Super Typhoon Rammasun Strikes China with 155 MPH Winds

Super Typhoon Rammasun made landfall in southeastern China earlier on Friday with winds of 155 MPH, making the storm equivalent to that of a borderline category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic. Satellite and radar imagery coming from the storm are downright impressive, showing Rammasun’s nearly-perfect structure.

Rammasun killed more than 50 people as it moved through the Philippines on Wednesday, causing heavy damage from winds and major flooding (pictured above). The super typhoon made landfall in China’s Hainan Province around 3:30 PM local time on Friday, making the storm the strongest to hit China since 1973’s Typhoon Nora.

The VIIRS sensor on board the Suomi weather satellite took the following visible and infrared images of Rammasun on Friday, shortly before it made landfall in Hainan Province:

The storm is nearly perfect, with a textbook structure and about as close to symmetrical as one could look for in a tropical system.

Tropical weather expert Brian McNoldy posted the following radar image to his website this afternoon, showing a radar loop of Rammasun as it made landfalls in both Hainan and Guangdong Provinces before continuing northwest towards mainland China.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects Rammasun to make its fourth and final landfall near the Chinese/Vietnamese border around 0600 UTC (200AM Eastern Time) as a powerful cyclone with winds between 140 and 145 MPH.

The typically-active western Pacific typhoon season is staying true to form, with another tropical storm gathering strength to the east of the Philippines. The system will strengthen into a typhoon before threatening Taiwan and mainland China early next week.

http://tinyurl.com/p9hhomo

Advertisement

Worst wildfire season in decades in Canada’s Northwest Territories

The wildfire season continues to get worse in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

Already listed as the worst season for fires in memory, it’s now estimated to be costing the territorial government Canadian $1 million (U.S. $931,000) a day to fight the fires.

“What we are seeing in the Northwest Territories this year is an indicator of what to expect with climate change,” says Mike Flannigan, a professor of Wildland Fire in the University of Alberta’s renewable resources department. “Expect more fires, larger fires, more intense fires.”

Wildfire extent is double that of the 1970’s

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, there have been 31 new fires in the past 24 hours across Canada, over 2,500 so far this year and well over 2.47 million acres burned to date, early in the season.

According to Flannigan, in recent years, about 8,000 fires burn about 4.9 million acres of land each year in Canada. That’s about double the annual average of just 40 years ago, he says.

Canada’s senior climatologist, Dave Phillips, says the southern Northwest Territories is experiencing the hottest, driest summer in some 50 years.

The extremely hot dry weather in the interior and north of British Columbia is now contributing to the spread of a number of fires in that west coast province.

Phillips adds the kind of weather seen this year is what global warming modeling predicted for 40 years from now.

Floods in eastern Canada

Although there are major fire concerns in the west and north, the prairies, especially Saskatchewan and Manitoba are still recovering from highly unusual major summer floods. Unusually heavy rainfall has caused abnormally high levels of flooding in several areas of Canada this year. Earlier, many parts of Quebec experienced flooding when heavy rain overcame storm sewers and caused rivers to overflow their banks.

In Canada’s maritime provinces, many are still without power a week after tropical storm Arthur swept through uprooting trees, tearing roofs, and downing power lines

This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch News as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.

http://tinyurl.com/p6w8n75

Wildfire north of Pittsburgh Landing triples in size, Tennessee, USA

We’re following several wildfires in the Northwest, starting with the Pittsburg fire.

 

No containment is in sight for the fire burning within the Hells Canyon National Recreation area. It’s burned more than 64-hundred acres on the Idaho side of the Snake River north of Pittsburg Landing. The blaze was started by lightning, and saw tremendous growth yesterday tripling in size.

 

“It had a pretty significant push to the north, most of that is wind driven and it’s burning in grass,” said Sarah Foster. “We’ve got crews out there today and resources looking at the fire not only how much it grew yesterday and what it’s doing today but also looking at some containment area where they can put some fire-line in and use the crews more effectively.”

 

With the river on the west providing a natural fire-line, at this time crews are focusing on the north and eastern flanks of the fire.

http://tinyurl.com/ousjsoh

CAR FERRY DECK COLLAPSES AT WIGHTLINK’S FISHBOURNE TERMINAL, UK

Emergency services are tonight in attendance at Wightlink’s Fishbourne terminal where the upper deck of one of the company’s vessels appears to have collapsed

The upper car deck of the passenger and vehicle ferry St Helen has fallen one side leaving vehicles at an angle. One appliance from Newport Fire Station is in attendance alongside paramedics and Police. HM Coastguard are also on scene. It is currently unclear if any persons have been injured.

http://tinyurl.com/ppr6qr2

URGENT UK WEATHER ALERT UPDATE

CONVECTIVE CLUSTERS ARE FORMING & HEADING IN A N/NW DIRECTION FROM THE SE OF THE UK.

THIS IS SIMPLY INCREDIBLE & AMAZING WITH THUNDER + LIGHTNING + HEAVY RAIN

***BE ALERT***

MAGNITUDE 4.2 EGYPT

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=391596

Subject To Change

Depth: 30 km

Distances: 93 km E of Cairo, Egypt / pop: 7,734,614 / local time: 22:01:30.1 2014-07-18
31 km W of Suez, Egypt / pop: 488,125 / local time: 22:01:30.1 2014-07-18

MAGNITUDE 5.0 LOYALTY ISLANDS

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=391589

Subject To Change

Depth: 37 km

Distances: 310 km S of Port-Vila, Vanuatu / pop: 35,901 / local time: 05:44:29.0 2014-07-19
114 km SW of Isangel / pop: 1,437 / local time: 05:44:00.0 2014-07-19

MAGNITUDE 5.6 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=391583

Subject To Change

Depth: 2 km

Distances: 845 km NE of Wellington, New Zealand / pop: 381,900 / local time: 06:23:02.2 2014-07-19
436 km NE of Whakatane, New Zealand / pop: 18,602 / local time: 06:23:02.2 2014-07-19

YELLOWSTONE REGION MAGNITUDE 3.1 SOUTHERN IDAHO

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=391485

Subject To Change

Depth: 5 km

Distances: 838 km S of Calgary, Canada / pop: 1,019,942 / local time: 17:31:52.7 2014-07-17
320 km S of Helena, United States / pop: 28,190 / local time: 17:31:52.7 2014-07-17
8 km N of Driggs, United States / pop: 1,660 / local time: 17:31:52.7 2014-07-17

MAGNITUDE 5.2 VANUATU

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=391533

Subject To Change

Depth: 30 km

Distances: 182 km N of Port-Vila, Vanuatu / pop: 35,901 / local time: 19:58:34.6 2014-07-18
137 km E of Norsup, Vanuatu / pop: 2,998 / local time: 19:58:34.6 2014-07-18