Current Weather Situation latest forecast cyclone reports, and hurricane,flood images.

Vt.reopens last highway destroyed by Irene

2012-01-25T01:32:00.000-08:00

STOCKBRIDGE, Vt. — After hundreds of thousands of tons of rock were hauled out and tens of thousands of man-hours were spent, Vermont celebrated the completion of the biggest single engineering challenge following the flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Irene.

Just in time for the new year, and four months after the storm hit, Route 107 between Bethel and Stockbridge was reopened Thursday. The state highway, a major east-west thoroughfare, is the last to reopen after being closed by flooding.

The road's reopening was marked with a ceremony at a Stockbridge school, where scores of local residents and state officials tossed fluorescent orange baseball caps into the air.

"It will cut our commute time down, it will lessen our trauma of looking at all the damage and the moonscape," said Stockbridge resident Melissa Thompson, who had to navigate a 70-minute detour to get her son to school and to get to work for the past few months. "We'll probably miss all the flaggers (who) we got to know on the way. It just means so much to us to not have to make that commute every day."

Much remains to be done on Route 107 and across the state, but Vermonters used the reopening as a moment to pause and celebrate. Many people are still struggling to rebuild their homes and their lives. The state is just totaling up the bill, and the Legislature is preparing to deal with a variety of Irene-induced, long-term challenges.

The repair of Route 107 posed one of the biggest tests following the storm that left a dozen towns cut off from the outside world for days, damaged or destroyed more than 500 miles of roads and 200 bridges, killed six and reshaped much of the low-lying countryside.

Irene ripped up Vermont on Aug. 28. The downtowns of communities from Whitingham in southern Vermont to Waterbury, just west of Montpelier, were flooded to levels not seen since the state's epic flood of 1927.

Neale Lunderville, the state's appointed chief recovery officer, said it would be years before many Vermont families are back to what he calls "a new normal."

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NASA Satellite Sees Birth of Tropical Storm Ethel, Now Threatening Rodrigues

2012-01-21T01:02:00.000-08:00

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Storm Ethel on January 19, 2012 after she was born in the Southern Indian Ocean. The island of Rodrigues is now under Tropical Cyclone Warnings as Ethel approaches and strengthens.

When Aqua passed over newborn Ethel at 09:30 UTC (4:30 a.m. EST) on Jan. 19, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard Aqua captured a visible image of the storm, and showed that it had good circulation. The strongest storms appear to be around the center and northwest of center. Bands of thunderstorms from the east-southeast appear to spiral into Ethel's center on the MODIS satellite imagery.

At 0300 UTC on January 19 (10 p.m. EST, Jan. 18) Tropical Storm Ethel had maximum sustained winds near 35 knots (40 mph/65 kmh). Ethel was 810 miles east-northeast of La Reunion Island, centered near 14.2 South longitude and 67.7 East latitude. Ethel was moving to the west-southwest at 11 knots (~13 mph/20 kmh).

Currently, Ethel threatens the island of Rodrigues. Rodrigues is the smallest of the Mascarene Islands and was home to 40,000 people in 2006. It is a dependency of Mauritius. According to Wikipedia, it is located 348 miles (560 km) east of Mauritius island. It is surrounded by a coral reef and is about 43 square miles (109 km²).

The Mauritus Meteorological Service (MMS) has posted a tropical cyclone class two warning for Rodrigues. A class two warning means that within 12 hours, the warning area will likely experience hurricane-force wind gusts of 75 mph (120 kilometers) per hour. The MMS calls for downpours and gusty winds today, with rain becoming heavier and more frequent on January 20. Sustained winds are expected to be near 25 mph (40 kmh) with gusts as high as 56 mph (90 kmh) during the evening hours on Jan. 19, 2012. Seas are expected to be rough.

Because Ethel is in an area with warm sea surface temperatures (warmer than the 80F/26.6C threshold needed to maintain a tropical cyclone) and low wind shear, she is expected to strengthen quickly into hurricane (cyclone) strength. Afterward, Ethel is expected to encounter increased wind shear conditions which will again weaken the storm.

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New model finds climate change could expose North America, East Asia and the Caribbean to costly hurricane damage

2012-01-17T05:58:00.000-08:00

Researchers from MIT and Yale University have found that coastal regions of North America and the Caribbean, as well as East Asia, are most at risk for hurricane damage — a finding that may not surprise residents of such hurricane-prone communities. However, the researchers say by the year 2100, two factors could more than quadruple the economic damages caused by tropical storms in such regions and around the world: growing income and global warming.

In a paper published this week in Nature Climate Change, researchers developed a model to predict hurricanes around the world, looking at how hurricane activity might change in the next 100 years both with and without climate change.

Even in a world without climate change, where rates of greenhouse gas emissions remain stable, the researchers found that annual economic damages from hurricanes could double in the next century: Global population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2100, likely leading to more development along hurricane-prone coastlines. Given such growth, the researchers projected that worldwide annual damage from hurricanes — currently $26 billion — could increase to $56 billion in the next century.

Under a similar economic scenario, but with the added factor of climate change, the team found that annual hurricane damage could quadruple to $109 billion by 2100. According to the researchers’ model, proliferating greenhouse gases would likely increase the incidence of severe tropical cyclones and hurricanes, which would increase storm-related damage.

Furthermore, the researchers found that the distribution of damage is not even across the world. Their model indicates that climate change would cause the most hurricane-related damage in North America, followed by East Asia, Central America and the Caribbean. The rest of the world — particularly the Middle East, Europe and South America — would remain relatively unscathed, experiencing little to no hurricane activity.

Diamond EarringsResearchers from MIT and Yale University have found that coastal regions of North America and the Caribbean, as well as East Asia, are most at risk for hurricane damage — a finding that may not surprise residents of such hurricane-prone communities. However, the researchers say by the year 2100, two factors could more than quadruple the economic damages caused by tropical storms in such regions and around the world: growing income and global warming.

In a paper published this week in Nature Climate Change, researchers developed a model to predict hurricanes around the world, looking at how hurricane activity might change in the next 100 years both with and without climate change.

Even in a world without climate change, where rates of greenhouse gas emissions remain stable, the researchers found that annual economic damages from hurricanes could double in the next century: Global population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2100, likely leading to more development along hurricane-prone coastlines. Given such growth, the researchers projected that worldwide annual damage from hurricanes — currently $26 billion — could increase to $56 billion in the next century.

Under a similar economic scenario, but with the added factor of climate change, the team found that annual hurricane damage could quadruple to $109 billion by 2100. According to the researchers’ model, proliferating greenhouse gases would likely increase the incidence of severe tropical cyclones and hurricanes, which would increase storm-related damage.

Furthermore, the researchers found that the distribution of damage is not even across the world. Their model indicates that climate change would cause the most hurricane-related damage in North America, followed by East Asia, Central America and the Caribbean. The rest of the world — particularly the Middle East, Europe and South America — would remain relatively unscathed, experiencing little to no hurricane activity.

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Thai floods death toll tops 800

2011-12-31T02:32:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK — The death toll from months of flooding in Thailand has risen above 800, although the waters have receded in many parts of the country, the government said Saturday.

Late reporting of deaths from the inundations in central and northern provinces, along with heavy November monsoon rains in the south of the kingdom have seen fatality numbers continue to rise, the interior ministry said.

A total of 823 flood-related deaths have now been recorded, including 10 in the south, since the crisis began in July. Three people are still missing.

At their height Thailand's worst floods in half a century affected 65 of 77 provinces in the low-lying nation, deluged hundreds of thousands of homes and forced the closure of large industrial parks, disrupting global supply chains.

The waters have since receded significantly, but more than two million people in five provinces continue to be affected and many areas still face a major clean-up operation.

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Weather causing headaches for Charlotte travelers

2011-12-27T22:57:00.000-08:00

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) – Holiday travelers coming and going through Charlotte Tuesday were met with a surprise that had several of them spending more time than they expected in the Queen City.

High winds started picking up around 9 a.m. as the back end of a low pressure system began leaving the region.

The National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg issued a wind advisory until 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Winds are expected to blow between 20 and 30 miles per hour with gusts up to 45 miles per hour or higher.

Air traffic controllers at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport issued two ground stop delays before lunchtime.

A ground stop is when all flights bound for an airport are held at their departure point until the weather improves at the destination airport.

Delays peaked at Charlotte-Douglas around 2:45 p.m. at 45 minutes for departing flights and were back down to 15 minutes or less by 4:30 p.m., according to the airport status tracking website Flightaware.com.

Several North Carolina airports with Charlotte-bound flights had lengthy delays waiting on the tarmac Tuesday morning before being allowed to fly into Charlotte.

US Airways flight 2287, scheduled to depart Greensboro at 11:26 a.m. wasn't allowed to leave because of the windy weather until noon, arriving into Charlotte more than an hour late at 1:38 p.m. , according to US Airways.

The two airports are geographically 85 miles apart.

Flights coming to Charlotte weren't the only victims.

A US Airways Express flight heading to New York's LaGuardia Airport departed Charlotte 56 minutes late at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, according to the US Airways website.

By 5 p.m., 30 flights coming or going through Charlotte had been canceled, according to Flightaware.com.

Rieann Schreiner was headed to back to Newark after spending Christmas with her dad. "It was suppose to be 6pm and now it's delayed till 7pm," Schreiner said.

"My sister's gotten a lot of calls about her flight being delayed and changed...She's going to Atlanta and then to Lousiana," Terrie Do said.

Terrie Do says she doesn't mind the wait..saying she prefers her sister arrive safely rather than on time.

With fewer flights and planes fuller than ever before, some folks found it hard to rebook.

"Our flight on Delta was delayed so our connecting flight we missed..there's 5 of us trying to go from Cincinnati to St. Louis however we've been delayed," Traveler Dana Young said. "We can only hope and if we have to stay all night we'll have to call the family back."

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Irene Wasn't a Hurricane When it Hit N.J., Report Says

2011-12-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

Hurricane Irene would have been the first hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey in more than a century, had it actually been packing hurricane-strength winds at the time.

But by the time Irene rolled ashore at Little Egg Inlet in southern Ocean County, its wind speed had already decreased to 69 m.p.h. – a full 5 m.p.h. short of hurricane strength – meaning it was actually just a tropical storm.

The new findings were released Dec. 14 by the National Hurricane Center, the latest of equivalent post-mortems the agency has posted on every other storm of the 2011 hurricane season. Every year, the hurricane center releases "tropical cyclone reports" on each named storm after hurricane season ends Nov. 30.

The report said a storm surge of 3 to 5 feet along the state's shoreline caused moderate to severe tidal flooding with extensive beach erosion, but not surprisingly, the bulk of the damage caused by Irene was in the northern counties due to river flooding.

"The most severe impact of Irene in the northeastern United States was catastrophic inland flooding in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont," the report stated.

The report said it was "surprising" that Irene weakened significantly between the Bahamas and North Carolina, never to regenerate on its eventual trek northward toward New Jersey. Hurricane center meteorologists believe that after the storm's inner eyewall eroded near North Carolina, Irene did not act as most storms typically do, and contract at the outer eyewall, allowing for restrengthening.

"Instead, Irene’s structure was characterized by a series of rainbands, resulting in a broad and diffused wind field that slowly decayed," the report said.

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Forecasters downgrade Irene from hurricane to tropical storm at New Jersey landfall

2011-12-16T22:07:00.000-08:00

MIAMI — Irene was a tropical storm — not a hurricane — when it made landfall in New Jersey in August, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center have determined after a review.

The deadly storm was a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall Aug. 27 in North Carolina. The storm made landfall again Aug. 28 near Atlantic City, N.J., where forecasters had said it was a hurricane with 75 mph winds.

However, after reviewing their data, forecasters have determined that Irene had weakened to a tropical storm with winds around 69 mph when it crossed New Jersey’s coast. Hurricanes have top winds of at least 74 mph.

“It’s a very small change,” said Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the hurricane center. “The difference residents would see is about the same. There’s no perceivable difference.”

Forecasters posted their report on Irene on Friday. The hurricane center occasionally upgrades or downgrades tropical storms as it reviews storm data at the end of the six-month hurricane season. In Irene’s case, a review of the data supported downgrading the storm at the time it hit New Jersey, Blake said.

“Five-knot changes like that happen all the time. At this time, it just happened near land,” Blake said.

Irene was one of the costliest storms in U.S. history. It caught much of the Eastern seaboard by surprise as it churned up the coast, prompting mass evacuations in New York City before it dumped torrential rains over parts of New England. Devastating flooding in Vermont damaged or destroyed hundreds of miles of roads, scores of bridges and hundreds of homes and left about a dozen communities cut off except for supply drops by National Guard helicopters.

The storm killed more than 50 people in the U.S., Caribbean and Canada.

The six-month Atlantic hurricane season that ended Nov. 30 produced 19 tropical storms, including seven hurricanes, making it one of the busiest seasons on record. It was the sixth straight year without a major hurricane making landfall in the U.S.

Hurricanes are considered major when they reach Category 3, with top winds of at least 111 mph. Storms are named when their winds reach speeds of at least 39 mph.

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Vermont Repaired 500 Miles of Hurricane-Damaged Roads in Only 3 Months

2011-12-07T04:37:00.000-08:00

Hurricane Irene struck the Northeastern U.S. some three months ago and cost the state of Vermont between $175 and $250 million -- but you wouldn't know it from driving through the state today. That's because, as The New York Times reports, "the state repaired and reopened some 500 miles of damaged road, replaced a dozen bridges with temporary structures and repaired about 200 altogether" in the exactly 100 days between today and August 28, when Irene made landfall in New York. "If you’ve ever wanted to see a shining example of turning tragedy into opportunity and getting tough things done, you’re seeing it in Vermont," Gov. Peter Shumlin gloats. The Times finds lessons for the federal government in those five hundred miles of relatively quickly repaired roads

While many Americans have come to wonder whether the nation has lost the ability to fix its ailing infrastructure or do big things, “they haven’t been to Vermont,” said Megan Smith, the state’s commissioner of tourism and marketing.

But Vermont had an economic imperative that the U.S. as a whole doesn't: Ski season. Without a well-functioning highway system running through the snow-covered Green Mountain State this winter, Vermont would lose millions in tourist dollars.

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In wake of storms, debate flares over Conn trees

2011-12-05T01:55:00.000-08:00

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Once again, Connecticut's trees are at the center of a storm.

Countless trees and limbs were brought down by the remnants of Hurricane Irene in late August. Two months later, trees with their leaves still fully on branches were overwhelmed by a rare October snowstorm and were felled by heavy snow.

Both times, overhead electric lines were tangled in downed branches, which blocked roads and slowed repair trucks.

Politicians, utilities and tree-lovers are now battling over the future of trees in one of the most heavily forested states.

Investigations are focusing on how to avoid future widespread outages such as those that affected more than 800,000 utility customers for a week or longer in October and early November. One solution that's emerging is to trim or remove trees to provide greater clearance for overhead wires.

Opponents of broader tree clearance have skewed priorities, said state Sen. Steve Cassano, D-Manchester.

"Those same people were not pleased to not have power for eight days or 10, let alone two blackouts in six, eight weeks," he said.

The cause of the outages was obvious, Cassano said.

"The reason the power was down was because of trees," he said.

"We have been complaining about being over-treed, and a lot of people would probably disagree."

The Greenwich Tree Conservancy would disagree. It's urging state officials to require Connecticut Light & Power to bury power lines to avoid tree removal.

"The cutting down of hundreds of thousands of trees is not going to solve the problem," said Peter Malkin, president of the group. "It would be an environmental disaster."

He said trimming also is unacceptable because it "takes the heart out of the trees and they die."

But United Illuminating, which serves 325,000 customers, says burying power lines is prohibitively expensive.

"It isn't prudent and customers don't appear to be in the mood to pay those costs," said spokesman Michael West.

In addition, trimming alone does not solve the problem, he said.

United Illuminating trimmed trees in its easements and outages still occurred, he said.

Malkin said not burying power lines leads to costly cleanup and restoration operations after destructive storms. Connecticut Light & Power and its parent company, Northeast Utilities, have said it expects the tab to be $200 million or more for cleanup and restoration related to the two storms.

Utilities are required to provide uninterrupted service, but fail to do so when the weather turns nasty, Malkin said.

"The system we have in Connecticut is 19th-century. It must be updated," Malkin said.

Mitch Gross, a spokesman for Connecticut Light & Power, said the utility has 17,000 miles of electric lines and interest by towns in burying lines evaporates when CL&P officials mention the cost. In addition, lines belonging to cable and telephone companies also would have to be buried in construction projects that are extremely disruptive, Gross said.

In the conflict between aesthetics and trimming or removing trees to ensure reliable electricity, the balance has shifted to cutting trees because of the outages, said Dave Goodson, manager of vegetation management at CL&P.

The state's largest utility is asking Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislators to change state law that limits tree cutting and trimming, he said. For example, making it easier to cut trees on private property and streamlining an array of state laws and local ordinances governing tree maintenance in scores of towns are among changes that are needed, Goodson said.

"There is no short-term fix here," he said.

The battle over trees covers a lot of ground. As much as 58 percent of Connecticut is forested, making it 12th among the states in forest cover, said Jeffrey Ward, chief scientist at the Department of Forestry and Horticulture at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

"That's one of our connections to nature," he said. "When you think of New England, you think of stone walls and trees."

In a recent report, Ward said about 48 percent of Connecticut's trees are maples, which are more likely than other species to have such structural defects as cavities and weak forks that make them prone to high winds, snow and other forces that bring down trees.

Ward said a solution could be to plant small ornamental trees such as dogwoods or firs, spruces and holly trees to provide beauty without brushing up against power lines.

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Thai floods drying up supply of tech goods

2011-12-02T03:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas shoppers will need to get in quick to snap up some consumer technology goods this year, with the Thailand floods continuing to squeeze supplies and push up product prices.

Thailand makes about 40 per cent of the world's hard drives. IDC has estimated about a quarter of the world's hard drive production has been affected by the flooding.

Noel Leeming Group merchandise manager Jason Bell said external hard drives were in "extremely short supply" and the shortage was going to worsen.

Suppliers had increased the prices of some hard drives by more than 50 per cent.

Hewlett-Packard and Sony's Vaio computer division had meanwhile warned of supply issues next month and into January, he said.

Noel Leeming had seen strong demand for Sony's new ebook reader but had been unable to order in more stock.

"I think some of its componentry was made in Thailand so we weren't able to secure any more over and above what we've already been allocated. Based on the run rate we've seen we're likely to sell out before Christmas."

Canon had also indicated it could have supply issues with some of its cameras in late December, but Noel Leeming did not have any more details on which products were affected or the severity of the shortage, Bell said.

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Scientists link upward trend in pollution to increased intensity of Arabian Sea tropical cyclones

2011-11-30T01:39:00.000-08:00

A 'brown cloud' of pollution over the Indian Ocean resulting from human activities has led to stronger tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea, according to an international team of scientists.

The findings appear in a paper published this month in the journal Nature titled Arabian Sea tropical cyclones intensified by emissions of black carbon and other aerosols. The research was conducted by scientists from the University of Virginia, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C., the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, South Korea and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif.

“We’re showing that pollution from human activity as simple as burning wood or driving a vehicle with a diesel engine can actually change these massive atmospheric phenomena in a significant way,” said study lead author Amato Evan, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. “It underscores the importance of getting a handle on emissions in the region.”

While water temperatures in the Arabian Sea are typically warm enough to allow tropical cyclones to form and develop, winds moving at different speeds and directions at different levels in the atmosphere, called wind shear, have limited the strengthening of cyclones in the region. During the past 30 years, however, increased concentrations of airborne particles, or aerosols, in South Asia have altered the pattern of the sun’s heating of the ocean. This has changed the regional wind patterns and weakened the wind shear, making conditions more favorable for intense tropical cyclone development.

The scientists used both observations and models to demonstrate the relationship between decreasing wind shear and the growth of the Atmospheric Brown Cloud, a thick layer of pollution over the North Indian Ocean caused by human emissions of aerosols like black carbon and sulfates. The team then linked the reduced wind shear to an increase in the number of highly intense storms with winds over 120 mph, including five storms since 1998 that have killed more than 3,500 people and caused damages of more than $6.5 billion.

“The research shows that pollution can threaten humans in unexpected ways. In this case, by reducing wind shear in the Arabian Sea and making conditions more favorable for tropical cyclones to intensify,” according to James Kossin, climatologist at NCDC and co-author on the paper.

NOAA researchers are engaged in understanding and assessing changes in climate across many regions of the world since regional climate is influenced by global conditions and patterns. Lessons learned from studying tropical cyclones and their relationship to climate in various regions of the world, including the Indian Ocean, are relevant for improving understanding of hurricanes that directly threaten the United States.

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Rain storm to drench N.J. on biggest travel day of year

2011-11-28T04:47:00.000-08:00

Americans have many Thanksgiving traditions — turkey, football and traffic-induced headaches — but this year Mother Nature will throw a curve ball into the mix that could make travel plans even more chaotic.

Meteorologists say New Jersey will be drenched with heavy rain tonight through Wednesday. According to AAA, this is traditionally the biggest travel day of the year, with an estimated 42.5 million Americans taking to the roads and skies over this Thanksgiving weekend.

Rain that moved in to the region this morning grew steadier throughout the afternoon, and the National Weather Service says it will pick up overnight, as potential thunderstorms roll in after 1 a.m., dropping a total of 1 to 2 inches on the region.

A flash flood watch has been issued by the National Weather Service for Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Sussex counties, beginning tonight at 10 p.m. and extending through Wednesday afternoon.

The bad weather has been blamed for at least one traffic accident that clogged traffic on Route 78 in Union County during the evening rush hour. The rain and poor visibility has led to delays at Newark Liberty International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport tonight, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Arrival delays of up to 1 hour and 19 minutes were reported at Newark Liberty, and departure delays of up to 1 hour were reported at Philadelphia International tonight.

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Weather halts NZ container recovery effort

2011-11-24T04:59:00.000-08:00

BAD weather has forced New Zealand salvors working to remove containers from the stricken Rena cargo ship to suspend their operation.

The salvage team halted offloading the containers yesterday afternoon and strong winds and rough seas have prevented them from resuming.

"The salvage team are keeping a very close eye on the Rena in light of today's rough weather conditions.

"While there has been no change in the integrity of the vessel, it remains in a fragile condition, and is at the mercy of the weather," Maritime New Zealand salvage unit manager Arthur Jobard said.

Northwest winds were gusting up to 25 knots where the Rena was grounded on Astrolabe Reef and were tipped to increase tomorrow and Saturday.

No one was on the Rena but sensors on board were keeping salvors, monitoring the ship from the support vessel Go Canopus, abreast of its condition.

Mr Jobard says divers reported no change in the structure of the Rena on Wednesday but there was a concern the conditions could affect it.

Salvors have removed 95 of the 1368 containers that were on the ship when it hit the reef on October 5.

One of the 88 containers thought to be lost overboard was found aboard in pieces. Parts of another container were also found among other container wreckage on Motiti Island, leaving 54 containers unaccounted for.

Beach cleaning was continuing and a larger oil spill response team was on alert if more oil was released from the Rena.

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Minor flooding possible with heavy rain, winds on way

2011-11-22T00:18:00.000-08:00

Heavy winds and steady rain is expected to hit Western Washington into Wednesday, and some minor flooding is possible in Snohomish County.

The National Weather Service in Seattle late Monday expanded a flood watch to include Snohomish, King, Pierce, Lewis and Thurston counties.

"This is not the classic flood-producing scenario for Western Washington, but it is two systems coming in one behind the other," weather service meteorologist Doug McDonnal said. "Between the two of them, there is quite a bit of rain. Certainly it is enough where we think it's worth issuing a flood watch."

Forecasters were predicting 2 to 4 inches of rain in the lowlands between Monday night and Tuesday. Another 1 to 3 inches is possible Tuesday night and Wednesday with the snow level dropping to about 3,000 feet.

"It is spread out over 48 hours which kind of helps," McDonnal said.

Local rivers with the greatest threat of flooding include the Stillaguamish and Snoqualmie.

"It looks like it would be minor, but I don't think we can rule it out," McDonnal said. "The expectation is it is posing a threat of minor flooding on only the most flood-prone rivers in Western Washington."

High winds are expected throughout the region Tuesday and some power outages are possible. Whidbey Island could see sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts of 60 mph on Tuesday.

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After the flooding, a time for recovery

2011-11-21T04:33:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK (Thailand), eTN- The worst seems now over for Thailand and Bangkok. The Kingdom has been confronted for over four months with some of the biggest flooding ever seen in the last fifty years. The situation took its toll on tourism as images of flooded areas were shown on both televisions and social networks.

Tourist arrivals declined consequently by 25% including in resort areas such as Hua Hin, Phuket in the South or Chiang Mai in the North. Largely unaffected by flooding, those areas have suffered from images of roads blocked by flooding and images of a Thai Airways aircraft surrounded by waters. The picture was taken at the old Don Muang Airport –where Thai Airways has its maintenance facility- but it created confusion in people’s mind who thought that Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport was not operational. Many tourists then decided to switch destinations despite the fact that Suvarnabhumi never closed down…

Thailand’s situation is not completely back to normal. People living in Bangkok’s northern and western districts continue to live with their feet in the water. But waters’ levels are gradually receding. Positive signs can be seen everywhere: shelves at supermarkets start to be filled up again while shopping malls and Thai Airways headquarters in northern Bangkok reopened. “We are 100 per cent operational,” confirmed Rashana Pimolsindh, Director of Communications at the Shangri-La Hotel Bangkok. The property was particularly exposed to flooding: located along the Chao Praya River, the hotel relocated some of its restaurants at the lobby level as safety remained a priority for the company. “However, we always stayed dry and permanently informed our customers on social networks,” she added.

In fact, inner city districts stayed dry with popular districts such as Silom, Sukhumvit, the malls of Rachaprasong or Khao San Road unaffected by flooding…

Now that Bangkok’s inner districts are definitely safe and that waters recede on the city’s fringes, the Tourism Authority of Thailand just released its marketing strategy. TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni remains relatively optimistic, estimating that the impact on flooding might be relatively limited. “If the flood situation is resolved at the end of November, we expect total international arrivals to drop by 220,000 with losses in tourist revenues reaching US$ 520 million, of which 275 million would come from international arrivals. If the flood situation is resolved by the end of December, international arrivals could decline by 300,000 with losses in revenues estimated at US$ 825 million,” he explained.

Mr. Svetasreni’s optimism relies on previous crisis and the stunning way for Thai tourism to bounce back rapidly. TAT will concentrate its marketing efforts over the next months to revive first domestic tourism and then regional markets. “We are looking to communicate and organize various marketing activities with airlines, hotels and tour operators abroad to show that Thailand tourism is fully operational except in Ayutthaya.

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Thai Army Uses Flooding to Take on Friendlier Role

2011-11-17T02:43:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK — Troops and army trucks are rolling through the streets of Bangkok again. But this time it is not to battle protesters or overthrow a prime minister.

Instead, they are ferrying residents around the city on heavy-duty military vehicles that can get through its flooded streets, with banners on each one reading “Royal Thai Army helping the people.”

In a country deeply divided over the military’s role in civilian life, Thailand’s top generals have used the floods, the worst the country has had in decades, as an opportunity to showcase the army’s friendlier side.

Thousands of soldiers have been sent to the capital to help civilians. At the same time, the military has broadcast a series of slick television advertisements showing its soldiers as more than just battle-hardened fighters, including one in which children learn about soldiers who build roads and tend to the sick. “We are the people’s army,” says a voice at the end of the ads.

The head of the Thai Army, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha — who led the troops that broke up antigovernment demonstrators in Bangkok last year in a violent episode that left at least 90 people dead — has repeatedly said that he wants the military to be seen as a benevolent, apolitical force in Thai society.

“I want people to love soldiers,” General Prayuth was quoted as saying in the Thai news media last month.

In October, General Prayuth reshuffled his public relations team, promoting a telegenic soldier, Lt. Col. Wanchana Sawasdee, to deputy spokesman. Mild-mannered and dashing, Colonel Wanchana is also the lead actor in a series of films, financed partly by the government, that tell the stories of ancient Thai triumphs over Burmese enemies.

In an interview, Colonel Wanchana said he sometimes sensed hostility when he went on missions to help flood victims and offer food and supplies.

“We know some of these people dislike the military,” he said. “We are trying to dissolve the hatred.”

All told, about 50,000 troops, 1,000 trucks and 1,000 military boats are being used for flood relief in Bangkok and the surrounding area, the military said.

By some measures, the Thai Army’s image does seem to be improving. A Facebook page titled “We Love Thai Military” has more than 17,000 followers.

“Now I love the military even more than before,” said one visitor to the page, Somwang Platong. “The military are the real heroes of Bangkok and the entire people.”

The Thai military has played a central role in political life from the beginning of Thailand’s modern era in 1932, when a group of officers staged a coup and abolished the absolute rule of the monarchy. The army’s popularity has waxed and waned since then, through decades of military takeovers, bloody crackdowns on protesters, and retreats to the barracks again.

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Small business ingenuity thrives in Thai floods

2011-11-15T04:07:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK—Flooded out but still want to make a fashion statement? Try these lime green rubber boots. Feeling stir crazy with the fetid waters surrounding your home? How about special snorkels to keep your car running in high water -- or a jet ski to navigate submerged streets?

In Bangkok, a tireless Asian mega-city never shy about making a buck, an ongoing flood disaster has provided plenty of opportunity for business ingenuity to flourish.

Months of floods in Thailand have paralyzed auto factories and disrupted other big businesses and are estimated to have caused billions of dollars of damage to industry. But the slow-moving floodwaters have been a boon for quick-witted small traders looking to cater to some of the startling demands of water-weary Thais.

At one of the flood markets that have sprung up in Bangkok, dozens of makeshift shops line the sides of a road just a few hundred yards from encroaching floodwaters -- ready to arm those coping with a disaster that has killed 500 since July.

Operating out of the back of trucks and on the sidewalk, the flood traders sell plastic boats, jet skis, waders, water pumps, nonperishable food, propellers and plastic tarp marketed as "refrigerator wraps." In other parts of the city, builders are erecting cinder block walls trying to protect shops and houses.

There's even a new car-towing service that uses styrofoam to float stranded vehicles to safety.

The capital's mechanics have been busy with special modifications that allow cars, trucks and motorcycles to navigate swamped streets.

Thong Dechapak said his family's auto repair shop has been refitting up to eight vehicles a day with an engine snorkel and exhaust pipe modification that together cost 10,000 baht ($333) -- a month's salary for many in Thailand.

The device for the engine sticks up above the car's roof like a diving snorkel, sucking in air so fuel for the engine continues to combust while driving through flood water.

"Right now there's a lot of demand. There are no spare parts left. We started getting client orders about two months ago" when provinces north of Bangkok began to get flooded, said Dechapak, 24.

"They keep coming. There are more and more every day," he said, vivid red and orange sparks flying as workers welded an extension to the exhaust pipe of a gray Frontier Navara pickup.

They've also fitted the exhaust snorkels to motorcycles for friends. The price: a case of beer.

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Flood-weary residents lash out in Bangkok

2011-11-14T05:42:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK — Angry residents in flooded Bangkok protested on Monday, briefly blocking a major highway as frustration mounted that parts of the Thai capital are suffering badly while the centre stays dry.

Thailand's worst floods in half a century, triggered by months of unusually heavy monsoon rains, have left at least 562 people dead around the kingdom and damaged millions of homes and livelihoods.

After weeks of flooding, waters in some Bangkok districts have receded significantly. An AFP photographer said the water level in Lat Phrao and Mo Chit areas, on the northern edge of the city centre, had fallen by nearly a metre in 48 hours and inhabitants were no longer using boats to get around.

But elsewhere anger is growing that residential areas are being sacrificed to preserve Bangkok's commercial and tourist heart.

In the west of the city, around 200 people blocked a section of the Rama II road, the main route linking the capital to southern Thailand, to demand extra water pumps to help drain their swamped neighbourhoods.

"The villagers were not happy that there were not enough pumps to drain the floods," local police chief Colonel Nakarin Sukontawit said.

"The BMA (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) agreed to bring two more pumps today, so the villagers decided to stop their protest."

Around 70 people also gathered at a major floodwall in northern Don Mueang district, watched by about 30 police officers, to ensure the authorities did not repair a gap they had opened to allow water to drain away from badly flooded areas.

Visiting the scene, Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra reassured locals that he had not received a government order to repair the barrier and his team would take time to "analyse the situation".

People in the area -- many of whom have been living in waters waist-deep or worse for almost a month -- have threatened to step up their protest if the opening in the structure is repaired.

The 15-kilometre (nine-mile) floodwall, mostly made up of huge sandbags weighing up to 2.5 tonnes, is a key defence preventing run-off waters from the north from swamping Bangkok's glitzy downtown area.

"The water in my house reaches as high as my neck," said 65-year-old Wattana Klongsakon, adding that she was "satisfied" to see the brown liquid rushing through to the other side of the damaged barrier.

"If they rebuild it, we will definitely block the toll road", she said, referring to a major nearby route linking Bangkok to the north.

In an effort to spare Bangkok's economic and political heartland, authorities have been trying to drain the floods through waterways in the east and west of the sprawling capital and out to sea.

Under-pressure Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, facing the first serious test of her fledgling premiership, pleaded for patience and unity on her Facebook page on Monday.

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France hit by storms in south, three dead

2011-11-08T03:26:00.000-08:00

Heavy rains and flooding in southern France over the weekend forced the evacuation of about six hundred people, and three people died in weather-related deaths as a dozen local regions remained on alert on Sunday.

Rivers overran their banks, flooding streets and homes and leaving hundreds stranded. Television images showed cars floating along roads and residents mopping up their sodden, muddy homes.

A retired couple, both aged 71, in the southeastern coastal town of Bagnols en Foret died late Saturday night or Sunday morning from carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to bail out rising water in their cellar, police said.

On Saturday, police told Reuters they found the body of a 51-year-old homeless man who had been washed away from his campsite in the Herault southern region.

Some 600 people have already been evacuated along the coast and in the Alps in the south east of the country, authorities said. Firefighters helped rescue around 1,200 people affected by the storms, using helicopters to save about 30 people.

An orange alert -- the second-highest weather alert after red -- remained in place in 12 southern regions on Sunday, down from about 16 on Saturday.

The regions affected are the low-lying areas near the Pyrenees in the south west, where it continued to rain on Sunday, and in the flooded Alps region.

In the past two days, the level of the Var river in the southeast rose from 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) to 5 meters, said Europe 1 radio.

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October storm's power outages top Hurricane Irene's numbers

2011-10-31T02:28:00.000-07:00

Last month, Hurricane Irene left more than 260,000 PPL customers without power.

The rare October nor’easter that on Saturday dumped 5.5 inches of heavy snow in the Harrisburg area was worse.

Saturday’s storm left 315,000 PPL customers in central and eastern Pennsylvania and 257,000 Met-Ed customers without electricity.

By 7:15 p.m. Sunday, PPL still had 150,000 customers without electricity in its 29-county region, including 1,995 in Cumberland County, 3,027 in Dauphin County, 1,003 in Lebanon County, 1,288 in Perry County and 1,998 in York County.

The outages occurred when leaf-laden trees bent and broke under the heavy snow and fell on power lines and poles. In a company statement, PPL called the Lehigh Valley the hardest-hit region, with 125,000 customers affected, followed by the Harrisburg and Lancaster areas.

“With a storm of this magnitude, it could take days until we can restore service to all customers,” said David DeCampli, PPL Electric Utilities president. “Our crews are assessing the damage by foot, by vehicle and by air. We’re focusing on repairs that can restore power to the largest numbers of customers as quickly and safely as possible.”

He said about 1,000 workers on 250 crews responded to outages. An additional 150 crews from western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee joined the restoration effort.

It was a familiar job for electricity workers, who in September replaced miles of power lines and more than 1,200 utility poles, 300 transformers and thousands of pieces of pole-top equipment damaged by Hurricane Irene.

The storm also affected transportation through the midstate.

Greg Penny, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 8 spokesman, said that as of 6 p.m. Sunday, about 30 roads in the eight-county district remained closed because of downed trees on power lines. Most of these were in York County, he said.

“PennDOT crews remove trees and branches from the roads when power lines are not involved,” he said. “But if the trees or limbs are entangled with power lines, we have to wait for the utility crew to come in and safely clear the electric power line. Right now, utility crews are busy restoring electricity.”

Penny also said Route 11 at the West Pennsboro and Penn townships border near Newville remains closed in both directions. He said state police requested the closure because they are concerned that a silo that appears to be leaning might fall on nearby power lines and the road.

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Hurricane Rina chases tourists from Mexican resorts

2011-10-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

The Category 1 hurricane was expected to sweep by the eastern coast of the Yucatan peninsula, home to the strip of resorts known as the Riviera Maya, by Thursday evening, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

Cancun's airport stayed open, but more than 90 flights in and out of the city were canceled for Thursday. Hundreds of passengers loaded with luggage formed long lines at airport counters, trying to get out before the storm hit.

Danielle Selvin and Justin Harris from Los Angeles, decided to cut their visit short when they learned about Rina.

"We just figured that we'd rather be home where it's dry and the sun is still shining," said Selvin, 23, as they stood in line to try to get a refund for their original flight.

Though Rina was earlier downgraded from a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds dropping to 85 mph (140 kph), emergency services in Cancun's home state of Quintana Roo advised people in vulnerable areas to take cover.

Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Quintana Roo's secretary of tourism, earlier on Wednesday urged prospective travelers to reschedule their vacations to avoid running into Rina.

The weakened storm posed little danger to tourists already there, but many were dejected by Rina's arrival.

"Rina ruined our plans," said Raquel Cortes, on her honeymoon in Cancun. "We wanted to go to the beach, scuba dive and go to the marine parks ... we can't get in the ocean."

Rina is not expected to affect Mexico's main oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico or coffee-growing areas in Central America that were battered by heavy rains this month. All of Mexico's ports in the Gulf of Mexico, including major oil exporting terminals, were open on Wednesday afternoon.

In Cancun's poorer neighborhoods, emergency workers made rounds to encourage people to move to public shelters.

"Above all, we're acting in flood prone areas with fragile housing, which are the zones we have to evacuate first," said Felix Diaz, head of civil protection for the Cancun area.

People were urged not to go to Cancun's airport unless they had confirmed reservations.

Vacationers along the coast of the Yucatan were met with cloudy skies and sporadic heavy rains. Beaches near the hotel zone emptied during the day, and many stores closed early.

RAIN AND BIG WAVES
Cancun was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Wilma, the most intense storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, and locals still have keen memories of the damage.

"After Wilma, how could I be afraid of this storm?" said soft drink salesman Mario Gomez, 45. "Even that day, I was the last one to leave. I didn't want to go before all my fruit was sold and I still have cold drinks to sell today.

"I'll be here tomorrow, too," he added.

Even with the downgrade, Rina is still expected to cause downpours and potentially dangerous waves. Most schools in Quintana Roo closed as a safety precaution.

About 2,800 people were being evacuated from low-lying Holbox Island, off the Yucatan's northeastern tip, including 200 tourists, Quintana Roo's governor Roberto Borge said.

On Tuesday there were around 80,000 tourists in the state. Most were foreigners, staying at hotels in Cancun and other resorts like Playa del Carmen and the island of Cozumel.

Some cruises changed course to avoid Yucatan.

The sixth hurricane in the 2011 Atlantic season, Rina was located about 140 miles (225 km) south southeast of Cozumel Island at 10 p.m. CDT/2100 GMT on Wednesday, and was moving west northwest at 6 mph (9 kph).

The hurricane could dump 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) of rain over the eastern Yucatan peninsula, and some streets in the main tourist zone were already flooding on Wednesday.

A huge storm surge is also possible, raising tide levels as much as 4 feet (1.2 meters) above normal along the coast.

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Pa. lawmakers probe utility response to Lee, Irene

2011-10-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Upgraded call centers and increased use of social media could help utility companies better respond to natural disasters like the two destructive storms that recently hit Pennsylvania, executives and state officials told lawmakers.

Utility representatives and state emergency officials testified Tuesday at a joint hearing of two Senate committees about lessons learned from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

The hearing was prompted by constituent complaints to senators about a lack of communication from the utilities and the lag in restoring service in some areas.

About 706,000 Pennsylvanians had no electricity during the peak of the outages caused when Irene barreled through the state on Aug. 28. Some residents went without power for 10 days.

Just over a week later, the state was hit with historic flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee.

Utility officials stressed how destructive the storms were to transmission lines and distribution systems. But Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, said the lack of communication with customers left residents "powerless and in the dark," literally and figuratively.

Many irate residents had no idea when their service would be restored in the days after Irene, Baker said. Some saw utility trucks parked in their neighborhoods for hours only to watch them leave — without having restored the power, she said.

Carl Segneri, an executive with Allentown-based utility PPL Corp., said the volume of calls to report damage during Irene exceeded the company's phone system capacity. The problem was compounded by breakdowns in the outage management system, he said.

PPL is evaluating its technology to see how it can improve reliability and performance, Segneri said.

UGI Utilities Inc. plans to acquire better weather forecasting tools and buy a new system to manage power outages, executive Robert Stoyko told lawmakers.

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Thailand Flood: Bangkok Braces as Damage Swells [PHOTOS]

2011-10-19T04:08:00.000-07:00

Severe flooding in Thailand has left more than 300 people dead and stranded thousands of others. As rain waters continue to inundate farms and flood cities, the country now faces about $7 billion in damages.

The situation began at the start of monsoon season in July, and three months of rain has resulted in the worst flooding in Thailand for 50 years.

Yingluck Shinawatra, the country's newly elected prime minister, warned Thai citizens that unless waters can be diverted into the sea, Bangkok could be even more severely damaged. Around 90 percent of the locks in the capital, which sits on the Gulf of Thailand, have been opened to allow water to drain out of the city, but additional storms could still cause massive floods, according to The Guardian.

Thai soldiers also built flood walls in Bangkok using more than one million sandbags.

The situation has invited criticism of Yingluck, who some Thais feel didn't properly warn or prepare the country for the disaster. So far, she has refused to call a state of emergency, fearing it would scare off tourists, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The rainy season has also affected Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, where nearly 10,000 people have had to leave their homes.

Australia risks new damage from above-average cyclone season

2011-10-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

Australia weather bureau says country faces more than 12 cyclones 2011-12

* Oil, gas, as well as coal and iron ore mines may be at risk

* Another La Nina weather pattern brewing to fuel storms

SYDNEY, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Australia faces an above-average number of cyclones over the coming storm season, meteorologists said on Monday, threatening new devastation after massive floods swamped homes, as well as destroying crops and crippling mining earlier this year.

The northwest offshore oil and gas field and coastal iron ore operations face a 65 percent chance of being hit by more than seven cyclones, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said in its 2011-12 tropical cyclone season forecast.

Northeast Australia, where coal mining was crippled last year due to heavy flooding partly generated by cyclones, also faces a 65 percent chance of more than the average of three to four cyclones this season, said BOM.

In total, Australia's north may be hit by more than 12 cyclones due to neutral to borderline La Nina weather conditions, which bring wet weather to the western Pacific, fuelling tropical storms over the ocean.

"Historically, these conditions have favoured an above average number of cyclones in the Australian region," said BOM.

Australia's cyclone season is between November and April.

Natural disasters including floods and cyclones cut economic activity by 0.75 percentage points in 2010-11, wiping A$1.75 billion from revenue across 2010-11 and 2011-12, Treasurer Wayne Swan said.

Australia's third-largest city Brisbane was inundated with floodwaters and flooding across an area as big as France and Germany forced major miners to declare force majeure and damaged large swaths of croplands, including the key sugar crop.

Australia, one of the world's largest coal exporters, accounts for about two-thirds of the global coking coal trade, with around 90 percent of that coming from Queensland state.

Coking or metallurgical coal is used for steelmaking, with the bulk of Australian exports to China.

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Storms kill 49 in Mexico, Central America

2011-10-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in Mexico and Central America rose to 49 on Friday as tropical storms and hurricanes continued to hit the region.

The United Nations said as many as 100,000 people had been affected in Mexico and Central America, while the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that more heavy rains would pound the region in the next 48 to 72 hours.

"Locally heavy rains are likely to continue over portions of the Pacific coast of southeastern Mexico and Central America, resulting in life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," said the NHC in its latest forecast for one of two storms currently moving over southern Mexico and Central America.

Civil protection authorities across Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica continued to be on maximum alert.

A second storm was forming over the eastern part of Mexico and Central America, and although neither of the two storms seem likely to become hurricanes, the NHC warned that the second storm will cause heavy rains,mudslides and flooding in Central America, Cuba and nearby islands.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega raised the alert for the country and broke off an election campaign to attend to what he declared a "national emergency" as the death toll in Nicaragua climbed to seven due to the rains.

Salvadorian President Mauricio Funes declared a state of national emergency over the massive flooding in coastal areas and initiated plans to evacuate 65,000 people from areas vulnerable to more flooding and landslides in the next three days.

The United Nations said it had activated its emergency and assessment teams in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

"Some 100,000 people in Mexico and Central America are facing flooding as Hurricane Jova and a tropical depression unleash torrential rains over the region," the United Nations news center said.

At least 12,000 people have been evacuated in the five countries worst hit by week-long torrential rains caused by Hurricane Jova, Hurricane Irwin, tropical depression 12-E and two other independent storm systems.

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At Least Five Killed as Hurricane Jova Slams Mexico's Pacific Coast

2011-10-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

MANZANILLO, Mexico – Hurricane Jova slammed into Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category 2 storm early Wednesday, killing at least five people and injuring six, while a tropical depression hit farther south and unleashed steady rains that contributed to 13 deaths across the border in Guatemala.

Jova came ashore west of the Mexican port of Manzanillo and the beach town of Barra de Navidad before dawn with 100 mph winds and heavy rains, before moving inland and weakening to a tropical depression by afternoon. It continued to dump rain over a large swath of northwest Mexico, including Jalisco state where rainfall this year had been low.

A 71-year-old woman drowned in Colima state after a strong current swept away the car in which she and her son were riding. Her son survived, Colima Gov. Mario Anguiano said.

In the neighboring state of Jalisco, Jova triggered a mudslide in the town of Cihuatlan, just inland from Barra de Navidad, that swept away a house on a hillside, killing a 21-year-old woman and her daughter, Jalisco civil protection officials said in a statement.

Farther northwest along the Mexican coast in the town of Tomatlan, about 12 miles from where Jova landed, a man and a teenage boy were killed when a wall of their home softened by heavy rains fell on them, officials said.

Also in Tomatlan, two children suffered head injuries when the walls of their brick home collapsed under the force of the wind and rains, said Oscar Mejia, spokesman for the Jalisco state Red Cross rescue division.

The new tropical depression formed in the Pacific off far-southern Mexico near the Guatemala border, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported. The storm quickly moved ashore over Mexico and was expected to move slightly north before dissipating before day's end.

The storm was smaller and less powerful than Jova, but the mountainous terrain of southern Mexico state of Chiapas and neighboring Guatemala is particularly vulnerable to flash flooding and mudslides. Numerous Indian villages perch precariously on hillsides.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom blamed rain from the storm for the deaths of 13 people in his country. At least four of those were electrocuted when contacted power lines, Colom said. Others died in mudslides or were swept away by swollen rivers.

National Hurricane Center forecaster John Cangialosi said the rains in Guatemala probably were linked to the tropical depression, even though it had not yet hit land.

"If they're in Guatemala, they're pretty close to the circulation center of the system, and it has been a very slow-moving system ... so it's likely linked to this feature," Cangialosi said.

Farther north on Mexico's coast, flooding from Jova was so bad in Cihuatlan that the Red Cross office had to be evacuated because it was filled with 4 feet of water.

Mexico's navy said it evacuated a total of 2,600 people in flood-prone areas hit by Jova, and set up kitchens at shelters to feed 1,600 evacuees.

The approach of Jova led authorities to close the port in Manzanillo, which is Mexico's second-biggest non-oil cargo port. The storm flooded some neighborhoods in the city and brought down power lines and billboards. Flooding knocked out at least one bridge and destroyed stretches of highways leading out of Manzanillo.

The federal Communications and Transportation Department said that several roads were damages by the storm and that landslides and flooding blocked three main highways connecting cities in Jalisco and Colima states.

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Hurricane Jova lashes Mexican resorts, villages

2011-10-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

(AP) MANZANILLO, Mexico — Hurricane Jova slammed into Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category 2 storm early Wednesday, swamping beach towns and causing floods in the mountains above.

The storm toppled trees, knocked out power and flooded streets in the major port city of Manzanillo, but the full extent of damage was still unclear before dawn Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of deaths.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Jova's maximum sustained winds were near 100 mph (160 kph) when it hit, but it was weakening steadily as it moves inland and winds were down to 75 mph (140 kph) by 7 a.m (8 a.m. EDT; 1200GMT).

As the storm's leading rain bands began swatting at the coast Tuesday night, heavy rain fell in Manzanillo, Mexico's second-biggest non-oil cargo port. It was closed to navigation because of the storm.

Callers told local station Radio Turquesa that water was several feet (more than a meter) deep in some neighborhoods and schools, some used for shelters, were closed for the day.

The Hurricane Center in Miami warned that the storm surge could cause significant coastal flooding along the 210-mile (340-kilometer) stretch between Manzanillo and Cabo Corrientes, which is southwest of the resort city of Puerto Vallarta.

Up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain could fall on isolated areas as Jova moves inland, the center said.

Before nightfall Tuesday, marines visited flood-prone areas in Manzanillo to advise people to leave. They found a home for elderly people whose homes were already flooded and evacuated dozens of people to stay with relatives, Adm. Jaime Mejia said. Forty others were evacuated in the nearby town of Tecoman, he said.

Some people vowed to ride out the storm, while others took refuge at shelters in towns like Jaluco, just inland from the beach community of Barra de Navidad.

"My house has a thatch roof, and it's not safe," said Maria de Jesus Palomera Delgado, 44, a farmworker's wife who went to an improvised shelter at a grade school in Jaluco, along with her 17 children and grandchildren.

"The neighbors told us the house was going to collapse" if hit by the hurricane, she added as the children slept nearby on folding cots packed into a classroom.

In an another classroom, migrant farmworker Rufina Francisco Ventura, 27, fed her 2-month-old son. She said she had left the ranch where she plants chiles and tomatoes planning only to pick up some free blankets, but shelter workers "told me I shouldn't leave here, because it's going to hit hard."

Jalisco state authorities evacuated about 200 people to shelters by Tuesday and issued alerts over loudspeakers placed in communities along the coast, telling people to take precautions as the hurricane approached, state civil defense spokesman Juan Pablo Vigueras said. The state had 69 shelters ready, he said.

Authorities also set up shelters for residents of inland towns, where the mountainous terrain could cause flash floods and mudslides, which often pose the greatest dangers in hurricanes

The Mexican army said it had assigned about 1,500 soldiers to hurricane preparedness and relief efforts.

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Hurricane Jova set to strike Mexico

2011-10-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Jova barreled towards Mexico on Tuesday and was expected to slam into the Pacific coast later in the day, bringing high winds, heavy rains and the risk of devastating mudslides.

Mexican authorities have placed four southern coastal states on high alert ahead of the expected arrival of the category three storm.

The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said in a 0900 GMT bulletin that Jova was packing maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour and was 235 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of the busy port city of Manzanillo, in Colima state. It was moving north-northeast at 9 km/h (6 mph).

"The center of the hurricane will be near the coast of Mexico in the hurricane warning area by this afternoon or evening," the NHC said, adding it expected the storm to reach the coast at "near major hurricane strength."

Mexico has issued hurricane alerts for large swaths of the Pacific coast.

The zone stretched north from the port of Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan for almost 480 kilometers (298 miles), encompassing the popular tourist cape of Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco, Mexico's meteorological institute said.

Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan and Nayarit state to the north were all put on guard for possible landslides from heavy rain expected to be dumped by the ninth Pacific hurricane of the season.

"A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center makes landfall," the NHC warned.

The surge, said the hurricane center, "will be accompanied by large and destructive waves" as well as torrential rainfall with accumulations of up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) in some areas.

"These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides over mountainous terrain," the NHC said.

Several major storms or hurricanes have buffeted Mexico's Pacific coast in recent months but most have remained offshore.

The season's first named storm, Arlene, left at least 16 people dead and drenched much of the country in July.

Tropical storms and hurricanes last year caused flooding and mudslides in Mexico that killed 125 people, left hundreds of thousands homeless and caused more than $4 billion in damage.

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Climate change blamed for storms, flooding, drought: Philippines

2011-10-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

Officials have warned Filipinos to brace against the inconvenient truth of devastating storms, flooding and drought unless policies and projects are put in place to mitigate climate change.

Undersecretary Graciano Yumul of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said that in the next 20 to 50 years, the Philippines would find "the dry seasons drier and the wet seasons wetter."

"With the climate change scenario, we will see more of this as a frequent reality," Yumul said in an interview. "What we used to consider as abnormal we should now consider as normal," he noted.

Scientists describe the phenomenon as any distinct changes in weather patterns, such as temperature, rainfall, wind and snow over a long period of time.

A major factor is global warming-the increase in the oceanic and atmospheric temperatures of the planet resulting in the melting of the ice caps and the rising of the seas.

The doomsday scenarios, depicted in Al Gore's 2006 award-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," are now playing out in the Philippines.

The climatology division of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has released the results of a study in 2010 concluding that climate data from 1960 to 2003 showed significant increases in the frequency of hot days and warm nights in many areas of the country.

On the other hand, Pagasa observed that cooler days had decreased. This trend mirrors the experience of other countries in Southeast Asia, Pagasa said as it predicted more rains in the Philippines in the coming decades.

"Reduction of rainfall is seen in March, April and May in most provinces, while rainfall increases are likely in Luzon and Visayas in 2020 and 2050 during the June-July-August and September-October-November seasons," the study said.

"Greater increase in rainfall is expected in the provinces of Luzon (0.9-63 per cent) and Visayas (2-22 per cent) during the peak southwest monsoon period (June-July-August)."

The number of days where temperature will breach 35 degrees Celsius will also increase in 2020 and 2050, according to Pagasa models.

Fishponds
Antonio Apostol Jr., chief geologist of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said human activities in the regions that bore the brunt of Typhoons "Pedring" and "Quiel" that struck the country last week exacerbated the hazards and the risks.

The plains of Bulacan and Pampanga have always been prone to floods, he said.

But the proliferation of fishponds and aquaculture projects in the major waterways and in the coasts has slowed down the flow of water from the typhoons and the dams, resulting in prolonged flooding in residential and rural areas, Apostol said.

"These have a multiplier effect. So when the water was released from the dams, the natural drainage could not handle it anymore," he said.

If there were no fishponds and garbage clogging the canals and rivers of the region, "the outflow would have been quicker," Apostol said.

Floods and landslides will be more widespread until officials realize that they should adapt to the changes in weather and lessen their effects on the general population, Apostol and Yumul said.

"In other parts of the country, we are seeing the same situation. In the cities of Butuan and Cotabato, there were floods, too, because the rivers were clogged with water lilies," Apostol said.

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Flood toll: 244 dead, Ayutthaya warned

2011-10-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

As extensive flooding continues to wreak havoc in 28 provinces throughout the country, the confirmed death toll on Thursday had risen to 244 with three people missing, and the forecast isa for worse to come.

Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department director Wibul Sanguanpong said the flooding has hit 1,486 tambons of 201 districts of 28 provinces, affecting 2.6 million people and damaging more than 7.5 million rai of farmland.

The flood toll as of Oct 6 was 244 dead and three missing.

Mr Wibul, also deputy director of the Interior Ministry’s disaster monitoring centre, said the amount of water in major dam reservoirs was still at a critical level and overflows from the Chao Phraya river have seriously hit low-lying areas in Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Sing Buri, Lop Buri, Ang Thong, Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Saraburi, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi.

In Ayutthaya, authorities alerted residents living around the former capital’s central area, known as Koh Muang, to evacuate their belongings to safe ground immediately as more flooding was expected to hit the area in the next few hours.

There were fears that floodwalls in the area could not resist the flood torrent and also concerns that the floodwaters would surge into the famous Wat Yai Chaimongkol temple in the area.

Ayutthaya governor Witthaya Piewpong said that flooding in the province is expected to reach a critical point in the next three to seven days as overflow from the Lop Buri, Pasak and Chao Phraya rivers would add to existing flood woes in the province.

It is predicted that flood levels will increase by at least 50 centimetres, Mr Witthaya said, adding that he had instructed workers to reinforce embankments around the Koh Muang area with more sandbags, raising the level of the embankment from 50cm to one metre.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri said Bang Pahan hospital in Ayutthaya has been temporarily closed because of flooding.

He said of the 17 patients being treated in the hospital, two had been moved to Ang Thong hospital, four to Uthai Thani hospital, four to Somdej Phra Sangkharat hospital and seven to Wang Noi hospital.

Two field hospitals have been set up at the PTT petrol station between Bang Pahan hospital and the district office and at tambon Bang Kwang in Maharat district.

They were being staffed around the clock by doctors and staff from Vajira Phuket hospital.

Ban Phraek, Maharat, Tha Rua and Nakhon Luang hospitals in Ayutthaya and Chumsaeng hospital in Nakhon Sawan are also under a flood threat.

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Floods drown Asia's rice bowl

2011-10-05T23:34:00.000-07:00

HANOI — Massive floods have ravaged vast swathes of Asia's rice bowl, threatening to further drive up food prices and adding to the burden of farmers who are among the region's poorest, experts say.

About 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of paddy fields in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos have been damaged or are at risk from the worst floods to hit the region in years, officials say.

In Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, where 237 people have died in the floods, about one million hectares of paddy -- roughly 10 percent of the total -- have been damaged, they say.

Heavy rains in Laos and Cambodia have also led to big losses in recent weeks, and experts say flood waters have now drained into Vietnam's Mekong Delta, a key global rice producer, making it the latest to be inundated.

Further west, flooding of rice and other farmland in Pakistan's arable belt has cost that country nearly $2 billion in losses.

"The whole region will now suffer from rising food prices as potential harvests have now been devastated. The damage is very serious this year and it will be some time before people can resume normal lives," Margareta Wahlstrom, the United Nations chief of disaster reduction, said in a statement.

The flood damage comes on top of worries about the impact on global rice prices of a new scheme by the Thai government to boost the minimum price farmers receive for their crop.

Vietnam meanwhile is the world's number-two rice exporter and the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam accounts for half the country's production.

"The upstream waters have begun to drop slightly but here they are rising three to five centimetres (1.2 to two inches) daily," said Duong Nghia Quoc, director of the agriculture department in Dong Thap province.

Dong Thap and neighbouring An Giang, which abut Cambodia, have been the worst affected in the delta.

The UN, citing government sources, says 11 people have died, more than 20,000 homes are flooded and 99,000 hectares of rice are at risk in Vietnam.

"Agricultural production is seriously affected this year by the floods that were, in fact, worse than our forecasts," said Vuong Huu Tien, of the flood and storm control department in An Giang, where thousands of soldiers have been mobilised to reinforce dykes and help residents reach safer ground.

In Cambodia, more than 330,000 hectares of rice paddy have been inundated, of which more than 100,000 hectares are completely destroyed, said a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture.

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Thailand's 'worst' floods leave 224 dead

2011-10-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

BANGKOK — Thailand's worst monsoon floods in decades have killed 224 people and affected three quarters of the country, including part of the ancient city of Ayutthaya, according to officials.

Two months of flooding have inundated 58 of Thailand's 77 provinces -- with 25 still severely affected -- and damaged the homes or livelihoods of millions of people, according to the government.

"It's the worst flooding yet in terms of the amount of water and people affected," said an official at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation who preferred not to be named.

Wat Chaiwatthanaram, one of Ayutthaya's best known temples, has been closed to visitors after a makeshift dyke was breached at the former capital, a popular tourist destination north of Bangkok.

"The water level inside the temple grounds is now 1.50 metres," said Supoj Prommanoch, head of the Fine Arts Office in Ayutthaya, located north of the capital Bangkok.

But he said the authorities were confident they could prevent the floods from reaching Ayutthaya's main World Heritage Park, which is located further away from Chao Phraya River.

The northern city of Chiang Mai, another popular tourist destination, has been badly hit and the authorities are battling to stop the floods reaching central Bangkok.

"The current flood situation is the worst that I have ever seen and it will last until the first week of November," said independent flood expert Royal Chitradon, director of Thai Integrated Water Resource Management.

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Autumn heatwave takes England by storm

2011-10-03T01:45:00.000-07:00

England is in the grip of a late September heatwave.

After another poor summer, temperatures have soared to almost 28C (82.4F) and are expected to carry on getting higher over the weekend.

The top temperature seen in England on Wednesday was in Gravesend, Kent, where it reached 27.1C (80.78F).

The Met Office said the hot weather was caused by a high pressure system pushing warm air north across France and towards the UK.

The high pressure is holding rain and wind coming in from the Atlantic away from the west.

Heatwave to continue
Paul Mott, meteorologist for MeteoGroup, the Press Association's weather arm, said the top temperatures would continue over the weekend.

"We are still on for some exceptionally warm weather, temperatures will probably reach 28C (82.4F) over the London area," he said.

"Central and eastern England could reach up to 27C (80.6F), so it is very warm indeed.

"That is a good 10C to 11C (18F to 20F) warmer than what we would expect for this time of year."

Temperatures are expected to remain in the mid to high-20s until next Tuesday.

In Northumberland, a lamb has been born early and a field of about 100 sunflowers have blossomed near Bamburgh castle.

However no records have yet been set, temperatures exceeded 28C (82F) on 21 September 2006 and the all-time high in the month of 30.6C (87F) was achieved in Hampshire in 1895.

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Hurricane Irene aftermath | 09.30.11

2011-09-30T02:31:00.000-07:00

Boys wade through the backyard of Donna and Kevin Tyndall after Hurricane Irene flooded their home in Vandemere in Pamlico County in August.

Many of the roads in Vandemere are still cluttered with debris.

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DIY flood relief in Pakistan

2011-09-29T01:29:00.000-07:00

"Pakistan over the last month has again been plunged into a very dismal state.

I along with a few friends have been involved in raising aid online and distributing it by hand all over this region.

We have visited the Badin area three times in the last month.

On our last trip we drove into Badin from Karachi, amidst reports of violent looting on the roads as well as relief trucks being mobbed.

Past the halfway point, at Thatta, the area became almost surreal, with water at road level stretching into the horizon as far as the eye could see.

Water-logged
As we drove closer to Badin the road was littered on both sides with makeshift tents and people sitting with their families in the awful heat.

They drink from the water around them and use the same water for washing and toilets.

We drove into Nindo, Khoski and beyond to distribute 2,000 'ready-to-eat' meals we had brought with us.

Everywhere we went we saw appalling conditions.

One can see relief organizations putting up camps and road-side kitchens all along the way to help feed the needy but clearly the throngs surrounding them are beyond their capacity.

The water is 3-4 feet deep in many areas.

In one place we saw people crossing their motor-bikes on a donkey cart from a marooned, water-logged village

I saw a snake almost as long as a car swimming lazily through this water, as people waded through it.

Typhoon leaves 16 dead in Philippines

2011-09-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

MANILA - City residents waded through waist-deep flood waters and dodged flying debris yesterday as a powerful typhoon struck the Philippines, killing at least 16 people and sending waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls.

Most deaths occurred in metropolitan Manila, which already was soaked by heavy monsoon rains ahead of Typhoon Nesat’s arrival with more downpours and wind gusts of up to 93 miles per hour. Downtown areas along Manila Bay suffered their worst flooding in decades.

Pounding rains obscured the view of anyone on the streets as soldiers and police scrambled to evacuate thousands of people in low-lying areas, where rivers and the sea spilled into shanties, hospitals, swanky hotels, and even the seaside US Embassy compound.

“It’s flooded everywhere. We don’t have a place to go for shelter. Even my motorcycle got filled with water,’’ said Ray Gonzales, one of thousands stranded by fast-rising flood waters.

The massive flooding came exactly a day after this sprawling, coastal city of 12 million held two-year commemorations for the nearly 500 people killed during a 2009 cyclone, which dumped a month’s rainfall in just 12 hours. The archipelago receives about 20 storms and typhoons from the Pacific each year.

Some residents acted more quickly this time to evacuate homes as waters rose, including in the Manila suburb of Marikina, where 2,000 people escaped the swelling river by flocking to an elementary school, carrying pets, TV sets, bags of clothes, and bottled water.

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Hurricane Aircraft -- Technological Marvels That Fly Through Storms

2011-09-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

The NASA DC-8 is a four-engine jet transport that has been highly modified to support the Agency's science mission. The medium-altitude aircraft has a 148-foot wingspan and is 157 feet long. It can fly at altitudes from 1,000 to 42,000 feet for up to 12 hours, although most science missions average six to 10 hours. The aircraft has a range of 5,400 nautical miles and can carry 30,000 pounds of scientific instruments and equipment. NASA acquired the former commercial airliner in 1985. It was based at the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., until late 1997 when it moved to the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.

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Hurricane Hilary 2011: Storm Could Bring Southwest, Texas Needed Rainfall

2011-09-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Hilary 2011 will likely weaken next week from its current Category 3 strength, but the storm may turn into central or northern California before it's done, ultimately bringing needed rain to the Southwest, including Texas.

Forecasters say Hurricane Hilary, currently off the western coast of Mexico, will pose a threat to shipping and cruise interests, while creating rough surf along the southwest Mexican coast as the storm turns to the north. Models show Hilary will be north and west of its current location by Wednesday night, and winds will likely have subsided to Category 1 strength.

But after that, the U.S. southwest and maybe even Texas could benefit from the storm if it re-curves as some models show, into northern Baja California.

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As flood victims protest, China donates 3,000 tents

2011-09-23T04:52:00.000-07:00

China sent the tents via four air crafts to Pakistan.

The Chinese Counsel General handed over these tents to Provincial Disaster Management Director at the Karachi airport for distribution among flood affectees.

The Chinese Counsel General said his country will always stand with Pakistan in difficult times.

While efforts continue to tackle the catastrophe, flood affectees in lower and central Sindh have protested against the shortage of basic necessities including food, medicines and clean drinking water.

People from several districts protested against the shortage of aid and the government’s inability to drain flood waters from several villages in Sindh. Police have reportedly baton charged people protesting the ineffective and insufficient aid.

A shutter down strike is also being observed in the southern town of Kunri.

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Bangkok escapes wrath of floods

2011-09-22T04:28:00.000-07:00

Bangkok yesterday managed to escape being submerged in floods that have been sweeping through 24 provinces.

Farmers in the neighbouring province of Pathum Thani are calling on authorities to open at least one watergate in the capital so water levels in an overflowing canal can be eased.

"The Hok Wa canal has risen one metre above its banks," Suchat Janchang complained yesterday.

Suchat, who is a farmer in Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district, said more than 1,000 rai of his paddy fields would be in jeopardy if a watergate was not opened soon to let out some of the water. "Have some sympathy for us. We are going to incur huge losses," the 46-year-old said.

Lam Luk Ka district chief Panuwat Jenprasert said if Bangkok authorities continued blocking flood waters, then more than 18,000 rai of the local farmland would be submerged sustaining huge damages.

"Some of them have been flooded for nearly a month now," he said.

After a meeting with relevant authorities on preventing floods in Bangkok and adjacent provinces, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) had been well prepared to deal with the situation.

Also present at the meeting were Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra and the provincial governors of Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Chachoengsao.

According to Yingluck, authorities are proceeding in line with His Majesty's advice on water management as they tackle the ongoing flood problems. "We will be pushing the water out of the capital via Lat Pho Canal. It's faster," she said.

With run-offs from the North, the Chao Phraya River has already overflowed in several provinces in the Central region.

In Chai Nat province, raging torrents in the Chao Phraya River knocked down a portion of an embankment and submerged Phaholyothin Road between the 290 and 293 kilometre markers, making that portion of the road impassable to traffic.

According to BMA Drainage and Sewerage Department chief Sanya Sheenimit, up to 3,800 cubic metres of water travelled down Chao Phraya River in Ayutthaya's Bang Sai district yesterday. Ayutthaya is just an hour's drive from Bangkok.

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China: floods leave 57 dead

2011-09-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

Flooding across China has claimed 57 lives as more than a million people are evacuated from their homes.

Heavy record rains for more than a week have swamped several provinces in northern, central and southwest China, also injuring dozens of people, Newscore reports.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a statement that the rain had forced authorities to evacuate more than 1.2 million people from their homes, BBC reports.

Landslides and mudslides have toppled homes and blocked roads in the area, and the National Meteorological Center forecast that the torrential rains that caused them will last for another three days, AFP reports.

"Constant strong rainfall has caused serious flood disasters in Sichuan [southwest], Shaanxi [north] and Henan [central] - 12.3 million people were affected, 57 died and 29 are missing," it said.

One area of the southwestern province of Sichuan, Bazhong, was severely affected, with 13 people killed, 10 missing and 156 injured, a spokesman for the local government told the official China Daily newspaper.

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NOAA Targets Hurricanes With Computer Power

2011-09-20T04:01:00.000-07:00

A new supercomputing facility in West Virginia could help improve weather forecasters’ ability to predict the power of huge hurricanes, which could eventually help public officials make better decisions about when to call for the kind of mass evacuations seen during Hurricane Irene.

Next month The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will bring a new data center online. The facility in Fairmont, West Virginia will support a 383-teraflop supercomputer designed to develop more powerful tools for analyzing the behavior of hurricanes. NOAA staffers discussed the project in a presentation last week at the AFCOM Data Center World fall conference in Orlando.

Computer Models Improving
Hurricane scientists have developed sophisticated computer models to analyze the threat posed by hurricanes. This has helped forecasters make significant strides in projecting the path a hurricane will take. But it remains more difficult to predict the intensity of hurricanes, which can fluctuate in strength as they approach landfall. Hurricane intensity is ranked on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which assigns a category from 1 to 5, with Category 5 storms being the most powerful.

“The damage caused by the hurricane has almost everything to do with intensity,” said NOAA’s Darren Smith, who said predicting the intensity requires granular data.”The physics of a hurricane occur at a 1 kilometer resolution.”

The new supercomputer in West Virginia will bring more horsepower to test new models designed to better measure intensity. But it will also require about five years of development before the new model is ready for use in NOAA forecasts.

More Capacity Required
Analyzing hurricane data requires lots of computing power. NOAA has 9 supercomputers already, but none of its existing facilities had the space or power capacity to house the new machine. Smith and his team began an unusual site selection process in which they picked a location for the new facility without knowing what kind of supercomputer it would house.

They didn’t know, for example, whether the supercomputer would require water cooling or air cooling. The agency eventually chose an SGI Altix ICE cluster in which some cabinets will be water-cooled (through a rear-door cooling unit) while others will use air cooling.

Cabinets in the high performance computing cluster will use up to 33 watts of power per rack. The data center will use full outside air cooling (air economization) for 40 percent of the year, while using a mix of economizers and chillers the remainder of the time. The economizers are expected to save about $800,000 a year in power costs.

The 54,000 square foot space will house 16,000 square feet of computer room space on a 4-foot raised floor, and a 6,000 square foot tape archive, with room for expansion of both. The facility has 6 megawatts of power capacity, and is supported by a flywheel UPS system.

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NASA's TRMM Satellite Sees Moderate Rainfall Tropical Storm Sonca

2011-09-19T01:43:00.000-07:00

When the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite flew over Tropical Storm Sonca on Friday, Sept. 16 it found moderate rainfall mostly on the southern side of the storm. Chichi Jima can expect some of that rainfall over the weekend as Sonca passes east of the island.

TRMM passed over Tropical Storm Sonca and its precipitation radar instrument saw moderate rainfall occurring mostly on the southern side of the storm, while light-to-moderate rainfall was occurring throughout the storm. The southern edge of the storm had rainfall rates between .78 to 1.57 inches (20 to 40 mm) per hour. The TRMM satellite is managed jointly by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency.

At 11 a.m. EDT on Sept. 16, Tropical Storm Sonca had maximum sustained winds near 45 knots (52 mph). It was centered about 500 nautical miles east of Iwo To, Japan, near 23.5 North and 149.4 East. Sonca was moving to the west at 15 knots.

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Hurricane Watch for Bermuda is lifted

2011-09-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

A hurricane watch for Bermuda was this afternoon lifted as Tropical Storm Maria passed to the Island's west causing hardly any damage.

Belco reported a handful of power outages and police were not aware of any reports of damage.

Flights and ferry services were the worst hit - with all ferries except the Pink route cancelled and all flights at LF Wade International Airport also cancelled.

Several flights to and from the Island were cancelled yesterday as Bermuda braced itself for Tropical Storm Maria.

The storm, the third in as many weeks to affect the Island, passed at about 100 nautical miles to the west-northwest of the Island at its closest point at 1pm today.

Meteorologists predicted the Island would experience showers and possibly thunder, with south-easterly gusts from gale force to hurricane force this morning.

Conditions are expected to lighten as the day progresses and the storm moves further from Bermuda.

The Causeway remained open all day although it was monitored closely.

No large storm surge is expected, but rip currents and significant wave action were predicted, mirroring the effects of recent Tropical Storms Jose and Katia.

This afternoon a Government spokeswoman said: "While Bermuda has been spared any major impact from Tropical Storm Maria, the Island continues to feel remnants of the weather system.

"Winds at the Causeway saw a brief increase to 40 knots with gusts to 50 knots , but there have been no sustained winds reaching 50 knots today. However, Bermuda can expect a continuation of the tropical storm force winds for the next few hours.

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2011 Hurricane season:NASA’s TRMM Satellite Sees a Well-Organized, Major Typhoon Songda

2011-07-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Typhoon Songda was east of the Philippines when the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite had an early evening view on May 25, 2011 at 0903 UTC (05:03 EDT) and saw good organization within the storm and heavy rainfall. Songda has intensified into a major typhoon as it tracks parallel to the east coast of the northern Philippines, spawning warnings.

Both TRMM’s Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments were used to provide the rainfall analysis. TRMM’s TMI had the best coverage of rainfall with Songda and showed well organized bands of moderate to heavy rainfall converging into the typhoon. TRMM is managed by both NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA.

Infrared imagery from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite showed an eye about 12 nautical miles wide and strong convection surrounding the eye on all sides. Songda intensified over the over the last 12 hours because of very warm sea surface temperatures between 30 and 31 Celsius, and low wind shear.

At 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) on May 25, Songda’s maximum sustained winds were near 105 knots (120 mph/194 kmh) making it a Category Three Typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Sondga was located about 385 nautical miles east-southeast of Manila, Philippines and is now moving northwestward near 5 knots (6 mph/9 kmh). Yesterday it was moving to the west-northwest, so the curving northward has already begun.

Songda is predicted to become a very powerful category 4 super typhoon with wind speeds peaking at 125 knots (143 mph/231 kmh) as it passes to the northeast of the Philippines. By Friday, the current forecast track takes Songda’s center very close to the island with Kadena Air Base in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.

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Noctilucent Cloud Season Begins

2011-07-07T04:30:00.000-07:00

When noctilucent clouds (NLCs) first appeared in the 19th century, they were a high-latitude phenomenon. You had to travel toward the poles to see their electric-blue glow. Not anymore. Just this past weekend, these beautiful, "night-shining" clouds spilled over the Canadian border into the lower United States as far south as Denver, Colorado.

In recent years, a NASA spacecraft called AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) has spotted the clouds appearing ever lower in latitudes, but just why is not yet known. AIM studies the clouds in order to better understand our lower atmosphere and how it is connected to weather and climate.

The clouds are seasonal, appearing most often in late spring and summer. In the northern hemisphere, the best time to search for these beauties would be between mid-May and the end of August.

Tropical wave heads into Bay of Campeche

2011-06-28T01:56:00.001-07:00

ATLANTIC

* A tropical wave moving west-northwestward into the Bay of Campeche is bringing disorganized but locally heavy showers and thunderstorms to the Yucatan Peninsula, southeast Mexico, and parts of Central America.

* This system could organize some on Tuesday or Wednesday as it moves through the Bay of Campeche and the shearing winds aloft relax, but may only at best become a tropical depression.

* Any developing tropical low and associated heavy rainfall will quickly move into northeast Mexico midweek and beyond.

* Southernmost Texas could see an increase in shower and thunderstorm activity.

TROPICAL CYCLONE YASI

2011-06-24T05:23:00.000-07:00

Summary

Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi began developing as a tropical low northwest of Fiji on 29th January and started tracking on a general westward track. The system quickly intensified to a cyclone category to the north of Vanuatu and was named Yasi at 10pm on the 30th by Fiji Meteorological Service. Yasi maintained a westward track and rapidly intensified to a Category 2 by 10am on 31st January and then further to a Category 3 by 4pm on the same day.

Yasi maintained Category 3 intensity for the next 24 hours before being upgraded to a Category 4 at 7pm on 1st February. During this time, Yasi started to take a more west-southwestward movement and began to accelerate towards the tropical Queensland coast.

Yasi showed signs of further intensification and at 4am on 2nd February and was upgraded to a marginal Category 5 system. Yasi maintained this intensity and its west-southwest movement, making landfall on the southern tropical coast near Mission Beach between midnight and 1am early on Thursday 3rd February. Being such a strong and large system, Yasi maintained a strong core with damaging winds and heavy rain, tracking westwards across northern Queensland and finally weakened to a tropical low near Mount Isa around 10pm on 3rd February.

Yasi is one of the most powerful cyclones to have affected Queensland since records commenced. Previous cyclones of a comparable measured intensity include the 1899 cyclone Mahina in Princess Charlotte Bay, and the two cyclones of 1918 at Mackay (January) and Innisfail (March)

Wind Damage

At the time of writing there are no verified observations of the maximum wind gusts near thecyclone centre. However a barograph at the Tully Sugar Mill recorded a minimum pressure of 929 hPa as the eye passed over suggesting wind gusts of about 285 km/h were possible. This is supported by measurements (subject to verification) from instrumentation operated by the Queensland Government (Department of Environment and Resource Management) at Clump Point (near Mission Beach) which recorded a minimum pressure of 930hPa. Significant wind damage was reported between Innisfail and Townsville where the destructive core of the cyclone crossed the coast. Tully and Cardwell suffered major damage to structures and vegetation with the eye of the cyclone passing over Dunk Island and Tully around midnight on 2nd February.

The largest rainfall totals were near and to the south of the cyclone and were generally in the order of 200-300mm in the 24 hours to 9am Thursday. These rainfall totals were experienced in the area between Cairns and Ayr, causing some flooding. The highest totals were; South Mission Beach 471mm, Hawkins Creek 464mm, Zattas 407mm, Bulgun Creek 373mm along the Tully and Herbert River catchments.

Landsat 5 Satellite Sees Tornado Track near Sturbridge, Massachusetts

2011-06-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

On June 1, 2011, a supercell thunderstorm developed over western Massachusetts. The storm produced an EF3 tornado that cut a 39-mile (63-kilometer) track of destruction across southwest and south-central Massachusetts. Not only did the long-lived tornado remain on the ground for many miles, but it also widened to 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers).

The Thematic Mapper on the Landsat 5 satellite captured this natural-color image on June 5, 2011. This image shows part of the tornado track, including damage in Sturbridge. According to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts state police reported a tornado on the ground in Sturbridge at 5:22 p.m. The tornado was spotted on the Interstate 84 exit, and cars were overturned.

The Boston Globe reported that the Massachusetts governor declared a state of emergency and ordered National Guard troops to assist with cleanup efforts. Tornadoes on June 1 killed at least four residents of the state, as well as reducing homes, schools, and churches to rubble.

The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have collected information about Earth from space. This science, known as remote sensing, has matured with the Landsat Program.

Volcano erupts in Chile

2011-06-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

At least 3,500 people have been vacated in southern Chile and Argentina as one of the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanoes began to explode on Saturday. This latest eruption is the first in half a century for the Puyehue volcano. As of early Sunday morning, gas was growing nearly 10 km in the atmosphere, while residents were reporting ash covering the ground like snow. The city's airport was closed and local residents wore gas masks to protect them from the ash and stifle the strong stench of sulphur. The officials were trying to stop car traffic and ask that people to stay at home and close their doors and windows to prevent the volcanic ash from coming. Authorities issued a red alert, the maximum warning level, for the area and closed an Argentina-Chile border crossing.

Chile has some 2,000 volcanoes and one of the world’s largest volcanic chains after Indonesia. Some 50 to 60 have had recorded eruptions, and 500 are potentially active. The last eruption of Puyehue came in 1960. That event was preceded by a magnitude 9.5 earthquake. The thick cover of ash meant it was not immediately clear which of the Puyehye-Codron Caulle chain's four volcanoes had erupted. Witnesses reported seeing the volcano spitting molten rock, but no lava flow. This eruption comes just weeks after the Grimsvotn volcano erupted in Iceland, which sent plumes of Ash into the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. That volcano was blamed for widespread flight cancellations in Scotland and Berlin. Winds across the region will continue to blow towards the east, sending more ash towards southern Argentina as long as the volcano continues to erupt.

Unresolved questions about Earth's climate

2011-06-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

This blog presents a data-rich view of climate and a discussion of how that data fits together into the scientists' current picture of our changing climate. But there's a great deal that we don't know about the future of Earth's climate and how climate change will affect humans.

Climate scientists often discuss "abrupt climate change," which includes the possibility of "tipping points" in the Earth's climate. Climate appears to have several states in which it is relatively stable over long periods of time. But when climate moves between those states, it can do so quickly (geologically speaking), in hundreds of years and even, in a handful of cases, in only a few decades. These rapid 'state changes' are what scientists mean by abrupt climate change. They are much more common at regional scales than at the global scale, but can be global. State changes have triggers, or tipping points. In what's probably the single largest uncertainty in climate science, scientists don't have much confidence that they know what those triggers are.

Below is an explanation of just a few other important uncertainties about climate change. This list isn't exhaustive. It is intended to illustrate the kinds of questions that scientists still ask about climate.

1. Solar Irradiance.

The sun has a well-known 11-year irradiance cycle that produces about .1% variation in output.1 Solar irradiance has been measured by satellite daily since the late 1970s, and this known solar cycle is incorporated into climate models. There is some evidence from proxy measurements-sunspot counts going back centuries, measurements from ancient trees, and others-that solar output varies over longer periods of time, too. While there is currently no evidence of a trend in solar output over the past half century, because there are no direct observations of solar output prior to the 1970s, climate scientists do not have much confidence that they understand longer-term solar changes. A number of U.S. and international spacecraft study the sun.

2. Aerosols, dust, smoke, and soot.

These come from both human and natural sources. They also have very different effects on climate. Sulfate aerosols, which result from burning coal, biomass, and volcanic eruptions, tend to cool the Earth. Increasing industrial emissions of sulfates is believed to have caused a cooling trend in the Northern Hemisphere from the 1940s to the 1970s. But other kinds of particles have the opposite effect. The global distribution of aerosols has only been tracked for about a decade from the ground and from satellites, but those measurements cannot yet reliably distinguish between types of particulates. So aerosol forcing is another substantial uncertainty in predictions of future climate.

Time to prepare for 2011 Hurricane

2011-05-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

Mississippi residents should have noticed on their calendars that t 2011 hurricane season starts. While the area has been safe during the past five hurricane seasons; this is not the time to get pleased. As the latest tornado outbreaks have shown us, Mother Nature's furor can be deadly. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials also are predicting an "above-normal" 6-month season across the Atlantic Basin. In the years since Hurricane Katrina, officials across the Pine Belt have been busy making sure the area is better prearranged if a major storm should hit. From purchasing additional generators and equipment to eradicate debris from roadways to updating dispatch systems and emergency management plans, steps have been taken to try to ensure the type of conditions that followed Katrina can be avoided.

Wednesday also marks the deadline for completion of the Forrest County Community Shelter, a facility that will be able to house 800 to 1,000 people in case of a severe weather event. A similar shelter is under construction in Lamar County. But hurricane preparedness isn't just the responsibility of city and county officials. Residents need to make sure that they and their families are prepared. That includes everything from stocking up on food and water, putting together a first-aid kit that includes prescriptions your family members need to coming up with an evacuation route if needed. Although all is quiet in the Atlantic for now, it most likely won't be that way for much longer.

Tornadoes hit Oklahoma

2011-05-27T01:56:00.000-07:00

At least six people were killed and many were injured by tornados at Oklahoma and Kansas City that began last Tuesday which forced offices and schools to close early. Residents should take tornado warnings and reports very seriously said Mary Fallin Governor of Oklahoma. NWS warned during the storm that it’s an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation.

The citizens of Oklahoma City knew that the tornadoes were coming. About 1,200 people were packed in a shelter in Newcastle, a community near Oklahoma City, during the storm, said Oklahoma City Manager Nick Nazar. The city has been struck by more tornadoes than any other city in the United States. People were expecting for the worst to happen after the disastrous twister outbreak in the South that had a death toll of more than 300 people and last Sunday’s storm that left 122 people dead in Joplin.

The Oklahoma tornadoes were weaker than the other tornadoes but up-to-the-minute reporting of the developing weather system kept the people informed of the danger. Television networks had their helicopters broadcast live footages when the storm approached the city with a population of 1.2 million.

Forecasts for 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season

2011-05-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

Weather Services Forecasters issued their forecast for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season which begins June 1, leaving an expectation of 15 tropical storms, with eight evolving into hurricanes. Of those, four are expected to strengthen into major hurricane of Category 3 or above on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which mean the storm packs sustained winds of 111-130 mph and is expected to cause serious damage.

Each of the forecasts exceeds what is considered the historical average hurricane season, although what is defined as “average” varies somewhat according to the source. Predictions for 2011 do fall within the level of activity that has occurred during an active tropical period that began in 1995, says Crawford. Since 1995 the season has averaged 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four intense hurricanes. The 2010 season, one of the most active in recent decades, brought 19 tropical storms. Twelve of those became hurricanes and five grew into major hurricanes.

Violent Tornado horror Oklahoma

2011-05-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

The reports said atleast 12 people were killed when tornadoes struck the south-western states of Oklahoma and Arkansas overnight Wednesday. Several tornadoes struck during rush hour on Tuesday, killing at least eight people in Oklahoma, two in Kansas and three more in Arkansas.

The National Weather Service said that the tornado 'destroyed the full town' of Denning, Arkansas, which has a population of 270 and is about 160 miles south of Joplin. Rescue crews began the frantic search for the missing on Wednesday, which included a three-year-old boy, after a tornado destroyed his home in Piedmont, northwest of Oklahoma City, injuring his mother and siblings.

The high-powered storms arrived just two days after a massive tornado tore through the southwest Missouri town of Joplin and killed 122 people. The other fatalities were reported in the neighboring state of Arkansas. The newest deaths came as meanwhile the death toll from the massive killer tornado in Joplin, Missouri rose to 125, according to the television news network CNN. Hundreds of people in the city were still missing.

No Chance of Rain at Chennai now

2011-05-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

The recent unexpected showers last week provided relief to the residents in the city, bringing down the temperature. A pool of rain water was seen in different areas of the city and heavy shower had brought smiles to Chennai people. The smiles got wider when the weatherman forecast more rain for the city, but now it seems not to be.

Other than seasonal rain, it is very hard to predict summer showers. The factors that conclude rains now are very lively. But now, we cannot anticipate any rain, reports by an official of the Meteorological Department. If so, Chennai may have to lay up with this hot weather till at least June. The westerly winds now raise the temperature on land, whereas the southerly winds bring in moisture from the ocean and also have a cooling effect. Only an unstable atmosphere with high moisture content will lead to formation of thunder clouds which will in turn cause rain. But that doesn't seem to be happening, said Meteorological officials.

The maximum temperature at Meenambakkam is expected to be 39.4 degrees Celsius, while the minimum will be around 27 degrees. The Maximum temperature at Nungambakkam is expected to be 38.6 degrees Celsius and minimum 27.7 degrees. The local forecast: Partly cloudy sky with a maximum temperature of 39 degrees Celsius with the relative humidity of around 80%.

Heavy rain with Thunderstorm in New Jersey

2011-05-20T03:25:00.000-07:00

A heavy rain with scattered thunderstorms is streamlining off of the Atlantic Ocean and gradually moves towards northward into northern New Jersey. Isolated thunderstorms are also expected Friday and Saturday yet Sunday promises to be sunny with only a 10 percent chance of rain and a high of almost 80 degrees. A chance remains over the next few days for some locally heavy downpours to initiate some flash flooding of roadways and streams.

The threat of showers and thunderstorms, especially in the afternoons, will remain and high temps will reach near and exceed 70º. A few breaks of sunshine will become more possible as well especially on Friday. Saturday will definitely see a return to at least partial sunshine, however, there is still probably going to be afternoon scattered showers/T-storms developing with highs in the mid-upper 70s. Hopefully by Sunday we can eliminate the threat of afternoon showers/storms. I'm calling for mostly sunny skies with highs in the mid-upper 70s at this moment.

How one Japanese village defied the Tsunami

2011-05-19T02:38:00.000-07:00

In the debris of the northeast, one small village named fudai stands as tall as ever after the tsunami. No homes were swept away. In fact, they barely got wet. Fudai survived thanks to a huge wall once deemed a mayor's expensive folly and now justified as the community's salvation.

The 3,000 residents living between mountains behind a cove owe their lives to a late leader who saw the devastation of an earlier tsunami and made it the priority of his four-decade tenure to defend his people from the next one.The 15.5m floodgate between mountainsides took a dozen years to build and meant spending more than 2.4 billion in today's yen but without it, Fudai would have disappeared.

The gate project was criticized as wasteful in the 1970s. But the gate and an equally high seawall behind the community's adjacent fishing port protected Fudai from the waves that obliterated so many other towns. Two months after the disaster, more than 25,000 are missing or dead in the Tohoku region. However you look at it, the effectiveness of the floodgate and seawall was truly impressive.

Flooding causes billions of damages

2011-05-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

The Mississippi River is flooding with increasing frequency. The mighty Mississippi River flows covers over 2,300 miles from Minnesota down into the Gulf of Mexico with 159 cities situated along its banks. The increased flooding along the Mississippi is due to climate change. This latest flooding of the Mississippi River, brought about by record April rainfall in the Ohio River Valley and very high levels in other states, killing at least 18 people, flooding millions of acres of farmland. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway in an effort to prevent flood waters from effecting larger cities like New Orleans and Baton Rouge by intentionally flooding surrounding areas. It is the first time the spillway has been opened in 40 years.
The fact is we had a tremendous amount of snow over the winter and all that started melting about the same time all this rain started falling a few weeks ago. To be plagued with too much rain will destroy property and lives. It swells the rivers and creeks. Large bodies of water at the ocean shores lines will be made to swell with unusually high waves, dumping billions of tons of water over the now seashore line.
Rain weakens and destroys railroads, truck line beds and bridges. Rain undermines foundations of all types of buildings. Rain makes the atmosphere too heavy with moisture causing sickness. Wind with rain can bring destruction to towns and cities, bringing various germs, causing sickness to the people. It produces unclean water by the swelling of streams and destroying reservoirs of pure drinking water used for the health of the people. Rain is a destructive army within itself. Hail stones are also a property and life destroyer. The weather calamities would increase, taking both a physical and economic toll on a country. Millions of acres of land andcity infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged.

Rain Expected in California

2011-05-16T05:51:00.000-07:00

Pacific storm system is expected to overspread northern California during this afternoon and unsettled weather will linger on through Tuesday. This system is expected to bringing higher rainfall. The most of the rainfall will affect San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties later Monday night into early Tuesday morning it seems.With steady rainfall across Ventura and Los Angeles counties on Tuesday. Further showers will be likely behind the main front on tomorrow’s night and in the early hours Wednesday. This storm system has the latent to be unseasonably wet in view of that we are well into the month of May. With local amounts up to 1-1/2 inches across southwest facing coastal slopes.

Snow levels are generally expected to range between 6000 and 7000 feet with any significant accumulations expected above 7000 feet. This storm system is also expected to bring gusty south to southwest winds to the region. The strongest winds are expected in the mountains and deserts where gusts between 40 and 50 mph can be expected. Residents of southwest California are urged to stay tuned to the latest National Weather Service forecasts and statements as this late season storm unfolds.

Aere Leaves 26 Dead in Philippines

2011-05-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

The most recent tally showed that Aere affected 71,267 families, 65 municipalities, five cities, and 12 provinces in six regions nationwide. A disaster official saying Tropical Storm Aere left northern Luzon on Wednesday, but not earlier battering the Bicol region and leaving at least 26 people dead.

Officer in charge of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council saying most of the newly listed victims came from central Philippines and Metro Manila which Aere drenched and hit with rough winds from Monday to Tuesday. Displaced were 13,721 families but only 2,913 families were placed in 86 government-run evacuation centres and the rest who are not affected by Aere are staying in relative’s house and 2,7,243 hectares of rice, corn, and livestock are also affected. Total loss in agricultural products rose to P117.8 million. According to the Philippine weather bureau the storm was heading towards Japanese waters but had weakened after hitting the Philippines. It was the second storm to hit the Philippines this summer. Hundreds of people die each year due to the storms, with many of the victims living in poor, coastal communities.

Mississippi Residents are warned of floods

2011-05-10T02:09:00.000-07:00

The Mississippi River, swollen with winter snow melt and heavy rain, has caused a chain of flooding in seven states is carrying near record flows slowly south to New Orleans where the crest may be at least two weeks away. The river surge is expected to peak at 48 feet, beating two previous flooding records set in 1927 and 1937. Officials have been urging residents in low lying areas along the river and its tributaries to leave their homes. Evacuation warnings have been issued to more than 1,300 residences in the Memphis area, and officials say they expect nearly 3,000 properties to suffer some impact from flooding. President Barack Obama has declared parts of Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee as disaster areas.

In a small respite for residents, the National Weather Service said it does not expect significant rain over the next several days that would exacerbate the flood projections. Downstream in the state of Mississippi, record crests are expected at Vicksburg on May 20 and at Natchez on May 22.U.S. officials, who expect to activate three floodways for the first time, blew a hole in a levee last week to open one floodway, inundating Missouri farmland to save Illinois and Kentucky towns.

Government engineers plan to open a second floodway, the Bonnet Carre Spillway 28 miles north of New Orleans, on Monday to divert some of the river’s flow to Lake Pontchartrain.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also has recommended opening the Morganza spillway farther north to divert water to the Gulf of Mexico west of New Orleans. Activating the Morganza, this has only been opened once, in 1973, since its construction in 1954 would force people and livestock to evacuate the Atchafalaya River Basin. Peak flows are not expected to reach the New Orleans area for more than two weeks

New Zealand's hit by tornado

2011-05-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

A tornado affects a largest city of New Zealand's city on Tuesday, at least one person was killed and 20 injured, a hospital official said. The swirling dark air and cloud cut a 3-mile path across the Auckland suburb of Albany at mid afternoon, flattening trees and tossing vehicles around. There are probably six or seven seriously damaged cars, and some of them saw cars flying off the ground about 30 meters in the air.

The tornado first touched down in Albany and then passed through neighboring Birkenhead. Most of the serious damage was in Albany, where a shopping mall, a large hardware store and a supermarket were hit. Radio New Zealand reported that the roof of the Mega Center mall in Albany collapsed. Tornadoes are not uncommon in New Zealand, particularly on the country's North Island, where Auckland lies. But they tend to be smaller than those seen in the U.S. Midwest. Auckland generally gets one or two tornadoes a year, according to New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management. New Zealand has been hit by several disasters in recent months, including a Feb. 22 earthquake that devastated the South Island city of Christchurch and killed at least 169 people.

flood warnings for Mississippi residents

2011-04-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

Mississippi's and Louisiana's governors announced flood warnings said on Thursday and declared states of emergency. The authorities along the river in both states are warning residents to brace for the possibility of floods and thunderstorms that caused widespread damage in several southern U.S. states in recent days.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency expects the river to reach its flood stage this weekend and continue to rise over the coming two weeks. River boat casinos in Mississippi are closed and levee managers are readying sand bags to fight the rising river along hundreds of levees in both states where the river crosses en route to the Gulf of Mexico. Barbour said during a news conference that this is one disaster we can prepare for ahead of time.

The floods would be the most recent natural disaster to hit the U.S. Southeast, already they are affected by tornadoes and violent storms that killed more than 280 people this week, including at least 32 in Mississippi. The Mississippi River is predicted to rise almost 3 feet higher than it did during severe flooding in 2008, when local levees failed after months of rain and many homes were ruined by water damage.

The river is forecast to hit the highest point at 53.5 feet on May 18 at Vicksburg. That is the uppermost river stage recorded at Vicksburg since the catastrophic flooding of 1927 when the river reached 56.6 feet and would have kept on rising if levees hadn't given way, causing enormous flooding and killing hundreds. After that calamity, the nation undertook an aggressive $13 billion plan to build levees and flood ways that would avert such a scale of flooding again. Barbour said residents should review their flood insurance policies with their insurance agents and move important property to safer locations.

Tornadoes at U.S

2011-04-28T01:19:00.000-07:00

In recent weeks, the southern states of U.S. were affected by floods and tornadoes but the most horrible is not yet over. We came to know about by reports that more storms are direction into the areas of mid-South and Ohio valley area. The storms had previously killed at least ten people and damaged hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property in the southern area.

Tornado warnings are given to the nearby states as the threat of another tornado hitting is still a big possibility. Floods also caused a big problem in the area. Due to rain and heavy snowmelt have caused the water levels to rise in several areas. There are more possibilities to water levels rise and cause dangerous to areas near rivers where the water levels flow into land and the soil gets saturated. There have already been levees breached in the areas in south Missouri. More than 1,000 people have already been shifted to saver areas by authorities for fear of flash floods.

Ten people were died in Arkansas by last week’s storm and floods, and there are lots of injured people left on the wake of the disasters. 10,000 more are enforced to relocate to safer areas because lots of damage caused by the storm. Some of the towns and cities are still in danger of being hit again by tornadoes so many people are still not permitted to go back home. Rescue operations and recovery was just being set up in affected areas. In Tennessee and the surrounding states, several school systems were closed because of heavy destruction caused by storm and trees, other debris were blocking the roadways in many areas. Flood warnings were still in effect along many states that are near rivers and full alert in most of the southern states.

2011-04-27T03:26:00.000-07:00

The sunshine and showers at present continue the past. The chances for thunderstorms are 80%. So this afternoon we can look thunderstorms because chances are more that may prolong at least till midnight. Some of these thunderstorms could be severe, producing heavy rain and wind.

Due to Monday’s heavy rain, a Flood Warning has been reported by the National Weather Service for the Grand River in Lake County. This stream’s stage is currently 7.3 feet with flood stage being 8.0 feet.

People expect The Grand River will again rise above flood stage and the rain will continue till Thursday afternoon where it might reach 8.5 feet, according to the Weather Service. Leroy-Perry Township line was closed briefly overnight, but it reopened about 6 a.m.

Today’s high temperature may reach 80-degree with tonight’s low in the mid-50s.Weather report says Wednesday’s high will be in the low-70s, even though there will be a 90% chance of rain and thundershowers, especially after 1 p.m. And probably rain will continue through Friday when mostly dark skies and cooler temperatures are expected to take over.

However, the breezy conditions will continue. Saturday should see mostly sunny conditions along with temperatures in the mid-60s before a chance of rain and somewhat cooler temperatures reappear starting Sunday.

Unexpected rain gives relief to Chennai last week... will it continues this week…?

2011-04-26T05:05:00.000-07:00

The meteorological department forecasting showers in few areas, people didn't expect it to rain on few days in last week. Many were got drenched although they enjoyed the pleasant weather in some parts of the city. The sky was overcast in the morning and towards afternoon it started raining. When April began I was bothered about how hot this summer would be but it is changing out to be pleasant for all.

Let we know about this week...Our feel of summer continues at present. You see with the slight humid feel of the morning air and then again with the tough heat of the afternoon with low-to-mid 80s. We might be observing a few more clouds around at present, but the chance for a rain has been 30%.

Let’s know about tomorrow.. We continue in the same air mass, but temperatures may slightly higher along with higher humidity. 30% chance of late afternoon thunderstorms. Winds will continue from the south and southwest.

Tropical Storm Arani

2011-03-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

During the daytime on Tuesday, March 15 at 1820 UTC (2:20 p.m. EST) NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite flew over Sub-Tropical Storm Arani. TRMM rainfall data showed that the storm contained mostly moderate rainfall, falling at a rate between 20 and 40 millimeters (.89 to 1.57 inches) per hour. However, there were some areas of heavy rainfall in the north and eastern quadrants of the storm. The heavier rainfall was occurring at about 50 mm or 2 inches per hour. TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data were used in the image above to show rainfall near Arani.

On Mar. 16 at 03:29 UTC (Mar. 15 at 11:29 p.m. EST) another of NASA's fleet of Earth science satellites flew over Sub-tropical Storm Arani and took its temperature. NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Sub-Tropical Storm Arani's cold thunderstorm cloud tops in two areas of the storm. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument that flies aboard Aqua provided infrared readings of those cloud tops and showed that they were as cold as or colder than -63F/-52 C, and were areas of heavy rainfall. The strongest thunderstorms wrapped from the north, eastward to the south of the center of circulation, confirming the data from the TRMM satellite.

Tropical Cyclone Carlos

2011-02-25T05:14:00.000-08:00

Tropical Cyclone Carlos continues to live and has moved into the Southern Indian Ocean, and is affecting Western Australia.

Tropical Storm Carlos now has maximum sustained winds near 55 knots

On Wednesday, February 23, 2011 it was centered near 22.1S and 114.1E, west of Learmonth, Australia and moving west-southwest near 8 knots (9 mph).

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed above tropical cyclone Carlos on February 22 at 1850 UTC (1:50 p.m. EST) as the storm's center was battering coastal Australia. TRMM's rainfall data shows that most of the rainfall with Carlos was located off shore but some bands of moderate rainfall were affecting coastal Australia.

Tropical Storm Diane

2011-02-18T22:40:00.000-08:00

At 1500 UTC (10 a.m. EST/ 11 p.m. Australia/Perth local time) on Feb. 18, Tropical Cyclone Dianne's maximum sustained winds had increased to 65 knots (74 mph/120 kmh) making her a Category One Cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Over the weekend, Dianne's maximum sustained winds may reach 105 knots (120 mph/194 kmh) before running into adverse environmental conditions by Monday.

As of today, Dianne has increased in size. Tropical storm-force winds now extend out to 110 miles (177 km) from her center, making her about 220 miles (354 km) in diameter. This corresponds with the larger area of thunderstorms seen by NASA infrared AIRS data today.

Currently, Dianne's center is about 305 miles (490 km) west of Learmonth, Australia near 21.8 South latitude and 108.7 East longitude. Dianne was moving southwest near 9 knots (10 mph/~17 kmh).

By Monday a shortwave trough (elongated area of low pressure) is expected to change Dianne's path to a more southeasterly route. By that time the storm should be in cooler waters and wind shear is forecast to increase. Those are two factors that will help weaken Dianne on her journey southward.

System 98S Southern Indian Ocean

2011-01-25T03:51:00.000-08:00

NASA’s Aqua satellite is already seeing the potential in a tropical low pressure area to blossom into a tropical cyclone through its very cold cloud top temperatures.

A low pressure system known as System 98S is currently moving over the northern coast of Western Australia appears to have a good chance for developing into a tropical cyclone later this week once it slides into the warm waters of the Southern Indian Ocean.

On Monday, January 24, 2011 EST, the low was nearing Kuri Bay, located on the northern coast of Western Australia. It is forecast to continue moving southwest and skip over water along the northern coast as it heads toward Beagle Bay, Derby and Broome will be affected by the low’s outer rains and winds as it continues tracking southwest.

Tropical Storm Vania

2011-01-13T03:46:00.000-08:00

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured the thunderstorm heights and rainfall rates in Tropical Storm Vania on January 12 at 1246 UTC (7:46 a.m. EST). TRMM noticed that some of the thunderstorms reached more than 9 miles (~15 kilometers) high, indicating strong uplift and a heavy rainmakers. TRMM also noticed that the heaviest rains were falling in the northeastern quadrant of the storm and indicate rainfall at about 2 inches per hour. Other quadrants of the storm were generating moderate rainfall rates between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. TRMM is managed by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA.

TRMM captured the rainfall rates of Tropical Storm Vania on January 12 at 1246 UTC. The yellow and green areas indicate moderate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. The heaviest rains were falling in the northeastern quadrant of the storm (Red) and indicate rainfall at about 2 inches per hour.

System 93P

2011-01-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

System 93P, which is also designated in the Fiji Islands as “03F” for third tropical disturbance formed in the South Pacific Ocean. On Monday, January 10, 2011 at 0600 UTC (1 a.m. EST), it was located about 115 miles east-northeast of Port Vila, Vanuatu near 16.9 South and 170.0 East.

Vanuatu is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,090 miles (1,750 kilometers) east of northern Australia, and 301 miles (500 kilometers) northeast of New Caledonia and west of Fiji.

The infrared image provided an appearances of circular motion, but didn’t show a well-organized storm. Areas that are brighter white are areas of stronger convection

Tropical Storm Tasha South Pacific Ocean

2011-01-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

Cyclone Tasha recently made landfall just south of Cairns along the northeast coast of Queensland, Australia during the early morning hours on Christmas Day.

The storm, which had formed just off the coast, came ashore as a Category 1 cyclone (equivalent to a tropical storm on the U.S. Saffir-Simpson scale) with wind gusts of up to 105 kph (~65 mph) reported just offshore. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (known as TRMM) was launched back in 1997 with the primary purpose of measuring rainfall in the Tropics.

For increased coverage, TRMM can be used to calibrate rainfall estimates from other satellites. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. is used to monitor rainfall over the global Tropics. TMPA rainfall totals were calculated for the period Dec. 1 to 29, 2010 for northeastern Australia and the surrounding region. Rainfall totals for the period exceed 300 mm (~12 inches) all along the northeast and northern coasts. Farther inland amounts drop off but still exceed 100 to 200 mm (~4 to 8 inches) over much of Queensland.

Tropical Storm Tasha

2010-12-29T23:32:00.000-08:00

Tropical Storm Tasha formed quickly in the South Pacific Ocean last weekend and made landfall on the coast of Queensland, Australia on Christmas day (local time). NASA's Terra satellite passed over Tasha after its center made landfall and captured a visible image of the storm revealing some powerful thunderstorms.

On Dec. 24, Tropical Storm Tasha formed quickly and headed for landfall near Cairns, Australia. At 1800 UTC (1 p.m. EST or 4 a.m. on Dec. 25 local time –Brisbane/Australia), Tasha was near 17.1S 146.3E, about 35 nautical miles east-southeast of Cairns with maximum sustained winds near 39 mph. At that time a NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite image showed banding of thunderstorms and the storm was getting more organized.

over South and North Carolina, Virginia

2010-12-27T23:23:00.000-08:00

Some of those snows are visible in today's GOES-13 satellite image. Snowfall on the ground can be seen in the image over South and North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and southeastern New York. The clouds of the low obscure New England in the image.

From Maine south to the Carolinas winds are howling in excess of 30 mph, and power outages could occur as a result of the winds and the areas with the heaviest snows. The winds in Portland, Maine today are blowing from the northwest from 20 to 30 mph with gusts over 40 mph. Yesterday in Newark, N.J. sustained winds of 41 mph were reported with gusts as high as 51 mph. Going further south, the Raleigh, N.C. National Weather Service noted that sustained northwest winds of 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph are expected today. Even further south, Atlanta, Georgia is also experiencing winds up to 20 mph today.

The winds are making clean-up efforts difficult along the east coast, but as temperatures are expected to slowly and steadily climb over the course of the week travel will become easier every day.

Central Pacific Unwrap a Rare Tropical Storm: Omeka

2010-12-21T03:27:00.000-08:00

Tropical storm Omeka, also known as 01C (for Central), was born this morning, December 20 at 0900 UTC (4 a.m. EST). It has maximum sustained winds near 45 knots (52 mph) and was moving northeast at 14 mph. It is located about 505 miles south of Midway Island near 20.9 North and 178.2 West. That's about 1,200 miles west of Kauai, Hawaii. Omeka is no threat to land areas as it continues to spin through the Central Pacific.

In December, tropical systems have formed in the central Pacific but it’s a rare occurrence. The last time it happened was 13 years ago in 1997 when Typhoon Paka formed. Omeka is different than Paka, however, because Omeka came from an extra-tropical low that was near 35 degrees north latitude about a week ago and became tropical. The broadness of the feature has far reaching affects, as far as 1200 miles away.

Omeka is forecast to move north into harsh atmospheric conditions (strong wind shear) that are expected to weaken it and cause its dissipation within a couple of days.

System 91S

2010-12-16T00:54:00.000-08:00

When NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over System 91S on Dec. 15 at 06:05 UTC (1:05 a.m. EST) the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Instrument captured an infrared image that showed a large area of strong convection around the center of the system’s circulation. The cloud tops were as cold as or colder than -63 Fahrenheit, indicating high, strong thunderstorms. The circulation of the low was clearly evident in the visible image from the AIRS instrument.

The strongest surface winds appear to be on the northeastern side of the storm between 25-30 knots (28-34 mph or 46-55 km/hr) where the strong convection is occurring. Minimum estimated pressure is 1000 millibars. System 91S is moving southwest near 5 mph.

Tropical Depression 19W Northwestern Pacific Ocean

2010-12-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

Tropical depression 19W was the latest of four tropical cyclones to move over Vietnam this season. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed directly above TD 19W on December 13, 2010 at 2038 UTC (3:38 p.m. EST) and collected rainfall data. TRMM’s Precipitation Radar (PR) showed that a few powerful thunderstorms embedded within TD 19W were dropping heavy rainfall off Vietnam’s south-eastern coast. The heaviest rainfall was falling at a rate of about 2 inches per hour over the coastal waters of Vietnam. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.

Although TD 19W was very small it’s rainfall added to October’s extreme rainfall amounts that contributed to the worst flooding seen in the country of Vietnam for 20 years. Flooding was widespread in the central provinces of Nghe An, Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Thua Thien Hue, and Ha Tinh. Deadly tropical storms Mindulle and Conson hit Vietnam in July and August. Tropical depression 18W in November also added to Vietnam’s extremely high 2010 rainfall totals.

According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the organization that forecasts tropical cyclones in that area of the world, TD 19W’s remnant s have already moved ashore and are now affecting southern and central Cambodia.

Atlantic Hurricane Season Rainfall

2010-12-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

The year 2010 was accurately predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to be an active one with 14-23 tropical cyclones and 8-14 hurricanes predicted. NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Fla. subsequently named 19 storms with 12 reaching hurricane strength.

The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active since the record breaking season of 2005. Hal Pierce of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, or TRMM satellite team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. created a comparison between the tropical cyclone rainfall occurring in 2005 and 2010. These tropical cyclone rainfall analyses were both made at NASA Goddard using TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation data (TMPA).TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.

"It is immediately obvious from this comparison that the major difference is the locations of tropical cyclones," Pierce said. "During the 2010 hurricane season more hurricanes formed in the eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde islands. These storms were steered around the south and western edge of the Atlantic subtropical high and recurved without touching the United States mainland. For this reason the highest tropical cyclone rainfall totals (between 28 and 32 inches or 71.1 to 81.2 centimeters) were located over the open waters of the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico. Southern Texas was the only location in the United States where 2010 tropical cyclone rainfall was greater than in 2005."

Tropical Storm Abele Southern Indian Ocean

2010-12-03T01:25:00.000-08:00

Tropical cyclone Abele in a remote area of the South Indian Ocean on December 1 at 0702 UTC (2:02 a.m. EST). This rainfall analysis from TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) and TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) shows that Abele had become much better organized. Increasingly well defined bands of rainfall spiraling into the center of the storm are an indication that ABLE had intensified.

The TRMM pass over Abele occurred during daylight hours so the rainfall analysis was overlaid on infrared and visible images from TRMM's Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS). TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.

On Dec. 2 at 0600 UTC (1 a.m. EST), Abele's maximum sustained winds were near 60 knots (69 mph). It was about 610 nautical miles west-southwest of Cocos Islands and moving southeastward at 13 mph. Abele is about to run into cooler waters and increased wind shear and is expected to begin weakening in the next day.

Western Caribbean Low

2010-11-24T04:33:00.000-08:00

A low pressure area in the western Caribbean Sea still has a slight chance of developing into a tropical depression as it closes in for a landfall, but that's not stopping it from dropping heavy rainfall in Central America today.

The low is forecast to make landfall on the Belize coast today, November 19, and continues to move westward and further inland. Although the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla. still gives the system a ten percent chance of developing into a tropical depression, it continues to drop moderate to heavy rainfall over Belize and Guatemala today.

At 1 a.m. EST today, the center of the low was located near Roatan Island, Honduras near 16.9 North and 85.8 West.

By 7 a.m. EST, the weak low pressure area had disorganized showers and thunderstorms. It was centered over the Gulf of Honduras and was moving westward between 5 and 10 mph. It is expected to move inland later today over Belize and Guatemala.

Hurricane Tomas

2010-11-10T03:19:00.000-08:00

Tomas is now a remnant low pressure area is located in the Atlantic near 26 North and 68 West hundreds of miles south-southwest of Bermuda and has a minimum central pressure of 994 millibars today, Nov. 8. A cold front off the U.S. East Coast however, is stalking Tomas' remnants and moving east threatening to swallow the former hurricane.

By 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Nov. 7, Tomas had lost its tropical characteristics and its warm core. Tomas had more resembled a frontal system with cold air stratocumulus clouds wrapping into its center. At that time, Tomas was about 500 miles south-southwest of Bermuda near 26.1 North and 69.1 West. It still had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, and more resembled a nor'easter meteorologically speaking. It was moving north-northeast near 3 mph and had a minimum central pressure of 997 millibars at that time. When Tomas was at that location, the National Hurricane Center issued their last advisory on the system.

Tropical Storm Richard

2010-10-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

Richard formed in the Caribbean Sea on 20 October 2010. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite flew over Richard twice on Sunday, Oct. 24. The first time was at 0203 UTC (10:05 p.m. EDT Oct. 23). At that time, TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data showed that Richard was dropping moderate to heavy rainfall over Honduras and very heavy rainfall over water north of the center of circulation while moving westward.

The second time TRMM passed over Richard was at 1017 UTC (6:17 a.m. EDT). Those TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) data showed that an eye was forming and Richard had become the tenth hurricane of the 2010 season. The eye of category one hurricane Richard with winds estimated at 78 knots (90 mph) hit Belize on Sunday, Oct. 24 at about 0300 UTC (9:00 p.m. EDT Oct. 23). Richard then rapidly weakened to a tropical storm as it moved over north-eastern Guatemala.

By Monday, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. EDT, Richard's maximum sustained winds were down to 35 mph making him a tropical depression. Richard was located about 145 miles south of Campeche, Mexico near latitude 17.8 North and longitude 90.2 West. The depression is moving toward the west-northwest near 8 mph. A turn toward the northwest is expected within the next day or two. Estimated minimum central pressure is 1006 millibars. There are no watches and warnings currently in effect.

Terra Satellite Catches Supertyphoon Megi

2010-10-19T02:54:00.000-07:00

On October 18, 2010, Typhoon Megi approached and made landfall in the northeastern Isabela Province of the Philippines. Spanning more than 600 kilometers (370 miles) across, Megi was the 15th tropical storm and 7th typhoon of the season in the western Pacific Ocean. It was the most intense tropical cyclone of the year to date.

News reports indicated at least one death and an unknown number of injuries, as power and communications was cut off to more than 90 percent of Isabela and Cagayan provinces. In addition to the immediate damage, officials were concerned about the long-term damage to the rice crop, a staple of the national diet.

Typhoon Megi

2010-10-14T23:16:00.000-07:00

This thermal infrared image of Typhoon Megi was taken by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft at 0417 UTC (12:17 a.m. EDT) on Oct. 14, 2010 when the typhoon was still a tropical storm. At the time, Megi had maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour (60 knots), and was located 200 miles north-northeast of Yap, Micronesia, moving to the northwest at 9 miles per hour (8 knots). As of 5 p.m. EDT, the storm had strengthened into a typhoon, with maximum sustained winds of 92 miles per hour (80 knots). Megi is forecast to continue to strengthen as it heads toward the Philippines, reaching 144 miles per hour (125 knots) by Sunday, Oct. 17.

Tropical Depression 14W Fading From Facing Foes

2010-10-13T02:03:00.001-07:00

Infrared satellite imagery on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6 showed a big decrease in Tropical Depression 14W's (TD14W) convection. That's significant, because convection is the rapidly rising air that forms the thunderstorms that power a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane. Without that power, the storm fizzles. That's what's happening to TD14W.

When NASA's Aqua satellite flew over the storm from space on October 5 at 18:17 UTC (2:17 p.m. EDT), the AIRS instrument aboard the spacecraft captured infrared imagery of its cloud-top temperatures. At that time, there was a small area of cloud tops that were as cold as or colder than -63F, but they've warmed since then and the strong convection is almost gone. Warming cloud tops indicate cloud tops are less high than they were before, and less uplift, or force in warm rising air to form thunderstorms. Satellite imagery has also shown that the low-level circulation center is poorly defined, and the storm was falling apart.

Tropical Depression 14W Fading From Facing Foes

2010-10-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Another Potential Tropical Depression in Caribbean Sea

2010-10-06T02:06:00.000-07:00

The visible image also shows another area of low pressure in the central Atlantic Ocean, trailing to the east of System 97L. Forecasters are giving this low a "near zero percent" chance of developing in the next 48 hours. That low is 950 miles east of the Lesser Antilles and is a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms.

System 97L however, has a much greater chance because upper level winds are waning and are forecast to continue weakening. That will enable System 97L to develop further. System 97L is moving northwestward near 5 to 10 mph, and is expected to be another big rainmaker in the region. Locally heavy rainfall from System 97L is possible over the next couple of days in the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.

Soaking from Tropical Storm Matthew

2010-09-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite known as TRMM has the capability of measuring rainfall from space, and revealed in a 72 hour rain map today that Central America and eastern Mexico received as much as 3 to 7 inches of rain as the storm made landfall this weekend. Matthew's rainmaking is not over, however.

On Sunday, Sept. 26, Tropical Storm Matthew had weakened to a remnant low while continuing to dump heavy amounts of rain over eastern Mexico and Central America.

Hurricane Karl

2010-09-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hurricane activity this week captured the crew’s attention as they videotaped storms in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Hurricane Julia was videotaped following Hurricane Igor in the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Karl was videotaped in the Pacific Ocean as it reached the western coast of Mexico near Veracruz. Three new station crew members prepared for their October launch with a news conference in Star City, Russia. They then traveled to Moscow for traditional pre-launch activities at the Kremlin Wall. Flight Engineers Scott Kelly, Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka will join Expedition 25 when they dock in the new Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft.

Hurricane activity this week captured the crew’s attention as they videotaped storms in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Hurricane Julia was videotaped following Hurricane Igor in the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Karl was videotaped in the Pacific Ocean as it reached the western coast of Mexico near Veracruz.

Hurricane Julia in the "Tropical Trio"

2010-09-16T22:37:00.001-07:00

Karl is a tightly wound tropical storm that appears to be strengthening today over the Bay of Campeche. Farther to the east and in the open waters of the central Atlantic, the massive and powerful Hurricane Igor spins toward Bermuda. Igor is twice as large as Hurricane Julia today as is evident in the GOES-13 image.

Igor's 550 mile cloud cover dwarfs Karl (in the Gulf of Mexico) and Hurricane Julia (which is about 280 miles in diameter) located in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. In the GOES-13 visible image, Julia's eye is no longer visible indicating that the storm has weakened considerably over the last day.

At 5 a.m. EDT today, Sept. 16, Hurricane Julia's maximum sustained winds were near 105 mph. She is centered about 875 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands, near 21.2 North and 36.2 West. She's moving northwest near 18 mph and her minimum central pressure is 970 millibars.

Hurricane Number Five

2010-09-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

At 11 a.m. EDT today, Sept. 14, Julia's maximum sustained winds were near 85 mph. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from her center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 105 miles from the center. Hurricane Julia was located near latitude 16.2 north and longitude 29.5 west about 355 miles west-northwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands. Julia is moving toward the west-northwest near 10 mph. Estimated minimum central pressure is 984 millibars.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Tropical Storm Julia when she was located just west of the Cape Verde Islands on Sept. 14 at 03:11 UTC (Sept. 13 at 11:11 p.m. EDT). That infrared image showed strong convection and high, powerful thunderstorm cloud tops (as cold as or colder than -60 degrees Fahrenheit) in her center.

Tropical Storm Julia

2010-09-14T01:23:00.000-07:00

Tropical Depression 12 was born in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean yesterday, Sept. 12 and two NASA satellites saw factors that indicated she would later strengthen into Tropical Storm Julia. Infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite revealed strong convection in its center that powered the storm into tropical storm status by 11 p.m. EDT. NASA's TRMM satellite indicated very heavy rainfall from that strong area of convection.

Huge Tropical Storm Meranti Approaching the Taiwan Strait for a China Landfall

2010-09-10T02:04:00.000-07:00

Tropical Storm 11W has been given the name Meranti, just in time for a landfall in China sometime late tonight Eastern Time/early Sept. 10 local time. NASA infrared imagery showed that the storm is so large it stretches from the Taiwan Strait (where its central circulation is located) southwest to Hainan Island, China.

Tropical Storm Meranti's maximum sustained winds were near 52 mph at 5 a.m. EDT today, September 9 (5 p.m. local time/China). It was located approximately 210 nautical miles southwest of Taipei, Taiwan near 22.5 North and 119.2 East. Meranti is moving north at 10 mph. Meranti is forecast to go into the Taiwan Strait (between Taiwan and China), then turn west for a landfall in mainland China.

NASA's infrared Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument captured an image of Tropical Storm Meranti on Sept. 9 at 0529 UTC (1:29 a.m. EDT). AIRS infrared imagery showed many very high, cold thunderstorm cloud tops at that time, indicating strong convection and heavy rainfall throughout much of this huge system that stretched from the Taiwan Strait far southwest to Hainan Island, China.

Tropical Depression Gaston

2010-09-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

Gaston has been a fighter in the Atlantic, and it finally appears that Gaston has run out of "gas" for the last time over the eastern Caribbean Sea. Given Gaston's track record for comebacks, however, he can't be counted out for the last time.

The GOES-13 satellite captured a visible image of Gaston's remnants over the eastern Caribbean at 10:31 a.m. EDT (1431 UTC) on September 8, a couple hundred miles southeast of the Dominican Republic. The remnants of Gaston were producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms.

now says that development of this system is not expected as it moves westward at 10 to 15 mph. In fact, Gaston seems to be permanently out of gas as the NHC forecasters give him a "Near zero percent" chance of becoming a tropical cyclone again in the next 48 hours. After that, however, we'll have to see if this feisty little system moves into a better environment in the Caribbean and gets powered up again.

Tropical Storm Malou Moving into Sea of Japan

2010-09-08T03:36:00.000-07:00

Tropical Storm Malou as it moved northeastward through the Korea Strait and into the Sea of Japan on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7. The images showed Malou's large cloud cover extended from South Korea (to the west) over southern Japan (to the east). Malou is barely hanging onto tropical storm strength today, September 7, with maximum sustained winds near 39 mph. It is located near 35.5 North and 133.0 East, about 190 nautical miles west of Kyoto, Japan.

Animated infrared satellite imagery indicates that Malou continues to undergo extra-tropical transition as its strongest convection is now northeast of the low-level circulation center because of wind shear.

It is moving east-northeast at 18 mph and will continue on that track, remaining over open waters of the Sea of Japan until a landfall in southern Honshu later today. Thereafter it will move into the Northwestern Pacific Ocean as a weak extratropical low pressure area.

Tropical Storm Fiona

2010-09-02T06:45:00.001-07:00

Infrared satellite imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite showed some strong convection building in Tropical Storm Fiona, and her maximum sustained winds increased from 40 mph yesterday to 60 mph this morning

Fiona is intensifying as it approaches the Northern Leeward Islands today, so there are watches and warnings in place. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for St. Martin and St. Barthelemy. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla and St. Maarten, Saba, and St. Eustatius.

At 8 a.m. EDT on September 1, Fiona's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph. It was about 70 miles northeast of Barbuda, near 18.2 North and 60.9 West. It was moving west-northwest near 15 mph with a minimum central pressure of 998 millibars.

Tropical Depression 8

2010-08-30T03:42:00.000-07:00

The Atlantic Ocean hurricane season seems to be cranking out tropical cyclones one after another from the far eastern part of the ocean basin, and NASA satellite data makes it appear like the eighth tropical depression will be a reality over the weekend.

An active tropical wave may be responsible for the eighth tropical depression in the Atlantic Ocean basin over the weekend. Tropical waves have many names. They are called easterly waves, tropical easterly waves and even African easterly waves in the Atlantic Ocean region. A tropical wave is a kind of atmospheric trough (an elongated area of relatively low air pressure) that looks like a parenthesis, oriented north to south that move from the east to the west across the tropics. They contain areas of clouds and thunderstorms and can sometimes develop into a tropical cyclone.

Confirm Frank's Jump into Hurricane Status

2010-08-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Danielle has strengthened back into a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale today and NASA infrared imagery confirmed some strong convection and very cold, high cloud tops of strong thunderstorms within the storm. NASA imagery revealed that rainfall rates were moderate to heavy within Danielle yesterday.

At 11 a.m. EDT on August 25, Danielle's maximum sustained winds were 85 mph with higher gusts. The NHC said today that some slow strengthening is possible over the next 48 hours. The center of Hurricane Danielle was located near latitude 19.6 North and longitude 52.3 West. Estimated minimum central pressure is 982 millibars.

Danielle is moving toward the west-northwest near 17 mph and is expected to turn toward the northwest and slow down in the next couple of days.