Cochabamba, Bolivia - Authorities in Peru and Bolivia declared a state of emergency on Tuesday due to massive flooding affecting both Andean countries.
In Bolivia, three people died and almost 7,000 were left homeless by the strong rains hitting the country for the past weeks.
One of the victims died in Cochabamba and the other two in Tarija.
Six of the nine Bolivian administrative regions have been affected and the Bolivian government has released a special 20 (m) million US dollar aid package for the victims.
Storms
High winds today, rain tonight and possibly some snow on Saturday for western foothills of Spring Mountains, forecasters say
Get ready for a mostly cloudy and breezy day, with winds gusting as high as 50 mph in the Las Vegas Valley.
Temperatures will climb to the low 60s today, but the National Weather Service has issued weather advisories and warnings as a winter storm rolls in tonight, bringing wet weather and snow for the weekend.
The wind advisory, which runs from 10 a.m. today until 1 a.m. Saturday, includes Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Summerlin, Nellis, Mountains Edge, Seven Hills and Blue Diamond, the weather service said.
Get ready for a mostly cloudy and breezy day, with winds gusting as high as 50 mph in the Las Vegas Valley.
Temperatures will climb to the low 60s today, but the National Weather Service has issued weather advisories and warnings as a winter storm rolls in tonight, bringing wet weather and snow for the weekend.
The wind advisory, which runs from 10 a.m. today until 1 a.m. Saturday, includes Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Summerlin, Nellis, Mountains Edge, Seven Hills and Blue Diamond, the weather service said.
Flights to airports in parts of the U.S. Northeast were delayed as much as three hours or more as a storm packing 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain and wind gusts as high as 60 mph (97 kph) moved across the northern U.S.
Winter storm warnings range from Ohio to Maine, while high wind warnings and watches extend from North Carolina to Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service (link). Almost 1,100 flights were canceled today, the FlightAware tracking service reported.
A cold front will move through the New York City area about 3 p.m., raising sustained winds to as high as 30 mph with gusts of 60 mph or higher, said Lauren Nash, a weather service meteorologist in Upton, New York.
Winter storm warnings range from Ohio to Maine, while high wind warnings and watches extend from North Carolina to Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service (link). Almost 1,100 flights were canceled today, the FlightAware tracking service reported.
A cold front will move through the New York City area about 3 p.m., raising sustained winds to as high as 30 mph with gusts of 60 mph or higher, said Lauren Nash, a weather service meteorologist in Upton, New York.
© unknown
The discovery dashed hopes that the 11-year-old girl might have been alive and clinging to a tree or rock through the night.
NASA atmospheric scientists got an unexpected chance to study a curious phenomenon called "thundersnow" when a recent storm unleashed it right over their heads.
Walt Petersen and Kevin Knupp have traveled far and wide to study winter storms. They never dreamed that the most extraordinary one they'd see - featuring freakish thundersnow, a 50-mile long lightning bolt, and almost a dozen gravity waves -- would erupt in their own back yards. The storm hit Huntsville, Alabama, on the evening of January 9th.
"This incredible storm rolled right over the National Space Science and Technology Center where we work," says Knupp. "What luck!"
Snowstorms usually slip in silently, with soft snowflakes drifting noiselessly to Earth. Yet this Alabama snowstorm swept in with the fanfare of lightning and the growl of thunder.
Eyewitness Steve Coulter described the night's events: "It was as if a wizard was hurling lightning behind a huge white curtain. The flashes, muted inside thick, low hanging clouds, glowed purplish blue, like light through a prism. And then the thunder rumbled deep and low. This was one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced.'"
As protests continue to rock North Africa, heavy winter winds are also kicking up huge dust storms.
On Wednesday, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured a photo of a massive dust plume over the Mediterranean Sea. The cloud of debris spans hundreds of miles--from the coast of Egypt, slightly west of the Nile River delta, all the way to Crete.
Though the source of the plume is not apparent from the photograph, NASA believes it to be a result of huge dust storms that occurred recently over Egypt and Libya.
Take a look at the dust plume in the natural-color photo (below), and scroll down further to see the storm that may have caused it. Then, look through our slideshow of the world's most severe snowstorms seen from space.
© Nasa
Though the source of the plume is not apparent from the photograph, NASA believes it to be a result of huge dust storms that occurred recently over Egypt and Libya.
Take a look at the dust plume in the natural-color photo (below), and scroll down further to see the storm that may have caused it. Then, look through our slideshow of the world's most severe snowstorms seen from space.
© NASA Earth Observatory
NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, based on data from the MODIS Snow and Sea Ice Global Mapping Project.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, based on data from the MODIS Snow and Sea Ice Global Mapping Project.
The image provides a gauge for both snow extent and the length of time snow stayed on the ground. Areas that are white in this image were entirely covered with snow for most of the month. Pale green areas had snow for just part of the month or were only partly snowy, with areas of exposed ground. Dark green areas are places where MODIS did not observe snow during the month. The sensor does not see through clouds, so it does not see snow that is only on the ground on cloudy days.
With all the snow, it would be easy to think that the United States received plenty of winter moisture, but snow is deceptive. It takes about 10 inches of fresh snow to make an inch of liquid water when it melts. The winter storms brought more snow, but less rain to much of the United States, said the National Climatic Data Center. January 2011 was the ninth-driest January in the United States in 117 years. The southern half of the country was particularly hard hit. New Mexico experienced its driest January on record.
© San Francisco Chronicle
One to two inches of snow fell in San Francisco on February 5, 1976, and dusting the Marin Headlands
One to two inches of snow fell in San Francisco on February 5, 1976, and dusting the Marin Headlands
Talk began swirling in recent days that snow could drop on San Francisco for the first time in 35 years.
National Weather Service forecaster Bob Benjamin said that while snow would likely fall at elevations lower than last weekend, it was still too soon to know for certain if there would be flurries in the city.
If the coldest predictions materialize, "In some form, people at or near sea level will see snow in the air," Benjamin said.
A southern-moving unstable cold front carrying moisture was expected to coast into the Bay Area come late Thursday, Benjamin said.
The front was expected to sit over the Bay Area and by Sunday morning bring record-breaking cold temperatures, with 20s to lower 30s forecast over the North Bay valleys, upper 20s to lower 30s around most of the San Francisco Bay shoreline southward through the Santa Clara and Salinas valleys. Higher elevation spots were expected to mostly be in the 20s.
Spanish news agency EFE reported on Tuesday that the government has declared a state of emergency after flash floods and landslides swept through the country, caused by heavy rain that has continued since the beginning of the year.
The downpour has caused river levels to rise, leaving some 20 highways underwater.
Bolivia's defense minister promised 20 million US dollars in emergency aid to use for reconstructing the affected areas and help residents in those regions.
Heavy snow blanketed many areas of the South Coast of B.C. on Wednesday morning, including Victoria and the Fraser Valley between Chilliwack and Hope, causing traffic chaos on the roads.
East of Vancouver, Highway 1 eastbound near Lickman Road was shut down after a semi truck jackknifed. There were reports of several other vehicles in the ditches slowing traffic in other areas.
The cold conditions are forecast to continue for the next few days, but most of the snow is expected to pass south of Vancouver.
East of Vancouver, Highway 1 eastbound near Lickman Road was shut down after a semi truck jackknifed. There were reports of several other vehicles in the ditches slowing traffic in other areas.
The cold conditions are forecast to continue for the next few days, but most of the snow is expected to pass south of Vancouver.
