Weather & Earth Science News

True scale of Sandy's devastation across Eastern Seaboard emerges as death toll hits fifty and damage set to top $50billion Sandy turns thriving New York community into blackened wasteland whilst in the wake of the storm transport chaos as floods recede with fears that New York Subway system may take weeks to recover from storm .   And Hoboken Mayor says 25k residents are trapped by flood waters filled with live wires and raw sewerage .  Meanwhile,  nuclear reactors shut amid US storm chaos and snow pummels West Virginia - with 3ft in places (much as forecast) - whilst Sandy lashes Canada with winds, heavy rain .   And the BBC have New York devastation mapped . And more reasons not to trust what the media say as Hurricane Sandy brings storm of fake news and photos to New York - journalists all too quick to publish dramatic images and stories without bothering to verify their source. Piers Corbyn does himself no credit by continuing to blatantl...

Storm Sandy causes severe flooding in eastern US with at least 12 dead, and another one dead in Toronto as Sandy sends rain, high winds into Canada The Daily Mail, as usual, as some of the best pictures as superstorm Sandy throws a 13ft wall of water at US coast Bounty crew member pronounced dead , with the captain still missing as the replica sail boat sank in heavy seas  produced by Sandy off Carolina And on the southwestern edge of the storm, snow blanketing Appalachian Mountains, sending out snow plows and skiers weeks early NASA examines Hurricane Sandy as it affects eastern USA Hit by Sandy last week, storm damages crops in Haiti, fueling food price woes Elsewhere, storm sees southern India batten down After Son-Tinh, flooding leaves 70 boats missing on China-Viet Nam border Weather warnings downgraded in Bulgaria as cities and towns mop up after heavy rains Disappointment for UKww forum member Chris as Weatherquest loses contract to pr...

Wintry weather across much of Europe caused problems at the weekend.  Surprise October snow hits central Germany whilst snow cataches Swiss unawares and in France boy, 12, missing as 3 die in storms .  At least 12 people died in traffic accidents as autumn snow fall cuts power lines, disrupts travel in Poland .   And in Moscow, authorities battling slush after heavy snowfall . Hurricane Sandy: US states begin storm shutdown with thousands hit by flight cancellations and USGS storm-surge sensors deployed ahead of Tropical Storm Sandy While in the east, typhoon forces mass evacuations in Viet Nam Hawaii hit by tsunami triggered by Canada quake And interesting to see a new hydro scheme planned for Lochaber - another excuse to spread wind turbines as has been proposed for around the Glen Doe reservoir at Stronelairg ?

Autumn just turned white . Snow fell fairly widely in the Highlands and eastern Scotland yesterday, with some nice accumulation in, for example, Aberdeen.  Overnight and into this morning a few showers have spread south to some eastern parts of England - giving the first snow of the season here, a day earlier than we saw it in 2008, the last time lowland parts of England saw October snow. But it could turn a lot snowier in parts of America soon as 'Frankenstorm' bears down on US east coast And in the east, deadly tropical storm Son-Tinh batters Philippines In Eskdale, Minnygap turbines blocked amid nuclear ban check fears - it's feared vibrations from them could affect the MoD seismograph used to monitor nuclear explosions.   Seen, nuclear weopons do have a positive benefit!

Sandy pounds Bahamas after killing 21 in Caribbean and now Hurricane Sandy barrels towards US as meteorologist warns 'perfect storm' could pose 'greatest risk to human life' with Florida coastline under storm warning .   But as the polt thickens .... and our chance for snow rises it's worth noting there is still uncertainty on what track the storm will take over the weekend. Here in Britain, gritters at the ready for Arctic blast of winter at half-term .  Well, it'll be a bit frosty tomorrow morning and there'll be snow on the Scottish hills for a time.   Hardly unusual.   But never let the mundane get in the way of a good headline, eh?   Btw, what happened to our 'blood rain'?   Just been damp and drizzly here all week .... Meanwhile, in Sweden, icy roads after season's first snow hits Stockholm Clean-up in flood hit Nicosia suburb One dead as magnitude 5.3 earthquake hits southern Italy Stunning pictures ca...

Jamaica braces for tropical storm Sandy Awards rain down on Scotland's most dedicated weather observers UK public favours wind turbines over shale gas wells, poll finds - but it's wrong to imply this means there is public support for wind farms, any more than a poll in which, given the choice, a majority would rather live next door to Stalin than Pol Pot means the public like Stalin .....  In the Queensland outback it's been 100 days without rain .... and counting meanwhile, permanent cloud-seeding gets green light to increase snowfall in NSW.  Possibly. Biologists record increasing amounts of plastic litter in Arctic deep sea Opposite behaviours? Arctic sea ice shrinks, Antarctic grows And the fight back aginst the anti-science lobby continues as climate scientist sues for defamation

In a shocking piece of medieval witch-huntery, a supposedly modern country has convicted scientists for failing to predict an unpredictable event (or more accurately, for implying that an unpredictable event was unlikely to occur).  L'Aquila quake: Italy scientists guilty of manslaughter .   It sets a frightening precedent.  What next?   Forecaster jailed for failing to predict the exact time and location of a flash flood?  If Michael Fish had made his infamous 1987 forecast in Italy, he would presumably have been imprisoned for life!  Is this the 21st century.  Or the 12th?   Michael Hanlon's view: Italy courts turn back on science . What is blood rain?   Er, sandy rain.  And not that uncommon. Thick fog leads to more than 120 cancelled flights at Heathrow - well it is autumn, what do you expect?  Ceredigion floods 'made worse' by floodplain building Snow, rain and a tornado kick off winter in Californ...

Pilgrims evacuated as French floods hits Lourdes shrine and as the rains eased over the weekend, Lourdes launches massive clean up after flash floods Apparently, this year, UK experiences 'wierdest weather' - by which they seem to mean a dry spring in 2011 was followed by a wet spring in 2012.   Which is as wierd as finding a chocolate button in a bag of Cadbury's chocolate buttons.   Very wierd.   And there's more wierd weather ahead as 'blood rain' forecast for Halloween - except Halloween is later next weekend and the rain containing Saharan dust is falling this week .....   So another rubbish headline. Nine injured in multi-car pile-up caused by severe dust storm in Oklahoma Could a hurricane ever strike southern California? Cold to continue after wild weekend in NZ Goodness gracious, great ball of lightning! Forest fires linked to high temperatures two years before The deadly 2011 Lorca earthquake 'caused by...

September matches global heat record, US says - tied with 2005 for the warmest September ever recorded.  NOAA's global state of the climate analysis for September is here In the US, corn belt shifting north with climate change Tropical cyclones are occurring more frequently than before, study shows Circulation of Atlantic was faster during last Ice Age than today Huge landslides inflicts damage on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast - not clear what the cause was. And with not a lot of notable weather happening, I'm (probably) off too Essan tomorrow for a couple of nights, followed by the MBA AGM near Penrith - so probably no more upsdates till next week.

Today is the 25th anniversary of 'The Great Storm' - of which my main memory is waking up to hear a terrific roaring sound outside, turning over, and going back to sleep .....    And dodging debris on the road walking into work next morning.  Britain has, of course, been hit by worse storms many times since.  But not in the SE.   And it wasn't all disaster.  The Great Storm: the healing power of nature .   Meanwhile, Michael Fish gets 'hurricane' forecast right in tribute advert .  Clean-up starts after violent storm in NZ As Rafael moves through the Caribbean, storm could strengthen to hurricane David Rose has been caught out making up misleading stories in the Daily Mail again.  He claims global warming stopped 16 years ago, reveals Met office report quietly released .   Except there is no such report and all he has done is to produce his own graph (it's not clear what the data points on it are) with...

Torrential rain causes flooding chaos and travel misery in eastern Scotland , whilst the appropriately named Storm's house is swept away by flood As forecast, wild weather lashes New Zealand whilst in Australia, this week's snow strands 300 vehicles Scientists identify trigger for explosive volcanic eruptions NASA's Operation Icebridge resumes flights over Antarctica Where did Irish animals live during the Ice Age?   Perhaps in the Bay of Biscay And Curiosity sends back most Earth-like  view yet from Mars .

It might be spring down under, but snow causes havoc across eastern Australia and there's also a 'big and nasty' storm due to hit NZ this weekend. Yesterday, in Britain, Clovelly flooding damages houses after heavy rain and todays there's a torrential rain warning for east of Scotland with the Red Cross called in to evacuate residents as Fife bears brunt of rain And global warming could make washout UK summers the norm, study warns Meanwhile, records keep tumbling in America where it's now been the warmest January-September on record in US .  NOAA's Sept report is here Tropical storm kills 23 in southeast Bangladesh Nigeria president calls floods a 'national disaster' Cold wind makes Norwegian Sea warmer Huge volcano plume seen from space Nearby super-Earth likely a diamond planet

Yesterday was the coldest October 9th on record in Britain, with a minimum of -4.9c at Tulloch in the Highlands.  Nothing special though since Oct 9th was, previously, by far the 'warmest' date of the month and, indeed, even now, only 3rd Oct has not recorded a temp as low or lower (the date record for the 3rd is 4.8c).   However, whilst it has no bearing on the forthcoming winter, it's perhaps also worth noting that the latest MetO seasonal probability charts do indicate a higher than average probability that overall the period Nov-Dec-Jan will be colder than average and slightly drier than average.   This doesn't mean a repeat 2010 of course, since we could just have a long period of very slightly colder than average weather, but nonetheless all the signs are that this coming winter won't be a record mild one. Meanwhile, coupled with the cold on Monday night  perfect magnetic storm brings spectacular northern lights show .   Grey skies ...

Whilst it was a fine, autumnal weekend for most of Britain, parts of Finland were hit by nearly two month's rain in three days as today flood threat persists in western Finland Dozens of houses, schools damaged by Typhoon Gaemi in Viet Nam Scientists blame warmer Atlantic for wet summers - specifically, the current positive phase of the NAO US runs out of funds to battle wildfires - hot and dry weather has made this year one of the worst on record for wildfires. Spectacular 'one in a million' picture of a lightning strike by fearless stormchaser And no surprise to learn that oil palm plantations are clearing carbon-rich tropical forests in Borneo

Climate sceptics more prominent in UK and US media - which may explain why, amongst the general public, there are the most climate change sceptic in US, UK and Japan .   And on that subject, other research shows that when it comes to climate change beliefs: political views trump facts for some .   No surprise there.   Driver, 64, crushed to death by falling tree after 13 flood alerts are put in place across Britain with this morning, houses flooded in south Devon after heavy rain Bushfire reached 'doorsteps' of homeson the Central Coast in NSW Weather-making high pressure systems predicted to intensify Alex Salmond officially opens dark sky observatory in Galloway.   Probably eye-ing up new windfarm locations in the process!

Out in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Nadine breaks up after tying modern age record - but it's remnants may bring more rain to Britain on Sunday. Earlier this week, Southern Manitoba grass fires prompt evacuations though  better news now as rain, wet snow blows into Manitoba ending the warm, dry spell whilst across the border snow hammers northwestern Minnesota where they were also tackling wildfires just this week. And there's a snowy winter ahead for some in the US according to the Accuweather winter forecast.   I will, as usual, be collating the various long range forecasts for Britain later this month. Nigeria floods brings crocodiles, hippos into homes - I'm not sure which is worse! Running the numbers on Antarctic sea ice   -the so-called climate sceptics and global coolers won't like this one!  Nor do they like the suggestion that methane emission can be traced back to Roman times .  Oh no!  They killed the Roman Warm Period! ...

October heatwave brings triple-digit temps to Southern California Tourist attraction boss considers suing Met Office over 'pessimistic' weather forecasts , claiming amongst other things that " Over the August bank holiday weekend I remember they forecast a whole weekend of rain with heavy rain on the Saturday. We did not have a drop and were enjoying sunshine and blue sky all day " - radar archive clearly shows widespread and quite heavy showers affecting all parts of the country on Saturday, and again in the SW on the Bank Holiday Monday afternoon.  This thread on UKww contains reports of heavy thunderstorms, hail and a lot of lightning on the 25th (including torrential downpours in Devon)  ......  Oops!  Sounds to me like the MetO got it spot on!   To persue a successful legal case he would need exact details of what was forecast and what actually transpired - I suspect after obtaining such in the case would be quickly dropped .....   Of...

Flood claims 3 in Jamaica Amazing footage from Russia of the moment driver us truck by lightning as he drives down busy highway .   Ouch!   Mind, I've not witnessed a groundstrike at all in years! Bulgaria sees record heat for 5th consecutive day Wine prices to rise after dry weather in Spain and Italy - fortunately I prefer non European wines Thus far, autumn warmer and wetter than usual in Finland But it looks like wet winters a thing of the past for Australia I see Piers Corbyn is up to his usual games, claiming : TOP RED WARNING End Sept-Start Oct (R5+, Sept29-Oct1) – WeatherAction expects major extreme events around the world which will be notably more extreme than expectations of standard Meteorology from one day or so ahead The result is top success for this WeatherAction 'Toppest' (R5+) Sun-Earth extreme events Special Warning Sep29-Oct1.  Events started with 30MeV and 10MeV proton bursts on 28th Sept. ...

Powerful typhoon kills two, hurts scores in Japan with video footage as Typhoon blasts car across Japanese car park British tourist, 52, swept to her death after severe flooding and torrential rain hit southern Spain - death toll from last week's flash floods is now 10. In Newcastle, more Newburn flood-hit residents told to leave by council A warning that climate change could cripple southwestern US forests but, in contrast, better news for Canada as rising temperatures may bring back forests to icy northern borders And a new geoengineering idea that doesn't involve sulphur: global warming could be combatted with asteroid dust Another story on how wind farms given £34m to switch off in bad weather - which does however ignore the fact it's cheaper and much easier to switch off wind turbines than any conventional power station.   The story is true: but not all the pertinent facts have been mentioned.   The real issue is that we need to dev...