Monday, June 25, 2012

No update on Tuesday.

**Greater things are believed of those who are absent.**
Tacitus

LARGEST QUAKES -
Live Seismograms - Worldwide (update every 30 minutes)

This morning -
5.4 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION.

Yesterday -
6/24/12 -
5.4 JUJUY, ARGENTINA
5.6 SICHUAN-YUNNAN BORDER REG, CHINA
6.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA
5.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

China quake kills at least four - A 5.6 earthquake hit a mountainous area of southwest China on Sunday, killing at least four people and injuring more than 100.

TROPICAL STORMS -
In the Atlantic -
Tropical storm Debby was located about 90 mi. [145 km] SSW of Apalachicola, Florida. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Mississippi-Alabama border eastward to the Suwannee River, Florida. Debby is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 10 to 15 inches over the Florida Panhandle and northern Florida with isolated maximum amounts of 25 inches possible. Surrounding this area, total rain accumulations of 5 to 10 inches are expected over central Florida and southeast Georgia. Given the recent heavy rainfall and wet soil conditions, these additional amounts will exacerbate the flash flood threat across portions of northern Florida and southern Alabama.

Tropical Storm Debby spawns fatal tornado in Florida - Tropical Storm Debby lashed Florida on Sunday, spawning two tornadoes in the central part of the state that killed a woman. Slow-moving Tropical Storm Debby's outer bands lashed Florida with rain and kicked up rough surf off Alabama on Sunday.
Stalled in the Gulf of Mexico, Debby threatened to spawn more tornadoes today as the stationary cyclone pummeled the Gulf Coast with fierce winds and heavy rain.

Philippines - The weather bureau said on Monday that there are two weather disturbances hovering inside the country that might become a cyclone. Rain was expected over several parts of the country Sunday even as state weather forecasters continued to track the potential cyclone.

SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -

China - Torrential rains have killed at least 16 people and affected 1.5 million people in southern and northern parts of China.

EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE -

U.S. - A fast-growing wildfire in Colorado forced 11,000 people from their homes at least briefly on Sunday. 30 structures have been destroyed in Utah.

U.S. - So far, 2012 another extreme year in Vermont - Last year seemed like the most extreme year, weatherwise, in Vermont. The state endured a near record snowy winter. They survived repeated, devastating floods, culminating in the deluge of Tropical Storm Irene, easily Vermont’s worst natural disaster since the Great Flood of 1927. Temperatures in 2011 gyrated wildly, mostly up, and ended up among the top ten list of warmest years of record. This year, Vermont has just come off another record heat wave, and the year is so far almost as wild as 2011. And we’ve still got half of the year to get through yet.
– So far in 2012, Burlington has tied or set new daily high temperature records on 11 days. They also tied a record low for the date on April 30. Most years, they only manage to get maybe five new or tied records, at most.
— March was by far the warmest on record. The entire spring also beat the old record for warmest spring by a full degree. Setting a new seasonal record by a full degree is pretty much unprecedented.
– This past winter was the third least snowiest in Burlington with a meager total of 37.7. This after the third snowiest winter on record in 2011.
– Unless an expected cool wave next week cancels out the midmonth heat, June will be the 15th consecutive warmer than normal month in Burlington. That would be the most consecutive months of above normal temperatures.
– Addison, Lamoille and Orleans counties have been declared federal disaster areas because of the May 29 severe storms, hail, flash flooding and a tornado. This is the sixth year in a row a storm has been declared bad enough to declare part of Vermont a disaster area so there’s another indication the weather has gotten more extreme. All but two years since 1995 has seen a disaster declartion somewhere in Vermont.