Are you ready for 2012?

[CWH]

April 2012 disaster seems to be the 8.7 and 8.2 earthquake with small tsunami near Aceh, Indonesia. It has caused small damage to buildings and largescale evacuation of several thousands in about 28 countries around the Indian Ocean. It caused panic around the region and thank God many are prepared due to the lesson learnt in the 2005 tsunami. The other possible considered disaster is the Kashmir avalanche that killed 138 people a few days ago.

Indian Ocean on tsunami watch after Sumatra quake
Posted: 11 April 2012 1912 hrs

WASHINGTON - US monitors issued an Indian Ocean-wide tsunami watch following a massive earthquake off the coast of Sumatra Wednesday but said it appeared to have only generated small waves.

Victor Sardina, a geophysicist with the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii, told AFP the tsunami was "not anywhere near" as large as the devastating tsunamis that struck Asia in 2004 and Japan last year.

He said the tsunami measured a mere 35 centimetres (14 inches) near Padang, Indonesia, but could swell to as high as a metre (three feet) near Sri Lanka, adding that US scientists were still carefully monitoring the situation.

Earlier, the center said "earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami" but that it was not yet clear if such a tsunami had actually been generated.

The US Geological Survey said an 8.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra at 2:38 pm (0838 GMT) at a depth of 33 kilometers (14.2 miles), revising earlier reports of a deeper, stronger quake.

The epicenter was some 435 kilometers (270 miles) from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, one of the hardest-hit areas in the December 26, 2004 tsunami that wrought devastation across the Indian Ocean and killed some 220,000 people.

The earthquake that caused the 2004 tsunami had a magnitude of 9.2, but also a much stronger vertical component, whereas Wednesday's earthquake was more horizontally directed, Sardina said.

Last year, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake caused a tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, killing some 19,000 people.

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Pakistani soldiers buried by avalanche
The News - Natural Disasters
April 07, 2012

An avalanche has smashed into a Pakistani army base on a Himalayan glacier close to India, burying about 130 soldiers.

Rescue efforts were under way on the Siachen Glacier, where thousands of Pakistani and Indian troops are based, a security official said. The military is yet to release a formal statement.

The official said the snow had hit a battalion headquarters in Gayari on the glacier at 5.45am.

Siachen is on the northern tip of the divided Kashmir region claimed by both India and Pakistan.

The neighbouring countries have deployed troops at elevations of up to 6,700 metres (22,000ft) there. There have been intermittent skirmishes since 1984, and the region is known as the world's highest battlefield.

More soldiers have died from the harsh weather there than combat.

God Blessed.

[CWH]

May 2012 seems rather quiet except for the historic drought with wild fires in the US and the moderate earthquake in Italy that killed several people and displacing several thousands from their homes. Beware of continued drought and the hurricane season in June.

Wildfires sweep across south-west US amid historic drought conditions
The News - Climate-Environment
May 25, 2012

Wildfires raced across a dry and windy south-west on Friday, destroying dozens of homes and depositing a smoky haze over the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Fuelled by historic drought conditions, the wildfire season opened early this year in the rugged mountains of Arizona. By Friday morning, crews were fighting more than a dozen blazes in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, California and Utah. A few small towns were under evacuation order, and at least 170 square miles of brush and forest had been consumed by flames.

In New Mexico's Gila national forest, fires started by lightening strikes tripled in size over the last 48 hours, with high winds forcing firefighters to the sidelines. More than a dozen summer cabins in the town of Willow Creek were destroyed as the fire burned across 110 miles of steep forested canyons. [guardian]

Aftershocks rock Italy earthquake zone
The News - Natural Disasters
May 20, 2012

Aftershocks continued to be felt in northern Italy on Sunday after a strong earthquake in the early hours killed at least four, injured more than 50 and reduced historic churches and castle towers to rubble.
The epicentre of the quake, which the US Geological Survey recorded at magnitude 6.0, was 3.2 miles below ground, north of Bologna in the Emilia-Romagna region, and was felt across Italy, from Liguria to the Veneto.

Hundreds of terrified residents fled their homes and hospitals were evacuated after the 20-second earthquake struck at 4.04am. While major towns including Bologna emerged unscathed, helicopters were flying over remote villages as day broke, looking for collapsed buildings in which survivors could be trapped. [guardian]

May God Bless the earth.

[CWH]

Another destructive earthquake with several deaths occurred again in the same region in Italy. I got a feeling a big earthquake is coming in Italy or around the Mediterranean region. A low rumbler have been occurring for many months in Italy and now the ground there seems trying to release the strain....Beware.

5.8 quake hits northern Italy, 15 dead, buildings collapse
Reuters | Updated: May 29, 2012 20:17 IST
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Cavezzo, Italy: An earthquake killed at least 15 people in northern Italy on Tuesday, damaging buildings and spreading panic among thousands of residents still living in tents after a tremor in the same region destroyed their homes just over a week ago.

Officials said several people were trapped under the rubble of houses and warehouses in the Emilia-Romagna region, where several building sites and workshops had just reopened after the previous quake on May 20.

Civil protection officials said 15 people were confirmed dead. S even people were killed in the May 20 quake that, like Tuesday's, had its epicentre not far from the city of Modena.

Also Read
Strong aftershocks hit Italy's quake zone
Strong quake rocks Bulgaria, several aftershocks recorded
At least six dead, 50 injured in northern Italy quake
Italy mourns earthquake victims
Aftershocks continue to rock Italy, death toll reaches 272
Italian television showed buildings shaking and collapsing, ambulances racing across towns and rescue workers battling to remove rubble.

Workshops and factories outside Cavezzo, a village about 30 km (20 miles) from Modena, suffered considerable damage, a Reuters reporter said.

Sports car maker Ferrari and motorcycle firm Ducati closed their plants in the region for safety reasons.

"The situation is one of great fear and uncertainty," said Salvatore Iannizzotto, provincial head for the Modena police.

"The population was becoming more relaxed and slowly moving back into their homes. They have now left their homes again."

The 5.8-magnitude quake was felt across northern and central Italy, including in the most populous northern city Milan. The area was hit by several large aftershocks, one of 5.6 magnitude.

The quake was the most deadly to strike Italy since 2009 when a tremor partially destroyed the central city of L'Aquila, killing about 300 and leaving thousands homeless.

UNDER THE RUBBLE

Emilia-Romagna, famed for its cured ham and mature Parmesan cheese, is in the middle of the Po plain, traditionally considered safer than other areas of seismic Italy.

Several historic buildings, some damaged by the previous quake, suffered further damage.

"We are all in the streets, there are people crying with fear. It seems like a nightmare but it's all true," said one Twitter message.

In the town of San Felice sul Panaro, about 30 km from Modena, which saw its imposing 14th-century Estense Castle badly damaged in the previous quake, three workers were killed by a crumbling warehouse.

"The situation is very serious, some people are stuck under the rubble," Alberto Silvestri, the mayor of San Felice sul Panaro, told SkyTG24.

Prime Minister Mario Monti tried to reassure the population in an impromptu news conference. "I want to assure everyone that the state will do all that it must do, all that is possible to do, as fast as it can to guarantee the return to normality in a region so special, so important, so productive for Italy," he said.

The quake risks further damaging Italy's economy, which is struggling with recession. Farmers estimated the damage of the previous quake to agriculture in one of Italy's most fertile zones at more than 200 million euros.

On Tuesday, officials said rescue operations had been hampered by disruption to the mobile phone network.

"The town has been largely damaged. There are people under the rubble, we don't know how many," a police officer from Cavezzo told Reuters.

Giulio, a 72-year-old resident of Cavezzo, said: "As we were coming down the stairs, we heard the sound of crumbling houses around us. There was a big dust cloud. The town is being evacuated."

Train services around Bologna, near Modena, were temporarily disrupted, media said, and schools and other public buildings had been evacuated as far south as Florence.

May God Bless Italy.

[CWH]

The major disasters in June seems to be the large Colorado wildfire which caused the evacuation of several thousands of people due to the heat and drought:

Colorado wildfire weeks away from containment as conditions worsen
The News - Climate-Environment
June 18, 2012

Wildfires continued to rage through northern Colorado on Sunday, having already destroyed the most homes of any wildfire in the state's history.
Authorities brought in additional crews over the weekend to battle flames that have scorched about 85 square miles and destroyed at least 181 properties

More than 1,630 personnel are working on the Fort Collins-area fire, officials said in a news release Saturday night. The figure represents a more than doubling of on-duty firefighters from a day earlier. [guardian]

Beware of the coming heatwave:

Summertime: Are You Ready for a Heat Wave?
The News - Climate-Environment
June 21, 2012

With summer arriving this week and the NOAA predicting a warmer-than-normal summer, it's important to get ready to deal with heat waves. High temperatures can kill by heating the body above its ability to cool itself off. In a typical year, about 175 people in the United States suffer heat-related deaths.
North American summers are normally hot anyway; most summers see heat waves in at least one part of the country. East of the Rocky Mountains, they often combine high temperatures with high humidity. Our bodies' main method of cooling off is through the evaporation of sweat. Therefore, high humidity can cause problems even in relatively moderate summer temperatures, since it inhibits the evaporation of sweat.

May God Bless the climate.

[CWH]

I declare the major disaster for June 2012 s the Colorado fire and the heatwave:

COLORADO ABLAZE: Thousands flee new out-of-control wildfire
The News - Climate-Environment
June 25, 2012

The Waldo Canyon fire, which officials here called "very aggressive," spread in three directions and displaced about 11,000 people from their homes as fires continued to burn statewide Sunday.
Nearly half that total — about 5,000 living in Manitou Springs — were allowed to return to their homes beginning at 8 p.m. Sunday. Mandatory evacuations remained in place for Cascade, Green Mountain Falls and Chipita Park.

Situated several miles west of Colorado Springs, the fire — which for many residents in this southern Colorado city became a spectacle — charred at least 2,500 acres and forced evacuations of about 4,000 homes in El Paso County

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June 2012 seems to be one of the hottest month in US with several records broken. This is very unusual and it may be a sign of a great heatwave in the US.

More than 2,000 heat records matched or broken
The News - Climate-Environment
July 02, 2012

More than 2,000 temperature records have been matched or broken in the past week as a brutal heat wave baked much of the United States, and June saw more than 3,200 records topped, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Monday.
From June 25 to July 1, some 2,171 record temperatures were either broken or matched, the NOAA said. For the 30 days of June, that number rose to 3,215.

Accuweather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said the number of records broken was very unusual. He said that while some aspects of the heat wave are unknown, much of it is because of a lack of snow cover during the late winter on America's plains. [reuters]

Instead of the sun's heat melting snow, it instead heated the ground, which in turn warmed the air. The increase in temperature even made crops grow ahead of schedule until now; Sosnowski said the lack of rainfall has stunted crops' growth.

Sosnowski added that while some areas are not unusually warm, namely New England and the Northwest, the center of the country will experience high temperatures for the next several weeks, possibly into August.

Five states had more than 100 record temperatures broken in June. Texas had 237 records broken, followed by Colorado (226), Kansas (164), Missouri (126), and Arkansas (115).

The NOAA data comes as a relentless heat grips much of the eastern United States for a fourth straight day. About 2.1 million homes and businesses remained without power on Monday after violent storms and soaring temperatures killed at least 18 people since Friday, many of them when trees fell on their cars or houses.

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Heard also more than 100 killed in a landslide and 200,000 people displaced from flooding in Bangladesh at end of June....

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2...136333529.html

May God Bless Colorado.

[CWH]

Beware for more flooding and storm disasters for those living on the East Coast of USA as the sea level is rising much faster there. Note the current Storm Debby in Florida:

Florida declares state of emergency as Tropical Storm Debby moves closer
The News - Natural Disasters
June 25, 2012

Florida's governor has declared a state of emergency in anticipation of flooding caused by Tropical Storm Debby, which is drifting languorously towards the state's Gulf coast.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for the Tampa Bay area of Florida, as the storm's main threat comes from heavy rainfall rather than high winds. A storm warning from the National Hurricane Center applies to most of Florida's Gulf coast, from Destin to Englewood.

Florida's governor, Rick Scott, advised state residents to be "very cautious". One person has been killed in Florida so far.

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Sea rise faster on US East than rest of globe
AP Jun 25, 2012, 01.27PM IST


Tags:
US East Coast|University of Florida|sea level|global warming
WASHINGTON: Sea levels are rising much faster along the US East Coast than they are around the globe, putting one of the world's most costly coasts in danger of flooding, government researchers report.

US Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile (965-kilometer) swath a "hot spot" for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at an annual rate three times to four times faster than the global average since 1990, according to the study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.


It's not just a faster rate, but at a faster pace, like a car on a highway "jamming on the accelerator," said the study's lead author, Asbury Sallenger Jr., an oceanographer at the agency. He looked at sea levels starting in 1950, and noticed a change beginning in 1990.

Since then, sea levels have gone up globally about 2 inches (5 centimeters). But in Norfolk, Virginia, where officials are scrambling to fight more frequent flooding, sea level has jumped a total of 4.8 inches (12.19 centimeters), the research showed. For Philadelphia, levels went up 3.7 inches (9.4 centimeters), and in New York City, it was 2.8 inches (7.11 centimeters).

Climate change pushes up sea levels by melting ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, and because warmer water expands.

Computer models long have projected higher levels along parts of the East Coast because of changes in ocean currents from global warming, but this is the first study to show that's already happened.

By 2100, scientists and computer models estimate that sea levels globally could rise as much as 3.3 feet (1.01 meters). The accelerated rate along the East Coast could add about 8 inches (20 centimeters) to 11 inches (28 centimeters) more, Sallenger said.

"Where that kind of thing becomes important is during a storm," Sallenger said. That's when it can damage buildings and erode coastlines.

On the West Coast, a National Research Council report released Friday projects an average 3-foot (nearly 1-meter) rise in sea level in California by the year 2100, and 2 feet (0.61 meters) in Oregon and Washington. The land mass north of the San Andreas Fault is expected to rise, offsetting the rising sea level in those two states.

The USGS study suggests the Northeast would get hit harder because of ocean currents. When the Gulf Stream and its northern extension slow down, the slope of the seas changes to balance against the slowing current. That slope then pushes up sea levels in the Northeast. It is like a see-saw effect, Sallenger theorizes.

Scientists believe that with global warming, the Gulf Stream and other ocean currents are slowing and will slow further, Sallenger said.

Jeff Williams, a retired USGS expert who wasn't part of the study, and Stefan Rahmstorf, a professor of ocean physics at the Potsdam Institute in Germany, said the study does a good job of making the case for sea level rise acceleration.

Margaret Davidson, director of the Coastal Services Center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Charleston, South Carolina, said the implications of the new research are "huge when you think about it. Somewhere between Maryland and Massachusetts, you've got some bodaciously expensive property at risk."


Sea level projections matter in coastal states because flood maps based on those predictions can result in restrictions on property development and affect flood insurance rates.

Those estimates became an issue in North Carolina recently when the Legislature proposed using historic figures to calculate future sea levels, rejecting higher rates from a state panel of experts. The USGS study suggests an even higher level than the panel's estimate for 2100.

The North Carolina proposal used data from University of Florida professor Robert Dean, who had found no regional differences in sea level rise. Dean said he can't argue with the results from Sallenger's study showing accelerating sea level rise in the region, but he said it's more likely to be from natural cycles. Sallenger said there is no evidence to support that claim.

May God Bless the weather.

[CWH]

The disaster for July will be the great hot spell of USA. It has already broken some records. Next on the radar is the storm over the East Coast :

U.S. is Cooking : How about that heat?
The News - Climate-Environment
June 29, 2012

Colorado wildfire: 346 homes lost, 1 dead in Waldo Canyon fire

The roaring Waldo Canyon fire that exploded into west-side neighborhoods of Colorado Springs destroyed 346 homes — making it the most destructive wildfire in state history. It also has claimed at least one life. [DP]

Sweltering Heat Blast for Atlanta, DC, Philly, NYC

A heat wave breaking all-time records across the Plains has reached the Ohio Valley, South and East, bringing 100-degree temperatures to more than a dozen states. [accuweather]

Drought Grows Nationally Even As Florida Gets Soaked

Extreme rainfall from Tropical Storm Debby virtually wiped out long-standing drought across Florida, but continued dry weather across the rest of the contiguous U.S. led to the most widespread area of abnormal dryness in the 12-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor report. [weather] [LIVE HEAT MAP]

Washington breaks record temperature set in 1934

The Washington area has broken a record high temperature set almost 80 years ago. The National Weather Service says that just before 3 p.m., it was 104 degrees at Reagan National Airport just outside the city. That beats the record of 101 set in 1934. [WTOP]

13 killed and power cut to millions on the easy coast of USA:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-w...summer-storms/


May God Bless the month of July.

[CWH]

July 2012 seems like a disastrous month:

Monsoon floods in India kill 81, displace 2 million
Updated: 2012-07-03 08:01

By Agencies in Gauhati, India (China Daily)
Print Mail Large Medium Small
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The worst monsoon floods in a decade to hit a remote northeastern Indian state have killed more than 80 people and forced around 2 million to leave their homes, officials said on Monday.
Nearly half a million people are living in relief camps that have been set up across Assam state, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told journalists in Gauhati, Assam's capital. The rest of the 2 million displaced have moved in with relatives or are living in the open, sheltering under tarpaulin sheets.
Assam officials said 81 people have been killed over the past four days. Most of them were swept away when the mighty Brahmaputra River overflowed its banks and flooded villages. Sixteen people were buried in landslides triggered by the rains.
At least 11 people were missing in six districts, the state disaster management agency said in its bulletin.
Air force helicopters were dropping food packets and drinking water to marooned people, Singh said after surveying the flood-hit districts.
Army soldiers used boats to rescue villagers from rooftops of flooded homes.
Teams of doctors have opened health clinics in the 770 relief camps that had been set up across Assam, one of India's main tea-growing states. The hilly tea growing areas have not been affected, but lower rice fields have been washed away.
"Once we complete rescue and relief operations our focus will shift to restoration of damages caused by floods," Singh said.
The rain has stopped, but many rivers remains dangerously high.
Much of the Kaziranga National Park, known for its one-horned rhinos, was under water, forcing the animals to move to higher ground. Poachers have already killed one rhino that had strayed from the park and took away its horn, foresters said.
Singh announced 100,000 rupees ($1,800) compensation to each of the families whose members died in the floods.
"Until today 77 people have died. We are passing through a challenging time," Nilamoni Sen Deka, Assam's agriculture minister and official spokesman, told Reuters.
Thousands of cattle have perished after being swept away by the raging water or getting stuck in the mud. The stench of rotting animal carcasses was adding to the woes of the people in tents at the relief camps, officials said.
In the worst-hit Dhemaji district, raging waters of the Brahmaputra River swept away entire villages.
Officials said the entire Majuli island, one of the world's largest river islands, was awash as water levels in the Brahmaputra rose above the danger level.

Mat God Bless the Month of July

[CWH]

June and Juy seems to be the hottest months in US with several records broken. This is very unusual and it may be a sign of a great heatwave in the US.

More than 2,000 heat records matched or broken
The News - Climate-Environment
July 02, 2012

More than 2,000 temperature records have been matched or broken in the past week as a brutal heat wave baked much of the United States, and June saw more than 3,200 records topped, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Monday.
From June 25 to July 1, some 2,171 record temperatures were either broken or matched, the NOAA said. For the 30 days of June, that number rose to 3,215.

Accuweather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said the number of records broken was very unusual. He said that while some aspects of the heat wave are unknown, much of it is because of a lack of snow cover during the late winter on America's plains. [reuters]

Instead of the sun's heat melting snow, it instead heated the ground, which in turn warmed the air. The increase in temperature even made crops grow ahead of schedule until now; Sosnowski said the lack of rainfall has stunted crops' growth.

Sosnowski added that while some areas are not unusually warm, namely New England and the Northwest, the center of the country will experience high temperatures for the next several weeks, possibly into August.

Five states had more than 100 record temperatures broken in June. Texas had 237 records broken, followed by Colorado (226), Kansas (164), Missouri (126), and Arkansas (115).

The NOAA data comes as a relentless heat grips much of the eastern United States for a fourth straight day. About 2.1 million homes and businesses remained without power on Monday after violent storms and soaring temperatures killed at least 18 people since Friday, many of them when trees fell on their cars or houses.


May God provide relief for the weather.

[CWH]

Top headlines in July so far are the over 4,000 record heat in the US, the Floods in Russia and the Floods in Russia and India which killed several hundred people and a few million displaced. This extreme in weather patterns is expected global warming.

About 78 die in Russia as floods and landslides hit Krasnodar region
The News - Natural Disasters
July 07, 2012

About 78 people have died in flooding after torrential rains struck Russia's Krasnodar region near the Black Sea, flooding thousands of homes.
Around 67 people died in the area of the city of Krimsk, 1,200km (750 miles) south of Moscow, Igor Zhelyabin, a spokesman for the region's emergencies ministry, told Russian news agencies.

"Eleven more bodies were found in Novorossiisk and Gelendzhik. The police is beefing up its presence to prevent mass looting," a local police spokesman, Igor Zhelyabin, told Reuters. [guardian]


FROM BOIL TO BROIL
The News - Climate-Environment
July 07, 2012
While Day 9 of the heat wave reached 96 degrees, because of the rather low humidity, the heat index only reached 96. Keep that in mind when comparing today to Saturday when the temperature will reach around 103 degrees with the heat index between 105 and 110. That means Saturday will FEEL at least 10 degrees hotter than today. And today was mighty hot.

EXTREME HEAT BREAKS 4,500+ RECORDS...
Midwest 'out of whack'...
UPDATE: DC wave worst ever...
Threat of more severe storms...
LIVE HEAT MAP...

May God Bless the weather.