First EF3 Tornado Confirmed For This Season

Usually, the tornado season for the year can be seen in early March. But this year, not much action has been seen. However, this Friday, April 25, the first EF3 tornado of the season was seen and confirmed in North Carolina. "A destructive tornado in North Carolina Friday ended an unusual delay in stronger tornado activity in 2014, cementing a new record for a lack of stronger tornadoes-to-date in 2014.
"On Saturday, officials at the National Weather Service in Morehead City, North Carolina, announced that one of Friday's tornadoes in eastern North Carolina rated an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
The April 25 tornado marked the latest wait by far for the first such tornado in any year in modern records dating to 1950, according to the University of Alabama-Huntsville. While we have had several episodes of severe thunderstorms in 2014, we've been fortunate enough to avoid the volatile combination of low-level wind shear (rapidly changing wind direction and speed with height) and strong instability (very warm and humid air near the surface topped by cold, dry air aloft) known to spawn large, destructive tornado outbreaks."

 http://www.weather.com/news/tornado-central/record-latest-first-ef3-tornado-2014-20140408

 

Climate Change Taking a Toll on Bodies of Water

"Mankind's insatiable thirst for water resources in recent decades has pushed our most precious natural resource to the brink. Bodies of water, stressed by human consumption, are disappearing quicker than we ever imagined. Many of the world's largest rivers have become victimized by water demand. 18 of the world's mightiest rivers are undergoing "extremely high" water stress, meaning more than 80 percent of their flow is withdrawn each year. Couple water demand with a grim forecast for more severe droughts due to climate change, and the stress on some bodies of water becomes too much to bear. Ancient shorelines are retreating and leaving behind death and decay in the place of once thriving wetland ecosystems."
These threats are becoming more and more serious. The world needs to look at climate change as a whole. It is not just glaciers that are lacking in water supply.

http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/dried-lakes-rivers-and-other-bodies-water-disappearing-fast-20140425

A sign from wetter times in Bakersfield, Calif., warns people not to dive from a bridge over the Kern River, which has been dried up by water diversion projects and little rain, on Feb. 4, 2014. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Witchita Falls Drought

In Wichita Falls, Texas, this city of 105,000 people is experiencing a dreadful drought that is their worst on record--not to mention, this drought has been going on for four years.
"Russell Schreiber, the city's public works director [is] the force behind one of the most controversial plans in Texas: The use of treated wastewater for public consumption. It's a bold move — and a tough sell. Tim McMillin, a radio host and father in Wichita Falls, is one of the many residents who doesn't like the idea of drinking treated waste water. "Just the concept of drinking the water that yesterday you sent along its merry way ... I don't think anybody wants that." Here's how it works. Four stages of high-tech filters remove all solid material from the water. The final stage is a process called reverse osmosis, which strips nearly everything out of the water but the basic hydrogen and oxygen molecules."
"Treated water alone can't save this community. This is the driest three-year period in recorded history. It started with a brutal summer heat wave in 2011, when Wichita Falls endured more than 100 days of temperatures above 100 degrees and saw a mere 13 inches of rain.
Drought restrictions are  in place, prohibiting all outdoor water usage. City officials will begin issuing fines up to $2,000 for people who turn on the hose, wash their cars or fill their pools."
Public drought awareness is at its highest for Wichita Falls.

http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/wichita-falls-texas-cracked-20140423

Wichita Falls, Texas is 34 inches of precipitation below normal over the last three years, helping to drain the water from Lake Arrowhead. (Stephen Neslage/The Weather Channel)

World's Deadliest Tornado

The U.S. may see the largest number of tornadoes per year, but the strength and damages of any tornado that landed in the U.S. does not compare to the tornado that struck Bangladesh in 1989.
"The violent tornado carved a path a mile wide and 10 miles long, destroying the towns of Manikgank Sadar and Saturia. An estimated 1,300 people were killed and an additional 12,000 injured.
All structures in a 2.3-square-mile-wide area were destroyed along a portion of the path of the tornado, which left an estimated 80,000 people homeless."
"Dr. Greg Forbes, The Weather Channel's severe weather expert, notes that Bangladesh experiences some of the strongest and deadliest tornadoes outside the U.S., possibly up to F4 or even F5 intensity. That said, according to [an] article by Paul and Bhuivan, the country only averages more than six tornadoes per year. This is much less than the U.S. 10-year average of 1,294 tornadoes annually."

Also, their high number of death counts are equally due to "high population density, poor building construction and no warnings systems."

http://www.weather.com/news/tornado-central/deadliest-tornado-world-bangladesh-20140416

Severe Spring Flooding in Several Places

"A combination of melting snow, ice jams and recent heavy rain sent rivers swelling this week in parts of northern New England, Lower Michigan and eastern Canada. Hardest hit were parts of eastern Canada, where record flood levels on the Saint-Francois River left the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec split in half. Over 600 residents there were urged to evacuate, according to a story in the London (Ont.) Free Press. Another 300 people were forced from their homes in Saint-Raymond near Quebec City, where the swelling Saint-Anne River flooded the city's downtown. Just two years ago, this same area flooded twice, according to a story in The Globe and Mail. Near Canada's Atlantic coast, dozens of homes were flooded in the town of Sussex, New Brunswick. In most of northern New England and Lower Michigan, rivers were either cresting or were falling as of Thursday morning."
In Watertown, New York, there were threats of the St. Regis Falls dam collapsing due to high levels of water than the dam was used to. Luckily, it did not fall.
Lake Champlain in Vermont has inched above flood stage and is a threat to certain properties, roads, piers, and docks in the surrounding area. The Kennebec River in Maine is almost reaching the level of threat that Champlain is.
Lastly, the Muskegon River in Michigan has reached record breaking flood levels and the Wraco Lodge Dam along Wolf Creek just recently failed.


http://www.weather.com/tv/tvshows/americas-morning-headquarters/flooding-swamps-upstate-new-york-vermont-maine-canada-20140417

 

Climate Change's Deadly Effects on Mount Everest

Mount Everest has seen many deaths since 1922, but on April 18th, some of the deadliest accidents happened due to a powerful avalanche. "An April 18 avalanche claimed at least 12 lives, in what may be the single deadliest climbing event in the history of the world's tallest mountain (29,029 feet). The death toll may rise, because other climbers are still missing, according to the BBC."
""In 1989 when I first climbed Everest there was a lot of snow and ice, but now most of it has just become bare rock. That, as a result, is causing more rock falls, which is a danger to the climbers," said Apa Sherpa, a Nepali climber, as quoted in Discovery News. "Also, climbing is becoming more difficult, because when you are on a [snowy] mountain you can wear crampons, but it's very dangerous and very slippery to walk on bare rock with crampons," he added."
Scientists claim that some evidence does existence that links climate change to more severe avalanches. "A warming planet and changes in precipitation may increase the likelihood of certain types of avalanches at certain times of the year. A 2001 study from the Annals of Glaciology found that increases in temperature and precipitation could slightly decrease the risk of avalanches in mid-winter in France, but could significantly increase the risk of spring avalanches. Those findings were echoed in a 2013 report from the journal Applied Snow and Avalanche Research, which found that in Canada's Glacier National Park, an increase in rain (instead of snow) during the winter could result in greater instability in the snowpack, leading to more late-winter avalanches."

http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/climate-change-blame-mount-everest-avalanche-20140421

Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. (Wikimedia/Shrimpo1967)

A night view of the Mount Everest range seen from Syangboche, a small Himalayan settlement on Dec. 4, 2009. (Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images)

Deadly Flooding in the Solomon Islands

"At least 23 people are dead in the Solomon Islands after torrential rain from a slow moving tropical cyclone caused rivers to burst their banks and send a torrent of water rushing downstream into low-lying, highly populated areas. Dozens of people were reportedly still missing more than four days after the floods first struck, meaning the death toll will likely continue to climb. Water from the Matanikau River destroyed bridges, homes and other infrastructure as it inundated the downtown area of the Solomon Islands' capital of Honiara. Homes and bodies could be seen floating amongst the debris carried away by the floods. Rural towns in the country's main island of Guadalcanal were simply washed away by the water, leaving no trace of life."
More than 10,000 people lost their homes and more than 50,000 people were affected by the flood.
With so many people coalescing in evacuation centers, emergency workers fear the lack of sanitation services and fresh water could lead to an outbreak of disease in camps.

 http://www.weather.com/tv/tvshows/americas-morning-headquarters/solomon-islands-flooding-20140405

Deadly North Carolina Tornado

"A tornado in eastern North Carolina reportedly left more than a dozen people injured Monday. The storm first hit just before 4 p.m. EDT near the towns of Pantego and Belhaven, N.C. The same storm produced a reported tornado a few miles east in Ponzer, then another possible twister near Gum Neck around 4:45 p.m.WITN.com reported at least 13 people were taken to the hospital, including a father and son who were inside a truck that was thrown by the winds and a pregnant woman. The extent of their injuries aren't known yet, according to Belhaven Mayor Adam O'Neal." Photos are up that confirm the deadliness of the tornado. Also, a large outage of power in the area with trees and power lines down in numerous places. "The same storm system caused dangerous flash flooding across parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia earlier in the day."

 

 

http://www.weather.com/tv/tvshows/americas-morning-headquarters/north-carolina-reported-tornado-20140407

Less Severe Winter in Some U.S. Cities

With Chicago dealing with storm after storm and recording breaking snow falls, we assume that the rest of the North was struggling with the unusual amount of snow as well--especially when even Southern states were having snow storms. However, there were 10 metropolitan areas that experience lower amounts of snow than usual for this winter. The snowfall amounts were measured up to April 5 of this year. "While some of [these cities] have suffered brutally cold temperatures at times, these cities have had a mild winter in the sense that they have missed out on more snow, relative to normal, than any others in America." These cities include Sioux City, Iowa; Prescott, Arizona; Grand Island, Nebraska; Fargo, North Dakota/Moorhead, Minnesota; Logan, Utah; Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver, Colorado; Provo, Utah; Flagstaff, Arizona.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/mildest-winter-2013-2014-least-snow-20140327

Five Indicators that Climate Change will Leave People Even More Susceptible to Suffering

1) Climate change is already having major impacts around the world
 The effects of climate change are seen all over the world, not just the United States, from Polar bears to severe droughts and hurricanes to World Heritage sites, like the Great Barrier Reef, being dramatically altered. Glaciers melting is also a serious issue that is affecting Earth's water supply. Additionally, animals in the ocean are moving toward the poles and land animals are moving further North. Lastly, food production and prices have been greatly affected from improper nourishing environments for certain products to grow in.
2) The world's most vulnerable people will be hit the hardest
Sea levels rising and severe hurricanes and typhoons will affect smaller islands, such as Marshall Islands and the Maldives, and other poor areas farther in land. "Meanwhile incountries like India, hundreds of millions of people who live in rural areas still depend on rainfall, rather than modern farming practices like irrigation, to grow their crops. "The green revolution has not touched them at all," said Dr. Pachauri. "They are the ones who are going to be worst hit. These are the sections of society that are going to suffer the worst impacts of climate change."
3) Climate change will make violent conflict worse, and vice-versa
"Though the IPCC authors agree that the impact of climate change on violent conflict is "contested," and take care not to say that wars will necessarily be caused by climate change, they emphasize that the world's poorest regions are particularly susceptible to the impacts of both.
That's because the impacts of climate change – whether from heat waves and droughts that affect food and water supplies, or from storms that erode resilience to climate extremes by damaging or destroying infrastructure – are likely to be particularly severe for people in coastal and rural areas.
In places that don't have the same kinds of institutions found in the developed world – who have no path to adapt to or mitigate the impacts of climate change – its effects will be felt most acutely."
4) Despite little action on controlling emissions, adaptation is now underway
"The world's industrial nations have made little progress to date in controlling their emissions of greenhouse gases, at least in terms of making meaningful reductions that would keep warming in the decades ahead to 2°C above the pre-industrial era, the widely-acknowledged target for avoiding the worst impacts of climate change." However, Europe, Australia and Asia have already implemented government action for coastal and water management, land-use planning, and planning for sea level rise and water availability. "This is happening at the municipal and regional level in the United States, especially in major urban cities like New York and Chicago, while countries in Central and South America are creating conservation agreements and water resources management plans for their agricultural and tourist sectors."
5) The world has the information it needs to take action on climate change today
There is no more excuses for climate change being non-existent. "Projections for the impacts climate change will have on food security, water supplies and human health and security are "profound" and "grave," said Pachauri, adding that we have "much greater certainty and far greater detail today" on these impacts than in the group's last report in 2007. "There is a reason for the world not [to] neglect the findings of this report," he added. "We have reasons to believe that if the world doesn't do anything about mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gases, and the extent of climate change continues to increase, then the very social stability of human systems could be at stake.""





 

http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/five-things-ipcc-climate-change-food-water-vulnerable-people-20140331