Two Terrifying Weather Videos, But Luckily, Nobody Got Hurt

Window washers being battered by
high winds slamming their carriage
into a skyscraper.  

Two weather-related videos are making the rounds around the web this weekend, in which weather probably terrified a few people, but in the end, everyone is OK.

The first video was taken in Shanghai, China, on the 91st floor of Shanghai World Financial Centre, the second tallest building in town.

High winds came in fast, and sent a window washing carriage with two occupants swinging wildly in the gale and smashing, hard and repeatedly, against the walls of the building.

Rescue workers eventually smashed some windows on the skyscraper to reach the window washers, who were shaken up but not badly injured, says news.com.au.

The video of the window washing nightmare was taken by an office worker inside the skyscraper:


Next, we go to Seattle, Washington, where an unusually strong thunderstorm for that part of the country rolled in on Wednesday.

Cold air aloft and converging winds contributed to the storms, which dumped heavy hail in parts of the area and created lots of lightning strikes.

A person taking a video near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport managed to catch two separate airliners getting struck by lightning.

Lightning often strikes passenger aircraft, which are designed to take such hits. But it's still briefly scary for the people in the planes, and sometimes for people watching from the ground

See for yourself:

My Nominee For Worst Weather Place In The World Is Kentucky

Simone Wester and her seven month old son Jeremiah
flee their flooded Louisville apartment on Friday
Photo by Timothy Easley/AP  

Oh, it must have been SO much fun living in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday. There were flash flood warnings, flood warnings, a tornado watch and a shelter in place warning for heavy smoke.

This pretty much seals the deal for Kentucky: It's the state with the worst weather in the nation.

Oh, sure, California is hogging all the headlines with its epic drought. And New England got lots of attention for its brutally cold winter and record snows.

(News flash: As I wrote this Saturday morning, it was snowing outside my Vermont window. Again. Just a day after I was teased with a sunny day with highs in the 60s.)

Anyway, my April snowfall is still a lot better than the conditions in Kentucky so far this year.

Let's review:

In February, Kentucky got near record snowfalls, some of the coldest temperatures on record in the state, a damaging ice storm, and some flooding.

On March 5, parts of Kentucky had their biggest snowstorm on record, with up to two feet of powder falling. Some people were stranded by the snow on Interstate highways for up to 12 hours.

This snow was followed by the coldest temperatures on record in a good chunk of Kentucky.

Then the snow melted in mid March. Along with some rain, flooding hit the state. The Ohio River along the Ohio-Kentucky border went well above flood stage. 

Then yesterday hit. Repeated torrential thunderstorms in Louisville and much of the rest of the state caused some huge flash flooding, requiring hundreds of rescues of people stranded in flooded homes and cars.

Many areas received four to seven inches of rain in just a few hours.

Sadly, a mother and child were swept away in a flooded car and are presumed dead.  A camper in a tent died in Kentucky and her husband was critically injured when a large tree branch fell on them during a severe storm.

Damage was widespread, to say the least.

Then, a massive GE warehouse caught fire. It's unclear if the fire was at all weather related, but the thick smoke prompted a shelter in place warning for people living nearby. They had to shut their doors and windows and stay inside because of the possibly toxic smoke.

On top of this, most of Kentucky was under a tornado watch Friday afternoon. Luckily, there were no reports of tornado touchdowns, but strong thunderstorm winds caused scattered damage, and the new afternoon thunderstorms worsened the flooding.

For tonight and tomorrow morning, frost and freeze alerts are up for much of Kentucky.

I'm not sure what's next for Kentucky in the weather department. We do know there's the possibility of more heavy rain and severe storms in Kentucky later next week.

After that, locusts?

Ah Spring! Tornados, Hail, Floods and Snow

Three supercell thunderstorms, each with
a tornado warning, west and north of Joplin,
Missouri last evening.  

You would have to forgive people in Joplin, Missouri  if they were pretty frightened last night.

The southwestern Missouri city was devastated in 2011 by a massive tornado that killed 158 of its residents and turned most of the southern half of the city into ruins.

Last night, three supercell thunderstorms, each with a tornado warning, was lined up in a row just west and north of Joplin, ready to strike.

As it turned out, no tornadoes touched down in Joplin last night, but other towns nearby got hit.  There were nine reports of tornadoes. So far, I haven't heard any reports of injuries and not much in the way of damage.

But this type of scare is unfortunately a way of life in the Midwest during the spring. The question always is, will that funnel lift harmlessly back into the clouds, or will it wipe my community away?

People will be asking that question today in a large area in the Ohio Valley and Gulf Coast states, as severe weather looms.

Today's outbreak of severe weather probably won't produce a HUGE number of tornadoes, but it is very likely to spin off at least a few. Before dawn, there was already a tornado watch posted for northern Arkansas.

There's also going to be large hail, and damaging thunderstorm winds in this zone that is under the gun for severe weather today. The area most at risk includes Nashville, Tennessee, Huntsville, Alabama, and Louisville, Kentucky.

Louisville has already had enough with this outbreak of thunderstorms. Torrential thunderstorms repeated raked the Louisville area early this morning. Water rescues were ongoing in Louisville early Friday, including at a badly flooded apartment complex. Many roads, including part of an Interstate highway are closed. 

Flooding in Louisville early
this morning. Photo by Bryan Shain. 

Cars were reported floating down Louisville streets.

The storm causing the dangerous weather will spin up and move toward New England tonight and Saturday.

Up in New England, they had their first real taste of spring yesterday. It got above 60 degrees in Burlington, Vermont Thursday, the first time that's happened since November 24. Widespread 60 degree weather is likely to continue in New England today.

That storm system that scared the bejeezus out of Joplin and drowned Louisville is also going to help squelch spring in New England.

The system will drag a cold front through, dropping temperatures sharply tonight. Even though it's 60 degrees today, winter weather advisories are up for much of northern New England Saturday, especially the higher elevations.

It looks like the region will receive three to eight inches of snow by late Saturday. So much for spring.

Plus, it will stay chilly in New England next week.

And in the center of the country, the threat of severe storms and possibly tornadoes will increase again toward the middle of next week.

California Drought: The State Is Totally Screwed. To A Lesser Extent, You Are, Too.

California water managers on skis and snowshoes
stick a long metal pole into the snow
on April 1, 2012 in the Sierra Nevada mountains
to measure snow and its water content.  

Yesterday, California Gov Jerry Brown and Frank Gehrke strolled out onto a nice alpine meadow in the Sierra Nevada in front of a waiting scrum of reporters.  

Gehrke held a big tall aluminum pole. There was a black piece of tape or something about two feet up the pole. About five feet up the pole, there was another piece of tape, this one green.

That piece of black tape? That was how deep the snow was on this meadow around April 1, 1977, which used to be the record for the paltriest snow cover for that time of year in the meadow. That piece of green tape was how deep the snow usually is this time of year.

This illustrates why California is screwed. Their drought is in its fourth year. The state depends upon snow melt from the Sierra to feed reservoirs and much of the state's water needs.

Months of record winter warmth has melted what little snow has fallen in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Snow cover is just five percent of where it should be this time of year. It's like asking for a glass of water and only getting a medicine dropper full of liquid instead.

The same site as the photo above, but this photo was taken
yesterday. There is no snow to measure amid
California's worst drought in modern history.  

Governor Brown used the occasion in that alpine meadow to announce unprecedented water restrictions on Californias. Every city is going to have to use 25 percent less water than it usually does.

California state water managers are calling the situation scary.  

Craig Miller at KQED, the public media network for northern California, said more than 400,000 acres of farmland were fallow last year because of a lack of water. That figure could double this year.

Less farming means fewer agriculture-related jobs, too. Not only farmworkers, but suppliers of farm equipment. This will have a ripple effect across the nation as farm suppliers across the United States get fewer orders from California.

You're going to feel California's drought in your wallet and your taste buds, even if you live in a place with oodles of water.

As Mother Jones points out, nearly half of all of the United State's supply of fruits, vegetables and nuts come from California.

This includes 99 percent of all our almonds and walnuts, 98 percent of our pistachios, 95 percent of broccoli and 92 percent of strawberries.

Of course, not all farmland in California will stop producing. Irrigation will continue, crops will keep growing and being distributed nationwide, but definitely to a lesser extent than in that past.

That will squeeze supply. The basic laws of supply and demand mean if the supply goes down, prices go up. Your favorite walnut strawberry dessert is about to become unaffordable.

Some farmers will also resort to pumping out more and more groundwater to make up for lost irrigation allocations from state and local water managers.

As Eric Holthaus writes in Slate, this desperate effort to reach groundwater can result in sinking ground levels and a permanent reduction in water storage capacity even when and if the rains finally return to California.

New laws aimed at reducing overuse of groundwater won't be enforced until 2040, and should be imposed much sooner than that, writes Holthaus. 

In California, people are going to have to get used to watching every drop of water they use. I know that would be hard for me, in damp old Vermont, where winter snows and spring and summer rains have been consistently reliable, knock on wood. (Sometimes too reliable: We've had a huge increase in the number and severity of floods in recent years.)

For most people, letting their lawns go brown, or replacing lawns with plants that don't use much water is the easy part. But people will continually have to be mindful of the lengths of their showers, how often they wash their clothes, how often they flush the toilet.

Some communities will run out of water entirely, Craig quotes Mark Cowin, who heads California's Department of Water Resources.

It a bit of cruel irony, over the next week as we get into April, some rain and mountain snow might fall on the northern half of California. April is traditionally the start of California's dry season, which typically lasts until late autumn.

This rain and snow won't make much difference at all in the drought. California had hoped and waited as it looked like an El Nino weather pattern might take hold. El Ninos often dump heavy winter precipitation on California.

But El Nino never really got going, until now, as it seems to be finally taking shape. Too late. El Nino does not override California's summer dry season.

For the next several months, we're going to be treated to a constant stream of news stories about California towns without water, rising food prices, wildfires and pitched political battles over who gets to use how much water in California.

Any way you look at it, the situation is ugly. And it's going to get uglier.

Extreme Winter Pattern Finally Breaks, But Doesn't Necessarily Help

Whiting, Maine this winter. New Englanders want
to leave this past extreme winter behind,
and it is departing, only in fits and starts, though.
Photo by Harry Snyder.  

The extreme winter weather pattern over North America has finally broken in favor of a more spring seasonal arrangement, but that doesn't necessarily mean everybody is going to be happy.

As you know, the pattern featured record heat and drought in California. (I'll have a separate post on that dire situation later).

The winter pattern contributed to extreme cold in the Northeastern United States and eastern Canada, and epic snows in eastern New England and southeastern Canada.

A number of Northeastern cities including Bangor, Maine, Syracuse, New York, Hartford, Connecticut, Worcester, Massachusetts and Montpelier and St. Johnsbury, Vermont, had their coldest first three months of the year on record.

The normal polar vortex, which held a position in Canada which helped along the horrible winter weather, is breaking down and weakening, like it normally does in the spring.

Unfortunately for warm weather lovers, this doesn't necessarily mean spring weather will exactly bloom in New England, though. Wintry weather is going to linger off and on for awhile.

NEW ENGLAND

Warmer weather will indeed stage a welcome invastion into New England today and especially Friday.  Widespread temperatures in the 50s and 60s are forecast, especially on Friday. Lows tonight in all areas except northern Maine will stay in the 40s.

Luckless northern Maine is under a winter weather advisory for snow and sleet tonight.

A cold front will cross the Northeast Friday night, and a strenghtening storm system will ride northeast along the front.

Temperatures will crash late Friday night into Saturday. Combined with the storm, several inches of snow could come down on northern New York and northern New England through Saturday.

Sorry.

Most of next week looks chilly and damp with cold rain showers, mixed with snow in the north of New England as chilly weather hangs on. But the weather pattern that's bringing that cool air is nothing like the winter setup, so it won't be as awfully far below normal as it's been.

Still, next week's chilly, somewhat wintry weather will be extremely frustrating for New Englanders, as areas from the Mid-Atlantic states on south will enjoy balmy, sunny spring warmth.

There are uncertain signs that it could warm up to nice spring levels in New England late next week. We'll see.

SEVERE WEATHER

Spring patterns usually brings severe weather to parts of the nation, and that's no exception here.

There were a few scattered report of gigantic hail in the Plains states yesterday. Today, the severe weather will intensify, especially in southern Missouri, southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky.

(This is part of the same storminess that will bring rain, then snow to northern New England Friday through Saturday)

Hail piled up near Dallas yesterday. From WFAA. 

There could be a couple tornadoes in this region today, but as has been the case for the past couple of days, the biggest threats are large hail and destructive thunderstorm winds. These same areas could get some flooding from heavy downpours as well.

On Friday, the severe weather threat shifts to Mississippi, Tennessee, and northwestern Alabama. Just like today's bad weather, this area on Friday could get a couple tornadoes, but mostly damaging hail and winds.

More to the west, in the High Plains from the Dakotas to West Texas, it remains very dry, and warm, and windy, with low humidity. As has been the case all week, there's a very high risk of wildfires in that region. 

The weather pattern will remain favorable for occasional areas of severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes next week, but pinning down which areas are under the gun and how widespread severe weather will be, if it occurs at all, is hard to do days in advance.

Global Warming IS A Complete Hoax!!

And I've got the proof right here:

Antarctic Hot Spell Gets The Headlines, But The Real Trouble Is In The Ice

Esperanza Base on the northern tip of the
Antarctic Pennisula just recorded what might be
the warmest temperature on record for
Antarctica. But that's not the
real danger in Antarctica if the world warms.
Thawing ice sheets could cause big problems.  

The climate world was abuzz last week with news that Antarctica had its warmest temperature on record.

Readings of 63.5 degrees were reported at Base Esperanza and 63.3 degrees at Marambio, says Christopher Burt at Weather Underground. 

Both weather stations are on the Antarctic Pennisula, which juts north toward the warmer environments of the southern tip of South America.

The standing record for Antarctica was 59 degrees at Vando in 1974, which is definitely closer to the South Pole than the stations that had readings in the 60s last week.

There's no question that the hot temperatures Esperanza and Marambio were highly unusual for Antarctica.

Since records are spotty and don't go back all that far on Antarctica, and not many people are there to monitor the weather there, there's a good possibility it has been hotter than that 63.5 degrees last week.

The bottom line: If you're talking about those warm temperatures in the context of global warming, it's interesting, but doesn't tell you all that much about it.

A little more buried in the headlines, though, was something more ominous, at least in the long term.

Last year we learned that the West Antarctic ice sheet, a huge mass of ice down there, was less stable than originally thought. As warmng ocean water infiltrates underneath it, the ice sheet could eventually collapse, allowing masses of ice on land to flow toward the oceans and melt.

This would raise sea levels substantially around the world, which of course is not a good thing, especially if you live in a coastal city just a few feet above sea level.

Now, we learn the even bigger, gigantic glacier of East Antarctica is also under the same threat of collapse, says the Washington Post. 

Again, warm ocean water is getting beneath the East Antarctica ice sheet, especially the ice shel of the Totten Glacier, thinning it from below.

Says the Washington Post:

"The floating ice shelf of the Totten Glacier covers an area of 90 miles by 22 miles. It is losing an amount of ice 'equivalent to 100 times the volume of Sydney Harbor every year,' notes the Australian Antarctic Division."

That's alarming, because the glacier holds back a much more vast catchment of ice that, were its vulnerable parts to flow into the ocean, could produce a sea level rise of more than 11 feet - which is comparable to the impact from a loss of the West Antarctica ice sheet. And that's a 'conservative lower limit' says lead study author Jamin Greenbaum a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin."

If ice floating on the ocean melts, it's not THAT big a deal in terms of sea level. If ice floating on the ocean melts, it's like an ice cube melting in a glass. The glass doesn't overflow when the ice melts.

But the ice floating on the ocean on the West and East Antartica Ice shelves is holding back masses and masses of ice on land. If the ice shelves melt, the ice from the land moves toward and into the ocean and melts.

That's why the scientists studying this thing are worried about sea levels rising.

Of course, the combined 22 feet of sea level rise from melting the West and East Antartica ice won't happen by, say, Friday. This will go on over decades and centuries, and be a big problem for future generations.  Greenland in the northern hemisphere is melting, too, so that adds to the sea level rise.

The immediate problem is, a little bit of sea level rise can cause big problems.

Gradually, coastal areas will see increased flooding, erosion from storms and salt water intrusion from sea water on fresh water supplies increase. It's already starting to happen. Just ask anyone in Miami, Florida or Virginia Beach/Norfolk, Virginia, for instance, about the increasing number of floods during many high tides.

As is always the case with these types of scientific studies, experts are going to have to do a lot more poking and prodding and questioning and replicating to make sure the conclusions about the East Antarctica ice shelf melting are true.

Nobody has yet physically gotten any equipment into the water beneath the ice shelf to confirm that it's warming as much as they think it is, and the ice is going as fast as they think it is. Instruments and observations do confirm there is a thinning of the ice, but scientists need to refine the measurements more.

Scientists are busily getting on with that work, we're told.