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Post by hanabanana on Aug 24, 2012 13:21:25 GMT 1
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aurora
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by aurora on Aug 24, 2012 22:09:50 GMT 1
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aurora
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by aurora on Aug 24, 2012 22:10:40 GMT 1
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aurora
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by aurora on Aug 24, 2012 22:14:24 GMT 1
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 27, 2012 12:51:08 GMT 1
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19332960West Africa forest biomass 'on rise despite drought' - The carbon storage capacity of protected forests in West Africa has increased despite the region suffering a 40-year drought, a study suggests. The tree composition in these areas favoured species that were able to cope with drier conditions. Previous studies suggested that drought conditions resulted in less carbon being stored as vegetation died. Biomass is a vital component in the global carbon cycle. When plants grow, they absorb carbon dioxide and water in the photosynthesis process. While oxygen is released into the atmosphere as a waste product of this process, the absorbed carbon primarily remains locked in the plant until it dies. The study showed an increase in biomass. "Because you have got this long-term environmental shift, it is possible for the species composition of the forests to reshuffle slightly, so the species that can survive under those conditions are favoured. This means you are getting less negative impacts of the drought." The West Africa region has experienced drought conditions since 1970. Rainfall has fallen by up to 23% compared with pre-1970 levels. "It is generally thought that if you have droughts then you are going to see a decrease in biomass. Certainly, studies that have looked at short-term, quite extreme droughts do seem to show biomass loss. It could be that the increase in biomass (recorded in this study) could be the result of something else, but we think that the maintenance of the forest structure, despite the drought conditions, is a result of a change in species composition. This basically means that you cannot take those short-term studies of extreme droughts and extrapolate the findings to a long-term event with different kinds of precipitation changes." Findings earlier this year found that tropical forests in Africa may be more resilient to future climate change than the Amazon and other major forest regions. It suggested that the region's surviving tree species had endured a number of climatic catastrophes over the past 4,000 years. As a result, they were better suited to cope with future shifts in the climate. The continent's tropical forests form the second-largest continuous forested area in the world. "It is very important for the global carbon cycle that these forests are maintained."
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 27, 2012 12:54:25 GMT 1
In the Atlantic - - Tropical storm Isaac was located about 65 mi [105 km] NE of Camaguey, Cuba. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Florida Keys, the West Coast of Florida from Bonita Beach southward to Ocean Reef and Florida Bay. A Hurricane Watch may be required for a portion of the northern Gulf Coast this morning. Isaac is expected to be at or near hurricane strength when the center reaches the Florida Keys. Additional strengthening is likely while the cyclone moves over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. It is too early to determine exactly where and when Isaac will make landfall along the Gulf Coast. In the Western Pacific - - Typhoon 15w (Tembin) was located approximately 350 nm southwest of Taipei, Taiwan. - Typhoon 16w (Bolaven) was located approximately 110 nm southeast of Kadena AB, Japan. www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/271117/news/nation/igme-weakens-and-exits-but-could-turn-back-pagasa-says&ct=ga&cad=CAEQAhgAIAAoATAIOAhA2NfhgQVIAVAAWABiAmVu&cd=lw_Uwa0aUG0&usg=AFQjCNE2HFyd1POh1hQKrIV8LEqPf7iKUw'Igme' weakens and exits, but could turn back - Tropical cyclone Igme (Tembin) weakened into a tropical storm and exited the Philippine area of responsibility Saturday, but state weather forecasters said it may still make a U-turn and reenter Philippine territory. www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/powerful-typhoon-approaches-okinawa/story-e6frf7k6-1226458295130Powerful typhoon approaches Okinawa - The Japanese island of Okinawa is hunkering down in preparation for wind gusts of up to 250km/h as Typhoon Bolaven approaches its shores. www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19365052Tropical Storm Isaac has swept into eastern Cuba after bringing flood misery to the south coast of Haiti, where four people were killed. The Cuban government declared a state of alert in at least six provinces and evacuated thousands of people from high-risk areas ahead of landfall. There were no reports of major damage in Haiti but heavy rain continued after the storm had passed. In the US, a storm warning has been issued for the coast of Florida. Officials organised shelters and urged holiday-makers to leave the Florida Keys as the Governor declared a state of emergency to make sure emergency services would be ready when the storm made landfall today. The US Republican Party has delayed discussions at its National Convention in Tampa for a day because of the approach of Isaac. The Florida storm warning has now been extended north of Tampa. The storm is now located 550km (340 miles) east-southeast of Key West in Florida, moving north-west at 30km/h (17mph). In Cuba's easternmost city, Baracoa, water crashed over the seawall and ran ankle-deep through the nearby streets. "We fear the sea and the flooding a lot more than the rain and wind. It rains frequently here all year long, but when the sea comes in, everything floods." In Haiti, a girl of 10 died when a wall fell on her in the capital, Port-au-Prince. There were three other known deaths. The poorest country in the Americas is still recovering from the devastating 2010 earthquake and many of the 400,000 people still living in tent cities had no option but to weather the storm under canvas. "From last night, we're in misery. All our children are sleeping in the mud, in the rain." At one site, more than 50 tents collapsed, forcing people to search the mud for their belongings. (photo & map)
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 27, 2012 12:54:56 GMT 1
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19366314Tsunami made worse by 'pop-up' of sediments - Tsunami created by undersea earthquakes can be made much larger by the "pop-up" movement of large amounts of sediment, research suggests. These quakes release huge amounts of energy as tectonic plates which stick as they pass each other suddenly slip. But a study in Earth and Planetary Science Letters suggests that wedges of sediment scraped from the plates can pop up, boosting the resulting tsunami. It suggests that spotting these wedges could improve large tsunami prediction. Megathrust earthquakes are the sudden release of "elastic" energy stored as tectonic plates grind against each other, deforming but not slipping. Typically, as in the Japan earthquake of March 2011 that caused a massive tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, this occurs at a subduction zone, where one plate is sliding beneath the next. The quake arises when the deformation becomes too great and the stored energy suddenly releases. The sudden plate movement is transmitted into the ocean, inducing a tsunami. "A Japanese submersible went down after the Tohoku earthquake and found not at all what everybody expected - which is that actually the tsunami was generated by the Japanese plate overriding the Pacific plate and moving upwards. But what this submersible found was... there was a fault which had moved the other way: instead of Japan moving upwards over the Pacific (plate), actually Japan had moved downward." Two researchers propose that the resulting tsunami was made far worse by the wedge-shaped "accretionary prism" at the boundary between the two plates. The prism is a collection of loose rock and mud that builds up gradually as one plate slips below another and fragments are broken off each. When the plates finally violently slip, the point of the wedge is squeezed. This fires the material upward and outward, turning the energy of the plate into the energy of the ejected rock. "Let's say you have something wedge-shaped on the floor and you jump on it, the wedge will shoot sideways, and that's we think happens. The weight of the stuff on top shoots a wedge of stuff out. Put some water on the floor and do the same thing, and that will produce a wave." The team went on to study the sites of other unexpectedly large tsunami from the past, including one off Nicaragua in 1992, Sumatra in 2004, and Java in 2006 - finding similar characteristics of the faults. That is promising, because it potentially provides a means to anticipate where the greatest tsunami risks lie - it is as simple as using submersibles to find faults that also have accretionary prisms. And because the resulting tsunami is more a product of the size of the prism rather than the size of the earthquake, the mechanism could explain why sometimes comparatively small earthquakes result in huge tsunami. "There's a huge enterprise around the Pacific of predicting them, and the false alarm rate is very high - people evacuate a few times and then nothing happens. That's one of the reasons they're so dangerous - every now and again you have some little earthquake like one that didn't even wake people up in Indonesia but they heard the roar of the wave coming in, but the shaking was so small that they hadn't done anything."
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 27, 2012 12:56:47 GMT 1
www.delmarvanow.com/article/20120826/NEWS01/208260303/Extreme-conditions-threaten-power-gridExtreme conditions threaten U.S. power grid - Infrastructure not built to handle harsh weather. Extreme weather is putting America's power grid to the test, with a yearlong run of violent storms and record heat battering a system built for fairer skies. As the eastern United States struggles to recover from yet another weather shock, energy officials are acknowledging climate change as a force that finally has to be reckoned with -- even as concern grows about other threats that can set off catastrophic blackouts. Winter storms, chains of heat waves and late June's "super derecho" -- a thunderstorm with straight-line winds that snapped electrical transmission towers and shredded power poles -- have forced the climate change issue and electric supply vulnerability to the top of an already-daunting list of blackout triggers. Those threats range from computer-hacking cyber terrorists to solar flares, utility mistakes and plain bad luck. Regulators in the U.S. hope to avoid the kind of cascading grid failure that hit India in late July, leaving some 600 million -- 10 percent of the world's population -- without power. Miners were trapped underground. Trains shut down. Unimaginable traffic snarls popped up across the country. And India's image as a rising economic power was cast in darkness. A major blackout in hyper-wired America would also have crippling consequences, with some experts predicting economic losses of up to $180 billion. "This is really the fundamental linchpin for everything in our society, our economy, our quality of life. By deferring infrastructure upgrades, we are basically increasing the risk for the whole system." Doubts are growing about forecasts based on long-term weather trends, typically 30-year averages. ( long article continues at link)
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 27, 2012 13:02:15 GMT 1
www.wunderground.com/tropical/at201209.public.html- Tropical storm Isaac was located about 75 mi [120 km] WSW of Key West, Florida. The center was expected to move away from the Florida Keys Sunday night, move over the eastern Gulf of Mexico today and approach the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday. Isaac is expected to become a hurricane in a day or so. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for east of Morgan City, Louisiana to Destin, Florida, including metropolitan New Orleans. In the Western Pacific - www.wunderground.com/tropical/wp201216.public.html- Typhoon 16w (Bolaven) was located approximately 130 nm north- northwest of Kadena AB, Japan. www.wunderground.com/tropical/wp201215.public.html- Typhoon 15w (Tembin) was located approximately 320 nm southwest of Taipei, Taiwan. news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/isaac-hurricane-orleans-224646178.htmlHurricane warnings issued for New Orleans, Gulf Coast as Isaac churns off Florida. The storm that killed as many as six people in Haiti and forced the delay of the start of the Republican National Convention in Tampa is on track to hit the Gulf Coast and possibly New Orleans, forecasters said late Sunday. Tropical Storm Isaac, with sustained winds of 60 mph, lashed the Florida Keys and is expected to intensify, gaining strength as it moves into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and make landfall on Tuesday as possibly a Category 2 hurricane. The projected track and timing is EERILY SIMILAR TO HURRICANE KATRINA, which devastated New Orleans and Gulf Coast in late August 2005. Louisiana's Govenor declared a state of emergency and ordered voluntary evacuations of more than a dozen parishes. Governors in Alabama and Mississippi did, too. "I know the anxiety level is high. The storm is somewhat uncertain. Out of an abundance of caution we will begin to take these precautions as quickly as we can. We are much, much better prepared structurally than before." Hurricane warnings have been issued along the northern Gulf Coast from Morgan City, La., to Destin, Fla., including New Orleans and coastal Mississippi. Tornado warnings were issued for southern Florida late Sunday as a result of the rotating storm. A storm surge between six and 12 feet could threaten the northern Gulf Coast if the storm makes landfall during high tide. The storm surge in Tampa Bay could be as high as four feet, forecasters said. Heavy rain is also expected; in southern Florida and the Keys, up to 10 inches was expected Sunday. A blogger who predicted Katrina would be "an unprecedented cataclysm" in New Orleans, "breaching the Lake Pontchartrain levees" and causing thousands of deaths, says he had "a profound sense of déjà vu" on Saturday when computer models showed a "sudden westward" shift -- and Isaac taking dead aim at New Orleans. "It feels like August 26, 2005 — a defining day of my decade — all over again." (map & slideshow) www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/powerful-typhoon-lashes-southern-japan/story-e6frf7k6-1226458555433Japan - More than 75,000 households have lost power after powerful typhoon Bolaven lashed the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, injuring four people but doing less damage than feared before moving out to sea. Weather officials had warned that Typhoon Bolaven would be the strongest to hit the region in several years but its gusts weren't as powerful as predicted. Disaster authorities reported no major damage by early Monday aside from the blackouts. About 75,000 households were without power on Okinawa and the nearby Amami islands as heavy rain and winds continued on Monday. Many schools and government offices were closed because of the blackouts. Much of the public transport system - including buses, shipping and airlines - had also not yet been restored, officials said. The centre of the slow-moving storm, the 15th of the season, passed over the island late on Sunday and on Monday was moving northwest into the East China Sea. It could affect South Korean coastal areas on Tuesday. As the typhoon approached Okinawa on Sunday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said wind speeds near its centre were about 180km/h, with gusts reaching 252km/h, possibly equalling or surpassing records for the area. But the gusts measured on the island of Amami, north of Okinawa, reached just 140km/h. Bolaven comes on the heels of Typhoon Tembin, which soaked southern Taiwan on Friday, largely sparing populated areas before blowing out to sea again.
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 28, 2012 13:43:55 GMT 1
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19393075Arctic sea ice reaches RECORD LOW. The Arctic has lost more sea ice this year than at any time since satellite records began in 1979, Nasa space agency says. The extent of ice observed on Sunday broke a record set in 2007 and will likely melt further with several weeks of summer still to come. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ www.wunderground.com/tropical/at201209.public.html- Tropical storm Isaac was located about about 190 mi [305 km] SE of the mouth of the Mississippi River. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for east of Morgan City, Louisiana to Destin, Florida, including metropolitan New Orleans. On the forecast track, the center of Isaac will approach the coast of southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi this afternoon or tonight. Maximum sustained winds are near 70 mph...110 km/h...with higher gusts. Strengthening is forecast .and Isaac is expected to continue to strengthen until landfall occurs along the northern Gulf Coast. Isaac is expected to produce total rainfall amounts of 6 to 12 inches with possible isolated maximum amounts of 18 inches in southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the extreme western Florida Panhandle. Isaac is a large tropical cyclone. A dangerous storm surge, heavy rainfall, and strong winds extend well away from the center and are expected to affect a large portion of the northern Gulf Coast. The threat of heavy rainfall and flooding is also expected to spread inland over the lower Mississippi Valley region during the next few days. In the Western Pacific - www.wunderground.com/tropical/wp201215.public.html- Typhoon 15w (Tembin) was located approximately 125 nm south of Taipei, Taiwan. www.wunderground.com/tropical/wp201216.public.html- Typhoon 16w (Bolaven) was located approximately 200 nm southwest of Seoul, South Korea. In the Eastern Pacific - www.wunderground.com/tropical/ep201209.public.html- Tropical storm Ileana was located about 530 mi [855 km] SSE of the southern tip of Baja California. Ileana could become a hurricane late today or on Wednesday. There is no threat to land. www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/weather/isaac-leaves-a-surprisefloods-cancellations/nRLf8/&ct=ga&cad=CAEQAhgAIAAoATAGOAZAoqLxgQVIAVAAWABiBWVuLVVT&cd=-uLvj7qTzwM&usg=AFQjCNHQ2gcLSwdF-RyqP4EL0KAZmcZBwwFlorida - Tropical Storm Isaac leaves a surprise: Floods, cancellations in Palm Beach. The western communities endured rainfall totals of more than a foot as tropical storm Isaac moved through the Palm Beach County. Video Photos www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19394038At least four Chinese fishermen have been killed and a dozen are missing after their boats capsized as Typhoon Bolaven hit South Korea. The two boats were just off Jeju island when they capsized. The South Korean coast guard rescued at least 11 crew members. The typhoon has cut power to tens of thousands of homes and trees have been felled. It is expected to move north, passing Incheon port later in the day. Many flights have also been cancelled. Typhoon Bolaven is also bringing strong waves and rain to China's north and east coasts. It has already lashed the Japanese island of Okinawa, causing power cuts and paralysing transport. High winds, torrential rain and property damage were reported on Jeju island as the typhoon hit. All schools in Seoul and most others across the country have closed for the day. Meanwhile, China has issued a yellow alert - the second-highest level - as forecasters expect Bolaven to make landfall in Dandong in the north-eastern Liaoning province and north-western North Korea today. On Sunday the typhoon hit the Japanese islands of Okinawa and Kagoshima, leaving some 75,000 households without power. At least four people were injured. The latest typhoon is the 15th destructive storm of the season in East Asia. Bolaven comes just after Typhoon Tembin, which has caused widespread damage in Taiwan. On Monday night, Taiwan was bracing for Tembin to hit the same southern region where it unleashed more than 50cm (20 inches) of rain within 24 hours several days ago. But early on Tuesday the typhoon appeared to have passed off the southern coast, without making landfall.
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 31, 2012 21:16:00 GMT 1
In the Atlantic - - Category 1 Hurricane Isaac - Category 1 Hurricane Isaac was located about 70 mi [110 km] WNW of New Orleans, Louisiana. Heavy rain threat from Isaac to spread inland during the next few days, water levels remain high along the northern Gulf Coast. www.wunderground.com/tropical/at201211.public.html- Tropical storm Kirk was located about 1085 mi [1745 km] ENE of the northern Leeward Islands. No threat to land. In the Eastern Pacific - www.wunderground.com/tropical/ep201209.public.html- Hurricane Ileana was located about 335 mi [535 km] SW of the southern tip of Baja California. No threat to land. In the Western Pacific - www.wunderground.com/tropical/wp201215.public.html- Tropical storm Tembin was located approximately 85 nm south of Kunsan AB, South Korea. The final warning has been issued on this system by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The system will be closely monitored for signs of regeneration. www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/south-korea-braces-for-second-typhoon/story-e6frf7k6-1226461683027South Korea braces for second typhoon - Flights have been grounded, schools have closed and scores of sea ferry routes have been shut as South Korea awaits Tembin. www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAbCNP7v6iLCgME3IWWu9cK0pZYQ?docId=4431e21a61a14bf1850ab7c510a6fc2bHurricane Isaac sidestepped New Orleans on Wednesday, sending the worst of its howling wind and heavy rain into a cluster of rural fishing villages that had few defenses against the slow-moving storm that could bring days of unending rain. Isaac arrived exactly seven years after Hurricane Katrina and passed slightly to the west of New Orleans, where the city's fortified levee system easily handled the assault. The city's biggest problems seemed to be downed power lines, scattered tree limbs and minor flooding. Slashing rain and wind gusts up to 100 mph buffeted New Orleans skyscrapers. Just one person was reported killed, compared with 1,800 deaths from Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi. And police reported few problems with looting. But in Plaquemines Parish, a sparsely populated area south of the city that is outside the federal levee system, dozens of people were stranded in flooded coastal areas and had to be rescued. The storm pushed water over an 18-mile levee and put so much pressure on it that authorities planned to intentionally puncture the floodwall to relieve the strain. State officials said they would cut a hole in it as soon as weather allowed and equipment could be brought to the site. "I'm getting text messages from all over asking for help." By midafternoon Wednesday, Isaac had been downgraded to a tropical storm. The Louisiana National Guard wrapped up rescue operations in Plaquemines Parish, saying they felt confident they had gotten everyone out and there were no serious injuries but would stay in the area over the coming days to help. Isaac's maximum sustained winds had dropped to 50 mph by early this morning. Even at its strongest, Isaac was far weaker than Hurricane Katrina, which crippled New Orleans in 2005. Because Isaac's coiled bands of rain and wind were moving at only 5 mph — about the pace of a brisk walk — the threat of storm surges and flooding was expected to last into another day as the immense comma-shaped system crawled across Louisiana. "We didn't think it was going to be like that. The storm stayed over the top of us. For Katrina, we got 8 inches of water. Now we have 13 feet." In Plaquemines Parish, about two dozen people who defied evacuation orders needed to be rescued. The stranded included two police officers whose car became stuck. "I think a lot of people were caught with their pants down. This storm was never predicted right since it entered the Gulf. It was supposed to go to Florida, Panama City, Biloxi, New Orleans. We hope it loses its punch once it comes in all the way." The storm knocked out power to as many as 700,000 people, stripped branches off trees and flattened fields of sugar cane so completely that they looked as if a tank had driven over them. West of New Orleans in St. John the Baptist Parish, flooding from Isaac forced 1,500 people to evacuate. And thousands in the area needed to evacuate. Rising water closed off all main thoroughfares into the parish, and in many areas, water lapped up against houses and left cars stranded. In addition, the National Weather Service said there were reports of at least three possible tornados touching down in coastal counties. No injuries were reported. None of the reports had been confirmed because there was no way for survey teams to assess the area to determine whether damage was done by tornadoes or straight-line winds until the weather cleared. Isaac came ashore late Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane, with 80 mph winds near the mouth of the Mississippi River. It drove a wall of water nearly 11 feet high inland. The storm stalled for several hours before resuming a slow trek inland, and forecasters said that was in keeping with its erratic history. The slow motion over land means Isaac could be a major soaker, dumping up to 20 inches of rain in some areas. But every system is different. "It's not too bad, but the whole coast is going to be a mess." Forecasters expected Isaac to move inland over the next several days, dumping rain on drought-stricken states across the nation's midsection before finally breaking up over the weekend. The storm was expected to weaken to a tropical depression today. (photos) Video www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19410084
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 31, 2012 21:24:13 GMT 1
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 31, 2012 21:31:39 GMT 1
In the Atlantic - www.wunderground.com/tropical/at201209.public.html- Tropical depression Isaac was located about 40 mi [60 km] SSE of El Dorado, Arkansas. Slow-moving Isaac weakened to a depression over northern Louisiana. Flooding rains continue across southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi. Even though Isaac is no longer a tropical storm, dangerous hazards from storm surge, inland flooding and tornadoes are still occurring. The center of Isaac will move over Arkansas today and over southern Missouri tonight. www.wunderground.com/tropical/at201211.public.html- Category 2 Hurricane Kirk was located about 870 mi [1395 km] ESE of Bermuda. Some additional strengthening is forecast today and Kirk could near major hurricane strength. Weakening is forecast to begin by late Saturday. No threat to land. www.wunderground.com/tropical/at201212.public.html- Tropical storm Leslie was located about 1010 mi [1625 km] E of the Leeward Islands. Could become a hurricane by tonight. No threat to land. In the Eastern Pacific - www.wunderground.com/tropical/ep201209.public.html- Category 1 Hurricane Ileana was located about 300 mi. [480 km] WSW of the southern tip of Baja California. No threat to land. www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/tropical-storm-isaac-threatens-dam/story-e6frf7k6-1226462099346Isaac - As the storm slogged its way across Louisiana and windy conditions calmed, the extent of some of the damage became clear. Hundreds of homes were underwater, thousands of people were staying at shelters and half the state was without power. About 500 people had to be rescued by boat or high-water vehicles and at least two were killed. And the damage may not be done. Officials were releasing water from an Isaac-stressed dam at a lake near the Louisiana-Mississippi border, hoping to ease the pressure. They had also started work on a levee breach in hard-hit Plaquemines Parish. In Arkansas, power lines were downed and trees knocked over as Isaac moved into the state. Farther south, where evacuations were ordered ahead of the storm, Isaac's unpredictable, meandering path and the amount of rain - as much as 40 centimetres in some places - caught many off guard. A hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said although Isaac's cone shifted west as it zigzagged toward the Gulf Coast, forecasters accurately predicted its path, intensity and rainfall. Along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans, officials sent scores of buses and dozens of high-water vehicles to help evacuate about 3000 people as rising waters lapped against houses and left cars stranded. A tow truck driver was killed on Thursday morning when a tree fell on his truck in Picayune, Mississippi, just across the state line from Louisiana. In Vermilion Parish, a 36-year-old man died after falling 5.5 metres from a tree. In Plaquemines, a sparsely populated area outside the federal levee system, dozens of people were stranded in flooded coastal areas and had to be rescued. The storm pushed water over a 29-kilometre levee and put so much pressure on it authorities were intentionally puncturing the floodwall to relieve the strain. More than 900,000 homes and businesses around the state - about 47 per cent of all customers - were without power on Thursday. Isaac has became a tropical depression, meaning its top sustained winds have dropped below 62 kph. Forecasters expected it to move farther inland over the next several days, dumping rain on drought-stricken states across the nation's midsection before finally breaking up over the weekend.
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Post by hanabanana on Sept 6, 2012 10:39:33 GMT 1
www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20120905/NEWS0110/120905019/Hurricane-Isaac-spawn-threatens-to-become-Tropical-Storm-Nadine-2012-rattle-Gulf-Coast?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGEHurricane Isaac remnant threatens to become Tropical Storm Nadine - A remnant of Hurricane Isaac, drawn back to the Gulf of Mexico after an odyssey through the Midwest, hovered Wednesday off the Gulf Coast. It isn't out of the question that it could form as a Tropical Storm and strike the the northern Gulf Coast, just as Isaac did. A meteorologist at the National Weather Service called it the "spawn of Isaac." The National Hurricane Center gives the disturbance a 20 percent chance of becoming a tropical depression over the next two days. If it does develop, it probably would get a new name - Tropical Storm Nadine. The National Hurricane Center said keeping the name Isaac is out of the question, even though the storm is a close relative. The area of disturbed weather is currently located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The disturbance is likely to move generally south and hang around in the Gulf until Friday or Saturday, when a cold front should shunt it east or northeast. "That's the fingers-crossed, hope-the-front-comes down scenario. All indications are the front is strong enough to come through and shunt it off, if it develops, toward Florida. But it is September. Until we get a little closer to November there's always this hesitancy. Obviously we are watching it very closely." Isaac came ashore in Louisiana the night of Aug. 28-29, with winds up to 80 mph, heavy rain and storm surges that flooded much of coastal southeast Louisiana and Mississippi. As it moved inland, it brought much-needed rain to the nation's interior. As Isaac lost tropical characteristics over the nation's heartland, it's energy split into two segments. One moved generally east, while the other headed south to emerge over the Gulf. The remnant had winds estimated at 30 mph on Wednesday.
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Post by hanabanana on Sept 6, 2012 10:44:06 GMT 1
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