Violent storms in India

http://www.weather.com/storms/severe/news/deadly-india-storms

A complex of thunderstorms hammered northeastern India Tuesday night with high winds, hail and heavy rain, killing at least 42 people and injuring more than 100.

Most of the deaths were the result of high winds ripping tin roofs off of huts occupied by impoverished people in the Bihar state, according to The Associated Press.

R K Giri, director of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in Patna, told The Times of India that storm complexes like this one were common this time of year in northern India and are called "Kal Baisakhi", or "nor'westers".

Nitish Kumar, the state's top elected official, visited some of the worst-hit areas and said 30 deaths were reported in Purnea, seven in Madhepura and the rest in Madhubani and other districts. Thousands of people have become homeless as a result of the storm, he said.

The storms also severely damaged crops in the region, including corn, wheat, mango, banana and litchi, according to The Indian Express.

downbursts, macrobursts, microbursts

http://www.weather.com/storms/severe/news/downbursts-macrobursts-microbursts-tornadoes

Downbursts vs. Tornadoes: Similarities and Differences


There are a few similarities between downbursts and tornadoes:

Both are parented by severe thunderstorms
Both can form rapidly
Both have the potential to produce very high wind speeds, and therefore significant wind damage
However, there are siginificant differences between downbursts and tornadoes:

Tornadoes form within the interaction of warm, moist updrafts pulled higher into the thundercloud while rain-cooled, dry air descends from the thundercloud. Rotation present during this interaction forms a swirling vortex seen as the tornado
Damage patterns from tornadoes show the swirl, or rotating wind patterns that drive the tornado
Downbursts form when super-cooled air within a thundercloud sinks rapidly down towards the ground
When this air makes impact with the ground, it is forced to spread, or fan out, in all directions. The resulting wind damage lacks the distinctive rotating swirl of a tornado, but rather looks like a straight line of wind had raked through the area
According to the National Storm Damage Center, an independent consumer advocacy organization founded to help homeowners affected by violent storms, most homeowners' insurance policies cover damage from storms, no matter whether the damage was caused by a tornado, straight-line winds or hail. Keep this in mind the next time a microburst or a macroburst blows through your area.

El Nino hanging on

http://www.weather.com/science/news/el-nino-strength-what-that-means-for-hurricanes

Over the next few months, the globe might see an uptick in tropical cyclone activity thanks to an El Niño that is showing signs of asserting itself more forcefully.

That doesn’t mean more hurricanes everywhere, though: While El Niño tends to boost activity in the Pacific Ocean, it clamps down on storm formation in the tropical Atlantic. That link has at least one hurricane forecaster calling for a very quiet Atlantic hurricane season this year — possibly the quietest since the mid-20th century.

While El Niño is a cyclical climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean — marked by warmer ocean temperatures in the tropics and a weakening of the usual easterly trade winds — it can impact weather around the globe.

During an El Niño, a domino of atmospheric effects causes a large area of stable, subsiding air to form over the tropical Atlantic. Exactly the opposite of what a fledgling tropical cyclone, which thrives on instability, needs to grow and strengthen. El Niño also tends to bring more wind shear to the region, meaning the speed and direction of the wind changes more between different altitudes, putting the kibosh on a burgeoning storm.

super volcano discovery

A massive, magma-filled secret was recently discovered under Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, a discovery that could mean larger eruptions for the park’s supervolcano.

Researchers from the University of Utah uncovered a gargantuan magma reservoir containing hot, sponge-like rock, as well as some molten rock, that dwarfs a previously known magma chamber.

The findings were recently published in the journal Science and revealed the chamber holds enough magma to fill the Grand Canyon over 11 times, the Tech Times said.

(MORE: Hazardous Addiction May Be Cause of Steep Decline in Bee Population, Study Finds)

Scientists discovered the chamber while mapping the subterranean plumbing system below the supervolcano, Sciencemag.org reported.

Hsin-Hua Huang, study author and seismologist at the University of Utah, said, “For the first time, we have imaged the continuous volcanic plumbing system under Yellowstone. That includes the upper crustal magma chamber we have seen previously, plus a lower crustal magma reservoir that has never been imaged before and that connects the upper chamber to the Yellowstone hotspot plume below.”

The discovery is what Geophysicist Peter Cervelli describes as the "missing link" between the plume and magma chamber, says Sciencemag.com.

http://www.weather.com/science/nature/news/yellowstone-national-park-supervolcano-largest-magma-reservoir-discovery

Severe weather in Texas

http://www.weather.com/news/news/texas-tornado-severe-storm

Severe storms ramped up in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex Sunday night and into Monday morning, spawning a large tornado that caused damage and power outages.

As of Monday evening, ten twisters have been confirmed by the National Weather Service. Eight were rated EF0, while one near Lake Brownwood was an EF1, as was one near Kenner, Louisiana, the lowest levels on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

The entire town of Rio Vista, Texas, was without power Monday morning following the severe storm, according to NBC DFW. Some of the damage has yet to be assessed, as crews wanted to wait until sunrise to view the damaged areas, the report added. Schools in Rio Vista, Maypearl and Italy will be delayed by 2 hours Monday morning.

"A surface low developed just west of the Texas panhandle, pulling warm, moist air into much of central and eastern Texas. To the west, very dry air flowed into western Texas," said weather.com meteorologist Chrissy Warrilow. "Along this boundary, called a dry line, severe thunderstorms developed that produced large hail and tornadoes from the Abilene area east into the western and southern regions of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex."