The Dying Earth - 08/05/2015

Signs Of Change 2015 Part 4 - July | The Return

Hundreds dead, millions displaced as monsoon rains batter Asia

Monsoon rains have claimed the lives of hundreds of people across the Asian continent, authorities said Monday, as rescue workers scrambled to reach remote areas of India, Pakistan and Myanmar in the wake of flash floods and landslides

UN warns Myanmar flood toll to rise as rains lash region

Scores have also perished in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam following floods and landslides triggered by heavy seasonal rains

The toll from flash floods and landslides in Myanmar caused by days of torrential rain is likely to rise, the UN warned Sunday, August 2, as monsoon downpours heaped misery on thousands across the region.

At least 27 people have been killed and more than 150,000 affected by flooding in Myanmar in recent days, with the government declaring the four worst-hit areas in central and western Myanmar "national disaster-affected regions".

Scores have also perished in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam following floods and landslides triggered by heavy seasonal rains.

Rescue work in Myanmar has been hampered by continued downpours and the inaccessibility of many of the remote regions battered by the deluges.

Myanmar: Aid arrives for victims stranded by floodwaters

Another Category 5 Cyclone: Super Typhoon Soudelor

Super Typhoon Soudelor vaulted to Category 5 status on Monday, making it the planet's sixth (at least--see below) Category 5 storm of the year. At 2:00 pm EDT Monday, Soudelor’s sustained winds were estimated at 180 mph, with the strength unchanged in the 8:00 pm EDT Monday update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). 

For the year thus far, Soudelor is Earth’s strongest tropical cyclone in terms of estimated wind speed. The Weather Channel’s Nick Wiltgen notes that Soudelor’s estimated central pressure of 900 mb is the lowest in a typhoon since last year’s Super Typhoon Vongfong, also 900 mb. Five prior Category 5 storms this year were described and illustrated in a May  19 post. 

They include Tropical Cyclone Eunice, Cyclone Pam, Super Typhoon Maysak, and Super Typhoon Noul. Update: Our initial survey of JTWC products showed that Cyclone Bansi fell short of Category 5 status. 

However, JTWC data for Cyclone Bansi archived by RAMMB-CIRA indicate that Bansi's estimated winds peaked at 140 knots (about 160 mph) at 0000 GMT on January 13. 

If we include Bansi, then we're now up to a startling seven Category 5 storms so far in 2015. This compares to a yearly average of 4.6 Category 5 storms for the period 1990-2014. 

It's not out of the question we could break the record total of 12 Category 5 storms notched in 1997, when--much like this year--a strong El Niño was ramping up. 

Thanks to wunderground member 1900hurricane for bringing Bansi data to our attention.

Middle East swelters in heatwave as temperatures top 50C

Intolerably high temperatures and soaring humidity are close to breaking meteorological records across region

 Iraqis

the Guardian,

4 August, 2015

A heatwave has engulfed much of the Middle East, sending temperatures and humidity soaring throughout the region.

The searing heat, ailing infrastructure and power cuts have combined to create a particularly intolerable climate in an area already notorious for its hot summers.

In the southern Iraqi city of Basra, temperatures are expected to hover around 51C for most of the week and reach 52C at the weekend.

In Iraq, the government ordered a four-day holiday to help people deal with the heatwave, while residents in Lebanon without electricity have taken to sleeping on bare floor tiles to cool themselves amid the electricity cuts, unable to operate their air conditioning.

In Beirut, nestled on the Mediterranean coast, temperatures will hover in the 30s, but humidity levels of over 50% and the city’s increasingly frequent power cuts have combined to create an oppressive heat that has residents sweltering, just a week after stinking garbage piles spilled over into the city’s streets in a crisis that highlighted the government’s chronic dysfunction.

Those who can afford to cool off at the city’s private beaches or swimming pools. Those who can’t are directing their anger at their failing government and in particular the state provider, Electricité du Liban, which has said it will ration supplies amid ongoing repairs at its power plants.

“We had electricity from 3am to 6am last night, and the power comes on one hour during the day,” said Hasan, who lives in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where power cuts have been especially dire during the heatwave. “Officials sit in their offices with electricity.”

In the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, where citizens are protesting against stubborn power cuts that have made the height of summer even more unbearable, a high of 49C will be the norm this week.

The Iraqi meteorological agency said temperatures around the country this week would average 48-51C. 

On Friday, a combination of extreme heat and humidity, made the air in the Iranian city of Bandar Mahshahr feel like 73C although the actual tempreture there was around 46C. The city, which has a population of around 150,000, is situated in Iran’s south-western oil-rich province of Khuzestan, close to the Iraqi border.

Pictures posted online showed traffic cones across Bandar Mahshahr melting due to the heatwave

“That was one of the most incredible temperature observations I have ever seen and it is one of the most extreme readings ever in the world,” said AccuWeather Meteorologist Anthony Sagliani in a statement.

— Anthony Sagliani (@anthonywx)July 30, 2015

Probably the most incredible ob I've ever seen. Bandar Mahshahr, Iran today: Temp: 109F (43C) Dew Point: 90F (32C).pic.twitter.com/Lb2AsDAtK0

The Gulf states will also endure temperatures as high as 48C in Kuwait City, and the mid-40s in Dubai and Riyadh.

A weekend dust storm in Jordan wreaked havoc on Queen Alia international airport, diverting planes and engulfing the facility with giant plumes of smoke.

— Nasser Touaibia (@NasserTouaibia)August 3, 2015

The #heatwave in #Jordan has reached its peak today, one of the @Refugees in@ZaatariCamp has his own way o... https://t.co/8MNEnhkwQT

“Around the Persian Gulf, where water temperatures are in the lower to middle-90s (30sC), the extreme heat combines with incredibly high humidity to produce astounding apparent temperatures,” according to Sagliani.

Experts say the high temperatures, which have come close to breaking regional records, are the result of a high atmospheric pressure ridge hovering above much of the Middle East that has persisted since July.

A heatwave in Pakistan earlier this summer killed hundreds of people. 

Heatwave sparks wildfires in central Syria

'We woke up in a desert' – the water crisis taking hold across Egypt

Egypt, once celebrated as the “gift of the Nile”, is in the grips of a serious water crisis. With a rising population and a fixed supply, the country has less water per person each year.

The country’s annual water supply dropped to an average of 660 cubic metres a person in 2013, down from over 2,500 cubic metres in 1947, according to official figures. Egypt is already below the United Nations’ water poverty threshold, and by 2025 the UN predicts it will be approaching a state of “absolute water crisis”.

Enormous sandstorm engulfs Jordan airport

Severe rains continue to sweep Florida: The worst flood in the last 65 years hits Tampa

http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/08/05/severe-rains-continue-to-sweep-florida-the-worst-flood-in-the-last-65-years-hits-tampa/

Heavy rainfall which was continually falling across Tampa, Florida, since July 20, 2015, has caused severe flooding in the area. 40 people were evacuated from their mobile homes in Sherwood Forest RV and Caledesi Travel Trailer Park, on August 3, as the water levels varied between 91.4 and 122 cm (3 and 4 feet). The Pasco County Sheriff's Office described the situation as the worst flood in the last 65 years.

Torrential rainfalls during the last two weeks were reported to bring over 15.2 cm (half a foot) of water to some areas, closing down about 50 roads in the region. On a few days during thisintensive rainfall period, between 50.8 and 76.2 mm (2 and 3 inches) of rain was reported to have fallen. The amount of recorded precipitation rose to about 102 mm (4 inches) of rain, on Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2.

72-hr rainfall accumulation until August 4, 2015 at 15:00 UTC. Image credit: Google / NASA/JAXA GPM.

Additional 50.8 mm (2 inches) were reported to fall until Monday, August 3, when the flood warning was in effect for the area until 20:30 UTC. By early Monday morning, Tampa has measured over 203 mm (8 inches) of rainfall more than during the entire average month of August, according to the Weather Channel.

California fires: Evacuation orders given to 13,000

Evacuation orders have been given to 13,000 people in California as firefighters struggle to contain some 20 wildfires.

Some 9,000 firefighters worked throughout Monday in steep terrain and rugged conditions, officials said.

The biggest blaze - the so-called Rocky fire north of San Francisco - has already consumed more than 101 square miles (262 sq km) of and.

On Monday afternoon the fire jumped a highway that had been containing it.

More than 3,000 firefighters were employed to fight that specific blaze.

By Tuesday afternoon, cooler weather helped make a buffer between the flames and the 5,500 homes they could destroy.

No additional homes were destroyed on Tuesday, after 24 were burnt down the day before.

Thousands abandon homes as California fires spread

Roosevelt,Wash. under evacuation order due to wildfire

The entire town of Roosevelt was under mandatory evacuation Tuesday night after a wildfire jumped State Route 14. Late Tuesday night emergency dispatchers confirmed that several outbuildings and barns had been damaged in the fire, however, no homes had been lost.....

Roosevelt is about 140 miles east of Vancouver.

Heat wave in B.C. breaks 64 temperature records

This past weekend's heat wave in B.C. is one for the history books.

Environment Canada says 64 temperature records for communities across the province have been broken.

The highest temperature was 40.6 C, recorded in Warfield, a village outside Trail in West Kootenay, on Saturday.

Osoyoos, near the U.S. border about 400 kilometres east of Vancouver, came close — hitting 40.4 C.

The Forest Service just sounded the alarm about dramatically rising wildfire costs

As 14 large fires rage across California, the U.S. Forest Service is sounding the alarm about the exploding cost of protecting people and property from a growing wildfire threat.

In a new report to be released Wednesday, the agency says that while it spent 16 percent of its total budget on preparing for and fighting fires in 1995, it will spend more than half its budget this year on the same task — and a projected 67 percent or more by 2025 under current funding arrangements.

By ten years from now, the agency’s expenditures for fighting wildfires as they flare up—dubbed fire suppression — are projected to increase from just under $1.1 billion in 2014 to nearly $1.8 billion. And that’s just one of a number of fire related costs; there is also an annual, fixed fire “preparedness” budget that exceeds $1 billion each year.

The Forest Service report says the agency’s very mission is “threatened” by this trend of increased fires, which is having a “debilitating impact” on other Forest Service responsibilities due to a phenomenon where funds for other priorities get shifted towards immediate wildfire emergencies.

Flash flooding closes roadways as Calgary pummeled by hail storm

Rain and toonie-sized hail pummeled the City of Calgary and surrounding area on Tuesday afternoon, closing roadways and cutting power to thousands of customers.

The deputy chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) said 911 received six times the average number of calls during the storm. More than 100 service calls remained for trees that had been downed on Tuesday night.

Wild pictures coming out of Calgary tonight! City was hit with a massive hailstorm during evening rush hour. Over 30 cm of hail and flooding rain has led to submerged cars and havoc on the roads tonight.

A giant sinkhole has opened up in Brooklyn

Police have blocked off the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 64th Street in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park as a massive sinkhole has opened up, taking most of the street corner with it.

MyFoxNY is reporting that there are no reported injuries from the streets collapse.

Authorities are not yet sure if there is any disruption to water or gas services, but the footage of the sinkhole shows at least one disconnected pipe.

Pictures posted on twitter show a large hole that could have easily swallowed up a car. The cave in is limited to the street, and the footpath remains in tact.

It isn’t yet clear what caused the sinkhole or if there was any negligence in maintaining the road that lead to the collapse.

El Niño vs. the Blob: Here's Why California's Drought Probably Won't End Anytime Soon

It'll take a lot more than one rainy season.

California could be in for a wetter-than-normal winter, thanks to the mysterious meteorological phenomenon known as El Niño. Weather scientists have been watching El Niño get stronger throughout this year and think it could match or surpass the strongest on record, back in 1997. What does this mean for long-suffering California and its interminable drought? Let us explain.

Russia: Plague of locusts descends on Stavropol

World’s glaciers melting at fastest rate since record-keeping began – ‘Globally, we lose about three times the ice volume stored in the entirety of the European Alps every year’