Record snowfall in HP revives 2,000 glaciers

MANALI: Record snowfall in Himachal this year has revived more than 2,000 glaciers.

Almora's G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development's senior scientist J C Kuniyal said apart from reviving the glaciers , this year's record snowfall would also boost the crop cycle. "It is difficult to understand the environment. As we start talking about the dry winters, record snowfall leaves stunned everyone," he said.

He cautioned that unequal snowfall remains a matter of concern. But Lahaul-Spiti has received more than 175-cm snow in first 16 days of February, breaking the earlier record of 148-cm for the month in 1998.

Wonder why a senior climatologist should admit being stunned by record snowfall this year?  This blog has been regularly warning of such a prospect linked with a strong La Niña from July last year!

Read more: http://devconsultancygroup.blogspot.com/2011/02/record-snowfall-revives-2000-himalayan.html

RT @ggopi2808: Warm welcome into God's own country wit a blinding rain. Literally. My train halted for an hour. (9:03pm)

6pm, Fresh thunder cells over S,S-W Maharastra, Heavy rain over S. Kerala... http://ow.ly/i/8thR

Rain for kerala (mainly S. Kerala) to continue till 27-Feb ... http://ow.ly/i/8t2C

Showers for Tamilnadu and Kerala to continue for another 24 hrs... http://ow.ly/i/8t2s

upper air cyclonic circulation in lower levels over Lakshadweep area and neighbourhood persists.

Rain on 22-Feb ::  Coonoor­ 13, Chennai ­8, Kottayam­ 6, Bapatla, Thiruvananthapuram,
Machilipatinam, Kodaikanal ­3 CM

2:30pm, Thunder cells popping over S.S-E Tamilnadu, S-W Karnataka ... http://ow.ly/i/8t12

2:30pm, Active W.D is really active over Kashmir and Himachal and slowly moving into Uttarakand ... http://ow.ly/i/8t12

Rains from Tropical Cyclone Carlos.. over N-W Australia

Tropical Cyclone Carlos brought heavy rains to the coasts of Northern Territory and Western Australia in February 2011. In the Northern Territory city of Darwin, Carlos helped break rainfall records in what was already an unusually rainy month. The storm’s high winds and heavy rains also forced the suspension of petroleum mining projects in Western Australia, according to news reports.
This color-coded image shows rainfall amounts along the northwestern coast of Australia from February 15 to 22, 2011. The heaviest rainfall amounts—400 millimeters or nearly 16 inches—appear in dark blue. The lightest amounts—50 millimeters or less than 2 inches—appear in light green. The storm track for Carlos is superimposed on the rainfall amounts. Carlos maintained a fairly uniform storm intensity from February 17 to 22.
The U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that, as of 11:00 p.m. Western Australia time on February 22, Carlos was located roughly 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) east-northeast of Learmonth, Western Australia. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 55 knots (100 kilometers per hour) and gusts up to 70 knots (130 kilometers per hour). Carlos was forecast to maintain its current strength over the next 12 hours then move west of Learmonth and intensify slightly. The storm was not expected to transition to an extra-tropical storm for about 96 hours.
This image is based on data from the Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis produced at Goddard Space Flight Center, which estimates rainfall by combining measurements from many satellites and calibrating them using rainfall measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.