A tornado strike destroyed homes and left a trail of devastation across large parts of the US south on Sunday. In northern Louisiana, up to 300 homes and other buildings were damaged, and utility companies reported thousands of power outages. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency confirmed at least six deaths in the state from the severe weather
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Tornado strikes Louisiana as powerful storm could affect over a dozen states
Twister destroyed buildings in Monroe, Louisiana, while local media said at least two tornadoes touched down in central Texas
A tornado strike destroyed homes and left a trail of devastation across parts of Louisiana on Sunday, as forecasters warned that a powerful Easter storm could affect more than a dozen states and millions of people before the early hours of Monday.
The storm provided a dilemma for public safety officials trying to find the balance between wanting people to stay in lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic and wanting them to leave their homes for shelter if conditions worsened.
Continue reading...How do storms and hurricanes get their names?
World meteorological agencies decide when a storm gets a name and what to call it
In Europe storms are named as a joint enterprise between the UK’s Met Office, Ireland’s Met Éireann and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). The list is set in advance, runs in alphabetical order and usually alternates between names associated with male and female gender. In 2020, Ellen, Francis, Gerda and Hugh are to follow Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis in turn.
According to the Met Office, the decision for a storm to be named is “based on a combination of both the impact the weather may have, and the likelihood of those impacts occurring. A storm will be named when it has the potential to cause an amber or red weather warning.”
Continue reading...Frozen iguanas fall from trees in Florida as temperatures plummet – video
Iguanas are falling from trees in south Florida as unusually low temperatures sweep through the region. The invasive species can become sluggish when the temperature drops below 50F (10C) and are susceptible to freezing once temperatures drop to around 40F (4.5C). Once frozen, these cold-blooded creatures lose their grip on the trees they call home. Residents have expressed shock at the sight of rigid reptiles lying motionless in the middle of sidewalks and backyards. But while they appear lifeless, they are simply too cold to move
Continue reading...Frozen iguanas forecast to shower south Florida as temperatures drop
National Weather Service warned of reptiles falling from trees as iguanas are susceptible to freezing once temperatures fall to 40F
The National Weather Service (NWS) took the unusual step on Tuesday of warning that frozen iguanas are expected to shower south Florida as temperatures drop to unusually low levels for the region overnight.
Iguanas, as it turns out, are susceptible to freezing once temperatures drop to around 40F (4.44C). When frozen, these cold-blooded creatures lose their grip on the cozy trees they call home and slip. But the experts informed the public to be aware that the chilled reptiles may be stiff and appear lifeless – but they are not dead.
Continue reading...Tumbleweed invasion traps cars and truck on US highway – video
Drivers in Washington state were forced to see in the new year while trapped under a 15ft-high (4.5m) sea of tumbleweeds. Police closed state route 240 near Richland at around 6.30pm on New Year's Eve after the desiccated but mobile plants buried a number of vehicles in their path. It took snow ploughs 10 hours to clear the weeds
Continue reading...Top weather official who defended ‘Sharpiegate’ makes tearful clarification
Neil Jacobs said a statement criticizing the Alabama office that disagreed with Trump was meant to clarify ‘technical aspects’
The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) appeared close to tears on Tuesday, as he both defended the administration and thanked a local weather office that contradicted Donald Trump’s claims about Hurricane Dorian threatening Alabama.
Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator, told a meteorology group a Noaa statement that criticized the Birmingham-area forecast office after it disagreed with the president was meant to clarify “technical aspects” about Dorian’s potential impact.
Continue reading...Hurricane Dorian: 70,000 in ‘immediate need of lifesaving’ help in Bahamas – as it happened
- Republicans Marco Rubio, Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis head to Bahamas
- Category 1 storm makes landfall at Cape Hatteras in North Carolina
- ‘Everything is destroyed’: 30 dead in Bahamas as Dorian
We’re logging off here, but our reporters in the Bahamas and North Carolina will continue our Dorian coverage this weekend. Here’s a wrap up of everything that happened today:
Fears are growing that damage to a major oil storage terminal on the shore of Grand Bahama Island could cause oil to leak into the ocean, potentially damaging reefs and wildlife off the coast.
Absolutely CATASTROPHIC #oilspill in #GrandBahama from #HurricaneDorian at the #Statoil / @Equinor facility. Teams need to be here TODAY to a) prevent a fire from starting (oil across the highway where people are trying to help) b) stop any/all spillage to ocean and c) clean up pic.twitter.com/8u3e2BDYdY
Continue reading...‘Everything is destroyed’: devastation in Bahamas as Dorian rattles US
- Aid groups struggle to deliver basic supplies due to destruction
- Category 2 storm with winds of 110mph threatens US coastline
After hammering the Bahamas and leaving at least 30 dead, Hurricane Dorian began raking the south-east US seaboard, with the eye hitting the North Carolina coast on Thursday evening.
The threat to the US remains real but in the Bahamas the storm has left such terrible devastation that the authorities were still struggling to get aid to stricken areas and the death toll is expected to rise, perhaps steeply.
Continue reading...Hurricane Dorian: ‘We’re at the frontline of climate change but we don’t cause it’, says Barbados PM – live
- Caribbean leaders fly to Bahamas to see Dorian’s destruction
- Mia Mottley, PM of Barbados, urges action to help islands
- ‘Generational devastation’ in Bahamas, says prime minister
Sarah St George, chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, told the Guardian that the “force and size” of Dorian took everyone by surprise, a situation made worse by the hurricane stalling over the archipelago.
“Grand Bahama is not in good shape at all because 70% of it was under water,” St George said. “On the north side of the island the water was coming up to the second floor of their houses. My assistant Tammy was on the roof of her house for 30 hours hanging on to a coconut tree with her 8-year-old daughter Ariana. Her grandmother lost her grip and slipped off the roof and drowned. There was no way of getting to them. They’ve lost everything.”
In the president’s continuing battle against his own incorrect statement that Alabama was under threat from Hurricane Dorian, which has left at least 23 people dead, he has just now been tweeting what he claims is evidence he knew what he was talking about.
It is not.
Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it! pic.twitter.com/elJ7ROfm2p
I was with you all the way Alabama. The Fake News Media was not! https://t.co/gO5pwahaj9
Over the weekend, projections for #HurricaneDorian have continually skewed further north and east, leaving Alabama outside the anticipated path. While we are thankful for that, we remain #AlwaysReady to help our sister states. #OneTeamOneFight #OneGuard pic.twitter.com/7TbFKpd2Zh
Continue reading...Hurricane Dorian lashes Bahamas with ferocious winds and flash flooding – video
Winds of more than 220mph (355km/h) have struck the northern Bahamas in the biggest storm to hit the Caribbean island chain in modern times. The ‘catastrophic’ category 5 hurricane forced the US states of Georgia and South Carolina to issue evacuation orders for their coastal communities on Sunday night as the National Hurricane Center warned of storm surges of 18-23ft (5.5-7 metres) above normal levels.
- Latest updates: as many as 13,000 houses severely damaged or destroyed
- News report: first reported death as category 5 storm hits Bahamas
Hurricane Dorian pounds northern Bahamas with ‘catastrophic’ winds
- Trump says Americans should pray for islanders
- Where will the storm hit and what damage will it bring?
Hurricane Dorian grew into a “catastrophic” category 5 storm on Sunday as winds of more than 180mph pounded the northernmost islands of the Bahamas, the biggest storm to hit the island chain in modern times.
Related: Floridians not fazed as Hurricane Dorian’s path keeps state guessing
Continue reading...Hurricane Dorian: where will the storm hit and what damage will it bring?
Dorian is one of the six strongest hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic, but meteorologists are finding its path difficult to predict
Hurricane Dorian is proving a slippery customer. Not only is it one of the six strongest hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic in the past 70 years, but meteorologists are finding its path very difficult to predict because of its wide “cone of uncertainty”. It is impossible to say just where the storm will hit – and with how much deadly force.
Within that fuzzy picture, Dorian has the potential to affect millions in the Caribbean and along the US coast. So what is the current thinking about its path?
Continue reading...Hurricane Dorian: Trump flies to golf club as likelihood of direct hit recedes
- National Hurricane Center warns of winds and storm surge
- Bahamas set to be hit Sunday, US east coast remains on alert
Millions along the US east coast from Florida to North Carolina remained under threat of a deadly strike from Hurricane Dorian on Saturday, even as official predictions for the path of the 150mph monster storm pulled back from from a direct hit on land.
Related: The historic hurricanes that made landfall on Florida’s east coast
Continue reading...Hurricane Dorian strengthens to category 4 as Florida braces for storm
Landfall anticipated early Tuesday on state’s east coast with maximum sustained winds of 140mph
Residents of Florida braced for what could be a historically damaging storm on Friday as Hurricane Dorian lingered in the western Atlantic, building strength in advance of its anticipated landfall early on Tuesday on the state’s east coast.
The storm strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” category 4 hurricane on Friday evening, amid fears it could prove to be the most powerful hurricane to hit Florida’s east coast in nearly 30 years. Forecasters warned that Dorian could wallop the state with “extremely dangerous” 140mph (225 kph) winds.
Continue reading...The historic hurricanes that made landfall on Florida’s east coast
As Hurricane Dorian is projected to strike, the deadliest storms to hit the state recently approached from the Gulf, south and west
Hurricane Dorian is projected to make landfall on Florida’s east coast early next week as a potential category 4 storm with winds up to 140mph.
While hurricane activity on the Atlantic coast is not uncommon, the deadliest recent storms to strike Florida, including Michael (2018) and Irma (2017), approached from the Gulf side, the south and west.
Continue reading...Police ask criminals to cool it as US east coast heat wave lingers
- Added humidity could make daytime highs feel like 43C
- Cold front could bring thunderstorms to Midwest
The US east coast sweated through another day of heat and humidity on Sunday, in a stretch of weather so oppressive that a New Jersey drawbridge got stuck, Pennsylvania firefighters suffered heat exhaustion and police departments from New York to Boston implored residents and criminals to play it safe.
Related: Heat rises across US as New York tempers flare over subway suspension
Continue reading...Storm Barry makes landfall in Louisiana – video
Thousands of homes have been left without power after Storm Barry battered parts of Louisiana early on Sunday. The storm flooded highways, forced people to scramble on to rooftops, and dumped heavy rain as it made landfall 160 miles west of New Orleans. Authorities have warned of disastrous flooding across the Gulf Coast
Continue reading...Hurricane Barry: storm strengthens as officials warn of heavy rain to come
- New Orleans residents told to seek shelter as 50,000 lose power
- NHC director details ‘amazing amount of moisture’
Tropical Storm Barry strengthened into a category one hurricane on Saturday as it neared the Louisiana coast, threatening millions with heavy rains and storm surge. The storm was expected to weaken after it moved inland but forecasters encouraged residents in New Orleans to be patient and stay vigilant.
More than 12 hours after city officials anticipating crippling and potentially historic flooding told residents to “shelter in place”, a few rays of sun peeked through the clouds on Saturday morning, adding a glint to the mostly dry city streets.
Continue reading...New Orleans: evacuations ordered as city braces for possible hurricane
Forecasters say the biggest danger is not destructive winds but heavy rain as it was upgraded to tropical storm Barry on Thursday
Mandatory evacuations were ordered south-east of New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday as the city and a surrounding stretch of the Gulf coast braced for a possible hurricane over the weekend that could unload heavy rain and send water spilling over levees, in the first big test for flood defenses since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The strength and speed of the wind increased on Thursday and by mid-morning was upgraded to become tropical storm Barry.
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