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Weird Weather

Hurricane Irene: Emergency declared in six US states

[Video of Hurricane Irene pictured from the International Space Station - shows the size of it compared to the curvature of the Earth]

Six states along the east coast of the US, from North Carolina to New York, have declared emergencies ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Irene.
The first hurricane of the Atlantic season is now a category three storm, packing winds of 115mph (185km/h), with "some strengthening" expected.
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina.

Irene, now leaving the Bahamas, has already caused havoc in the Caribbean.

States of emergency have been declared in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and New York.

President Barack Obama also declared an emergency in North Carolina, where Irene is due to make landfall first, on Saturday afternoon.
The move allows greater co-ordination between state and US federal disaster management authorities.
"In this emergency I am activating all levels of state government to prepare for any situation that may be caused by Hurricane Irene," said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

In Washington DC, which is under a tropical storm watch, Sunday's scheduled dedication of the newly opened memorial for Martin Luther King Jr - which President Barack Obama had been expected to attend - has been postponed until at least September.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14669374
 
Yesterday was another day for Weird Forecasts, and again the local beeb forecast (Sunny periods all day) came off worst against the local paper website (Chance of rain greater than 50%).

I went riding the buses - from the high ground I could see isolated but heavy rain showers in all directions. Later, heading west, there was a big bank of cloud ahead of us, with three towers of cu-nim sprouting from it like mushrooms. As we got closer I realised the whole system was much bigger than I'd first thought - if I hadn't been on a bus, I could have got pics of some dramatic skyscapes.

Then we were under the clouds, and sure enough had heavy rain. We cleared the rain belt fairly quickly, but for miles beyond the wet roads and puddles showed where the storm had already passed.

Today the beeb gives the same forcast, but outside the window it's drizzling!
 
I was woken up to an enormous thunderstorm, about an hour ago. It's not raining, for the moment. :roll:
 
We've been upgraded to a tropical storm warning in DC!

What a way to finish up Earthquake Week 2011. Wheeeeee!
 
rynner2 said:
Yesterday was another day for Weird Forecasts, and again the local beeb forecast (Sunny periods all day) came off worst against the local paper website (Chance of rain greater than 50%).

I went riding the buses - from the high ground I could see isolated but heavy rain showers in all directions. Later, heading west, there was a big bank of cloud ahead of us, with three towers of cu-nim sprouting from it like mushrooms. As we got closer I realised the whole system was much bigger than I'd first thought - if I hadn't been on a bus, I could have got pics of some dramatic skyscapes.

Then we were under the clouds, and sure enough had heavy rain. We cleared the rain belt fairly quickly, but for miles beyond the wet roads and puddles showed where the storm had already passed.

Today the beeb gives the same forcast, but outside the window it's drizzling!
Click to expand...

That's the thing with convective weather forecasting, 1/2 mile down the road they're having a deluge, but you are having drizzle or sun! Sunny spells and showers is a "cover all" for this type of setup
 
Hexebus said:
That's the thing with convective weather forecasting, 1/2 mile down the road they're having a deluge, but you are having drizzle or sun! Sunny spells and showers is a "cover all" for this type of setup
Click to expand...
But the point is the online Beeb forecast for my area didn't mention showers (although they have the icons for it), just the sunny spells!
 
Again today:
Beeb says sunny intervals, becoming sunny, view out of the window says rain!

(Local paper website: 13% chance of rain a.m., dry p.m.)
 
Actually i'm hoping Hurricane Irene puts out the fire in the Great Dismal Swamp. It's been burning for weeks now. Let's see we've had the wild fire, an earthquake earlier this week and now a hurricane. If i see locusts, i'm leaving.
 
Got a red face from sunburn and absolutely drenched in an ungodly downpour in the same afternoon.

And then went out about an hour later to discover the pavement was bone dry!

:shock:
 
Some dramatic pics here:

Britain braced for second day of storms bringing blackouts and transport chaos
- Bus driver George Brown dies in County Durham after tree falls on vehicle
- Lorry driver killed in three-vehicle smash on M54
- Boy, 11, hospitalised after being hit by roof that blew off garage in Bradford
- Britain hit by winds of up to 80mph
- Thousands of homes across central England lose power
- All high-speed ferries from Portsmouth to France are cancelled
- Tour of Britain cycle race cancelled over safety fears
- Planes blown off course while landing at Leeds Bradford International Airport

By Sarah Graham and Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 9:27 AM on 13th September 2011

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1XosXOTsI
 
Katia didn't bring any extreme weather to the SW, but it still had an impact:

Bude teenager airlifted to hospital

A teenager has been airlifted to hospital after an accident on his surfboard in north Cornwall.
The 15-year-old surfer hit a handrail at Bude's sea pool on Summerleaze beach on Monday evening at about 19:00 BST.
The boy, who is thought to be local, sustained injuries to one of his hips and was taken to hospital in Exeter.

Cornwall has been experiencing large swell from the remnants of the tropical storm Katia.
Phil Mathias from Falmouth Coastguard,said: "We just want to reiterate there's still quite a bit of swell around.
"Just be aware if you're out there surfing, that you're not going out there in conditions that are too big for the experience you may have.
"It is easy to get into trouble with these large swells we're getting at the moment."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-14893871
 
Records smashed in heatwave
By James Edgar
Thursday, 29 September 2011

Britain sizzled again today as the record-breaking mini heatwave baked the country.
Temperatures well above average for this time of year were recorded up and down the UK, with Finningley in South Yorkshire topping the afternoon's chart.

With the mercury peaking at 29.0C (84F), the hotspot smashed the previous warmest September 29, which was recorded in York in 1895 when the thermometer reached 27.8C (82F).

London enjoyed a sweltering 28.1C (83F) at Kew Gardens in the west of the capital, while the seaside village of Weybourne in Norfolk basked in 27.1C (81F) heat.

The balmy conditions are set to continue into the weekend, and sun-seekers are taking the opportunity to head to the coast, as well as parks and rivers to soak up the rays.
The unseasonably warm weather is more than 10C (18F) higher than the average temperature for the end of September.

Tom Tobler, forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "It's dry and sunny almost across the whole of Europe.
A southerly wind across the UK is bringing warm air across England, but Scotland and Ireland are fairly cloudy."
He said there had been some rain in east Scotland, but in Wales and England there is "hardly a cloud in the sky".

The meteorologist said the weather will remain largely the same across the UK until the start of next week, before it cools off on Tuesday with a chance of showers.

Virgin Trains said services into London's Euston Station were being delayed by a few minutes because of 20mph speed restrictions imposed southbound in the Wembley area, because of the heat. :shock:
The restrictions were put in place at 2.30pm and were still in force two hours later.

Network Rail said there were some temporary speed restrictions in place over short stretches of track because of the heat.
A spokeswoman said: "There are no significant delays to any passenger services today owing to the warm weather.
"At a small number of locations there are temporary speed restrictions in place over short stretches of track but these will have little impact, if any, on journey times."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 62834.html
 
Ah, so it was pretty hot at this time of year in 1895, nothing to do with global warming then. :D
 
Flowers bloom for a second time this year
By Jennifer Carpenter, Science reporter, BBC News

UK plants are flowering for a second time this year because of the unseasonably warm weather.
With temperatures soaring, plants such as foxglove and cowslip, which usually flower in the spring, are in full bloom six to eight months early.
Cold nights experienced across the UK in August are thought to have led to the early onset of autumn colours.
This warmer spell now has plants acting like it is spring.

Gardeners at the National Trust's Wakehurst Place gardens in Sussex said they are working from a "new rule book" to keep up.
"It is a very unsual year...I've been gardening for 30 years and have never seen anything like this," said Wakehurst Place's head Andy Jackson.
"We are increasingly seeing that plants are not synchronised with what the weather is doing," he added.

In the last year, the UK experienced an incredibly warm winter, followed by a severe drought, then lots of rainfall and a cold snap in the summer, all before this warm spell explained Mr Jackson.
From mid-August, gardeners were seeing trees turning yellow and orange; it is unclear what will happen now with temperatures reaching into the thirties (eighties) in parts of the South, East and the Midlands.

The BBC's meteorologist Liam Dutton explained that the position of the jet stream north of the UK has allowed high pressure to build, bringing in the very warm air from western Europe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15107243
 
Don't get too comfortable, apparently we have snow on the way in October.
 
Record UK temperature for October set at 29.5C

The record has been broken for the highest temperature recorded in October - at 29.5C (85.1F).
It was set at 13:27 in Gravesend, Kent, beating the previous 26-year record of 29.4C (85.9F) recorded on 1 October 1985, in the town of March, Cambridge.
Met Office forecaster Andrew Sibley said: "We are looking to see the highest sometime around 3pm, getting up to 30C."
Temperatures in England topped those in Athens, Los Angeles and Barcelona. 8)

In Wales, a new October record was set at 27.5C (81.5F) at Hawarden.

But it was a different story in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland with outbreaks of rain and temperatures tipping just 17C (62.6f).
In Edinburgh on Wednesday the high was 24.7C (76.4F) - the warmest day in Scotland for the last week in September for more than 50 years.

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15137832
 
Gravesend pumps it higher!

Record UK temperature for October set at 29.9C

The record has been broken for the highest temperature recorded in October - now at 29.9C (85.8F).
It was set at 14:42 BST in Gravesend, Kent, beating the previous record of 29.4C (84.9F) recorded on 1 October 1985, in March, Cambridgeshire.

In Wales, a new October record was set at 28.2C (82.7F) in Hawarden, Flintshire, at 14:12 BST, the Met Office confirmed.

Temperatures in England topped those in Athens, Los Angeles and Barcelona.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15137832
 
Its interesting how people refer to 'the UK weather', not realising how different the weather can be in different parts.

Up here the last two winters have been unusually cold and prolonged, followed by a warm spring but a poor (cool and wet) summer. In fact, the warm spring and cool summer have been going on five years now - to everyone's considerable disappointment.

Just now its raining and cool, yet Hawarden is only about 50 miles away.

Local weather, of course has little to do with global climate, but it does seem to establish a pattern for just long enough for us to regard it as normal and then change its mind! It will be interesting to see if we get another frozen winter - the locals agree nothing like the last two winters has been seen here since 62/63. I certainly have seen nothing like them since I moved here back at the start of '97.
 
Cochise said:
Its interesting how people refer to 'the UK weather', not realising how different the weather can be in different parts.
Click to expand...
A north-south divide in this story:

North braced for Hurricane Ophelia as south basks in record-breaking heat
The north of England is no stranger to grim weather. As the south enjoyed the hottest October 2nd for more than 100 years, northerners were forced to wrap up warm and put up their umbrellas.
By Heidi Blake
8:15PM BST 02 Oct 2011

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, they were last night warned to brace themselves for the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia, which is set to sweep in from the US bringing lashing wind and rain.
The tail-end of the hurricane currently battering North America will hit Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North West of England by mid-week.

But southerners can expect to enjoy a few more days of sunshine, with the mini-heatwave set to continue into the week with highs of around 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25C).
The mercury peaked at 85F (29.3C) in Santon Do[wn]ham, Norfolk yesterday – breaking the previous October 2nd high of 83F (28.1), which was recorded in Whitby in 1908. It was the third day in a row that high temperature records have been broken.

Millions of sun-seekers flocked to Britain’s beaches over the weekend, with councils having to bring thousands of deck chairs sun-loungers out of storage to meet the demand.
Bed and Breakfasts were booked solid in seaside resorts up and down the coast, and ice-cream makers warned of a shortage as demand shot up by 75 per cent in some areas.
Manufacturers said they were stepping up production in a bid to keep shopkeepers supplied with enough lollies to meet demand until the heatwave ends.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weath ... -heat.html
 
We've had some heavy rain recently in UK (and more forecast for today), but it's been worse in Italy:

Villages all but wiped out as storms batter Italy's 'Cinque Terre'
Five people have been killed and another six are missing after storms and torrential rain caused extensive floods in northern Italy.
[ video ]
By Nick Squires, Rome
11:44AM BST 26 Oct 2011

The worst affected region was Liguria, with at least two of the five World Heritage-listed 'Cinque Terre' coastal villages cut off as a result of roads being washed away.
The walking trails and picturesque fishing villages of the Cinque Terre attract hundreds of thousands of international tourists, but two of them – Vernazza and Monterosso – were severely affected as rivers of mud poured down from the hills behind them.

The mayor of Monterosso said the fishing village had all but been wiped out.
"Monterosso no longer exists," Angelo Betta told an Italian news agency.
Huge amounts of mud had swept through the tiny settlement, causing an "unimaginable disaster".

The neighbouring village of Vernazza had to be evacuated by sea, with the Coast Guard rescuing stranded foreign tourists and locals.
Three were injured and one had reportedly suffered a heart attack.

Mud slides and torrential rain closed major roads, in one case knocking a petrol tanker on its side amid a sea of debris.
Bridges were destroyed and trains blocked.

A woman died after her car was hit by a wall of water and mud in the Massa Carrara area of northern Tuscany, while three people died when a house collapsed in Liguria.

Up to 50 people were rescued from the floods by firemen in rubber dinghies.
The civil protection authority advised people in the affected areas not to leave home unless their journeys were absolutely necessary, amid fears that the volume of flood water could sweep away more vehicles.

Tuscany's regional government held a minute's silence on Wednesday for those who lost their lives in the floods.
Alberto Monaci, the president of the region, said Tuscany and Liguria had been hit by a "meteorological explosion".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Terre.html
 
While other parts of the world experience rain, storms and blizzards, we had unusual weather for Cornwall yesterday - it was flat calm! Even up on top of Carn Marth there was only an occassional, tiny, hint of air movement.

All the wind turbines I saw were motionless, from the biggest ones like Roskrow Barton to small ones on isolated farmsteads.

The forecast had been for NW winds (a cool direction) and air temps in the low teens, so I'd worn my heavy ski-jacket, expecting it to be rather 'bracing' on top of the hill, but with no wind and almost clear skies even the October sun was quite warm, and soon I was soaked in sweat! The ski-jacket is too big to roll up and put in my back-pack, so I wore it totally unzipped, but still the sweat ran down my arms and dripped out of my sleeves!

Riding the bus home in the afternoon things were returning to normal - cloud had started to build up, and at Roskrow Barton the turbines were turning again, although slowly.

Quite a memorable day. :D
 
US snowstorm leaves Central Park braced for loss of 1,000 trees
Snowstorm in north-east America – which broke record snowfall levels for October – left millions without power and 11 dead
Karen McVeigh in New York guardian.co.uk, Monday 31 October 2011 16.38 GMT

The snowstorm that struck the US north-east over the weekend has caused unprecedented damage to woodlands and parks, with 1,500 trees lost in New York City alone.
Central Park – where a record 2.9in fell on branches still heavy with their red, amber and golden leaves – could lose an estimated 1,000 trees, ten times the loss caused by Hurricane Irene two months ago.

The storm, which broke record snowfall levels for October, left millions without power and 11 dead.
The ill effects of the storm lingered into the week, with more than 2.2 million homes still without power on Monday morning.

A National Weather Service spokesman said the early-season winter storm brought particularly wet and heavy snow due to near-, but not below, freezing temperatures. As a result, branches were overloaded and entire trees felled.
"You just have absolute tree carnage with this heavy snow just straining the branches," said NWS spokesman Chris Vaccaro, who said the storm "absolutely crushed previous records that in some cases dated back more than 100 years."

The majority of tree damage in Central Park was in the area south of 86th Street, where the park receives its highest concentration of visitors, New York's parks department confirmed. It has also received more than 500 calls about downed trees in other parts of the city.
Saturday was only the fourth snowy October day in the park since records began, 135 years ago.

Across the American north-east, communities in western Massachusetts were among the hardest hit, with snowfall totals of 32in reported in Peru and 30.8in reported in Plainfield.

The storm was blamed for at least 11 deaths, and a state of emergency was declared in Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and parts of New York.
Many areas hit by the storm had already suffered outages from Irene two months ago.
"It's going to be a more difficult situation than we experienced in Irene," Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy said. "We are expecting extensive and long-term power outages."

Thirty-two shelters were open around Connecticut, and Malloy asked volunteer fire departments to allow people in for warmth and showers. At least four hospitals were relying on generators for power.

The massive outages includes nearly 750,000 customers still without power in Connecticut; nearly 525,000 in Massachusetts; more than 360,000 in New Jersey; around 220,000 in Pennsylvania; about 128,000 in New York; just over 200,000 in New Hampshire; about 21,000 in Maine and about 1,700 in Rhode Island.

Officials said it would take days to restore all outages, while commuter trains in Connecticut and New York were suspended or delayed because of downed trees and signal problems.

Usually at this time of year there is not enough cold air for a snowstorm, but an area of high pressure over south-eastern Canada drove cold air south towards the US, according to the NWS. That cold air combined with moisture coming from the North Carolina coast to produce the unseasonable weather.

Roads, rail and air travel was disrupted, and passengers on a JetBlue flight were stuck on a plane in Hartford, Connecticut for more than seven hours on Saturday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oc ... ntral-park
 
That's all coming our way tomorrow, thankfully it will just be rain by the time it gets here.
 
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