Heatwave to push temperatures above 40C in parts of Australia

Highs of more than 30C have been forecast across most of Australia for Thursday, bringing an extreme risk of fire.
Sydney was forecast to reach 32C, with temperatures expected to reach 41C in the city’s west on Friday.
With the hot weather expected to continue into the weekend, the Bureau of Meterology has issued fire danger warnings for several states in a bid to prevent bushfires.
Hot and dry conditions were expected to continue across the Riverina region in the south-west of the state, with maximum temperatures exceeding 40C on Thursday, and westerly winds of 30-40 km/h. An extreme fire danger warning has been issued for the northern Riverina, and a severe warning for the eastern and southern regions.

With temperatures expected to top 40C in the north and west of Victoria on Thursday, an extreme fire danger warning has been issued for the Mallee and a severe warning for the Wimmera, Northern Country and North Central districts. A total fire ban is in place for all five regions, and 32 waterbombing aircraft have been placed around the state in readiness.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/19/heatwave-to-push-temperatures-above-40c-in-parts-of-australia

Argentina Hailstorm Damages Homes, Vehicles; Flooding Rains Swamp Southern Brazil

Severe thunderstorms tore through parts of northern Argentina and southern Brazil Wednesday into early Thursday, dumping damaging hail, flooding rain, even spawning a tornado.

Hail up to the size of tennis balls pelted parts of Córdoba and Santa Fe provinces, west and northwest of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires on Wednesday. 

Social media photos showed vehicles covered in dents, windshields smashed, homes with damaged shutters and roofs in Santa Fe province. The hail was enough to cover the grass. An eerie hail fog lingered after the storm passed in some places.

If that wasn't enough, a tornado was spawned in Córdoba province Wednesday.

The culprit to this was a strong jet-stream level disturbance pivoting east swinging east over warmer, more humid air ahead of cold front driving east across northern Argentina into Paraguay, far southern Brazil and Uruguay. 

http://www.weather.com/storms/severe/news/argentina-hailstorm-tornado-brazil-flooding-nov2015

http://www.weather.com/news/news/winter-storm-snow-rollers-colorado

http://www.weather.com/news/news/winter-storm-snow-rollers-colorado

Snow Rollers Appear in Windsor, Colorado

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Windsor, Colorado residents looked outside yesterday to find little wind-blown snow balls all over their lawns. (Courtesy of Jenny Woytassek) 

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Residents in Windsor, Colorado, looked outside yesterday to find a curious sight: dozens of snowballs dotted the snowy landscape, but no snowball fight had taken place. As it turns out, the creator of these snowballs was none other than Mother Nature. 

In the same way anyone might roll a chunk of snow into a large ball for a snowman's base, the wind can blow along chunks of snow to create a rare meteorological phenomenon known as a "snow roller."

Snow rollers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, resembling tennis balls or even rolls of frozen carpet. Many of them have a hollow center and end up looking like powdered donuts, white hay bales, or icy wheels

http://www.weather.com/news/news/guthrie-oklahoma-earthquake

http://www.weather.com/news/news/guthrie-oklahoma-earthquake

A shallow earthquake rattled central Oklahoma on Monday, Nov. 2. (weather.com)

A shallow earthquake shook central Oklahoma on Monday, jolting communities across state lines.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the preliminary 4.4-magnitude earthquake hit about 5 miles northeast of Guthrie, Oklahoma, just before 11 a.m. local time.

Since the tremor was shallow — about 3 miles beneath the surface — people reportedly felt the jolt as far away as Wichita, Kansas, about 130 miles to the north.

USGS also received reports of shaking in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, including at the National Weather Service Office in Tulsa.

http://www.weather.com/news/news/el-nino-rising-1997-1998-levels-climate-central

http://www.weather.com/news/news/el-nino-rising-1997-1998-levels-climate-central

El Nino Peak Predictions

This El Nino year has brought with it a varying degree of wild weather, but when will it finally peak? 

In case there was any doubt, NASA has released a reminder that this El Niño is big, likely to get bigger (maybe even record-setting) and that the weather is likely to be anything but normal through this winter for much of the U.S.

A new set of maps published by the NASA Earth Observatory show that oceans are getting close to replicating the 1997-98 El Niño that’s referred to as the climate event of the century. The maps compare sea level heights of that famous El Niño to the one currently ramping up in the tropical Pacific.

Sea level heights for the current and 1997-98 El Niños in October. (NASA Earth Observatory )

Ocean temperatures are the most common metric to define the intensity of El Niño, but ocean heights also provide a valuable measure. Red indicates where sea levels are higher than normal while blue shows areas where sea levels are lower than normal. Both El Niños show sea level anomalies of up to 8 inches across the eastern tropical Pacific (and corresponding drops in other parts of the ocean basin).

The changes in sea level can have a dramatic impact locally on coral communities, but it’s how those warmer, higher waters affect the atmosphere that really matters globally.

“Over North America, this winter will definitely not be normal,” Bill Patzert, a climatologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told NASA Earth Observatory.

El Niño generally favors rainy weather over the Southern tier of the U.S. and warm weather from Alaska through the Northern Rockies. The super El Niño in 1997-98 also helped unleash mudslides in California — a major concern this year with the state in the depth of a record-setting drought.

Of course it’s worth stressing that no two El Niños are alike. And El Niño doesn't guarantee specific impacts, but rather tips the odds in their favor.

NASA did a similar analysis in May 2014, and the results showed what many thought would be a blockbuster El Niño was brewing for the end of the year. Instead, the event fizzled before appearing at the end of 2014 and gaining strength throughout 2015.

The biggest reason 2014 fizzled is that it missed connecting with the atmosphere. However, the 2015 continuation of El Niño hasn’t skipped a beat and forecasters indicate it’s likely to strengthen through late fall and even early winter as trade winds weaken and more water piles up in the eastern Pacific.

Though the 21st century is young, it’s possible this El Niño could lay claim to the climate event of this century. Aside from, you know, that whole climate change thing.

http://www.weather.com/news/news/hurricane-patricia-photos

http://www.weather.com/news/news/hurricane-patricia-photos

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Boys play in the receding floodwaters two days after the passage of Hurricane Patricia in the village of Rebalse, Jalisco state, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) 

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The strongest hurricane ever recorded pounded Mexico’s southwest Pacific Coast on Friday evening, closing schools and airports, stranding tourists in hotels-turned-evacuation centers, and forcing residents to flee the coast.

Hurricane Patricia, a Category 5 storm, made landfall Friday at 6:15 p.m. CDT near Cuixmala in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 kph), making it the strongest landfalling hurricane ever recorded on Mexico's Pacific coastline.

Daylight Saturday revealed damage in several areas, but no deaths were reported – a miraculous outcome, considering the strength of the storm.

We are collecting images of the aftermath and are frequently updating the gallery at the top of this page. Check back often for updates.