Oklahoma tornado heralds several days of possibly severe storms in Central US.
6th May 2015

Tornado touched down shortly after 3pm Wednesday
Swath of great plains from Texas to Nebraska under tornado watch.

The National Weather Service forecast a slight chance of tornadoes in parts of the great plains on Wednesday, and Oklahoma delivered.

A weak tornado touched down in south-western Oklahoma shortly after 3pm, according to weather services meteorologist Michael Scotten.

“We’ve had at least one confirmed tornado, for sure,” he said, adding no one was hurt or injured. “It’s mainly hit open areas out there.”

The tornado touched down between Cement and Anadarko. The Chickasha school district, which was in the path of the tornado, kept its students after school as a precaution.

It’s too early to tell how many storms could flare up or in which region, according to Richard Thompson at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, noting that the storms will likely be widely spaced apart.

“It’s possible the hail at the very biggest could be tennis ball- or baseball-sized, but that would be very isolated,” Thompson said.

A swath of the great plains is under a tornado watch until 9pm Wednesday, including parts of north Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Scotten also said the threat of weak tornadoes and hail was possible into Wednesday night.

“This is the first of potentially several days of a severe weather risk,” Thompson said. “There could be some pretty heavy rain overnight and eventually flooding could be a concern.”

Areas of central Oklahoma saw heavy rainfall and some flooding overnight and early Wednesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Kurtz said. Nearly 4in of rain fell in Norman, where the Oklahoma department of transportation shut down several on-ramps to Interstate 35. The ramps reopened early on Wednesday afternoon.

“People just really need to stay weather-aware, have a plan and understand that severe storms are possible across portions of the southern plains almost daily through Saturday,” Kurtz said.

Below images from kansas uploaded around 2 hours ago - 7th may 2015 - 12.00pm

Source: theguardian.com

Tornado leaves one dead as it destroys homes in North Texas.

Several tornadoes ripped through North Texas ranch and farming country on Saturday, leaving one person dead and others unaccounted for in a sparsely populated area, authorities said.

One of the tornadoes shattered homes in a rural area south of Cisco, a town about 100 miles west of Fort Worth, Eastland County judge Rex Fields said.

“The homes that I’ve seen, there are just maybe one or two walls standing,” said Fields, who also serves as the county’s emergency services coordinator.

Fields said one person was killed and there were likely other injuries. Authorities were going house to house to assess the damage, but that proved difficult amid heavy rainfall.

The extent of injuries or fatalities also was not immediately clear in the town of Burkburnett, about 15 miles north of Wichita Falls, where a second tornado touched down. A police dispatcher who declined to give her name due to department policy said tornado sirens could be heard in Burkburnett just before 6pm CDT.

Elsewhere, storms brought heavy rain and quarter-sized hail to parts of southwest Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon, but meteorologists said a tornado threat there had diminished as the hours wore on into Sunday.

Parts of western Kansas also were hit by severe weather ripe for tornadoes. In Kansas City, in the eastern part of the state, a band of rain halted Nascar’s Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway for a time.

The threatening skies stretched beyond the plains states, as twin weather systems stretching from the Carolinas to California produced an unseasonably early tropical storm in the Atlantic and a late-season snowstorm in the Rocky Mountains. Tropical Storm Ana was reported early on Sunday to be just off the coast of South Carolina, weakening with top sustained winds of 45mph.

Weekend snow was in the forecast in parts of the Rockies, the Nebraska Panhandle and parts of South Dakota, the weather service said.

“We’ve got a late-season winter storm that’s bringing some significant snow to parts of the Rockies all the way up to the northern Plains,” said Bruce Sullivan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

He said some areas up into Wyoming and South Dakota’s Black Hills could be in for several inches of snowfall. He called that “unusual” for so late in the year.

Source:
http://www.theguardian.com

Six dead, dozens injured after tornadoes blast central U.S.

At least two people died when an EF3 tornado struck eastern Texas on Sunday, authorities said today.

The two deaths in Texas were in addition to at least two in Arkansas, as severe weather this weekend slammed the nation's midsection.
The tornado that hit Van, Texas, a small city in northern Van Zandt County, was confirmed as an EF3 today, local officials said. An EF3 tornado carries winds from 135 mph to 140 mph.
Dozens of people were hospitalized, officials in Van Zandt County said this afternoon, and three people remained unaccounted for, down from eight earlier in the day. The two killed were a husband and wife at their home, officials said. The couple was not identified by name.

Approximately 30 percent of the city suffered damages, officials said today, ranging from destroyed homes to downed trees and power lines. Officials were still working to restore power to all residents.

There were 71 reported apparent tornadoes this weekend, stretching from Iowa to Texas. Besides Van, the areas hit hardest by possible tornadoes were Lake City, Iowa, and Delmont, South Dakota.

Source: abcnews.go.com

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Widespread storms wreak havoc

More than two dozen reported tornadoes were spotted Sunday up and down the Plains, ripping up trees, power lines and, in some cases, chunks of small towns. Where the tornadoes didn't hit, slow-moving storms brought torrential rainfall that flooded other areas, creating another life-threatening danger.

Sunday night, three towns sustained major storm damage: Van, Texas, Nashville, Arkansas, and Lake City, Iowa. Earlier Sunday, the small South Dakota town of Delmont was partially destroyed by a large twister. The storm, which left the town without power or water, hit the state on the same morning as Winter Storm Venus, which dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas.

An NWS survey crew has completed its review of the damage and rated the tornado EF2 with maximum winds of 130 mph.
Delmont is located in southern South Dakota, about 90 miles southwest of Sioux Falls.

Source: weather.com
Coverage from Texas, South Dakota, Iowa and Arkansas can be found here"
http://www.weather.com/news/news/severe-weather-impacts-plains-midwest

Spain is set to sizzle this week as the mercury rises to the high thirties across the country.

Spaniards are braced for an early taste of summer, as the country braces itself for a nationwide heatwave this week.

But don’t pack away your winter clothes just yet, temperatures are set to cool off the by end of the week.
Spain’s national weather agency (Aemet) has released a statement warning that temperatures will be "exceptionally high" for this time of year, reaching peaks of higher than 35 degrees.

"An extraordinary rise in temperatures is forecast in northern areas of Cantabria and the Basque country that will see temperatures exceed 30C," Aemet said in a statement.
The south of the country and the region of Extremadura will experience the hottest weather this week, with temperatures reaching the high 30s.

The northern region of Galicia will begin to cool on Wednesday as Atlantic winds sweep in over northern Spain, but the rest of the country will continue to bake, according to Aemet.
Temperatures in the middle of the country will exceed 35C while the north of the country and the Balearic islands will see the mercury rise to over 30C, according to Aemet.

As Galicia continues to cool on Thursday, central and southern Spain will experience the highest temperatures of the week.

Source: The Local - Spain's News in English

Bad day in USA

Tornadoes, hail and floods hit plains from Texas to Minnesota | MSNBC

Colombia mudslide after heavy rains kills over 50 people 18th May 2015

An avalanche of mud and debris roared over an alpine town in western Colombia before dawn on Monday, killing at least 52 people in a flash flood and mudslide triggered by heavy rains.

Residents were stirred from bed in the dead of the night by a loud rumble and neighbours’ shouts of “The river! The river!” as modestly built homes and bridges plunged into the Libordiana ravine. Survivors barely had enough time to gather their loved ones.

“It was rocks and tree trunks everywhere,” Diego Agudelo said, adding that never in 34 years living next to the ravine had he suspected such a tragedy was possible.

“The river took out everything in its path,” the construction worker said, including the back part of his home.

The disaster hit around 3am local time (8am GMT) in the town of Salgar, about 60 miles (100 km) south-west of Medellin. Dozens of rescuers supported by Black Hawk helicopters evacuated residents near the ravine for fear of another mudslide. A red fire truck could be seen hauling away several bodies, their bare feet dangling from an open trunk.

President Juan Manuel Santos, who travelled to the town to oversee relief efforts, said several children lost their parents and the bodies of those killed needed to be transported to Medellin to be identified. As giant diggers were removing debris he vowed to rebuild the lost homes and provide shelter and assistance for the estimated 500 people affected by the calamity.

Salgar Village, Colombia.

Home video in Chili a house being pulled away by the floods

Feel for them

Amateur video captures home swept away in Chile flood water | Video | Reuters.com

Flooding Due to Heavy Rains Kills 15 People in Central, Southern China.

As many as 15 people have died and thousands more forced from their homes by flooding in southern and central China, with more rain forecast in coming days. Authorities said that Jiangxi province has been hit the hardest, with 8 people killed and 65,000 homeless. In the south, the Guangxi region suffered five deaths with six people missing. Two other deaths were reported in the province of Hunan. Torrential rain forced the delay of hundreds of passenger flights as flood waters in some areas rose to more than 6 feet.

Blazing sun bakes large parts of India, heat wave claims dozens of lives; El Nino effect emerges.

A blazing sun baked large parts of India on Friday with a searing heat wave claiming dozens of lives this summer in a budding El Nino year, while the weather office predicted worse days ahead.

The oppressive conditions have killed at least 43 people in the southern state of Telangana as the meteorological department said the mercury would likely shoot up further and advised people to stay indoors during peak hours.

Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh too is reeling, with several towns in the Krishna, Guntur, Nellore, West Godavari, Prakasam and East Godavari districts bearing the brunt as temperatures in some parts touched 47° Celsius, officials said.

Experts say an El Nino, a weather anomaly that leads to warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, often sparks scorching weather across Asia and drags down India's June-September monsoon.

In the east, roads were deserted and shops shut during the hottest part of the day in Odisha as many residents remained indoors but were nettled by water scarcity and intermittent power cuts.

Authorities said on Friday they received reports of 12 deaths due to sunstroke, with 45.4° Celsius the highest temperature recorded the previous day in Jharsuguda district.

More:
http://tinyurl.com/madlu77

Death Toll reaches 150.

NEW DELHI -- A senior health official said over 150 people have succumbed to the heat wave in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana over the past three days.

According to the official, 80 people died from heat stroke in Andhra Pradesh and 70 died due to the intense heat in Telengana. He added that majority of the victims were homeless people.

The weather department expects that the heat wave will last for a couple of days more.