A historic snow and ice storm paralyzed Seattle on Thursday, shutting the airport and schools, causing car crashes, downing trees and cutting power to at least 90,000 households as blown-out transformers lit up the skies. The National Weather Service declared an ice storm warning early on Thursday through noon local time for eight western Washington [...]
Signal: increased heavy precipitation
NOAA Predicts up to 15 Inches of Rainfall from Irene
Irene’s winds may be decreasing but the rains from the storm will pose problems for cities along the Eastern Seaboard. NOAA’s latest Global Forecast System model run at 1200z shows the predicted accumulation of rainfall from August 26 – August 31, 2011. The heaviest areas are concentrated around the Outer Banks, where Irene is expected [...]
Major cities in U.S. warming up due to climate change
We evaluate changes in climatic indices for the 100 largest U.S. urban areas and paired surrounding non-urban areas. During the period 1950–2009, we find that there were statistically significant changes in as many as half of the urban areas in temperature-related indices, such as heating and cooling degree-days and number of warm and cool nights, [...]
Major flooding hits 48 river gauges in U.S. Midwest
With rivers in the Midwestern United States already full from thawing winter snow cover, severe rainfall in late April added to the troubles for the region. The National Weather Service predicted in February that the region was primed for flooding, and so far it has lived up to the advanced billing. On the afternoon of [...]
4 feet of rain hits Thailand in one week
Normally the end of March brings dry weather to tropical Thailand. In 2011, however, a powerful storm settled over the Malay Peninsula, bringing up to 1,270 millimeters (50 inches) of rain in little over a week. The intense rain flooded 8 provinces, killing 13 and affecting 842,324 people as of April 1, said the government [...]
Unusual heavy rains driving flooding and evacuations in Namibia
Heavy rains continued falling throughout parts of southern Africa in mid- and late March 2011. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA described flood-affected districts extending from Angola and Mozambique southward to South Africa. Across northern Namibia, nearly 5,000 people were forced to evacuate. Flood waters damaged both crops and infrastructure.Evidence [...]
“Staggering” rains hit the Philippines
Heavy rains hit central and southern parts of the Philippines last week, triggering floods and landslides which killed at least nine people and affected up to 150,000 others. In Tacloban, Leyte, a staggering 397mm of rain fell in the 24 hours to midnight last Thursday. The deluge submerged the city and sparked a landslide which [...]
Ongoing sea level rise threatening $100 billion in U.S. naval bases
A report commissioned by the United States Navy concludes that climate change will pose profound challenges for the sea service in coming decades, including a need to secure Arctic shipping lanes, prepare for more frequent humanitarian missions and protect coastal installations from rising seas. The 15-month study, conducted by the National Research Council, accepts the [...]
Fingerprint of human influence found in exteme rains and flooding
..two studies in this week’s Nature conclude that climate warming is already causing extreme weather events that affect the lives of millions. The research directly links rising greenhouse-gas levels with the growing intensity of rain and snow in the Northern Hemisphere, and the increased risk of flooding in the United Kingdom. Insurers will take note, [...]
