EARTHQUAKE / TSUNAMI

The Buoy Center website shows about 15 buoys that have been triggered by the Chilean / Japan earthquakes.

Tsunami observations

BB

NWS Warning Map OR Psychedelic Art?

What a mess, but DON'T say Snowicane! - HLG

NWS Does NOT Approve the Term "Snowicane"

so feel free to use it widely! - HLG

Even before a flake fell, the impending storm set off some sharp exchanges among competing forecasters, with one warning of a "snowicane."

The National Weather Service criticized State College, Pa.-based Accuweather Inc. for referring to the storm that way and for saying it would be "hurricane-like" and a "monster." NWS meteorologist Craig Evanego said the terminology was "almost inciting the public, inciting panic."

Accuweather called the NWS criticism "unfounded" and said there's nothing wrong with using language that gets people's attention when the situation calls for it. AP

NWS D/FW has All Stations Reporting Snow at This Time!

You just don't see that very often! TDOT has a very nice interactive map site showing road conditions. Lots of white (symbol for globally warmed roads) on this map! - HLG

Entertaining Global Warming Debate between Joe Bastardi and Bill Nye

Super TC "Gelane"

Well over 150 kts in the western Indian Ocean.

Looks like SE Coast USA and Mid-Atlantic/NE corridor may have double-whammy snow-storms mid-to-late next week! Don't say FWSAAB didn't warn you if you get stuck in airports (Dr BB, etc) - HLG

RETURN OF BB

The FWSAAB Web Mistress (aka the Ravishing Geeky Girl) let me out of the dog house, so I'm allowed to post again.

Figure 1.  This picture was taken at the Crowne Plaza bar near the Atlanta Airport last Friday.  Seven inches + of snow caused the cancellation of thousands of flights (including this intrepid web blogger), forcing me to drink and smoke heavily (outside) at the hotel bar with many other wayward souls.

Figure 2.  This picture was taken last week in Belgium during a high level conference titled "Global Warming - It is Here, It is Now, So Stop Asking Questions."  Needless to say that the snow put a damper on the meeting's agenda.

So, to conclude - Global Warming is real, it is causing the snow and as the earth continues to warm, the colder it will get.

BB

Polar Blizzard "Elijah"

Well there is still time to "name that blizzard", in the FWSAAB Challenge. PB "David" was a dud, and a forecast bust, since the snow all went to PA and New England. The next PB is due on Monday the 22nd of Feb, 2010. I am dubbing this one "Elijah". Why "Elijah"? Especially since it hasn't passed through NOAA's politically/ethnographically correct selection board? Mostly because I am the blogger of this piece, and "Elijah" sounds very biblical, as in Storms of Bilblical Proportion! - HLG

MODIS Snow Images from SE USA

School's Out!! - HLG

Global Storming Buries SW Ohio

Top 5 snowiest Februaries in the long history of SW Ohio. Cincy shatters their record, Columbus is close, but Dayton has a way to go still, but there is time!

Global Storming is out of control. Save us Uncle Al!! - HLG (Global Storming Alarmist)

CINCINNATI
1. 23.1"....2010 (through 02/15)
2. 21.4"....1914
3. 20.6"....1910
4. 19.9"....1993
5. 17.4"....2003

DAYTON
1. 31.6"....1910
2. 21.2"....2003
3. 19.8"....2010 (through 02/15)
4. 17.5"....1979
5. 16.7"....1914

COLUMBUS
1. 29.2"....1910
2. 25.1"....2010 (through 02/15)
3. 24.4"....2003
4. 19.6"....1914
5. 16.4"....1979

Undersea Volcaic Eruption from Space!

Somewhere off of Japan. Too cool to see an uderwater explosion in the visible! - HLG

Dallas Officially Sets All-Time Snow Record!

!@#$%^%#% Global Warming!!!

February 12, 2010

A record-setting winter storm left Dallas with more than a foot of snow and tens of thousands of people without electricity in freezing conditions.

Oncor reported 175,000 homes and businesses were without power before dawn Friday in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

American Airlines spokesman Steve Schlachter says the carrier, with its main hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, canceled about 240 flights Friday. One departure and arrival has been canceled at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport.

School districts in Dallas and Fort Worth were closed Friday.

The snow-covered roof of a tire warehouse in Dallas collapsed at a time when the store was closed.

The National Weather Service says the snow tapered off Friday, after totals ranging from 6-14 inches in north Texas.

NWS says the all-time 24-hour snowfall record for Dallas-Fort Worth was broken Friday morning, with 12.5 inches. The previous record was 12.1 inches set in 1962.

Name That Blizzard Contest!

Since all Americans get to chip in for the 100-million per day this week had cost, just because the Federal Gov is closed, I think everyone should have the chance to NAME THAT BLIZZARD. Why should hurricanes have all the fun? The 4th blizzard of the season is coming nex Tuesday (as seen in NOAA map attached), so that should cost YOU another 300 million or so, just because of lost "productivity" the end of the week. I think the A-Z model works for the NHC, so let's play!

This is the fourth, thus "D" blizzard for the Capital Region, so I propose it be called "DAVID" in honor of Camp David, where I am sure the fire places are burning cozy and bright. How about the A-C storms of 12-19-09, 2-6-1-10, and my favorite, the 2-10-10, very, very, windy one? - HLG

Biggest Snow Storm in HISTORY of DFW?

To all my Global Warming friends. It is entertainig to hear how warming is causing cooling, when all of the evidence points to the NAO in full swing, which could be a multi-year (decade? century?) pattern, as in The Little Ice Age. Latest event is the largest snow-fall in DFW's history. More to come. - HLG

741 AM CST THU FEB 11 2010

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST TONIGHT...
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NO LONGER IN EFFECT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST
TONIGHT. THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW IS NO LONGER IN
EFFECT.

AREAS OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ACROSS NORTH TEXAS TODAY AS
A SLOW MOVING UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES FROM THE WEST.
SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 4 TO 6 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE BY THIS
EVENING...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS. THE PRECIPITATION WILL END FROM
WEST TO EAST OVERNIGHT.

ROAD CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN SLICK AND HAZARDOUS THROUGH THE DAY AS
TEMPERATURES REMAIN NEAR OR JUST BELOW FREEZING AND SNOW
CONTINUES TO FALL. SIGNIFICANT TRAVEL IMPACTS ARE EXPECTED TO
CONTINUE AFTER THE PRECIPITATION ENDS AND INTO EARLY FRIDAY
MORNING AS TEMPERATURES FALL INTO THE UPPER 20S TO AROUND 30.

THIS WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE
EXPECTED TO MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE

Climate Change and Severe Weather

As I have previously indicated, I believe there is some degree of warming going on in the atmosphere.   Whether it is cyclical in nature and superimposed on normal climate change or  global warming induced primarily by carbon emissions, is not for me to say.  I offer only my opinion.   The following is a good argument for why "global warming" can cause the extreme weather we are seeing now.    With snow and sleet forecast for South Mississippi in the coming days, currently I have to go with the prevailing thought that because of the Saints win, Hell hath indeed frozen over.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100210/hl_time/08599196229400

geekygirl

Tired of Snow News. Time for Your Global Warming Update! (i.e Flooding in Uruguay)

Sick of snow and cold where you are (and yes, Jackson, MS is under a Winter Storm Watch/Warning). How about some news on the Global Warming front? Major flooding in Uruguay as seen in the TRIMM measurements in this map. - HLG

Disney on Ice Canceled in DC!

Now that's ironic! - HLG

The Disney on Ice shows scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Verizon Center have been canceled, because of the blizzard.

NWS goes into History Books for this One

A forecast of at least that much new snow wasn't welcome in Washington and Philadelphia, which were hit hard by a blizzard over the weekend. Each needs about 9 more inches to give the cities their snowiest winters since 1884, the first year records were kept.

"It's hard to find anything in the history books of these types of storms back-to-back," said National Weather Service meteorologist Stephen Konarik.

2-10 of 2-10 Blizzard in DC

Virtually the entire state of Maryland is under NWS Blizzard Warnings until 7 PM. The pressures were dropping like a rock until the last few hours, but seem to have leveled off, for now, but the windspeeds have caught up to the pressure drops and it is already swirling in the 20s. Just an amazing site, and at least a new foot of snow already here in northern DC suburbs in Maryland. No sign of Al Gore anywhere, but NOAA did have to cancel their Global Warming Summit yesterday. You just can't make that stuff up! - HLG

Eastern US Snow-storm

Dramatic image from MODIS on Monday, the 8th, of the big snows on the ground in the eastern US.

Saints win .... yea.......

Trying to celebrate, but haven't had hot water since Friday. No heat in the house, and only have coms via cell-phone 3G which is winding down. May be the last post unless President Obama saves us all.....

Super Bummer

The red areas are over 5000 customers out of power, courtesy PepCO, and the oranges, where I am are 4000 or more. Bummer of a Super Sunday, and VERY COLD (indoors that is). HLG

Third Blizzard of Season on the 10th of Feb?

We had, unoficially, about 30 inches here north of DC. No power for 36 hours. Looks like the storm forming for mid-week will combine a Clipper with a Southern Track low, a THIRD bizzard of the season will bury what's left of the DC area! - HLG

First Official NOAA Blizzard Warnings for DC Area are Up

.... and FWSAAB warned about that last weekend! But who's bragging? Woohooo! Geaux Saints!

Blizzard Warning
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
306 PM EST FRI FEB 5 2010

MDZ014-017-018-060415-
/O.NEW.KLWX.BZ.W.0001.100206T0300Z-100207T0300Z/
/O.EXT.KLWX.WS.W.0006.000000T0000Z-100206T0300Z/
ANNE ARUNDEL-ST. MARYS-CALVERT-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ANNAPOLIS...ST MARYS CITY
306 PM EST FRI FEB 5 2010

...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EST THIS
EVENING...
...BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 PM
EST SATURDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A
BLIZZARD WARNING...IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 PM EST
SATURDAY. THE WINTER STORM WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM
EST THIS EVENING.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE...HEAVY SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...WIDESPREAD STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 20 TO
30 INCHES...WITH SOME LOCATIONS IN EXCESS OF 30 INCHES.

* TIMING...SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. CONDITIONS
WILL DETERIORATE RAPIDLY THIS AFTERNOON...WITH THE HEAVIEST
SNOWFALL OCCURRING FROM SUNSET THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. THE
MOST HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR TONIGHT.

* VISIBILITIES...WIDESPREAD VISIBILITIES AT OR BELOW ONE-QUARTER
MILE ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT IN HEAVY SNOW.

* TEMPERATURES...HIGHS IN THE LOW TO MID 30S THIS AFTERNOON.
TEMPERATURES WILL BE IN THE MID TO UPPER 20S TONIGHT AND
SATURDAY.

* WINDS...EAST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH THE REST OF THIS AFTERNOON...
BECOMING NORTHEAST 15 TO 25 MPH WITH FREQUENT GUSTS OF 35 TO 40
MPH LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE COAST.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

THIS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RECORD
SNOWFALL FOR THE BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON DC METROPOLITAN AREAS.
TRAVEL CONDITIONS TONIGHT ACROSS THE REGION WILL BE EXTREMELY
HAZARDOUS AND LIFE-THREATENING. HELP YOUR LOCAL AND STATE
GOVERNMENT FIRST RESPONDERS AND TRANSPORTATION AGENCIES BY
STAYING OFF THE ROADS.

A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS
AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT
CONDITIONS.

TC "Oli" off Tahiti

You don't see that every day! - HLG

Cancel that Trip to DC! (Major Global Warming Event)

WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM FRIDAY TO 10 PM EST
SATURDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A
WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW...IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM FRIDAY
TO 10 PM EST SATURDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN
EFFECT.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE...HEAVY SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 16 TO 24 INCHES.

* TIMING...SNOW WILL BEGIN AROUND DAYBREAK FRIDAY...AND WILL
CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. CONDITIONS WILL DETERIORATE
RAPIDLY EARLY FRIDAY AFTERNOON...WITH HEAVIEST SNOWFALL
OCCURRING BETWEEN LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON TO SUNRISE
SATURDAY...WHEN HEAVY SNOW WILL REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO BELOW
ONE-QUARTER MILE.

* TEMPERATURES...HIGHS NEAR 30 FRIDAY. FRIDAY NIGHT AND
SATURDAY...TEMPERATURES WILL BE IN THE LOWER TO MID 20S.

* WINDS...BECOMING NORTHEAST 10 TO 15 MPH FRIDAY WITH GUSTS TO 25
MPH FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

THIS STORM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE SIMILAR TO THE STORM FROM 19
DECEMBER. PLAN FOR SUBSTANTIAL DISRUPTIONS TO TRAVEL FRIDAY
AFTERNOON THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL
MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FRIDAY NIGHT.

When "Meteor"ology Nearly Kills, Shouldn't you Own it?

If a Meteor Strikes Your House, Is It Yours?

AP


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WASHINGTON -- An out-of-this world rock has become the center of a down-to-earth dispute over who its rightful owner should be.

The tennis ball-sized meteorite plummeted through the roof of a Virginia medical office just after dusk on Jan. 18, the same time that people reported seeing a fireball in the sky. It plunged through the ceiling of an examination room and landed near the spot where a doctor had been sitting a short while earlier.

"I'm the most likely person to be sitting in that place where it hit," Dr. Marc Gallini said. "It just wasn't my time, I guess."

He and fellow practitioner Dr. Frank Ciampi say their first thought was to give the rare find to the Smithsonian Institution, which offered $5,000 for it. Within days, it was sent to the National Museum of Natural History for safekeeping.

The doctors are worried, though, that their longtime landlords plan to stake their own claim to the space rock; the collectors market for meteorites can be lucrative.

Gallini, who has run his family practice in Lorton, Va., since 1978, said he notified his property owner, Erol Mutlu, of plans to hand the meteorite over to the Smithsonian, which holds the world's largest museum collection of meteorites. Gallini says he got Mutlu's permission. Later in the week, though, Mutlu sent the doctors an e-mail warning that his brother and fellow landlord Deniz Mutlu was going to the Smithsonian to retrieve the rock, Gallini said.

He wouldn't share the e-mail exchange with The Associated Press, but The Washington Post reported that Erol Mutlu wrote that "it's evident that ownership is tied to the landowner."

"The U.S. courts have ruled that a meteorite becomes part of the land where it arrives through 'natural cause' and hence the property of the landowner," the e-mail said.

Deniz Mutlu later appeared to back away from the claim, saying the family was making no such demands and the meteorite is safe for now at the Smithsonian. He added, however, that he didn't know how long it would remain there.

A lawyer representing the landlords would not comment Tuesday.

The doctors hired their own lawyer and demanded the Smithsonian not release the meteorite until the ownership question was resolved. The lawyer plans to ask a court to rule.

"We really want this to end up in the right place," Gallini said. The doctors plan to donate the money from the Smithsonian to Haiti earthquake relief, he said.

The Smithsonian won't comment on ownership and said in a statement that it will "retain possession of the 'Lorton Meteorite' until a legal owner has been established."

The Smithsonian collection includes about 15,000 meteorites, including 738 gathered shortly after they fell from the sky. The Lorton meteorite came from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, curators said.

It has a blackened outer surface from burning through the atmosphere, said Tim McCoy, a mineral sciences curator at the Smithsonian. Inside are flecks of metal and thousands of tiny rocks containing "the primitive stuff left over from the birth of the solar system," he said.

That material allows scientists to look back about 4.6 billion years, McCoy said.

The last meteorite known to strike a building was in New Orleans in 2003, said Linda Welzenbach, the museum's meteorite collections manager. There were other finds that year in the Chicago area.

Space rocks can fetch thousands of dollars from collectors. Meteorite hunters descended on Washington's Virginia suburbs to look for other remnants of the Lorton meteorite.

One was Steve Arnold, co-star of the new Science Channel TV show, "Meteorite Men." Arnold estimates the Lorton meteorite could bring $25,000 to $50,000 on the open market, unless more pieces turn up. But he said Tuesday that none turned up from his search around the doctors' office.

Meteorites have been the subject of legal disputes before. In the early 1900s, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled a 15-ton meteorite belonged to the landowner on whose property it likely landed, not the person who found it.

The doctors' attorney Marvin Miller said Virginia law differs and favors the tenant.

As of Tuesday, the land owners had made no formal demands, but Miller said he would soon ask a court to decide.
"That's the fairest way to deal with things for everybody's sake," he said.

Russian Spies Behind Climate-Gate?

Or is East Anlgia U losing it's collective mind?

Climate E-Mails Possibly Stolen by Spies, Say U.K. Experts



David King, Britain's former chief science adviser, says the theft of the e-mails last year was "an extraordinarily sophisticated operation."


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The sun rises over planet Earth in this photo an astronaut captured from the International Space Station.
Britain's former chief scientist claimed Monday that a sophisticated hacking operation that led to the leaking of hundreds of climate e-mails was likely carried out by a foreign intelligence agency.

Sir David King, who was Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser for seven years until 2007, told The Independent newspaper that the hacking and selective leaking of e-mails from the Climatic Research Unit in East Anglia bore all the hallmarks of a coordinated spying operation.

The e-mails and documents, some of which date back to 1994, were first released on October 12.

However, they were not widely published until November 17, shortly before the crucial Copenhagen Climate summit.

After appearing on a climate science Web site realclimate.org, which was quickly shut down by its owners, the data were then posted on skeptic site The Air Vent. That post linked back to a computer in Russia, where the files were hosted.

Sir David suggested the e-mail leaks were deliberately designed to destabilize Copenhagen and he dismissed the idea that it was a run-of-the-mill hacking.

"A very clever nerd can cause a great deal of disruption and obviously make intelligence services very nervous, but a sophisticated intelligence operation is capable of yielding the sort of results we've seen here," he told The Independent.

SNOW SWATH

 

From the CIMSS/SSEC site - Beautiful picture of the snow swath through the Tennessee Valley left during this weekend's storm.  I'm sure HLG can make a better pic though.

BB