Monday, October 31, 2011
October storm's power outages top Hurricane Irene's numbers
0 comments Posted by Jeff adams at 2:28 AM
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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Friday, October 14, 2011
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.
Diamond Studs
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Sunday, September 25, 2011
Hurricane Hilary 2011: Storm Could Bring Southwest, Texas Needed Rainfall
0 comments Posted by Jeff adams at 10:52 PM
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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Friday, June 24, 2011
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.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
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.
Monday, May 16, 2011
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.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
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.
