Weather & Earth Science News

Two dead as severe flooding swamps south-central Texas; multiple tornadoes reported   Some good news as rain clears haze over south-east Asia for first time in months Photos show 1,000-year flood striking Death Valley The gigantic 'crack in the earth' in Wyoming: Landslide in the Big Horn Mountains causes canyon-like gash And interestingly, Arctic snow not darkening due to soot, dust, Dartmouth-led study finds - though it doesn't necessarily let such pollution off the hook entirely as this is only across inland elevations.

Cyclone Chapala Rapidly Intensifies to a Category 4 Storm in Arabian Sea; Unprecedented Landfall Threat to Yemen, Oman with eight year's worth of rain being predicted.   A similar storm may well have been the origin of the "Noah's Flood" story ... When rain falls on the world's driest desert this is the jaw-dropping result (and this year's display is the most spectacular in 18 years) South Africa sets Earth's hottest October temperature on record: 119f Meanwhile, in Australia, October to be the hottest on record - and global warming is likely to blame Severe storms trigger floods across Middle East   Antarctic ozone hole expands due to cold UN: Climate plans must go further to prevent global warming Has Cassini discovered life on Saturn's moon?   No ... not yet. And it's not just the elderly who get concerned by nonsense stories in the Express.  The poor souls in Holyrood have been panicing as well with th...

Several homes left uninhabitable after wild storm hits Fernvale in Brisbane's west whilst large hail hits Chinchilla as severe storm moves across state Bikini islanders seek US refuge as sea levels threaten homes   The fiery world before dinosaurs: New research reveals fires were more common 300 million years ago than today Scientists find traces of enormous solar storms in the ice of Greenland and Antarctica And weather on demand: making it rain is now a global business

Afghanistan earthquake:  Pakistan army leads rescue   as the death toll reaches 311 in quake-hit Pakistani, Afghan areas And more info on the cause of the Afghan quake: The corner of a continental collision  Elsewhere in Pakistan, thousands of tourists trapped in Kaghan Valley by heavy snowfall whilst unseasonal snowfall brings winter in October to parts of Kashmir, India .   And heavy snow hits large swathe of north China too. Rainfall records, tornado surveys, high water follow storms in Louisiana But how did Mexico escape the strongest hurricane in recorded history with no deaths? The USA's 10-year major hurricane landfall drought may be 'arbitary' but it's far from meaningless Glacier melt in B.C. mountains reaches 'shocking' level  And NZ's glaciers have shrunk by a third in the past 30 years  Scientists confirm that East Antarctica's biggest glacier is melting from below Whilst Antarctic sea ice maxi...

Remnants of Hurricane Patricia head east after soaking Texas - with no reports of major damage or casualties in Mexico In the eastern Mediterranean, storm kills man, leaves hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the dark Arrival of snow in Scottish mountains creates buzz on the slopes , but it won't last and  Glen Coe Munro's 'longest-lasting' snow patch melts Cryosat tracks Arctic sea ice freeze-up EU aid 'ineffective' against illegal logging And today, powerful earthquake strikes northern Afghanistan

Afte rmaking landfall in Mexico as the strongest hurricane ever recorded, Hurricane Patricia weakens but still 'extremely dangerous' - the full scale of the devastation - and any casualties - will not be known until daylight so a lot more on this on Monday.  The latest on Hurricane Patricia includes the fact that 5,000mm of rain have fallen in 24 hours.   That's over sixteen feet!   Although it could be a misprint .... ? And how and why Patricia stands above the four other most severe hurricanes in history Meanwhile, rain lashes Texas as Hurricane Patricia raises flood fears there too A party in space?  Scientists find sugar and alcohol molecules on Comet Lovejoy And is there a 99.99% chance of 'big' L.A. earthquake soon?  Why NASA and USGS can't shake on it ...

Hurricane Patricia becomes strongest Pacific hurricane in history; Catastrophic Mexico landfall expected Friday - no doubt a lot more on this tomorrow With record-breaking September, 2015 continues pace as warmest year on record .  Despite the imminient catastrophic ice age .... Severe storms batter Italy and the Balkans again Too much even for Siberia: Worst blizzard in 10 years turns Omsk into huge snowball Permafrost warming in parts of Alaska is accelerating And is snow to fall over half-term holidays?    Er, no.   Unless you live at 3,000ft in Scotland this weekend.   And even then it will be only very brief before milder air moves in later on Sunday ....   Looking a bit wet and windy at times next week, but if anything, mild for the time of year.

According to the Mirror, in a story replicated in local media around the country, 36 days of snow forecast this winter.    Which is correct.   If you live in Aviemore .   As usual the media have completely ballsed it up.   And, of course, there is no saying the forecast will be right.   It's very unlikely indeed to be the coldest winter this century, let alone ever.   But it could be colder/snowier than the last couple of years.    There may not have been many Atlantic hurricanes, but El Nino fueling most extreme tropical cyclone season on record in Northern Hemisphere .      South-east Asian haze strikes the Pacific as fires exceed greenhouse gas output of the US Philippine floods ease but typhoon toll hits 47 Pictures and video of the incredible moment a massive waterspout descended on Italian coastal town of Genoa Experts to review public messages on avalanche risk ...

After a long weekend away in Newtonmore, celebrating the MBA's 50th anniversary, a bit of catching up to do .... Rain deepens flood misery in Philippines after typhoon kills 22   Hundreds of cars and trucks completely consumed by 6ft-deep California mudslide Up to nine inches of snow falls in New York State In Sydney, two people struck by lightnings as Quantas aircraft flies close to the fray whilst farmers left reeling as hail storms South East crop In Nigeria, 60 homes, 5 churches destroyed by flood in Rivers   Guatemala families struggle for food in Central America drought  A two degree celsius warming locks in sea level rise for thousands of years Why more rain leads tp fewer trees on the African savannah Life on Earth likely started 4.1 billion years ago, much earlier than scientists thought And Nigel and Steve among new storm names announced by the Met Office in what some consider a crass dumbing down of meteorology.......

Winter comes early in Europe and Asia as in Germany, low-lying regions see first snow of the year whilst there are 9,000 people out of power in southern Poland due to heavy snowfall there. But  do swans herald snow for the UK?   No.   And they have no idea what the weather will be like here in 3 month time, either! Los Angeles has worst heat wave in 25 years Total fire ban declared in Tasmania as record temperatures forecast Horn of Africa drying ever faster as climate warms Colombia's Alta Guarjira region struggles with drought   More extreme weather projected in the Amazon could have global climate consequences Research shows that melting of Antarctic ice shelves set to intensify   Is the biggest storm in the solar system blowing itself out? Nasa reveals Jupiter's red spot storm is shrinking Climate models used to explain formation of Mars valley networks

Video shows the terrifying moment a tornado ripped right through a postal truck on a Florida bridge  Earlier today southern Sydney smashed by a freak hail storm as temperatures plunge 15 degrees in as many minutes Storms batter Italy and the Balkans over the weekend In rare event, remnants of Pacific hurricane hit Alaska on Friday Fierce winds cause damage across Saskatchewan  And with no sense of irony at all (well, they are Americans ..) Alaska mulls extra oil drilling to cope with climate change

As U.S. logs second warmest September on record; West Coast heat in 2015 is busting through charts and the latest heatwave breaks records across Southern California And autumn cancelled in southern Siberia as Altai bakes in 27c heat Torrential rain floods Larnaca in Cyprus  Autumn's first snow blankets Moscow .   But here in Britain, snow unlikely to fall in next fortnight, says Met Office (quite rightly, though they might as well be saying major tornadoes also unlikely to occur ..... ) despite the usual suspects pretending that we're in for four months of heavy snow .  Again..... Huge waterspouts filmed in China Guatemala families evacuated for fear of new landslide Greenland's ice sheet plumbing revealed

Southern Australia's heatwave broke records as warmth starts building again whilst elsewhere in the southern hemisphere a spring heat wave hits South Africa  The remnants of Hurricane Oho to impact B.C. coast after which tropical storm may make rare appearance in North Pacific, transform, and then hammer southeast Alaska Portugal's dreary September sees off risk of drought (it was their coldest September in nearly 40 years) Guatemala landslide death toll tops 220 and aother 350 missing NOAA declares third ever coral bleaching event (by ever, they mean since observations of such events.  The first was 1998) New Horizons: Probe captures Pluto's blue hazes Wet paleo-climate of Mars revealed by ancient lakes at Gale Crater

This rain radar image shows how scary the bushfire threat is this year for Australia - that's not rain, it's smoke...   Meanwhile, record spring temperatures point to 'difficult' fire season for Tasmania.   And over in NZ there have also been record temperatures for Canterbury Children dying of hunger as frost, drought worsens in Papua New Guinea Puerto Rico battles record heat wave amid drought Video footage of the terrifying moment massive tornadoes tear through Chinese cities as Typhoon Mujigae batters the country's southern coast And why global climate agreements could be counter-productive

Shocking aerial photos show Hurricane Joaquin's devastating path    However, despite the rains in South Carolina - S.C. flood is 6th 1,000-year rain since 2010 - Hurricane Joaquin misses the US, thus the 10-year hurricane drought continues .   And its remnants are still not heading towards Britain, despite more misleading stories in local media today. And the meteorology behind South Carolina's catastrophic 1,000-year event There are still two missing as Riviera flood death toll rises to 20 Typhoon Mujigae leaves 15 dead or missing in South China There have been five days of record-breaking temperatures in Australia but now one home destroyed, properties under threat as bushfire burns in central Victoria as the Australian bushfire season off to an early start. Climate change, drought cause over 11,000 fires in Brazilian Amazon in 2015 Is climate change behind new threat by brown and black bears on people? A study shows how volcanic eruptions ca...

Devasating scenes on the Riviera as storms and flash floods in French resort towns kill 19   whilst across the Atlantic South Carolina rainfall 'highest in 1,000 years'   with eight dead amid warnings that once in a millenium storm will last another day New Jersey shore home swept into water during storm  Don't worry, the only people predicting Britain facing worst storms in 30 years are Nathan Rao and Piers Corbyn.   Though we could experience the worst storms for 3 weeks ..... Sydney and Melbourne swelter through the hottest early spring weather in 20 years On NZ's South Island, hundreds without power after 'worst wind damage in 20 years' One woman killed, twodozen people injured as storm hits Sakhalin island in Russia's far east As the confirmed death toll hits 131, hopes fading for survivors in Guatemala landslide  Typhoon Mujigae kills at least six in southern China Malaysia's Najib Razak demands Indonesia takes acti...

At least 30 dead, 600 missing after massive mudslide in Guatemala Hurricane Joaquin: cargo ship with 33 crew on board missing near eye of the storm Total fire ban declared in southern Tasmania amid strong winds, high temperatures Perhaps not all that surprising; language about climate change differs between proponents and skeptics And more doom porn: Watch out for the megatsunami: Scientists find evidence of 800ft wave caused by a collapsing volcano and say it could happen again

Indonesian fires sending haze across south-east Asia could become worst on record, NASA warns as Indonesia hopes for rain to douse forest fires causing smog in southeast Asia but claims they have the situation 'under control' .... And a warning to Putin over wildfire 'catastrophe' with claim officials undercount forest infernos in Siberia   Hurricane Joaquin reaches Category Four as it batters Bahamas whilst the US East Coast battens down for Hurricane Joaquin: Three states declare emergencies as category four storm bears down on US  Sardinia on red alert as cyclone hits earlier this week Strong storm injures people, disrupts transport in Japan Never-seen-before images of Pluto's moon reveal huge valley that rings planet (except of course, Charon isn't a planet .... ) whilst a bit closer to home, first toppgraphical maps of Ceres revealed by NASA. New mass grave of woolly mammoths found by Siberian river And hardly new news, since it is...

Southeastern US drenched by rain and floods as Tropical Storm Joaquin continues to strengthen ahead of weekend landfall with today, Hurricane Joaquin now category 3 storm as it nears Bahamas Heavy rain raises concerns in New England whilst across the border, there are power outages and flooded streets as storm batters New Brunswick In Alaska, early snowfall in Interior causes power outages Here, it's been a dry, sunny but cool September Brisbane weather: tornado lifts roof and throws trampoline Arctic sea ice still too thick for regular shipping route through Northwest Passage A rare snow patch clings on in Glen Coe - but with wet weather on the way next week, will it last until the next snow falls?   And elsewhere in the Highlands, summer avalanche debris incredible, says snow expert .   This, I think, will survive till winter. And plastic in fish highlights need for cleaner Thames , but I am not holding out much hope .... ...