GLOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

AUGUST 2014

UNITED STATES

Drenching rain led to flash floods in the Washington and Baltimore metro areas Tuesday as a potent storm system slogged through the Mid-Atlantic. The heavy rain is forecast to pelt the Northeast and New England later on Tuesday and into Wednesday. Several people were rescued from flooded cars and numerous roads were closed in the D.C. area, WUSA-TV reported. Roads are also closed in the Baltimore area. As of late afternoon, Baltimore had picked up 6.27 inches of rain, making this the city's second-rainiest August day since records began in 1871. Photos on social media showed cars swamped in a parking lot at BWI airport. Some spots had picked up an estimated 10 inches of rain, the National Weather Service reported. "Numerous water rescues and road closures have been reported." Further north, "rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour are likely during the periods of heaviest rain," according to an online forecast from the weather service in New York City. "Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 3 inches and locally over 4 inches are possible." Rainfall of this intensity and magnitude could cause significant urban and poor drainage flooding, the weather service warned. Flooding of small streams is also possible. The National Weather Service has placed parts of the region under a flash flood watch. This includes the entire New York City metro area and most of southern New England.

Strong storms that moved through the Dallas area on the 16^th produced several microbursts, downing power lines and trapping people in their cars. A microburst is a narrow, but strong, column of downward-moving air," says weather.com meteorologist Chrissy Warrilow. "At times, winds within a microburst can exceed 60 mph and cause extensive damage when it makes contact with objects near the ground." According to the National Weather Service, several people were being rescued by Dallas Fire and Rescue after power lines fell on their vehicles

SOUTH ASIA

At least 180 people have died and scores are missing after three days of monsoon rains in estern Nepal and northern India set off landslides that swept away houses. At least 100 died in mudslides in Nepal and another 84 died in India over the weekend. Relief teams on Monday sent food, tents and medicine to prevent any outbreaks of disease. It has been raining in the region since Thursday, displacing thousands in the Himalayas, making roads impassable and stranding people in their flooded homes. At least 42,000 people in India have fled to state-run relief camps. 

ASIA

 

Four more bodies have been found buried under mud in Nepal, pushing the death toll from landslides and flooding to 89, with 109 people still missing on the 17^th. Torrential rain last week stranded thousands of villagers and sparked fears of a cholera outbreak. Media reports on Sunday said several districts in the northern Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were also flooded after heavy rain near

 

A wave of low pressure brought torrential rain central and southern South Korea from Sunday night into Monday (24tyh-25^th). Rainfall averaged 50-100 mm across the southern half of South Korea with isolated amounts over 250 mm. Some of the heaviest rain was reported around Busan and Changwon where widespread flooding has been reported. At least one person has died with widespread evacuations and rescues reported across the region.

 

MIDDLE EAST

 

Heavy rain, thunderstorms and even a tornado hit parts of Istanbul, Turkey on the 3rd. The tornado, which started as a waterspout, moved inland dealing damage to parts of the Golden Horn and Eminonu districts of the city. Meanwhile, other parts of the city that were spared by the tornado had to deal with flash flooding as a thunderstorms rolled through the city Saturday afternoon into Saturday night.

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RUSSIA

 

A large ridge of high pressure over eastern Russia has brought extreme heat to areas from Poland eastward through the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. Temperatures ranging from 5-10C above normal were common for several days in many locations. In fact, some of the most extreme heat was felt from Belarus into Latvia and Lithuania. Here record high temperatures were set, including the all-time record high in Latvia. The record was initially broken on Sunday 3rd as the temperature reached 36.7C in Ventspils. Only 24 hours later, that record was replaced with a new one as the mercury reached 37.8C in Ventspils.

 

EUROPE

 

Four people have been killed and 20 others injured after a flash flood tore through a festival in northern Italy. Reports from the scene talk of panic as a mud-filled torrent swept people away late on Saturday night at the festival at Refrontolo, north of Venice. The event, by an old mill house beneath a waterfall, was meant to celebrate and promote the attractions of the area. But during the festivities, there was a burst of very heavy rain and a wall of water suddenly ripped through the area. Other villages in the area were also affected by landslides caused by the rain, reports say.

 

Norway is in the midst of a wetter than normal start to August. Oslo picked up 70.4 mm of rain during the first five days of August, which is nearly 75 percent of what typically falls through the entire month.

 

TROPICAL

 

A rare tropical storm battering Hawaii has already caused power blackouts and blocked roads on one island, but no deaths have been reported. Iselle made landfall early on Friday morning on the chain's Big Island, shortly after it was downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm. But Hurricane Julio, a Category 3 storm with winds of more than 120 mph, is about 1600 km away. Hawaiian officials have urged residents to stock up on emergency supplies. The last cyclone to hit Hawaii, Hurricane Iniki in 1992, killed six and caused $2.4bn (£1.4bn) in damage. Iselle was weakening as it hit the terrain of the eastern-most island of Hawaii.

 

Tropical Storm Halong was declared a post-tropical cyclone Monday morning (Japanese time) over the Sea of Japan after a long trek that took it past Guam before later dumping record rainfall amounts on Japan on the 11^th. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued an "emergency weather warning" for Mie Prefecture over the weekend. The maximum reported rainfall occurred in Yanase, Kochi Prefecture, on Shikoku. The site recorded 1,081 mm of rain in the 72-hour period ending at 12:30 p.m. JST Sunday 10th, including a remarkable 862 mm of rain in just 24 hours. According to Japan's National Institute of Informatics, the 24-hour total in Yanase ranks among the 10 greatest 24-hour rainfall amounts on record since JMA's high-resolution observation network was deployed in the mid-1970s. Halong made its first landfall just after 6 a.m. JST on the 10th, as a typhoon with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph near the city of Aki, Kochi prefecture, on the island of Shikoku. Around that time, the observatory at Cape Muroto, which sits on a high exposed bluff on the Pacific Ocean side of Shikoku, recorded a 94-mph sustained wind with a gust to 117 mph. After crossing the Seto Inland Sea, Halong made a second landfall shortly after 10 a.m. JST on Sunday as a tropical storm near the similarly-named city of Ako, Hyogo prefecture, on the island of Honshu, Japan's largest island. Ako is 45 miles west of Kobe. Maximum winds were pegged at 70 mph during this second landfall.

 

No longer a tropical system, remnants of former hurricane Bertha slammed portions of the United Kingdom and Europe from the weekend into Monday. Around 80 sailing dinghies were hit by a storm east of northern Ireland Monday after forcing a massive water rescue. The dinghies were competing in the gp14 world championship races at the time of the mass capsizing. Tornadoes were reported across France and Belgium on Sunday. One tornado near Marbay, Belgium injured dozens of people when a structure collapsed at a flea market. Another tornado damaged several roofs and uprooted trees in the municipality of Thuin. Heavy rains battered Tournai and Mouscron leading to flooding of homes and roadways Sunday afternoon.

 

Jim G. Munley, jr.
http://www.jimmunleywx.com