The effects of Texas' prolonged drought on the state's cattle industry were apparent this week. The state's cattle population has dropped by 12 percent since the beginning of 2011, totaling a loss of 600,000 cows. Heavy winds continued in the United Kingdom this week, with gusts of up to 70 miles per hour hitting some coastal areas of Southern England. Hurricane Irene recovery in Vermont and New Hampshire continues. ( pictures of extreme weather from around the world in the past week)
Realize this, and you will find strength.**
Marcus Aurelius
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.5 SULAWESI, INDONESIA
5.6 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
Yesterday -
12/18/11 -
5.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
TROPICAL STORMS -
In the Western Pacific -
Tropical Storm 27w (Washi) was located approximately 360 nm east-southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
PHILIPPINES - Tropical Storm Washi blew away devastated a wide swath of the southern Philippines with flash floods that turned two coastal cities into a muddy wasteland filled with overturned cars and uprooted trees. A mass burial has been organised for scores of people killed by the flash floods on the southern island of Mindanao. Coastal communities were devastated early on Saturday in flash floods triggered by the tropical storm that coincided with high tides. 652 people were killed and another 808 people are still missing. As rivers burst their banks, many were trapped in their homes while in other areas entire villages are reported to have been swept away. Authorities are facing criticism for not giving enough warning of the storm's severity.
Damaged roads are hampering efforts to reach survivors in remote villages. The ports of Iligan and nearby Cagayan de Oro bore the brunt of the flooding. Funeral parlours have been overwhelmed by the catastrophe.
Officials in Cagayan de Oro said corpses were piling up unclaimed at mortuaries and overworked staff had run out of coffins. About 35,000 people are sheltering in evacuation centres. The government says survivors are in desperate need of fresh water, shelter and medicine. Although the Philippines is struck by several typhoons and tropical storms every year, the south of the country usually escapes the worst damage. (map)
MALAYSIA - Tropical storm Washi, that battered southern Philippines over the weekend, is moving towards Sabah and Sarawak and is expected to cause thunderstorms, rough seas and strong winds.
The rough weather is expected to last till Thursday. The storm was moving westwards from Palawan, Philippines towards the waters of Labuan and Kudat, Sabah, the west coast and interior districts as well as parts of Sarawak. Waves of more than 5.5 metres high were also forecast for peninsular Malaysia's east coast, leaving it vulnerable to rising sea levels until Saturday.
THAILAND - Tropical storm Washi is expected to wreak havoc in southern Thailand. The storm was forecast to move through the lower South China Sea and weaken before hitting the coast of Malaysia by Wednesday. This would result in more torrential rains in the South, particularly in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, and Phatthalung provinces, with rough seas expected in the Gulf of Thailand until Thursday.
A weather front that was causing cold spells in upper Thailand had brought about heavy rains in the lower South for days which had triggered floods and landslides in several areas. At least two major incidents of landslides were reported in Songkhla on Sunday, one in Rattaphum and the other in Krasae Sin districts.
No injuries were reported in the latest landslides. About 200 families in Phatthalung's Khuan Khanun district had been affected by flooding for five days, while fresh flash floods were reported in Trang's Muang district.
Authorities warn that worse may be on the way. The impact of the high weather pressure combined with the influence of a low pressure zone in the South China Sea will result in heavier rains in certain areas. Small boats were advised to stay ashore for a few days. The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office, meanwhile, has declared 8,724 villages in 11 provinces in the North and the Northeast as areas stricken by the cold weather. The high weather pressure coming from China will continue to cause temperature drops of between 2C and 3C and strong winds in these provinces
HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
U.S. Southwest, plains face blizzard warnings in big storm - The panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma were placed under a blizzard warning on Sunday as the Southwest and plains states braced for two days of bitter cold, heavy snow, rain and high winds. The storm is expected to produce up to 16 inches of snow and wind gusting to 50 mph in the first major snowstorm of the winter for Texas and Oklahoma. A blizzard watch was also in effect until Tuesday for parts of Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas, with high winds and up to a more than a foot of snow expected across the region. The storm was expected to edge into the mountains of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado before heading east on Sunday night or this morning. By tonight, conditions further east in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles are expected to have deteriorated so much that officials warned motorists to stay off the roads. The mix of rain and snow will move into the Chicago and Detroit areas on Tuesday, forecasters said. In Guymon, in the Oklahoma Panhandle, emergency management officials met on Sunday to go over storm preparations. With wind gusts up to 50 mph predicted, blowing snow could cause problems. "It's unbelievable. Right now it's 65 degrees. Tomorrow we're expecting to have our snow boots on."
Alaska's storm listed among most significant events for November - The massive “extratropical cyclone” that walloped Bering Sea and Northwestern Alaska communities with high winds and blizzard conditions last month was named one of the eight significant climate events to strike the United States in November. Winds gusted to over 80 mph and the storm surge topped 8 feet, marking THE STRONGEST STORM TO IMPACT THE REGION IN DECADES." Other startling U.S. weather developments that month included a tornado that struck Oklahoma, RECORD WARMTH in some New England states and the third most active hurricane season on record.
Alaska's storm began as an intense low pressure system that formed southeast of Japan on Nov. 7 and grew stronger and more intense as it rolled across the North Pacific toward Alaska’s Aleutian frontier. As this cyclone whirled into position, the storm’s interior pressure dropped 50 millibars in 24 hours to a minimum of 944 millibars — comparable to a Category 1 hurricane. “Waves to 35 feet and 100 mph winds were recorded offshore as the storm approached. Hurricane force winds and blizzard conditions affected coastal Alaska. Storm surges of up to 10 feet affected communities along Alaska’s west coast - causing flooding, some structural damage and property loss...An ice zone connected to land had not yet developed to lessen the impact of large waves striking the coast.” NOAA reported the state saw the sixth coolest temperatures since 1918. Overall, 2011 has delivered almost exactly average temperatures to the Far North state — the 43rd coldest of the past 94 years. Despite lots of snow in southern Alaska, November was the 41st driest in the record, with 2011 giving the state the 41st driest January-November since 1918.
