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lightning — Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Some years ago, I found myself making my way up the narrow stairs of a Learjet on a sultry runway in a deserted airport near the South Africa-Mozambique border. The humidity was there to taste—the air thick with it.

The weather radar was showing a fast-developing thundercloud. Our mission was to fly through the most active part of the storm, measure it, fly through again while dumping a bin load of dry ice, turn hard and fly through for a final measurement.

The inside of the Learjet resembled a food blender, so severe was the turbulence. Thousands of meters below, a smaller plane would be threading through the storm downdrafts measuring the rain. It isn’t something you do every day although the saucer-sized hail dents on the wings of the Learjet told of its many prior engagements.

Apart from the fun of flying through the core of a thunderstorm in a Learjet, I didn’t think much about the time I was lucky enough to be part of that project. Until I heard about the recent freak storm in Dubai.

The project I was part of, neatly named Rain (Rain Augmentation in Nelspruit), was a cloud seeding experiment several years in the making. Cloud seeding involves adding tiny particles into a cloud in order to give moisture something to attach to and form droplets. Gradually those droplets merge and become heavy enough to fall as rain. In theory, the “seeded” clouds will grow more droplets suitable for rain.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

China issues highest-level rainstorm warning after fatal Guangdong floods

April 25, 2024

CHINA-GUANGDONG-FLOOD (CN) — GUANGZHOU (Xinhua/Lu Hanxin)

China issues highest-level rainstorm warning after fatal Guangdong floods

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated due to heavy rain and fatal floods in southern China, with the government issuing its highest-level rainstorm warning for the affected area on Tuesday.

Torrential rains have lashed Guangdong province in recent days, swelling rivers and raising fears of severe flooding that state media said could be of the sort only “seen around once a century”.

The megacity of Shenzhen was among the areas experiencing “heavy to very heavy downpours” on Tuesday, the city’s meteorological observatory said, adding the risk of flash floods was “very high”.

It later downgraded its weather warning as the storms weakened, but urged residents to remain vigilant against disasters.

Images from Qingyuan — a city in northern Guangdong that is part of the low-lying Pearl River Delta — showed a building almost completely submerged in a flooded park next to a river.

Official media reported Sunday that more than 45,000 people had been evacuated from Qingyuan, which straddles the Bei River tributary.

State news agency Xinhua said 110,000 residents across Guangdong had been relocated since the downpours started over the weekend.

The floods have claimed the lives of four people, according to state media.

Engulfed lampposts

An AFP team in Qingyuan saw the Bei River running much higher than its usual level on Tuesday evening, with the water almost completely engulfing lampposts on a pedestrianised bank that had been closed to the public.

The rain stopped in the afternoon and the flood water fell slightly, allowing curious onlookers to come and look over the swollen banks.

Li Yan, 52, said he was more concerned about people living down the river than about the continued rainfall forecast for the next few days.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Weather whiplash in Canada: extreme rains hit wildfire-devastated British Columbia

November 16, 2021

Weather whiplash in Canada: extreme rains hit wildfire-devastated British Columbia

Climate change is likely to increase extreme flooding from atmospheric river events like this one.

Flood damage — Flooding in British Columbia on November 15, 2021. (Image credit: BC Hydro)

An intense low-pressure system brought an atmospheric river of water vapor and torrential rains to southern British Columbia and northwestern Washington state on Monday, generating devastating flooding that virtually isolated the city of Vancouver from the rest of Canada. The floods came less than five months after the most extreme heat wave in global history affected the same region, fueling destructive wildfires.

Flooding and landslides from Monday’s storm cut the three main highways connecting the city of Vancouver, located on the Pacific coast, with the interior portions of Canada. Damage to some of these highways was extreme, and will result in months-long closures. In addition, all rail access to Vancouver was cut by the flooding, with closures expected to last days or weeks. These closures may have significant impacts on the Canadian economy, since the Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada, and fourth-largest in North America. Canada is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, and the flood damage will interrupt exports of wheat and vegetable oil, potentially causing a rise in global food prices, which are already at a 46-year high.

Over 10 inches of rain in 24 hours

On Monday, a large swath of southern British Columbia recorded four to 10 inches of rain in 24 hours, setting numerous records for most precipitation in a day. One of the highest 24-hour amounts observed was 11.59 inches (294.3 millimeters) in Hope, British Columbia.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“PoP” Goes the Weasel

July 5, 2021

“PoP” Goes the Weasel

How do you plan your work in your garden? One of the things that is most likely to affect what you do is rainfall. But how do you know when and how much rain is likely to fall? One way to get an idea of the possibility of rain is to look at something called “Probability of Precipitation”, or as we call it, “PoP”. How often have you heard someone say that the weatherman (or woman) was wrong because they predicted 30 percent chance of rain and they did not get anything? Or someone else says there was only a 10 percent chance of rain and they got flooded? If you understand how these forecasts are made, it might help you plan your outdoor activities, including your garden work and when you water.

*Source: John Robert McPherson, Creative Commons*

How is “PoP” defined?

According to the National Weather Service (NWS):

PoP = C x A where “C” = the confidence that precipitation will occur somewhere in the forecast area, and where “A” = the percent of the area that will receive measurable precipitation, if it occurs at all. The forecast is what we call a “conditional” forecast—that means it depends on two different things, one of which requires the other to occur. It’s important to keep in mind that these forecasts are made for a particular period of time (often 12 hours) and for a particular area (the forecast zone). The first part of the calculation is whether or not it will rain at all anywhere in the forecast zone during the time that the forecast covers. The second is how much of the forecast zone will be hit by precipitation sometime during the forecast period.

How likely is it that precipitation will occur?

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Florence Death Toll Climbs To 17 As 3-Month-Old Dies; Wilmington “Virtually Cut Off”

September 17, 2018

Florence Death Toll Climbs To 17 As 3-Month-Old Dies; Wilmington “Virtually Cut Off”

The storm that is now known as Tropical Depression Florence has seen its winds slacken since it first reached the Carolina coast on Friday (though it has battered parts of the state with wind and rains since Thursday), but the unceasing rains have continued, breaking floodwater records in North Carolina and pushing the death toll from the disaster past 17 individuals, as exhausted first responders have been overwhelmed by the number of calls. Meanwhile, more than 1 million people remain without power in the region, according to the Department of Energy (though the DoE said it had some success in restoring access to customers).

However, some of the hardest-hit areas may be without power for weeks.

“We still continue to see heavy rainfalls in both states,” Jeff Byard, associate administrator for response and recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said of North and South Carolina. “We want citizens to follow state and local warnings. There is a tremendous amount of flooding.”

With the damage and mayhem wrought by the storm exceeding expectations, the federal government was scrambling on Monday to mobilize thousands of National Guard soldiers and scores of aircraft. The Army Corps of Engineers continued to monitor federal dams and help with rescues as pumps and portable barriers were deployed while specialized search-and-rescue teams arrived from as far away as New York and Nevada.

According to the Washington Post, the city of Wilmington – which has been the hardest hit city – has been “virtually cut off” from the rest of the state by the rising floodwaters. At least 450 people have been rescued.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Next Phase Of Florence Disaster Arrives: “Catastrophic” River Floods, Massive Mudslides

September 16, 2018

Next Phase Of Florence Disaster Arrives: “Catastrophic” River Floods, Massive Mudslides

As meteorologists expected, the storm formerly known as Hurricane Florence (it was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday after previously being cut to a tropical storm) is stubbornly lingering over the Carolinas and dumping an unceasing assault of warm ocean water on the state.

Radar showed that parts of the storm were impacting six states, but North and South Carolina remained in the bulls eye. The worst hit parts of North and South Carolina have already been inundated with more than two feet of rain, and forecasters are saying there could be an additional 1.5 feet before the end of day Sunday, according to the Associated Press. For this reason, disaster analysts have said the storm is expected to be the costliest in US history, with damages exceeding $170 billion.

View image on Twitter

✔

Here is a new mesoscale precipitation discussion from @NWSWPC on ongoing life-threatening flash flooding from #Florence in southern NC and northern SC https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/metwatch/metwatch_mpd_multi.php?md=0849&yr=2018 …

11:11 AM – Sep 16, 2018

While wind speeds have slackened to 35 mph from an initial windspeed of more than 90 mph when Florence first came ashore, the storm has continued its crawl west at 8 mph. At 5 am, the storm was centered about 20 miles southwest of Columbia, South Carolina.

Meteorologists forecast “catastrophic” flooding in both North and South Carolina, as some areas will be coated with more than 40 inches of rain, according to USA Today. Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to 15 people, and is expected to rise.

“These rainfall amounts will produce catastrophic flash flooding, prolonged significant river flooding and an elevated risk for landslides in western North Carolina and far southwest Virginia,” the hurricane center warned.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Extreme Flash Floods Hit Hawaii As Dangerous Hurricane Lane Could Dump “30-40 Inches Of Rain”

August 24, 2018

Extreme Flash Floods Hit Hawaii As Dangerous Hurricane Lane Could Dump “30-40 Inches Of Rain”

This threat of extreme flooding could occur across most of the island chain was summed up succinctly by The Weather Channel hurricane expert Dr. Rick Knabb in a tweet late Thursday night.

In case anyone is celebrating the islands being outside the cone, consider: all islands on stronger, wetter side the whole time; a track just southwest enhances waves/surge onto south-facing shores; no change to risk of devastating floods and long-lasting power outages. #Lane

— Dr. Rick Knabb (@DrRickKnabb) August 24, 2018

Meteorologists said Lane’s eye passed over a weather buoy about 250 miles southwest of the Big Island on Thursday morning and recorded winds that sustained +100 miles per hour.

NOAA: Dangerous Hurricane Lane Moving North Toward The Main Hawaiian Islands

“The slow movement of Lane also greatly increases the threat for prolonged heavy rainfall and extreme rainfall totals,” the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) said. “This is expected to lead to major, life-threatening flash flooding and landslides over all Hawaiian Islands.”

“The center of Hurricane Lane was located near latitude 18.2 North, longitude 158.0 West. Lane is moving toward the north near 6 mph (9 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue through Friday. A turn toward the west is anticipated Saturday, with an increase in forward speed. On the latest forecast track, the center of Lane will move over, or dangerously close to portions of the main Hawaiian islands late Friday and Friday night.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

State of emergency, child missing amid Ontario floods

February 22, 2018

State of emergency, child missing amid Ontario floods

Brantford state of emergency: HIGHLIGHTS, must-see visuals of ice jam

Thursday, February 22, 2018, 7:34 AM – Wednesday was marked by flood crises in parts of southern Ontario, particularly the Grand River, where flood warnings were still in effect for much of its watershed Thursday. One person remains missing.

Ice jams and days of rain made for elevated water levels, forcing road closures in several communities throughout the day Wednesday, including Cambridge and Brantford.

The latter city was forced to declare a state of emergency, and issued an evacuation order affecting almost 5,000 people in the Holmedale, Old West Brant, and Eagle Place areas of the community, which remained in effect into Thursday morning.

Watch below: Ice chunks cover entire Ontario highway, see it here

Some ice jams did clear Wednesday, relieving flooding pressure somewhat, but leaving behind massive chunks of ice for crews to clear. At one point, a sink hole on Highway 401 westbound at Highway 24 in Cambridge forced a highway closure that lasted into the evening before all lanes reopened.

The Canadian Coast Guard spent Tuesday breaking up ice at the mouth of the Grand River on Lake Erie, and spokeswoman Carol Launderville said the CCGS Griffon returned for another round Wednesday.

“The commanding officer of the CCGS Griffon, Michael Hines, reported fast ice from one side of the Grand River to the other and nothing had started to break until the icebreaker arrived,” Launderville says. “By the end of Tuesday afternoon, open water started to form at the upper end of our track as the broken ice flowed towards the mouth of the river. The Coast Guard broke the ice to the approaches and out onto the lake. After the ice starts to move away from the mouth, the ice in the river will have a place to go.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Rampant Wildfires Will Affect Our Drinking Water

October 24, 2017

Rampant Wildfires Will Affect Our Drinking Water

In a world of bigger, hotter fires, it is time to think of forests as vital infrastructure, and to invest in preserving these resources for the future.

If you live in the northwestern half of the continent, as I do, there has been no escaping this year’s extraordinary wildfire season.

Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes. Tourists and hikers destined for national parks such as Glacier, Waterton, Yosemite and Mount Rainier have had to cancel plans or suffer through noxious smoke drifting in from fires, some hundreds of miles away. Hardly a day goes by when a public health official isn’t warning people to stay inside or reduce physical activity.

Once the smoke clears, a more enduring problem will emerge. Forests play a large role in regulating climate change and rainfall patterns over land. They also act as filters for water consumed by hundreds of millions of people.

But once trees catch fire, they unleash ash, sediments and various noxious chemicals. And heat from fires undermines soil stability. Then, when heavy rain falls, tainted water slides into rivers rather than seeping into underground aquifers. If it rains hard enough, flooding often follows, especially when there are no trees to take up what moisture is absorbed into the soil.

The inevitable overload of carbon and sediment coming from a big fire can interfere with a water treatment plant’s disinfection process, just like a dishwasher with a plugged drain. When that happens, carbon reacts with chlorine and produces undesirable chemical byproducts, including known and suspected carcinogens.

The science of wildfire hydrology has been around for some time. But most government agencies wouldn’t consider funding research into this field until the 2002 Hayman fire burned nearly 138,000 acres of forest in the Colorado Rockies, producing catastrophic results.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

CO2 is Changing the Jet Stream in Ways that will Create more Harveys

August 30, 2017

CO2 is Changing the Jet Stream in Ways that will Create more Harveys

The flooding over Houston has become absolutely devastating, and now it is officially record-breaking. Parts of Southeast Texas have now seen 50 inches of rain since Friday — and the rain is still falling.

“The record for total rainfall from a tropical system has been BROKEN!” the National Weather Service tweeted Tuesday morning. The previous record for wettest tropical system in the continental United States was 48 inches. Harvey had already hit 49.20, and the rain was still coming.

“Many textbooks have the 60-inch mark as a once-in-a-million-year recurrence interval,” as the Washington Post Weather Gang reported Sunday.

We’re seeing these staggering rainfall totals because this tropical storm hovered in place for days over southeast Texas, sweeping in vast quantities of moisture from the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. And the latest science points a finger at climate change for this.

“The kind of stalled weather pattern that is drenching Houston is precisely the sort of pattern we expect because of climate change,” climatologist Michael Mann explained in an email to ThinkProgress. Earlier this year, Mann co-authored a study explaining how human-caused warming is changing our atmosphere’s circulation, including the jet stream, in a way that leads to “increase in persistent weather extremes” during the summer.

“I agree with Mike [Mann] that the weak steering currents over the south-central US coincident with Harvey are consistent with our expectations for a warmer world, which of course includes effects of a very warm Arctic,” Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at Rutgers University, told ThinkProgress.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Harvey Makes Second Landfall In Louisiana After Leaving “Apocalyptic” Flooding, Record Rainfall In Texas

August 30, 2017

Harvey Makes Second Landfall In Louisiana After Leaving “Apocalyptic” Flooding, Record Rainfall In Texas

Five days after it first plowed into southwest Texas as a category 4 hurricane, Tropical Storm Harvey has made second landfall west of Cameron on the border between Texas and Louisiana, early Wednesday according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm, which has already pummeled the city of Houston with more than 50 inches of rain – a new record for the contiguous US, according to the Wall Street Journal – has left at least 18 dead, including two Houston police officers, and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Though the hurricane (now tropical storm) has wreaked widespread devastation on Texas, Reuters says citizens of Western Louisiana have at least one silver lining to cling to: torrential rains are expected to cease later on Wednesday as the storm picks up speed and moves northeast away from the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA was forecasting less than an inch of rain for the Houston area on Wednesday, with a slight chance of sunshine.

“Harvey, which made landfall west of Cameron, Louisiana on Wednesday, was expected to produce an additional 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15.24 cms) of rain to an area about 80 miles east of Houston as well as southwestern Louisiana, where some areas have already seen more than 17 inches of rain.

It is projected to weaken as it moves inland to the northeast, the National Hurricane Center said.

“We aren’t going to be dealing with it for too much longer. It’s going to pick up the pace and get out of here,” said Donald Jones, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana.”

Wet weather walloping much of Ontario, Quebec and heading east

May 5, 2017

Wet weather walloping much of Ontario, Quebec and heading east

Ottawa River, Laurentian communities hit hard; New Brunswick expected to be next

Some Pointe-Gatineau, Que., residents have had to abandon their cars trapped by flooding. Firefighters have gone door-to-door in parts of Gatineau to warn residents of the dangers of staying put as forecasts call for rain throughout the weekend. (CBC) Poster of video clip Heavy rainfall affected airline passengers in Canada’s busiest airport on Friday, while voluntary evacuation orders were in effect in some areas of Ontario and Quebec.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for much of Quebec and a rainfall warning for much of southern and eastern Ontario. New Brunswick, particularly the southern part of the province, will be in the crosshairs of the slow-moving system beginning Friday night and into Saturday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Montreal on Friday morning, said the federal government is closely monitoring the flood threat.

“Our thoughts are with the families, the communities affected by the severe flooding that’s going on throughout Quebec and indeed across the country,” he said.

He praised the volunteers and first responders helping out and said Ottawa was ready to respond to formal requests for assistance.

“We will, of course, be there as the cleanup continues after the waters recede,” he said.

In all affected areas, residents are being warned to stay away from banks of rivers and streams and low-lying areas and to avoid driving into standing water. Homeowners are advised to ensure valuables aren’t kept in basements, to make sure catch basins and eaves are clear of leaves and debris, and to call 311 to report any flooding issues.

Quebec

The most wide-ranging threats of flooding are in Quebec, with 124 communities in the province affected.

Urgences Québec says more than 1,326 residences in the province have been affected by flooding this week, with at least 700 people forced out of their homes.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Stunning Drone Footage Of The Midwest Flooding Wreaking Havoc On US Oil

January 2, 2016

Stunning Drone Footage Of The Midwest Flooding Wreaking Havoc On US Oil

After the first deadly winter storm this season, now come the floods: the near-record water level across the U.S. Midwest has disrupted everything from oil to agriculture, forcing pipelines, terminals and grain elevators to close. This is the worst flood in the region since May 2011, when rising water on the Mississippi and its tributaries deluged cities, slowed barge traffic and threatened refinery and chemical operations and is just shy of the worst flood of breaking 30-year records.

According to Bloomberg, the floods have killed at least 20 people and shut hundreds of roads across Missouri and Illinois, according to AccuWeather Inc. Rain-swollen rivers will set records in the Mississippi River basin through much of January. Fifty miles (80 kilometers) of the Illinois River remain closed, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as five miles of the Mississippi River.

Additionally, the Coast Guard issued a high-water safety advisory for 566 miles of Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Natchez, Mississippi. It also instituted high-water towing limitations near Morgan City, Louisiana, for vessels heading south that are 600 feet or shorter, it said in a statement.

And while water levels have started to recede in some areas, closures and restrictions remain in place for safety, said Jonathan Lally, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard. “The high water is kind of moving in a big glob and it’s on its way down,” he said Friday in a telephone interview from New Orleans.

The impact of the flood has hit farmers, with hog producers in southern Illinois calling other farmers, hoping to find extra barn space to relocate pigs. Processors are sending additional trucks to retrieve market-ready pigs, she said. In one case, an overflowing creek took out electricity and made roads impassable, causing 2,000 pigs to drown.

But the flood’s most adverse economic impact may be on oil, which may see an even greater increase in stockpiles as a result, pushing the price of oil even lower.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Another Reason To Move Away From California: ‘Conditions Are Like A Third-World Country’

April 20, 2015

Another Reason To Move Away From California: ‘Conditions Are Like A Third-World Country’

As if anyone actually neededanother reason to move out of the crazy state of California, now it is being reported that conditions in some areas of the state “are like a third-world country” due to the multi-year megadrought that has hit the state. In one California county alone, more than 1,000 wells have gone dry as the groundwater has disappeared. The state is turning back into a desert, and an increasing number of homes no longer have any water coming out of their taps or showerheads. So if you weren’t scared away by the wildfires, mudslides, high taxes, crime, gang violence, traffic, insane political correctness, the nightmarish business environment or the constant threat of “the big one” reducing your home to a pile of rubble, perhaps the fact that much of the state could soon be facing Dust Bowl conditions may finally convince you to pack up and leave. And if you do decide to go, you won’t be alone. Millions of Californians have fled the state in recent years, and this water crisis could soon spark the greatest migration out of the state that we have ever seen.

Back in 1972, Albert Hammond released a song entitled “It Never Rains In Southern California“, and back then that was considered to be a good thing.

But today, years of very little rain are really starting to take a toll. In fact, one government official says that conditions in Tulare Country “are like a third-world country”…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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