Weather & Earth Science News

Tropical storm Erika death toll reaches 20 as heavy rains and winds batter Caribbean as state of emergency declared for Florida Hurricane Ignacio churns towards Hawaii In Siberia,  boat taxis needed in Ussuryisk after flooding in the wake of Typhoon Goni Police rescue motorists stranded in heavy snowfall in Tasmania's south   Freak 'tornado' rips up trees and tears off roof tiles as high winds damage homes in Trebanos in south Wales   And the mystery of the 'alien plughole' on Mars solved

Tropical Storm Erika brings nine inches of rain and flash floods to Caribbean , with at least four dead in Dominica - it still has Florida in its sights Haboob dust storm strong enough to know over a truck sweeps Phoenix Historic 2013 Colorado Front Range storm accomplished up to 1,000 years of erosion   Warragamba Dam disaster warning: downpour now could 'devastate' western Sydney Here, a Norfolk tornado-like wind damages homes Road-surfing Russians ride typhoon waves with wakeboards tied to cars Scientists warn leaders of dangers of thawing permafrost NASA says sea levels have risen faster than thought due to climate change And some very poor reporting that nonetheless shows just why the public erroneously think the Met Office always get the forecast wrong.  Yellow weather warning for rain issued in Dorset says the  Dorset Echo, added that " The yellow weather warning covers Dorset and includes Weymouth, Dorchester,...

NSW weather: Warragamba Dam to overflow; 320 properties evacuated in St Georges Basin and Sussex Inlet as heavy rain continues to affect Sydney.  Meanwhile drivers slammed for removing flood warning safety signs so they can drive through storm-ravaged roads in NSW as local mayor claims 'they think it's funny' when they get stuck . Airport flooded and planes grounded as typhoon that killed at least 26 in the Philippines hits Shanghai In England,  new South East weather warning as flood clear-up continues Has Nathan Rao invented a new weather term, claiming rare octopus cyclone to bring torrential storms today .... ?   Not quite, as it turns out Prof David Schultz - whom it quotes - coined the phrase in a recent paper .   But hopefully it won't catch on!  Greenland's Jakobshavn Glacier sheds  big ice chunk And we get to see Ceres' mysterious 'glowing pyramid' in unprecedented detail

Dutch tornado causes considerable damage in Noord-Holland , as Dutch language media report that tornado devastated farm with more pictures. French storms in south kill three on Saturday. Yesterday saw flooding in the capital as heavy rain batters UK - well, a part of the UK ......  Sydney saw 24 lightning strikes a minute during Monday's tempest - that's more than I get in a year.   A lot more ....!   And evacuation ordered due to 'imminent failure' of Jerrara dam near Kiama as wild storm dumps rain and hail on city . Typhoon Goni slams Kyushu, injuring 13 New storm forms on path to Hawaii as Kilo moves west One-time Hurricane Danny has died, but Tropical Storm Erica may soon be born Pictures as a giant fire tornado whirls above Idaho's Soda blaze And new light shed on end of Snowball Earth period

Forecast models are now calling for this El Nino to be strongest on record Typhoon Goni lashes Japan after leaving 19 dead, 16 missing in Philippines In the Carribean, tropical storm warnings issued as Danny nearing landfall, second storm forming Tornado hits Dubbo as huge storm smashes Sydney As willdfires continue, another week of Baikal on fire Here the weekend saw the heatwave that lasted just one day - Sunday produced the highest rainfall rate I have so far recorded: 80mm/h although the total for the weekend was under 14mm.  Still no thunder though and since July 2014 I have only twice heard distant rumbles in Evesham and no lightning. It's claimed the Met Office 'lost BBC contract over dumbing down rows and weather app' - which is quite pathetic if true.  But really all a storm in a teacup over the BBC weather ?   Others already produce some BBC forecasts - Weatherquest for BBC Look East, for example. And if the BBC wants them ...

Typhoon Goni Update: At Least 7 Dead, 2 Missing As Typhoon Batters Northern Philippines whilst Hong Kong faces sweltering heat and haze as twin typhoons enter region   Two dead as storms, heavy rain hit parts of Bulgaria    Yes, it's mid August, but snow falls in western Alberta as frost advisories issued  Nightmare grips Californian town as swarms of black-and-red bugs rain down like a Biblical plague on residents   Russian mud volcano looks like a giant human eye Watch humanity ruin the oceans: Nasa animation shows how vast ‘garbage islands’ have taken over the seas in the last 35 years And maybe war is not entirely all bad?  Middle East conflict drastically 'improves air quality' .  I don't think I'll be suggesting we try it in Britain though!

NOAA data confirms that July 2015 was warmest month ever recorde for the globe - full report here Typhoon Goni lashes Philippines; future dangers to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea whilst Danny intensifies into first hurricane of 2015 season in the Atlantic, heading for the West Indies.  But tiny Hurricane Danny could almost fit in Super Typhoon Atsani's eye . Europe hit by one of the worst droughts since 2003 - but it looks like much of Britain could see plenty of rain in the next few days, so no worries here.  Flash flooding more of a concern. Summer weather sets temperature, precipitation records in Utah Caught on video: powerful lightning strikes Delta plane in Atlanta Warming climate is deepening California drought , and as it does so, California drought causing valley land to sink Equatorial regions prone to disruptive space weather , not just higher latitudes And a sobering picture: without humans, the whole world could look li...

Enormous red sprites seen from space - captured by the ISS Wildfires scorch western US from California to Washington Twin typhoons spin in Pacific, adding active storm season there In Japan, three hurt in Kanagawa by wind gusts blamed on tornado Summer heatwave engulfs Middle East Central Asian glaciers thaw fast with warming in threat to hydro, farms Is the global warming 'pause' over?   Kevin Trenberth thinks so.  I still say it never existed .... And enough with the ridiculous storm names!   As even the Washington Post's "Capital Weather Gang" get admonished for referring to a "Godzilla" El Nino....

Snow continues to fall across Tasmania after causing morning traffic chaos Heat wave scorches western US with record high temperatures  Heat wave in Israel sets records for August   Egypt, Sudan heat waves kill 108 people in August The European heat wave spells disaster for Bosnia's farmers Ecuador declares emergency over volcano whilst Japan's Sakurajima volcano: chance of eruption 'extremely high' And ten common myths and misconceptions about the science of weather

World set for hottest year ever as July break record - according to NASA and JMA data  Heat wave descends once again upon Israel Heavy rain causes 40ft deep sinkhole to open up as Britain is hit by storms and 10 flood alerts  - with a storm total of 39.2mm or which 37.1mm fell after midnight it was, as expected, my wettest day since the 20th July 2015.   No floods here though, in fact the river level only rose about 20cm.   Compared with around 500cm in 2007 .... And unusually, Scotland's winter snow still hasn't melted : whilst it's certainly been wet enough, it hasn't been warm enough at higher levels for the largest ice remnants to entirely thaw, resulting in some spectacular ice 'caves'.

Not quite a repeat of 2007 here, but it does look like being my wettest day since 20th July 2007 - the rain deficit of previous months though means there has actually been barely any rise in river levels, despite over an inch of rain since midnight.  But there was flooding in Kent and Sussex after torrential downpours yesterday . Death toll rises to 76 in Egypt's heatwave According to NOAA: El Nino is 'significant and strengthening', could rival strongest on record Some great pictures as storm chaser captures the incredible moment a tornado appeared next to a rainbow in the skies over Colorado and a colourful rainbow appears as lightning strikes during dramatic electrical storm in Arizona. Siberia on fire around Lake Baikal Chinese cave 'graffiti' tells a 500-year story of climate change and impact on society Heat release from stagnant sea helped end last Ice Age And a new study suggests humans responsible for demise of gigantic anima...

Is this the world's saddest snowman?   Spotted after some short-lived snow falls in heart of Canberra's CBD Europe heat wave sets all-time record in Germany, again; prompts  Poland power cuts French heatwave means this year's vintage will be top quality but there will be less of it... Death toll reaches 90 in Japan's record-setting heat wave Here, the weather should be interesting over the next couple of days with some very heavy rain in some areas; over 100mm possible in a situation not entirely dissimilar to July 2007.  The big difference is that this time it comes on the back of a very dry period (here, at least) so the same level of riverine flooding is not expected, though flash flooding remains a risk, and some parts of southern England have seen much more rain this summer than Worcestershire.  Obviously not everywhere will see such high totals, but there's a flood warning as 'month's rain to fall in two days' Dozens missi...

Central and eastern Europe shimmering in historic heat wave as Polish heatwave cuts power to industry and these pictures appear to genuinely show theat incredible moment a car melted in the Sun during 100f heatwave in Italy .    Meanwhile, sweltering heatwave in Egypt leaves 21 dead Temperatures hit 37.9c in Happy Valley on Hong Kong's hottest ever day Huge boulders block Arizona highway after flash flood Confusion down under: Auckland ice flurry not snow, just graupel And  NASA simulation indicates ancient flood volcanoes could have altered the climate

Something I missed from Thursday: David Rose has produced one of his periodical attacks on science, full of lies, half-truths and false assertions, claiming that the more money the Met Office gets, the more ludicrously inaccurate its doom-mongering on climate change .  He will no doubt totally ignore the MetO's polite response - as he has done many times before, often repeated inaccuracies long after they have been pointed out to him.  The inconvienent truth to such people is that the truth is, indeed, inconvenient and therefore should be ignored ....  It's also worth saying that when the detractors and deniers have to resort to hauling out a 1987 forecast in which the strength of forecast gales was under-estimated, as proof of how inept the MetO are, they really don't have much of a case to make!  Typhoon Soudelor hits China after sweeping across Taiwan with video footage as car gets blown away by typhoon in Taiwan and at least twenty-two people dead or mis...

Typhoon Soudelor hits Taiwan en route to mainland China; four dead, thousands evacuated Scottish farmers hit by prolonged wet weather Spain wildfires threaten homes amid Europe heatwave warnings (the latter do not apply to Britain!) as Poland braces for record temperatures today whilst in the Czech Republic, drought to last another two weeks at least with 39 degrees temperatures. Confirmed tornado in Troy, Alabama tears through Wal-Mart July was much wetter than average for U.S., West sees warmest January-July on record It's still winter in NZ with heavy snow to hit the North Island after already affecing South Island Amateur photographers flock to Instagram to share their shots of incredible weather rolling into Perth Arctic sea ice declines rapidly, but avoids record low In Argentina's B.A. Province floods: number of people evacuated lowers Mount Raung volcanic ash cloud stops Bali-bound flights , again Reminding us, once ag...

Indian trains derailed by flash floods in Madhya Pradesh Macedonia flash flood kills four, including children  Super Typhoon Soudelor stirs up monster waves, powerful thunderstorms lfracombe storm claims £25,000 sports car    Road collapses into river in China following thunderstorms Spectacular undulatus asperatus cloud images captured in Kentucky, Ohio Tasmania's snowy cold snap revives fortunes of Ben Lomond ski field  Middle East swelters in heatwave as temperatures top 50c Japan heat wave intensifies; death toll surges to 55 And finally, but by no means least, happy birthday Katy xx

In the northwest Pacific, Saipan in 'state of disaster' after Typhoon Soudelor direct hit with reports that Super Typhoon Soudelor is the biggest storm of the year so far  In Florida, the Tampa Bay area is under water as tropical disturbance spawns flooding rainfall Two dead, others injured in N.H. circus tent collapse during storm Ontarians survey damage after tornado, intense storms California fires: Evacuation orders given to 13,000 In Britain we went from record hot to record cold in July of extremes 9 swept away by flash flood in China; 8 bodies recovered Myanmar asks for international aid to handle floods     Agarian resettlements drive severe tropical deforestation across the Amazon And according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service, glaciers melting faster than ever

Man killed and 15 hospitalized after storm slams tent on crowd during festival in suburban Chicago   Ontario storm knocks out power for thousands California wildfire doubles in size on fifth day Tasmanian snow: Two men rescued from snowbound car in central Tasmania; more snowfalls expected In Jordan, massive sandstorm swallows Amman, flights diverted to Ben Gurion Bengal flood situation grim, death toll nears 50  Rescuers in Myanmar struggle to reach flood-hot areas, toll seen rising Extreme heat wave pushes Israel's electricity reserve to the limit whilst apocalyptic Iran heat wave nearly breaks world record and  rivers dry up in Iraq as country struggles through unprecedented heatwave three days after temperatures hit 71C or, rather, 52c - the media have unfortunately now discovered 'heat index' so expect many more misleading headlines like this ....  Heatwave sweeps across South Korea, kills 3 And apparently Britain's dreary...

Myanmar floods: President declares state of emergency as tropical cyclone brings floods to Bay of Bengal nations Starving Scottish bees threatened by bad weather Cuba registers 10 high-temperature records in July as well as a possible all-time record high, recorded at a newly installed station July goes down as the hottest month on record in Seattle Incredible footage captures bright green meteor with an orange trail soaring across the sky over Buenos Aires   Queensland earthquakes: Magnitude-5.7 quake hits state two days after similar quake; seismologists warn more may follow And the Earth's magnetic field is older than previously thought - but that doesn't mean it's going to suddenly switch off in te next week, of even next few tens of millions of years, as some tabloid headlines tried to suggest!