Extreme weather news and discussion

[Yuli Ban]

Who predicted this tornado season to be record-breaking? Let's see if that comes true.

[Xyls]

Who predicted this tornado season to be record-breaking? Let's see if that comes true.

Not to toot my own horn too much...

But on the "Your 2022 predictions" thread I said:

"11. Aggressive tornado season in April-June in the US... worst since 2011..."

[caltrek]

Studies Find Climate Change is Driving ‘Decisive Increase’ in Violent Hurricanes
by Lina Tran
April 15, 2022

https://grist.org/extreme-weather/studi ... %ef%bf%bc/

Introduction:

(Grist) In our world of warming waters, extreme Atlantic hurricane seasons are becoming more likely and much wetter. That’s according to a pair of studies published this week.

The fact that heat and moisture fuel hurricanes isn’t new, but the two studies offer fresh insights into how climate change is shaping today’s hurricanes.

“Climate change is often thought about as a long-term problem,” said Kevin Reed, an extreme weather expert at Stony Brook University and lead author of one of the studies, in a release accompanying the report in Nature Communications. “A problem for future society, for our children and grandchildren. But what we’re finding, particularly through changes in extreme weather … is that the impacts are already here.”

Reed’s study looked back to the record-breaking hurricane season in 2020. That year, the season was so active that it blasted through an entire alphabet worth of names, forcing meteorologists to pivot to Greek letters. In total, it gave rise to a record 30 named storms as well as the most storms to make landfall in the continental U.S. on record. In just two months, Hurricanes Sally, Laura, Delta, and Zeta tore through the Gulf Coast, hitting Louisiana especially hard. A year and a half later, communities are still struggling to rebuild.

Researchers recreated the 2020 hurricane season with models and found that warmer waters spurred wetter storms. Over a three-hour period, 11 percent more rain fell than what would have happened in a world without climate change. Over a three-day period, the rainfall totals were 8 percent higher.

[weatheriscool]

Heat wave breaks monthly records in India and continues to build
Source: Washington Post

For the second month in a row, temperatures in India and Pakistan are abnormally high because of a string of strong and prolonged heat waves — and now another surge is building.

Temperatures have already soared to dangerously high levels. They topped 110 degrees in the Indian capital of Delhi on Thursday and Friday, where pavement melted amid the heat, while several cities broke April records.

The Times of India reported Delhi clinched its second hottest April in 72 years Friday with an average high temperature of 104 degrees (40.2 Celsius).

The city of Nawabshah in Pakistan hit 117.5 degrees (47.5 degrees Celsius) Thursday — the hottest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere this year so far.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/ ... e-records/

[weatheriscool]

Ferocious tornado strikes Andover, Kansas, causing severe damage
Source: Washington Post

By Ian Livingston

An outbreak of severe storms swept through the eastern half of Kansas and Nebraska Friday, unleashing tornadoes, destructive wind gusts and massive hail in both states.

A major tornado developed just before sunset in the eastern Wichita suburbs before entering the city of Andover, where it caused substantial damage. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but many homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) declared a state of emergency in the storm’s aftermath.

Social media footage of the twister showed a fast-moving, violent tempest shredding across Andover like a buzz saw. Among the heavily damaged structures was a YMCA where cars where flung into the building, which partially collapsed.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/ ... -outbreak/

[raklian]

60 fucking Celsius!

[raklian]

Drone footage reveals the destructive power of a tornado with clarity not commonly seen.

[weatheriscool]

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

60 fucking Celsius!

Dang if that happened here in Miami, Fl bodies would start dropping left and right. Most people here do not drink water as it is and some wear all black in the heat. Good luck with that with 60 Celsius, lol!

[caltrek]

New Portal Improves Forecasts of Devastating Storms in West Africa
May 3, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/951544

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) An online portal developed by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) will enable forecasters in West Africa to provide communities with earlier and more reliable warnings about large storms.

Storms in the Sahel region, which can reach over 100km in size, have become more extreme since the 1980s due to global warming, with more intense rainfall.* Severe flooding during the monsoon from June to September causes human and livestock deaths, plus damages property and infrastructure, leaving thousands of people without homes and livelihoods.

State-of-the-art weather forecast models struggle to predict where new storms will hit and how strong they will be, which makes it difficult to provide warnings to people in affected areas so they can protect their property and livestock or get out of harm’s way.

National forecasting agencies in Africa can already make predictions of how storms will behave in the next couple of hours by observing current atmospheric conditions, and analysing hundreds of historical storms.

Now, thanks to a recent breakthrough by UKCEH scientists, they can make these short-term forecasts, known as ‘nowcasts’, for six hours ahead and with a higher degree of accuracy. The new research found drier soils can increase the intensity of storms when they are on the move, affecting where they travel and the amount of rainfall they produce.

[caltrek]

Scientists Identify the Most Extreme Heatwaves Ever Recorded Globally
MAY 4, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/951507

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) A new study has revealed the most intense heatwaves ever across the world – and remarkably some of these went almost unnoticed decades ago.

The research, led by the University of Bristol, also shows heatwaves are projected to get hotter in future as climate change worsens.

The western North America heatwave last summer was record-breaking with an all-time Canadian high of 49.6 °C in Lytton, British Columbia, on June 29, an increase of 4.6 °C from the previous peak.

The new findings, published today in Science Advances, uncovered five other heatwaves around the world which were even more severe, but went largely underreported.

Lead author, climate scientist Dr Vikki Thompson at the University of Bristol, said: “The recent heatwave in Canada and the United States shocked the world. Yet we show there have been some even greater extremes in the last few decades. Using climate models, we also find extreme heat events are likely to increase in magnitude over the coming century – at the same rate as the local average temperature.”

[weatheriscool]

Here in Oregon we're having the wettest and coldest spring I've ever seen in my entire life. April seen record rain throughout the area... The forecast calls for rain for the rest of the week and lower 50's.

[wjfox]

Delhi suffers at 49C as heatwave sweeps India

By Sharanya Hrishikesh & Meryl Sebastian
BBC News, Delhi

4 hours ago

An intense heatwave is sweeping through northern India with temperatures hitting a record 49.2C (120.5F) in parts of the capital, Delhi.

This is the fifth heatwave in the capital since March.

Officials in many parts of the country have asked people to take precautions as temperatures are set to remain high.

They warned the heat could cause health concerns for the vulnerable, including infants, the elderly and people with chronic diseases.

The states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Bihar have particularly witnessed soaring temperatures in the past few days, India's weather department said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-61242341

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

At least 1 killed, 23 hurt in rare northern Michigan tornado
Source: AP

By JOHN FLESHER and ED WHITE

GAYLORD, Mich. (AP) — A tornado tore through a small northern Michigan community on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring at least 23 others as it flipped vehicles, tore the roofs off of buildings, and downed trees and power lines.

The twister hit Gaylord, a city of about 4,200 people roughly 230 miles (370 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, at around 3:45 p.m.

Mike Klepadlo, owner of Alter-Start North, a car repair shop, said he and his workers took cover in a bathroom.

“I’m lucky I’m alive. It blew the back off the building,” he said. “Twenty feet (6 meters) of the back wall is gone. The whole roof is missing. At least half the building is still here. It’s bad.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/tornadoes-mi ... 32ea6eca5d

[caltrek]

Millions Stranded as Flooding Causes Havoc in Bangladesh, India
May 21, 2022

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) Heavy rains have caused widespread flooding in parts of Bangladesh and India, leaving millions stranded and at least 57 dead, officials have said.

In Bangladesh, about two million people have been marooned by the worst floods in the country’s northeast for nearly two decades while nearly one million people have been affected by the flooding.

At least 100 villages at Zakiganj were inundated after floodwater rushing from India’s northeast breached a major embankment on the Barak River, said Mosharraf Hossain, the chief government administrator of the Sylhet region.

“Some two million people have been stranded by floods so far,” he told AFP, adding that at least 10 people have been killed this week.

Many parts of Bangladesh and neighbouring regions in India are prone to flooding, and experts have said that climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events around the world.

Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/2 ... desh-india

[caltrek]

No Easy Answers for U.S. Tornado Trends
by Cameron Langford
May 21, 2022

Extract:

(Courthouse News) Scientists don’t yet fully understand how tornadoes form, let alone how climate change is affecting them.
…
Harold Brooks, a senior research scientist at NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma…believes the changing patterns of U.S. tornadoes—more days with clusters of them but less days when any form—implies the structure of the jet stream has changed in ways that affect their development. But pinpointing how changes in air currents impact weather phenomenon that are very small in comparison has proven difficult, Brooks concedes.

“What we know about the structure of the jet stream is on spatial scales of a few thousand kilometers and time scales of a day or two. And when we’re trying to go from that down to something that’s a kilometer and minutes, there’s a huge mismatch in the scale,” he said.

As for climate change, experts say it is causing offsetting precursors. While it is increasing the prevalence of balmy, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico that seeds thunderstorms, it is decreasing the wind shear that spins them.

Vast differences in the temperature of air blowing down from the North Pole and up from the equator create winds that increase with height. But as climate change causes the poles to warm more than the equator, those winds diminish, which is less favorable for tornadoes.

Source: https://www.courthousenews.com/no-easy- ... do-trends/

[wjfox]

Heat wave breaks records as more than 70 million under warnings

Updated 11 hours ago - Energy & Environment

More than 70 million are under heat warnings and advisories on Saturday through early next week as a potent heat dome sends temperatures soaring to levels the National Weather Service is calling "potentially deadly."

The big picture: The heat wave, made worse by a long-term, climate change-influenced drought, shows signs of eventually swelling into the middle of the country and then eastward through next week.

Why it matters: Extreme heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in the U.S. each year, and climate change is making these events more likely, severe and long-lasting.

• The public health threat of this particular heat wave is especially elevated because of the high overnight minimum temperatures, which in many locations are breaking records. For example, at 1 a.m. local time Saturday morning, Phoenix was still at 100°F.
• "Extreme and deadly heat will continue through this weekend," the NWS forecast office in Phoenix stated, noting the "minimal overnight recovery." Forecasters noted that Phoenix may see its earliest-ever 90°F overnight low temperature.

https://www.axios.com/2022/06/11/heat-w ... as-arizona