Weather & Earth Science News

A rather wet day in the west yesterday, expecially in the Dublin area where over 80mm rain fell in places. Northern Ireland floods cause transport havoc . In County Tyrone, 18 people rescued from flood waters . In County Wicklow body found in search for Garda swept away by floods whilst across Dublin flood waters recede but driving conditions difficult . Problems in the SW of England too with rivers on flood warning as storms lash Westcountry whilst floods force sewerage down Conwall's Par village street But, 60mph winds and flooding as winter blasts back: So why are parts of the country still facing a hosepipe ban? Because some of us have had little more than half the normal rainfall so far this year - in Evesham just 10.2mm this month, about 23% of average. We had only a trace last night - not sufficent to register in my gauge. One I missed last week: severe flooding shuts Colosseum in Rome The season is coming to an end, but it's not over yet as Hurricane Rina for...

Turkey earthquake: desperate search for survivors with so far 217 confimed dead amid fears toll could rise to 1,000 As the drought continues in the Vale - only 10.2mm so far this month and not a lot on the horizon - heavy rain in Torquay closes seafront road with weather warning as flooding hits Northern Ireland 'Read for winter' campaign launches in Scotland New tropical storm forming in rain-soaked Central America Thailand floods: waters advance on north Bangkok area Plate tectonics may control reversals in Earth's magnetic field And finally it's nice to see that Piers Corbyn's warning of a North Sea storm around 21-23rd October has been proven correct as it's wet and windy in the SW, Ireland and Wales ....... And I bet there's snow in Svalbard this week too. He even managed to predict a whole 2 days beforehand that it's be a bit cooler the middle of last week. What a clever chappie!

Elderly British couple swept to their death in Benidorm flash floods Tornado tears up Templand in Dumfries, last Monday Thailand floods: crisis to last 'six to four weeks' Glaciers on China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau melting fast due to global warming New study shows no simultaneous warming of northern and southern hemispheres as a result of climate change for 20,000 years Until now.

Not quite the result some had been expecting as global warming confirmed by 'independent' study . So far the best the snti-science denail squad have been able to come up with is that the this annoucement has been made before the relevant papers have been peer reviewed. I'm also interested in theor suggestion that: ...the global temperature correlates more closely with the state of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index - a measure of sea surface temperature in the north Atlantic. There are theories suggesting that the AMO index is in turn driven by fluctuations in the north Atlantic current commonly called the Gulf Stream. The team suggests it is worth investigating whether the long-term AMO cycles, which are thought to last 65-70 years, may play a part in the temperature rise, fall and rise again seen during the 20th Century Something to look at with regards the LIA and even full scale glaciations perhaps? Both of which seem to be cent...

Time for the annual round-up of various forecasts for the coming winter in Britain. Let's see if anyone does better than they did last year! My own thoughts are that we will see some cold and perhaps snowy weather, most likely in December and January, but that for most people it will be nowhere near as harsh as last winter. We could see more milder, stormier, conditions at times as well. In other words, a normal mix of normal weather. Though like last year I also suspect we'll see an early spring set in in February. And that's based mostly on gut feeling. Sod's Law further suggests that after so much money spent by authorities preparing in case of a repeat of last December (remember than much of last January and February were mild and largely frost free - it was not a cold winter ) it will be a mild and wet winter. With complaints about why more wasn't spent on flood defences ..... So to the forecasts: The one which has recieved most publicity so far has b...

Kids flee as 'tornado' rips roof from Cumbrian nursery school Dust storm shrouds Texas city No let-up as Thai authorities battle against flood Snow and high winds hit parts of Scotland And in preparation for the coming winter they've got an extra 20,000 tonnes of salt to treat Cumbria's roads , across the Pennines north east councils 'ready' for third harsh winter Nothing new here: climate change 'grave' threat to security and health . Hasn't that always been the case? Just look at what happen in the 6th century AD

Central America floods and landslides leave 80 dead It was t-shirt weather in the Highlands last Friday and down here seems to have been another very warm weekend. But now Britons set to feel chill as autumn finally arrives . 'Bout time! Thai flooding: key business parkpark Navanokorn evacuated whilst 'obsolete' Thai radar blamed for failure to predict rain severity Killed by the drought, dead trees will mar Texas landscape for decades Planting trees ' boost African crop yields and food security ' Tipping points for tropical forest and savannah New research shows how life might have survived 'snowball earth' Animals 'shrinking' due to climate change Global temperatures in September were eighth warmest on record - the full NOAA report is here