Category: Elsewhere in Weather News

Elsewhere in Weather News: November 24th, 2012

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Severe Flooding Strikes England

Intense flooding has hit parts of the UK these past couple of days and more is to come this weekend. A strong low pressure system approaching England from the south-west has brought with it plenty of moisture which has already flooded out 300 properties and caused one death.

Flooding

Roads flooded out quickly in South-West England as torrential rains fell this past week, more is to come. (Source: The Guardian)

South-West England is most at risk. Areas including Exeter and Bristol were included in the ‘amber risk’ (second highest level) which was issued by the Met Office as more localised flooding was likely to occur. By Saturday afternoon, it will not be uncommon to see rainfall reports exceeding 50mm in South-West England. This, coupled with ground already saturated to its maximum, will cause flash flood conditions where streams could easily overflow in a matter of hours. In total, 70 flood warnings and 150 flood alerts had already been put in place as of Friday. High winds add to the storm’s grave concern, as gusts of 90km/h are not out of the question for Saturday’s event.

Surface analysis

Surface analysis of the UK on Saturday at 7pm. (Source: Met Office)

Areas of South-West England typically see an average of 16 rainy days and 70mm of rainfall in November. Therefore it’s not unusual to see rain in that area during the month of November but the expected amount to be seen this weekend is on the high end of the spectrum. The highest 24-hour rainfall ever recorded in South-West England (Martinstown) was in 1955 where 279mm, over half of Winnipeg’s annual precipitation, fell!

Elsewhere in Weather News: November 17th, 2012

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Wildfire Flare Up in Southern Australia

On Monday the 12th of November, a large wildfire in Southern Australia flared up. Residents had to be evacuated in the region of Tulka as the wildfire threatened houses. Over 100 firefighters battled the blaze but unfortunately they were unsuccessful in their attempt to control it that day. In total, the fire burned nearly 5,000 acres, destroying seven properties. No one was injured, though animals such as koalas that lived in the area where the wildfire took place needed veterinary attention. The fire has been contained since Tuesday.

Wildfire

Picture of the Tulka Wildfire. (Source: Michael Sleep/ABC)

This month, Port Lincoln, a city near Tulka, received only 4.4mm rain in comparison to its 20mm average for the month of November. The lack of precipitation combined with a high of 36.4°C on Sunday November 11th (13°C above the November average) contributed to conditions ripe for wildfires in Southern Australia at this time of the year. Tulka typically receives minimal rainfall in the month of November due to dominant high pressure off the coast of Southern Australia and troughs that sporadically make their way to the region. It is predicted that most of Australia will have a warm and dry summer, having an indirect relation to the weak El Nino that is forecast to develop this winter. If this were the case, it would be an active wildfire season in Australia this summer.

Systems map

Systems map of Australia of next Wednesday, high pressure dominating Southern Australia. (Source: Weatherzone)

Several days prior to this event, a few other wildfires flared up in Western Australia but they were located in a remote area and did not directly affect population.

Wildfire NASA picture

Picture of a wildfire in Western Australia on November 7th, taken by NASA. (Source: NASA)

Elsewhere in Weather News: November 3rd, 2012

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Superstorm Sandy

Since last week’s report on Hurricane Sandy, the storm system made landfall in New Jersey and caused damage that will take months to repair. Just prior to making landfall, Sandy transitioned into an extratropical storm. Hurricane-force winds were still experienced just off the Jersey coast and tropical storm-force winds spanned an incredible 1520km. The storm surge associated with Sandy was the most devastating aspect of the storm as areas along the coast suffered from severe flooding, including Manhattan. At The Battery in New York, the storm surge of 13.88 feet shattered previous records by over two feet. The worst case scenario played out as high tide came in at the same time storm surge was maximized. Sandy also disabled power to over 8.9 million residents on the east coast shortly after it made landfall, and 1.2 million of those are still missing power as of Friday night.

Newark subway flooding

Chilling image as the water poured into the subway in Newark, New Jersey.(Source: @TropicalTidbits)

Sandy

Eight feet of sand cover streets in Cape May, brought in by storm surge. (Source: @AliBurnett)

The hardest hit areas appear to be Staten Island where major flooding occurred and houses for streets on-end were completely flooded and inhabitable. In Breezy Point, New York, a large blaze broke out due to downed power lines that were toppled over from the tropical storm-force winds blowing so fiercely; this resulted in 80 houses burnt down to the ground. In the nearby state of New Jersey, towns along the New Jersey Shore were inundated by water and whole amusement parks could be seen partly submerged.

On the backside of Sandy it was a different story, where in West Virginia it was not rain or storm surge that caused damage, it was the snow. After Sandy moved further north-eastward and snow moved out of the region, it was not uncommon to see 60cm of snow and up to 91cm in some areas, as reported in Richwood, West Virginia.

Sandy snow

Snow depth analysis (some areas of 30-40 inches!) done by the National Weather Service. (Source: NWS)

Although it is still very early in the clean-up, damages are expected to be in the tens of billions – one of the worst storms for the Northeast, ever. The death toll has also risen significantly in the last couple of days, where the tally has reached 109 in the US alone, and 175 across the US and Caribbean combined.

The clean-up will continue to be a chilly one for those without power as temperature highs will only be reaching single digits in the states that were hit the hardest.

Elsewhere in Weather News: October 27th, 2012

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Hurricane Sandy – A Unique Storm

Even though hurricane season might be nearing the “official” end (November 30th), the largest and most threatening storm of the year is yet to come. This past week, what could be a historical hurricane for the United States, spun up in the south-east Caribbean and has already caused major damage to surrounding countries such as Cuba, the Bahamas and Haiti.

After initially making landfall near Kingston, Jamaica as a category one (winds of 130km/h), Sandy quickly skipped across the island to make a second landfall on the north-east side of Cuba, leaving significant damage in its wake. In Jamaica about 70% of the island lost power, curfews were issued and all public services closed until the coming week. Three lives were lost in Jamaica and the damage was significant; roads washed out and banana farmers reporting losses to over 50% of their crop. Haiti and the Dominican Republic were not left untouched either, with severe flooding in the deforested regions – it was predicted that widespread rainfall accumulation ranged between 200-255mm. Unfortunately, 10 deaths were related to Sandy in Haiti and three in the Dominican Republic, mainly due to extensive flooding.

Jamaica storm surge

House in Kingston, Jamaica gets inundated by water associated with Sandy’s storm surge. (Source: AP)

Sandy, fuelled by very warm waters, quickly strengthened to a category 2 hurricane between Jamaica and Cuba. With a second landfall in north-eastern Cuba, Sandy brought more grief as it ripped roofs off homes and damaged local coffee and tomato crops. It was also reported from Cuban state media that the hurricane was blamed for 11 deaths in the country.

Continuing its track, though now weakened to a category one hurricane, Sandy moved in a north north-easterly fashion into the Bahamas where similar damage to what was observed in Jamaica occurred as well as an additional three deaths.

Earlier in the week some weather models showed Sandy curving out to sea after moving out of the Bahamas, thanks to a large trough swinging through the Eastern US. Unfortunately, this will not be the case and all of the models now show a landfall somewhere on the East Coast – more precisely somewhere between Maryland and Southern New England. With Sandy being an unusually large storm, tropical winds spanning 450km from its centre, this storm will have to be taken very seriously by residents in the concerned area on the East Coast. The biggest problem with Sandy is that as it nears landfall, its south-easterly flow in the top-right quadrant of the storm will bring significant storm surge to the areas north and north-east of the storm. Models also predict up to 250mm of rain in some areas along the coast and sustained winds that will be at or near tropical storm force extending a significant distance out from the centre of the storm. The storm will also bring large amounts of snow into higher elevations of West Virginia. A state of emergency has been issued.

Sandy

GFS 850mb analysis of Sandy at 7am Tuesday morning, shortly after it makes landfall. Circled area is area most likely to have high snow accumulation, red square is New York City and black shoreline is the area at risk for severe storm surge. (Source: Twisterdata)

Most models predict a landfall on the East Coast just south of New York Tuesday next week, with lasting effects for many days. Updates will be forthcoming as the event unfolds this coming week.