The Great Red Comet-Earth Science Chronicles

Rare ‘derecho’ leaves swath of damage across Iowa

2008-07-24T15:49:00.002-05:00

Midwest, USA
A power-punching, blustery storm that pummeled the Quad-City region Monday was a RARE severe weather event called a “derecho,” according to the National Weather Service. Derechos — from the Spanish word for “direct” or “straight ahead” — are most common in the late spring and summer, especially in the Corn Belt running from the upper Mississippi River valley to the Ohio River valley. The storms, which are rarer than tornadoes, are known for their longevity, incredibly high-sustained wind speeds and fast-moving nature. “We had a 60-mile-wide path of damage from Omaha through the Quad-Cities and on toward Chicago. Storms don’t usually stay that strong, that long. It’s like a 60-mile-wide train barreling across the state.” This is the first derecho to hit Iowa in two years. This one packed winds ranging from 65 to 95 mph. “We had one in the late 1990s that took a whole train off the tracks.” Conditions have to be very precise to create a derecho. There must be certain amounts of dry air aloft and moisture below. When conditions are right, the storm gears up and takes off at a high rate of speed in a “bow” shape. The front edge of the bow packs the heaviest winds, with less damaging winds on the outer edges. The storms are particularly dangerous because they appear quickly, often before sufficient warning can be given.

Destructive storm to hit New Zealand

2008-07-24T14:46:00.003-05:00

Breaking Earth News
New Zealand
Image: Massive waves, like this one between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki, hurled debris over roads and almost dragged a man to his death while slips and flooding derailed a train.

Story: Wild weather - Massive waves, like one between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki, hurled debris over roads and almost dragged a man to his death, while slips and flooding derailed a train in the lower North Island. High winds prevented planes from taking off or landing. Huge waves pounding the foreshore along Centennial Highway earlier were scary for drivers, and roading contractors continuously swept the highway to clear rocks and debris. A Paekakariki resident said he had never seen so much debris cluttering the highway. A long-time Paekakariki resident said storm surges were THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE HE HAD SEEN IN THE AREA SINCE 1976.

RELATED NEWS
AUSTRALIA - The low pressure system that has caused bleak weather in parts of Queensland is still whipping up large seas on the Gold Coast. Three-metre waves are breaking on some Gold and Sunshine Coast beaches. There are gale force winds offshore from central Queensland to the far north.

Okmok Volcano Eruption Continues

2008-07-24T14:38:00.002-05:00

Alaska, USA

Okmok Volcano, which initially erupted on July 12, 2008, remained active as the month progressed. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this picture on July 23, 2008, as the volcano released a plume of ash and steam. In this image, the plume can easily be spotted, despite local cloud cover. In contrast to the clouds, the plume appears beige in color, and blows toward the east-southeast. A close look at the summit reveals opaque white puffs of vapor casting dark shadows to the north.

According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), Okmok’s activity on June 23 consisted of continuous, mid-level volcanic tremors. The AVO warned that strong explosive eruptions, which had occurred days earlier, could resume at any time.

Texas, Mexico Prepare for Tropical Storm Dolly

2008-07-21T14:51:00.002-05:00

Texas, USA

Residents along the Texas-Mexico border kept a watchful eye on Tropical Storm Dolly on Monday, stocking up on plywood, generators and flashlights as forecasters predicted the storm would strengthen into a hurricane later this week and make landfall.

The storm was expected to bring high winds and dump 10 to 20 inches of rain in coastal areas near the U.S.-Mexican border. Emergency officials feared major flooding problems and urged coastal residents to prepare.

Huge tidal waves hit Kanyakumari

2008-07-21T14:43:00.002-05:00

Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), July 20 (IANS) Huge tidal waves, nearly 20 feet in height, hit this coastal town of Tamil Nadu for the second consecutive day triggering tsunami fears among the residents.

Heavy seasonal rains affected tourist trade of the town on the confluence of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, witnesses said Sunday.

Following sudden movement of water away from the shore, waves slammed ashore damaging at least six canoes and a motorised fishing craft, fishermen said.

California Wildfires Set a Record

2008-07-19T21:19:00.002-05:00

California, USA
Three weeks after lightning storms ignited an early start to California’s wildfire season, a state official said history had been made this time around. “That has definitely surpassed any of our large fire events." As many as 1,781 fires were burning at one point earlier in the battle; nearly 300 of them remain unquenched. In all, 861,385 acres were scorched by them, mostly in the northern part of the state. Because this year’s fires were mainly in sparsely populated rural areas, the biggest fire season has by no means been the most destructive, at least so far. The wildfire season still has months left to run. “Historically, we see the most devastating fires in September and October

Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" to hit record size: NOAA

2008-07-19T21:09:00.002-05:00

Houston
The Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone" - a swath of algae-laden water with oxygen levels low enough to choke out marine life - WILL LIKELY REACH RECORD SIZE this year, and the main culprits are rising ethanol use and massive Midwest flooding. The dead zone, which recurs each year off the Texas and Louisiana coasts, could stretch to more than 8,800 square miles his year - about the size of New Jersey - compared with 6,662 square miles in 2006 and nearly double the annual average since 1990 of 4,800 square miles. "Excess nutrients from the Mississippi River watershed during the spring are the primary human-influenced factor behind the expansion of the dead zone." To reverse the pattern, U.S. farmers must plant more perennial crops that trap rainwater and keep it from running into the Gulf of Mexico. And eventually, scientists need to invent new breeds of perennial corn plants that can remain in the soil from one planting season to the next, avoiding the need to strip fields bare and leave them susceptible to flooding.

Alaska volcano spews huge ash plume for 3rd day

2008-07-16T18:37:00.002-05:00

Alaska, USA
Image: This image released by Alaska Volcano Observatory on Sunday July 13, 2008 shows the Okmok Caldera in Alaska as viewed from an Alaska Airlines jet in early June, 2007. The 3,500-foot Okmok Caldera, which consists of a 6-mile-wide circular crater about 1,600 feet deep, erupted with little warning Saturday morning July 12, 2008, just hours after seismologists at the Alaska Volcano Center began detecting a series of small tremors. (AP Photo/ Alaska Volcano Observatory)

Story: Volcano spewed huge ash plume for 3rd day - The Okmok Caldera on Umnak Island about 60 miles west of the fishing port of Dutch Harbor erupted Saturday and was still in a near state of continuous eruption on Monday. It's ash plume reached more than 6 1/2 miles high and was moving southeastward over the North Pacific. When the volcano last erupted in 1997, it remained active for eight months, producing a significant amount of lava and ash. This time, the volcano's seismic activity peaked a few hours after the initial explosion Saturday and has been slowly declining since.

Okmok Volcano RAMPED UP FROM NOTHING TO AN EXPLOSIVE ERUPTION IN RECORD TIME and it is still pulsing with activity. The explosive eruption Saturday and subsequent shock wave jostled the surrounding cloud-cover. Thermal infrared tracking over the first two days showed the ash plume moving southeast. But a wind shift Tuesday pushed the plume northeast, prompting an ash fall advisory for Cold Bay, which ended early Tuesday. The Volcano Observatory suspects more than one vent in the caldera is active. "There appears to be two vents in the caldera, one of which is producing a more steam-rich cloud. The other is more ash-rich. That activity is sort of pulsing, we have tens of minutes where activity is occurring." A code red warning is still in effect for Okmok Volcano.

Arctic Tundra is Turning Green

2008-07-16T16:27:00.001-05:00

People frequently say “green” to mean “environmentally friendly.” But encroaching conifer forests — really big greens — threaten to further spike the far North’s already low-grade fever.

Throughout the past century, however, leading edges of conifer forests began creeping some 20 to 60 meters up the mountains, and in some places these forests are now overrunning tundra, scientists report in the July Global Change Biology.

Zaproot Video: Trees Invade the Arctic

NowPublic

Freak Antarctic Rain Storms Killing Infant Penguins

2008-07-15T21:08:00.003-05:00

Antarctica
Tens of thousands of newly-born penguins are freezing to death as Antarctica is lashed by freak rain storms.

Scientists believe the numbers of Adelie penguins may have fallen by as much as 80 per cent – and, if the downpours continue, the species will be extinct within ten years.

Full Story Available at Skywatch-Media Entertainment

New wave develops as Bertha batters Bermuda

2008-07-15T17:48:00.002-05:00

Tropical Storm Bertha will continue to pummel the island nation of Bermuda through today, while another tropical wave is likely to develop over the next couple of days. The island will receive several inches of rain, while large swells and high surf batter the shores.
A tropical wave is located about 1,000 miles east of the southern Windward islands. Satellite imagery shows a counter-clockwise spin near the center of the area of low pressure. The low is likely to develop into a tropical depression in the next couple of days and there is a very good chance the low will eventually develop hurricane strength.

Antarctic Ice Shelf in Big Trouble

2008-07-13T11:22:00.002-05:00

PARIS (AFP) - New evidence has emerged that a large plate of floating ice shelf attached to Antarctica is breaking up, in a troubling sign of global warming, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.

Images taken by its Envisat remote-sensing satellite show that Wilkins Ice Shelf is "hanging by its last thread" to Charcot Island, one of the plate's key anchors to the Antarctic peninsula, ESA said in a press release.

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Volcano Eruption in Alaska

2008-07-13T09:49:00.002-05:00

Alaska, USA
A volcano erupted Saturday with little warning on a remote island in Alaska, sending residents of a nearby ranch fleeing from falling ash and volcanic rock. The Okmok Caldera erupted late Saturday morning, just hours after seismologists at the Alaska Volcano Center began detecting a series of small tremors. The explosion flung an ash cloud at least 50,000 feet high. Ten people, including three children, were at Fort Glenn, a private cattle ranch six miles south of the volcano on Umnak Island, located in the western Aleutians about 860 miles southwest of Anchorage. They were later picked up by a fishing boat which responded to a Coast Guard request for emergency assistance. The ranch residents had managed to call military police on Kodiak Island on a satellite phone before losing their connection. A rescue helicopter responded but had to land in Dutch Harbor after flying through some volcanic ash, causing some damage to the aircraft. Those at the ranch reported rock and ash falling around them. Okmok is 60 miles west of the busy fishing port of Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island. Ash was reported falling in the region. The volcano last erupted in 1997. The volcano has shown signs of increased activity during the last few months. Previous eruptions have typically produced lava flows, but the volcano center could not immediately determine if that had occurred in Saturday's explosion.

RELATED NEWS
MANAGUA, July 11 (Reuters) - Nicaragua's San Cristobal volcano rumbled with a series of small explosions on Friday and spewed gases and ash that reached a small town in the northwest of the country, but authorities said no one was hurt. San Cristobal, which stands 5,725 feet (1,745 meters) above sea level, is Nicaragua's highest volcano and one of eight active volcanoes in the small Central American nation, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site.

Millions still homeless months after China quake

2008-07-13T09:45:00.002-05:00

China

Two months after a devastating earthquake rocked China's Sichuan province, 46 million people are homeless and in dire need of help rebuilding their lives, says the Canadian leader of the International Red Cross relief effort.

Millions of displaced people have been living in donated tents since the 8.0-magnitude quake rocked the southern part of the country on May 12. Now victims need help rebuilding their homes so they can begin returning to normalcy, said Yunhong Zhang, the agency's Asia Program Manager.

Power Consumption Hits Record As Heat Wave Sweeps Nation

2008-07-10T21:59:00.002-05:00

Korea
Image: A Korea Power Exchange official points at a graph of power consumption Wednesday as electricity consumption hit a record high of 62.48 million kilowatts Wednesday due to the heat wave that swept the nation. / Korea Times

Story: Electricity consumption hit a record high Wednesday as a heat wave continued to scorch the nation.

The heat has also killed people. Three elderly farmers working in fields in South Gyeongsang Province were found dead from heatstroke Monday, while a 22-year-old college student died during a cross-country hike.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) issued warnings for Seoul and Gyeonggi Province for the first time this year _ about 20 days earlier than previous years _ as the heat wave is expected to continue for the rest of the week. Seoul's midday high was almost 33 degrees Celsius.

Heatwaves Becoming Intense

2008-07-10T10:51:00.003-05:00

Computer model shows that by the end of the century, high temperatures for once-in-a-generation heat waves will rise twice as fast as everyday average temperatures. Chicago, for example, would reach 115 degrees in such an event by 2100. Paris heat waves could near 109 with Lyon coming closer to 114.

Blistering Heatwaves: To Read More Subscribe to Skywatch Media Entertainment

Hurricane Bertha's Burst of Strength Stumps Experts

2008-07-10T09:56:00.002-05:00

National Geographic News

As powerful Hurricane Bertha churns far out in the Atlantic Ocean, meteorologists are wondering why the storm suddenly gathered strength and escalated from a minimal hurricane to a major one in only a few hours.

By around 3 a.m. EDT Monday, Bertha had barely reached hurricane status with winds of about 75 miles (120 kilometers) an hour.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Florida, predicted that the storm would not intensify much beyond that.

But 12 hours later Bertha's strongest winds had ramped up to 115 miles (185 kilometers) an hour, making it a Category Three storm and the first major hurricane of the 2008 season.

Thousands Displaced by Floods

2008-07-08T17:33:00.002-05:00

India
Image: People try to transport a car to the banks of the Hingora River in Lakhimpur district, about 400 km (249 miles) east of the northeastern Indian city of Guwahati, June 16, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer

GUWAHATI, India (AFP) — Flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have washed away thousands of homes and displaced more than 50,000 people in India's northeastern state of Assam, officials said Sunday.

Freak Weather Hits the UK

2008-07-08T13:27:00.002-05:00

Great Britain
Monday, forecasters warned Merseyside to expect some “extreme” weather after high-altitude twisters whipped across the region. Stormy conditions over the weekend created a “funnel cloud” in the sky above Burscough and Ormskirk. The meteorological phenomenon – a tornado that does not touch the ground – was sighted by residents at around 2.30pm on Sunday. Funnel clouds are formed when powerful storms and thunderstorms meet, causing wind to blow in different directions. In the UK they tend to be masked by heavy rain – which makes them difficult to detect.

The European Monsoon! To read more subscribe to Skywatch Media Entertainment

Hurricane Bertha now a Category 3 storm

2008-07-08T11:42:00.002-05:00

Atlantic
Image: Hurricane Bertha churns towards a group of Caribbean islands as seen in this NOAA satellite image on Monday, July 7, 2008.

Bertha, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, has strengthened to a Category 3 storm. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the hurricane has now reached maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometres an hour. However, it is not yet near land. The hurricane is located about 1,175 kilometres east-northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands, which include St. Martin and St. Kitts, and about 1,855 kilometres southeast of Bermuda. The hurricane, which grew from a tropical storm early Monday, is travelling at about 19 kilometres per hour and is moving west-northwest. Bertha is expected to make a gradual turn toward the northwest and decrease in forward speed over the next two days, the Hurricane Center said. However, it's still too early to tell if Bertha will hit Bermuda but residents are being urged to monitor the situation.
Image: This graphic, provided by the National Hurricane Center, shows the expected five-day track forecast for hurricane Bertha on Monday, July 7, 2008. (National Hurricane Center)

No let-up as California wildfires rage south

2008-07-05T14:19:00.002-05:00

Breaking Earth News
California, USA
Image: Tanker drops fire redardant

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — California's wildfires blazed across the state on Friday, with an army of firefighters desperately trying to staunch the flames as they edged towards populated regions.

State officials said 19,925 personnel were battling 60 active fires, which were among 1,800 blazes which have scorched nearly 521,000 acres (210,800 hectares) since being triggered by lightning a fortnight ago.

The focal point of containment efforts is a wind-driven blaze besieging the picturesque village of Big Sur, a normally bustling tourist haven around 120 miles (193 kilometers) south of San Francisco.

The blaze threatening the town has swept through 65,393 acres of the Los Padres National Forest and was only five percent contained according to latest figures on Friday.

With a combination high temperatures, low humidity and offshore gusts fanning the fires, officials have said they are battling against a "perfect storm" of weather conditions.