Future Timeline

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Much of the famed valley at California’s Yosemite National Park will be temporarily closed starting Friday due to a forecast of flooding as rising temperatures melt the Sierra Nevada’s massive snowpack.

Park officials said Tuesday that the eastern section of Yosemite Valley will stay shut at least until May 3. Reservations for campgrounds and lodging in the eastern valley will automatically be canceled and refunded.

Other sections including western Yosemite Valley will remain open, officials said. Day hikers who have purchased wilderness permits for areas that will be off limits can have them rescheduled for alternate trailheads as space allows.

Spring weather is quickly melting huge amounts of snow that accumulated in mountains from a series of epic winter storms.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — A tornado touched down in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Saturday as a powerful storm system brought intense rain and powerful winds to the state, overturning cars, damaging homes and snapping tree branches.

The National Weather Service in Miami said the tornado hit late Saturday afternoon with winds of 100 mph (160 kph) near Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and headed northeast toward the coast.

Storm damage forced authorities in the coastal city to close major roadways in the city as workers cleared debris and inspected wreckage. Images from the scene showed cars flipped over on top of each other, cracked tree limbs resting on vehicles and homes, as well as other debris littering streets.

The Palm Beach Gardens Police Department has not reported any major injuries or fatalities. A spokeswoman for the city said officials have deactivated emergency protocols and were working through lingering issues Sunday.

weatheriscool wrote: ↑Sun Apr 30, 2023 11:45 pm

PORT ISABEL, Texas (AP) — At least one person was killed when a tornado struck a town on the Gulf coast near the southernmost tip of Texas, damaging dozens of homes and knocking down power lines early Saturday, authorities said.

At least 10 people were also hospitalized, two in critical condition, said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Tom Hushen. The storm hit the unincorporated community of Laguna Heights near South Padre Island at about 4 a.m.

Hushen said there are “multiple minor injuries” such as cuts and bruises. The tornado “caused significant damage to residences ... we have 40-60 damaged homes,” some heavily damaged, he said.

National Weather Service investigators at the scene have confirmed it was a tornado and are working to determine the wind speed and strength, Hushen said.

wjfox wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 7:55 am

weatheriscool wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 6:37 pm
They're going to need to use a lot of AC and probably even covered ac'ed walk ways to go from one place to another.

Large parts of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon and Washington to British Columbia are bracing for unusually high temperatures this weekend. Some areas could see daily averages up to 30 degrees above normal, which could pose health problems to people who have not had a chance to build tolerance to heat so early into the warm season.

Temperatures in Seattle are forecast to climb close to 90 degrees on Sunday. Historic data shows there have only been six years since 1948 when May temperatures reached this level, and they have never occurred this early in the month. In Portland, readings are expected to top 90 degrees on several days. Vancouver, B.C., could see its earliest 80-degree day on record.

Meteorologists and heat experts are warning that “subtle” early-season heat waves can cause large numbers of hospital admissions as they catch people when their bodies are least used to heat.

“Typically, unseasonably warm weather early in the ‘heat season’ can be particularly challenging to human health because the population is less acclimatized versus later in the summer,” said Zac Schlader, an associate professor at Indiana University-Bloomington who researches the impact of heat stress on the human body. “If these same conditions were experienced later in the year, they are unlikely to have as large of an effect on human health,” he added.

(Courthouse News) — A massive storm caused major flooding in northern parts of Italy, killing at least eight people as floodwaters burst river banks and raged through towns and cities, Italian authorities said Wednesday.

Fourteen rivers in the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche were swollen beyond capacity, and more than 20 towns were flooded with about 5,000 people evacuated from their homes, Italian emergency officials said. The heavy rains also caused dangerous landslides and cut off roads and rail lines.

The historic center of Faenza, a small city in the province of Ravenna, was badly flooded as rescue teams in boats ferried inhabitants to safety. Videos showed people shouting for help during the night.

The storm's intensity and its torrential rains were deemed extremely rare for May in Italy, and scientists linked these characteristics to global warming. Scientists believe weather events are becoming more dramatic as the planet warms up.

On Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization issued a dire warning that the planet will likely see the hottest year on record over the next five years due to the combination of an El Niño weather pattern setting in and global warming.

(Eurekalert) Weather and climate are important factors affecting economic and social development. In China, the country’s National Climate Center releases an annual climate report that comprehensively covers China’s achievements and progress that year in climate system monitoring, climate impact assessment, and other aspects. This series of reports has been published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters for five consecutive years since 2019, and the “State of China’s climate in 2022” is now available.

This year’s report provides a comprehensive summary of the main climate characteristics and high-impact weather and climate events in China in 2022. As introduced by Director Li Wei of the Climate Service Office of the National Climate Center, in 2022, the overall climate condition in China was worse than normal, presenting a warm–dry climate with the second highest annual mean temperature in history. The annual precipitation was the lowest recorded since 2012. The number of hot days and extreme high temperature events were both the highest in history, while the national average number of rainy days was the lowest. The precipitation in summer and autumn was less than normal. The average precipitation in summer was the second lowest since 1961. In summer, Northeast and North China had more rainfall during the flood season, while the Yangtze River Basin had less, resulting in extreme heatwaves and severe droughts.

In 2022, there was an apparent stepwise feature of drought regionally, with southern China heavily affected by long droughts in summer and autumn. Rainstorm processes occurred frequently, especially over the Pearl River Basin and the Songliao River Basin, causing severe flooding disasters in South China and Northeast China. In summer, the strongest heatwave since 1961 occurred in central and eastern China. Persistent cold, rainy, snowy, and sunless weather was observed in southern China in February, and a strong cold wave from late November to early December caused severe cooling over a large area. Sandstorm weather appeared less frequently and later than normal, and landfalling typhoons were extremely less frequent.