Weather & Earth Science News

In Norway, a lightning strike killed 323 reindeer - the most deadly single lightning strike ever recorded Firefighters pump out homes and power's cut as storms bring one tenth of annual rain in hours to parts of Lincolnshire on Saturday as the heatwave comes at a price for mainland Europe Massive wind turbine catches fire and burns for hours because German fire fighters don't have ladders long enough A freak hail and rain storm hits Colorado Springs, leaving it buried in two feet of sludge and submerged in water As they approach Hawaii, Madeline strengthens into category 4 hurricane, Lester weakens slightly Strong typhoon Lionrock heads for Japan's northeast   India Ganges floods 'break previous records'   Heatwave continues to bake parts of the Middle East Rain flows off Uluru after burst of wet weather in Central Australia The 'Anthropocene': Potential new geological time interval - is there enough geologic...

In Athens: World’s 'first weather station' opens to public ‘Dogs flew 20 or 30 meters’: Rare twister wreaks havoc in Russia caught on video.  And more incredible footage shows the rare moment three waterspouts descend on a Chinese lake at the same time\ Italy earthquake: Boy, 14, among three UK deaths In the Cairngorms, reindeer gather on snow patch on hot day The Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption masked acceleration in sea level rise And a North Atlantic 'weather bomb' tremor measured in Japan

Lots of pictures from Italy including the dramatic moment a ten-year-old girl is pulled from the rubble after 17 hours trapped upside down in Italian debris of earthquake that killed 247 people and 'wiped towns off the map' whilst shocking before and after pictures show how Italian towns have been completely destroyed by the devastating earthquake And in the east, Myanmar earthquake: One dead and temples damaged The UK saw the hottest day of 2016 recorded at Gravesend in Kent with 33.9c - breaking a date record set in 1899.  Although only southeastern England saw especially high temperatures. Meanwhile France swelters as heatwave pushes on Widespread damage to buildings as tornado outbreak hits Indiana, Ohio Sydney soaked by torrential rain as search resumes for elderly man feared drowned   Scientists begin to unravel summer jet stream mystery - a story the Daily Mail tried unsuccessfully to cover earlier this week .... Human-in...

At least 22 dead - including two children - and many more feared buried under rubble as 6.2-magnitude earthquake rocks central Italy in dead of night (the headline has already changed this morning from 10 dead, and sadly is likely to change further as the day goes on.  It looks like this could be quite a major disaster). Whilst TS Gaston looks likely to become a hurricane, but not threaten land (although it could impact on Britain's weather later next week) another tropical system eyes Florida, Southeast U.S., may develop into hurricane Sydney weather warning issued, month's worth of rain could fall in one night So that's why we've had so much rain this summer: Miserable weather is blamed on the Atlantic jet stream - a headline which rather ignores the fact that not only does the jet stream's position determine our weather all year round, every year, but moreoever, some parts of England especially have had considerably less rain than normal over t...

Despite a little rain in recent days, it's still been a much drier than average month so far down here, but further north things have been a bit different.  There's further rain woe for flood-hit Glenridding in the Lake District, a pregnant woman rescued amid Lancashire flood warnings and in the Yorkshire Dales, at White Scar Cave: 'Exceptional' flood closes attraction Tropical Storm Gaston forms in the eastern Atlantic; forecast to strengthen into a hurricane Watch dust storm roll over Phoenix, Arizona on video, whilst there's also a crackin' picture as Phoenix haboob captured from above in photo taken from plane Typhoon Mindulle dumps heavy rain on northern Japan And the first signs that winter is coming to Canada with snow lightly falling in mountains west of Calgary (a day later than the first such snowfall last year)

Typhoon Mindulle lashes Tokyo; one feared dead in flooding as Japan sees three tropical cyclones at once In the latest India floods: Several dead and thousands rescued In Australia, funnel clouds spotted over Victoria no cause for alarm, weather bureau says Here in Britain the sea claimed six lives at the weekend whilst in the Lake District, Wasdale team's seven 'avoidable' callouts in 12 hours as rain lashes fells California wildfires: Blue Cut blaze curbed as evacuees return and what is a firenado?

Typhoon Dianmu leaves path of destruction in northern Vietnam No-name storm dumped three times as much rain in Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina NASA monitors the 'new normal' of sea ice Pacific sea level predicts global temperature changes And in Siberia, the lake that always turns pink in August

An Alaska village votes to move due to climate change Tropical Storm Fiona strengthens, but is not expected to affect land Louisiana floods: One of the worst US disasters in recent years Crews make major gains against Southern California wildfire Melbourne weather: Warmest August night on record Queensland earthquake 'biggest in 20 years' Enhanced habagat floods Manila Research shows that thin tropical clouds cool the climate A recent connection between North and South America reaffirmed Did cirrus clouds help keep early Mars warm and wet? And the 'vast majority' of BBC weather presenters to continue after MeteoGroup deal

The death toll from devastating Louisiana floods rises to 11 US firefighters capture the birth of a fire tornado on video And in the latest California wildfire: 80,000 evacuated east of Los Angeles Satellites reveal there are fewer low clouds in the tropics as Earth warms Arctic sea ice strongly linked to climate change in past 90,000 years whilst a new Antarctic ice discovery aids future climate predictions

The records continue to fall:  July 2016 was world's hottest month since records began, says Nasa Peru quake kills at least nine in southern Arequipa The death toll rises to 7 in historic Louisiana flooding; 20,000 rescued 200 People Rescued From Moscow Flooding Flood-odyssey elephant dies in Bangladesh 'Chemtrails' not real, say atmospheric science experts .  Pink unicorns and flying wombats are also thought not to exist, though in these cases further research is needed ....  Though if course, technically "chemtrails" are real - just not what chemtrailers claim they are (and ironically, if they were what chemtrailers claim them to be, they wouldn't be visible from the ground!). Has a 'second Earth' been found around our nearest star?   And Professor Brian Cox clashes with Australian climate sceptic in a classic example of demanding evidence and then refusing to accept it on the grounds it's all been ...

'Historic' Louisiana flooding: Five dead and thousands rescued as caskets float down the street in devastating Louisiana floods and a dramatic rescue caught on video as w oman snd dog rescued from sinking car in Louisiana floods Meanwhile, w hy the Louisiana flood happened, and 4 other things to know Different scenes in the NE though as deadly heatwave that has plagued the Northeast blamed for death of third person In Ontario, Dryden continues cleanup after 'incredible' downpour, flood Sudan floods: Villages submerged as death toll rises Dramatic images show destructive flooding in China And in the Philippines, a tornado hits Manila

In Louisiana, two dead as torrential rain continues to pound the Gulf Coast Think our summer’s been a let down? There’s snow in Sweden (but it's not unusual, and we often see the first snow in Scotland in late August .... ) Fires ravage Portugal again on Thursday Up near Essan, the Road to the Isles re-opens after landslide debris cleared - but the line will remain closed till Monday Pictures dramatically show the  Arctic's climate on a cliff-edge And only a tiny area of Antarctica is ice-free: Scientists reveal exactly how much snow covers the 'frozen continent'

Up at Lochailort, just down the road from Essan, landslide blocks Highlands railway line and road whilst in Kintyre, heavy rain forces Crinan Canal to close for several hours as it had too much water in it. France wildfires near Marseille contained An Indian elephant rescued after flood odyssey NASA climate modeling suggests Venus may have been habitable And typically I forgot all about this last night, but hopefully there will be more to see over the weekend as Jupiter gravity nudge sets up 'meteor storm' on Earth

Scotland completely powered by wind turbines for a day due to strong winds on Sunday.  Now all we need do is find a way of keeping it windy during spells of hot and, especially, cold weather ....  And, of course, businesses use a lot less electricity whilst they are closed on Sundays .... And the latest weather in Scotland: Freezing temperatures and heavy rain before August heatwave sets in - the -3.1c recorded by Lee Schofield in Carrbridge is certainly accurate but unfortunately as it's not an official station it won't get in the record books.  The heatwave looks like lasting a couple of days with temps maybe just topping 30c next Tuesday  .... Hundreds evacuated from path of wildfire in southern France Sudan issues flood warning as the Nile continues to rise In India, the army rescues hundreds after flash floods inundate Rajasthan villages K computer and high-tech weather radar come together to predict sudden torrential rains ...

Madeira wildfires: Three dead as flames reach Funchal whilst on the mainland, thousands of firefighters battle forest blazes in Portugal Tropical Storm Javier refuels storms in Arizona, New Mexico Colourful skies form over Canada in wake of severe storms   A US airline passenger captures incredible tornado swirling above a river from aeroplane window Localised flooding in NZ with heavy rain, thunder warning for the north, cold snap continues in the south There's still some 'astonishing' snow depth on North Face of Ben Nevis - not quite ready to form a glacier though!  An epic Middle East heat wave could be global warming’s hellish curtain-raiser NASA captures plasma rain on the Sun’s surface And how a 1967 solar storm nearly took US to brink of war

Southern Ukraine suffers from earthquake and strong weather storms Greenland ice sheet ‘summit’ plunged to record low July temperature. So what?   Record high temperatures were recorded in April and June .....  But we don't have many years data so none of it proves anything. Of slightly more relevance, Washington D.C.’s temperature has not fallen below 70 degrees for a record 34 days and counting Tropical Storm Javier impacting Baja California with heavy rain and gusty winds as Mexico searches for victims of deadly Storm Earl In Manitoba, tornado damages homes in Waywayseecappo First Nation Rain creates havoc in Rajasthan  Lesotho sees its heaviest snow in two decades in July  New research suggests that the decline of fishing in Lake Tanganyika 'due to warming' And mineral veins on Mars were formed by evaporating ancient lakes

Macedonian mourns 21 victims of deadly storm, flooding Whilst the remnants of Hurricane Earl cause more deaths as 39 killed by mudslides in Mexico; new storm aims for Baja Here in Britain there was disrup tion as summer winds batter Scotland In NZ, snow keeps roads closed as frosty temperatures settle in Hundreds taken to hospitals as heat wave hovers over Japan Rocks tell story of China's great flood nearly 4,000 years ago And the U.S. coast is in an unprecedented hurricane drought — why this is terrifying

Hurricane Earl strengthens on landfall in Belize Tuesday's Arizona monsoon rain a '1-in-100' year storm, latest historic storm in USA In NZ, a  cold white blanket coats the south Korea 'melting down' under unusual heat wave  The Middle East remains hot as five Iraqi regions record temperature over 50 degree Celsius Photos as  storm which produced 100,000 lightning strikes over the English Channel forms an epic shelf cloud as it passes over Dutch windmills An intriguing video as it's suggested that Russian fireball is revealed to be a rare case of ‘ball lightning’

Typhoon Nida batters southern China after shutting down Hong Kong   India floods kill more than 150 people Tropical Storm Earl strengthens in the Caribbean; hurricane warnings issued In the US, July's extreme heat breaks records across South Australia's east coast experiences wind, rain and snow as more wild weather hits with more than 80 people rescued after a massive snowstorm trapped them in their cars on a mountain road With the start of the Olympics only days away, freak 15-foot waves flood TV broadcasting building on Rio’s Copacabana Beach - I'll have to watch all the beach volleyball contests closely to see if it happens again .... A new Met Office service set to provide 'better-looking' weather forecasts And the bizarre case of how an electrical fire may have sparked a mini-volcano in Iraq

In the US, the rain that caused deadly Md. flood a '1-in-1,000' year event - they seem to be getting a few of them just lately ....   Meanwhile, in Canada, Calgary hasn't had this much rain in July since 1927 and in Alaska record rain continues to drench Fairbanks India's capital Delhi gets record-breaking amount of rain in 24 hours as monsoon rains kill dozens in India, Bangladesh And there's also been record rainfall for Tasmania as farmers continue 'wet paddock' struggle In Wales, people rescued from flood water as more rain falls on first day of August than whole of July .  Here we had 9.8mm of rain overnight which is just 0.5mm short of my total for the whole of July.   The point being not that anywhere had an unusual amount of rain, just that July was very unusually dry in some places .... Moscow’s July heat wave breaks 137-year record   Typhoon Nida: cities on high alert in China as storm makes landfall  ...

Maryland floods: men form human chain to save woman stuck in car as two killed in devastating Maryland floods In Canada, 2 tornadoes confirmed in Saskatchewan Sunday Whilst here, a huge waterspout pictured swirling above stormy skies over Suffolk - and as can be seen along with other pictures of funnel clouds and waterspouts spotted in Suffolk , it did touch down over the sea to become a waterspout.   And there was also a 'would be tornado' spotted near Folkestone at the weekend too. And whilst it's true that more rain will fall in the next 24 hours than in the whole of July that's only because it will fall in parts that had an exceptionally dry month.  There are no fears of a "wash-out" August.   Whatever that might mean ...  But nor is a record heatwave expected (though a warm spell mid month is possible). And welcome to the tropic of... Cornwall: Coastal county classified as having subtropical climate