Archive
Physics professor: Past decade ‘hottest ten years ever recorded’
On CBS This Morning on Thursday, Kaku discussed 2012′s “wacky weather” and how global warming, which creates more energy circulating on the planet, exacerbates destructive tornadoes, storms, hurricanes and even forest fires.
“You look at the weather patterns over the last year, and they all seem wild, extreme. What was driving that?” asked anchor Rebecca Jarvis.
“Well, when you look outside you say, ‘The weather’s on steroids,’” Kaku said. “But there’s no single aha moment where you can say, ‘Aha, this is what’s driving the whole thing.’ But what you can say is that the Earth is heating up. Which means more moisture going into Read more…
Tornado touches down in Queens and Brooklyn
A terrifying tornado touched down briefly in Queens and Brooklyn Saturday morning, destroying property, disrupting plans and terrifying residents all over the city.
A black tunnel cloud accompanied by howling winds screamed into south Brooklyn and Queens at around 11 a.m., with reports of the potent storm hitting the ground on the Rockaway Peninsula and Carnarsie.
“I saw a big gray cloud coming and ran to my basement with my son,” said Diane Tye, 36, an office manager from Breezy Point who scooped up her son Dylan, 2, and ran to her house when she saw the tunnel cloud approach.
“It was very Read more…
Saturday Tornado Recap: 100+ Tornadoes, 6 Dead
AccuWeather.com reports tornadic thunderstorms ravaged parts of the Plains Saturday and Saturday night, killing six people and leaving behind incredible destruction.
According to the Storm Prediction Center, over 100 tornadoes were reported from Oklahoma through Kansas, Nebraska and southern Iowa on Saturday.
The deadliest of the tornadoes ravaged the town of Woodward, Oklahoma, where six people were killed and 30 injured.
The tornado ripped through the northwest side of the city, destroying or damaging dozens of homes.
Another tornado tore through the southern portion of Wichita, Kan., causing significant damage but no major injuries.
Wichita, Mid-Continent Airport recorded a wind gust of 84 mph just after the control tower evacuated.
Damage was recorded at the Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems plants. Six buildings at Spirit Aerosystems were heavily damaged while four others had major damage.
According to the Kansas City Star, damage in the Wichita area is estimated at as much as $283 million.
A tornado ripped through the town of Thurman, Iowa, Read more…
‘Very unusual’ start to tornado season
18 Wheelers thrown into the air in Dallas
Tornado season is only just beginning, but already this year has seen dozens of destructive twisters from Illinois to Texas, where up to 18 might have touched town on Tuesday alone in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The numbers show just how unusual: March saw 223 twisters, up from an average of 80 from 1991-2010, according to the National Weather Service. February saw 63, compared to an average of 29; and January saw 97, compared to an average of 35.
So what’s behind the outbreak?
“We’ve had record heat,” weather.com meteorologist Greg Forbes told TODAY, and “that warmth is a big ingredient that provides the instability for the storms.”
Last year started off slowly but then saw a record 758 tornadoes in April 2011, noted Roker. “Hopefully we’re not on track for that this year.”
U.S. forecasters have predicted a Read more…
More Americans believe in climate change: poll
WASHINGTON — Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that climate change is real — the highest level in two years — as the public trusted its own observations of rising temperatures, a poll said Tuesday.
The growing acceptance of global warming comes despite fierce political division over the issue in the world’s largest economy, with proposals to mandate cuts on carbon emissions failing in Congress.
Sixty-two percent of Americans agree that there is solid evidence that the Earth’s average temperature has been getting warmer over the past four decades, according to the survey by the University of Michigan’s Gerald Ford School of Public Policy and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.
Twenty-six Read more…
Above-normal number of tornadoes expected in 2012
Following a near-record number of tornadoes in 2011, an active severe weather season with above-normal tornadoes is expected in 2012.
There were 1,709 tornadoes in 2011, falling short of the record 1,817 tornadoes set in 2004. In comparison, the average number of tornadoes over the past decade is around 1,300.
Last year ranks as the fourth most deadly tornado year ever recorded in the United States.
In 2011, there was a very strong La Niña, a phenomenon where the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific around the equator are below normal. As a result, there was a very strong jet stream, which is a key ingredient for severe weather.
Often in a La Niña year, the “Tornado Alley” shifts to the east, spanning the Gulf States, including Mississippi and Alabama, and the Ohio and Tennessee valleys.
During the extremely active severe weather season of 2011, many tornadoes touched down east of Read more…
Pacific Northwest grinds to halt as twin snowstorms batter region
Howling winter weather hit the northwest of the country as four central states on reported tornadoes, the National Weather Service said.
A cold front combined with a warm and humid air mass contributed to the unseasonable twisters which were also spotted in Tennessee, Indiana and Mississippi, Dan Pydynowski, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.com said.
Damages reported from the twisters have been mostly to buildings, vehicles, power lines and trees while one injury was reported in Mississippi where a person suffered a possible broken arm after the tornado struck their home.
Whiteout: A pedestrian walks on a snow-covered street in Seattle Read more…Broward tornado hit up to 90 mph wind speed, weather service says
A twister that tore through a mile of Tamarac and North Lauderdale on Tuesday hit a maximum wind speed of 90 mph, the National Weather Service said on Wednesday.
No serious injuries were reported, most of the damage was Read more…
Rare, Powerful Tornado Hits Russian City
Credit: RussiaToday/YouTube.
A rare tornado touched down in Russia last night (July 31), according to news reports.
The tornado hit Blagoveshchensk, a city of about 200,000 in eastern Russia near the China border.
The twister lasted 13 minutes and caused a reported 80 million rubles ($2.9 million) in damage.
Tornadoes have touched down in every continent except Antarctica. They can occur wherever cold, dry air hits moist, warm air high in the atmosphere. Most of the Earth’s tornadoes occur in the hotbed known as Tornado Alley, but the United Kingdom reports the most tornadoes by land area, given its Read more…
Is the weather worsening?
Extreme weather events occur every year in various parts of the earth, but the United States — and Missouri — have seen natural disasters strike its ground this year seemingly more often than not.The jury is still out as to what has caused these extreme events, pending major climatology studies that often take years to complete. Some say it’s due to a naturally variable earth, others argue it’s due to a changing climate, one that’s getting warmer and more intense, leading to weather events we’ve never seen, before calming down again.
Recent devastationMany scientists argue that 2010 was the most extreme year ever in terms of natural disasters across the globe. Devastating worldwide events made the headlines during what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said was the world’s warmest year on record (it tied with 2005).Among the most devastating were Pakistan’s flood, the most expensive natural disaster in its history, Russia’s deadliest heat wave in recorded history, and Read more…
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/t24_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)
crisisboom
CRISISBOOM 
You must be logged in to post a comment.