Strong Earthquake Strikes Australia

M5.9 Quake Strikes Northern Territory, Australia

Centered at 25.534°S, 129.805°E [460.0 km WSW of Alice Springs] the event occurred at a depth of 10.0 km (6.2 mi), reported USGS/EHP.

Significant Earthquakes Australia Region

Some 34 events measuring magnitude 5.0Mw or greater have been registered since 1990 [80 events since 1916] including

M 7.1 – south of Australia
Location: 42.813°S, 124.688°E
Depth: 10.0 km
Time: 2001-12-12 14:02:35 UTC

M 6.3 – Western Australia
Location: 16.013°S, 124.329°E
Depth: 10.0 km
Time: 1997-08-10 09:20:30 UTC

M 5.2 – near the southeast coast of Australia
Location: 38.304°S 146.200°E
Depth: 10.0 km
Time: 2012-06-19 10:53:29 UTC

M 5.0 – Queensland, Australia
Location: 20.085°S, 147.764°E
Depth: 7.0 km
Time: 2011-04-16 05:31:18 UTC

States of Emergency Declared in Tennessee, Virginia, Australia

Freezing weather causes a major disaster in Tennessee

The impact of freezing  weather has caused a major disaster in Tennessee, according to a Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA).

Gov. Haslam has therefore elevated the Tennessee State of Emergency into a Level II,  recognizing a major disaster in The Volunteer State.

The Level II – State of Emergency activation is effective as of 3 p.m., CST, on 2/21/15, after being at a Level III – State of Emergency since 9 p.m., CST, on Feb. 16, 2015.

Definition of Level II – State of Emergency
A major disaster as defined by TCA 58-2-101 as an event that will likely exceed local capabilities and require a broad range of state and federal assistance. The TEMP and the SEOC are activated in accordance with TCA 58-2-107(b)(2), and a decision by the Governor or his representative (Director of TEMA) declares a state of emergency. The full staff or most of the staff of the SEOC is activated, typically in a 24-hour continuous operation. This disaster may meet eligibility requirements for a federal disaster declaration under the provisions of the Stafford Act.

Tennessee has 21 confirmed weather-related fatalities since Feb. 16, 2015, said TEMA.

Virgina

• Wise County, Virginia declares local state of emergency due to weather

Wintery weather from Rockies to Northeast this weekend: NWS

Meantime, the National weather Service (NWS) posted the following forecast on its website, as another arctic boundary slid south from northern Canada reinforcing the frigid temperatures for the north central U.S. through at least Tuesday.

A winter storm will continue to bring snow, sleet, rain and freezing rain to parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast through early Sunday morning. Meanwhile, another winter storm will bring heavy snow to the Rockies and Plains through Sunday.
reinforce the frigid temperatures for the n[Valid 12:00UTC Sun Feb 22 2015 – 12:00UTC Tue Feb 24 2015 ]

• Active weather pattern across the southern U.S.
• Cold front brings more frigid temperatures to northern U.S.
• Significant snow expected for the Rocky Mountains

Tropical Cyclone LAM

The Northern Territory government has declared a state of emergency for parts of the region hardest hit by Tropical Cyclone LAM.

Areas under the declaration include Millingimbi, Ramingining, Galiwinku (Elcho Island), Gapuwiyak (Arnhem Land) and Mapuru Outstation.

More than 5,000 residents in the remote region bore the brunt of the category four cyclone as it tore through the Top End on Thursday night and early Friday morning, with winds gusting to 240 km/h and heavy rainfall.

Tropical Cyclone MARCIA

At least 1,500 homes were damaged and most homes and businesses in the northern Queensland towns of Rockhampton and Yeppoon were left without electricity, after Cyclone MARCIA, a maximum category five storm, raked the area, said reports.

‘Very Destructive’ Storm Hits Queensland, Australia

Category 5 TC MARCIA brings heavy rain, “abnormally high tides”

Cyclone MARCIA, described as a  “very destructive” storm has hit the coast of Queensland, Australia forcing evacuations of more than 1,000 homes, officials said.

MARCIA was upgraded to a Cat. 5 Tropical Cyclone with winds gusting up to 285km/h, before it struck Elcho Island and continued moving southwest, bringing heavy rain and generating “abnormally high tides,” said Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).

“Severe tropical cyclone Marcia, Category Five, is currently crossing the coast near Shoalwater Bay north of Yeppoon,” warning that its “destructive winds” threatened communities between St Lawrence and Gladstone, and Capricornia and Burnett later today.

Tens of thousands of residents in the cyclone path have been warned to take shelter where they can!

Storm surges forced authorities to evacuate neraly 900 residences in Yeppoon, while more than 100 people were evacuated from Lady Elliot Island. Hundreds of schools and child care centers along the northern Queensland have so far been ordered shut.

“Over the next 24 hours, Queenslanders are about to go through a harrowing and terrifying experience,” said Queensland Premier Palaszczuk.

“This is going to be a calamity, no doubt about that,” Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said, warning that it was a “desperate situation”.

“Our primary focus from this point on is the safety of all human life in that area.” he said. “You must find shelter.”

Details of Severe Tropical Cyclone Marcia at 1:00 pm AEST:

Intensity: Category 3, sustained winds near the centre of 150 kilometres per hour with wind gusts to 205 kilometres per hour.

Location: within 9 kilometres of 23.2 degrees South 150.5 degrees East, estimated to be 25 kilometres west southwest of Yeppoon and 105 kilometres northwest of Gladstone.

Movement: south at 19 kilometres per hour.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Marcia, category 3, continues to move south over the northern Capricornia district and is expected to impact Rockhampton during the next couple of hours. It is expected to continue a southerly movement through today while slowly weakening. [Issued by BOM]

Meantime, Category 4 Tropical Cyclone LAM struck Australia’s Northern Territory, causing power outages to thousands of customers.

Related Links

• Two Tropical Cyclones Targeting Australia Posted on February 18, 2015

Two Tropical Cyclones Targeting Australia

Cyclones LAM and MARCIA zeroing in on Oz

TROPICAL CYCLONE WARNING

Issued by ABOM at 11:00 pm ACST (UTC + 9:30) on Wednesday 18 February 2015

Severe Tropical Cyclone LAM is currently moving slowly west near the Wessel Islands, but it’s expected to turn towards the NE Top End coast on Thursday.

Warning Zone: Goulburn Island to Cape Shield, including Nhulunbuy and adjacent inland areas

Watch Zone: Croker Island to Goulburn Island and Cape Shield to Port Roper, including Groote Eylandt and inland areas towards Bulman.

Details of Severe Tropical Cyclone LAM at 10:30 pm ACST:

Intensity: Category 3, sustained winds near the center of 120 km/hr with wind gusts to 165 km/hr.

Location: within 20km of 10.8ºS,  136.4ºE, about 165km NNW of Nhulunbuy and 165km NNE of Elcho Island.

Movement: NW at 6 km/hr. The cyclone is forecast to start moving southwest towards the coast during Thursday and intensify.

Hazards: VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds with gusts greater than 170 km/hr  should continue over the Wessel islands tonight and are expected to extend onto the mainland coast between Milingimbi and Gapuwiyak late Thursday. VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds may extend further east towards Nhulunbuy overnight Thursday and into early Friday if the cyclone takes a more southward track.

DESTRUCTIVE winds with gusts to 130 km/hrr should develop about the mainland coast between Maningrida and Nhulunbuy during Thursday before possibly extending over adjacent inland areas on Friday.

GALES with gusts to 110 km/hr may develop in coastal areas between Elcho Island and Nhulunbuy overnight or during early Thursday before possibly extending to Goulburn Island and Cape Shield and over adjacent inland areas during Thursday. GALES may extend further west to Croker Island or south to Port Roper and over inland areas towards Bulman and Gunbalanya on Friday depending on the track the cyclone takes.

Synoptic Situation:HERE

Tropical Cyclone MARCIA at 10:59 pm AEST (UTC+ 10:00):

Intensity: Category 1, sustained winds near the center of 65 km/hr with wind gusts to 95 km/hr.

Tropical Cyclone MARCIA still on track and may intensify to category 2 before landfall.

Location: within 55 km of 18.1ºS, 154.6ºE, about 690km  NEof Yeppoon and 790km NNE of Bundaberg.

Movement: SSW at 22 km/hr.

Tropical Cyclone MARCIA has developed over the central Coral Sea, and is slowly strengthening. During today, the system curved onto a southwesterly track, and it is expected to maintain this general motion through to landfall on the eastern Queensland coast between St Lawrence and Hervey Bay early on Friday. Marcia is expected to slowly intensify, with a high chance of reaching category 2 intensity by landfall.

A separate Severe Weather Warning is current for areas south of St Lawrence and west to the Great Dividing Range.

Hazards:

GALES are expected to develop about coastal and island communities between Sarina and Double Island Point on Thursday during the late afternoon or evening. Destructive wind gusts to 150 km/hr may develop about the coast and islands near the center on Friday morning.

Heavy rainfall will develop about coastal and island communities between Sarina and Double Island Point during Thursday, particularly over areas to the south of the system. A Flood Watch is current for the area.

Abnormally high tides will be experienced on Thursday with water levels expected to rise above the highest tide of the year on the high tide.

Synoptic Situation: HERE

Source: Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology (ABOM)

Record Heat Scorching Australia

EXTREME CLIMATIC EVENTS
.

Extreme conditions continue as searing heat wave moves across Australia

Temperature records shattered again in central, western and north-west Queensland, with 40+ degrees (Celsius) recorded in multiple locations on Thursday.

“It is unusually hot. It’s at least 15 degrees above the average up there at the moment and those are pretty unusual temperatures,” said a weatherman at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

“Century Mine in the far north-west of the state got up to 44.6 today, Camooweal 45.5, a new January record, the Monument Airport 45.9, another January record,” said a senior weatherman at BOM.

“Bedourie police station [recorded] 47.3 [degrees Celsius], which is an annual extreme for them, and Birdsville got up to 48.6 [degrees Celsius.]”

“Our temperatures have been near record, the highest temperature we had was at Moomba at 49.3 degrees but a lot of centres up there are pushing up around that 50 mark,” said another official at BOM.

“It is unusually hot. It’s at least 15 degrees above the average up there at the moment and those are pretty unusual temperatures.”

In the Northern Territory, top temperatures at Alice Springs have remained above 43ºC since the New Year, several record broken already.

Meantime, highest-ever temperature of 45.4ºC was recorded at Tennant Creek airport on Thursday, breaking the previous record  set on January 25, 2013 by 1.2ºC,  said a report.

Australia’s Drought Spells Absolute Disaster

The heat wave has brought more misery for drought-hit cattle farmers who have been slaughtering livestock as Australia sweltered through the hottest year on record in 2013, said a report.

“Water supplies are fast diminishing and whatever feed supplies that were left are cooking off to the point where there won’t be any left,” said Charles Burke, chief executive of Agforce, a Queensland cattle industry group.

“This drought is shaping to be an absolute disaster.”

Australia is the third largest beef exporter in the world after India and Brazil, followed by the US, NZ, EU-27, Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico and Belarus (Source: USDA).

Hottest Year Since Records Began in 1910

Australia experienced its hottest year in 2013  since records began more than a 100 years ago, said BOM on Friday. The continent recorded average temperatures of 1.2ºC above the long-term average of 21.8 degree Celsius, shattering the previous record set in 2005.

The authorities have issued multiple health warnings on Friday for several major cities as fire crews continued to control bushfires across the continent.

Australian PM May Live to Regret…

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott abolished the country’s Climate Change Commission in September, denying that climate change was responsible for bushfires across New South Wales state in October.

Ex-tropical cyclone Christine

South Australia’s far north also experienced near-record temperatures on Thursday, as ex-tropical cyclone Christine moved across the state.

Cyclone Paul – TRMM Images

Cyclone PAUL Rainfall Measured from Space

A 3-D perspective of Paul at 9:08 UTC on March 28 was created from TRMM’s Precipitation Radar. The most prominent feature is a deep convective tower (shown in red), which penetrates up to 9 miles (15 km) high. This corresponds with an area of intense rain in the northwestern eyewall. Source: SSAI/NASA. Click Images to enlarge.

The image above shows the horizontal distribution of rain intensity inside the storm. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), while those in the outer portion are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). Although Paul does not have a visible eye in the IR data, the center of the storm’s circulation is clearly evident in the rain pattern over the coast (white circular area without rain).  The center is bordered by a band of moderate intensity rain to the northwest (green arc along the coast) and surrounded by outer rainbands that spiral inwards to the south and east (blue and green arcs indicating light to moderate rain, respectively). Embedded within the rainbands are occasional areas of heavy rain (red areas). Source: NASA/GSFC/TRMM

Where’s Paul Now?

Cyclone Paul ‘Kangaroo Track’ issued by BOM at 11:03 am CST Wednesday 31 March 2010. Somewhat less technical than the top image, but it gives you the general idea.

BOM Report

Synoptic Situation: On March 31, 2010 at 9:30 am CST Ex-Tropical Cyclone ‘Paul’ 998 hPa was near latitude 13.8S, longitude 134.9E, about 115 kilometres north northwest of Port Roper, moving south at 6 kilometres per hour.

Heavy rain currently falling over the Arnhem and Roper-McArthur District is expected to cause significant stream rises and flooding of low lying areas today. A Flood Threat Advice is current for the eastern Top End and Roper-McArthur District.

Locally damaging wind gusts up to 90 km/h are expected in the Roper-McArthur and Arnhem Districts with squally showers and thunderstorms. Large waves and abnormally high tides are expected along the Top End coast and nearby islands between Maningrida and Port McArthur.

Related Links:

• TC Paul: Wet Storm in a Teacup?

Australian BOM images:

• Latest image with no map overlay
• Latest image with map overlay
• Last 24 hrs with map overlay

• Colour Infrared Loop
• Infrared Loop
• Full Disk

Animations from Digital Typhoon

• Last 24 Hours : MPEG / WMV
• Last 120 Hours : MPEG / WMV
• Last 240 Hours : MPEG / WMV

TC Paul: Wet Storm in a Teacup?

Did we say everlasting storms?

Klingons would feel at home with Cyclone Paul—it’s like a bad dream that won’t go away!

Tropical Cyclone Paul (TC22P), more of a weakish storm than a muscle cyclone, has produced nearly 50 hours of rain on Australia’s NT coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, without moving much.

TC Paul has so far produced up to 1,000 mm of rain on the eastern coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.

Summary of Details:

Tropical Cyclone Paul was located about 110km WNW of  Alyangula and 170 km SW of Nhulunbuy, moving west at about 5 km/hr. The cyclone is currently over land west of Cape Shield, according to BOM, other sources and Fire-Earth extrapolations, as of posting.

Although the system is expected to weaken as it moves further inland, it would probably re-intensify as  it moves back into the Gulf of Carpentaria by early Thursday local time.

Location: Near 13.3ºS, 135.6ºE

Cyclone Paul. IR Satellite image. Source: CIMSS. Click Images to enlarge.

Cyclone Paul. IR?WV difference image. Source: CIMSS. Click Images to enlarge.

TC Paul Projected Path. Source: JTWC

TC Paul ‘Kangaroo Map.” Issued at 7:54 am CST Tuesday 30 March 2010.

Color-coded image of estimated rainfall total for March 22–28, 2010. Source: NASA

Tropical Cyclone Paul  MODIS image taken on March 29, 2010.Source: NASA

Australian BOM images:

• Latest image with no map overlay
• Latest image with map overlay
• Last 24 hrs with map overlay

• Colour Infrared Loop
• Infrared Loop
• Full Disk

Animations from Digital Typhoon

• Last 24 Hours : MPEG / WMV
• Last 120 Hours : MPEG / WMV
• Last 240 Hours : MPEG / WMV

Torrential Rains Flood Northern Australia

Australia Floods caused by the wet phase of the monsoon, possibly intensified by an ongoing La Niña episode

Rainfall Totals

Earth Observatory: Image acquired December 24, 2008 – January 7, 2009

Rainfall Anomaly

Earth Observatory: Image acquired December 24, 2008 – January 7, 2009

Since late December 2008, torrential rains have caused severe flooding to parts of Queensland and Northern Territory in northern Australia. The start of the wet phase of the monsoon, possibly intensified by an ongoing La Niña episode, is thought to be the primary cause for the deluge. More from the Earth Observatory …