2005 storms

2005 Heavy Rain, Floods, Hail, Lightning, Landslides, High Winds

Events from 2006

2005 -

12/30 -
INDIANA - December storms spawned hail and lightning, instead of snow. Wednesday morning warmer-than-normal temperatures helped create a series of strong storms that rolled across the area. "We had reports of pea-sized hail in the southeast portion of the county around Clarks Hill." "It surprised us like it surprised everyone else." A "fairly strong upper level low pressure system" was largely to blame. Cold air in the upper atmosphere was working against warmer air closer to the ground, helping to churn up the storms. The temperature reached a balmy 52 degrees in Lafayette early Wednesday afternoon. The warmer than usual weather should continue for the next several days. Rain is expected to arrive around Friday evening or Saturday.
GEORGIA - Hail the size of golf balls and tornados touched down in middle and southern Georgia on Thursday.
CALIFORNIA - A drenching winter storm swelled rivers in northern California to their HIGHEST LEVELS IN SEVEN YEARS, causing power outages and forcing some residents to evacuate. "It's been several years since we've had this widespread flooding and we're not done."
Three significant storms will hit the area over the weekend.
12/29 -
ANGOLA - High winds and torrential rains lasting about an hour left three persons killed on Sunday. The FREAK STORM caused widespread damage, particularly to poorly built houses, and uprooted a large number of trees.
CONGO - Torrential rains have caused widespread flooding and mudslides in the northern suburbs of Brazzaville leaving scores of people homeless. The rains on Saturday and Sunday left at least one person dead in the suburb of Simba Pèle. The rainy season, which started in September in Brazzaville and its environs, is not expected to end until January.
JAPAN - A FREAK GUST OF WIND appears to have caused a weekend train crash in northern Japan in the kind of incident that is hard to prevent, experts said as the hunt continued for two people still missing. The carriages left the track and ploughed into snow during a blizzard on Sunday. Five bodies have already been recovered, a further 32 were injured. Monitoring equipment at the scene showed wind speeds of no more than 72km per hour. It seemed likely that a sudden gust of wind from below the train while it was crossing a bridge caused the derailment. "You need a complicated system of monitoring localized gusts by, for instance, observing the atmosphere far up in the sky." Strong gusts have caused train derailments before in Japan. Experts believe the wind gust in Sunday's crash was so lethal because of its direction. "Even a train that can withstand side winds of about 108 kilometres per hour can be lifted up by weaker winds if they are blowing from below."
CALIFORNIA - Dam managers are releasing water from Northern California reservoirs to prevent flooding, causing the Sacramento River to rise by nearly 20 feet and the American River to surge by more than 10 feet in the past week. The Sacramento region has an array of reservoirs, levees and bypasses used for flood control, spreading water from the Sacramento River up to three miles wide and 40 miles long in a flow that can outstrip the river's volume five to one.
FOG -
12/28 -
JAPANESE whalers operating in the Antarctic are fog-bound and unable to hunt whales for the fourth day running.
INDIA - As dense fog plays havoc with flight schedules and pushes thousands of passengers to the brink, the government on Tuesday asked all airlines to train some of their pilots to operate in near-blind conditions. Faced with a crisis situation following severe disruptions due to fog, yesterday private airlines were warned that their flights in and out of Delhi next winter would be scrapped if their pilots were not trained to operate under the new landing system. Heavy fog from December 23 to 25 had left thousands of passengers stranded, with complaints of non-availability of food and basic amenities. In winters, fog disrupts movement of aircraft and terminal buildings get choked. Since December 21 all the conditions were favourable for fog to set in, including low temperatures, sufficient humidity and low wind speed.
NEW DELHI - The city may have barely started recovering from the nightmare of fog, and now it is likely to see some rainfall which may ultimately lead to even more severe fog. Tuesday saw an overcast sky with darkness setting in by 4 pm. The Met department has forecast thundery developments and rain in some areas in the city. Besides rain, today is likely to see some shallow fog too.
THAILAND - Thick fog on Chiang Mai's Doi Inthanon National Park has prompted the park chief to warn inexperienced drivers not to drive up Thailand's tallest mountain.
PAKISTAN - Fog continued to play havoc as it disrupted almost all the domestic and international flights besides delaying arrival and departure of all the upcountry trains in Lahore and other southern parts of the Punjab province. The bad weather also caused road accidents in various parts of the province as the vehicles moved at a low speed. The spell of fog started on December 20.
ITALY - There was fog in most of Northern Italy: Piedmont, Lombardy, the Venice region, Emilia Romagna and even in Liguria. It's also there in the central Apennines, with rain in places, some of it heavy.
UNITED KINGDOM - Hundreds of motorists were brought to a standstill in thick fog on Christmas Eve after a 26-car pile-up on the M62 brought traffic chaos.
IOWA - A combination of thick fog and ice made driving hazardous Tuesday, and caused a 12-car accident. Visibility was less than a quarter-mile in many locations. This morning is also expected to be foggy with the potential for slippery road surfaces, although slightly more wind was likely to make the fog less dense. The dense fog is caused by a temperature inversion in which cold moist air is trapped near the ground with warmer air above. ‘‘When that happens, the atmosphere doesn’t get mixed up very well. We do see it this time of year. November through December is kind of a time where we do get some fog particularly if we do have some snow that puts moisture back into the air when it melts a little." Two weather systems will bring precipitation into Iowa, the earliest on Friday and again on Sunday.
NEW JERSEY - Blinded by heavy rain and thick fog, a pair of Jersey City police officers drove off an open section of the Lincoln Highway Bridge on Christmas night.
CALIFORNIA - Fog, slick roads and a post-Christmas crush of holiday traffic slowed thousands of motorists to a crawl Monday through the most heavily traveled mountain passes in San Bernardino County. "The fog in Cajon Pass is dense, 100 feet to 200 feet visibility." There were numerous car accidents.
MINNESOTA - Christmas brought snow, fog, and mist to the Twin Cities and surrounding areas.
CANADA - there were a number of cancellations and diversions due to dense ground-level fog at Halifax Airport on Christmas. No one was injured when the wing of a WestJet Boeing 737 hit the runway on landing on Christmas evening, but air industry officials are investigating.
12/28 -
BRUNEI - Unpredictable weather conditions and heavy downpours of late have resulted in several low-laying areas experiencing flooding.
THAILAND - The Meteorological Department Tuesday predicted more UNSEASONAL RAIN for Bangkok during the next two days, while the first 20 tons of emergency fodder has been shipped to feed cattle deprived of food for over a month due to floods in the southern provinces. The rains which swept Bangkok Monday night were reportedly caused by uncertain weather conditions combined with strong winds from the Andaman Sea. More than 500 cattle have died of drowning, food shortages and sickness since heavy floods submerged the southern provinces for almost two months.
12/27 -
AUSTRALIA - there will be more storms with hail across central and southern Queensland this afternoon and tonight. Yesterday storms stretching from the New South Wales border to central Queensland lasted more than 11 hours.
ISRAEL - A weekend storm resulted in flooding in many areas of the country. Delays were reported in many areas in the center of the country due to the heavy rains; with an alert declared for fears Nahal Ayalon would rise to flood levels.
PHILIPPINES - Torrential rains brought about by an active low-pressure area that affects Visayas and Mindanao could create flash floods and landslides in Cebu City and the province. The active low-pressure area would result in rain that could cause rivers to overflow and mountain lands to soften, creating a landslide. Cebu had experienced torrential rain the past several days including the whole day during Christmas. Rescue teams are on alert for the return of more rains after floods displaced about 1,000 residents in six barangays in Surigao City over the weekend. Areas in two provinces remain flooded after weeks of bad weather.
VIETNAM - Six people have died and seven others have been injured during six days of flooding in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of Dac Lac. The heavy rain in the upper reaches of the river has also caused serious flooding in the neighbouring provinces of Dac Nong and Khanh Hoa as well as Da Nang. More than 1,300 ha of newly-transplanted rice, 2,566 ha of corn and thousands of hectares of other subsidiary crops have been inundated. More than 800 houses have been flooded and at least nine swept away. Roads have been cut and landslides have contaminated many reservoirs.
LANDSLIDES -
12/27 -
ZAMBIA shut down its biggest hydro-electric power station on Sunday after a major landslide caused by heavy rains. Heavy rains swept through the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydroelectric Power Project and caused a landslide that could have destroyed the machinery at the project.
VIETNAM - National Highway 1A in Ca Pass, Phu Yen Province re-opened three days after a major landslide closed the route to traffic.
OREGON - A landslide on Highway 101 between Brookings and Gold Beach could mean traffic delays for weeks to come. A chunk of ground about 150 yards long started to break from a hillside just north of Hooskanaden Creek in the late afternoon Thursday. The break took large chunks of two traffic lanes and a smaller part of a third with it. 7.82 inches of rain fell on the South Coast between Sunday and Friday morning, an average of just over 1.5 inches per day.
A slow-moving landslide buried two cars and closed a West Hills street in Portland Friday. No one was in the cars when the slide took place at about 1:30 a.m. Friday morning. A home located above the landslide is also threatened.
12/23 -
VIETNAM - Floods this week have killed nearly two dozen people in central Vietnam, raising the overall death toll to 69. In the last four days, 22 people have died in six central provinces because of the flooding. Four others are missing. The coffee harvest has been postponed, and next year's crop will likely be affected.
12/21 -
FLORIDA - December marks the beginning of Florida's dry season, when emergency officials are on alert for wild fires. But after Saturday's RECORD 4.62-inch RAINFALL - the HIGHEST ONE-DAY TOTAL EVER RECORDED IN GAINESVILLE IN THE MONTH OF DECEMBER - crews scrambled Monday to drain swollen water basins and fill new potholes. They were just beginning to see the "red flags" of dry conditions that fuel wildfires before the storm, but the wet weather will hold the wildfires off for a while.
Toward the end of last week , a front meandered over Florida and allowed moisture to pool across the state. That prompted a cluster of clouds and cool temperatures that have endured. The cloudiness that has loomed large since last week finally should start clearing on Thursday. How long the front has hovered is UNUSUAL. The mixture of warmer daytime temps with the nighttime cool, wet, air also may bring patchy fog this week. Another cold front could come in from the northwest late this weekend into early next week.
CALIFORNIA - A storm coming from Hawaii is expected to bring waves upwards of 10 feet to parts of coastal Orange County today and early Thursday. Flooding in low-lying areas is possible. Since the highest tides came last week, there is a decreased likelihood of erosion. The storm has intensified, with winds of up to 50 knots and wave heights up to 50 feet about 1,000 miles from the California coast. It's an El Niño-type storm that has picked up tropical moisture to fuel its strength. "The good news is the storm is going to turn north, and the swell from the storm will be very large. We get a few major storms every year, and this is not that out of the norm. It's RARE to get one with a storm getting so close without us getting bad weather." A weak ridge of high pressure over California will likely keep weather conditions favorable along the southern coast.
SPAIN - A landslide buried three lanes of a highway in northern Spain yesterday morning, temporarily trapping a dozen people in their cars and slightly injuring two. The landslide occurred some 31 miles east of the northern Basque city of Bilbao on the A-8 highway when a hillside collapsed and an avalanche of boulders hurtled onto and buried a section of the roadway.
THAILAND - 35 dead, 2,000 trapped by landslide. Rescue teams struggling through mountains of mud unleashed by flooding, caused by two weeks of heavy rain, have found 2,000 people trapped in a village in Yala province without food since a landslide cut them off from the outside world three days earlier. People are starving because their food ran out.
NEW ZEALAND - A massive clean-up is underway in the lower South island after a torrential downpour caused thousands of dollars of damage. The hour-and-a-half long downpour caused flooding of homes and businesses. The deluge was described as monsoon-like.
12/20 -
Flooding in southern Thailand, among the worst such disasters in 40 years, has left at least 27 people dead.
MALAYSIA - Flooding in northern Malaysia has left at least five people dead and more than 20,000 people homeless.
AUSTRALIA - A severe thunderstorm hit northern New South Wales on Saturday afternoon. Strong winds, hail and heavy rain caused widespread blackouts, uprooted trees and damaged homes in Casino and rural areas north of Lismore. "I've been around this area all my life, I'm about 60 and I've never seen horizontal rain and horizontal hail like it. We had hailstones banging against the top of the glass right up under the eaves and the amazing thing is that the wind and the rain and the hail all seemed to be coming from different directions so that it was hitting on windows on a number of sides of the house."
CALIFORNIA - An avalanche of power outages, car accidents and flooded highways resulting from the first heavy storm to slam through San Mateo County this season. Seven thousand Peninsula residents lost power to their homes during the biggest cloudburst between 10 am and noon. By Sunday afternoon, 2 1/2 inches of rain had fallen over a 24-hour period.
Thunder, lightning and wind gusts as strong as 71 mph accompanied the powerful storm, which sporadically dumped as much as a half-inch of rain per hour across the region Sunday. Skies will remain cloudy, though probably not rainy, over the Bay Area for the rest of the week. "As far as the wind and rain, this is a typical winter-time storm. The lightning and thunder is a little UNUSUAL." Santa Rosa BROKE A 65-YEAR RECORD FOR THE DAY, receiving 2.3 inches on Sunday alone. A tornado warning issued in Napa County at 9:30 a.m. was lifted without incident 30 minutes later.
MISSISSIPPI - Hurricane Katrina left parts of the Ross Barnett Reservoir vulnerable to massive flooding. Tons of rip rap - the large rocks that line the reservoir - were stripped away during the hurricane. Three months after Katrina, many of the rocks have been replaced but there’s still a lot of damage from the storm.
12/18 -
THAILAND - Flooding continues to wreck havoc in the south. Phatthalung faces its MOST SEVERE FLOODING IN 20 YEARS. Three thousand families in the southern province of Phatthalung have been severely affected by the current flood. Ten districts are inundated due to incessant heavy rains together with flash floods flowing from the nearby Bantad mountain range. A rubber plantation was reportedly partially buried in the landslide and collapse of a stone mountainside falling in Sribanpot district, with several hundred rubber trees damaged. A landslide was also reported at the Bantad mountain wildlife centre in Banna sub-district. The weather department warns of continued heavy downpours in the lower south.
Two persons were drowned today while another woman went missing as heavy monsoon rains continued to ravage Thailand's deep South, leading authorities to declared Hat Yai district, a key entertainment area for tourists, as a disaster-zone. Heavy downpours resumed again in Hat Yai and other nearby districts in Songkhla province after midnight and worsened when flash floods from a mountain in Hat Yai overflowed into the district seat along with the water runoff from neighboring Sadao district and floodwaters from the swollen U-Tapao canal. In Yala province, the situation was not better as one woman drowned and another was still missing.
Sixteen districts in the southern province of Songkhla are now affected by severe flooding brought on by continuing monsoon rain, with several thousand households affected. Flooding here is the WORST IN FIVE YEARS, as the main road leading to the district was completely under floodwater and was impassable for vehicles. Heavy downpours of rain accompanied by high tides in Songkhla's coastal districts have worsened the situation, severely affecting some 20,000 persons in 22 villages.
Warnings of high waves, high tides in both the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman sea were issued by the Metereological Department today, while continued cold brought in by weather systems from China keeps Northern residents shivering. Waves 2 - 4 metres high on the Gulf and the Andaman Sea were predicted, as well as high tides between 1 - 2 metres were anticipated in six southern Coastal provinces facing the Gulf. Small trawlers are advised to stay in port due to the high seas. More flash flooding is expected in the vicinity of three Southern mountains where large-scale runoff is anticipated to affect seven provinces.
VIETNAM - Flash floods triggered by prolonged rains in central Vietnam have killed at least 32 people in recent weeks and damaged rice crops. At least eight people remained missing after being washed away by flash floods. Rains which began in late November have inundated more than 30,000 hectares (74,130 acres) of newly-planted rice crops. "The weather is quite abnormal this year, waters in rivers in the central region have started to recede but we expect new rains over the weekend so people should stay alert." Heavy rains also triggered landslides in the central region, damaging roads and disrupting traffic. Prolonged rains in Vietnam's Central Highlands coffee belt have delayed the coffee harvest there and made it difficult for farmers to dry newly-picked coffee cherries.
INDIA - Strange weather: both the southern peninsula and northwest India have been witnessing a strange turn in weather events this season. What were hitherto considered innocuous easterly systems have suddenly packed stormy weather in the peninsula while the incoming mid-latitude westerlies performed indifferently in the plains of northwest India. "We have a situation where a rain-battered Tamil Nadu scurries for cover as the next rain-bearing system approaches, while the unusually dry westerlies have left many a farmer in the northwest wishing if only it had rained a little more. But rains have largely been confined to the higher reaches of the Himalayas." While most of the Rabi lands in the plains in the north are irrigated, a fresh round of precipitation, that the westerlies are known to bring, would have had a beneficial effect on the standing crop. Not only would the rate of growth pick-up, the cost of irrigation could also be brought under control.
Forty-three homeless people were trampled to death today and 42 were injured in a stampede during the distribution of flood relief supplies at a shelter in southern India.
AUSTRALIA - Sydney's train commuters were experiencing major delays after lightning struck signalling equipment on the rail network's northern and central coast lines on Saturday.
A freak storm battered Brisbane around 3pm (AEST) Friday and brought gale force winds, before it moved just as quickly out to sea off Queensland's southeast coast. The severe thunderstorm passed rapidly over Brisbane, downing trees and tearing the roof from a block of units.
PHILIPPINES - A nine-year-old boy died and his stepfather was injured after a landslide hit their residence, due to four days of continuous rain.
12/16 -
SICILY - Severe weather shut down a US military base on the Italian island of Sicily on Wednesday, and flooding threatened to force the evacuation of one housing complex. No injuries have been reported due to the bad weather, which was not predicted, that started about 1 a.m. Sunday and did not let up until Wednesday morning. Additional downpours were possible. During a 20-minute phone interview Wednesday at 4 p.m., for example, the “sky has gone from a blue sky to black as black can be.” More rain was forecast through the night. Roads throughout the region were flooded and closed by Italian officials. “Everything seems to be flooded, there is mud and high waters and it’s very dangerous.”
UPDATE - Floods from weeklong, heavy rainfall resulted in a mandatory evacuation of the Maranai government housing complex at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily, Italy, Dec. 15, a day after the commanding officer declared a state of emergency at the U.S. base. Continuous heavy rainfall since Dec. 13 has resulted in massive flooding and power outages aboard NAS Sigonella and in surrounding areas, including government housing units in Maranai and Maneo. Six inches to three feet of standing water, mud and sewage has been reported. The base, including the airfield, is closed until further notice. About 500 families were relocated. Personnel have been advised to remain where they are, due to significant damage to many local roads.
THAILAND - Rain-soaked hills in the southern province of Songkhla have been declared high-risk areas after a hillside gave way in a landslide here Thursday leading to the deaths of a father and his son
Renewed flooding in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat claimed more two lives while transport by aircraft, rail, and highway was disrupted on Friday. The current third round of floods in the past two months has resulted in many areas being entirely water-logged, without capacity to absorb any further water. Continuing rain makes the current flood situation much worse than would otherwise be the case. Officials are on alert for possible mudslides in high risk areas in 11 districts. Meanwhile, the two deaths reported Friday raise the number of fatalities caused by floods over the past two months in Nakhon Si Thammarat to 12. The Nakhon Si Thammarat municipality area is inundated. Flat-bottomed boats have been sent to help people in flood-stricken areas. Almost all schools in the provinces are closed until next week.
TEXAS - Quick, heavy rains and strong winds hit Galveston County on Wednesday, causing power outages, street flooding in low-lying areas and damage to at least one historic building on the island. The wind was the major cause of downed lines that caused the loss of power. There were a couple of cases on Pelican Island and in Galveston’s Barton Square where the lightning and rain contributed to the power loss. “The rain itself is not bad, but it gets bad when it’s the wind and the lightning.” Lightning struck and damaged the Bishop’s Palace during Wednesday’s downpour. The loud claps of thunder set off car alarms in the parking garage at the county courthouse. Lightning struck a boiler at Valero’s Texas City refinery, forcing the cutback on a large amount of refining at the facility. No one was hurt when the bolt struck a boiler used to produce steam that is a key part of the oil refining process. Valero had to crank up its flare system to relieve a large amount of pressure following the lightning strike. As of Wednesday night, the refinery was still not back at full capacity.
MISSOURI - A mountaintop reservoir in southeast Missouri used to generate electricity broke open early Wednesday flooding the valley below, washing away cars and homes. A nearby town was evacuated. A 600 foot breach released more than a billion gallons of water, causing major flooding and significant damage to surrounding areas.
ARKANSAS - Officials say despite some simularities between the Missouri dam and ones in Arkansas, a break like this in Arkansas would most likely only be caused by extreme flooding. The biggest threat is too much rain too quickly. Dam officials would have to open the spill-way gates that could cause flooding downstream. Officials are more worried about flood waters than anything else, but are anxious for the report on what went wrong in Missouri.
MICHIGAN - High winds are causing sand to clog the mouth of the Au Train River in Alger County. Residents living along the river are being flooded.
NEW ZEALAND - A tornado-like "micro-burst" ripped trees out of the ground, flooded houses and destroyed a $20,000 crop in just minutes in the central Southland area of Heddon Bush, near Winton, yesterday afternoon. It was probably a micro-burst of wind and hail during a very active thunder storm. The storms were often localised to a few square kilometres and could whip up 160 km/h winds. "It was just so black and dark you couldn't see a thing." Several 100-year-old macrocarpa trees were uprooted, sheds were flung around and one lost its roof.
12/15 -
ISRAEL - Forecasters predict heavy rains will drench northern and central Israel Friday and Saturday following more than 30 days of dry weather. Private weather forecasters explained that a jet stream has been preventing winter weather from approaching Israel, but that it finally is breaking up. Scattered and light rainfall is expected to begin this evening and Friday, accompanied by sharply lower temperatures and high winds. The rain will intensify Friday night and Saturday, and snow is forecast for Mount Hermon. Another storm is headed for Israel on Monday and Tuesday.
MALTA - was hit by heavy rain. It is not unusual to have heavy rain in December – it is one of their wettest months. An average of 55.1mm of rain had fallen in 24 hours. The rainy weather is expected to continue right up to the weekend, with strong winds on Friday and Saturday.
THAILAND Residents in Thailand's six southern provinces are being warned to brace themselves for more flash flooding. As high pressure over China pushes a weather front through the Gulf of Thailand, heavy rainfall has been forecast for the affected area throughout the week until Friday. Many areas of southern Thailand are already grappling with flooding after being lashed by storms last week. The flooding led to a wave of conjunctivitis, more commonly known as pink eye infections.
12/13 -
AUSTRALIA - Last week's hail storm in the Upper Manning has decimated the huge population of flying foxes in the Wingham Brush, killing about 500. Some had been killed when struck by the huge hail stones while others had died later as a result of injuries. National Parks officers had been monitoring the population since the storm and euthanasing badly injured flying foxes as necessary. The flying foxes were not the only animals affected by the storm, with one adult and one baby osprey also found dead.
AUSTRALIA - Dangerous thunderstorms have battered parts of south-east Queensland with golf ball sized hailstones and destructive winds.
AUSTRALIA - Hail stones up to the size of cricket balls wreaked havoc on the Upper Manning late last week, just 24 hours after another freak storm event hit closer to the coast.
NEW ZEALAND - Thunderstorms have been popping like pop-corn over New Zealand over the weekend and will continue to do so for the rest of this week. "The Tasman Sea is a breeding ground for troughs of low pressure at present. The large high-pressure area east of New Zealand is blocking the normal flow of the weather, and this combination is keeping humid northerlies over the country until this weekend. Thunderstorms are popping up over the land daily in the intense summer sunlight." The most likely areas for these thunderstorms will be changing daily.
SOUTH AFRICA - a violent FREAK STORM tore through the area on Saturday destroying about a thousand homes. The storm had struck about 4.30pm and had lasted about 30 minutes, with heavy winds, hail and rain.
VIETNAM - Hundreds of homes in the township of Tan Chau in An Giang Province may collapse because of riverbank erosion caused by heavy rains. Several hundred houses have already fallen into the Tien River in the last four years, and in the last few days, several blocks of riverside houses collapsed.
GUYANA - Heavy showers have caused flooding in some areas. "Soon greens will be scarce because the rain and flood water damaged a lot of crops."
12/12 -
THAILAND - The weather bureau warned residents in six southern provinces yesterday to brace themselves for another round of flash flooding as more heavy downpours were continuing.
SOUTH AFRICA - A FREAK STORM which hit central KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday destroyed several homes.
AUSTRALIA - Damaging winds are expected across much of Victoria this afternoon. A severe weather warning forecasts a strengthening northerly wind, particularly over elevated areas ahead of a squally westerly change, with winds of more than 65km/h, with stronger gusts. Winds would ease following the change.
12/11 -
PHILIPPINES - Two more people died in Quezon province yesterday, bringing to four the number of deaths caused by floods that devastated parts of Southern Luzon.

THAILAND - The flood level in the south is receding but residents are still anxious and massive food supply collection has begun. Instant noodles, canned food, rice, flashlights and batteries were quickly snapped up. Prices of these items doubled during the crisis. Massive stock-piling is happening as the locals still fear the heavy rain and flashfloods will come back. In Songkhla, local canals are still at a critical level and are likely to overflow.
CANADA - Nova Scotia is facing heavy rainfall and warm temperatures today after the first snowfall of the season left thousands of the province's residents without power. A storm Saturday dumped as much as 47 centimetres of snow on the province.
12/9 -
AUSTRALIA - Three people are dead, four seriously injured and three recovering from lightning strikes after wild storms lashed southern Queensland and northern NSW. Heavy rain, gale-force winds and lightning caused widespread blackouts, property damage and weather-related road accidents. "It's the 17th significant storm event in south-east Queensland in the past seven weeks. The whole of last summer we only had 17. This was the most significant." More than 300 wires came down and 3,000 lightning strikes were recorded in two hours from 5pm (AEST).
PHILIPPINES - Two people were buried alive by a landslide in the Philippines and more than 100,000 have been affected after heavy rains caused flooding.
INDIA - With another cyclone approaching the Tamil Nadu coast, government officials are trying to find some quick-fix solutions to minimise further flooding.
AMAZON - The Amazon basin's worst drought in more than 40 years is ending as rainfall returns to normal, though officials fear diseases will spread as rising rivers stir up muck from stagnant pools of contaminated water. Many river dwellers in the world's largest rainforest are hungry, having lost crops in the drought. Stocks of fish, a dietary staple, may not recover for months in smaller tributaries that dried up, killing millions of fish. It will take weeks for the enormous hydrologic system stretching across six states to fill up after some three months of drought.
12/7 -
FLORIDA - A tornado swiped through a section of Wakulla County on Monday afternoon, knocking down trees and damaging homes and businesses, but there were no reports of fatalities or injuries.
ARKANSAS - weather system that swept across Arkansas last week spawned an UNUSUAL 22 tornadoes in just over seven hours, and that number may rise. That number of tornadoes is RARE, but wind conditions were very favorable for tornado formation that day.
PHILIPPINES - More than 12,000 residents from at least 14 villages of Lucena City have been evacuated to safer grounds as floods continue to rise. 9,000 residents of eight barangays have been advised to prepare for evacuation if the rains continue. It has been raining heavily in Quezon province since Monday evening.
INDIA - Most of Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu, the region of mainland India hit hard by the tsunami, is now under the grip of severe floods. More than 250 people have been killed and as many as one million more have been displaced by THE HEAVIEST RAINS IN 50 YEARS. Compounding the problem, cyclone warnings led thousands of people to be evacuated from their homes at the end of November. The storm gained strength as it moved ashore, crossing over northern Tamil Nadu on December 1. For people affected by the tsunami, the incessant rains are unnerving. In addition to the heavy rainfall, flash flooding is appearing in areas where hundreds of irrigation tanks have burst. The flooding is also causing major damage to the state’s roadways and railways, leading some communities to be virtually cut off from their neighbors.
AUSTRALIA - A severe storm with strong winds and heavy rain caused damage in Broken Hill yesterday, exactly a month after parts of the western NSW town were devastated by a mini-cyclone. At least one home lost its roof, with many more homes damaged and power lines down. There were no reports of injury. "It came through like a train, unroofing houses and bringing down trees and powerlines. Then it disappeared as quickly as it came."
12/6 -
INDIA - The north-west monsoon that has crippled Chennai is UNPRECEDENTED. Overflowing reservoirs have pushed up water levels in rivers, flooding the metropolis and its suburbs and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to be evacuated. As extreme water-logging conditions cripple rail, bus and air services, Chennai seems to be adrift on a sea of uncertainty — of the kind that we saw in Mumbai in July and Bangalore a couple of months later. The surging floodwaters raise crucial questions — one: what’s with such BIZARRE WEATHER that so relentlessly targets metropolises on the seaboard?
ALBANIA - was hit by THE WORST FLOODING SEEN IN THE LAST 35 YEARS, following heavy rain.
ITALY - Monday morning sirens sounded in Venice to warn the citizens of the arrival of the high tide. The maximum tide level reached at 11:40am was 104 cm above average sea level and the consistently high level of tide caused the council to deploy wooden walkways in the lower areas of the city. Venice is still currently flooded with the water receding slowly. The bad weather continues to affect the Veneto region with the very unstable weather likely to continue until at least Wednesday. The very cold temperatures of the last few days have risen but the rain on the plains turned to snow at higher altitudes.
HAWAII - Thunder, winds ‘like a tornado’ whip O'ahu. A wind funnel knocked down several trees about 4 p.m. Sunday. The funnel was part of a short but fierce thunderstorm that whipped O'ahu from about 2 to 4 p.m. , briefly knocking out electrical power to about 3,000. Daytime atmospheric heating combined with an upper-level trough and heavy moisture caused the storm. "The upper-level trough will keep the atmosphere unstable at least for a day or two." The storm dropped about 1 to 1 1/3 inches of rain in less than two hours on the island.
12/5 -
INDIA - At least 13 people have died in house collapses, electrocution and drowning and about 100,000 others evacuated from their homes in three days of torrential rains in Andhra Pradesh. In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, 75,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. Most parts of the state capital, Madras (Chennai) are under water and many houses are partially submerged. The rains have also washed out the first three days of the cricket match between India and Sri Lanka in the city. Earlier Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had faced the threat of a cyclone, which had weakened into a depression that was causing the present rains.
INDIA - There is a new low-pressure area in the South Andaman Sea now, that joins the two existing circulations - the remnant Cyclone `Baaz' over the south peninsula and a `low' over east-central Arabian Sea - that may bring back 'the shear zone of convective turbulence to peak activity from east to west'. The new circulation has all it takes to grow into a well-marked `low' and intensify further as it churns west, attracted as it will be by the warm waters off the eastern Sri Lanka coast. All major weather models tend to support a scenario in which coastal Tamil Nadu will have to contend with another turbulence, possibly by the weekend. The intensity with which it can strike will depend on a host of factors that fluctuate on a daily, if not hourly, basis and which combined to undermine `Baaz' as it neared coast. The convective clouds associated with the three `live' monsoon circulations are expected to sustain the fairly widespread rainfall activity over north Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, south interior Karnataka, Kerala, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep for at least the next two days.
MALAYSIA - Heavy rain over the past few days is believed to have triggered a landslide near the Sri Impian apartments in Farlim last night. An initial report showed that no one was hurt in the 10pm incident. A concrete beam installed about 30 metres from the apartments gave way as a result of the landslide.
12/4 -
ITALY - A steep rise in sea levels swamped part of the historic lagooon city of Venice Saturday amid storms and heavy rains that have beaten down on Italy over the past 24 hours. On the other side of the peninsula, at La Spezia, a storm slammed a bulk carrier against a jetty, holing it and dumping thousands of litres of fuel into the harbor. Venice was hit by a common seasonal phenomenon, as winds and tides backed up the Adriatic waters, causing levels in the lagoon to rise. Forecasters said the water level was expected to decline today, but warned the weather would turn for the worse again on Tuesday. In Venice, water levels were so high as to cover raised walkways set up to overcome any eventual flooding. St Mark's Square was covered by about 20cm (7.8in) of water. The storm also hit Rome, drenching the Italian capital, flooding one of the main roads into the city.
ALBANIA - Thousands of hectares (acres) of land were flooded and hundreds of houses damaged in Albania on Friday after heavy rains hit the country. The floods blocked roads and bridges in various regions, brought down electricity pylons and inundated transformers, leaving large areas without power.
IRELAND - Torrential rains lashed parts of Northern Ireland again Friday, as forecasters warned of the risk of more flooding. Heavy rain drenched parts of counties Antrim and Down for the second day in a row, with fears more people could be forced to evacuate their homes.
AUSTRALIA - There has been some wild weather across the sunshine state this week. Noosa was flooded after more than 250 millimetres of rain fell in a few hours, and in the far north a FREAK STORM ripped through the Atherton Tableland. People who have lived in the far north most of their life said they had never seen such vicious winds and large jagged hail. They had never heard storms like them. "The thunder actually was probably worse than anything we've heard. It was big cracks one after the other and we couldn't get to sleep through it all, then down it came. "
Damage estimates are rising from a violent storm which hit north-eastern Victoria and the southern Riverina. Emergency services say up to 200 homes have been damaged from the rain and roads blocked after hundreds of trees were torn down by FREAK WINDS. "It looks like a mini tornado has just ripped a swathe through the top of Huon Creek Valley outside Wodonga. I've never seen anything like it in my life."
Residents in the tiny central Queensland town of Aramac have told of their terror as a FREAK STORM blew apart homes, snapped huge trees like twigs and threw trucks around like toys. "It was like we were hit by a couple of bombs." No street was left unscathed as the storm struck for 15 minutes with 200km/h gusts and hail. "I couldn't believe the winds. Buildings were moving and shaking and you could see tin flying all over the place."
12/2 -
AUSTRALIA - At least three people were killed and another is feared dead as violent storms swept across parts of New South Wales, the ACT and Queensland.
AUSTRALIA - Giant hailstones the size of cricket balls and flash floods have been reported in a severe thunderstorm that hit Sydney's south-west yesterday.
IRELAND - Parts of South Belfast were under several feet of water yesterday morning following torrential rain.
12/1 - AUSTRALIA - Two people were hit by lightning and part of a major road collapsed as wild storms battered Queensland's Sunshine Coast today. Powerlines were brought down by landslide. 5000 homes lost power when high winds, lightning strikes and more than 260mm of rain hit the Noosa Shire. A combination of humid conditions in the lower atmosphere and higher cooler temperatures had created widespread instability across the region. More rain and storms were forecast tomorrow.
UNITED KINGDOM - A Hempstead couple have spoken of their shock on discovering their roof went up in flames moments after it was hit by a FREAK bolt of lightning. Firefighters were called at around 3pm last Thursday after getting reports of a blaze engulfing the roof. The woman living there heard a 'huge bang' but did not realise her home had been hit and instead sat down to read a newspaper. The electrical surge ruined the couple's computer, television and phones. Two neighbouring houses were also affected by 'scorching'. Witnesses to the FREAK STORM said it 'arrived and disappeared' in a matter of minutes.
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11/30 -
INDIA - In one of the most furious spells of monsoon in recent times, many tanks and lakes all over Tamilnadu state have breached and all the important rivers are in spate. In the face of the relentless rains, railway tracks have either been washed away or lie under several feet of water. Torrential rains due to a North East Monsoon along the east coast since October 21st submerged many areas of Tamilnadu state in South India. Since Nov 21 Tamilnadu has been inundated by a deluge. The rain has been very intense during the last few days. The heaviest downpour occurred for 4 days consecutively from November 23 to 26. This, coupled with the breaching and/or opening of dams to prevent breaching, has created floods that have caused severe damages to the affected communities. The flood situation in Cuddalore district is grim, with all the five rivers running through the district and other water sources overflowing. One hundred thousand people have been marooned and two hundred thousand stranded. More than 150,000 people have been shifted to safer places. Meanwhile, the weather bureau has sounded an alert for another depression that has formed over the Bayof Bengal and they warned of heavy rain and stormy weather again in the next 48 hours.
FLORIDA - November's weather roller coaster continued Monday with a deluge, record heat and cool air. A predawn deluge brought more than 2 inches in two hours. By 2 p.m., sunny skies and warm breezes brought the temperature up to 82 degrees, tying a record set in 1990. That all changed later Monday as a cold front arrived, with north winds whipping in cold Canadian air and an expected overnight low in the 50s. "This change of temperature has been crazy. You never know what it's going to be." More than five inches of rain fell in Pensacola on Sunday and Monday as thunderstorms swept in. The deluges, which fell mostly in concentrated morning showers on both days, topped the 4.4-inch monthly average for November. November brought the second straight month of above-average heat, with two records equaled or beaten and seven days in the 80s. November also had near-record cold, with the low reaching 33 degrees on Nov. 18.
NORTH CAROLINA - Heavy downpours pushed rivers and streams out of their banks in parts of Western North Carolina, but flooding was minor and there were no reports of injuries or significant property damage. The highest overnight rainfall total was 6 inches at Lake Toxaway in Transylvania County. The storm contributed to a rockslide that sent huge boulders crashing onto N.C. 215.
ARKANSAS - No injuries were reported from a powerful storm, possibly an F2 tornado, that swept through the township of Agnos in eastern Fulton County Sunday night. The storm destroyed at least three trailer houses, uprooted trees and damaged homes throughout the county. The weather system, which produced damaging winds and rains across the state, formed in an UNUSUAL way. The storms were fueled by upper atmospheric wind shear which approached speeds of 140 miles per hour - much higher than average wind shear for this time of year. "Add the wind shear in with the moisture that came in from the south, and extremely dry air that moved in from Oklahoma, and all the ingredients were in place for severe weather."
AUSTRALIA - Large hailstones, damaging winds and heavy rainfall loom threateningly over parts of southern and southeast Queensland this afternoon. A combination of humid conditions in the lower atmosphere and higher cooler temperatures have created widespread instability across the region. More than 20,000 houses and businesses lost power after severe storms struck southeast Queensland yesterday. Crews worked until the early hours of this morning after hail storms swept through Brisbane's south and west from 3pm, followed by another storm cell four hours later in the northern suburbs. The storm season so far this year has been more dramatic than previous years. "We've had an earlier start to the season and the activity has been more frequent than in past years."
11/29 -
KANSAS - The weather was more suited for spring than the Thanksgiving-Christmas season on Sunday. Hail, high winds and heavy rain swept through Lawrence twice – once during the afternoon and then again during the evening. The city and much of northeastern Kansas were under a tornado watch from about 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Although Lawrence was spared visits by tornadoes, one did strike Fort Riley, damaging 32 homes in the Ellis Heights area. There were more than a dozen tornadoes sighted in the Manhattan area. “This is VERY RARE." Shortly before the afternoon storm moved into Lawrence, skies not only turned dark but also an eerie green. There were two main theories about the cause of green skies, Schack said. One maintains that the extent of the cloud deck blocks out the blue sky and causes it to look green. The second theory has to do with the amount of the water content.
LOUISIANA - A storm system that pummeled Caddo and Bossier parishes on Sunday delivered a punch that downed power lines, traffic lights and trees, and sent two Shreveport police officers to the hospital after a tree fell on the patrol car they were riding in. "The wind was blowing hard enough to knock you down. Dirt, trash, leaves, you name it, it was flying." Peak wind speed was 47 mph with .22 inches of rain. Golf ball-size hail was reported in Vivian and penny-size hail in Belcher.
NEW ZEALAND - Floodwaters from the Waipaoa River have cut off the East Coast town of Te Karaka, northwest of Gisborne, after heavy rain and winds hit the Gisborne-East Coast region. Up to 40mm more rain expected in the region. Farmers in the area say the area has not yet recovered from the Labour weekend floods, which were the worst since Cyclone Bola.
CONGO - Six people were killed when a bolt of lightning set off an arms depot during a thunderstorm in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The storm struck Friday in the town of Walikale.
11/28 -
THAILAND - Heavy rain and floods have stranded hundreds of tourists in southern Thailand including the popular islands of Ko Tao and Ko Samui. Disaster relief operations have been operating for several days, but authorities here say that up to 3000 local people and foreign tourists remain cut off. The floods, which have killed seven local people, continued to plague the districts of Surat Thani, Phatthalung and Chumphon. About 200 tourists were shipped from the island to the mainland. They had been trapped on Ko Tao for almost a week after a ferry service was disrupted by heavy rains and strong waves.
AUSTRALIA - Brisbane, Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast hinterland were belted by strong winds, rain and hail yesterday as a storm cell moved across the Queensland's south-east. The heaviest downpours were on Brisbane's southside with Carindale recording 83 millimetres. Large hail stones battered Brisbane's south-west but it was winds of up to 40 knots which caused most of the damage. The conditions wreaked havoc across the south-east.
AUSTRALIA - A severe storm with torrential rain and winds of up to 100km/h is expected to hit the New South Wales south coast today. The storm is the result of a deepening low pressure system moving towards the coast. Residents have been warned to expect a big rain dump and winds averaging 65km/h, with gusts in excess of 100km/h. The storm could cause localised flash flooding on the south coast.
KANSAS, MISSOURI - A series of storms that swept across Kansas into Missouri on Sunday blocked roads with snow in western Kansas and spawned a tornado that damaged 32 homes at Fort Riley, Kansas. Heavy rain, hail and high winds ripped through the Kansas City area Sunday night.
COLUMBIA - At least 83 peaople have died in Colombia after two months of torrential rains that have affected the northwestern provinces in the South American nation. A quarter of a million of people have been affected by the flooding, mudslides and over-flowing rivers caused by the intense rains, which began in September. The worst-hit provinces are those located in the northwestern region: Magdalena, Sucre, Cordoba and Cesar, where the monster floods have ruined rice and cotton fields seriously damaging country's economy. Many farmers have been forced to abandon their farms. Colombian authorities said that this year's rainy season was the WORST FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS. The annual tropical rains are expected to continue until mid-December.
11/27 -
CANADA - Thick fog is not unusual in November - last year there were 11 days when visibility was less than half a mile. Having it stick around for nearly a week is, however, SOMEWHAT RARE in this region. "Until we break the weather pattern, the situation gets worse and worse." The fog was confined primarily to coastal areas of south Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. The fog was so dense in spots the past week that the smoke from wood burning stoves was being pushed down to near ground level by the heavy, moist air.
NEW ZEALAND - A storm which pelted parts of Northland with golfball-sized hail is now lashing Gisborne and northern Hawke's Bay. The MetService is forecasting heavy rain and severe gale force winds for the area and says a low pressure system has stalled over the region and is unlikely to move until late tomorrow. Forecasters say up to 200mm of rain is expected in the ranges north of Gisborne and about 150mm is due in northern Hawke's Bay. On Saturday, power was cut to 1,500 homes in Auckland, while large hail fell in lower Northland, causing flash-flooding in several areas. A severe hailstorm saw golf ball sized hail stones fall in Maungawai and Kaiwaka six inches thick.
INDIA - At least 80 people were killed when two packed passenger buses skidded off flooded bridges in India's southern Tamil Nadu state following heavy rains. The river was high due to unseasonal rains lashing parts of coastal Tamil Nadu. Heavy rains - caused by low-pressure in the Bay of Bengal - have been battering Tamil Nadu for the past several days, disrupting rail and road travel. The rains have caused widespread flooding in many parts of the state resulting in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in coastal districts. A coastguard helicopter was dropping food packets to marooned villagers.
THAILAND - At least six people have been killed in southern Thailand by flooding that has forced the evacuation of 1000 families. Heavy rains were expected to continue following downpours over the past two days that damaged roads and devastated fisheries and thousands of hectares of agricultural land.
11/25 -
PORTUGAL - Strong winds and intense rain caused damage across the region. Houses were flooded, trees fell and walls collapsed as a result of the violent storm that hit the Algarve during the early hours of last Sunday morning, with grey weather continuing into Tuesday. Those boroughs thought to have been worst affected by the FREAK CONDITIONS were Loulé, Faro, Lagoa, Portimão and Tavira. Due to the state of the sea, the harbour entrances at Faro/Olhão, Albufeira and Lagos were closed on Sunday. Homes and businesses across the Algarve were left without power on Sunday and Monday. Prior to the extreme weather conditions that affected the Algarve at the weekend, experts had been predicting that rainfall would return to a normal level, although, no doubt, they had expected it to be evenly distributed over several months. However, “the drought is not over yet, but its severity is clearly diminishing." Four to six days of considerable rainfall (more than 10 litres per square metre), reasonably distributed over the month of October, were decisive in reversing the trend that has been in existence since the end of 2004.
11/24 -
INDIA - The cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal crossed the coast yesterday much to the relief of people residing in the coastal areas. Two persons were killed due to the heavy rains in Nellore district. Train service in some areas was stopped on account of heavy rains.
FIJI - A trough of low pressure hangs over Fiji and will result in heavy rain until the weekend. People living in low lying areas are being advised to take precautions as localised flooding is possible.
CANADA - Crews across the province of New Brunswick were cleaning up after heavy rain and high winds over night caused flooding and scattered power outages. Fredericton and Saint John received the heaviest rainfall, a total of 70 mm, which flooded hundreds basements in the area and forced several road closures. The huge amount of rain over a short time, coupled with leaves in drains, caused the problems. High winds of up to 90 km/h also took a toll, leaving many people in the dark. The storm saved its full force for Nova Scotia, lashing the province with more intense winds of 100 km/h. About 125,000 customers were without power at the peak. About 25,000 homes are still in the dark
JAMAICA - Flooding associated with the heavy rainfall in the parish of Trelawny has displaced some 48 families, consisting of more than 140 persons. Flooding has been occurring in the Wakefield area of Falmouth since November 5. Waters are receding but at a very slow pace.
AUSTRALIA - More than 750 lightning strikes pierced the Sydney sky over two hours Tuesday night. A line of storms swept across the Sydney region between 8pm and midnight. While the number of lightning strikes was "not remarkable" for a Sydney storm, the majority came in the form of spectacular forked lighting. "The majority of these were ground strikes, by the look of it, and there were very few inter-cloud strikes [flashes of light between clouds]." The Bureau of Meteorology was predicting showers for the remainder of the week, with more possible storm activity on Friday and Saturday.
AUSTRALIA - An apple and cherry grower from the Orange region in central western New South Wales has lost more than 90 per cent of his crop in the severe overnight hail and rain storm. The storm affected many centers on the central tablelands with large hail stones falling in and around Orange and parts of Mudgee and Lithgow. Hail the size of large marbles fell for 15 minutes in the region, blanketing the area before it hit the Mudgee and Lithgow regions. Water flooded shops in the Orange Metro Plaza and damaged the roofs of several homes. "We've had hail storms in the past - I've been living on the property for 77 years and this would be the worst damage I've seen for a long time - we had bad storms in the mids-80s with bigger hail but not so long. It kept coming and it stripped leaves off the trees - there's a green blanket on the ground of leaves off the fruit trees here and ornamental trees are absolutely shattered."
FLORIDA - Power outages throughout Tallahassee Monday were caused by drenching rainfall followed by wind gusts as high as 44 mph - the STRONGEST IN MONTHS. Sustained winds were clocked at 36 mph Monday afternoon - STRONGER THAN DURING HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA, and just 3 mph shy of tropical-storm-force winds. That's almost gale-force power for windless Tallahassee, whose usual breezes of less than 10 mph can leave dead and dying branches accumulating until the rare strong gust sends them flying. Add to that the 2.71 inches of rain that fell Sunday and Monday in an otherwise dry November, and the suddenly soaked trees were particularly vulnerable.
11/23 -
VIETNAM - At least five people were killed and thousands made homeless in heavy flooding and rains in central Viet Nam on the weekend.
COLUMBIA - Severe flooding left thousands homeless in northern Colombia yesterday after the San Jorge river overflowed in San Marcos, 300km north of Bogota overflowed .
AUSTRALIA - Forecasters say UNUSUAL WEATHER PATTERNS were behind a strange sight on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula north of Auckland. A resident spotted a fountain of water just before midday which she says looked like a tornado - only with water. The water spout extended from the horizon up to the clouds like a big twister. A southwesterly change over the northern parts of the country is to blame. It is producing unstable clouds which is creating UNUSUAL PHENOMENA such as the water spout seen off Red Beach.
SRI LANKA - Floods caused by torrential rains in Sri Lanka have killed two and marooned thousands. All parts of the island experienced continued heavy showers since Monday night leaving several districts under several feet of water. Meteorological officials said that the UNUSUAL WEATHER CONDITION was due to a depression in the Bay of Bengal.
CANADA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - Fog has shrouded the Greater Victoria area, and is likely to continue until Thursday, grounding flights and causing police to urge slow speeds on the road. Such weather isn't unusual for a Victoria fall, but the persistence of the foggy weather is. About once every three years, intense fog comes and stays awhile.
RUSSIA - A strong gale overnight hurled three Japanese ships working for an international oil project onto the shores of Russia's Pacific island of Sakhalin. The ships, two cargo barges and a tugboat, were anchored but the gale ruptured their moorings.
11/22 -
SRI LANKA - Thousands of tsunami survivors in rebel-held areas of northern Sri Lanka were evacuated to higher ground Monday after lashing monsoon rains flooded their camps. Another 20,000 families, many of them living in mud shelters, had been affected by drenching rains which began pounding the north on Sunday. The monsoon rains flood this area annually and some families may have to be accommodated at schools or in makeshift shelters until January when they abate. Some of those being evacuated were being displaced for the third time - first by the war, then by the tsunami and now by the floods. Many villages have been cut off by the flooding.
SOUTH CAROLINA - A weather pattern that dragged across the Carolinas early Monday caused numerous traffic problems in Myrtle Beach and Georgetown from about three inches of rainfall in a two- to three-hour period around 7 a.m. throughout the area. This week's forecast calls for more rain and cooler temperatures as a nor'easter moves into the area.
11/21 -
THAILAND - Although floodwaters receded in most areas of Prachuap Khiri Khan province yesterday, the Meteorological Department warned eight lower central and southern provinces to be prepared for new flash-flooding. The department also warned that waves in the Gulf of Thailand are expected to reach two to three metres high today. Owners of small boats are advised to remain on shore until tomorrow. At its height on Saturday the flash-flood affected about 6,000 households in the province. More than 3,200 hectares of farmland were inundated. Five people were reported dead and two are missing. Meanwhile, many areas in the Tha Sae and Pathiu districts of Chumphon province remain under floodwater up to one metre deep. 2,400 households in the two districts were affected. More than 200mm of rain on Friday brought the flash-flood sweeping down from the Ta Nao-sri mountains. The Klong Loy reservoir also overflowed to inundate several districts of Prachuap Khiri Khan.
11/20 -
VIETNAM - A cold air mass in central Vietnam has brought heavy rains causing rivers to rise sharply in the last three days.
11/20 -
MICHIGAN - More than 5,000 Consumers Power customers lost power, and emergency crews have been busy since the wind started blowing late last Saturday from the west and southwest. Reports of downed trees and power line damage continued to fill the airwaves Wednesday morning, as the area was again hit with high winds. “This is UNUSUAL. We very rarely issue land-based high wind warnings such as have been issued this week.” November is favorable to high winds because the Great Lakes are still warm, but very cold air can come down from Canada. “That clash can lead to the development of some really strong storm systems.”
11/18 -
COLUMBIA - Hundreds of Colombians were affected by flooding on Tuesday after heavy rains caused two rivers in the north eastern part of the country to overflow.
U.S. - The tornadoes that roared across the Midwest and parts of the South late Tuesday and early Wednesday are part of an UNUSUAL WAVE OF TWISTERS striking late in the year. What sets the latest outbreak apart from others — including one in November 2002 that spun off 82 tornadoes from Texas to Ohio — is that it quickly followed two others. The rapid-fire outbreaks occurred because the first two cold fronts weren't vigorous enough to uproot warm weather entrenched in the Midwest and South. "The most UNUSUAL part of this three-tornado situation this November is that we've had not just one of these cold-front systems but three. The first two didn't have enough power to drive to the Gulf of Mexico." One November front is usually enough to kick the warm air out of the country, cool the waters of the Gulf and signal the onset of winter. The previous two fronts lacked that kind of punch, which allowed warm air to remain in the Gulf states and eventually to creep back north. The latest front buried northern Wisconsin in 8 inches of snow. It also sent temperatures plummeting along the East Coast: Washington had highs in the mid-70s on Wednesday. It reached 45° there Thursday. More severe weather is possible in the next several weeks. A cold front touched off severe weather on the Gulf Coast last December.
AUSTRALIA - Late afternoon on Monday November 14, at the remote Indigenous community of Warburton, an almighty storm hit. It brought 50 millimetres of rain in an hour and winds of up to 172 kilometres an hour, or 93 knots. "That's the SECOND HIGHEST GUST RECORDED in WA, outside of winds associated with a tropical cyclone." The highest (recorded gust) was 193 kilometres an hour at Forrest Aerodrome, and that was back in November 1959." So, it was a RARE WIND indeed. As well as the strong winds, the town saw 50 millimetres of rain too, which seems a little ODD for a desert setting. 49 of that (50 millimetres) fell in about half an hour.
11/17 -
U.S. - 35 tornadoes ripped through the Midwest, part of a huge line of thunderstorms that destroyed homes and killed at least two people. A cold front moving rapidly east collided with warm, unstable air from the south on Tuesday to produce the thunderstorms that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, spawning funnel clouds and tornadoes in parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Tennessee. It was the third outbreak of twisters this month. A tornado on Nov. 6 killed 23 people in southern Indiana, and nine tornadoes struck Iowa on Saturday.
OKLAHOMA - High winds Tuesday damaged buildings and knocked down power lines. “It’s usually windy in Oklahoma, but this is somewhat UNUSUAL.” Typically strong winds don’t cover such a wide area. Texas, Kansas and Arkansas all were all enduring unusually strong winds as well.
WILD TEMPERATURE SWINGS-
AUSTRALIA - Cobar in New South Wales had maximum temperatures which soared to very summer-like 40 degree celsius mid-week and were quickly followed by an UNSEASONAL cold change which dropped the mercury to just 25 degrees celsius on Friday.
CANADA - STRANGE WEATHER in Toronto is being caused by a warm front passing through the region. It boosted temperatures to an UNSEASONABLE high of 15 degrees Celsius early Wednesday. However, temperatures dropped later in the morning as an approaching cold front started to move the warm air out of the way. So far, November has been a month of strange and intense weather in Toronto and around The Golden Horseshoe.
11/16 -
NORTHERN EUROPE - At least two people were killed and tens of thousands of homes were left in the dark as a powerful storm thrashed northern Europe on Tuesday for the second day running. The strong winds and heavy rains that ripped across Norway on Monday, causing flooding and numerous landslides, pushed into Sweden overnight. In central Sweden heavy snowfall and icy roads were expected. Further east, Finland was hit by the storm in the wee hours Tuesday with winds of up to 25 meters per second (82 feet per second) and heavy rainfall in the south. In Norway, in the south of the country, about 40 roads were still blocked by landslides and the train connection between the country's two largest cities, Oslo and Bergen, remained closed as workers removed trees and boulders blocking the tracks.
ENGLAND - FREAK WEATHER conditions hit the Honister Slate Mine in Borrowdale on Friday. The tourist attraction had to be shut down for safety reasons after being hit by what the owners described as a “mini tornado.” "I witnessed a mini tornado that picked up slabs of rocks and hurled them up to 100ft into the air.”
SOUTH AFRICA - Two people were injured during a hail storm that hit Motale in northern Limpopo. Hundreds of people were left homeless when the storm hit the poverty stricken area on Monday evening. Houses and infrastructure were damaged in about 10 villages near the border of Zimbabwe. The roofs of some houses were blown off while other buildings collapsed.
AUSTRALIA - A FREAK STORM in the central desert community of Warburton in Western Australia has caused widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure. Winds exceeding 170 kilometres an hour blew through the town Monday afternoon bringing with it more than 50 millimetres of rain and huge electrical storms. Eyewitnesses say electricity lines have been cut, trees uprooted and roofs ripped off buildings.
CANADA - Monday Manitoba was being walloped by its first major snowstorm of the season, as a blizzard moves east after whiting out the Trans-Canada Highway throughout Saskatchewan.
U.S. - The dramatic clash of seasons will continue this week over the nation. Cold air from Canada is continuing its invasion of the United States, which has been held tightly in the grips of a mild to warm subtropical air mass that has stubbornly held its ground. These Canadian air masses may be early sentries, scouting ahead of a more frigid Siberian-origin air mass lurking in the wings for later this month or into December.
ILLINOIS - Funnel clouds were reported Tuesday in southern Illinois, where heavy rains also caused high waters that swept across roads and lapped up against the sides of some homes. Up to 10 inches of rain fell from about midnight to the middle of the day, with more rain in the forecast.
11/15 -
IOWA - in the past 54 years, 23 tornadoes have been reported in Iowa in November. Two dates accounted for more than half of those twisters: Nine were on Nov. 9, 1975, and eight on Nov. 15, 1988. Until this year, there were 11 injuries but no deaths from November twisters. When it comes to weather odds, Iowans are more likely to be shoveling their driveways in mid-November than running for basements and storm shelters. The same weather elements came together Saturday evening in Iowa and a week ago in Indiana and Kentucky to create an atmospheric stew that spawned tornadoes. In Iowa, some of the twisters' winds reached around 150 mph, at the high end of the F2 rating on the Fujita scale. UNSEASONABLY WARM WEATHER generally spawns the late-fall tornadoes. Saturday, the day the storm hit, the high was 68 degrees. The warm temperatures combined with wind shear, or a shift in wind speed and direction. Also a factor was warm, moist air coming from the south; November usually has cool and dry air. Wind shear forced the warmer air to rise, creating various small storms. As those storms continued to rise, they began to rotate and became the tornadoes that caused damage in several central Iowa towns. in its history, Iowa has experienced tornadoes in every month. A tornado outbreak Jan. 26, 1967, resulted in fatalities. Global warming, or any other climate change, is an unlikely cause for the storms. "When it comes to global warming, globally, temperatures are one degree Fahrenheit warmer than they were 100 years ago. That simply wouldn't make that much of a difference. And in Iowa, there's less change than that."
NORWAY - Heavy rainfall in western Norway triggered landslides on Monday, including one that swept away seven people working on a house. Rescuers were searching for one missing worker, while the other six were found with minor injuries in Bergen, the main city on Norway's west coast. The west coast of Norway has been hit by massive amounts of rain, and flooding and landslides have been plentiful throughout the region, with yet more rain predicted by meteorologists. The rains caused problems all over western Norway, stopping trains on the Bergen Line, closing roads and forcing the evacuation of at least 13 other houses threatened by landslides. "We are used to rain, but this was intense." As much as seven inches could fall in some areas during the storm, several times the normal amounts, through Monday.
AUSTRALIA - HAIL up to 3cm wide fell on parts of southeast Queensland today as a string of severe thunderstorms spread across the state.
11/14 -
MALAYSIA - Sunday a landslide occurred at Jalan Paya Terubong in Penang following several hours of downpour. Four boulders, one half the size of a Perodua Kancil (a car), were brought down the hillslope together with mud.
FIJI - The Nadi Weather office has warned that continuous heavy rain could cause flash flooding in low lying areas of Northern and Eastern parts of the main islands. Forecasters say a trough of low pressure remains slowly moving over the Fiji group where associated cloud and rain will affect the Lau and the Lomaiviti group. The weather pattern was expected to move East late on Sunday.
11/13 -
BARBADOS - The Barbados Met Office is predicting heavy flooding here and in the rest of the eastern Caribbean this weekend. The showers are due to a large amount of moisture in the area and will be followed by a tropical wave.
AUSTRALIA - A FREAK lightning strike has claimed the life of a 69-year-old Dunedoo woman and left her husband with serious burns to 30 per cent of his body. The couple is believed to have been on their back lawn together when the lightning struck about 3pm.
IOWA - At least three tornadoes tore through central Iowa late Saturday afternoon, destroying homes and damaging farms, tearing down trees and power lines and causing gas leaks. At least one death was reported. The twisters damaged homes in several towns and sent college football fans running from a stadium for shelter.
TAJIKISTAN - An avalanche killed two people and stranded about 600 cars Friday on a mountain road linking northern and southern Tajikistan. The sliding snow buried two victims inside their car.
11/11 -
NEW YORK - a BIZARRE mix of lightning, hail, and rain caused lots of accidents, some flooding. Heavy rains tore through the Rochester area Wednesday, mixing with fallen leaves to cause slick roads and clogged storm drains that led to numerous accidents and some flooding. Add lightning and three-quarter-inch hail to the mix, and it made for some pretty bizarre weather. The area got pummeled with just over an inch of rain. It rolled in quickly and rolled out almost as rapidly.

WASHINGTON - Saturday evening the National Weather Service blew it, so to speak, on forecasting for this area. A high wind warning was issued for Lewis and Thurston counties almost after the fact, giving most folks little or no warning. Sudden strong southerly winds gusted well in excess of 40 mph in some locations. Electricity was cut across the western half of Lewis County, mostly from trees and limbs knocking down power lines. Some had no power for two days or so. The extent of the damage was perhaps surprising since they’ve had more powerful winds in the past. In any event, the big wind was a reminder to be prepared for such storms and the power failures, disruption, inconvenience, damage and debris they can cause. They may have forgotten a bit because last fall and winter there wasn’t any big windstorm. In fact, there wasn’t much wind at all because of the UNUSUAL LACK OF STORMS in an inordinately dry winter.

CANADA - A Level 1 tornado, with wind speeds between 120 and 180 kilometres an hour, hit at about 4 p.m. Wednesday. The violent storm tore part of the roof off a school gym in Hamilton and caused other damage. It's HIGHLY UNUSUAL to have tornadoes in Canada in November.

MEXICO - Heavy rains in the north and a drought across the rest of the state have resulted in widespread crop loss in Queretaro. Forty-four thousand hectares of corn have been ruined by drought statewide, with losses of 100,000 pesos (US93,000) in tomato, tomatillo and chile crops due to severe rains. The UNUSUAL PRECIPITATION, which drenched land and caused rivers to overflow, was a side effect of Hurricane Wilma, which hit the Gulf coast the hardest, but had repercussions in the central region as well. 70 percent of crops in the Sierra Gorda region are unsalvageable. In the town of Colón the drought is "deeply worrying." The water reserves used for cattle are about 30 percent full, and will last no more than 100 days. The states of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Durango, Chihuahua and Coahuila are also suffering a drought.
INDIA - The news of more rain, which the weathermen say could extend till this year-end, may bring in more floods. Even before life could get back to normal, a second spell of rain kept the residents of Chennai on their toes, literally, as they had to wade through the grimy and filthy flood water. Though the majority of the residents found relief in the three-day lull, the people in Velachery in the south and Pulianthope in the north had barely got back their breath then the water rose again. The city of Chennai is facing a possible diarrhoea epidemic. With water still stagnating on the city streets, the danger of more and more people acquiring this disease looms. Floods could potentially increase the transmission of both water-borne and vector-borne diseases.

AUSTRALIA - Farms on South Australia's Adelaide Plains have been devastated by the WORST FLOOD IN THE REGION'S HISTORY. The Gawler River burst its banks late on Tuesday night and swept away homes, crops and machinery with little or no warning for those affected. Early estimates have grower losses at $40 million. People are in shock. "People have lost all their livelihood. They've lost their properties, their houses, they've lost everything."
11/10 -
AUSTRALIA -(11/9)AN INTENSE STORM that streaked across southern Victoria has been rated by a senior forecaster as the FASTEST HE'S SEEN IN MORE THAN 30 YEARS of weather watching. It dumped 13mm of rain in 90 minutes at Port Fairy, in Victoria's west, caused minor flooding at nearby Warrnambool and dashed across Bass Strait at 120km/h before crossing Wilsons Promontory. "This is very UNUSUAL. I can't say I've ever seen anything like this before." The storm, known as a super cell, was also unusual because it maintained its intensity as high, upper level winds swept it across Bass Strait.
SCOTLAND - A storm warning has been issued in the Capital as severe gales and torrential rain look set to batter the city on Friday. Weather experts say winds of more than 60mph, interspersed with bouts of heavy rain, will lash the streets of Edinburgh for up to 24 hours. They warned of "very tricky" driving conditions and a strong possibility of damage to buildings and trees. The expected storm is the result of a deepening depression making its way to Scotland from the mid-Atlantic, with winds from a westerly or south-westerly direction picking up speed as they head for the Lothians. "Those are the worst kind of winds for Edinburgh. They are particularly destructive. But this kind of windy, wet weather is not unusual for this time of year." The worst of the weather is predicted to begin mid-morning on Friday, lasting until the early hours of Saturday when the winds will have died down considerably. Rain will persist throughout the day, at its heaviest during the early morning. Earlier this week, gales of 100mph lashed the west coast of Scotland, with thousands of people left without electricity as power lines were brought down in the storm.
UNITED KINGDOM - On Wednesday, home and business owners in Shropshire and Mid Wales were preparing themselves for flooding misery as rivers began to burst their banks across the region. The swollen River Severn and River Vyrnwy were continuing to rise following another night of heavy rain, putting hundreds of residents onto flood alert.
"The fall season has brought unpredictable weather patterns that have many people across the state and nation scratching their heads in disbelief. Multiple damaging hurricanes slammed into the Gulf Coast, tornadoes spun the Midwest into a fury and 85-degree days in the middle of November are strange to some, but is the current weather really that unpredictable? “The weather that we are experiencing now is not unusual for this time of year,” said Charles Wax, state climatologist and professor of geosciences at Mississippi State University. “We anticipate that upcoming seasons will be a lot like this one.” According to Wax, the idea that we are having crazy weather is perception and not reality. “The media has put the perception out there that the weather has taken a sudden change recently, but it hasn’t,” said Wax. “Things are not that different than the past and the world is not coming to an end.” “These things usually go in cycles.”
11/9 - UNUSUAL WEATHER -
ILLINOIS - A cold front will push into Illinois Tuesday night and this morning. Thunderstorms will be scattered along and ahead of the front, and some severe weather may be possible. The primary severe weather threats include large hail and strong winds during the late evening and overnight hours. The EXCEPTIONAL WARMTH they've experienced during early November is UNUSUAL but not unexpected this year. "The mid-Mississippi Valley up into the Great Lakes is what I call a zone of transition." Expect to see "roller-coaster" conditions throughout the month - warm weather one day and cooler weather the next.

KANSAS - After flirting with record warmth Tuesday, temperatures will plunge more than 20 degrees today. "It's almost like a springtime pattern - for the whole country." "It's been relatively mild," especially for the eastern half of the U.S. The jet stream normally dives through the heart of the country this time of year, allowing cold air from the Arctic to reach Kansas. But the jet stream isn't anywhere close to the Plains these days. "It's way up there toward the Canadian border." Another notable warm-up is anticipated later in the week. High temperatures are forecast to climb to the upper 60s by Friday and Saturday before another cool front comes through Sunday. The tornado that struck Indiana and Kentucky early Sunday morning, killing at least 22, is another reflection of the UNUSUAL WEATHER PATTERN for November.
The killer tornado's speed and intensity were UNUSUAL. The deadly tornado that obliterated homes across a swath of southwestern Indiana was UNUSUALLY INTENSE AND FAST, packing winds that topped 200 mph as it roared through the night at up to 75 mph. The storm's strength, its 41-mile path of destruction and the fact that it struck in the middle of the night in November are ALL UNUSUAL. Pushed by a rapid shift in the jet stream along a strong cold front, Sunday's tornado raced along at 70 to 75 mph and stayed on the ground for about 35 minutes. "It was just booking along during the greatest punch of the jet stream. You just don't see speeds like that very often." About 75% of twisters occur in the March to June period, but another 10 to 12% occur during late October and November as the jet stream shifts south, shoving warm, moist southern air against cold, dry northern air similar to what occurs in the spring. Sunday's deadly storm arose as a strong cold front collided with the ABNORMALLY WARM AIR that has held sway over the nation's midsection this fall. Until Sunday's 22 deaths, this year the U.S. had experienced some of the fewest tornado fatalities in several years, with only 10 deaths from seven killer tornadoes. And for the first time since recordkeeping began in 1950, no one was killed by a tornado in April, May or June.
VIETNAM - Residents in Vietnam's central region are at risk of serious landslides, particularly in areas hit-by Typhoon Kai-tak and that experienced flooding last week. Landslides have been reported along the coast, over roads and at river banks in Thua Thien-Hue, Kon Tum and Quang Ngai, and are predicted to grow in intensity.
11/8 -
AUSTRALIA - FLASH FLOODING struck towns across central west New South Wales. The towns of Orange, Bathurst, Parkes, Forbes, Wyalong and Trundle were hit by up to 100mm of rain overnight. Molong, north west of Orange, was worst hit with several families evacuated from their homes. The latest storms came one day after a mini cyclone struck Broken Hill, in the state's far west, ripping roofs off about 40 homes.
WEATHER INVESTIGATORS are travelling to Broken Hill to investigate the suspected tornado which devastated homes in the area on Sunday night. They will try and determine whether the FREAK STORM was a tornado or a "downburst" - a destructive explosion of wind from a thunderstorm. The storm was UNUSUAL. "It's probably one of the places we'd least expect to get severe thunderstorms in NSW." The storm front developed in South Australia in the afternoon before moving east towards Broken Hill. Forecasters did not issue a warning, expecting the front to ease as it crossed the largely unmonitored area. An hour-long lightning spectacular before the storm awed residents before turning into a destructive show of force.
HEAVY RAIN has caused widespread flooding across metropolitan Adelaide and in the Adelaide Hills. Several hundred homes had been affected. Several minor landslides were also reported while the rising water had closed a number of roads. More than 43mm of rain had fallen in the city over the past 24 hours but gauges as high as 117mm had been recorded in areas of the Adelaide Hills. That compares with the November average rainfall of just 29.6mm.
WILD STORMS lashed homes and businesses in central Victoria. Heavy rain caused flash flooding in Shepparton, Rutherglen, Benalla and Wangaratta. Up to 50mm of rain had fallen on the area since yesterday afternoon. "It's a month's rainfall in a day. There would be flash flooding up there because the rainfall rate was over a very short period with thunderstorms." There were also winds of up to 70km/h in alpine areas.
SOLOMON ISLANDS - A HEAVY DOWNPOUR over the weekend has left many villagers in Malaita, Makira and possibly elsewhere, homeless. They also lost their food gardens. The weekend’s torrential rain could be a pre-cursor to what is expected in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It brought a timely reminder for everyone to be conscious of the unusual weather patterns that have been observed across the globe and of the kind of weather they can expect during the wet season now upon them.
WALES - A band of heavy rain was expected to reach Wales last night, causing downpours for 24 hours throughout today, that could trigger widespread flooding. There will be heavy showers, particularly in the north and west, as a succession of Atlantic weather fronts continue to affect all areas of Wales. They can't rule out the risk of flooding anywhere and the rest of the week will be unsettled.
HONDURAS & NICARAGUA - the north-east coastal areas are being affected by the remnants of a low-pressure system in the aftermath of Hurricane Beta. Heavy rains for five days, as of Friday, have caused extensive flooding. To date 5,215 persons have been evacuated and 1,192 have been relocated to shelters. 105 houses have been destroyed and there are extensive losses to subsistence crops and cattle. November is the end of the rainy season, therefore, the soil is saturated and very prone to flooding.
INDIA - Thousands of families in southern India affected by last December's tsunami have been forced to leave temporary shelters after heavy rains. 10,000 people had been moved to relief camps. More rain has been forecast for the next two days. The state authorities have advised fishermen to stay ashore and ordered all schools and colleges to shut in view of the weather warning. On Sunday, six women died in a stampede for flood relief aid in Tamil Nadu. Dozens of others were injured in the crush.
INDIANA - The tornado that struck Evansville and Newburgh WAS THE DEADLIEST STORM TO HIT INDIANA SINCE 1974. The destruction as described as "brutal" and "highly random." "There's incredible devastation next to apparently unscathed properties." The storm system swept east from Missouri, and residents had little notice that it was about to arrive. Warning sirens for Evansville and Vanderburgh County sounded only about 10 minutes before it hit.
PENNSYLVANIA - A storm, which dumped rain, moved through Bradford county "pretty quickly." "This was just a strong cold front coming through. It's been unusually warm the last few days." The cold front collided with a warm air mass. "It's kind of UNUSUAL to see this kind of severe weather. These kinds of thunderstorms are like a summer event in November." .38 of an inch was recorded in Towanda Township, but rainfall amounts varied. "It was pretty good amount of rain for such a short period of time." The high temperature of 72 degrees that was recorded Sunday was 1 degree shy of the all-time record of 73 degrees for that day in 1978; the average temperature for the day is 52 degrees.
LANDSLIDES -
VIETNAM - A landslide tumbled over Ho Chi Minh Highway in the Central Highlands province of Kontum yesterday afternoon despite clear skies, causing traffic to grind to a halt. A 100-meter section of the second cross-country road near Lo Xo Pass, which links Danang and the north of the Central Highlands, was blocked as a mass of earth and rock, around 3,000 cubic meters, from a roadside hill slid.

NEW ZEALAND - Cliff-top dwellings may be under threat after a massive landslip claimed part of Half Moon Bay’s Esplanade Walkway. The cliff at Compass Point came down after bad weather, taking with it part of the Esplanade Walkway. Bad weather is partly blamed for the slip. “Effectively it’s coastal erosion, probably as a result of some of the heavy rain three or four weeks ago.” The slip is the second the area has experienced in a year and there is concern for the multi-million dollar homes presently under development. “We’re experiencing coastal erosion on all our high cliffs and people who choose to build right next to them are gambling with how much longer it will be before the cliff gets closer. It’s only a matter of time.”
WASHINGTON - A landslide near the summit of Snoqualmie Pass closed all four lanes of I-90 Sunday morning. “There is much more material above the roadway, it could come down at any time and threatens all four lanes of the highway." A landslide on Snoqualmie Pass in September killed two people.
11/7 -
INDIANA & KENTUCKY - TORNADOES killed up to 20 people in the Midwestern US states of Indiana and Kentucky, leaving up to 100 people injured. "Local meteorologists here were forecasting severe storms early in the evening and no one really knew that they were going to intensify and become tornadoes." People were caught off-guard as tornado season is over. It's unusual, although not unheard of to have tornadoes in November, particularly with recent weather being so mild. The National Weather Service is reported to have issued warnings for the area about 30 minutes before the tornado struck in the early morning hours, but many people were asleep.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - Heavy rain and thunderstorms Saturday pelted Waukesha County with up to three-quarter-inch hail and wreaked havoc on roads across southeastern Wisconsin. The largest hail was reported near Highways 83 and NN in Mukwonago about 2 p.m. Pea-sized hail was reported during the next hour in Watertown, Pewaukee and downtown Waukesha. Lightning is blamed for house fires late Saturday.
AUSTRALIA - FREAK WEATHER - Three people were killed on treacherous roads and 100 people were left homeless after a weekend of freak weather in the country's east. A mini-cyclone tore through far-western New South Wales last night and was moving towards the coast after pulling down power lines and ripping the roofs off around 40 houses. Some 100 residents were taking shelter in a local basketball stadium as the storm continued its track eastward, with winds gusting up to 100km/h. A severe weather warning was in place from the west of northern NSW as far south as the Victorian border. On the Gold Coast, surf conditions were said to be "as bad as it has been this year", with dangerous rips "every few hundred metres". A spate of traffic accidents were recorded throughout the state's southeast, prompting the closure of three major roads for part or most of the day.
LANDSLIDE -
PHILIPPINES - Another landslide struck an eastern town of the Bohol province, but this time affecting a barangay near the boundary between the towns of Duero and Guindulman. The landslide, estimated to have run to a kilometer, has eclipsed a portion of the four-kilometer Guinsularan River. There are fears that the landslide may duplicate the Mayana land movement which continues to displace soil and rocks with a muffled sound heard underground. Experts have predicted that the land movement in that mountainous part of Jagna town that began last July would be felt up to three years. “This landslide is different from the Mayana experience. We cannot hear any sound underground.” Duero residents discovered the landslide on Oct. 20 but ignored it since it did not cause damage to farmlands and residential houses. But on recent survey, town officials found that the soil and debris transported by the landslide have covered a portion of the Guinsularan River triggering a rise of the water level.
11/5 -
BERMUDA - A swirling cloud formation that tore roofs from homes and sent debris crashing through a supermarket in Bermuda Thursday was a freak wind gust, not a tornado as some witnesses had reported, an official said. The unusual weather phenomenon, known as a "gustnado," is formed by rotating gust fronts and is impossible to predict because its small size makes it invisible on radar.
WITNESS ACCOUNTS - Some of them describe a water-spout.

UNITED KINGDOM - Torrential rain is set to hit parts of the UK over the next 24 hours putting many areas at risk from flooding, weather forecasters have warned. South and mid Wales and south-west, central and southern England face up to 3 inches (7cm) of rain, after a wet week that has left the ground saturated. Higher ground would be worst-hit, while most areas would see around an inch of water. Monday would see a reprieve in the wet weather before it returned on Tuesday.
LANDSLIDES -
UNITED KINGDOM - A train carrying about 100 people was derailed after it hit a landslide caused by heavy rain in Lancashire. The driver is thought to have hit a pile of clay and mud caused by the landslip at Scotforth. Passengers reported feeling "a hell of a shake" before a loud bang as rocks and debris flew from underneath the train. The train then came to a halt and the power went off.
AUSTRALIA - A major landslide has blocked and damaged an arterial road west of Brisbane. Four tonnes of boulders broke through concrete barriers and fell onto the Cunningham Highway at Cunningham's Gap in Aratula.
11/4 -
TASMANIA - Storms and high winds have swept across Hobart, felling trees and damaging homes and other buildings. The winds of up to 100km/h hit the city at 3am (AEDT).
BERMUDA - a RARE tornado touched down in Bermuda, a swirling cloud formation that ripped roofs off houses and sent debris flying into a supermarket in the Somerset area of Bermuda at about 2pm on Wednesday. Six homes had their roofs blown off, and many more suffered damage. Despite eyewitness reports, the Bermuda Weather Service was saying initially, that it was unlikely that a tornado had touched down on the west end of the island. "It's rare, we do have them but it's rare." A combination of warm and cooler weather was blamed for the development.
WASHINGTON - Forecasters say flood season is shaping up to be big this year. If history is any indication, it's more than likely to happen in a big way this winter. That's because it's a "neutral year," which means the region isn't facing the warm, wet weather brought on by El Niño, or the dry, cold weather from La Niña. Neutral years usually bring a mixed bag of weather in more intense bouts to the Northwest U.S. Flood season peaks November through February.
AUSTRALIA - LIGHTNING storms have robbed several farmers of their livestock in a series of strikes that have rocked regional NSW. An UNUSUAL high pressure system over the Tasman Sea, pushing a strong northeasterly wind and blowing moisture over the state, has been blamed for the strikes. A farmer who lost 69 dairy cows to a lightning bolt failed to forecast the storm because thick fog descended just before it struck. "You couldn't see 50m in front of you and when the rain eased, we couldn't believe what we saw." 200km away, another farmer lost 38 cows to lightning. While thunderstorms were common at this time of year, humidity was not. "The UNUSUAL HUMIDITY is triggering the large number of storms we have been facing." More than 75,000 strikes hit southeast Australia between October 24 and November 1. A large part of inland NSW can expect thunderstorms today.
11/3 -
SOUTH AFRICA - Near gale-force winds and driving rain hit Cape Town overnight, causing a widespread power blackout throughout large parts of the southern suburbs, uprooting trees and disrupting shipping in Table Bay harbour. The weather was UNUSUAL. "In November we are supposed to see the south-easter and the sunny skies associated with it, but then we get this typical winter system with some of the strongest winds we have seen so far this year. These things have happened as late as December before, but it certainly is not usual." Meanwhile large areas of the Eastern Cape are being evacuated in the path of runaway fires. The fires were sparing nothing in their path. Farmland is being destroyed and homes are threatened.
HONDURAS - Still reeling from hurricanes Stan, Wilma and Beta last month, Honduras evacuated hundreds of people from its Atlantic coast on Wednesday as intense rains caused more flooding in the area. The rain and wind were triggered by a band of low pressure off the Atlantic coast and threatened to keep pounding northern Honduras for at least another day.
11/2 -
NEW ZEALAND - Masterton residents are still mopping up after a FREAK thunderstorm bombarded half of the town and left the other half completely unscathed. They recorded 32mm of rain and hail in less than an hour on Sunday afternoon between 4pm and 5pm – the MOST INTENSE HAIL STORM ON RECORD in the town. The storm was "off the scale" as far previous records were concerned. Signs were ripped off their mounts and houses and businesses were overrun with flash flooding. The pea-sized hailstones were smaller than the hailstorm of January 2001, but the larger volume caused them to pile up and block the flow and float down the street like small icebergs.
OREGON - The second in a series of wet and fast-moving storms pounded Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington with heavy rain Tuesday, and forecasters said to expect non-stop rain for 7 days. Forecasters expect a series of storms, with a 'doozy' arriving Sunday. "This is just the beginning. The forecast models have us getting 12 inches of rain in Northwest Oregon in the next two weeks, with storm after storm every two or three days. We're going to get hit pretty hard."
11/1 -
AUSTRALIA - Heavy weekend rain in New South Wales has caused flooding in some towns, prompting a warning from emergency services about the dangers of flood waters. More heavy rain is forecast for coming days in the Sydney area, the central west and central coast.
FIJI - Heavy rain over the last two days has broken drought conditions on the main island of Viti Levu, but the downpours have caused some flooding and forced evacuations in eastern parts of the island. Some places received almost twice their normal rainfall for October, in just two days.
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10/30 -
INDIA - At least 50 people died and more were feared killed when a passenger train derailed and toppled into swirling floodwaters in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh early today. The floodwaters came from an overflowing reservoir nearby. The reservoir had been hit by flashfloods caused by rains which have swamped southern India for more than a week. Some people were still alive in the coaches, "but if they come out they will be swept away". Television pictures showed brown muddy waters swirling around the wreckage, with passengers waiting to be rescued standing on top of some of the carriages which had not been fully submerged.
INDIA - One after the other, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata have crumbled in the face of concentrated bursts of rain that destroyed civic infrastructure, left thousands marooned for days and reduced local weathermen to bumbling fools. Waist-high water, submerged runways, aircrafts skidding, deadly landslides, flooded homes, 150,000 displaced citizens and over 1,000 people killed: relentless assaults from the rains have caused havoc across India’s urban hubs in the last three months. The amounts of rain are 944 mm in Mumbai, 593 mm in Bangalore, 420 mm in Chennai. Until July 26th's cloudburst, Mumbai had never experienced 944 mm of rain in 24 hours for about 500 years. Until last week, Bangalore’s record for maximum rain in October was 522 mm in 1956. Weathermen are still searching for data on the last time it rained 270 mm in a span of six hours in Chennai. And in Vishakapatnam, it took a fortnight for a flight to take off or land after flooded runways transformed the airport into a lake. Excess rainfall is the result of a PECULIAR PHENOMENON. “There is high moisture level which bursts at particular areas because of compression created by excess heat on ground and from the atmosphere. We have been witnessing sudden bursts of rainfall in certain regions in the past few years.” India figures among the top 10 contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. And carbon emissions from congested cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore are much higher than rural areas. “The increase in green house gas emissions like carbon dioxide and methane (caused by vehicular traffic, fossil fuel burning and deforestation) have a definite impact on monsoon rains." “Natural drainage systems have been built over or modified in all urban areas which is what caused the flooding in all the metros. The high density of population only adds to the problem. These are the problems that we can control.”