Storms
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills two women, girl in India


The Hindu
Thu, 13 Apr 2017 09:28 UTC
LIGHTNING
Two women and a seven-year-old girl died after being struck by lightning at Jakribettu in Bantwal on Wednesday, the police said.

The police gave the names of the deceased as Jayamma (28), her daughter Shashikala (7) and Kanakamma (29). Another girl, Likita (2), is admitted in a government hospital.

According to the police, Jayamma and Kanakamma, native of Sira taluk of Tumakuru district, were labour engaged in the construction of a water tank on the banks of the Netravathi in Jakribettu. They were living in a tent near the worksite.
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Windsock

Cyclone Cook: New Zealand braces for 'worst storm in decades'

Eleanor Ainge Roy
The Guardian (UK)
Thu, 13 Apr 2017 04:48 UTC
Cyclone Cook
© EPA / NasaSatellite images taken on Tuesday show the swirling cyclone approaching New Zealand (in outline)
Auckland residents told to cancel Easter plans as the cyclone heads directly for the flood-stricken Bay of Plenty region

Cyclone Cook is bearing down on New Zealand and is expected to make landfall on Thursday evening, heading directly for the flood-stricken Bay of Plenty region devastated by last week's Cyclone Debbie.

Two states of emergency have been declared in the North Island east coast districts of Bay of Plenty and Thames-Coromandel, with more districts expected to make that call mid-afternoon when the ferocity of the storm becomes clear.

MetService - whose website crashed on Thursday because of heavy traffic - has warned the approaching storm system is expected to be the worst New Zealand has seen in decades, with forecasters comparing it to 1968's Cyclone Giselle, which sunk the Wahine ferry, killing 52 people.

MetService meteorologist Lisa Murray said she was concerned New Zealanders weren't taking the storm threat seriously enough and the approaching cyclone was the worst weather event she had seen in her 12 years as a forecaster.
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Snowflake

Snow arrives 2 months early to ski resorts in Victoria, Australia


news.com.au
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 11:58 UTC
Mount Hotham woke to this.
© Mount HothamMount Hotham woke to this.
It's puking snow in the NSW High Country, with the big ski resorts waking to a winter wonderland this morning. And it's only Autumn.

Up to 20cm of snow in the Snowy Mountains overnight heralded Sydney's first wintry blast for 2017: temperatures in the city dropped to 12C overnight, with the chill coming straight off the snow down south.

It's two months until the official start of the ski season, but ski resorts in Victoria woke up to 20cm of snow, and this morning the dusting that had begun to cover the NSW Snowy Mountains had turned to full-on snowstorm.
#Snow is currently falling at Thredbo, expected to turn into rain later today. Get out while you can! #NSWWeather #Winteriscoming pic.twitter.com/e2Wbezm3Om

— BOM New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) April 9, 2017
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Cloud Precipitation

Huge hailstones pound San Antonio, Texas


wkyc.com
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 12:54 UTC
hail damage
A severe thunderstorm blasted the north side of San Antonio and northern Bexar County on Tuesday night, bringing with it high winds and large hail.

Numerous homes and cars were damaged by the hail, which was reported as being between the size of golf balls and baseballs.

The hail affected large portions of northern San Antonio starting around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday as a large thunderstorm cell moved across the area.

Homeowners in northwest San Antonio reported getting hit by hail for more than 10 minutes.
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Arrow Up

Severe weather reports in U.S. tally 5,000+ so far this year; more than double the average

Chris Dolce
The Weather Channel
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 12:00 UTC
Cost of severe US weather events 2017
© YouTube/the Weather Channel (screen capture)Weather Disasters Costing U.S. Billions. The first three months of 2017 have proven to be very costly, after a series of weather disasters ranging from tornadoes to floods to crop-killing freezes.
The U.S. has endured a destructive start to 2017 from the multiple severe weather outbreaks since January.

There have been 5,372 preliminary reports of severe weather across the United States in 2017 through April 8, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC). That figure includes reports of tornadoes, large hail and wind damage.

This is more than than double the average of 2,274 for the same period of time during the past 10 years (2007-2016). In that decade, only 2008 had about the same number of severe weather reports by this point in the year with 5,242.

The animation below shows how the occurrences of wind damage, large hail and tornadoes have piled up month-by-month this year. Portions of the South have been hit the hardest, but the Midwest has also seen a high concentration of severe weather reports.

Comment: For more coverage on the extreme weather affecting the entire planet, check out our monthly SOTT Earth Changes Summaries. Last month:

SOTT Earth Changes Summary - March 2017: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

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Bizarro Earth

'Massive contamination': Sensitive wetlands blackened by coal dust from Queensland port after Cyclone Debbie rains

Joshua Robertson
The Guardian
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 16:20 UTC
Calley Valley wetlands contamination
© Mackay Conservaton GroupSatellite imagery released by the Queensland government shows serious harm has occurred the the Caley Valley wetlands which adjoin Adani’s Abbot Point coal terminal in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie in 2017. (Left) 14 May 2016 (Right) 1 April 2017.

Expert says sensitive Caley Valley wetlands blackened by coal-laden water from Adani's nearby port after rain from Cyclone Debbie

Coal dust released from Adani's Queensland coal port after Cyclone Debbie appears to have caused "massive contamination" of sensitive wetlands, an academic expert says.

A vast swathe of the Caley Valley wetlands has been blackened by coal-laden water released from nearby Abbot Point port after Debbie's torrential rains inundated its coal storage facilities last month.

Satellite imagery of the coal spill last week prompted an investigation by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP), which said the port operator appeared to have acted in line with a temporary licence to release the excess water.

The caveat was that the licence did not "authorise environmental harm", an environment department spokeswoman said.

Norm Duke, a principal research scientist at James Cook University's TropWater unit and an expert in diagnosing contamination of wetlands, said an aerial image of the area showed "there's undoubtedly going to be environmental harm".
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Cloud Lightning

Family of 3 killed by lightning bolt in Kenya

Ignatius Odanga
Standard Digital
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 15:25 UTC
LIGHTNING
Grief has gripped a village in Nambale Constituency following the death of three members of the same family who were struck by lightning.

A man, his wife and their four-month baby died on the spot in Tatira village on Saturday.

The bodies were taken to Kocholia District Hospital mortuary. Their relatives are now appealing for help to bury them

. The area has been experiencing heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorm for the past one week.

Aluku Isi, a brother to the dead man, said they were unable to raise the mortuary fees and could not afford coffins. "We are unable to give them a decent send-off due to financial constraints," Isi said yesterday.

Comment: Elsewhere lightning strikes have killed individuals recently in Bangladesh and in Jammu, India, while 3 were killed in the latter country on the 4th of April.

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Cloud Precipitation

Ferocious hailstorm pelts Guiyang City, China


CCTV Plus
Wed, 05 Apr 2017 15:25 UTC
HAILSTORM
A ferocious hailstorm and heavy rain battered the city of Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, causing scenes of chaos across the city on Wednesday night.

The downtown was seriously flooded by the deluge, with the precipitation level rising to 23 millimeters in an hour. The dramatic hailstorm brought traffic to a standstill as huge hailstones pelted the city, with the largest having a diameter of 15 millimeters.

Police officers were mobilized to important intersections to direct the traffic amid the challenging weather conditions.

"Our sub-office has been working on the second-tier contingency plan. All police officers, no matter if they are off-duty or on-call, were ordered to get to work and control the traffic in this district," said Yang Ying, a local police officer.

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Cloud Precipitation

Severe hailstorm hits Springville, Alabama

Joe Songer
al.com
Wed, 05 Apr 2017 18:43 UTC
Hail
© Representative image
Weather can change in an instant in Alabama and today was no exception. This morning a loud, rumbling clap of thunder jolted me awake just after 6 a.m. followed by huge downpour of over an inch of rain.

By lunchtime the sun was out and temperatures warmed into the upper 70's.

At 6:09 p.m. the skies darkened once more and within minutes my wife Karen and I were witnessing one of the most violent hail storms either of us has ever seen.

It lasted just over four minutes. In that time, the hail shredded leaves from the trees and ripped off tree branches. The nickel to quarter size hail stones covered the ground like snow. The hail battered our metal roof and bounced on the driveway like marbles.

When it was over, fog descended over the entire area and dropped the temperature by at least 10 degrees. It was one of the most amazing things I've even witnessed and won't soon forget.

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Fireball

SOTT Focus: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - March 2017: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs


Sott.net
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 17:30 UTC
Wildfires USA March 2017
Planetary environmental chaos continued unabated this month. Several spectacular fireballs were seen from one end of the world to the other. Wildfires ravaged several mid-West states while unusually strong winds hit Illinois and New York. Madagascar got slammed by a ferocious storm as did Brazil, New Zealand and France.

Severe flooding hit several parts of the globe, but the worst affected was Peru where dozens of people died and hundreds of thousands have been left with no homes. With freak tidal waves from Iran to South Africa, strange 'gas' explosions in the UK and methane gas leaks in Russia, not to mention snow off the coast of Africa and lightning scoring direct strikes on cars, March was a pretty intense month for the planet and its inhabitants.
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