Colin Heads out Sea After Drenching Florida With Rain

Colin headed out to sea Tuesday after dumping as much as 9 inches of rain on parts of Florida, forcing at least one city to pump partially treated sewage into the Gulf of Mexico ocean because the system was overloaded with rainwater.

Colin flooded roads and caused thousands of power outages in Florida and a team investigated a possible tornado related to the storm that damaged homes and toppled trees in Jacksonville. The city of St. Petersburg said it was pumping sewage into Tampa Bay because its sewer system has been overloaded with rainwater infiltrating leaky sewer pipes.

The U.S. Hurricane Center said Colin, which formed Sunday, was the earliest a third named storm had developed during the Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began June 1.

In Dare County, North Carolina, which includes pencil-thin territories from Kitty Hawk down to Hatteras Island, Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson said rain had been falling nearly continuously since Tropical Storm Bonnie, which formed May 28. So far, there had been no major flooding.

Storms likely as steamy air mass approaches

Temperatures ranged as much as 21 degrees across the metro area Wednesday afternoon. While readings approached 80 degrees over the far southwest suburbs, lakefront temperatures dipped to around 60 as a lake breeze pushed onshore. Meanwhile, residents of the Plains experienced 90-degree heat, and rising humidity. The transition zone between these air masses will be a breeding ground for thunderstorm clusters. Storms are expected to focus on Chicago Thursday and Thursday night, bringing a threat of heavy rainfall to the city, and points north. The season’s hottest air to date is then forecast to sweep into the region.

Here Comes Summer Heat

Our first heat wave of the summer is upon us. Temperatures are expected to reach to near 90 degrees Thursday, and then soar into the 90s Friday and Saturday. Although 90 degree heat is considered typical summer weather in many parts of the country, it is rare enough around here to be thought of as extreme by many people, even though it happens virtually every summer.

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Most of our hot weather typically happens in July and August. In June, the average number of 90 degree days is just one and a half. Last year, there was one 90 degree day during June. In both 2014 and 2013, June passed by without any 90 degree weather. In 2012, there were two such days. Historically, many June months have gone by without any 90 degree weather but the average is skewed upward by the occasional summer with a June heat wave. The record number of 90 degree days in June is 13 days set in 1988. The record for a summer is 39, also set in 1988.

The Northern Plains region is not known for its hot weather.  Cool breezes from central Canada often keep the heat from building in for more than the occasional hot day. However, we are located in the center of the North American continent and are entirely land locked, unaffected by cool ocean waters, and so our weather is prone to go to extremes. There are no solid barriers keeping all the hot weather in the south. So when it gets hot, it can get very hot.

Record global monthly streak continues

NASA GISS just released their global land/ocean surface temperature anomaly data for April 2016.

For the seventh consecutive month, a new record high, global monthly temperature record has been set.

So far, 2016 is averaging 1.21 deg. C. above normal (Jan-Apr) and currently on pace to surpass 2015 (+0.87) as the warmest year on record.

Breaking it down further, the northern hemisphere averaged 1.42 deg. C. above normal for April, making it the warmest April on record. This breaks the previous April record of +1.16 set back in April 2010.

Last month was also the warmest month on record for the southern hemisphere, with a temperature anomaly of +0.80 deg. C. The previous April record was +0.65 set in 2002.

Arctic Sea Ice Breaks May Record ... By a Lot

Arctic sea ice shrank to its lowest level in 38 years last month, setting a record low for the month of May and setting up conditions for what could become the smallest Arctic ice extent in history, according to National Snow and Ice Data Center data released Tuesday.

“We didn’t just break the old May record, we’re way below the previous one,” NSIDC DirectorMark Serreze said.

Compared to normal conditions, the Arctic ice cap was missing a Texas-sized slab of ice in May. It spread across 4.63 million square miles of the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay and adjacent areas of the North Atlantic — an area 224,000 square miles smaller than the previous low record for the month set in 2004. May’s record low follows four previous monthly record lows set in January, February and April.

Arizona Wildfire: Hundreds Evacuated from Yarnell, Where 2013 Blaze Killed 19 Firefighters

An Arizona wildfire has forced hundreds to evacuate from the town of Yarnell - where a blaze in 2013 killed 19 members of an elite firefighting crew.

“Right now, here we are three years later doing the same thing,” KPNX quoted Yarnell resident Patrick Bernard, who helped people evacuate during the 2013 blaze. “ It’s surreal.”

Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Dolores Garcia said 250 to 300 people left their homes in the town, about 60 miles northeast of Phoenix.

(Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier via AP)

“Right now as we speak the fire is coming down over the mountain right in front of me,” Bernard told KPNX. “There’s a lot of smoke on the east side and it’s burning the top of the mountain right now. It’s coming across the east line of Yarnell, burning across the edge of those houses. And there’s helicopters dropping water.”

Funnel Cloud Photobombs Couple's Wedding Photo

A couple hailing from Grand Forks, North Dakota, snapped one of the wildest wedding photos we’ve ever seen, seizing the opportunity to capture a funnel cloud as it reached down from surrounding thunderstorm clouds.

Kipp and Kelsey Loeslie were wrapping up their wedding photos outside their Moorhead, Minnesota, venue when their photographer alerted the two of the scene unfolding behind them.

“We knew we had to stop quick and make something happen,” photographer Jeremy Manstrom of Manstrom Photography told the Huffington Post. “How could you let a moment like that — on one of the biggest days of your life — pass?”

Is early tropical Atlantic activity a sign of things to come for 2016 hurricane season?

Following the earliest "C" storm since reliable hurricane records have been kept in the 1950s, the natural question to ask is: Does the flurry of early-season tropical activity indicate a busy summer to come in the Atlantic?

Since when names were first assigned to tropical systems, there have been three "C" storms during June. Colin is the earliest to form, beating out Hurricane Chris, which formed on June 18, 2012, and Tropical Storm Candy, which formed on June 23, 1968.

The earliest account of the third tropical system of a season was on June 12, 1887. However, there may have been multiple systems missed prior to the use of weather satellites.

Records have shown that significant activity during May, June and July often yield near- to above-average numbers of tropical systems for the season. However, despite higher numbers prior to the main part of the season, the summer may not stay busy.

Weekly wrap-up: Texas flooding turns deadly; Swollen Seine River forces evacuations in Paris

A very wet spring season continued for parts of the central United States this week resulting in swollen rivers, evacuations, traffic problems and several fatalities.

In southeastern Texas, the Brazos River in Richmond reached a record flood stage of 54 feet. Elsewhere along the river, about 150 people had to be evacuated in Rosenberg, Texas. Unprecedented water levels were observed in the northern part of the town.

Nine soldiers were killed after their vehicle overturned at a low-water crossing near Fort Hood, Texas on Thursday. The bodies of four missing soldiers were recovered on Friday, according to the Fort Hood Press Center.

Severe Weather Expected from the Upper Midwest to the Middle Atlantic Late-Week

Severe thunderstorms will become more numerous Friday into the weekend from the Upper Midwest into the Northeast as building heat and humidity interact with an active jet stream.

Severe weather has been spotty this week. Wednesday, a line of severe thunderstorms produced wind damage in eastern Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, and across southern New Jersey, including Atlantic City.

The increase in severe weather beginning Friday will be triggered by a strong disturbance, riding along with the jet stream, from the northern Great Lakes region on Friday to the lower Great Lakes and parts of the mid-Atlantic states Saturday.

The main severe threats will be damaging winds and large hail. The probability of tornadoes appears to be low, but isolated tornadoes can occur in these situations.

Louvre Reopens After Flooding, as Cost of Rain Damage Mount

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/louvre-reopens-flooding-cost-rain-damage-mounts-39691814 

The Louvre and the Orsay, the premier museums of Paris, have reopened after an emergency closure last week to move masterpieces to higher ground during the city's worst flooding in decades.

Visitors lined up to see the Mona Lisa and other famed works in the Louvre after Wednesday's reopening. Louvre officials moved 35,000 artworks from storage areas and low-lying exhibition areas of the riverside museum as the Seine River rose last week.

Also Wednesday, France's Cabinet formally declared a "natural disaster" in 782 towns and villages considered as the most affected by the flooding that has hit Paris and France's central regions.

The procedure aims at helping residents and businesses to get financial help more quickly.

In total, 20,000 people have been temporarily evacuated from their homes, French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said.

Flooding around Europe has killed at least 19 people, including a 77-year-old man who drowned in his car Tuesday in northern France.

The Seine's levels peaked Saturday in Paris but remain more than 3 meters (10 feet) above normal, and several French regions are facing thunderstorm warnings Wednesday.

Heat prompts thousands of young hawks to leave nest early

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -

More than 200 young Cooper's hawks have been treated at the Tucson Wildlife Center since Saturday, June 4.  

The Wildlife Center has also been fielding some 550 calls a day about these young birds being found on the ground, according to a news release.

Record-setting heat is causing the young hawks to leave the nest earlier than normal. 

"In the heat of the day, tortoises will be underground, most desert animals will be underground or seek out shade," said Lisa Bates, founder of Tucson Wildlife Center. "A bird’s body temperature is 106 degrees, so they can take more heat than we can, but not much. Try to imagine yourself in the canopy of a tree that has no shade. Try to imagine yourself sitting in the blazing sun all day long with no breeze. It’s miserable for all animals."

June is when most young Cooper's hawks leave their nests, as they develop the ability to fly they typically spend a week on the ground learning.

The hotter than normal temperatures are speeding up this natural process. 

Collier Co. firefighters rescue baby accidentally locked in hot car

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/32168539/greater-naples-firefighters-rescue-baby-accidentally-locked-in-hot-car#.V1hJVrsrJhF GOLDEN GATE CITY -

Firefighters broke the back window of a car Tuesday to save a baby accidentally locked inside, reminding the public to “look before you lock” one day ahead of National Child Vehicular Heatstroke Prevention Day.

It’s an awareness day promoted by the group KidsAndCars.org, which reports 78 hot car deaths for children in Florida since 1992. It also cites Florida as the second highest state for hot car deaths after Texas.

Sharon Thoemke said she was shopping Tuesday when she saw a commotion in the parking lot and starting recording video on her cell phone.

“I saw the fire truck and I saw firemen and some other people surrounding the car,” Thoemke said.

A crowd had gathered because there was an 8-month-old girl locked in a car.

“There was no breeze, it was sunny,” Thoemke said.

According to Lt. Jesus Padilla, the mother wasn’t cited because he says it was an accident.

“She put the child in and closed the door and realized she had left the keys in and the car was locked,” Padilla said.

St. Petersburg Pumping Sewage into Bay as Tropical Storm Colin Flooding Continues

Flooding from Tropical Storm Colin is quite literally making a mess of the Tampa Bay area.

St. Petersburg officials told the Associated Press that the city will be pumping partially treated sewage into the bay after rainwater infiltrated leaky sewer pipes and overloaded the system. According to the National Weather Service, much of the Tampa Bay area still had standing water as of Wednesday morning.

St. Petersburg Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley said the sewage will be pumped by pipe about a quarter of a mile into the bay, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been notified of the discharge.

Without knowing how much more rain would fall, Tankersley said he couldn't estimate how many more gallons would need to be dumped.

"Who knows?" he told the Tampa Bay Times. "I really have no way of guessing."

Officials from St. Pete Beach, Florida, asked residents on Tuesday to not use the sewer system. Mayor Maria Lowe said that the city's sanitary sewer pipe and pump station system is now "completely full and cannot accept any additional flow."

Lowe said residents and businesses should not takes showers or baths, do laundry, wash dishes or engage in "any other use of water that enters the sanitary sewer system."