Showing posts with label Balie Biermann. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Balie Biermann. Show all posts

Monday, November 11, 2013

U.S. Coast Guard braces for severe weather


ANCHORAGE - U.S. Coast Guard units in Alaska brace for severe weather that could hit the Bering Sea and Western Alaska.

The crews of the Coast Guard Cutter Waesche and Air Station Kodiak were pre-staged to parts of Western Alaska in case of severe weather, such as hurricane-force winds and dangerous seas, said Cmdr. Shawn Decker, Coast Guard sector Anchorage chief of response in a prepared statement released Thursday.

“Coast Guard personnel stand ready to work alongside federal and state responders to address concerns and to provide aid for any emergencies that arise in Western Alaska communities as a result of the storm,” he said.

But it’s “more or less business as usual,” said Shawn Eggert, Coast Guard public affairs officer.
People need to have a head’s up because severe weather can affect the Coast Guard’s ability to respond to emergencies, the statement explained.

Western Alaska is no stranger to severe storms. Storms in 1974 and 2011 pummeled Western Alaska, ripping off roofs, flooding roads and displacing Alaskans.
Mariners are encouraged to closely monitor radio weather broadcasts, the Coast Guard said.
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Philippines Declares Calamity as Fresh Storm Approaches


Philippine President Benigno Aquino declared a state of calamity to speed aid to communities ravaged by super Typhoon Haiyan, which may have killed more than 10,000 people, as a lesser storm approached the nation.

The government has 18.7 billion pesos ($429 million) to fund reconstruction after Haiyan unleashed storm surges and gale-force winds that caused vast destruction, Aquino said yesterday in a televised address. Today, a fresh storm threatening the southern Philippines may pass through some areas battered by Haiyan.

The devastation may harm the economy, the government said, sending the peso and stocks weaker yesterday. The storm affected almost 9.7 million people, according to authorities, and 22 countries have pledged assistance. Soldiers were dispatched to prevent looting as survivors scoured for food.

“In the coming days, be assured: help will reach you faster and faster,” Aquino said. “The delivery of food, water and medicines to the most heavily affected areas is at the head of our priorities.”
Haiyan slammed into the central Philippines on Nov. 8, knocking down buildings and trees, flattening crops and destroying an airport. In Tacloban city, the capital of Leyte province, television images from the city showed bodies on the streets and floating in the sea, homes reduced to rubble, structures with their roofs ripped off and roads blocked by felled trees.
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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Motion of the Ocean: Predicting the Big Swells


New research will help you every morning with the surf report. Research led by the Vice-Chancellor will allow oceanographers and meteorologists to better predict the rate at which ocean swells decay, or deteriorate, as they travel across the globe.
"Ocean cargo shipping, offshore oil and gas production, and even recreational activities such as surfing, are all dependent on wave action," says Professor Young
"It is therefore critical that we are able to predict swell."
It is estimated that 75 per cent of waves across the world are not actually generated by local winds. Instead, they are driven by distant storms which propagate as swell.
"Imagine you drop a rock in a pond. Waves radiate out from the rock. You don't need anything to push the waves. Once generated, they propagate by themselves.
"So, for most of the Indian, Pacific and South Atlantic oceans, it is actually the weather in the Southern Ocean thousands of kilometres away that dominates the wave conditions," explains Professor Young.
"The Southern Ocean is dominated by big low pressure systems that move across it year round. These systems generate waves that then grow and can travel tens of thousands of kilometres from where they were actually formed, to crash on a beach in Australia."
Professor Young, who is affiliated with the Research School of Earth Sciences, used orbiting satellites to track swell generated in the Southern Ocean and measure the rate of decay as it travelled north towards Australia.
The results showed that the decay of the swell depends on how steep the wave actually is.
"Steep waves decay very quickly. However, typical swell is not very steep and can travel across oceanic basins with only a relatively small loss of energy."
Over 200 individual cases were tracked, making this study the first to provide such comprehensive data of this decay.
"What we were able to do is track the swell from the satellite as it moved from the south to the north, some 1400 kilometres. We only chose cases where there was no wind so that we could be confident that all we were measuring was the swell decay.
"We can take these results and put them into a mathematical formula that can be put straight into computer models used by national weather bureaus.
"This will increase our ability to better predict wave action. As 70 per cent of the world's oceans are dominated by swell, it's extremely important to be able to predict them accurately."
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Severe Storms Wreak Havoc Across Multiple States, 1 Dead


Dangerous storms marched east on Halloween night and into Friday morning, creating numerous reports of flooding and wind damage, some of which was caused by reported tornadoes.

"An area of low pressure intensified rapidly as it moved from the Midwest into eastern Canada Thursday into early Friday," said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. "This resulted in numerous reports of high winds, wind damage and a few tornadoes from the lower and middle Mississippi Valleys into the Ohio Valley and central Appalachians."

According to The Weather Channel senior meteorologist Stu Ostro, the Halloween windstorm could be considered a "meteorological bomb", which occurs when the central pressure within a mid-latitude cyclone -- such as the one present during the Halloween severe weather -- falls on average at least one millibar per hour for 24 hours

"Models had indicated this Halloween week system would be close to meeting the criteria -- the central pressure of the low pressure system dropping at least 24 millibars in 24 hours -- and may or may not quite get there," Ostro said.

"It did, dropping 27 millibars from 999 millibars Halloween morning to 972 millibars Friday morning.  It's a notable aspect of the storm, and was one of the things representative of how much energy it had."

Severe weather expert Dr. Greg Forbes states that at least 27 confirmed tornadoes in seven states from Texas to Ohio touched down on Thursday into the early morning hours of Friday. According to Dr. Forbes, this is a new record for the most confirmed tornadoes on any Halloween on record in the U.S. Most of these were rated EF0 and EF1, though an EF2 tornado touched down near Baker, Mo.
Storm reports from the Halloween wild weather event are listed below.
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Monday, October 28, 2013

Hurricane-force winds batter northern Europe

Emergency crews in London clear the wreckage of a house after a fallen tree caused a gas explosion there Monday, October 28. A major Atlantic storm brought wind gusts close to 100 mph Monday, knocking out power to thousands and disrupting travel in England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
(CNN) -- A major Atlantic storm packing hurricane-force winds pummeled England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands early Monday, knocking out power to 220,000 homes in England and blocking roads and railways with fallen trees.
Wind gusts as strong as 99 mph battered the south coast of England, and authorities warned of travel disruptions across the region.
At least two storm-releated deaths were confirmed in England, and a third person was reported missing.

Police in Kent said a 17-year-old girl was killed Monday morning when a tree fell on the home where she was sleeping in Hever, south of London.

A man in his 50s was killed when a tree fell on a vehicle Monday in Watford, northwest of London, according to Hertfordshire police.
As the storm approached, rescuers had to suspend their search for a missing teenager believed to have been swept out to sea. The unidentified teenager disappeared from Newhaven, East Sussex, on the southern coast, according to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
                                                                                                                                                  Authorities were checking whether two other deaths were related to the storm. A man and a woman died -- and a third person was hospitalized -- as a result of a gas explosion at a house in Hounslow in West London, London's Metropolitan Police said. Investigators were checking whether a tree that had fallen in the area damaged gas pipes and caused the blast.
The storm also affected France, Belgium and the Netherlands. A woman was killed by a falling tree in Amsterdam, local media reported. Officials said 42,000 homes in northern France were without electricity. Overnight, the number of homes in France without power peaked at 75,000.
 
Fallen trees
The strongest wind gusts in England -- 99 mph -- were recorded on the Isle of Wight, which is off the south coast, the Met Office said.
 
The storm cut power to people across the southern part of England.
 
The Energy Networks Association, which represents British and Irish power operators, said that 220,000 homes were without power in the southeast, southwest and midlands of England.
Energy companies said they were working to restore power as quickly as possible.
 
Flood warnings
Authorities warned that the heavy rain from the storm could cause flooding in some areas. Eighteen flood warnings were in place in southwest England, the government said.
 
In the southeast, Sussex Police said they had had reports of more than 125 trees down across the county. They warned drivers to be careful, especially on smaller roads.
 
Network Rail, which manages Britain's rail infrastructure, said more than 100 trees were on rails in the network across the southeast.
 
Heathrow Airport said it was reducing the number of flights Monday because of the severe weather.
Weather forecasters had said before the storm arrived that it could be the region's worst in a decade.
But they said they didn't expect the conditions to be as severe as those during the "Great Storm" of 1987, which was responsible for the deaths of 18 people in Britain and four in France.
 
In 1990, the "Burns Day Storm" left a trail of destruction from the Isles of Scilly to Denmark, killing 100 people, including 47 in the British Isles, according to the Met Office.
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Severe Weather Returns to US this Halloween Week


While the preliminary tornado count for 2013 is historically low, severe weather will ramp up across the United States this Halloween week.

What will become an active Halloween week kicked off Sunday morning with gusty thunderstorms knocking out power to tens of thousands around the Houston area.

Severe thunderstorms will return late Monday to Kansas and neighboring parts of northern Oklahoma and the eastern Texas Panhandle.

Cities within this zone include Gage, Okla., and Dodge City, Wichita and Russell, Kansas City

The strongest thunderstorms during this time will be capable of producing damaging winds, hail and flooding downpours. A tornado or two could also touch down and cause destruction.
More severe weather will follow Tuesday through Thursday as a potent storm emerges from the Rockies and tracks eastward across the United States. This is the same storm bringing a blizzard to the northern Rockies.

Tuesday evening, severe thunderstorms will ignite from West Texas to central Kansas. The danger will shift to central and northern Texas, eastern Kansas, western Missouri and southern Iowa on Wednesday.

Wichita will once again be at risk for violent thunderstorms on Wednesday, along with Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Kansas City.

As will be the case late Monday, the greatest concerns from the thunderstorms Tuesday and Wednesday will be damaging winds, flooding downpours and frequent lightning.

Residents and visitors should also stay alert for a few isolated tornadoes and some hail.

On Thursday, the storm will be responsible for gusty and drenching thunderstorms from the Great Lakes to the western Tennessee Valley. The strength of the winds could still be great enough to cause power outages and tree damage.

The threat for flooding downpours also extends to the western Gulf Coast, including Houston, this day.
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Monday, October 21, 2013

Super Smog Hits China; Flights Cancelled


BEIJING  -- Visibility shrank to less than half a football field and small-particle pollution soared to a record 40 times higher than an international safety standard in one northern Chinese city as the region entered its high-smog season.

The manager for U.S. jazz singer Patti Austen, meanwhile, said the singer had canceled a concert in Beijing because of an asthma attack likely linked to pollution.

Winter typically brings the worst air pollution to northern China because of a combination of weather conditions and an increase in the burning of coal for homes and municipal heating systems, which usually start on a specific date. For the large northern city of Harbin, the city's heating systems kicked in Sunday, and on Monday visibility there was less than 50 meters (yards), according to state media.

"I couldn't see anything outside the window of my apartment, and I thought it was snowing," said Wu Kai, 33, a housewife and mother of a baby boy, said in a telephone interview from Harbin. "Then I realized it wasn't snow. I have not seen the sun for a long time."
She said her husband went to work in a mask, that he could barely see a few meters ahead of him and that his usual bus had stopped running.

It's scary, too dangerous. How could people drive or walk on such a day?"

The density of fine particulate matter, PM2.5, used as an indicator of air quality was well above 600 micrograms per cubic meter - including several readings of exactly 1,000 - for several monitoring stations in Harbin, according to figures posted on the website of China's environmental protection agency. They were the first known readings of 1,000 since China began releasing figures on PM2.5 in January 2012, and it was not immediately clear if the devices used for the monitoring could give readings higher than that.

A safe level recommended by WHO is 25 micrograms per cubic meter.

Primary and middle schools and some highways were closed, said authorities in the city, which is in China's northernmost province bordering Russia. At least 40 flights flying to destinations in southern China and Beijing among others had been cancelled or postponed at Harbin's Taiping International Airport on Monday morning.

Austin's management team said the 63-year-old singer had been treated in hospital Friday morning for the asthma attack in combination with respiratory infection. She returned to her hotel later Friday to rest, but she was unable to physically perform at her concert scheduled for Beijing on Friday evening. Her Saturday night concert in Shanghai went ahead.

Her manager, Barry Orms, said Monday that Austin, as an asthma sufferer, would have been "affected by the amount of pollution." He said that it wasn't their goal to place blame, and that "Patti has expressed our belief that the Chinese government can be a leader in this very important issue."

On the morning ahead of her concert Friday, Beijing's air was visibly polluted, with the city's environmental monitoring center warning children, the elderly and those with respiratory illnesses to reduce outdoor activity.

China's major cities have some of the world's worst smog. The government was long indifferent to the environment as it pursued economic development, but has begun launching some anti-pollution initiatives after mounting public frustration.

Last month, China's Cabinet released an action plan that aims to make a small reduction in the country's heavy reliance on coal to below 65 percent of total energy usage by 2017. According to Chinese government statistics, coal consumption accounted for 68.4 percent of total energy use in 2011.
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