Showing posts with label NOAA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NOAA. Show all posts

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Battening down and bracing for a battering! Met Office warnings re UK weather has Britons buzzing amid very bad memories of the Great Storm of 1987. As most powerful storm to hit Britain in 26 years approaches, much-wider area than first expected will be pounded by gales, downpours and powerful winds of 60-80 mph, with flooding and widespread power outages expected; @metoffice

Battening down and bracing for a battering! Met Office warnings re UK weather has Britons buzzing amid very bad memories of the Great Storm of 1987. As most powerful storm to hit Britain in 26 years approaches, much-wider area than first expected will be pounded by gales, downpours and powerful winds of 60-80 mph, with flooding and widespread power outages expected; @metoffice

 Even as your faithful blogger posts from his home in South Florida, two miles west of the Atlantic, way across the North Atlantic, a huge storm riding the jetstream from east of the United States, is preparing to batter southern England & Wales on Sunday night and Monday morning, bringing gales and downpours and causing widespread disruption, with powerful winds of 60-80 mph winds expected.
Winds are expected to be even higher in coastal areas, where risk of damage to property can and should be expected.

The storm, moving SW to NE, will then continue across The North Sea and arrive in Norway, Denmark and Sweden on Monday night, with heavy snowfall expected in parts of western Sweden currently experiencing autumnal temperatures.

I've been watching SkyNews the past two nights and have seen their video of much of the advance preparation for the storm that's expected to lash parts of Great Britain for hours, with ferry and shipping cancellations already taking place, trimming of some trees to reduce damage and possibility of becoming projectiles, and removal of anything movable on piers and in dockage areas, where some destruction seems highly likely.

 Two storm-related video pieces done by veteran Sky News correspondent David Bowden that aired Saturday night:  
http://news.sky.com/story/1160250/britain-braced-for-severe-80mph-storm
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video/warning-major-storm-way-172515226.html

 Shortly after 8:30 p.m. Eastern Saturday, I heard a number mentioned during the newscast as an estimate by some group (?) that total clean-up costs could hit 1000 £1m, i.e. a Billion Pounds.

Again, there are still memories present among many over what can happen when there is a lack of proper preparation by those in charge and they are caught up short:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1987

Last I heard, there's an expectation that very windy and rainy conditions will exist in the affected areas from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m.
That means cabin fever.
I'd have those candles, junk food and coolers of ice-filled drinks and pre-prepared sandwiches ready for when the lights go out -and stay out .

 Below, a screenshot I snapped of Aftonbladet's website mid-Saturday night about the approaching storm:


 HÖSTSTORM PÅ VÄG! (Autumn storm on its way!)
Early Sunday morning, SMHI, the Swedish equivalent of NOAA here in the U.S., issued Gale Warnings for ships in and around the Baltic Sea, and they have also issued a warning to my friend Andreas and everyone else living in Gotland that there is a very great risk of powerful dust storms there, though that will obviously be before all the heavy rain gets there and soaks them as well.








The most recent public dispatch from the Met Office is this one:

 Severe storm heading for the UK
26 October 2013 - The Met Office is warning of the risk of a significant storm bringing exceptionally strong winds to parts of England and Wales on Sunday night into Monday morning

 Currently forecasts suggest a low pressure system will rapidly deepen just to the south west of the UK on later on Sunday, before moving across the country to be out over the North Sea by the afternoon on Monday.
This is expected to bring gusts of 60 - 80 mph widely across the southern half of the UK, with gusts of more than 80 mph possible in places - especially on exposed coasts.
Any major storm which occurs in early autumn has the potential to cause widespread severe disruption through falling trees, structural damage, transport disruption or power cuts and possibly flooding.
Frank Saunders, Chief Forecaster at the Met Office, said: "We are confident that a severe storm will affect Britain on Sunday night and Monday. We are now looking at refining the details about which areas will see the strongest winds and the heaviest rain.
"This is a developing situation and we'd advise people to stay up to date with our forecasts and warnings over the weekend, and be prepared to change their plans if necessary. We'll continue to work closely with authorities and emergency services to ensure they are aware of the expected conditions."
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Wash. Post's Juliet Eilperin corrects the record re BP spill: Gulf shrimpers, NOT oil, causing death of so many Kemp’s ridley sea turtles

Sea Turtles in NOAA's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Dana Gattuso over at Amy Ridenour's National Center Blog, a conservative blog that's the official blog of the National Center for Public Policy Research, had a delicious bit of insight last Thursday into a powerful corrective piece by the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin that while not actually on American journalism in the 21st Century, per se, says volumes about it by examining a recent huge story -last year's BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Going against the Mainstream Media grain re BP, Eilperin reports on environmental groups false claims and let's the facts speak for themselves. In this case, Shrimpers, not oil, causing hundreds of turtles’ deaths along Gulf of Mexico, scientists say.

To those paying close attention, the BP spill and the subsequent well-publicized clean-up has actually revealed the shockingly low level of honesty and forthrightness coming from many of the leading environmental groups that have been quoted as "experts " in the U.S. news media since last year. In many cases, it's fair to say that they're coasting on laurels earned by others many years ago.

I guess these interest groups know from past experience that despite the advent of so much wonderful technology to help journalists tell the story after letting facts speak for themselves -not the case here- they could still largely say whatever they wanted -that it's all BP's fault- with little concern that reporters would actually be inclined to do their own research, check what was said with the actual facts, and then report back.

Gattuso closes by saying:
Makes one wonder how many more unsubstantiated—and harmful—claims these interest groups make on important environmental issues before considering the evidence…
It sure does.

Connect-the-dots for yourself here:

Washington Post Reports Oil Spill Not the Culprit in Turtle Deaths
by Dana Gattuso
May 27, 2011 at 7:52 AM

Washington Post
Shrimpers, not oil, causing hundreds of turtles’ deaths along Gulf of Mexico, scientists say
By Juliet Eilperin
May 25, 2011
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Saturday, December 4, 2010

The invader in our midst: Lionfish; An Exotic Predator Threatens the Florida Keys by Erik Olsen; The Silent Invasion Of The Lionfish by David Sutta



NYTimes.com video: Science: An Exotic Predator Threatens the Florida Keys

Erik Olsen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxz4pwML2-s

Sean Morton, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/
Bob Holston, Dive Key West
http://www.divekeywest.com/
REEF - Reef Environmental Education Fund
http://www.reef.org/
http://www.reef.org/lionfish

The related article:
New York Times
Florida Keys Declare Open Season on the Invasive Lionfish
The lionfish threatens to wreak havoc on the ecologically sensitive marine system of the Florida Keys. It was first discovered in the area in 2009.
By Erik Olsen
November 23, 2010

KEY WEST, Fla. — Crawling through turquoise murk on the ocean floor near Tea Table Key, Rob Pillus glances at a half dozen lobsters that twirl their antennae in the fast-moving current. Mr. Pillus, an avid spear fisherman, would normally stuff the crustaceans into his mesh bag for dinner, but today he is after more exotic quarry: an invasive species called the lionfish that threatens to wreak havoc on this ecologically sensitive marine system.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/science/23lionfish.html

See also:

WFOR-TV, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
I-Team: The Silent Invasion Of The Lionfish
Reporting: David Sutta
November 14, 2010 06:34



Story at: http://cbs4.com/local/keys.lionfish.reef.2.2009071.html

Past Channel 4 stories on lionfish at:
http://cbs4.com/search?searchstring=lionfish&tabid=0

-----

Wall Street Journal

The Lionfish Creates an Uproar, Bringing Out the Hunters

Voracious Intruders Stalked With Spears; Doing Your Part by Eating Them

By Paul Glader
November 15, 2010

KEY LARGO, Fla.—Fluctuations in the fish population are flummoxing marine scientists the world over. But few species elicit the solution served up for the lionfish.

The voracious lionfish hoovers up nearly everything in it's path, from shrimp and angel fish to lizards. The invasive breed from the Far East has bred by the thousands and spread from the Bahamas and Florida up to the Carolinas.

Read the rest of the article with photos at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610721532882174.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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