Crazy weather

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This starts out mad enough, but wait til it gets going!

I think the people speaking have some kind of limited vocabulary - there wasn't a single FUCKING HELL! or CHRIST ON A BIKE! to be heard!

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A freak sand storm engulfs a village in north-western China

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Damaged houses are seen after a rain-triggered landslide hit Shuanghe, a town in Hanyuan county, Sichuan province, China. Twenty-one people were missing after the landslide, triggered by recent torrential rains

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Germany closes embassy in smoke-filled Moscow
7 Aug 10
thelocal.de/national/20100807-29005.html

Germany has closed its embassy in Moscow until further notice because of noxious smog from spreading wildfires choking the Russian capital, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday. "A duty officer will remain on the job," the spokesman added, asking not to be named.

The German foreign ministry's website advised against all non-essential journeys to affected regions in Russia, especially for those with respiratory problems and for children. Fires ravaging western Russia have already killed 52 people, while Moscow residents and tourists have been wheezing in the thickest smog to ever hit the capital since Russia's worst heatwave in decades broke out in July. The Russian defence ministry ordered the evacuation of missiles from a depot outside Moscow as the authorities warned of the risk of fires reactivating contamination in an area hit by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

The capital's most famous landmarks, like the spires of the Kremlin towers or the onion domes of Orthodox churches, were largely invisible from a distance. Some flights at its Domodedovo international airport were being diverted. "I woke up this morning, looked out of the window and saw a monstrous situation," declared President Dmitry Medvedev. "We all want this heatwave to pass but this is not in our hands, it is decided above."

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Fire Tornado

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Bit of a cock-up on the weather front!
A video grab of Nick Kraynok, US weatherman on KLST in San Angelo, Texas, as he warned residents about a thunderstorm

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Eye of the storm: The jaw-dropping image of an enormous 'supercell' cloud
2nd December 2010

It looks like something from the film Independence Day. But although it may seem like an alien mothership, this incredible picture is actually an impressive thunderstorm cloud known as a supercell. The photographs are from the portfolio of electrician Sean Heavey. The supercell cloud was photographed in July west of Glasgow, Montana, USA.

Mr Heavey, 34, an amateur photographer, created the jaw-dropping panoramic image by stitching together three photos from the 400 frames he took of the violent scene he witnessed in July. It caused minor damage, and lasted several hours before moving on. Massive storm systems like this centre on mesocyclones -- rotating updrafts that deliver torrential rain and high winds. The dangerous outbreak of weather raged for several hours and caused minor damage to local communities - while watchful Mr Heavey captured all its devastating beauty from a distance.

Taking photographs of storms for the past seven years, this year Mr Heavey and his masterpiece are up for a prestigious award from National Geographic. Called the 'Mothership', because of the striking image's similarity to an alien space ship, the photograph was actually four years in the making.

'I have two storm chasing friends I met through my wife Toni and they've been badgering me to go out with them for that long,' explained Sean. 'I' normally rely on simply being in the right place at the right time for my photography, while I'm out working. But in July I finally decided to do it and thankfully this picture was the result. We don't usually get weather like this out in Montana, it felt like the perfect storm. The power was awe inspiring. I felt that if you could walk inside the rain and the wind right into the centre of the storm and stare up, then it would have been like looking into God's eye.'

Known as the 'mother of tornadoes', a mesocyclone can be up to six miles wide and can produce as many as 60 tornadoes. These severe thunderstorms form where cold dry air meets warm moist tropical air. The wind coming into the storm starts to swirl and forms a funnel. The air in the funnel spins faster and faster and creates a very low pressure area which sucks more air - and objects - into it. If the cyclone runs out of wet, warm surface air, it dies out. If it does not run out of this fuel, however, the rotating cloud stretches toward the ground and may become a giant tornado.

Mr Heavey, 34, is an electrician, working in the west of the American state in a town named Glasgow. Taking photographs of storms for the past seven years, this year Sean and his masterpiece are up for a prestigious award from National Geographic.

'The 'Mothership' picture is a super-cell storm that was around five to ten miles in diameter with hurling winds of around 85 mph,' said Mr Heavey, who moved from bustling Seattle to sleepy Montana for a quiet life four years ago. I photographed it for over two hours as it traveled between Glasgow and the town of Hinsdale. I can honestly say that the photograph does not do it justice. I caught the shot just as the sun was setting which brought out the colours so vividly. I felt that if you could walk inside the rain and the wind right into the centre of the storm and stare up, then you would be able to see God's eye.'

As an amateur photographer, storms have been Mr Heavey's obsession since he was caught under a huge thundercloud on a visit to relatives in Ohio, which is part of America's famous 'tornado alley'. 'I felt the sheer power of that storm as a young boy and I am not ashamed to admit that it scared the living daylights out of me,' he said. 'Since I moved to Glasgow I travel a lot in my job as a electrician. The clients that I visit are well aware that I carry my camera with me over the state and they are more than happy to help point out gathering storms on the horizon which they think will be great subjects for me.'

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Part of the track of a tornado that struck near Sturbridge, Massachusetts, USA, last week.

[luke]

make sure you check out the timelapse videos - they're incredible!

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It's depressing!

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Blackpool hit by foam storm!

Apparently this is caused by plankton.

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Fog breaking over a beach in Florida

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