Earth Changes and the Pole Shift
Wild Weather, the Wobble Effect
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Weather: |
Tides and Whirlpools:
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"We warned at the start of ZetaTalk, in 1995, that unpredictable weather extremes, switching about from drought to deluge, would occur and increase on a lineal basis up until the pole shift. Where this occurred steadily, it has only recently become undeniable. ZetaTalk, and only ZetaTalk, warned of these weather changes, at that early date. Our early warnings spoke to the issue of global heating from the core outward, hardly Global Warming, a surface or atmospheric issue, but caused by consternation in the core. Affected by the approach of Planet X, which was by then starting to zoom rapidly toward the inner solar system for its periodic passage, the core was churning, melting the permafrost and glaciers and riling up volcanoes. When the passage did not occur as expected in 2003 because Planet X had stalled in the inner solar system, we explained the increasing weather irregularities in the context of the global wobble that had ensued - weather wobbles where the Earth is suddenly forced under air masses, churning them. This evolved by 2005 into a looping jet stream, loops breaking away and turning like a tornado to affect the air masses underneath. Meanwhile, on Planet Earth, droughts had become more intractable and deluges positively frightening, temperature swings bringing snow in summer in the tropics and searing heat in Artic regions, with the violence of storms increasing in number and ferocity."
From the ZetaTalk Chat Q&A for February 4, 2012:
The wobble seems to have changed, as the temperature in Europe suddenly plunged after being like an early Spring, Alaska has its coldest temps ever while the US and much of Canada is having an extremely mild winter. India went from fatal cold spell to balmy again. Has the Earth changed position vs a vs Planet X to cause this? [and from another] Bitter cold records broken in Alaska - all time coldest record nearly broken, but Murphy's Law intervenes [Jan 30] http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/30/bitter-cold-records-broken-in-alaska Jim River, AK closed in on the all time record coldest temperature of -80°F set in 1971, which is not only the Alaska all-time record, but the record for the entire United States. Unfortunately, it seems the battery died in the weather station just at the critical moment. While the continental USA has a mild winter and has set a number of high temperature records in the last week and pundits ponder whether they will be blaming the dreaded "global warming" for those temperatures, Alaska and Canada have been suffering through some of the coldest temperatures on record during the last week.
There has been no change in the wobble pattern, the wobble has merely become more severe. Nancy noted a Figure 8 format when the Earth wobble first became noticeable, in early 2005, after Planet X moved into the inner solar system at the end of 2003. The Figure 8 shifted along to the east a bit on the globe between 2005 and 2009, (the last time Nancy took its measure) as Planet X came closer to the Earth, encountering the magnetic N Pole with a violent push earlier in the day. But the pattern of the Figure 8 remained essentially the same. So what changed recently that the weather patterns became noticeably different in late January, 2012?
The N Pole is pushed away when it comes over the horizon, when the noon Sun is centered over the Pacific. This regularly puts Alaska under colder air, with less sunlight, and thus the historically low temps there this January, 2012 as the wobble has gotten stronger. But by the time the Sun is positioned over India, the N Pole has swung during the Figure 8 so the globe tilts, and this tilt is visible in the weather maps from Asia. The tilt has forced the globe under the hot air closer to the Equator, warming the land along a discernable tilt demarcation line.
The next loop of the Figure 8 swings the globe so that the N Pole moves in the other direction, putting the globe again at a tilt but this time in the other direction. This tilt is discernable in weather maps of Europe, again along a diagonal line. Depending upon air pressure and temperature differences, the weather on either side of this diagonal line may be suddenly warm or suddenly cold. The tilt and diagonal line lingers to affect much of the US and Canada, but the Figure 8 changes at this point to be an up and down motion, pulling the geographic N Pole south so the US is experiencing a warmer than expected winter under a stronger Sun. Then the cycle repeats, with the magnetic N Pole of Earth pushed violently away again as the Sun is positioned over the Pacific.
From the ZetaTalk Chat Q&A for April 6, 2013:
Would the Zetas be able to let us know what is causing the early break-up of the Arctic Ice, the ice seems to have taken on a swirling pattern at the same time, would this be wobble related? [and from another] http://www.vancouversun.com/news/national/Canada+Arctic+cracks+spectacular+event/8185609/story.html The ice in Canada’s western Arctic ripped open in a massive “fracturing event” this spring that spread like a wave across 1,000 kilometres of the Beaufort Sea. Huge leads of water – some more than 500 kilometres long and as much as 70 kilometres across – opened up from Alaska to Canada’s Arctic islands as the massive ice sheet cracked as it was pushed around by strong winds and currents. It took just seven days for the fractures to progress across the entire area from west to east. [and from another] http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80752&src=iotdrss A high-pressure weather system was parked over the region, producing warmer temperatures and winds that flowed in a southwesterly direction. That fueled the Beaufort Gyre, a wind-driven ocean current that flows clockwise. The gyre was the key force pulling pieces of ice west past Point Barrow, the northern nub of Alaska that protrudes into the Beaufort Sea.
The Figure 8 formed by the N Pole during the daily Earth wobble has shifted somewhat to the East, due to Planet X positioned more to the right of the Earth during its approach. This was anticipated, and well described in ZetaTalk, the Earth crowding to the left in the cup to escape the approach of Planet X, so the angle between these two planets would change slightly. This shift of the Figure 8 to the East is due to the push against the Earth’s magnetic N Pole occurring sooner each day than prior. Thus instead of occurring when the Sun is high over the Pacific, over New Zealand, it is now occurring when the Sun is high over Alaska. All the wobble points have shifted eastward accordingly.
This has brought a lingering Winter to the western US, and a changed sloshing pattern to the Arctic waters. Instead of Pacific waters being pushed through the Bering Straits into the Arctic when the polar push occurs, the wobble is swinging the Arctic to the right, and then later to the left, creating a circular motion in the waters trapped in the Arctic. Since the Earth rotates counterclockwise, the motion also takes this path. This is yet another piece of evidence that the establishment is hard pressed to explain. They are attempting to ascribe this to high pressure and wind, all of which are not new to the Arctic, but this circular early breakup of ice in the Arctic is new.
KM
http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Record-low-temperature-in-...
HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- The Cuban Institute of Meteorology reported that early Friday morning it registered a temperature of one degree Celsius (33.8oF) in the town of Union Reyes, in western Matanzas province, the lowest temperature ever recorded in Cuba for the month of February.
This temperature was due to the strong influence of a very dry mass of cold air of arctic origin, in combination with low clouds in the interior of the western and central regions, which favoured heat radiation at night and caused again another remarkably cold dawn in parts of the interior of much of the country
There were several areas with less than 10 degrees Celsius (50oF) in Cuba’s western provinces. In the rest of the country the minimum temperatures were between 11 and 15 degrees Celsius, higher in coastal areas.
The previous record in Union de Reyes was set on February 18, 1996, at 2.5 degrees. The absolute record in the town for any month of the year was also one degree, and happened on January 21, 1971.
Mar 1, 2015
Mark
Sun is on its way - but not yet: Forecasters say it's going to be a snowy March first before we hit warm Easter
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2974268/Forecasters-say-s-g...
Forecasters predict a colder-than-average March, with parts of north-west England and Wales expected to wake up to at least 2in of snow tomorrow.
According to long range forecasts, the cold snap is expected to last throughout March and will see Britain covered in more snow and frost.
Then April will bring in a long-awaited warm and sunny Easter, where temperatures could peak at an above-average 21C (70F).
However despite it being the first official day of Spring today and much of the UK enjoying fine weather, this is not expected to last past the evening.
Mar 2, 2015
jorge namour
Major thunderstorms lead to flooded South Florida streets
02/28/2015
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article11488391.html
Locals help a motorist by pushing his car through the flooded street. Several inches of rain fell in S. Florida causing massive flooding through the streets of Little Haiti near the Little Haiti Cultural Complex on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015
Howling winds and pouring rain Saturday afternoon soaked swaths of South Florida, flooding streets and keeping drivers indoors
Heavy thunderstorms and winds whipping up to 50 mph began shortly after 10 a.m. and continued through the afternoon in Broward and Northeast Miami-Dade.
Downtown Miami, Liberty City, Midtown Miami, Miami Beach, Opa-locka, North Miami Beach and Hallandale communities saw up to 6 inches of rain.
In the afternoon, the National Weather Service declared a flood advisory for both Broward and Miami-Dade until 1:30 p.m. It was later extended to 6:15, warning of an excess of 8 inches of rain.
Sunday is expected to be less severe: partly cloudy with a chance of rain in the afternoon
On Biscayne Boulevard, nearly a foot of water from Northeast 22nd Street to 36th Street stalled cars in the middle of the road, a National Weather Service employee reported.
Most of far Northeast Miami-Dade County was flooded in by Saturday afternoon, with entire neighborhoods under water...
In Palm Beach Gardens, strong winds swept through the Honda Classic golf tournament and sent players and fans scrambling for safety.
The winds, estimated up to 60 mph, were strong enough to topple tents and even knock over the iconic manual scoreboard, located on a platform on the lake near the 18th hole.
CONTINUE...
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Brazil: waterspout reaches the beach, panic among bathers [VIDEO]
Landfall of a waterspout that formed off the coast of Praia da Piedade
Monday, March 2, 2015,
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/03/brasile-tromba-marina-raggiunge-spia...
https://translate.google.com.ar/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
Spectacular landfall of a waterspout in Praia da Piedade (Recife, Brazil).
The waterspout made landfall on the Brazilian beach, sweeping away everything in its path and disseminating panic among those present.
Mar 3, 2015
Khan
Evidence of the Wobble
28 February 2015
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2973559/Shoot...
http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc/
Mar 4, 2015
jorge namour
ITALY - Bad weather, total destruction at the center / north: wind to over 200km / h, "do not leave home" [PHOTOS]
Dramatic situation for the strong wind in Liguria and Tuscany: serious damage, the authorities closed schools and give formal notice to citizens "do not go out of the house absolutely"
Thursday, March 5, 2015
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/03/maltempo-distruzione-totale-al-centr...
https://translate.google.com.ar/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
Dramatic situation because of the strong wind blowing over Italy, especially in the center / north and Sardinia. Many places of Liguria and Tuscany have exceeded 130km / h, with peaks of over sensational 200km / h as if Italy was crossed by a hurricane in the third category on the Saffir-Simpson scale . The damage is very serious: thousands of trees felled, even total destruction to many homes and structures of various kinds. Firefighters are at work and have received hundreds of requests for help. Many mayors have decided in the morning to close schools, alerting the population with finality: "do not leave home for no reason."
The city most affected is Florence, with winds from the record: 172km / h at the weather station of Terzolina, 154km / h in Rifredi, but the flurry stronger until the time was even 209km / h in Gigliana, village of Filattiera, common the province of Massa Carrara and the Apuan Alps.
The strongest winds are in fact those of the north / east in areas downwind of the findings with respect to the cyclone positioned in the central Tyrrhenian. Despite the minimum baric is not very deep (1001hPa), the pressure gradient is scary, with almost 1030hPa Alps and the resultant cyclonic winds raging. And 'frightening picture that comes from Pistoia, with Piazza del Carmine unrecognizable
The strong wind will continue to blow impetuous until Saturday, although attenuated compared to these crazy speeds. But watch out for the whole day today in Sardinia and Sicily, and in the Adriatic between Marche and Abruzzo. To monitor the situation live, here are the pages of the nowcasting of MeteoWeb:
Mar 5, 2015
KM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2981123/ANOTHER-winter-stor...
Hundreds of stranded drivers forced to FORAGE for food after being stuck in thick snow on Kentucky highway for more than 12 HOURS in 2,000 mile wide winter storm
A treacherous winter storm reaching from Texas to New England closed schools, canceled more than 4,000 flights and stranded hundreds of drivers overnight in Kentucky, where as much as 23 inches of snow fell.
The snow has caused traffic to come to a standstill and a huge section of the freeway between Elizabethtown and Louisville has become a virtual parking lot - leaving cars and trucks littered across the roads since 10pm last night.
Desperate for food, some of those stuck in the 50 mile jam have taken to foraging on the side of the road for food and Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has declared a state of emergency.
'Help is on the way,' Kentucky National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Kirk Hilbrecht, interviewed on CNN, told drivers stuck overnight in their cars on I-65 and I-24.
Scroll Down for Video
Clear on one side only: A vehicle sits in the median of Interstate 24 as drivers wait after being stranded between Eddyville and Cadiz in Kentucky
The National Guard was deployed to rescue the motorists, taking them to warm shelters and giving diabetic travelers insulin, Hilbrecht said.
Besides the cars, at least 200 tractor trailers were stuck on the impassable roadway, said Kentucky State Police Trooper Jeff Gregory.
Kaleigh Birman said she was headed from Michigan to Florida for a spring break holiday with her family when her carload of six people and two dogs got stuck overnight on I-65.
'We swerved in and out of parked cars,' Birman told Reuters in a Twitter post, noting that the accumulation became so heavy it forced her car to a standstill, too. 'I'm pretty sure everyone is running out of gas.'
National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Orrison said Kentucky was buried under snow, with 23 inches reported in Baizetown and more than a foot falling elsewhere in the state.
Backlog: Traffic backs up as more than 50 miles of Interstate 65 southbound is shut down from the weather on Thursday in Kentucky as huge a huge snow storm hit 30 states
Mar 6, 2015
KM
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/03/03/cold-weather-snow-on-the-beac...
Cold weather: Snow on the beach, plus waterspouts near Los Angeles
Yes you read that headline correctly. Yesterday in Huntington Beach there was snow. And, in Redondo Beach, waterspouts were reported. I’m sure it won’t be long before somebody tries to blame these weather events on “global warming” which is fast becoming the “universal bogeyman” for any weather event.
Observers indicated the snow might be very fine hail, possibly from a cold core thunderstorm. Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with “global warming”.
Mar 6, 2015
KM
http://iceagenow.info/2015/03/italy-10-feet-3-meters-snow-passolanc...
Italy – 10 feet (3 meters) of snow on Passolanciano, Majella
So much snow that chairlifts are buried.
6 Mar 2015 – Bad weather in Abruzzo has brought exceptional accumulations of snow to the Apennines, with the Majella the most affected.
It snowed nearly three meters on Majella, on the 1,350 meters Passolanciano-Maielletta side. Accumulations are even more significant at high altitude.
In one of the photos, you can see the chairlift submerged in an exceptional white blanket.
With so much snow, all ski resorts in the region plan to remain open long.
Mar 7, 2015
Derrick Johnson
California Drought Just Broke A 120-Year Record
The Huffington Post | By Lydia O'Connor
Drought-stricken California, which just had its driest January ever recorded, smashed another dismal record last month: the hottest February.
Peter Gleick, a climate, water and sustainability scientist and member of the U.S. National Academy of Science, tweeted a graph from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Friday, pointing out the shocking data point. February's heat topped all previous Februaries since the agency began collecting weather information in 1895.
The chart comes from a NOAA tool that allows users to plot weather over time and compare the temperatures from the same months in different years. According to the data, California's average temperature last month was 53.3 degrees, one degree higher than the second-warmest February on record in 1963, and 1.5 degrees higher than the third-warmest in 1991.
The causes of the California drought remain hotly contested and impossible to prove for now. NASA explains that two main contributors to any drought generally are changes in land and sea surface temperatures, and soil moisture content. When soil is dry, it leads to higher temperatures, making drought self-sustaining.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/06/california-drought-februar...
Mar 9, 2015
Derrick Johnson
Sierra snowpack approaches record low
South Lake Tahoe, Calif. — Despite a weekend storm, the snowpack at Phillips Station remains near record lows.
Snow depths were near the levels recorded by the Department of Water Resources during the drought of 1991.
“We’re kind of hovering … nudging up against the lowest snowpack on record,” said California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program Chief Frank Gehrke on Tuesday. “In general, conditions are very grim. We’re just not going to get significant storm activity to bring us out of the drought.”
Readings were near where they were in March 1991, the last drought resembling this one. It was the second lowest reading since 1950, according to the department.
March 1, 1991, saw a blizzard hit the Sierra Nevada, which continued the next two days, bringing 50 inches of powder to Tahoe’s ski resorts. From then on that month came to be known as “Miracle March.”
“In ’91 we had a very good March,” Gehrke said. “But it doesn’t seem as though that’s going to happen this year,”
Last weekend’s snowfall, roughly 13 inches accumulated below 7,000 feet, and as much as 15 inches above that, did not save the day. Phillips station recorded 0.9 inches of water content in the snow, which represents 5 percent of the March 3 historical average for the site. None of the other three stations included in the report recorded more than 1.5 inches of water content or 6 percent of the long-term average.
The impact of the snowstorm the region saw last weekend will likely be, for the most part, insignificant. Most of the water content that came from the storm will likely soak into the ground and will yield little runoff, Gehrke said.
“The best we can hope for is some storm activity to at least give us a little bit of an increase in runoff from what were seeing with this extremely shallow snowpack that we have right now.”
The winter started well, with a relatively wet December that allowed the department to transport some water, but climate returned to the dry pattern that has been developing during the past four years.
In South Lake Tahoe, January was virtually dry, with only 0.1 inches of precipitation, and February only yielded 4.25 inches.
The weekend’s storm recorded 0.8 inches of precipitation.
Warm temperatures, which cause snow to melt faster, have also not helped. In February, 13 days set the record for high temperatures. January had four record-setting days. Additionally, both months also recorded their warmest days on record, 66 degrees on Jan. 25 and 65 degrees on Feb. 13.
In other parts of the Sierra, the readings were not as dismal. The central and southern Sierra readings were 5.5 inches (20 percent of average) and 5 inches (22 percent) respectively.
Statewide, 103 electronic sensors found Tuesday’s snow water equivalent to be 5 inches, 19 percent of the March 3 multi-decade average. When department conducted the season’s first two manual surveys on Dec. 30 and Jan. 29, the statewide water content was 50 percent and 25 percent respectively of the historical averages for those dates.
Weeks of spring-like weather then produced more rain than snow when storms did arrive during California’s warmest winter on record, the press release read. California’s historically wettest winter months have already passed, and it’s almost certain the state will be in drought throughout 2015, for the fourth consecutive year.
“Unless this month approximates the 1991 “Miracle March” with significantly more precipitation than normal, the traditional wet season will end on April 1 with an alarmingly low amount of water stored in the mountains as snow,” according to the department.
Source: http://www.recordcourier.com/news/15333203-113/sierra-snowpack-appr...
Mar 9, 2015
Jorge Mejia
ITALY captures the WORLD one-day snowfall record
“It’s official,” says meteoweb.eu. “Capracotta and Pescocostanzo, Italy, are the snowiest places in the world! The data is scary.”
256cm (8.34 ft) of snow Capracotta (which lies at 1,421 meters in the province of Isernia),
240cm (7.84 ft) in Pescocostanzo (which lies at 1,395 meters in the province of L’Aquila):
These are the two new records for snowfall in a span of only 24 hours, that is, in one day, although in reality all this snow fell in about 18 hours on Thursday, March 5, 2015.
And at higher altitudes, accumulations are much more significant. The previous world record snowfall most snow in 24 hours was set in Silver Lake, Colorado, where between 20 and April 21, 1921 fell 193cm (6.33 ft) of snow in 24 hours. But surely between Abruzzo and Molise it has snowed more than this many times. The great meteorologist Edmondo Bernacca wrote in the Italian Meteorological Magazine of December 1961 that in Roccacaramanico, in the municipality of Sant’Eufemia, just 878 meters above sea level in the province of Pescara, fell 365cm (11.92 ft) of snow in 24 hours.
In two areas in the Apennines between Abruzzo and Molise men and equipment are still working to clear the roads between the houses, which were inundated with piles of snow that reached three meters (10 ft) because of the wind, which blew impetuous during the storm. In Pescocostanzo during the storm it was virtually impossible to get out of the house!
It should be stressed that the Apennine area between Abruzzo and Molise is not new to this type of snowfall, as over the years there have been several accumulations similar to this event. It has been handed down in the annals of meteorology and manuals from generation to generation, that this is the snowiest area in the world in terms of abundance of snowfall in a short time because of the proximity to the sea, exposure north / east and the topography of the area.
Google translation Link
Original Link (Italian)
Mar 9, 2015
Jorge Mejia
Arctic Sea Ice Maximum For 2015
Unless something weird happens, the Arctic may have set its maximum way back on day 53.
It would be the lowest maximum in the satellite era.
It is not the earliest day of maximum.
1987, 1994 and 1996 set their maximums on day 52.
https://sunshinehours.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/arctic-sea-ice-maxim...
while:
Giant Chunks Of Ice Wash Ashore On Cape Cod (a previous post by Joyce Paski)
*note how the title and the url are different, "Giant Icebergs" against "Giant Chunks Of Ice"
Mar 11, 2015
jorge namour
On the South Pacific bakes "Pam", in the week is likely to evolve into a dangerous tropical cyclone of the 4th category
E 'born the storm "Pam", can become a dangerous tropical cyclone
Tuesday, March 10, 2015,
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/03/pacifico-meridionale-mjo-sforna-pam-...
https://translate.google.com.ar/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
In the south-western Pacific Ocean revives the season of storms and tropical cyclones. In fact, just recently, in the stretch of ocean to the east of the Solomon Islands, we have witnessed the formation of tropical storm "Pam",
In a few hours, "Pam", passing over a stretch of ocean very hot, with low values of "Wind Shear" at higher altitudes (ideal environmental conditions for the deepening of a tropical cyclone) is likely to intensify significantly, transforming by the end of the day in a tropical cyclone 1st category of the Saffir-Simpson, with moderate winds sustained at over 120-130 km / h and gusts spike over the 140-150 km / h.
Hence the storm will follow a very dangerous path, since moving over a vast stretch of sea very warm, and able to provide huge amounts of latent heat that will test the agreement on all sides of the cyclonic circulation, will be further explored, with a significant thickening the "horizontal pressure gradient" that will make more and more intense and stormy winds around the area disturbed. It will be well known to activate the process of "self-supply" characteristic of tropical cyclones, with constant suction of air masses very hot and humid, maritime, from the nearby suburbs, which in addition to detonate the Convention in the central part of the system , will help develop impressive bands cloudy spiral that will be fueled by the huge amount of water vapor sucked from the warm surface waters of the southwest Pacific, whose temperatures are around + 28 ° C + 29 ° C.
The storm should also take the size really considerable, given the aspiration of large amounts of latent heat from the Southwest Pacific.
Typically, in these conditions, with a very damp in the lower layers and a "Wind Shear" very weak at higher altitudes of the troposphere, the process of "self-supply", not finding obstacles, intensified so as to deepen the cyclone, which in all probability by tomorrow and Thursday will reach the 2nd or even 3rd category of the Saffir-Simpson, with moderate winds incurred that exceed the threshold of 150-160 km / h around the deep minimum baric ground . Many models, including GFS, prognosticano the storm, because of the process of "self-supply", may even evolve into a dangerous tropical cyclone of the 4th category Saffir-Simpson, that between Thursday and Friday will pass just east of Vanuatu and the Loyalty Islands.
Given the considerable intensity only flyby of the central core of "Pam" threatens to expose the Loyalty Islands
The cyclonic winds that blow stormy so furious around the eye of the tropical cyclone, however, raise an intense waves up to more than 6-7 meters , locally even more central in the area around the eye, which can trigger intense storms on the southern and eastern coasts of the islands of Loyalty.
The evolution of "Pam" from tropical storm to tropical cyclone 1st category Saffir-Simpson
Mar 11, 2015
KM
http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexico-city-puebla-closed-snowfall/
Mexico City-Puebla closed by snowfall
Snow closed some roads yesterday in Michoacán, but today the wintry conditions have moved to the State of Mexico and Puebla, closing the Mexico City-Puebla freeway early this morning.
Officials closed the highway about 4:30am between the San Marcos toll booth, on the outskirts of the Federal District, to Río Frío in the State of Mexico, near the Puebla border.
The Federal Highways and Bridges Agency, Capufe, issued a warning via Twitter at 7:51 to urge drivers to use alternate routes. The 5 de Mayo freeway has also been closed, according to another report.
As many as 18,000 residents of the communities of Río Frío, Llano Grande and Avila Camacho are reported to have been cut off by the closure of the highway.
Yesterday, Civil Protection officials in Michoacán described as very rare the sight of snow on various hills in the municipalities of Paracho, Nahuatzén, Cherán and Zacapu.
The Zacapu-Zamora highway was closed for a while due to a heavy hailstorm at about 1:00pm, blanketing the road with four centimeters of ice and causing at least four accidents.
Officials said that with the exception of the Pico de Tancítaro, with an altitude of 3,485 meters, the sight of snow on five hills in the region was uncommon.
The National Meteorological Service said the center of the country is being affected by cold front #41, and the combination of cold air and Pacific moisture are bringing about colder temperatures, rain and snow.
Snowy section of the Mexico-Puebla freeway this morning.
Mar 13, 2015
KM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2993912/Powerful-cyclone-sm...
'We've seen villages blown away': Six people confirmed dead in catastrophic storm that hit Vanuatu... with fears DOZENS MORE have been killed
Six people have been confirmed dead in the wake of the devastating storm that struck Vanuatu.
Cyclone Pam caused widespread havoc across the island nation, with entire towns and villages reportedly blown away in the storm.
In addition to the six confirmed deaths, it is feared dozens more have been killed.
The archipelago, which consists of 80 islands, was left in the path of the category five storm when it unexpected changed directions.
World Vision Vanuatu emergency response officer Chloe Morrison described the damage caused by the storm, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
'We've seen villages that have just literally been blown away,' Ms Morrison said.
Gale-forces winds of up to 250km/h also cut off power and communications to more than 260,000 people across the Pacific island country.
'There were no official reports of deaths or injuries, however according to an unconfirmed report 44 people died in Penama Province (northeast of Vanuatu),' according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop told reporters on Saturday morning that Australia has a crisis response team ready to go and assist the Pacific Islands.
While an estimated 3,000 Australians are in Vanuatu, Ms Bishops says there are no reports of concerns about their welfare.
Australian Red Cross has made an appeal on Twitter, saying that Cyclone Pam caused 'unbelievable destruction'.
'Humanitarian needs will be enormous. Many people have lost their homes. Shelter, food and water urgent priorities,' Australian Red Cross tweeted.
'Tens of thousands of people seeking safety in safe buildings and caves across Vanuatu.'
Sune Gudnitz of the UNOCHA told AFP: 'We could see some loss of life, potentially serious loss but we don't know yet.'
Unicef spokeswoman Alice Clements told Radio New Zealand the cyclone was '15-30 minutes of absolute terror' for 'everybody in this country' as it passed over.
Mar 14, 2015
Derrick Johnson
Boston snowfall tops 9 feet, breaking city's all-time record
Boston’s brutal winter officially became its snowiest on Sunday.
The beleaguered city had received a seasonal total of 108.6 inches by evening, the National Weather Service said, breaking Boston’s old record of 107.6 inches set during the winter of 1995-96.
Sunday’s 2.9 inches didn’t stop Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, although according to local media, the buildup of snow on side streets did cause parade organizers to shorten the route. In the lighthearted spirit of parade day, Mayor Marty Walsh announced that a yeti character would serve as interim mayor. Incidentally, the parade itself made history too: After decades of exclusion, gay groups marched in it this year.
This record-breaking winter came as quite a shock for Michael Moreno, 21, who moved to Boston from Dallas last June.
At the house he rents, the season’s first big snowstorm posed a problem. “I had to shovel it all by hand and it took me eight hours straight,” said Moreno, who works at the front desk of the Copley Square Hotel. But things are better now: A neighbor felt sorry for him and offered to lend him a snowblower.
Moreno described experiencing winter as a revelation.
“When the blizzards hit, it’s like a whiteout,” he said. “You’re pretty much just hibernating until it’s over, and when you can see out — you can see everything — you’re kind of just in awe. If you’re not used it, it can leave you breathless.”
Boston is far from the snowiest spot in the U.S. Copenhagen, N.Y., appears to have that distinction, with more than 20 feet since mid-November.
But this winter made an impression even on lifelong Bostonians.
“You know, it was crazy,” said Joseph Thomas, 55. “Every other day, every other weekend, it was blizzards. You couldn’t walk. Cabs wouldn’t stop. The MBTA [transit system] was shut down.”
Thomas said Eddie C’s bar, where he works as a bartender, managed to open daily, but customers didn’t always show up. “For the month of February, it was dead.”
How would he like next winter to be? “Not like this.”
And this winter isn’t over yet. Friday’s forecast includes a chance of snow.
With such intense snowfall this year, the city often hasn’t been able to just plow streets and call it a day. Workers must also remove the excess snow, liquefying it with snow-melting machines or dumping truckload after truckload into lots called snow farms.
In a video posted by the city last month, a worker identified only as Kevin stands in one such snow farm, near a white mound that dwarfs the industrial vehicles adding to it.
“Three days ago there was nothing here,” he explains. “Now we’re at 25,000 cubic yards that we trucked in here two nights ago. And we’re continuing the operation daily, basically 16 to 18 hours a day, sometimes 24.”
It has been a season of extremes across the nation.
Even as Boston broke its snow record, Southern California experienced unseasonably hot weather.
On Sunday, downtown Los Angeles reached 90 degrees, a record high for the date. The heat wave caused organizers of the Los Angeles Marathon to move the starting time up 30 minutes.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-boston-snow-record...
Mar 16, 2015
Shaun Kazuck
This NOAA map of the average temperatures for the US in February definitely shows the wobble in action!
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imager...
Mar 18, 2015
Poli
ZetaTalk for June 25, 2011: How to salvage the Global Warming excuse? This has been the darling of the cover-up crowd, the reason for the erratic weather, the high tides and rising seas, even the reason the world's populace should shift to a more vegetarian diet and less reliance on fossil fuels. Poorly managed, this ultimately was revealed for the hoax it is, data manipulated at the highest levels. Now those who have been hurt by legislated demands that they adjust their carbon footprint are furious and demanding blood. Should Al Gore apologize? The Global Warming hoax marched past the revelation of their fraudulent data and they will march past lack of cooperation from Obama, holding firm as the alternative is unthinkable. The alternative is humiliation, but more than that it would raise the question of why such a fraud was considered necessary. However, apologies will not be forthcoming due to the humiliation factor, even when the presence of Planet X is obvious.
Mar 20, 2015
Mark
Britain battered by extreme high tides as at least seven flood warnings are issued across the country following solar eclipse... but at least it's good news for surfers
Mar 22, 2015
Howard
Massive Hail 'out of nowhere' Pummels Eastern Australia (Mar 21)
Hailstones up to 12 centimetres in diameter hit businesses along the Warrego Highway, and the region received more than 75 millimetres of rain in less than two hours.
Chinchilla resident Mark Kurtz said the hail cut power to parts of the town, broke windows and damaged cars.
"A tree landed on top of the house next door to us and on the other side they had a hailstone go through their window and there's quiet a few people around town who've had that problem," he said.
"I've been in Chinchilla for 30 years, I've never seen hail like that come through here anyway."
Local watermelon farmer and cattle breeder Terry O'Leary said his car was a write-off.
"Both the front and rear windscreen have been completely smashed in, all the windows on one side have been smashed in, the hail was even that strong it knocked the front bumper bar off," he said.
"And then the whole bodyworks of the car copped a real pizzling as well."
Chinchilla resident Diane Tong said she and her son fled from their backyard when the storm hit.
"It seemed to come out of nowhere - we where out the back at one stage and Matt actually commented on the swirling clouds and then all of a sudden the big bangs hit the roof and they were the massive big hailstones which were average size tennis ball [or] cricket ball, but we did actually have some that were the size of softballs," she said.
Source
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-22/massive-hailstones-out-of-now...
Mar 22, 2015
Howard
Source
Mar 25, 2015
jorge namour
The fury of the tornado strikes Oklahoma and Arkansas, a dead [VIDEO]
The warning sirens have sounded bringing back the fear of 2013
Thursday, March 26, 2015
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/03/furia-dei-tornado-colpisce-oklahoma-...
https://translate.google.com.ar/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
http://newsok.com/tornadoes-touch-down-across-the-state-1-dead-in-s...
Oklahoma tornado It 'a dead and several injured in the fury of tornadoes that are hitting at this time the center of the United States. In the area of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a caravan park and 'was almost destroyed, one person was killed and several wounded, they know the authorities' premises. Even Moore, in the same State, the warning sirens have sounded bringing back the fear in the same area where in 2013 a violent tornado provoke 'the death of 24 people, while another returned and' was reported in western Oklahoma City . The same kind of phenomenon and 'registered in more' points in the mountains in northwest Arkansas.
Mar 26, 2015
Howard
Extremely Rare Rain Floods Northern Chile, Kills Two (Mar 25)
Rainfall is extremely hard to come by in northern Chile. In Antofagasta, virtually no rain falls this time year and the port city averages just 1.7 mm (0.07 of an inch) annually.
However, Wednesday was anything but normal across northern Chile as a storm system tracked unusually far to the north and unleashed torrential rain.
At least 11.9 mm (0.47 of an inch) poured down on Wednesday. Photos and videos from the region show that runoff from the rain inundated streets in Antofagasta, while the Copiapo River to the south was brought out of its banks.
The torrential rain is being blamed for two deaths, the BBC stated. One person was electrocuted on the street. The second died in a mudslide.
40,000 people are without electricity and as many or more are without drinking water. Chile's government declared a state of emergency for the Atacama desert region and rushed in the army, urging people to flee.
Impacts from the downpours forced several companies to suspend operations at several of the major mines in northern Chile, according to Reuters. That put an estimated 1.6 million tons of capacity of copper on hold. Chile produces a third of the world's copper.
AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Anthony Sagliani warned of the unusual rain coming to northern Chile last weekend.
"The computer models had been showing a very strong upper-level storm system off the coast of Chile for several days. I looked at how anomalous it was and knew that an extremely rare event was going to happen," stated Sagliani.
"Northern Chile is a very cloudy place, but it never rains," according to Sagliani. "It is estimated that it has not rained in some places in the Atacama Desert in hundreds, even thousands of years."
Sagliani added that northern Chile is normally a stable place with a constant marine influence that limits showers and thunderstorms.
"No moisture makes it over the Andes [Mountain Range]," continued Sagliani.
The same storm responsible for Wednesday's deluge will bring additional showers and thunderstorms to the area from Antofagasta to La Serena on Thursday. While Sagliani does not expect the downpours to be as intense, any additional rain could worsen or trigger new flooding issues.
Sources
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/extremely-rare-rain-floo...
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-32062039
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chile-declares-state-...
http://news.yahoo.com/chile-sends-army-flood-hit-region-212231026.html
Mar 26, 2015
Howard
Formidable shelf cloud over Lancaster, Pennsylvania today.
https://storify.com/weatherchannel/awesome-shelf-cloud-photos
Mar 27, 2015
Khan
Snow in Saudi Arabia
Mar 17, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDzCjVWP06A
Mar 28, 2015
Howard
Dramatic time-lapse video and images of undulating clouds over Georgia and South Carolina today.
Critically, an elevated layer of warm air over top a layer of cooler air (aka an inversion) is required for the wave action at cloud level. But the specifics on how the clouds develop and evolve are still unknown.
Sources
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/03...
http://www.wjbf.com/story/28646996/photos-shelf-clouds-appear-over-...
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photos-asperatus-clouds-...
Mar 31, 2015
jorge namour
Weather alert: Europe lashed by a hurricane of category 3 ^, winds up to 205km / h. Even in Italy in the coming hours will storm
Weather alert for strong winds in Europe caused by a pressure gradient between the Atlantic Ocean scary at the Scandinavian peninsula.
Repercussions on Italy
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/03/allerta-meteo-leuropa-sferzata-uraga...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
pressure gradient There is a pressure gradient really scary at the base of the raging winds north / western that in these hours are lashing Europe: the Azores anticyclone located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain and Portugal has a maximum high pressure of 1039hPa , and moves to the north / east. At the same time around the Scandinavian peninsula there are three groups of deep low pressure up to 975hPa: over 60hPa of difference in a few hundred kilometers are generating strong winds not only on the British Isles, but also in all countries, central Europe, from France to Belgium and the Netherlands, from Germany to Switzerland, from Poland to Hungary and the Czech Republic, the Baltic countries to those Scandinavians up even to Russia.
The winds that are blowing in Europe are as strong as those of a hurricane of category 3 ^ on the Saffir-Simpson scale with peaks of 205km / h in Norway, 165km / h in Sweden, 156km / h in the British Isles and in Austria, 146km / h in France, 144km / h in Slovakia, 135km / h in the Netherlands, 122km / h in the Czech Republic, 115km / h in Poland.
This remarkable pressure gradient is causing strong winds also in Italy In addition to strong winds, in Central / Eastern Europe and Northern raging bad weather and cold weather with just + 2 ° C in Warsaw, Bergen and Copenhagen, + 4 ° C to Oslo and Trondheim, + 6 ° C in Leeds, Stockholm and Dublin, while the Azores anticyclone raises temperatures in the western Mediterranean with + 24 ° C in Algiers and Madrid, even + 28 ° C to + 27 ° C and Valencia in Seville.
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The storm Niklas flagella Germany: winds 150 km / h, three deaths [PHOTOS]
According to Lars Kirchhuebel German Weather Service 'DWD', this is one of the most powerful storms in recent years
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/03/tempesta-niklas-flagella-germania-ve...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
LaPresse/Reuters
Are already 'three deaths caused by the storm in Germany Niklas, that since yesterday is flailing the country with serious disruption to road, rail and air. Gusts up to 150 km / h, rail links disrupted, delayed departures at Frankfurt International Airport after the closure of one of the tracks. All regional trains were canceled in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the railways Deutsche Bahn have stopped all local connections waiting for the storm to diminish its strength. In addition, the line connecting Paris to Budapest remained interrupted at two different points in Southern Bavaria, between Monaco and Augusta, due to some fallen trees that have hit the power lines. According to Lars Kirchhuebel German Weather Service 'DWD', this is one of the most powerful storms in recent years, although - fortunately - not as powerful as the one in October 2013 caused severe damage throughout Europe.
Mar 31, 2015
KM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-3021481/The-du...
The dust that doesn't settle: Incredible pictures show Chinese city completely swarmed by giant sandstorm cloud
Incredible pictures have shown the moment ferocious red sandstorms currently engulfing China devoured a city in the country's north west.
China's pollution hit cities are now having to cope with a fresh nuisance after the fourth massive sandstorm struck the north-west of the country this year alone.
The images show the city of Golmud, in the country's north west Qinghai Province, as it succumbs to a sweeping half-hour sandstorm which reduced the visibility to as little as 30 metres, according to The People's Daily Online.
The raging sand storm sweeps in on the city of Golmud in north west China, where 200,000 people live
The sandstorm was the fourth to hit the area this year as authorities struggle to deal with the natural hazards
China's Meteorlogical Centre issued a blue alert as the sandstorms swept across the north of the country
China's National Meteorological Centre (NMC) has now issued a blue alert for the latest sandstorms to hit the northern regions.
The red sand swept across the northern part of the country bringing strong winds and floating sand to the regions of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi, in what was the fourth sandstorm to hit the area this year.
The organisation advised residents to stay indoors and local authorities to brace for the clean-up operation after the sandstorms.
China's four-tier colour-coded weather warning system signifies red as the most severe followed by orange, yellow and blue.
Photos of the city of Dunhuang in the north-western province of Gansu show the thick orange haze coating the city's atmosphere and the lack of people on the streets gave the area an almost alien planet appearance.
A local meteorologist said visibility was reduced to less than 50metres in downtown areas.
Police spokesman Hui Chuang said: 'The storm forced most people to stay indoors because it was difficult to drive anyway given the low visibility and also hard to breathe without inhaling sand.
'It also forced the closure of the nearby Mogao Grottoes.'
The site is a UNESCO world heritage tourist site renowned for its massive sculptures and frescoes carved in caves along a cliff.
Apr 2, 2015
Derrick Johnson
Governor issues mandatory water cuts as California snowpack hits record low
By Matt Weiser and David Siders
mweiser@sacbee.com
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/articl...
PHILLIPSStanding in a dry brown meadow that typically would be buried in snow this time of year, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday ordered the first mandatory water cutbacks in California history, a directive that will affect cities and towns statewide.
With new measurements showing the state’s mountain snowpack at a record low, officials said California’s drought is entering uncharted territory and certain to extend into a fourth straight year. As a result, Brown issued sweeping new directives to reduce water consumption by state residents, including a mandatory 25 percent cut in urban water use.
On Wednesday, Brown attended a routine snow survey at 6,800 feet in the Sierra Nevada, near Echo Summit on Highway 50 along the road to Lake Tahoe. The April 1 survey is an annual ritual, marking the end of the winter season, in which automated sensors and technicians in the field strive to measure how much water the state’s farms and cities will receive from snowmelt.
The measurements showed the snowpack at just 5 percent of average for April 1, well below the previous record low of 25 percent, which was reached last year and in 1977.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/articl...
California’s mountain snowpack is crucial to determining summer supplies, normally accounting for at least 30 percent of total fresh water available statewide. The poor snowpack means California reservoirs likely already have reached peak storage and will receive little additional runoff from snowmelt, an unusual situation.
“We’re standing on dry grass, and we should be standing in five feet of snow,” Brown said. “We’re in an historic drought, and that demands unprecedented action.”
Brown’s executive order directs California’s more than 3,000 urban water providers to collectively cut their water use by 25 percent compared with 2013. The State Water Resources Control Board is expected to impose the new restrictions by mid-May, setting a different target for each agency depending on how much water its customers use per capita and conservation progress since last year.
With 2015 opening with some of the driest weather in California history, Brown has faced increasing pressure to act on the drought. His call last year for residents to voluntarily reduce their water use by 20 percent statewide resulted in increased conservation, but ultimately fell short. Water agencies collectively managed to meet this target only once out of the last eight months.
“I called for 20 percent voluntary, and we’re going to get more like 9 percent,” Brown said. “That’s not enough.”
The new goals will be mandatory. Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the water board, said her agency will decide next month exactly what tools it will wield to ensure compliance. But she suggested water agencies that don’t meet their targets are likely to face fines.
“Enforcement is definitely on deck in this next phase,” she said.
Brown’s directive calls on the state to create financial incentives for homeowners to replace thirsty lawns with drought tolerant landscape, as well as rebates for new water-efficient appliances. But he said local water agencies also might issue cease-and-desist orders on water users if they fail to meet the conservation order.
“I would hope that we don’t see this in some punitive way, but that we see the challenge,” Brown said. “(The) reality is that the climate is getting warmer, the weather is getting more extreme and unpredictable, and we have to become more resilient, more efficient and more innovative. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
In the Sacramento region, water agencies overall cut water usage per capita by about 18 percent from the summer of 2013 to the summer of 2014, according to a Bee review of data reported to the state. That means many already are close to the 25 percent cut mandated by Gov. Brown.
However, the capital region still guzzles far more than most other parts of the state. On average. Sacramento area residents used about 190 gallons per person per day between June and September 2014, compared to an average of about 131 gallons per person per day in the rest of the state.
Among the other measures in the governor’s order:
▪ A program to replace 50 million square feet of residential lawns statewide with drought-tolerant plants, equal to more than 800 football fields.
▪ A new statewide consumer rebate program to subsidize installation of water efficient appliances, such as toilets and washing machines.
▪ A ban on watering ornamental lawns on public street medians.
▪ A ban on irrigating yards in new housing developments unless the water is recycled or drip irrigation is used.
▪ Financial assistance for families forced to find new housing because they have run out of potable water.
“People should realize we’re in a new era,” Brown said. “The idea of your nice little green grass getting lots of water every day, that’s going to be a thing of the past.”
Brown’s order requires water agencies that service agricultural areas to develop drought management plans, with increased reporting on water supply and use. But unlike cities, farms will face no conservation targets, mandatory or otherwise.
Agriculture consumes nearly 80 percent of the state’s “developed” water supply.
Marcus said agricultural water agencies already have had their surface water allocations slashed considerably. In the case of farmers dependent on the federal Central Valley Project, many have been told they will receive no water. The State Water Project, which is operated by DWR and also serves some farms, plans to deliver 20 percent of typical contract amounts.
Craig Wilson, former Delta watermaster at the state water board, is among those saying the state should be doing more to force conservation on farmers. He noted that many farmers enjoy so-called “senior” water rights, which have not been curtailed at all. Many also rely on groundwater, which has been pumped to unprecedented lows in some parts of the state.
Brown’s order requires groundwater users to expand or speed up their reports of water use, but does not restrict pumping.
“Ag is where the water is,” Wilson said. “Come up with a plan to cut their water use by 10 percent, 20 percent. I wouldn’t dictate to the farmers how to do it, but tell them to give us the plan that shows how you’re going to do it.”
Officials at urban water agencies mostly cheered Brown’s announcement, saying it will help keep the public focused on conservation as the drought worsens.
“I think he’s upping the ante, and I think it’s important that he does,” said Kevin Wattier, general manager of the Long Beach Water Agency. “You look at what’s happened with this snowpack and we need to step it up.”
Last week, Brown signed a $1.1 billion drought relief and flood protection package, then went on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to address the crisis for a national audience. Brown has stopped short of attributing the drought to climate change but said it is the kind of event that climate change is making “absolutely inevitable in the coming years and decades.”
Two of the first three months of this year, January and March, were the driest in more than 100 years. Many areas of the state were also hotter than average during these months, shattering heat records in many locations, including Sacramento.
A few miles down Highway 50 from the meadow where the snowpack measurement took place, the only evidence of winter was a patch of snow that could be seen on a hilltop from the window of Strawberry Station, a general store.
“It’s pretty dire,” said David Schlosser, who owns the store with his wife, Jenifer. “It looks like August.”
Schlosser said families heading to the mountains for winter vacations this year stopped and asked how far they had to continue to find snow.
“We would say, ‘Denver,’” he said.
Jenifer Schlosser said that during a major drought in the late 1970s, when Brown was governor before, residents trusted dry years were cyclical and would come to an end.
“Now, with all the other changes – climate change – people are like, ‘Oh, this could be serious.’”
At the snowpack measurement, Brown was asked about his own conservation efforts.
“First of all, my own water use is relatively limited, I must say,” Brown said. “We’re very careful of what we’re doing – turning off that faucet a little quicker, getting out of the shower a little faster, and not flushing the toilet every time.”
New mandatory restrictions
For the first time in history, a California governor has ordered mandatory statewide water cutbacks. Here are some of the highlights from Gov. Brown’s executive order.
▪ Requires the State Water Resources Control Board to impose restrictions that will cut statewide urban water use 25 percent compared with 2013.
▪ Calls for urban water agencies to create rate structures, fees and penalties that encourage residents to use less water.
▪ Requires all newly constructed homes and buildings to use drip irrigation or microspray systems to water landscape.
▪ Creates a statewide initiative to get California residents collectively to replace 50 million square feet of lawns with drought tolerant landscape.
▪ Creates a statewide rebate program to encourage residents to buy new water-efficient appliances.
▪ Requires agricultural water suppliers to submit detailed drought management plans.
Source: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/articl...
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/articl...
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/articl...
Apr 2, 2015
Mark
Antarctica records unprecedented high temperatures in two new readings
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/31/potential-record...
A weather station on the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula recorded what may be the highest temperature ever on the continent, while a separate study published in the journal Science found that the losses of ice shelf volume in the western Antarctic had increased by 70% in the last decade.
Helen A Fricker of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, a co-author of the Science report, said that there was not necessarily a correlation between recent temperature fluctuations and disappearing ice.
“While it is fair to say that we’re seeing the ice shelves responding to climate change, we don’t believe there is enough evidence to directly relate recent ice shelf losses specifically to changes in global temperature,” Fricker said in an interview with Reuters.
What was incontestable were the unprecedentedly high temperature readings on the Antarctic ice mass.
The potential Antarctica record high of 63.5F (17.5C) was recorded on 24 March at the Esperanza Base, just south of the southern tip of Argentina. The reading, first noted on the Weather Underground blog, came one day after a nearby weather station, at Marambio Base, saw a record high of its own, at 63.3F (17.4C).
By any measure, the Esperanza reading this week was unusual. The previous record high at the base, of 62.7F (17.1C), was recorded in 1961.
Apr 2, 2015
jorge namour
Riyadh schools forced to close due to severe sandstorm - SAUDI ARABIA STORM «Dark»
Thursday 2 April 2015
http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/726646
All schools in the Riyadh region, including the ones run by expat communities, will remain closed Thursday.
The Education Department announced the suspension of schools on April 2 because of a major sandstorm that hit Riyadh on Wednesday.
A ferocious sandstorm blanketed the region hampering visibility and causing traffic snarls on many roads and highways. Several shops in the region downed their shutters early.
The Civil Defense has advised all residents in the Riyadh region to avoid going out during the dusty weather.
Your UAE sandstorm Twitter pictures - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/weather/your-uae-sandstorm-twitter-pic...
Apr 2, 2015
KM
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/pangnirtung-power-outage-partia...
Pangnirtung power outage: partial power restored
Emergency supplies and generators sent to hamlet of Pangnirtung that is mostly in the dark
CBC News Posted: Apr 02, 2015 7:06 AM CT Last Updated: Apr 02, 2015 10:46 PM CT
A fire at the local power plant has led to a community-wide power outage in the Nunavut community of Pangnirtung. (Submitted by David Kilabuk)
Qulliq Energy Corp, the power corporation for Nunavut, said late Thursday partial power has been restored to Pangnirtung.
QEC asked residents to conserve power for basic necessities as it sought to rotate power in Pangnirtung on two-hour intervals, hoping to increase the time increment as quickly as possible to four hours.
The Northwest Territories Power Corporation airlifted two mobile generators after the cause of the outage that affected the entire community of 1,400, a fire early Thursday at the local power plant.
"Loss of power in the community, in the North, in the winter time is a very serious situation," said Ed Zebedee, the territory's director of protection services in Iqaluit. The community relies entirely on the power plant that generates electricity from diesel fuel.
Temperatures were forecast to hit a low of -18 C overnight Thursday with a high of -13 C expected Friday.
Pangnirtung, which has a population of 1,400, is the gateway to Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island. (CBC)
An emergency warming shelter has been opened at Attagoyuk Ilisavik School, where there is backup power. A few other buildings in the community also have backup power, but the rest are cold and dark.
"We opened the warming shelters very early this morning and people are starting to go there," Zebedee said. "We talked to the hamlet and they are getting food from the local stores so they can start feeding people."
The Nunavut government is now working towards getting charter flights to the community to bring people with high-risk health issues, such as those who may be on oxygen generators, to Iqaluit.
The government also worked with the public health agency in Ottawa to get cots, blankets and pillows, which will be flown into Pangnirtung in case residents have to sleep in the school.
"We understand the impacts of being without power in Canada's North and are pleased to be able to assist our neighbouring utility," said Emanuel DaRosa, president and CEO of the power corporation. "It's the least we can do in this crisis situation."
Phone services degrading
Zebedee said he spoke with NorthwesTel this morning and its cellphone system "looks like it has completely failed right now."
A media advisory from NorthwesTel said long distance and data services in Pangnirtung were expected to continue to degrade as backup batteries deplete, but its central office in the community currently has a stable power supply, which should allow local calling to continue to function.
"We have a bunch of satellite phones in the community with various government agencies and then we also have a couple with the hamlet," Zebedee said. "We have a response kit ready to go in with hand-held radios so that people can communicate between hamlet staff, bylaw officers, water truck people."
Members of the Canadian Rangers met Thursday morning to discuss the situation and went door-to-door to check on households, as well as warning people about potential dangers in their homes, such as carbon monoxide poisoning from using camping stoves or outdoor heating appliances indoors.
Fire began early in morning
The fire at the power plant began at about 1:30 a.m. ET and crews were able to extinguish it.
Ezra Arnakaq, who lives in the community, said there was a lot of damage to the power plant.
"One of the exhaust vents has fallen in part way and there is extensive damage in there," he said.
Residents of Pangnirtung are being asked to run taps regularly to ensure their pipes don't freeze, but to otherwise conserve water.
Apr 3, 2015
Howard
'Like a hurricane': Floods Swamp Louisville, Forces 160+ Water Recues (Apr 3)
"It looked like a hurricane struck, said Wester, whose apartment complex was surrounded by floodwaters, waist-deep in some places. "I didn't know what to do."
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said more than 160 water rescues had been made.
Five to 7 inches of rain fell overnight in the Louisville area, mainly along and just south of the Interstate 64 corridor, National Weather Service forecaster Brian Schoettmer said. By comparison, just over 4½ inches of rain had been recorded at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport as of 8 a.m.
The torrential rain closed portions of roads in multiple Kentucky counties Friday morning.
Some side streets near the University of Louisville were completely under water, and an overpass was flooded almost to its top, authorities said.
As storms pushed through the South and Midwest, severe thunderstorms were blamed for the death of a woman who was camping with her family at Natural Bridge State Resort Park in eastern Kentucky.
Catherine Carlson, 45, was killed and her husband was injured when a large tree limb fell on their tent, said Powell County Coroner Hondo Hearne. Their three children didn't appear to be injured, he said.
The campground where the family was staying was evacuated due to flash flooding, said Gil Lawson, a spokesman for the state Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet. The campground is near a stream, and about 15 campsites were occupied when the flood hit, he said.
Meanwhile thousands of people in south central Kansas lost power after winds that reached nearly 90 mph downed trees and damaged buildings overnight and early Friday.
No deaths were reported but six people were injured, emergency management officials said. Several buildings were damaged in Newton and the Jabara Airport in Wichita was closed Friday morning because of storm debris on the airfield.
In Oklahoma, the National Weather Service plans to send a survey team to Ottawa County to investigate reports of a tornado touchdown.
The possible tornado near Afton was part of a storm system that moved through northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas late Thursday and early Friday.
In Kentucky, Powell County received 4 inches of rain, and other eastern areas of the state had 3-4 inches, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tony Edwards.
A northern Kentucky school bus with 16 students aboard was stranded for about three hours by floodwaters that covered roads to schools. Numerous roads in northeastern Kentucky were under water.
The heavy rains in Kentucky started Thursday and continued Friday. Some areas received 1 to 2 inches per hour, said weather service meteorologist Brian Schoettmer. Some of the heaviest rains occurred along or just south of the Interstate 64 corridor, he said.
"We had several waves of rain that rode along the same path," he said.
Some cars were submerged by high water on roads next to the University of Louisville's main campus, said school spokesman Mark Hebert. A few campus buildings had water in the basements, he said. Early classes were canceled Friday, but classes resumed by midmorning, he said.
Bill Mattingly, assistant chief of the Okolona Fire Protection District, said floodwaters started pouring into first-floor apartments overnight.
Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville canceled classes Friday.
Sources
http://www.kentucky.com/2015/04/03/3782373/updates-storms-cause-sub...
http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/28713870/flooding-in-louisville...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3024458/Flooding-Louisville...
Apr 3, 2015
Kris H
Strange black ring over Kazak village.
http://rt.com/news/246953-black-ring-sky-kazakhstan/
Apr 5, 2015
Howard
Sudden, Massive Hailstorm Kills 3, Injures 150 in India (Apr 4)
"The number of injured is high due to sudden, massive hailstorms," ADM Dhirendra Sachan said.
"Ten cattle were killed and the majority of crops were destroyed in the hailstorm. Actual loss of the farmers has to be assessed," he said.
In Nagla Imam Khan area of Reethora village in Mathura, two persons including a child were killed when their house collapsed on Friday night due to heavy rains.
"While a 30-year-old woman and an eight-year-old child succumbed to injuries on the spot, six people who were injured were rushed to a private hospital in Kosi Kalan town," Mr Sachan said.
Source
http://www.ndtv.com/others-news/massive-hailstorm-in-mathura-3-kill...
Apr 5, 2015
Howard
Interesting read on Alaska's record warmth that coincides with the Zeta's explanation of the polar wobble (global warming disinfo removed).
Baked Alaska (Mar 11)
Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, which Zappa calls home, was practically tropical this winter. Rick Thoman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Alaska, has been dumbfounded. "Homer, Alaska, keeps setting record after record, and I keep looking at the data like, Has the temperature sensor gone out or something?"
Something does seem to be going on in Alaska. Last fall, a skipjack tuna, which is more likely to be found in the Galápagos than near a glacier, was caught about 150 miles southeast of Anchorage, not far from the Kenai. A few weeks ago, race organizers had to truck in snow to the ceremonial Iditarod start line in Anchorage.
This February was the most extreme on record in the Lower 48, and it marked the first time that two large sections of territory (each more than 30 percent of the country) experienced both exceptional cold and exceptional warmth in the same month, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. All-time records were set for the coldest month in dozens of Eastern cities, with Boston racking up more snow than the peaks of California's Sierra Nevada. A single January storm in Boston produced more snow than Anchorage saw all winter.
This year's Iditarod was rerouted — twice — because of the warm weather. The race traditionally starts in Anchorage, which had near-record-low snowfall this winter. The city was without a single significant snowstorm between October and late January, so race organizers decided to move the start from the Anchorage area 360 miles north to Fairbanks. But when the Chena River, which was supposed to be part of the new route's first few miles, failed to sufficiently freeze, the starting point had to move again, to another location in Fairbanks.
On March 9, Zappa set out with her dogs on the 1,000-mile race across Alaska as one of 78 mushers in this year's Iditarod. For most of the winter, the weather across the interior of the state had been abnormally warm. To train, many teams of dogs and their owners had to travel, often "outside" — away from Alaska. Zappa ended up going to the mountains of Wyoming.
A recent study said that Alaska's rivers and melting glaciers are now outputting more water than the Mississippi River. Last year was Alaska's warmest on record, and the warm weather has continued right on into 2015. This winter, Anchorage essentially transformed into a less sunny version of Seattle. As of March 9, the city had received less than one-third of its normal amount of snow. In its place? Rain. Lots of rain. In fact, schools in the Anchorage area are now more likely to cancel school because of rain and street flooding than because of cold and snow.
The Pacific Ocean near Alaska has been record-warm for months now. This year is off to a record-wet start in Juneau. Kodiak experienced its warmest winter on record. A sudden burst of ocean warmth has affected statewide weather before, but this time feels different, residents say. In late February, National Weather Service employees spotted thundersnow in Nome — a city just 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle. "As far as I know, that's unprecedented," Thoman told me. Thunderstorms of any kind require a level of atmospheric energy that's rarely present in cold climates. To get that outside of the summer is incredibly rare everywhere, let alone in Alaska.
For the past few winters, shifts in the jet stream have brought surges of tropical moisture toward southern Alaska via potent atmospheric rivers. This weather pattern has endured so long, it's even earned its own name: the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge. The persistent area of high pressure stretching from Alaska to California has shunted wintertime warmth and moisture northward into the Arctic while the eastern half of the continent is plunged into a deep freeze, polar-vortex style.
The warm water is making its way north into the Arctic Ocean, too, where as of early March, sea ice levels were at their record lowest for the date.
The city of Anchorage has saved an estimated $1 million on snow removal this year and is instead pouring the money into fixing potholes and other backlogged maintenance issues. But getting around the rest of the state hasn't been so easy.
There are few roads in rural Alaska, so winter travel is often done by snowmobiles over frozen rivers. Not this year. Warm temperatures in February led to thin ice and open water in the southwest part of the state near Galena and Bethel. David Hulen, managing editor for the Alaska Dispatch News in Anchorage, has spent nearly 30 years in the state. He says the freeze-thaw cycle is out of whack, "changing the nature of the place." Usually, things freeze in the fall and unfreeze in the spring; this winter, they've seen a nearly constant back and forth between freezing and thawing.
Those are city problems. Along the state's west coast, some native coastal villages are facing an existential threat as sea levels rise. Earlier this winter, Washington Post climate reporter Chris Mooney visited Kivalina, one of the six villages considering plans to relocate.
For now, the most visible change is still in the shifting habitats of the fish, birds, trees, and animals. Permafrost still covers 85 percent of the state, but "almost everywhere, the depth of the active layer is increasing over the last few decades," said Thoman. Since the active layer — the zone of soil above the permafrost that thaws out each summer — now penetrates deeper down, that means landforms are shifting, lakes are draining, and new forests are springing up.
Sources
http://theweek.com/articles/546496/baked-alaska
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/03/clima...
"This is a result of the Polar Push, where the magnetic N Pole of Earth is shoved away daily when it comes up over the horizon to face the Sun and the approaching Planet X, aka Nibiru. The magnetic N Pole of Earth is now positioned over eastern Siberia, which is bitterly cold while Norway and Sweden, just as far north, are warm. The magnetic N Pole of Earth receives less sunlight, and as the globe then leans to the right the northeastern part of N America likewise is cold. The lean to the left, next in the Figure 8 wobble, gives Europe more sunlight while the magnetic N Pole is on the far side of the globe, as does the bounce back from the Polar Push which gives Alaska its warm temps."
ZetaTalk: February 25, 2015
Apr 6, 2015
jorge namour
Easter Monday as San Silvestro, polar temperatures: -15 ° C to Predazzo, -13 ° C in Livigno [DATA] - ITALY
Monday, April 6, 2015
Temperatures of nearly 10 ° C lower than the average of April, very cold especially in the center / north but in the next two days the mercury will drop further
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/04/temperature-minime-oggi-in-italia-pa...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
Very cold this morning throughout Italy, especially in the center / north where the weather is sunny but cold and windy as if we were in the middle of winter
Frosts early in the Po Valley with -1 ° C to Malpensa and other locations subzero between Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto. Freezing cold on the reliefs with -15.4 ° C in Predazzo, -15.3 ° C to Pale di San Martino, -14.0 ° C in Ortisei, -13.7 ° C in Peio, -12.6 ° C Livigno, -12.3 ° C to Grigna, -12.2 ° C in Cortina d'Ampezzo, -12.1 ° C in Pinzolo, -11.4 ° C to Passo del Tonale, -10.3 ° C La Thuile, -9.5 ° C to Monte Cimon, -9.2 ° C at the Refuge Hut, -8.8 ° C to Croce Arcana, -8.7 ° C at Mount Elbow.
Instead these minimum temperatures in the main: 0 ° C to Bologna and Verona, + 1 ° C in Padua, Vicenza, Cuneo, Belluno, Cremona, Varese, Modena, Mantua, Bolzano and Campobasso, + 2 ° C in Parma,
Temperatures will fall again tomorrow and Wednesday, which will be the two coldest days, with extensive frost in the center / north from the plains.
Apr 6, 2015
jorge namour
A deep extratropical cyclone on the Black Sea ravaging the south of Ukraine, strong winds and torrential rains flooded the city of Odessa
Wednesday, April 8, 2015,
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/04/profondo-ciclone-extratropicale-mar-...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
A severe wave of bad weather yesterday lashed several southern areas of Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, with heavy rain, torrential character, accompanied by strong winds, NE, N-NE and North, who are over 70 -80 km / h gusts. The mix of heavy rain and strong winds has reaped considerable damage and many hardships in many cities in southern Ukraine. The strong wave of bad weather was produced by the passage of a young and deep extratropical cyclone of 995 hPa on the Black Sea, and in the 24-36 hours before it was developed on the western sector of the Black Sea, taking a remarkable development, with an intense frontogenesis in the lower layers.
The interaction between an extended advection of warm air source sub-tropical continental un'avvezione of very cold air flowed towards the Carpathian region and the western area of the Black Sea, has woven the ideal conditions for the development of a deep cyclogenesis on the Black Sea Basin
But strong winds, exceeding the threshold of the storm, they also swept the remaining Oblast 'southern Ukraine, from Dnipropetrovsk to the coastal city of Mariupol', Sea of Azov, gusting to N-NE and NE until beyond 70 km / h
MAP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessa
Apr 8, 2015
Howard
Tornadoes Wreak Destruction Across the Midwest (Apr 9)
Multiple tornadoes ripped through parts of Iowa, Illinois and Ohio on Thursday, leaving widespread destruction and injuries in their wake, including a 50-mile path of damage across north central Illinois.
"Preliminary indications based on radar data would suggest a path of 50 mies of intermittent tornado damage, potentially a single track or a couple of tracks, and there have been reports of more significant damage," National Weather Service Meteorologist Gino Izzi said.
In Rochelle, Illinois, there were "multiple reports of injuries and damage," the Ogle County Sheriff's dispatchers said.
The Rochelle Community Hospital was in "disaster mode," spokeswoman Kelly Smith said, with patients in the emergency room and urgent care because of the tornado.
Storm chaser Dan Gottschalk told CNN he observed "massive damage" north of Rochelle, spotting some homes with only their foundations remaining.
"You can hear the hissing everywhere from where the structures used to be," he said.
As reports of tornadoes in Illinois, Ohio and Iowa grew, ominous storm images quickly surfaced on social media.
More tornadoes were later reported near the Illinois community of Ashton, which also saw tennis ball-sized hail, and around Rockford, which is Illinois' third largest city, about 85 miles northwest of Chicago.
Lee County, Illinois, which is about 50 miles south of Rockford, also had a tornado go through, county Emergency Management Agency Director Kevin Lalley said.
"We do have damage at this time," Lalley said. "I'm trying to confirm the area of the image and the extent."
Emergency officials reached in parts of McHenry County said they were swamped with calls for help. There were reports of damage in the incorporated community of Fairdale. A dispatcher with the McHenry County Sheriff's Department said they have received several reports of tornadoes in the area of Woodstock.
The small town of Kirkland has sent its public works employees with backhoes, generators and other equipment to the town of Fairdale to help in anyway they can, Village President Les Bellah said.
"Fairdale is pretty well destroyed, from what I understand," Bellah said. "They're taking our backhoes and whatever generators and whatever equipment we got over there to assist them. Our fire department is there now on scene as well."
More than 700 flights have been canceled at Chicago's airports, and more than 1,400 were experiencing delays.
The twisters are part of a broader severe weather pattern that was expected to affect about 95 million people Thursday, including those in major cities such as Chicago and St. Louis.
Eight tornadoes were reported Wednesday in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, the Storm Prediction Center said.
The National Weather Service indicated a tornado may have touched down in the small town of Potosi, Missouri, about 70 miles from St. Louis.
Another tornado was reported south of Toledo, Ohio.
More storms are expected in the Midwest, Mississippi River Valley, Tennessee River Valley and near the southern Great Lakes, the Weather Service said.
Sources
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/09/us/severe-weather/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-chicago-weath...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-live-blog-sto...
http://www.kttc.com/story/28766363/nws-tornado-touched-down-in-east...
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photos-tornadoes-hail-fl...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-geraldine-sch...
Apr 10, 2015
lonne rey
Snowfall on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road
http://www.3ajlnews.com/egypt/78250.html translated with google
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&a...
Alexandria saw this afternoon, the increase in the severity of a wave of bad weather that hit the province, since the dawn of the day, with snow-white balls fell west of Alexandria and on the road to Alexandria - Cairo Desert.
Also different parts of Alexandria, had heavy rain, which led to traffic problems on the Corniche and the main street.
Apr 12, 2015
jorge namour
Holy Saturday of rain in Jerusalem, the cyclonic circulation on Turkey provoke intense thunderstorms in the Middle East
April 11, 2015
The cyclonic circulation Anatolian plateau moves eastward causing rains, scattered showers and thunderstorms between Asia Minor and the Middle East
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/04/sabato-santo-di-pioggia-a-gerusalemm...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
A Holy Saturday, the eve of the Orthodox Easter, penalized by the rain and the rain on the city of Jerusalem.
Since yesterday throughout Asia Minor, and even along the coast of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula, the weather continues to be markedly unstable, with rain, scattered showers and thunderstorms, locally also give rise to short bursts of hail. All because of continental polar air that has moved away from the Aegean to the Western Turkey.
This cyclonic circulation has evolved into a minimum depressionario derivative that you went to place the Sea of Levante, off the southern coast of Turkey and Syria where he is leading a phase of marked instability, with frequent rains and thunderstorms between Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and northern Egypt.
Strong wave of bad weather in Israel: snowfall in the Galilee and the Golan
Heavy rains have fallen on the Mediterranean coast and also in the area of Jerusalem
April 12, 2015
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/04/forte-ondata-di-maltempo-in-israele-...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
A wave of bad weather yesterday invests different regions of Israel, particularly the Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights. In some localities' are reported blizzards as we have not seen for a decade.
Heavy rains have fallen on the Mediterranean coast and also in the area of Jerusalem. Consequently they are now in full in the Judean Desert several rivers that lead from the hills of Jerusalem to the Dead Sea depression. Some roads were closed to traffic for prudential reasons. Persistent rains and strong winds are also recorded in the Negev desert.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wave of bad weather in the Gaza Strip: flooding to hail and rain [PHOTOS and VIDEO]
A stretch of the main artery, the Sallah-a-din, was closed to traffic
April 12, 2015
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/04/ondata-di-maltempo-nella-striscia-di...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
VIDEO: http://www.meteoweb.eu/video-gallery/?id=734
A wave of bad weather and in the last hours in the Gaza Strip, making it even more' difficult living conditions of thousands of Palestinians displaced after the conflict with Israel last summer. Local sources of heavy rains (which have caused flooding in several districts, including Khuzaa, Sajaya and Beit Hanun) and even hail in the northern Gaza Strip. A stretch of the main thoroughfare, the Sallah-a-din, and 'was closed to traffic. In some localities' panel houses made available to displaced persons are flooded. Only a consolation for the population and 'an increased supply of electric current, past now three to eight hours daily.
Apr 12, 2015
Mark
Tale of two countries: Snow in the North, but glorious sunshine in the South
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3036143/Tale-two-countries-...
But with this week set to be sunny and the mercury predicted to hit 24C (75F), the rest of Britain is heading for a heatwave.
Forecasters say temperatures will be up to 10C above average for the time of year, making parts of the UK hotter than holiday destinations in southern Europe.
And bookmakers have slashed odds on this being the warmest spring on record after the Met Office confirmed temperatures from now to June are more than twice as likely to be above average than below average.
Last Friday was the hottest day of 2015 so far, reaching 21.9C (71.4F) in St James’s Park, central London. But despite balmy weather in much of the South, blizzards hit Scotland and northern England, covering areas including the Lake District’s Kirkstone Pass with a layer of snow. Rain battered Manchester and the Pennines.
The South enjoyed sunshine, with punters flocking to the Cam in Cambridge – 250 miles from the Lake District – but temperatures stalled at 13-14C (55-57F).
The mercury fell below zero in Berkshire early yesterday, while winds in Wales reached speeds of up to 75mph.
Apr 13, 2015
jorge namour
Incredible dust storms between Ukraine and Belarus, unprecedented phenomenon in the history [PHOTOS and VIDEO]
April 13, 2015
An impressive dust storm invests western Ukraine and Belarus southern causing huge inconvenience and a lot of fear among the population. Event quite unique to this corner of Europe
http://www.meteoweb.eu/2015/04/incredibili-tempeste-di-polvere-tra-...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8wuBcnLE5c
The wall of dust observed in Ukraine
The month of April continues to amaze us, churning weather events truly amazing on the old continent.
Just yesterday afternoon as impressive as a rare dust storm hit several areas of Ukraine northwestern and southern Belarus, characterized by rather mature and intense storms that were preceded by powerful "downbursts".
The advance of these storms was accompanied by the formation of impressive clouds of dust as high as 900-1000 meters, moving in parallel with the various "storm cells" that generated have temporarily obscured the sky in different villages and cities Ukraine's north-western and southern Belarus.
The strong "downbursts" raising the air, quite turbulent, a ingentissima amount of land and fine powder which has created a real wall of sediment along the part of the advancing storm front.
This process has led to the formation of this incredible dust storm, unusual for these areas of Europe.
Around 17:00 PM a massive wall of red dust, which was accompanied by the "gust front" of storms, has invested in the full Oblast 'Ukrainian Khmelnytsky, causing a drastic reduction in horizontal visibility, as well as a temporary darkening of heavenly blanket for the presence of a very heavy amount of fine dust in the air coming from the fields and from rural northern Ukraine.
But the worst dust storms were observed on its southern Belarus, where there was a real "Haboob", such as those that usually are realized on the Sahara or the sandy deserts of the Middle East.
The dust cloud has hit the Belarusian city of Soligorsk, where shortly after 17:00 PM the arrival of '' Haboob 'has virtually overshadowed everything, so much so that within seconds it has gone from daylight to night To the astonishment and fear of the local population, not accustomed to living with similar weather phenomena .
During the arrival of the cloud of dust the city of Soligorsk remained totally paralyzed in the dark, with people who have crowded stores for shelter from all that dust that made the air unbreathable. What most surprises most is that a similar phenomenon has occurred in the month of April and not in the middle of summer
more to the west, between Ukraine and Belarus, similar events are most unique and rare, given the very considerable distance from sandy deserts or steppes dusty semi-arid regions (such as those of Central and Eastern Kazakhstan). CONTINUE...
Apr 13, 2015
SongStar101
This is unprecedented, nearly 60 villages! Uncharacteristically strong and rough winds!
23 dead, more than 900 injured in Siberian grassland fire
http://rt.com/news/249393-siberia-grass-blaze-russia/
https://youtu.be/Neuaq79cAjk
https://youtu.be/PcWzva5tPPc
The massive fires that swept through nearly 60 villages and towns in the Siberian republic of Khakassia have left 23 people dead, and more than 900 injured, according to an official committee investigating the tragedy.
“Currently the committee can confirm 23 deaths,” head of the investigative committee Vladimir Markin was quoted as saying by TASS.
More than 1,400 homes were destroyed in the fire, leaving some 6,000 people homeless, according to regional governor Viktor Zimin. Those who suffered severe injuries from the fire were delivered to Krasnoyarsk for treatment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally coordinated emergency services operations in Khakassia, according to his spokesperson.
Some 5,000 firefighters as well as thousands of volunteers worked to contain the blazes through the night, extinguishing the fires by Monday morning. Temporary camps have been set up in the Beisky and Shirinksy districts nearby for those displaced by the fire.
The fires started after mass grass burning by residents in the region. Grass burning is a springtime tradition among farmers in some parts of Russia, meant to clear the fields of dry grass and prepare them for planting.
Officials blamed the extreme severity of this year’s fire on “uncontrolled burning, dry weather and uncharacteristically strong and rough winds.”
“As soon as snow melts, while rivers are still covered by ice, dry grass burns like gunpowder,” said emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov, “People begin to burn grass on their plots and fire spreads to agricultural land and pastures are burnt.”
The fires started after mass grass burning by residents in the region. Grass burning is a springtime tradition among farmers in some parts of Russia, meant to clear the fields of dry grass and prepare them for planting.
Officials blamed the extreme severity of this year’s fire on “uncontrolled burning, dry weather and uncharacteristically strong and rough winds.”
“As soon as snow melts, while rivers are still covered by ice, dry grass burns like gunpowder,” said emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov, “People begin to burn grass on their plots and fire spreads to agricultural land and pastures are burnt.”
Apr 15, 2015
Howard
Massive Sandstorm Causes Panic In China (Apr 15)
The storm, which some outlets are calling the worst in more than a decade, reached speeds of 45 miles an hour and brought traffic in the city to a halt. Visibility plummeted and authorities urged people to stay indoors after the national observatory, China's environmental monitoring center, issued a heightened "yellow" alert before the storm hit.
Some residents wrote they felt like it was "the end of the world" and questioned how they could "survive such bad weather."
Source
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/16/beijing-sandstorm_n_708171...
Apr 17, 2015
Mark
Earthworms rain down from skies over Norway, puzzling scientists
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/earthworms-rain-down...
According to Norwegian news service The Local, the most recent phenomenon was discovered by biology teacher Karstein Erstad while he was skiing in the mountains.
“I saw thousands of earthworms on the surface of the snow,” he said.
“When I found them on the snow they seemed to be dead, but when I put them in my hand I found that they were alive.”
He thought they might have crawled through the snow, but rejected this idea, as the snow was over half a metre thick across the mountains.
This is not the only time an area experiencing worms raining from the sky in Norway, with other cases found in Molde and Bergen, both in the south of the country.
Apr 17, 2015
KM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3043071/The-storm-turned-da...
The storm that turned day into night: Watch darkness descend on city in Belarus as 'apocalyptic' weather hits
This incredible footage shows the moment an 'apocalyptic' weather storm struck Belarus, turning day into night when fast-moving storm clouds blocked out the sun.
Filmed from a high rise apartment, the video shows traffic moving along a busy street in the province of Salihorsk, south of the capital of Minsk on Monday afternoon.
As dark clouds move over the city, the entire area is plunged into darkness - forcing motorists to turn on their lights as they navigate the darkened roads.
Scroll down for video
Dark clouds start forming over the city of Soligorsk, Belarus, as the sandstorm sweeps over the city
Within a matter of minutes, the storm had blocked out the sun, creating chaos on the city streets
The sandstorm was so thick the city was plunged into darkness during the Monday afternoon storm
Towards the end of the video, the clouds thin out and the city once again slowly becomes illuminated.
The storm was caused by a cold front moving in from the Ukrainian-Belorusian border, named a haboob - which is Arabic for an intense dust storm, RT reported.
Not only did it cause chaos on city streets, but forced about 100,000 residents of the city of Soligorsk to stay indoors. Those that did venture outside travelled by torchlight.
Heavy rain associated with the storm also caused electricity cuts and damage to buildings.
Several people from the region who commented on the video described the storm as like a 'doomsday scenario' or the apocalypse.
While sandstorms, or haboobs, are commonly associated with the Sahara region, they can occur in any arid area.
The deserts of Australia are particularly prone to the storms, as are countries located along the Arabian Gulf and parts of Africa.
Associated with thunderstorms and small tornadoes, sandstorms are characterised by strong winds which move huge amounts of sand in a dense wall across thousands of kilometres - at heights reaching 1,000m.
Apr 17, 2015
Howard
Parts of California Missing More Than 2 Years Worth of Rain (Apr 17)
The state's current drought is unprecedented in modern times.
As of March 24, more than 98 percent of the region was struggling with dry conditions, with 41.1 percent in an 'exceptional' drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Approximately 37 million residents have been affected.
Since October 2011, most of the region has missed out on the equivalent of a year's worth of rain -- while some places are losing out on more than two year's worth.
Earlier this month, California officials took the unprecedented step and imposed state-wide, mandatory water restrictions.
While regional water restrictions have been imposed in the past, this is the first time the entire state -- which is home to about 39 million people -- has been put under the order.
Officials hope the restrictions will reduce water usage by 25 percent. Proposed initiatives include replacing 50 million square feet of city lawns with drought-tolerant foliage and requiring large landscapes like golf courses and cemeteries to cut their water use.
Source
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/parts-of-california-...
Apr 18, 2015
jorge namour
A Fish rain down on Thailand (photos)
Posted by wikistrike.com on April 18, 2015
http://www.wikistrike.com/2015/04/une-pluie-de-poissons-s-abat-sur-...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&...
http://coeursdafrik.com/une-pluie-de-poissons-sabat-sur-la-thailand...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QX4Q4nNCs0
Fish scattered everywhere in the streets after the rain in Thailand, surprised passersby who found themselves in front of thousands of fish that had been transported from the sea.
Apr 18, 2015
Howard
So much for "the show must go on".
Storms Cause Circus Chaos in Angleton, Texas (Apr 17)
A frantic crowd evacuated the circus last night in Angleton, Texas, as the massive circus tent started collapsing from the severe weather that swept through the area.
Laura Cudagirl Solis, who posted the video on Facebook, wrote, "Well so much for having a good time at the circus ... the whole tent started collapsing."
Source
http://abc13.com/news/video-chaotic-circus-crowd-evacuates-amid-fea...
Apr 19, 2015