Extreme Weather- Dust Storms

Huge dust storm engulfs Queensland town of Bedourie – in pictures

Enormous dark clouds of sand and dirt turn day into night in the small outback town on the edge of the Simpson Desert

A huge dust storm has rolled into the small Queensland town of Bedourie, engulfing the residents in dust.

Maggie den Ronden, a local council employee, took these pictures on Thursday afternoon as the clouds rolled in, plunging Bedourie into darkness for an hour-and-a-half.

Located in arid far-western Queensland on the edge of the Simpson desert, the town is no stranger to the storms.

“We do get them from time to time but that was a big one,” den Ronden told Guardian Australia.

As soon as it had begun, the dust moved on.

“We could see the stars by 7:30,” den Ronden explained.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/05/huge-dust-storm-engulfs-queensland-town-of-bedourie-in-pictures

Sydney, AU- Severe Weather

Wild weather to continue to batter eastern Australia in lead-up to Christmas

Animated map of lightning strikes on each day from December 1 to December 7 from lightningmaps.org. Map points correspond to lightning strikes, coloured by age over the 24 hour period (more red is older, more yellow is newer). Map coverage depends on a network of contributors so coverage quality varies.

Tropfest in Centennial Park in Sydney was delayed due to severe weather. Photograph: Britta Campion/AAP Image

An afternoon storm moves across Sydney on Friday 5 December. Photograph: Nikki Short/AAP Image

Unusually tumultuous weather has swept parts of eastern Australia over the past week, with meteorologists warning that further storms, hail and rain are likely to return in the lead-up to Christmas.

A severe thunderstorm battered Sydney on Sunday, leaving more than 10,000 homes without power as large hailstones rained down on parts of the city.

The storms come as Brisbane residents clean up from a “supercell” storm that caused damage that could cost up to $1bn. Hail damaged nearly 2,000 homes, while fallen trees have caused a problem for many households.

A broad area of low pressure, stretching from central Australia to the south-east of the country, has been supplemented by a surge in humidity from tropical areas.

“That combination has led to an unstable environment in the atmosphere,” Craig Burke, a BoM meteorologist, told Guardian Australia.

http://www.theguardian.com/weather/2014/dec/08/wild-weather-continue-batter-eastern-australia

California Drought gets worst and Temperature still rising

California just had its worst drought in over 1200 years, as temperatures and risks rise

This photo shows the dried up lake bed of Huntington Lake which at only 30% capacity as California is gripped by its worst drought in over a millennium. Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

A new paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters by Griffin & Anchukaitis concludes that the 2012–2014 drought in California was its most intense in at least 1,200 years.

The study used drought reconstructions from tree-ring cores, from the North American Drought Atlas (NADA) and from cores Griffin & Anchukaitis collectedfrom blue oak trees in southern and central California. Blue oak tree ring widths are particularly sensitive to moisture changes.

Griffin states:

"California’s old blue oaks are as close to nature’s rain gauges as we get"

Pencil-like tree-ring cores are collected non-destructively using a Swedish increment borer. May 2014, image by Daniel Griffin.

The drought alone is anticipated to cost California over $2 billion this year. On top of that, heat and drought also create conditions ripe for wildfires; another major problem for California. As expected, California also saw an intense wildfire seasonin 2014, blowing well through its firefighting budget. Now that the state is finally seeing some significant rainfall in December, those wildfires created conditions conducive to flooding and mudslides.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/dec/08/california-just-had-its-worst-drought-in-over-1200-years

Cali Drought

California drought 'not caused by global warming', official study finds...

A dried-up irrigation ditch is a sign of the drought that has gripped California for three years, although climate change is not to blame, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

Don’t blame man-made global warming for the devastating California drought, a new federal report says.

A report issued on Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said natural variations – mostly a La Niña weather oscillation – were the primary drivers behind the drought that has now stretched to three years.

The study’s lead author, Richard Seager of Columbia University, said the paper has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. --

He and NOAA’s Martin Hoerling said 160 runs of computer models show heat-trapping gases should slightly increase winter rain in parts of California, not decrease.

Hoerling said La Niña, which is the cooler flip side of the warming of the central Pacific ocean, can only be blamed for about one-third of the drought. The rest of the causes can be from just random variation, he said.

Peer-reviewed studies are divided on whether the drought can be blamed on climate change. Others published earlier this year point more directly to changes in pressure of the Pacific that blocked rain from coming into California, but Hoerling and Seager dismissed them as not adequate.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/08/california-drought-not-caused-by-global-warming-official-study-finds

Gambling isn't the only risky business--Weather is too

Extreme weather is risky business

Thomas M. Kostigen, Special for USA TODAY

Nearly two-thirds of small businesses do not have an emergency plan in place for their businesses, according to an Ad Council survey. Moreover, 40% of businesses affected by natural or man-made disasters never re-open, an Insurance Information Institute study found.

Disaster disruption to businesses has become so chronic that the U.S. Small Business Administration has even helped create a web site, preparemybusiness.org, to help businesses protect employees, lessen the financial impact of disasters, and re-open more quickly after a disaster.

Natural hazards pose a $1.2 trillion loss to the economy through 2050, according to a Department of Homeland Security official's testimony before congress earlier this year.

Whether freak storms in Phoenix, or a longstanding drought in California, or damage from hailstorms in the Midwest (whose annual economic damage now regularly tops $1 billion), extreme weather is risky business.

There are five areas FEMA recommends businesses focus on:

Program management. Different ways to organize and administer a preparedness program.
Planning. Assessing risks and analyzing methods to prevent hazards.
Implementation. Setting tactics for emergency response, crisis communications, and business continuity.
Training. Testing and evaluating plans -- and learning new ones
Improvement. Reviewing plans frequently to make changes and/or make them better.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/04/extreme-weather-business-impact/16701599/

Extreme Weather- Nashville, TN

Weather Gone Wild

By Peter Miller

Photograph by Sean R. Heavey, Barcroft Media/Landov

The weekend forecast for Nashville, Tennessee, called for two to four inches of rain. But by the afternoon of Saturday, May 1, 2010, parts of the city had seen more than six inches, and the rain was still coming down in sheets.

Police, fire, and rescue teams were dispatched in boats. One crew in a skiff headed out to I-24 to pluck the driver of an 18-wheeler from the chest-high water. Other teams pulled families off rooftops and workers from flooded warehouses. Still, 11 people died in the city that weekend.

Over at NewsChannel 5, the local CBS station, meteorologist Charlie Neese could see where the weather was coming from. The jet stream had gotten stuck over the city, and one thunderstorm after another was sucking up warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico, rumbling hundreds of miles northeast, and dumping the water on Nashville. 
When the sun came out on Monday morning, parts of Nashville had seen more than 13 inches of rain—about twice the previous record of 6.6 inches set during Hurricane Frederic in 1979. 

What’s going on? Are these extreme events signals of a dangerous, human-made shift in Earth’s climate? Or are we just going through a natural stretch of bad luck?

The short answer is: probably both. The primary forces driving recent disasters have been natural climate cycles, especially El Niño and La Niña. Scientists have learned a lot during the past few decades about how that strange seesaw in the equatorial Pacific affects weather worldwide. During an El Niño a giant pool of warm water that normally sits in the central Pacific surges east all the way to South America; during a La Niña it shrinks and retreats into the western Pacific. Heat and water vapor coming off the warm pool generate thunderstorms so powerful and towering that their influence extends out of the tropics to the jet streams that blow across the middle latitudes. As the warm pool shifts back and forth along the Equator, the wavy paths of the jet streams shift north and south—which changes the tracks that storms follow across the continents. An El Niño tends to push drenching storms over the southern U.S. and Peru while visiting drought and fire on Australia. In a La Niña the rains flood Australia and fail in the American Southwest and Texas—and in even more distant places like East Africa.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/extreme-weather/miller-text

Climate Change Is Driving Heat Waves Around The World: Report

WASHINGTON –- The record-setting heat wave in Australia last year was "largely attributable" to human-caused climate change, according to a synthesis report released Monday.

For the synthesis report, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 22 groups of scientists looked at 16 extreme weather events that took place in 2013. The paper concludes that at this time, it is more difficult to discern the human impact on other extreme events, such as the drought in California, extreme rainfall in Colorado, and an early-season blizzard in South Dakota.

"A clear picture of how climate change influenced California's drought has yet to emerge," Stephanie Herring, the report's lead editor and a scientist at NOAA, said in a call with reporters Monday.

The synthesis report highlights a relatively new area of climate science known as detection and attribution studies, which explores what is known about extreme weather events and climate change. The scientists caution that this type of study is still in its early stages. 

Watch the video after clicking the link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/29/climate-change-extreme-we_n_5902482.html

The weather is cuckoo this winter, but there's method to the madness

There is method to the meteorological madness.

And it has served to spread the weirdness around the world, from the American West all the way to Russia, a climate expert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The drought parching California; those two snowpocalypses in the South; the unrelenting New England snow; the sopping soaking of the UK; short sleeves on Sochi's snow-hungry slopes.

This article also talks about the drought in California, which seems to be one of the main focuses in the weather world

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/15/us/weather-weird-pattern/index.html

In 2012, 11 billion-dollar weather disasters in US

According to NOAA, 2012 brought the United States 11 billion-dollar extreme weather and climate events. 

Seven of these events were triggered by severe weather and tornadoes, two were hurricane-related, and the other two disasters were brought upon extreme drought across the United States. Out of all of the U.S. disasters, Superstorm Sandy will become one of the costliest ever to occur within U.S. 

Two most expensive 2012 U.S. weather disasters have been ongoing drought ($40 billion in damages so far) and Superstorm Sandy ($62 billion so far).

http://earthsky.org/earth/in-2012-11-billion-dollar-weather-disasters-in-us

An Exceptional Drought

An Exceptional Drought

In late spring and early summer, the outlook was dire in New Mexico.

By late May, Albuquerque had set its record driest two-year period dating to the 1890s. 

In late June, almost 45 percent of the state had slipped into exceptional drought, the worst drought category in the weekly Drought Monitor analysis. This was the most exceptional drought coverage of any state at the time.

Status of New Mexico drought on Jun. 25, 2013. Progressively darker shading corresponds to worse drought. Darkest brown indicates exceptional drought, the worst category. (Image: NOAA/USDA/NDMC) 

http://www.weather.com/news/news/most-extreme-weather-state-2013-20130920#/2

Rim Fire Near Yosemite Ranks Among Top 3 Largest Wildfires in California History

As of September 20, 2013, the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park in California has burned over a quarter million acres.

In records dating back to 1932, the Rim Fire now ranks as the third largest in state history, according to California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

http://www.weather.com/news/news/rim-fire-ranks-among-california-largest-wildfires-20130826

Sinkhole opens in San Francisco

Sinkhole Opens In San Francisco After Days of Heavy Rain 

Rain is making an absolute mess in San Francisco. Street flooding has been reported. Public works says manhole covers are floating off sewers. Now a gaping sinkhole has formed in the city’s Richmond district.
CBS San Francisco reports the main was built in 1905 and survived the city’s killer 1906 earthquake, but the heavy rain was “finally too much.”

The Associated Press reports the hole is at least 10-feet-wide and 8-feet-deep. Investigators are concerned it could expand.

http://www.weather.com/news/news/san-francisco-sinkhole

Dangerous Fog Froze Nearly Everything In Its Path

Recent fog in a town in Hungary froze an entire forest. Matt Sampson has the details on the amazing effects of nature.

This is a very interesting video that I came across. Something different from the print and online articles.
VIDEO:


http://www.weather.com/news/video/dangerous-fog-for-pilis-hungary-forest-froze-nearly-everything-in-its-path

California Drought: Some Rain, but Still Not Enough

California Rainfall Is Nothing To Get Too Excited About

"An unusual thing happened across California this week -- it rained.

But while heavy downpours pounded across the San Francisco Bay Area and brought about an inch of rain on Thursday, water and climate experts warned that the wet week doesn't promise much relief as the state endures its fourth year of drought.

"The recent rains are nice, but so far are not much," UC Davis professor and Center for Watershed Sciences Director Jay Lund told The Huffington Post. "We are now at 62 percent of normal precipitation for this early time in the wet season. Better than last year, but only 62 percent of average."

Mark Svoboda, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, agreed, describing the downpours as having "not much of an effect at all" and suggesting that average rainfall isn't going to cut it this deep into the drought. "This winter will need to be much above the norm to make any headway against the drought," he told HuffPost.

Currently more than half of California is in a state of "exceptional drought," the most severe level of dryness as measured by the U.S. Drought Monitor"

I'm excited to read that California is getting some rain! Living in a state that is suffering from extreme drought must be a daily challenge. There are so many restrictions when it comes to consuming water, as well as using it for leisure and business. Hopefully, this rainfall continues at a pace that removes California from this drought sooner than later!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/21/california-rain-drought_n_6201744.html?utm_hp_ref=extreme-weather

Morocco hit by floods killing 32 people and leaving hundreds stranded

Dozens of homes swept away as heavy rain turns normally-dry riverbed into free-flowing watercourse

"Days of unusually heavy rain pounded Morocco’s south and unleashed deadly floods that killed 32 people, the country’s interior ministry said on Monday.

Near the southern city of Guelmim alone, 24 people died, with 11 bodies recovered from a valley which is normally a dry riverbed but had been turned into a raging torrent by flooding.

The army and national police rescued 214 people, including 40 by helicopter. Two French nationals were also rescued.

There are also reports that dozens of homes have been swept away and bridges cut off by the flooding."

I chose this article because flooding is a very extreme and bizarre occurrence to me. Living in the city of Chicago my whole life, I've never experience flooding. I mean, a little flooding if the alley way filled with some water from bad plumbing and pot holes is considered flooding. It saddens me that people have to lose their lives to natural disasters because I feel like deaths can be prevented if proper warnings and rescue measures are taken.

Buffalo, New York Area, Great Lakes, Lake-Effect Snow Impacts: At Least 5 Dead, State of Emergency Declared

November 19, 2014

"Snow was still falling on the Buffalo, New York, area Wednesday morning, a day after a major lake-effect snow event dumped up to 60 inches of snow on areas south of Buffalo, killing at least five people and stranding vehicles for hours on roads throughout the area. In response, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the western New York counties most impacted by the snow.

Snow also fell in other Great Lake states, including northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where up to two feet of snow blew ashore. Those areas will get a bit of a reprieve today before the lake-effect event ramps-up again in the evening hours Wednesday into the morning Thursday. For specific forecast details click on the link below.

A 46-year-old man was found dead in his vehicle in Alden, New York. The car was completely buried in snow, The Buffalo News reports.  A second person died in an automobile accident, and the three other deaths are possibly due to cardiac complications.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for 10 counties, including Erie County, most impacted by lake-effect snow. The declaration mobilizes more than 1,000 transportation personnel, including 526 snow plows, 74 large loaders and 21 snow blowers. The declaration also sends 150 National Guardsmen into the Buffalo area to assist with recovery efforts.

A travel ban remains in place for areas south of Buffalo."

I came across this article on weather underground and instantly I became interested. Considering I haven't seem much snow in Chicago yet, it was amazing to me how NY had suffered such a great snow storm and that 5 people perished as a result. Unfortunately, we as humans cannot control the weather because it is indeed a natural occurrence, but we can control how we deal with the weather. NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, from what I've read, has done a great job with issuing a variety of reliefs to the people of Buffalo through snow plows and travel bans. The actions taken to help these people in distress have been done with a sense of urgency and that it a great thing to witness.

Blog #2: Tires.. The Environment.. The Outcome.

Tire Dump Creates Huge Environmental Hazard in Seseña, Spain 

By Allie Goolrick
Published: October 5, 2014

And the tire dump is a huge environmental hazard that could further deter future growth. Already, residents live in constant fear that the heap of rubber might catch on fire, according to Yahoo.

“A fire would be very difficult to put out because tire combustion is very slow," Vicente Garcia de Paredes, an activist with the environmental group Ecologists in Action, told El Pais. "Besides cutting off air traffic, the smoke would be so toxic that the 11,000 homes in El Quiñón de Seseña would have to be evacuated."

Aside from the fire risk, discarded tires leach oil and chemicals into groundwater and the stagnant water they collectbecomes a breeding grounds for pests, according to the New York Times. 

The town now has a three-year plan to grind down and truck out the tires to recycling plants, according to Phys.org. The Seseña tires will likely find a second life as building materials: the floor mats, rubberized asphalt and rubber bumpers that surface roads, sports tracks and kid’s playgrounds.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/sesena-spain-tire-dump-20141004

I chose this article because I was initially captivated by the vast number of tires that were in the dump then my attention turned to the environmental and climatic damages this dump is causing. I'm almost 90% convinced that anything man-made is not good for people or the environment. These tires and the chemicals and products they are made of does not contribute positively to the environment. The residue and left over chemicals from the tires are seeping into the ground and causing contamination. Contamination often times leads to illnesses and illnesses can lead to death or other long term issues.