Severe Weather Philly

Severe Weather Causes Road Closures, Delays In The Philadelphia Area

June 18, 2013 2:45 PM

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Storms and heavy rain in the area have caused traffic delays androad closures.

In Cherry Hill, Route 70 at Springdale Road was closed in both directions due to downed power lines, but reopened around 4 p.m.

In Bellmawr, NJ the on ramp to 295 North from Route 42 is flooded.

And in Camden, flooding at the intersections of Collings Avenue and New Jersey Road and 10th and Kaighn has also caused closures.

Brigantine Police are warning residents of major flooding in the area and advising motorists not to drive until the storm passes over.

Motorists are asked to use alternative routes in these areas.

Severe weather Fargo.

Severe Weather Takes Aim at Minneapolis, Fargo

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

June 20, 2013; 2:37 PM

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Severe thunderstorms with the risk of a few tornadoes will advance eastward across the northern Plains and Upper Midwest into Friday.

Cities that could experience damaging and dangerous storms include Minot, Bismarck and Fargo, N.D.; Pierre, Huron and Sioux Falls, S.D.; Omaha, Neb.; and St. Cloud, Mankato and Minneapolis, Minn.

People whether at home, at work or on the road in this area should keep an eye out for rapidly changing weather conditions.

The storms bring the full spectrum of severe weather ranging from damaging wind gusts, frequent lightning strikes, large hail and flash flooding. A few of the strongest storms can produce a tornado.

The greatest threat of severe weather will shift to the eastern part of the Dakotas, eastern Nebraska and much of Minnesota Thursday.

During Friday, the risk for severe thunderstorms will expand eastward and southwestward.

The potential for severe weather into the weekend will continue over portions of the northern Plains and will expand eastward across more of the Great Lakes.

The severe weather will be firing as a couple of storm systems move along the Canada/U.S. border, while a zone of heat builds farther south over the Rockies and Plains.

RELATED: AccuWeather.com Severe Weather Center
Severe Storms from Montana to Alberta, Saskatchewan

Similar setups in the past have produced one or more large, strong thunderstorm complexes, and it is likely this event will have a similar outcome, especially Thursday night into Friday. However, forecasting the exact path such complexes will take can be challenging prior to their actual formation.

Regardless of whether or not a thunderstorm complex forms, individual thunderstorms can bring isolated severe weather and lines of thunderstorms can bring damage on a more regional basis.

While many seasoned residents in the northern Plains and the Upper Midwest have experience in severe weather situations, all residents and visitors should stay on top of the weather situation over the next few days.

Severe weather threats.

Severe weather threat ends but showers and storms remain in the forecast

Posted: Jun 20, 2013 8:03 AM by Meteorologist Matt Jones 
Updated: Jun 20, 2013 8:41 AM

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Severe weather ravaged much of north central Montana late Wednesday afternoon and continued late into the night. Dozens of reports of large hail, damaging winds and flooding rainfall were received with the storms and even a few funnel clouds were spotted with the strongest storms.

The cold front that brought us all the severe weather is moving east of Montana this morning, taking the severe weather threat with it.

An upper level low will still linger over the state through the day bringing more scattered showers and thunderstorms along with gusty winds at times.

Temperatures will be below average today with highs just in the 60s and the gusty winds will make it feel even cooler.

The upper level low will continue to ever so slowly move across the state through Saturday with scattered showers and thunderstorms remaining a possibility. No severe weather is expected during this time.

Cool air will linger with highs in the 60s into the first half of the weekend.

High pressure finally returns by Sunday with highs warming into the 70s under mostly sunny skies.

Severe Weather across the US.

‘Major Severe Weather’ Forecast for U.S. Midwest Today

By Brian K. Sullivan - Jun 12, 2013 12:48 PM CT

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A powerful storm system capable of toppling trees, knocking out power and tying up air traffic will probably start later today with an outbreak of strong tornadoes across northern Illinois and Iowa.

Almost 51 million people from Iowa to the Atlantic are under threat from “major severe” thunderstorms and high winds, said the U.S. Storm Prediction Center. About 12 million of them, including Chicago residents, are in the area most at risk.

“We have a powerful weather system taking shape in the Midwest,” Russell Schneider, director of the center in Norman, Oklahoma, said by telephone. “This is a very significant weather day for Chicago and the upper Midwest, one of the more severe weather days they will see this year, so people need to have a plan.”

There is a chance the storms will grow into a derecho, a rare event characterized by winds of at least 58 miles (93 kilometers) per hour creating a line of damage at least 240 miles long. A derecho swept through the Midwest into the mid-Atlantic a year ago, knocking out power to 5 million people from Chicago to the District of Columbia and killing 22, according to government data.

Today’s storm will probably cause widespread power failures and disrupt air traffic, especially at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and in Detroit, Schneider said.

Tornado Threat

“There is a significant tornado threat across northern Illinois and Iowa and that threat will quickly become a damaging wind and hail threat,” he said.

At noon local time, 95 flights had been canceled at O’Hare, according to FlightAware, a Houston-based airline tracking service.

Derechos are rare because they require a number of smaller storms “to work together,” Schneider said. More than 75 percent of derechos occur from May to August and they’re most likely to happen along an axis from the southern Great Lakes southwest into Texas, according to the storm center.

Today’s storms are also expected to bring heavy rains, according to the National Weather Service. Flood watches, warnings and advisories stretch in an unbroken string from northern Illinois to Massachusetts.

There is a chance of severe weather later today and overnight along the Interstate 95 corridor from Philadelphia to Washington, said Tom Kines, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. inState College, Pennsylvania. Those storms won’t be the main threat, however.

Tomorrow’s Threat

A second round of bad weather, sparked by the same system crossing the Midwest today, will strike at the mid-Atlantic tomorrow, Kines said.

An area from central New Jersey to northern Virginia, including Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, has a 45 percent chance of high winds, hail and possibly tornadoes, according to a storm center forecast.

Kines said New York City and Boston may be spared the worst weather. The New England states will benefit from cool onshore winds that will help stabilize the atmosphere, keeping the severe thunderstorms from forming, he said.

Severe thunderstorms and the tornadoes that sometimes accompany them caused $15 billion in insured losses in 2012 and $25 billion in 2011, according to the Insurance Information Institute inNew York.

From 1992 to 2011, thunderstorms and tornadoes accounted for the second-highest amount of catastrophic loss in the U.S., $130.2 billion, topped only by hurricanes and tropical storms with $161.3 billion, the institute said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net

Severe weather Oklahoma

Severe Storms Exploding Thursday From Oklahoma to Wisconsin

By Brian Thompson, Meteorologist

May 30, 2013; 7:31 AM

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In a week that has produced hundreds of reports of severe weather and over 60 reports of tornadoes, the threat for more damaging storms continues into Thursday night across the Plains and the Midwest.

Update at 4:15 p.m. CDT Thursday: Severe storms are erupting from Wisconsin and Michigan to Oklahoma and Arkansas. Several tornadoes with damage and injuries have been reported in Arkansas. Tornado reports have also come out of Oklahoma. Follow the latest information in our live blog.

The threat of severe storms extends over a large area from North Texas northward into Wisconsin and Minnesota, including Minneapolis, Des Moines, Omaha, Wichita and Oklahoma City. The greatest threat for tornadoes will extend from northern Missouri southwestward into northeastern Oklahoma, including Kansas City, Springfield, Mo., and Tulsa, Okla.

The risk of strong to severe storms has expanded rapidly eastward late Thursday and includes Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis and Little Rock.

The storms will develop in advance of a cold front associated with a potent storm system sitting over the Dakotas. The clash between the cool air behind the front and the building warm, humid air over the Midwest and East will provide an environment that is ripe for severe thunderstorms.

RELATED:
Flooding Forecast for Mississippi River
Heat Wave Begins in the East
Severe Weather Center

Large hail, damaging winds, heavy rainfall and frequent lightning will accompany some of the storms.

As has been the case for the past several days, there is also the risk for tornadoes. If the atmosphere destabilizes enough, some strong, long-lived tornadoes are possible.

Another major concern will be flooding, especially over portions of the Midwest where several inches of rain has already fallen this week. Some of the worst flooding has been across Iowa, where record high water levels have been reached on a couple of rivers in the state.

Additional rainfall will lead to more flash flooding and washed out roadways in these areas.

The slow-moving front will continue to crawl eastward on Friday, keeping the threat for more severe weather and flooding downpours across the Midwest.

Tropical Storm in Barry

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2444

Barry's place in history
Barry is the second named storm of June 2013, and its formation date of June 19 is a full six weeks earlier than the usual August 1 date of formation of the season's second storm. Only two hurricane seasons since 1851 have had as many as three tropical storms form in June: 1936 and 1968. The formation of two Gulf of Mexico storms so early in the year does not necessarily suggest that we will have an active hurricane season. June storms forming in the Caribbean and Tropical Atlantic are typically a harbinger of an active hurricane season, though.

The formation of Tropical Storm Andrea and now Tropical Storm Barry in June continues a pattern of an unusually large number of early-season Atlantic named storms we've seen in recent years. During the period 1870 - 2012, we averaged one named storm every two years in June, and 0.7 named storms per year during May and June. In the nineteen years since the current active hurricane period began in 1995, there have been sixteen June named storms (if we include 2013's Tropical Storm Andrea and Tropical Storm Barry.) June activity has nearly doubled since 1995, and May activity has more than doubled (there were seventeen May storms in the 75-year period 1870 - 1994, compared to six in the nineteen-year period 1995 - 2013.) Some of this difference can be attributed to observation gaps, due to the lack of satellite data before 1966. However, even during the satellite era, we have seen an increase in both early season (May - June) and late season (November - December) Atlantic tropical storms. Dr. Jim Kossin of the University of Wisconsin looked at the reasons for this in a 2008 paper titled, "Is the North Atlantic hurricane season getting longer?" He concluded that there is a "apparent tendency toward more common early- and late-season storms that correlates with warming Sea Surface Temperature but the uncertainty in these relationships is high." He found that hurricane season for both the period 1950-2007 and 1980-2007 got longer by 5 - 10 days per decade (see my blog post on the paper.)

Denver Fires

http://www.wunderground.com/news/colorado-wildfire-evacuees-see-destruction-firsthand-20130616

EVERGREEN, Colo. -- Dozens of homes were evacuated near Denver as a wind-driven wildfire flared, one of many in the western states where hot and windy conditions were making it easy for the wild land blazes to start and spread.

The fire in the foothills about 30 miles southwest of Denver forced evacuations Wednesday affecting more than 100 people, Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said. The Lime Gulch Fire in Pike National Forest was estimated at 500 acres, the U.S. Forest Service said. Mink said no structures appeared to be threatened.

In western Colorado, a wind-driven wildfire near Rangely prompted the evacuation of a youth camp Wednesday. Rio Blanco County Undersheriff Michael Joos said the camp wasn't in immediate danger, but about 40 kids and a half dozen adults were asked to leave due to high winds.

"Low humidity levels and gusty winds will keep the fire danger high through the end of the week in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico," said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. "Red flag warnings are posted across parts of these states for Thursday."

Evacuations also were ordered due to a wildfire in rural Huerfano County in southern Colorado.

Obama Climate Change Strategy Coming Within Weeks, Adviser Says

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/obama-climate-change_n_3467272.html?utm_hp_ref=climate-change

President Barack Obama will target carbon emissions from power plants as part of a second-term climate change agenda expected to be rolled out in the next few weeks, his top energy and climate adviser said on Wednesday.

Obama will take several steps to make tackling climate change a "second-term priority" that builds on first-term policies, Heather Zichal, deputy assistant to the president for energy and climate change, said at a forum sponsored by the New Republic magazine.

"In the near term we are very much focused on the power plant piece of the equation," she said.

On Wednesday in Berlin, Obama said the United States understood it had to do more to fight climate change and he pledged that more action was coming.

"Our dangerous carbon emissions have come down, but we know we have to do more. And we will do more," he said in a speech.

The president is expected to announce new U.S. measures to fight global warming in the coming weeks.

Supercell Thunderstorm Time Lapse Video

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/12/supercell-time-lapse-thunderstorm-video_n_3428738.html?utm_hp_ref=extreme-weather

A supercell near Booker, Texas from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

The time-lapse was filmed by Mike Olbinski, a storm chaser who has spent the past four years searching for the perfect storm. He captured this rotating cell near Booker, Texas during a trip to the Great Plains with a friend on June 3.

"We chased this storm from the wrong side (north) and it took us going through hail and torrential rains to burst through on the south side," Olbinski wrote in the video description. "And when we did...this monster cloud was hanging over Texas and rotating like something out of Close Encounters."

Tornado in Colesville, Maryland

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/tornado-dc_n_3437480.html

A tornado with 50 mph winds was confirmed about 15 miles from D.C., in the Maryland suburbs. The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang reports that trees and wires went down in Bethesda, Rockville and Colesville -- the tornado was confirmed near Colesville at 3:53 p.m. -- but that "authorities had no reports of significant structural damage to any buildings, said Asst. Chief Scott Graham, a Montgomery County Fire Department spokesman."
Three tornadoes were reported in Maryland, according to the Maryland Emergency Management Agency:
Spokesman Ed McDonough says there have been no reports of injuries from the storms Thursday afternoon. He says a woman was struck by lightning in Cecil County Thursday morning. McDonough says tornadoes were reported near Olney in Montgomery County, Laurel in Prince George's County and Snow Hill in Worcester County on the Eastern Shore.
The National Weather Service says it can't confirm any tornadoes before taking a close look at the damage.

Barry Moving Inland

Barry is moving westward into the Mexican state of Veracruz.

Heavy rain, flooding and possible mudslides will be the main threats from Barry in this region through the end of the week. Rainfall amounts may locally reach as much as 10 inches.

Barry is not a threat to the United States.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/tropical-depression-storm-two-20130617

Baked Alaska: All-Time Record Heat Grips State

Alaska, well known for its long and brutal winters, has dealt with a historic heat wave this week.

As an unusually strong and very warm ridge of high pressure is parked in the upper atmosphere above Alaska, at least five cities broke all-time record highs Monday.

Alaska's two largest cities shared the heat, though without breaking records. Fairbanks has been 86 degrees or warmer Saturday through Wednesday. Anchorage's highs topped out at 81 on both Monday and Tuesday.

The hot dome of high pressure responsible for this weather is breaking down, allowing the heat to relax as we head into the weekend. Click on the names of the cities above for the five-day forecast

http://www.weather.com/safety/heat/baked-alaska-record-heat-20130618

Is a Sleeping Climate Giant Stirring in the Arctic?

Permafrost (perennially frozen) soils underlie much of the Arctic. Each summer, the top layers of these soils thaw. The thawed layer varies in depth from about 4 inches (10 centimeters) in the coldest tundra regions to several yards, or meters, in the southern boreal forests. This active soil layer at the surface provides the precarious foothold on which Arctic vegetation survives. The Arctic's extremely cold, wet conditions prevent dead plants and animals from decomposing, so each year another layer gets added to the reservoirs of organic carbon sequestered just beneath the topsoil.

Over hundreds of millennia, Arctic permafrost soils have accumulated vast stores of organic carbon - an estimated 1,400 to 1,850 petagrams of it (a petagram is 2.2 trillion pounds, or 1 billion metric tons). That's about half of all the estimated organic carbon stored in Earth's soils. In comparison, about 350 petagrams of carbon have been emitted from all fossil-fuel combustion and human activities since 1850. Most of this carbon is located in thaw-vulnerable topsoils within 10 feet (3 meters) of the surface.

But, as scientists are learning, permafrost - and its stored carbon - may not be as permanent as its name implies. And that has them concerned.

"Permafrost soils are warming even faster than Arctic air temperatures - as much as 2.7 to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius) in just the past 30 years," Miller said. "As heat from Earth's surface penetrates into permafrost, it threatens to mobilize these organic carbon reservoirs and release them into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and methane, upsetting the Arctic's carbon balance and greatly exacerbating global warming."

Current climate models do not adequately account for the impact of climate change on permafrost and how its degradation may affect regional and global climate. Scientists want to know how much permafrost carbon may be vulnerable to release as Earth's climate warms, and how fast it may be released.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth20130610.html

Rare Clear View of Alaska

On most days, relentless rivers of clouds wash over Alaska, obscuring most of the state's 6,640 miles (10,690 kilometers) of coastline and 586,000 square miles (1,518,000 square kilometers) of land. The south coast of Alaska even has the dubious distinction of being the cloudiest region of the United States, with some locations averaging more than 340 cloudy days per year.

That was certainly not the case on June 17, 2013, the date that the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite acquired this rare, nearly cloud-free view of the state. The absence of clouds exposed a striking tapestry of water, ice, land, forests, and even wildfires.

Snow-covered mountains such as the Alaska Range and Chugach Mountains were visible in southern Alaska, while the arc of mountains that make up the Brooks Range dominated the northern part of the state. The Yukon River -- the longest in Alaska and the third longest in the United States -- wound its way through the green boreal forests that inhabit the interior of the state. Plumes of sediment and glacial dust poured into the Gulf of Alaska from the Copper River. And Iliamna Lake, the largest in Alaska, was ice free.

The same ridge of high pressure that cleared Alaska's skies also brought stifling temperatures to many areas accustomed to chilly June days. Talkeetna, a town about 100 miles north of Anchorage, saw temperatures reach 96°F (36°C) on June 17. Other towns in southern Alaska set all-time record highs, including Cordova, Valez, and Seward. The high temperatures also helped fuel wildfires and hastened the breakup of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2534.html