Weather & Earth Science News

Off home to Essan on Friday so this will most likely be my last entry for a week or so. Hopefully when I get back, severe floods will not still be the big news story! But at the moment they're afflicting 5 continents: Brazil flash floods kill dozens and leave 1,000 missing Dyke breached again in sodden China whilst, as of Tuesday, South China floods toll rises to 199 - with many still missing. More rain is forecast. Maple Creek, Trans-Canada highway devastated by flooding and in the USA, storms spew funnel clouds, flash floods in Midwest Ghana's army and navy battle deadly Accra floods Heavy rainfall floods cities and towns in northern Bosnia 150,000 marooned by Bangladesh floods No such problems in Britain at the moment though as we enjoy a spell of warm sunny weather with thunderstorms at the weekend - the latter more likely on Sunday and into next week. And in Scotland, warm weather sparks plea over deliberately-set fires . Heavy snow falls in the South Island of N...

Solstice greetings! It's all downhill from here! First Pacific hurricane of 2010 forms off Mexico China flood toll rises to 175 dead Met Office apologies after weather balloon crashes into conservatory Arsonist blamed for Arizona wildfire as twister rips through Montana town Delhi experiences hottest day in June, weather to get worse In Canada, flooded Medicine Hat about to get more rain Russian volcano Shiveluch spews ash to 3 miles, no threat to air traffic yet Canyon carved in just 3 days in Texas flood Polar oceans key to temperature in Tropics Retooling the ocean conveyor belt

For 12 years I worked for Willis Faber and was delighted when my old employers bought the Sears Tower in Chicago - and renamed it! I also recall the storm of October 1987 when the Willis Head Office in Ipswich (an iconic black glass building) suffered minor storm damage with at least one window blown in. And now history has sort of repeated itself as storm blows out at least one window in Willis Tower . Meanwhile, Minn digs out from tornadoes; 3 dead, dozens hurt More than 1 mln evacuated in China over flood threat whilst Chinese vice premiere urges flood control efforts Ocean changes may have dire impact on people Cleared forests lead to rise in malaria in Brazil - doesn't surprise me at all. And note, the increase has nothing tio do with global warming! Volcanic eruptions in North America were more explosive in ancient past Scientists probe climate memories in vanishing glacier . I'd forgotten there still were glaciers in New Guinea. I think there's mention of th...

Floods continue to dominate the news. Landslides kill scores in Bangladesh and Myanmar - usual story of monsoon rains and heavily denuded hillsides. Deforestation kills! Further east, China rain storms and floods kill 46 whilst a Beijing storm causes chaos and closer to home, clean-up of holiday region in southern France begins as death toll rises to 25 . Minn. storms, tornadoes leave at least 2 dead In Wales, rivers run low as dry spell hits - but it looks like heavy showers could return for the end of the month. John Hammond may have suggested the Glastonbury 2010 weather forecast 'dry with sunny spells' but I think heavy showers may well prove closer the mark. Sorry. The Met Office have also reaffirmed that an active hurricane season predicted In South Africa there's snow on Table Mountain - and the cooler weather in Cape Town may perhaps help England against Algeria tonight. The freezing 2010 winter games in South Africa have produced the coldest World C...

Deadly flash floods hit southern France with French flash flood death toll 'expected to rise' . Latest (unconfirmed) reports suggest that at least 29 people have died and the search continues for more missing people. Heavy rain for the region was predicted several days ago though amounts were not expected to be quite so high with nearly 12 inches falling in just a few hours. The event is discussed on UKww here . As usual, the Daily Mail has some of the best photos of this extreme event. It's worth noting that this coincides with one of the periods Piers Corbyn predicted there would be 'deluges' in Western Europe (14-17 June). Although the previous heavy rain and floods in Britain occurred after his previous predicted period (8-11) so this appears to be nothing more than the usual guesswork. If you predict something often enough, you're score a success eventually! Piers is also predicting thunderstorms, deluges and flooding somewhere in Britain someti...

In Arkansas, with the 20th victim's body now recovered, they're turning to the property toll after the flood , meanwhile flash floods in Oklahoma City strand residents on rooftops as Okla. flooding leads to dramatic rescues . Landslides kill at least 46 in Bangladesh Water, water everywhere .... an ancient ocean may have covered third of Mars whilst the Moon's interiror has much higher water content than previously thought . Well, the alien cheese miners need to drink something! Jets punch holes in clouds and create rain - well, more likely snow, and in most cases it evaporates long before it reaches the ground. A good start to the ski season in Australia as the snow comes thick and fast Monsoon covers almost half of India Storm elves and sprites recorded on video Mega-faunal die-off may have cooled planet ...... except there is no evidence that there was any significant, sudden, megafaunal die-off before the onset of the Younger Dryas, and indeed, no explanation for ...

On the 16th July last year, Roger Pielke Sr made the following post on his blog: Comments On The Current Record Global Average Lower TroposphereTemperatures In the last couple of weeks, the onset of the El Niño, that was discussed on in my weblog on July 11 2009 would appear to be a possible explanation for the sudden increase in lower tropospheric temperatures to a record level (e.g. see the latest tropospheric temperature data at Daily Earth Temperatures from Satellite ). This sudden warming is also discussed on other websites ( see and see ). The current and recent anomalies at 500 mb (as representative of the tropospheric temperatures) are provided by the excellent NOAA analyses at http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/intraseasonal/z500_nh_anim.shtml http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/intraseasonal/z500_sh_anim.shtml The location for the sudden warming (in the global average tropospheric temperatures as reported from the AMSU data) at 500 mb in the Nort...

I've finally got myself one of those new fangled mobile phone thingies which, as well as sending and receiving phone call, provides internet access. And am pleased to find I can now access W&ESN on the move - along with many of the news stories I link to here. But don't expect me to be posting anything on the move! Not yet anyway. Terrible news from the USA as Arkansas floodwaters hit campsites and leave 16 dead . earlier reports suggested 20 dead, and the number may well increase as the search for survivors continues with the latest news saying that US emergency centre gets reports of 73 people possible missing at flooded camp site . As the Arkansas flood survivors describe 'tsunami' that killed at least 16 I can only reflect on the times I've seen small Highland streams turn into raging torrents overnight - and remember the occasion I fled a camp spot by the Etive river on Rannoch Moor in pitch darkness as the waters threatened to overspill the banks. I...

Plenty of rain in Evesham yesterday, though we missed most of the heavier downpours during the day. Someone down by the cricket pavilion also filmed a funnel cloud/possible tornado in the distance, somewhere west of Tunnel Hill (possible in vicinity of Throckmorton Airfield) at around 5.10pm. I was walking home from work around the same time .... and saw nothing! So far no other reports so if it did touch down likely to have been in a field. A few other funnels spotted around the country too. However, on Sunday afternoon some funnels certainly did touch down in East Anglia as a tornado leaves trail of destruction and twisters wreak havoc as they tear across Norfolk at 100mph . As Warsaw braces for flood, Slovakia and Hungary reel In Oman, cyclone Phet damage may cost $780m whilst after heading east, cyclone Phet kills 10 in Pakistan . Snowmelt swollen rivers plague Wyoming, Colorado More cloud seeding in SE Asia as Gov't to conduct artificial rainmaking operations to ease d...

Well as predicted it was 4 hot days and a thunderstorm as BBQ weather gives way to storms - and yes, we did just about scrape a thunderstorm in Evesham yesterday afternoon. Only one flash of lightning observed, 3 big cracks of thunder, a spell of heavy rain and a nice whales mouth as the gust front moved through ahead of the storm. There looks to be a chance for more this week. previously, the last thunderstorm in Evesham was 15th June 2009 and the last time thunder was heard here was 25th August 2009. That's along, long time without any proper convective activity, even for the Vale. We missed the activity on Saturday night though when heavy overnight rain causes floods and landslides in Sneition , Notts. Meanwhile in Europe, more flooding forces evacuation in Slovakia whilst a second flood wave inundates hourse in Poland and down the Danube, floods threaten Serbian capital . Interestingly the great Piers Corbyn failed to predict any severe weather for Europe (there were...

What is consuming hydrogen and acetylene on Titan? Another twister strikes Sydney's eastern suburbs Cyclone Phet kills 6 in Oman Storm and heavy rains kill 13 in eastern Pakistan Severe drought causes hunger for 10 million in west Africa Thames Water opens first large scale desalination plant in UK Drought leaves Cuban reservoirs at 40 percent capacity - though no doubt before too long the problem will be heavy rains and floods from a hurricane or two. There are hopes of historic midsummer skiing at Cairngorm Early Earth haze provided ultraviolet shield for planet

Happy Birthday to W&ESN! It was actually 3rd June 2009 that I set up this blog and posted my first entry. Means there's now a whole year's worth of weather and climate news archives all in one easy to find place. And speaking of the weather, it's summer again in Britain. Yes, there's a mini-heatwave on the way as sunshine returns to Britain . And keeping with tradition it looks like it'll be 3 (or 4) hot days and a thunderstorm. Well, there's a risk of thunderstorms in some places over the weekend anyway. It's actually almost a year since the last thunderstorm in the Evesham area - I'm not holding my breathe on us getting one this weekend. But you never know. 'Miracle' town mops up after tornado hit and there is video and photos of the waterspout/tornado that resulted in disaster area declared at Lennox Head . Pretty spectacular and yes, amazing no-one was killed. Death toll from south China rainstorms up to 44 Cyclone Phet causes...

The first tropical storm of the East Pacific Hurricane season struck at the weekend and Agatha deaths rise to 180 in Central America whilst a giant sinkhole shocks neighbourhood in Guatemala city and rescue efforts in Guatemala hampered after storm In Colorado, one of the most photogenic tornadoes in years was captured on film and camera by a number of British stormchasers, including Ian Miller, Bren Jones and Paul Knightley . May weather ends up average says the Met Office - not in Evesham it wasn't. It was colder and wetter than average! Though to be fair, much of the rain fell right at the beginning of the month. Meanwhile, Sainbury's tries to keep one step ahead ofBritish weather whilst ebay says mini-skirts can predict the weather . A unique computer model used to predict active 2010 hurricane season - although those not using the model are all making similar predictions. I wonder if they took solar activity into account? Study finds link between sun and hurri...