across Brazos Valley, Texas

ABC 13
Sat, 10 Apr 2021 06:55 UTC

Severe thunderstorms dropped large hail stones the size of baseballs Thursday night across the Brazos Valley, damaging cars and homes.

Images and videos from the region showed the hail as it pelted vehicles and left dents in their wake.

Police cars on the scene of an earlier mass shooting were among the damaged cars, according to KBTX-TV.

The flagship campus of Texas A&M University in College Station was covered in ping pong-size hail after the storms passed.

Severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings were issued for the region as the system moved eastward.

Heavy snowstorm in spring forces cancellation of opening stage of the Tour of Turkey

Cycling News
Sat, 10 Apr 2021 13:49 UTC

Hilly stage from Nevşehir to Ürgüp covered in spring snow

The opening stage of the Tour of Turkey has been cancelled after heavy snow covered the elevated hills between Nevşehir and Ürgüp in central Turkey that were due to host Sunday's first stage.

Riders awoke to heavy snow falls on Saturday and with more wintery conditions expected, race organisers were forced to cancel the stage.

The 167.3km stage was due to climb up to 1400 metres five times from a start point of 1200m before finishing in Ürgüp but the weather conditions made racing impossible.

Lightning strike makes timber of tree at Wautoma High School, Wisconsin

wbay.com
Fri, 09 Apr 2021 11:14 UTC

Mother Nature flexed her muscle Thursday when a lightning strike took down a tree outside Wautoma High School.

Principal Jennifer Johnson says it happened at about 8:25 a.m. while 9th and 10th grade students were preparing to take the ACT Aspire test.

No one was hurt and there was no damage to the school.

"Initially, the students and staff were startled by the event; however, after realizing what had just happened, they were fascinated by the rare incident that occurred just feet from them," said Johnson.