Britain Went Coal Free For A Day, Maybe An Anti-Climate Change Trend?

A coal mine near Gillette, Wyoming. Will demand for coal
fade away in the coming decades and we won't burn it
anymore? Climate scientists and activists would like that. 

On a Friday in April,  the entire nation of Great Britain met all of its energy needs without burning so much as one lump of coal.

It was the first time since 1882 that Great Britain went an entire day without burning coal to power factories, homes, businessees and whatnot, according to the BBC.

To cut carbon emissions, Britain plans to phase out its last coal burning plants by 2025. The British National Grid said the coal-free day was a "watershed moment" for the country.

It was a symbolic moment - Britain quickly returned to burning some coal - but it's another powerful sign that coal is on its way out. And good riddance.

I know, I know Donald Trump says he's going to bring all those coal mining job back.

However, despite Trump and other conservatives' denials, people are getting more and more concerned about climate change, and coal is steadily becoming a pariah product.

It's got bad optics nowadays. Coal is considered among the worst emitters of carbon dioxide, which feeds climate change. The search is on for cleaner energy.  Nobody wants coal anymore.

Well, that's not quite true. Developing nations are still buying it up, so demand for coal is expected to stay at current levels or even rise slightly between now and 2021. But that's a big switch. Until recently, worldwide coal demand kept spiraling up.

The BBC said that the coal-free day in April is believed to be the first time since 1882 that Britain did not use coal for energy usage at all. That time in 1882 was the first time coal was used to generate electricity from a centralize public coal-fired generator.

I wonder if we're coming up on the last day that will happen?

Weather Pattern Change Good For Us, Bad For Others

Nice evening in my St. Albans, Vermont garden last night
After a chilly, wet nor'easter this weekend, a big warmup
is due next week. 

After we slog through a wet and chilly nor'easter here in New England later today into Monday, a big, well-advertised pattern change will set in next week.

That's good for us, because it will be quite a switch from a chilly, cloudy and dank start to May. (Although I have to say Friday scored a "10" in the weather department with blue skies, sun and afternoon warmth.)

As the nor'easter departs, the weather in New England will turn sunnier, and dramatically warmer. Many areas could get into the low 80s by Thursday. Maybe even Wednesday in a couple spots.

As the Weather Channel and other meteorologists note, the change in the weather pattern next week isn't good for everyone.

There hasn't been many tornadoes so far this month in the nation, which is a good thing, since this is the peak time for them.  (By this time in May, there would have been 82 tornadoes in an average year, and we're only up to 45 now.)

The upcoming shift in the jet stream, however, will make it more likely severe weather and tornadoes could strike the middle of the country off and on next week.

The storminess in the middle of the country due next week could put places like Missouri under water again next week.

They had record flooding in that neck of the woods in late April and early May, but it hasn't been particularly wet out there over the past week. A good thing. Signs point to wetter times ahead in the coming days, and they don't need that!

If you're one of those odd ducks who miss the snow that fell on Vermont early last week, you're totally out of luck, although the summits of the highest New England mountains could get snow Sunday.

However, if you want snow, head west. It looks like snowy times are ahead for the high elevations of the Rocky Mountains next week.

Report: Tornado Deaths, Destruction To Greatly Increase In Coming Decades

A tornado carved a deadly path through Washington,
Illinois in November, 2013. As cities and towns
grow and expand, they become bigger targets
for tornadoes, so scenes like this might become more
common in coming decades. 

We're in the heart of tornado season in the United States now.

There was a handful of tornadoes in Oklahoma Thursday, but no deaths or serious injuries was reported, and damage was relatively muted.  

We've got several chances of more tornadoes in the coming week as several weather systems seem likely to touch off some bad weather in the middle of the country.

This has been kind of a bad, destructive and deadly tornado year and a report in USA Today gives us a scary glimpse into the future:

The number of deaths and damage from tornadoes could triple by the end of this century.

This isn't a story about global warming. (Usually, when there's a dire warning like this, it involves climate change. Not this time.)

Instead, the problem is development.

Cities and suburbs keep sprawling outward and coverning more land. The more land covered by houses and developments, the bigger the target for tornadoes.

Instead of harmlessly churning across open fields, the growing size of towns and cities make them bigger targets for tornadoes to chew up.

The student was done by Villanova University's Department of Geography and the Environment.

"Disasters are are socially constructed....We're building ourselves into disasters," said Stephen Strader, the study's lead author, according to USA Today.

This potentially deadly trend is most likely in the Midwest and Southeast, where tornadoes are most prevalent and cities are sprawling. Places like metropolitian Dallas, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago and Atlanta are big targets, for instance.

In terms of global warming, the jury is still out on whether climate change will make tornadoes more frequent or worse. The tornado season might become longer, since warmer air earlier in the spring could contribute to weather patterns that encourage twisters.

But the biggest problem is development. People in tornado prone areas ought to consider building storm shelters if they don't already have them. Or at least bolster the structural integrity of the houses they live in.

Dreary Chilly May To Continue Through Weekend, But Signs Of Hope?

Spring snow in my St. Albans, Vermont  yard earlier this
week. More dreary rain is on the way, but at least it's
not going to snow again. And a warmup next week?

Today, for once, the weather here in Vermont and the Northeast will be in the "not bad" category, which is an improvement over what things have been like most of this month so far.

There will be some sun, and temperatures will only be a little cooler than normal.

However, the apparent end to the dreariness of this month is an illusion. We've got another round of it to go this weekend.

Sorry.

Clouds will begin to increase Friday afternoon and rain will increase Saturday as a spring nor'easter gathers along the New England coast.

When someone says "nor'easter," people fear the dirty "S" word -- Snow.

Don't worry. It's going to be too warm for snow. But we are going to get a soaking, chilly rain through the weekend and into Monday.

Sunday - Mother's Day - looks to be the worst, so don't take your mom on an outdoor picnic unless you really hate her.

The good news is all this rain has totally erased the drought from last year in New England. And more rain is coming on top of that.

The other good news is there are now signs of a pattern change brewing. By the middle and end of next week, it's looking sunnier and much, much warmer, with temperatures likely popping up above normal. That means 70s by the end of the week.

That'll get those lilacs popping.

Epic Denver Hail Storm Leaves Front Range Reeling. LOTS Of Damage Reported

A Denver area woman holds a giant hailstone Monday.

An epic hail storm swept along much of the Front Range in Colorado Monday, and the Denver metro area was among the areas hit hard. 

Big hail happens from time to time in the High Plains, but when it hits a metropolitan area, the total amount of damage can be worse than in a tornado.

The damage in any one area from hail is almost always less than tornadoes but the damage is more spread out, so the totals go up.

The Denver metro hail in some areas was the size of baseballs or even a little bigger.  There are dramatic videos to watch at the bottom of this post.

Countless cars were dented with windows smashed out. Thousands of homes and businesses had smashed windows, ruined siding and roofs that suddenly needed to be replaced.

One of the worst hit spots was the Colorado Mill mall, where hail smashed in skylights to let pouring rain in. Stores were flooded, the mall was evacuated, and shoppers leaving the mall found their cars with windows smashed out, says the Denver Post. 

If you're in Denver with a hail damaged car, good luck getting it fixed. The Denver Post says all the auto glass dealers now have full voice mails an overloaded email accounts from the torrent or people desperate to get their windshields fixed.

Hailstorms usually cause a lot of damage. The Denver Channel says Colorado's Front Range, including Denver, typically sees about $25 million in insurance claims from hail damage annually. This will be far worse, though damage estimates for this aren't in yet.

The most damaging hail storm in Colorado was in July, 1990, which caused $1.1 billion (with a "B" in damages. That figure is adjusted for inflation to 2015.

Watch this cool timelapse of the severe thunderstorm and hail taking over downtown Denver:



In this brief video, hail abruptly takes out the back window of a car:



Here's hail smashing through the windows of a Denver house:



And here's the chaos in Wheat Ridge, Colorado as house windows shatter and car alarms blare in the hail:

May Snowflakes Are Certainly Annoying, But It Could Have Been Worse

Lilac buds this snowy morning, St. Albans, Vermont

It was a real slap in the face Monday morning as I prepared to depart my St. Albans, Vermont home Monday morning to go to work.

As I walked out to my truck, a couple of snowflakes hit me right in the kisser.

There I was, surrounded by a greening forest and happy yellow daffodils dancing in my breezy yard, and I had to deal with this.

It got even worse this morning when said green trees and daffodils were covered by a slushy layer of new snow that fell overnight.

I'm sure there were quite a few other people who shared my lack of enthusiasm for this May snowfall.

It's unusual but definitely not unprecedented for snow to accumulate on Vermont's valley floors like it did last night. And it almost always snows in the mountains this time of year.

I guess you can take heart that this could have been worse. There have definitely been bigger snowstorms in the North Country in May and even June.

One of the most epic May snowstorms hit New England on May 9-10, 1977, in what was otherwise a very warm spring month.

While many areas of Vermont got a few inches of snow out of that one, some higher elevations near the Capital District of New York and in western and central Massachusetts got nailed by one to as much as two feet of snow.

Slide Mountain, New York got 27 inches of snow and Norfolk, Connecticut got 20 inches. New York City got a trace of snow, the latest snowfall on record there.

The leaves were starting to blossom out by then, so the weight of the snow on leafing trees broke zillions of branches and almost as many power lines. Electricity was out for a week or more in a few spots.

In 2013 and even later and incredible snowstorm struck on May 24-26. I remember flying out of Burlington International Airport on May 27 of that year and looking out over a snowy landscape in the mountains of Vermont and New York that day.  That was super, duper late in the year to see snow.

Whiteface Mountain in New York got nearly three feet of snow in that very late season snow. Jay Peak, Vermont received 18 inches. At lower elevations, Walden, Vermont picked up six inches of snow and Greensboro collected 4.5 inches of snow.  

Unhappy snowy daffodils in my garden this morning, St. Albans
Vermont. 

Not the type of weekend you'd want for the unofficial opening weekend of summer.

We could even theoretically collect snow in June. The famous Year Without A Summer in 1816 featured drifts to 20 inches deep in Danville, Vermont.

On June 11, 1842, up to a foot of snow fell on Irasburg and Barton, Vermont, and there was a dusting in Burlington.

With global warming in full effect, I doubt we'll ever see a snowstorm like that in June again.   Still, you understand my point: The May snow we've gotten this week could have been worse.

There continues to be some snow showers around this morning, but those will retreat to the mountain tops today. Still, it's going to be very chilly for this time of year, with readings only in the 40s when it should be in the 60s.

It'll sort of warm up as we go through the rest of the week, but stay a little cool for this time of year.  At least at this point, we can hope that we will have no more big snowstorms until late next fall.

Serious Flooding In Montreal, Quebec, Ontario, And Great Lakes In New York

Flooding in Rigaud, Quebec. Photo by Paul Chiasson
Canadian Press

It's been a rainy several weeks here in Vermont, but it hasn't been bad enough to cause any serious flooding.  

It's another story, though, in the eastern Great Lakes and in Quebec and Ontario in Canada as a snowy winter gave way to a very rainy spring.

The Montreal area is especially hard hit. Water in Montreal Harbor along the St. Lawrence River is four feet higher than normal.

As I write this Sunday morning, it's still raining in that region.

According to the CBC the flooding is widespread in Quebec.

"As of Saturday evening, Urgence Quebec is reporting that 126 municipalities across the province are affected by rising water levels, especially in the regions of Montreal, the Monteregie, Laval, Maurice, Lanaudiere and the Laurentians."

The Ottawa River in Ontario and Quebec is also causing severe flooding.

The situation along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River system is similar to the situation we here in Vermont faced in the spring of 2011, when we had frequent river flooding, and record flooding along Lake Champlain.

Both disasters were caused by unprecedented record spring rainfall.

Along the shores of Lake Ontario near Rochester, New York, at least 11 inches of rain (or melted snow) has fallen since March 1. Around Montreal, the figure is 13 inches.

Lake Ontario is at its highest level in 20 years, causing extensive flooding and erosion damage along its New York shore. That's especially true on days like today and tomorrow, when strong north winds drive the water onshore.  

Erosion damage along Lake Ontario in Hamlin, New York.
Photo by Carlos Ortiz, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Lake Ontario empties into the St. Lawrence River, which is causing the highest water levels in Montreal and along nearly the entire length of the river in a century.

This echoes 2011, when a record high Lake Champlain emptied as always into the Richelieu River iin southern Quebec, causing severe flooding there.

In New York there are calls to open more flood gates to lower Lake Ontario levels and ease flooding. But that would worsen flooding along the St. Lawrence River in Quebec.

It's all a no-win balancing act. There has simply been way too much rain for any of these water systems to handle.

It's been a very flood prone year in North America. During the winter, there was extensive flooding in California, Oregon and Washington. This weekend, there are floods and mudslides in British Columbia that have already killed two people. 

In the past week, record flooding has slammed areas in and around Missouri. The Carolinas had severe flooding a couple weeks ago.

It goes on and on.