Extreme weather

From today – via Facebook

Extreme Weather Update:

Taipei, Taiwan. September 1, 2013, 1:30pm.

A reported 700+mm (28") of rain has fallen in parts of Taiwan over the past 48hours. Storm is intensifying just north of Taipei. It's stalled, were blocked in a loop.

On its way to Japan where it's expected to return to Tropical Storm status with a new name (this weather system is what's left of Kong-Rey which hit us a week or so ago).

Numerous earthquakes reported here measured 3.1-4.9. An earthquake measuring 5.8 struck China 5 hours ago, killing some following a 5.1 earthquake, Wednesday.

I can't find photos or reports of flooding here in Taiwan though there must be massive flooding towards the south. Also, couldn't find photos of the Jetstream in this area at this time. We must be blocked in a loop of our changing Jetstream because they keep reporting the storm's going to move on, but it remains stalled over the island.

Just guessing.

Kong-Rey floods central, south Taiwan

DELUGE:Local officials were caught off-guard by the severity of the floods, while residents complained about slow government response to the disaster

Taipei Times,

29 August, 2013

Torrential rainfall brought by Tropical Storm Kong-Rey caused severe flooding in central and southern Taiwan yesterday, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate and disrupting transportation.

Statistics from the Central Emergency Operation Center, as of 8pm yesterday, showed that 2,627 people in Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung, Yunlin County, Chiayi City, Yilan County and Hualien County had been evacuated, with 546 taking refuge in shelters.

One person in Greater Tainan was injured after falling off a motorcycle yesterday morning.

Flooding was reported in 87 areas in Chiayi city and county, and another 53 locations in Nantou, Yunlin and Pingtung counties, as well as Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung.

Although the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) on Wednesday warned that extreme torrential rainfall could occur in central and southern Taiwan, the deluge still caught local governments in the two regions off guard.

The Yunlin County, Chiayi city and county, Greater Tainan, Pingtung County and Greater Kaohsiung governments made last-minute announcements yesterday morning canceling work and school for the rest of the day.

Television reports showed residents in Greater Tainan and Chiayi County waiting to be rescued on the second story or top floor of their houses because the ground floor was already flooded. Anxious parents fetched their children from school and complained that the local governments had been slow to respond to the emergency.

In Yunlin County’s Dounan Township (斗南), rescuers helped 36 senior residents in a nursing home to evacuate. More than 300 people were trapped by the flood in Hong Wa Yao (紅瓦窯) for more than 10 hours before rescuers sent in food and water supplies.

An angry man yelled at Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) when he inspected Sinhua District (新化), saying Lai should have canceled work and school earlier.

Lai apologized to the public on his Facebook page about the inconvenience, saying the city government’s decision on Wednesday evening that work and school should continue as normal yesterday was made based on information provided by the weather bureau.

“The forecast from the CWB up until 10am on Thursday did not meet the conditions for suspending work and school. The satellite cloud chart also showed that the rain clouds had moved to Chiayi and Yunlin. Our observation further showed that the rain had eased by 5am yesterday,” Lai wrote.

However, he said the forecast from the bureau at 10am yesterday listed Greater Tainan as one of the areas under an extreme torrential rainfall alert after the rain clouds moved south again. The city government then decided to cancel work and classes, he said.

The bureau lifted its land and sea warning for Kong-Rey at 5:30pm and 8:30pm respectively yesterday after the storm moved away from Taiwan and headed toward Japan.

However, the bureau cautioned that heavy rainfall would continue on the west coast.

Although the tropical storm had passed, bureau forecaster Lo Ya-yin (羅雅尹) said heavy rainfall would continue as the nation would come under the influence of a southwesterly wind today.

The likelihood of showers or thundershowers remains high in central and southern Taiwan today, Lo said.

The weather would remain unstable over the weekend because of the arrival of the first frontal system this fall, she added.

Aerial views of of record flooding in NE China, 31 August 2013

The aerial photo taken on 31 August 2013 shows a flooded house in Bacha Township in Tongjiang City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. The water level in a section of the Sino-Russia bordering Heilongjiang River has risen to a record high in the region's worst flooding in more than a decade. Northeast China has been hit by the worst flooding in decades this summer. Photo: Wang Kai / Xinhua

http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2013/08/photo-gallery-aerial-views-of-of-record.html

Seattle set to obliterate all-time record for warmest nights

Seattle is about to not set, not break, not even shatter, but obliterate its record for all-time warmest nighttime lows in a month -- and this counts the city's entire 122-year records, including the Downtown Federal Building.

KOMOnews,

29 August, 2013

Through midday on Thursday, the average low temperature in Seattle for August stood at exactly 60 degrees. It's notable because 1) Seattle has never in its history had a month with an average low temperature at 60 degrees or warmer and 2) It's never really been that close. For Sea-Tac Airport, where the numbers count now, the current warmest average low was 58.4 degrees in 1967. (Warmest overall is 59.1 in July of 1941 at the Federal Building).

Seattle needs to average 61.9 degrees for its average low over the 29th-31st to hold this 60 degree monthly average. So far on the 29th as of this writing, the morning low was a whopping 66 degrees (another obliteration alert: The record warmest low for Aug. 29 is 60) but there is still a chance the temp will drop below 66 before 1 a.m. PDT (midnight Pacific Standard Time -- where climate is recorded) so Thursday's low is not set in stone yet. But if the 66 holds, Friday and Saturday's lows just need to be 60 degrees or warmer to set this 60-degree monthly mark, and forecasted lows are right at 60 for both nights.

Either way, the all-time warmest month ever is essentially guaranteed. Even if Thursday ends up 64 and we *hit our record lows on Friday and Saturday*, which has zero chance of happening, we'd still break the all-time Sea-Tac record by a full half degree. So the only drama is what number we will write in the record books when all is said and done.

Month has been a bit...unusual

Most of our warm overnight lows come on days when we have our searing heat waves -- the kind of days when hits 90 or so and the east winds keep pushing warm air in overnight. Lows on those nights are routinely in the mid 60s.

But what if I told you this month our warmest days have had the cooler nights? Our three days over 85 have had lows in the mid-upper 50s. While some of our days with highs in the low 70s have had lows in the low 60s.

It's because it's been an unusual summertime pattern. The predominant pattern has been one of two things: A ridge of high pressure offshore and another one further inland that has keep the differences in pressure quite light across our region, and in turn kept our marine breezes that cool us off and keep dew points low very weak. That's also why it's been so sunny and warm -- little cooling marine breeze -- but allowed to cool off a night on the warm days -- no east wind to act as a warm blanket.

The other pattern has been occasional upper areas of low pressure that spin offshore pulling in warm, moist air from the south and some rain and/or thunderstorms to add even more moisture to the mix for muggy conditions.

It's those muggy conditions and thunderstormy evenings that have prevented overnight lows from dropping too far overnight. If the dew point is bouncing around 59-61, temperatures won't drop below that, it'll just become foggy.

Put it all together, and you have 15 of 29 days in August with a low at 60 or greater and eight others were at 59. Average lows are around 55-57.