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Kenya, Tanzania brace for cyclone as heavy rains persist

May 5, 2024

Kenya, Tanzania brace for cyclone as heavy rains persist

Video by:Olivia BIZOTFollow

Kenya and Tanzania were bracing Thursday for a cyclone on the heels of torrential rains that have devastated East Africa, killing more than 350 people and forcing tens of thousands from their homes.

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Bomb Cyclone To Unleash Atmospheric River Over Northern California

October 23, 2021

Bomb Cyclone To Unleash Atmospheric River Over Northern California

A “bomb cyclone” will unleash an atmospheric river Saturday night into Sunday across Northern California.

“By Saturday night, a rapidly intensifying Pacific cyclone directing a powerful atmospheric river squarely at the West Coast delivers a fire hose of rich subtropical moisture into California,” the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) said Friday. 

These two simultaneous weather phenomenons will result in the season’s first snow event in the Sierras and torrential rains for the coastline and valleys across central and Northern California.

“You might hear this term referencing the Sunday-Monday storm coming our way. A bomb cyclone is simply a storm that gets very strong very quickly. It drops at least 24 mb (a unit of pressure) in 24 hours. The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm,” said Sacramento-based KTXL’s Adam Epstein. 

In Northern California, rainfall estimates through the end of the weekend are around 2-4 inches. In San Francisco, estimates are upwards of 3 inches.

WPC warns that some areas could receive 8-10 inches.

The rare level 5 atmospheric river event could be enough rain to alleviate drought-stricken areas ravaged by wildfires.

“An atmospheric river marked as a category 4 or a 5 is capable of producing remarkable rainfall totals over three or more days, likely to exceed 10% to 15% of a typical year’s precipitation in some locations,” said Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the University of California San Diego.

In higher elevations, wet snow across the Sierras could amount to 1-3 feet.

The news gets better for Northern California and the Pacific Northwest as WPC has declared La Niña conditions, which means wetter than average conditions will ease areas plagued by drought. As for Southern and Central California, La Niña means a drier than average winter.

“KING OF STORMS” Devastates Hong Kong, Makes Landfall in China Sunday

September 16, 2018

“KING OF STORMS” Devastates Hong Kong, Makes Landfall in China Sunday

On Friday, two massive storms — Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Mangkhut — made devastating landfall on opposite ends the world, but are leaving behind destruction in different ways. For Florence, it was mainly a rain event in the Carolinas. For Mangkhut, it was the wind that devastated the Philippines on Friday/Saturday, and now wreaking havoc in Hong Kong and southern China on Sunday (scroll down for videos).

“Storms forming in the western Pacific tend to hit with much higher winds and the people who live in their path are often poorer and more vulnerable,” said Gabriel Vecchi, a Princeton University hurricane and climate scientist.

Mangkhut made landfall Friday on the northeastern part of Luzon island in the Philippines with sustained winds of 165 mph. Florence had been degraded to a Category 1 storm with 90 mph winds as it approached North Carolina’s coast.

One day after landfall, Mangkhut was over the open water — weakened but headed across the South China Sea toward China. Florence, meanwhile, unleashed record-setting rain on parts of the North Carolina coastline. Many regions in southeastern North Carolina have seen 15 to 30 inches of rain.

Weather experts say Mangkhut may end up being the deadlier storm.

Hong Kong and southern China braced for impact on early Sunday as damaging winds and heavy rain from Mangkhut collided with the densely populated coast, a day after officials confirmed 49 people dead on Luzon island.

Al Jazeera said approximately half a million people had been evacuated from seven major cities in Guangdong province of China, and the Hong Kong Observatory, a local newspaper, warned people to stay away from the coastline as massive waves and storm surges wiped out structures.

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Tropical Cyclone Threatens South Florida, Takes Aim At Gulf Coast

September 3, 2018

Tropical Cyclone Threatens South Florida, Takes Aim At Gulf Coast

“Tropical Storm Gordon formed over the Florida Keys Monday morning and is poised to bring very heavy rainfall to south Florida on this Labor Day. As Gordon pushes into the Gulf of Mexico this week, it will interact with anomalously warm waters as it churns toward the Gulf Coast.

All things considered, the track of Gordon is fairly high confidence, tracking toward the central Gulf Coast this week. Folks from eastern TX to FL should have a plan in place, regardless of intensity (Source/ @EdValleeWx)

While Gordon will have limited time to rapidly strengthen and will have less than ideal conditions to do so, it still warrants attention for its impacts. Heavy rains, minor storm surge, and gusty winds are all but certain as this system approaches the central Gulf Coast Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night, regardless of classification.

European EPS illustrating the flooding risk with Gordon and the stalled frontal boundary nearby. 80-90 percent chance of 5″+ rain next 10 days (Source/ @EdValleeWx)

Because of these risks, tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches have been issued for portions of the central Gulf Coast as of midday Monday. Upon landfall, this system may track northeastward into the ag belt, prompting more heavy rains in portions of the Midwest and Ohio Valley late this week into next weekend,” said meteorologist Ed Vallee of Vallee Weather Consulting.

Currently, Tropical Storm Gordon is advancing into the Gulf of Mexico as it continues to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to South Florida. The tropical cyclone is moving west-northwest at 16 miles per hour with sustained winds around 45 miles per hour. The Weather Channel reports that Gordon will head for the northern Gulf Coast landfall on Tuesday as a possible Category 1 hurricane.

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Breathing Highways and Sponge Cities

February 21, 2018

Breathing Highways and Sponge Cities

“We could do worse than to go back to the way nature manages rainfall.“

During the 20th Century, the rate of global warming was twice as fast in Taiwan (1.7°C) as for the world as a whole (0.74°C). Partly as a result, the number of days with rainfall decreased dramatically and typhoons gained strength. In 2009, Typhoon Morakot dropped over 1,000 mm (39.4 inches) in a single day and caused the loss of 699 lives. A massive mudslide wiped out Xiaolin Village and 474 people were buried alive. In 2015, Typhoon Soudelor left similar damage. It took months to repair the roads.

Then Taiwan and East China were struck by Dujuan, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Jenny, a killer storm and the thirteenth typhoon of the 2015 Pacific typhoon season. Eight months later, Nepartak became the third most intense tropical cyclone on record with 114 deaths and more than $1.5 billion damage in Taiwan and East China. September brought Meranti, a super typhoon and the strongest ever to make landfall in China in more than 1000 years of records. Meranti’s peak sustained winds tied the record set by Haiyan in 2013, 195 mph (315 km/h), comparable to a tornado, or a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. In Taiwan, nearly 1 million households lost power and 720,000 lost water supplies. Flooding in Zhejiang took 902 homes and affected 1.5 million people.

Between those punctuations, the erratic weather brought long droughts. New Taipei City had to enforce water restrictions when the Shihmen reservoir went dry in April. All cities along coasts or rivers have engineered means to remove excess water and to prevent flooding. Few have the means to sustain themselves in severe droughts.

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Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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