Hurricane Irma is a 'potentially catastrophic' Category 5 storm

Category 5 Hurricane Irma has become one of the strongest storms recorded in the Atlantic, and is threatening to slam into Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with "potentially catastrophic" force on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

KOLKATA | Torrential Rains of 9th March 2017 | SPRING | HD

Massive Rains Lashed over Kolkata and Surroundings on 9th March Due to Trough Formation , some places Recorded over 70 mm in just 1 Hour .. Leading to Waterlogging ..

For more check
https://www.facebook.com/WeatherOfKolkata/

Cyclone VARDHA Making Landfall

Cyclone VARDHA it is the 3rd Named cyclone of the North Indian Cyclone Season 2016

Core winds at 110 km/h gusting to 125 km/h , 
Pressure at 975 hPa , , and making a landfall as Severe Cyclonic Storm .

https://www.facebook.com/WeatherOfKolkata/

Showers Of Relief 13th June 2016 , Kolkata

Showers Of Relief 13th June 2016 , Kolkata

It Died at Mid-night only to be Re-born in the Morning , the Supercell Regenerated itself to crack over The skyline of Kolkata on the early hours of 13th june 2016 , giving some relief from the sweltering weather . 
Indeed a Welcome Pre-monsoon shower
And God was great enough for Giving us the Perfect Gift as we Turned 3 Today !!!!

https://www.facebook.com/WeatherOfKolkata/?ref=bookmarks

ELECTRIFIED - 30TH MARCH 2016 , Kolkata Lightning Storm

An Evening which Shrouded the City of Joy with Lightning extravaganza !!!!
Video shot by : Co-admin Sanjeet Singh Dhanjal and Weather Of Kolkata

For more go to below link
https://www.facebook.com/WeatherOfKolkata/?fref=photo

#blizzardof2015 New York/Boston Blizzard 2015 from Space

Astronaut Terry Virts captured this video of the East Coast blizzard last night from the International Space Station.
#blizzardof2015
#Juno
#Blizzard
#Boston
#newyork

Video Credits : International Space Station

Typhoon Nuri intensifies into "Super Typhoon"

Cyclone "NILOFAR" Closing on Landfall , Weakening Rapidly ..

Cyclone "NILOFAR" intensifying Rapidly , a "CAT-4"cyclone

10 moments of fury from cyclone "HUDHUD"

One of the most Epic Video i have made in recent times !!!!
"THE POWER OF HUDHUD PORTRAYED "

Cyclone Hudhud making Landfall over Visakahpatnam

The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm 'HUDHUD' over westcentral Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards with a
speed of about 15 kmph during the last 6 hours and  lay centred at 0530 hours IST of 12th October 2014 near
Lat.17.2°N and Long 84.2°E, about 100 km southeast of Vishakhapatnam and 240 km south­southwest of Gopalpur.   The   system   would   move   northwestwards   and   cross   north   Andhra   Pradesh   coast   close   to
Visakhapatnam around noon of today 12th October 2014

Cyclone HUDHUD , intensifying rapidly , closing on landfall

JTWC latest Bulletin : -warning - 16th 

TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) 03B (HUDHUD), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 102 NM
SOUTHEAST OF VISAKHAPATNAM, INDIA, HAS TRACKED NORTHWESTWARD AT
04 KNOTS OVER THE PAST SIX HOURS. ANIMATED INFRARED SATELLITE 
IMAGERY SHOWS THE EYE FEATURE HAS BECOME CLOUD FILLED WHILE THE 
OVERALL STRUCTURE OF THE SYSTEM HAS REMAINED UNCHANGED WITH A 
SYMMETRIC CONVECTIVE SIGNATURE AND DEFINED BANDING. RADAR IMAGERY 
FROM VISAKHAPATNAM SHOWS THE SYSTEM HAS REMAINED TIGHTLY WRAPPED AND 
REVEALS A DEFINED EYE FEATURE. THE INITIAL POSITION IS BASED UPON 
THE RADAR ANIMATION ALONG WITH THE EIR LOOP WITH GOOD CONFIDENCE. 
THE INITIAL INTENSITY REMAINS ASSESSED AT 110 KNOTS BASED ON DVORAK 
INTENSITY ESTIMATES THAT RANGE FROM 102 TO 115 KNOTS AND THE 
UNCHANGED STRUCTURE. TC 03B IS TRACKING ALONG THE SOUTHWESTERN 
PERIPHERY OF THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE (STR) AND IS FORECAST TO MAKE 
LANDFALL SHORTLY AFTER TAU 12 AND THEN BEGIN RE-CURVING POLEWARD 
ALONG THE WESTERN PERIPHERY OF THE STR, WHICH IS FORECAST TO RE-
ORIENT AS A DEEP MID-LATITUDE TROUGH DEEPENS OVER NORTHERN INDIA.TC 
03B IS FORECAST TO CONTINUE INTENSIFYING PRIOR TO LANDFALL UNDER 
GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND SHOULD PEAK NEAR 115 KNOTS. 
THEREAFTER, THE SYSTEM WILL WEAKEN RAPIDLY OVER LAND AND DISSIPATE 
NEAR TAU 36. THE DYNAMIC MODEL GUIDANCE IS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH 
THE FORECAST SCENARIO, THEREFORE, THERE IS HIGH CONFIDENCE IN THE 
JTWC FORECAST TRACK. MAXIMUM SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT AT 111800Z IS 

Cyclone HudHud intensifying Rapidly , reaches wind speed of 200 km/h , 941 hpa pressure

Cyclone "HudHud" now a "Severe Cyclonic Storm

as per JTWC latest warning no.8 

TROPICAL CYCLONE 03B (HUDHUD), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 516 NM SOUTH
OF KOLKATA, INDIA, HAS TRACKED WEST-NORTHWESTWARD AT 06 KNOTS OVER
THE PAST SIX HOURS. ANIMATED MULTISPECTRAL SATELLITE IMAGERY (MSI)
SHOWS THE SYSTEM HAS MAINTAINED A DEEP CONVECTIVE SIGNATURE AND
TIGHTLY CURVED BANDING INTO A CONSOLIDATING LOW-LEVEL CIRCULATION
CENTER. THE INITIAL POSITION IS BASED ON A MICROWAVE EYE FEATURE ON A
091005Z SSMIS PASS WITH GOOD CONFIDENCE. THE INITIAL INTENSITY
IS BASED ON AN OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY DVORAK ESTIMATES.
UPPER-LEVEL ANALYSIS INDICATES THE SYSTEM IS LOCATED IN A GENERALLY
FAVORABLE ENVIRONMENT, WITH MODERATE (20 KNOT) VERTICAL WIND SHEAR
AND DIVERGENCE ALOFT PROVIDING GOOD EQUATORWARD OUTFLOW. TC 03B IS
CURRENTLY TRACKING ALONG THE SOUTHERN PERIPHERY OF THE SUBTROPICAL
RIDGE (STR) ANCHORED TO THE NORTH. THE CYCLONE IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN
ON A GENERAL WEST-NORTHWESTWARD TRAJECTORY UNDER THE STEERING
INFLUENCE OF THE STR THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST PERIOD. FAVORABLE
UPPER-LEVEL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN IN PLACE, ALLOWING THE
CYCLONE TO STEADILY INTENSIFY PRIOR TO LANDFALL JUST NORTH OF
VISAKHAPATNAM, INDIA, PRIOR TO TAU 72. IT WILL THEN RAPIDLY WEAKEN AS
IT TRACKS INLAND AND DISSIPATE BY TAU 96. AVAILABLE MODEL GUIDANCE IS
OVERALL IN TIGHT AGREEMENT, LENDING HIGH CONFIDENCE IN THE JTWC
FORECAST. MAXIMUM SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT AT 091200Z IS 18 FEET.

Hurricane Daniel

In early July 2012, two simultaneous hurricanes blew over the eastern Pacific Ocean: Hurricane Emilia and Hurricane Daniel. The first of the two storms to form, Daniel started as a tropical depression on July 4. The storm had strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane by 12:20 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on July 8, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image. By that time, Daniel sported a distinct eye characteristic of hurricanes, and its spiral arms spanned hundreds of kilometers over the open ocean.

At 2:00 p.m. PDT on July 8, not long after MODIS acquired this image, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Daniel was located roughly 1,120 miles (1,800 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 105 miles (165 kilometers) per hour.

By the following day, Daniel had weakened, though it remained a hurricane. At 8:00 a.m. PDT on July 9, Daniel had moved farther away from Baja California, and the storm’s wind speeds had dropped to 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour. No hazards affected land as of July 9, the NHC reported, and Daniel was expected to weaken further as it continued moving westward.

Though the storm posed no threat to Mexico, it had the potential to bring unsettled weather to Hawaii. Daniel’s remnants were expected to pass south of the island chain around July 13, 2012, AccuWeather reported. Remnants of the storm might cause gusty winds, heavy rains, and even localized flash flooding.

Taken from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Tropical Storm Emilia

As Daniel weakened over the eastern Pacific in early July 2012, Emilia strengthened. Emilia formed as a tropical depression on July 7, and within two days intensified to a Category 1 hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported. As of 2:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on July 9, Emilia was located roughly 760 miles (1,225 kilometers) south of the southern tip of Baja California, with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour.

Emilia was still a tropical storm when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terrasatellite captured this natural-color image at 10:45 a.m. PDT on July 8. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 65 miles (100 kilometers) per hour, and was headed west-northwest, the NHC reported.

The NHC forecast that Emilia could become a major hurricane by July 10 as it continued moving westward over the Pacific Ocean. As of July 9, however, it posed no hazards to land.

taken from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Dengue death toll goes up to 32 in Nellai; one dies in Tuticorin (S.Tamilnadu) .. http://ow.ly/b9jO7 disaster

Accuweather:Newest Snowstorm Blanketing Europe

Courtesy: Accuweather

The latest in a series of major winter storms will dump heavy snow in areas from the Balkan Peninsula and Italy to North Africa early in the week.

Some of these same areas have already received deep, even immobilizing, accumulations of snow following last week's series of storms, which disrupted transportation infrastructure over a wide area. 

Snow has contributed to the weather-related death toll, since late January, of at least 300 people, most of them dying of cold exposure.

About 70,000 people in Serbia were still cut off in snow-bound villages, according to many recent reports. Some mountain areas in Algeria also remained isolated. 

Further disruptions to transportation by road, rail and air will take place. 

Through Tuesday, heaviest new falls of snow will hit eastern and southern Italy to the mountains and inland valleys of Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro. 

By Wednesday, a fresh foot of snow will cover some of these regions.

Hills above the coast in eastern Algeria and nearby Tunisia will also get new falls of snow.

Although the Mediterranean storm will weaken markedly Wednesday and Thursday, a new storm could form over the northwestern Mediterranean Sea late in the week, leading to even more falls of disruptive snow.

200 cold deaths in Europe; Temperatures to drop in India next week

A Jet stream anomaly caused a deadly cold snap in Europe, described the worst in several decades has taken nearly 200 lives leaving thousands trapped.  Many of the dead from one of the harshest European winter in decades are homeless. Meanwhile, the same Jet stream anomaly caused temperatures further north near the Arctic Circle and the US to be much warmer than normal. Countries from Italy to Ukraine on one hand and on the other hand, upto to Greece and Turkey on the East struggled to cope with temperatures that reached record lows in some places.

UKRAINE: Tens of thousands of people have headed to shelters trying to escape the freeze that the emergencies ministry said has now killed nearly 100 people. Most of them literally froze to death on the street, with only a handful making it to hospital before succumbing to hypothermia, the ministry said. Shivering and hungry, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have sought help in the more than 2,000 temporary shelters set up by the authorities to help the poor survive the fearsome spell of cold weather. 

ROMANIA:  Many people died overnight because of the cold, bringing the overall toll to 22, the health ministry said. Schools remained closed in some parts of the country as temperatures reached minus 31 degrees Celsius.

BULGARIA:  Mercury dipped to lows not seen in a century.

LATVIA: 10 people have died around the capital Riga alone, with no figures available for the rest of the country.

LITHUANIA: A 55-year-old homeless man found in the ruins of an abandoned house in the port city of Klaipeda became the ninth victim of the chill.

ITALY: hundreds of people were trapped overnight on trains as freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls in the centre and north caused widespread disruptions on roads, railways and at airports. 

SICILY: The cold has so far killed an infant in and a 76-year-old pensioner in Parma during what forecasters say is the coldest weather in Italy in 27 years. 

AUSTRIA: An 83-year-old woman was found frozen to death in the woods after apparently slipping on her daily walk and not managing to get up again, becoming the country's second victim of the cold snap, officials said. In Serbia, the cold has killed six people and trapped some 11,500 others, mostly in remote mountain villages inaccessible by road. 

SERBIA:  Homeless people unable to secure one of the 140 spots in the capital's sole shelter took refuge in trolley buses and trams. 

FRANCE: Several regions have been placed under "deep cold" watch; authorities banned trucks on several major highways where the risk of snowfall and ice remained high.

UK: The Met Office has issued its most serious cold weather alert of the winter so far after overnight temperatures dropped to -9C in parts of the UK, with chilly conditions set to continue into the weekend and some snow forecast.

GREECE: Forget the usual images of Greece basking in hot sunshine reflecting on blue seas, and imagine snow-covered mountains and sub-zero temperatures. Greece is in the grip of arctic weather which has seen temperatures plummet well below zero. The ice on the ground and the snow covered orange trees glimmer in sunlight which belies the freezing condition

TURKEY:  Extreme winter conditions have brought life to a standstill across Turkey. The biggest freeze since 30 years has grounded 180 flights on Tuesday, and on Monday 200 flights were cancelled. The daily life of the European side of Istanbul was mainly paralyzed today and snowfalls are predicted to last until the weekend, with icy temperatures as low as Minus 27° Celsius in Southern Turkey. Meteorology officials have warned that snowfall and blizzards are likely to continue uninterrupted until February 7.

So why this cold burst in February?

In general, the La Niña causes radical Jetstream changes and you can click the arrow in the video to watch Accuweather’s explanation. Moreover, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) which was strongly positive till mid January overwhelmed the La Niña’s cooling effect by keeping the winds spinning fast in the Arctic, not allowing the cold southwards. But for last two weeks, the AO has flipped to its strongly negative mode as shown below which unleashed the arctic blast into Europe.  

The cold jet stream dipped in Europe and Asia, but is still bottled up over North America. That's because another weather phenomena, called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is playing oddball by staying positive and keeping the cold away from the rest of North America. About 90 percent of the time, the North Atlantic and Arctic oscillations are in synch. But not this time, so much of the United States is escaping the winter's worst. But this can change soon. The NAO index looks as if it is going to soon flip strongly negative too.

India: Another Western Disturbance underway, temperature to drop early next week

India’s North-West, is right now receiving an active western disturbance (WD) with rough weather implications for not just the higher reaches but also the plains. On Thursday, an India’s Met Office update confirmed the WD located the weather-making westerly system lying over north Pakistan and adjoining Afghanistan. The system would start affecting the western Himalayan region and adjoining plains from Friday onwards.  As it happened mid January, there is as simultaneous wave from exactly the opposite direction (easterly wave) moving across the seawaters of the Bay of Bengal aiming to hit south peninsular India from around the same time today. 

The IMD has forecast heavy rain or snow at one or two places over Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh on Friday and Saturday. Importantly, the forecast also mentions about the possibility of hailstorms lashing one or two places over Punjab, Haryana, north Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. A two-day forecast said that rain or snow would break out at a few places over Jammu and Kashmir and at one or two places over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Friday and increase thereafter. From early next week, temperatures in India should experience a significant dip

Taken from http://devconsultancygroup.blogspot.in

Snow in Sahara desert !!

Wondering why Mysore registered the coldest minimum temperature in 120 years recently? Steven Goddard who administers the bog Real Science give us a clue: "Global temperatures are plummeting, and the temperature recorded by AMSU satellite of 251.858K on January 19 was the coldest of any day since at least 2002.”

It’s all happening. The Arctic Oscillation (AO) has finally flipped to its strongly negative mode and if it stays that way, a deep freeze is on its way that would plunge global temperatures to lows, last seen during the 1945-77 global cooling cycle the very least. A foretaste of winter to come during February is already indicated by some of these very recent events:

Snow in Sahara Desert

Snow fell Tuesday in the province of Bechar in the Sahara Desert in western Algeria. A 24-hour cold spell brought snow and rain to the region. Strong wind blew the snow across roads and buildings in the province of Bechar. The weatherman at the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) recorded sub-zero temperatures at Jebel Jais area of Ras Al Khaimah and forecast that these conditions are set to continue for the rest of the week. People who live in the region said the snow was good for the palm trees because it killed parasites. Bechar is located in the northern Sahara, about 36 miles south of the Moroccan border. Click arrow to watch video.

Extreme Cold Wave in the Gulf countries

According to the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) forecast for today, minimum temperatures are set to dip to 0°C in the UAE’s mountainous regions while internal areas could see temperatures dipping to a nippy 5°C and coastal areas could see minimum temperatures of 13°C.

The NCMS forecast reads: “Cold weather during day times to very cold during night. The cloud amount will increase at times, especially over the northern areas, with chance of light rain. Winds will be west to northwesterly, moderate to fresh in general. Sea will be moderate to rough with wave height 3 - 5 / 6 ft offshore.”

Unaccustomed to the chill, UAE residents are putting up a brave front as a cold wave continues to spread across the length and breadth of the country, with extreme weather conditions sweeping mountainous regions and the country recording its lowest temperatures for the year yesterday. Rough weather has prompted a warning to beachgoers across the UAE to refrain from venturing into the sea. The UAE’s met department has predicted that the rough weather will continue until Friday

Leh: minus 22.2 degrees Celsius

Leh town in Ladakh recorded the coldest night of this season as mercury settled at a low of minus 21.8 degrees Celsius, an official of the Met department said. Nearby Kargil town recorded a low of minus 21.0 degrees Celsius, making it the second coldest place in the state.In Kashmir Valley, Pahalgam resort was the coldest place at minus 16.5 degrees followed by Gulmarg Skiing resort at minus 16.2 degrees Celsius, the official said.Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 12.4 degrees Celsius followed by Kokernag resort at minus 9.9 degrees Celsius.Srinagar city, the summer capital of the state, saw mercury dipping to minus 5.0 degrees Celsius last night.  

 An Igloo Village in Davos

The Occupy protests that blossomed across the globe in the fall of 2011 are popping up at the annual meeting of the rich and powerful in Davos Switzerland. Using the weather to their advantage, protesters are carving out blocks of snow and shaping them into igloos that are surprisingly warm, if not an effort to make. They hope to make develop an "igloo village" near the Davos train station.

Deep freeze kicks in as Arctic Oscillation turns strongly negative

The first half of winter has clearly been much milder than the last couple of winters, as a very strong polar vortex has controlled the pattern, and shielded Europe from any sustained cold. Recently, the vortex has weakened and the AO turned strongly negative as seen above, which would allow seasonably cold weather across much of Europe in February if not earlier.

According to NOAA as seen in the above diagrams the AO index describes the relative intensity of a semi-permanent low-pressure centre over the North Pole. A band of upper-level winds circulates around this centre, forming a vortex. When the AO index is positive and the vortex intense, the winds tighten like a noose around the North Pole, locking cold air in place.

A negative AO and weak vortex … allow intrusions of cold air to plunge southward into North America, Europe, and Asia. … the index has been mostly positive in wintertime since the late 1980s. The Arctic Oscillation has strengthened in recent decades, contributing to the unusual warmth over the Northern Hemisphere land masses.

The first sign of a much weakened polar vortex is that the Arctic Oscillation (AO), also referred to as the Northern Annular Mode (NAM) has recently switched to a strongly negative mode - the first time in four months.Britain blasted by snow & ice yesterday is example of this. Read here.

The AO is an atmospheric circulation pattern in which the atmospheric pressure over the Polar Regions varies in opposition with that over middle latitudes (about 45 degrees North) on time scales ranging from weeks to decades. The oscillation extends through the depth of the troposphere. During the months of January through March it extends upward into the stratosphere where it modulates in the strength of the westerly vortex that encircles the Arctic polar cap region.

The NOAA's AO prediction for the next two weeks shows a strong negative trend which typically in the past has brought colder weather for Europe. The bottom chart for Europe shows the anomaly for the coming week. The middle chart shows the foret.cast for the week after. It’s going to get even colder. Europe this year may get a hard winter after all – it may be just arriving late. The lower chart of central Asia shows below normal temps are forecast for almost every region for the coming week, and the middle chart shows even deeper cold for the week after, as we saw is the case for Europe. In fact it’s rare to see that much cold over such a vast continent

However, AO's cousin the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) sill remains weakly positive (graph to right) but ensemble mean (graph to the left) suggests models are indecisive which mode NAO will go by February. But since the polar vortex is rapidly giving way, the odds favour the NAO too slipping into strongly negative mode sometime in February or even earlier.

Atlantic over the past 50 years,. h Other studies have found correlations between NAO and Indian monsoon.  “Interannual and long-term variability in the North Atlantic Oscillation and Indian summer monsoon rainfall” (Dugam, Kakade and Verma, Indian Institue of Tropical Meteorology, 1997 [http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2068184]) investigated 108 years of NAO / monsoon data and found that:

“The decadal scale analysis reveals that the NAO during winter (December-January-February) and spring (March-April-May) has a statistically significant inverse relationship with the summer monsoon rainfall of Northwest India, Peninsular India and the whole of India. The highest correlation is observed with the winter NAO. The NAO and Northwest India rainfall relationship is stronger than that for the Peninsular and whole of India rainfall on climatological and sub-climatological scales.” 

Atmospheric Blocking

When the polar vortex weakens, the polar jet stream slows and meanders in a form that allows the extension of low pressure lobes much farther to the south. These can become stationary for days and block the normal circulation of the atmosphere. The negative AO/NAO is associated with a slowed polar vortex and polar jet stream. When the jet stream slows, it meanders in a waveform pattern (Rossby waves). The general effect is illustrated below:

Blocking has a lot to do with the severity of winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere, and the AO has a strong ability to control blocking. A blocking event can be defined as a week or more of excess pressure in the mid-troposphere together with an anticyclone at the surface. … blocking occurs preferentially during the low AO phase in Alaska, the North Atlantic, and Russia. [http://www.jisao.washington.edu/wallace/ncar_notes/] Barriopedro et al (“Solar modulation of Northern Hemisphere winter blocking”, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol.113, 2008 [http://idl.ul.pt/davidbarriopedro/2008%20Barriopedro%20et%20al.pdf]) found that:

“Solar activity modulates the preferred locations for blocking occurrence over both Oceans, causing local frequency responses therein. Over the Pacific Ocean high/low solar activity induces an enhanced blocking activity over its eastern/western part. Atlantic blocking occurrence increases for both (high/low) solar phases, with a spatial dependent response confined to western/eastern Atlantic. … Low solar Atlantic blocking episodes last longer, are located further east and become more intense than high solar blocking events.”

 Taken from >> http://devconsultancygroup.blogspot.com