Lebanon Storm: Snow Reaches Shores, Temperature Drops

Lebanon has been since Thursday in the grip of storm “windy”, with snow reaching shores and temperature significantly dropping in the third storm to hit the country this year.


Heavy rains fell on the coast as snow blanketed mountains and reached areas only 300 meters above sea level and the shores in some coastal regions.
 
Education Minister Elias Bou Saab ordered a closure of private and public schools on Friday and Saturday. For his part, Health Minister Wael Abou Faour announced that nurseries will close on Friday.

The storm Windy “still dominates over the Mediterranean Eastern basin and it is expected to recede on Saturday,” the National News Agency quoted the Meteorology Department at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport as saying.

The weather in Lebanon is expected to be partly cloudy and chilly with rains and snow at 600m, especially in the South, according to the Meteorology Department.
 [almanar.com.lb]
20/2/15
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Related:

• Palestinian Authority forms 'central operation rooms' to deal with snowstorm

2 strong cyclones hit remote parts of northern Australia

Two powerful cyclones smashed into northern Australia on Friday, with authorities ordering coastal residents to flee their homes amid warnings the storms' violent winds and drenching rains could prove deadly.

The twin storms, dubbed the ''cyclone sandwich'' by locals, struck early Friday, about 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) apart. Cyclone Lam hit a sparsely populated stretch of the Northern Territory, while the more powerful and potentially dangerous Cyclone Marcia began crossing over small coastal towns along the eastern coast of Queensland state a few hours later, packing wind gusts up to 285 kilometers (180 miles) an hour.

''Over the next few hours, many thousands of Queenslanders are going to go through a harrowing and terrifying experience,'' Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said. ''This is a severe cyclone. I want everyone to take all the precautions that they possibly can take.''

About 30,000 people living in the Queensland town of Yeppoon and surrounding areas were expected to experience the worst of the storm. More than 100 schools were closed and nearly 900 residents in low-lying areas were told to evacuate their homes.

No immediate damage had been reported, but officials pleaded with hardened Queensland residents _ no stranger to violent cyclones _ to take the storm seriously. A cyclone of similar strength, Yasi, hit the state in 2011, destroying scores of homes but causing no deaths.

''This is going to be a calamity, there's absolutely no doubt about that,'' Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned that Marcia had a ''very destructive core,'' had intensified rapidly and was likely to cause flooding.

In the Northern Territory, Cyclone Lam struck a remote stretch of coast, tearing up trees and downing power lines, but causing no major damage as it weakened and moved further inland. No injuries had been reported. 
 AP
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
20/2/15

Palestinian Authority forms 'central operation rooms' to deal with snowstorm

The Palestinian Authority on Thursday formed several “central operation rooms” in the West Bank to deal with the snowstorm.

The PA also urged Palestinians to remain indoors and avoid driving their vehicles in the snow.

Municipality and Civil Defense workers were put on high alert and hospitals beefed up their medical staff in anticipation of the snowstorm.

The PA said that its emergency teams were also ready to open all major roads that could be blocked by the snow. 
  [jpost.com]
19/2/15
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More snowstorms on the way for eastern US

The winter of 2014-2015 continues to bring further bouts of extreme weather, with southern states set to experience the worst of the next storm system.

People across New England are facing extreme cold as they attempt to dig themselves out of another major snowfall, following Sunday’s storm.
More than 1,800 flights across the northeast, but mainly at Boston and New York, were cancelled as heavy snow and strong winds, gusting to 100kph, swept across the region.

A total of 116cm of snow has fallen on Boston this month, making it the snowiest month on record, beating January 1975’s 110cm. This is also the third snowiest winter on record with 227cm.

The cold is also likely to break some records. Boston’s midday temperature on Sunday was minus 8C but the wind made it feel more like minus 29C. There is unlikely to be any let-up in the cold in the next 10 days.

At 0800GMT (0300EDT) on Monday, the temperature in the city had fallen to minus 18C and similar night-time values are expected in the coming days. The all-time record low for February is -28C, and that could be at risk of being broken.

Further snow is also expected in the coming days. Next Monday and Tuesday the city is expected to be hit by another 20 to 30cm of fresh snow.

In the shorter term, it is the turn of more southern states to experience their first major snow of 2015. An area from Kansas to the mid-Atlantic states will experience a swathe of heavy snow, totaling 20 to 30cm during Sunday night and Monday.

On the southern edge of the snow there is expected to a mix of snow and rain plus the risk of highly disruptive freezing rain. The area affected will extends from Oklahoma through Arkansas, northern Mississippi, northern Missouri, Tennessee to Georgia and the Carolinas.  Source: Al Jazeera
16/2/15
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Related:

• Rekordwinter in den USA: Neuer Schneesturm lähmt Boston...

Heavy snow batters northern Italy

Friday was a hard day for northern Italy, where many cities woke up covered in snow and had to cope with major traffic disruption and severe inconvenience for the population...

Freezing temperatures, heavy snows and strong winds caused icing highways, blocked rail lines and temporary closure of the Bologna airport. Authorities ordered many schools to remain closed.

"Indeed precipitations were intense in some northern regions, namely Emilia Romagna, Liguria and Piedmont," Colonel Guido Guidi, weather and climate expert of the Italian Air Force, told Xinhua.

Not only many areas were under a thick blanket of snow, but strong wings and coastal storms also added to the scourge of bad weather.

Water city Venice was flooded by tides which reached a height of 124 cm above sea level, according to local reports.

Strong winds toppled trees and made some parts of buildings and infrastructures collapse. Aid squads had to intervene and rescue dozens of people in difficulty across northern Italy.

Civil authorities warned residents in various towns to move to the highest levels of their homes and park vehicles as high as possible, after flooding claimed numerous victims in the past months.

Three elderly people in Lombardy region, of which the capital is Milan, were reported to have died on Friday after suffering heart attacks while removing snow from their homes. Five others were suddenly taken ill.

Guidi underlined, however, that the precipitation was regular.

"We are talking about snow in the winter season. Some Italian media have named this wave of bad weather as 'big snow' but if we look at 1929, when a lot of snow also came down, we can find exactly the same words on the then media reports," he noted.

"Friday's weather was the result of a pipeline of cold air coming from Siberia and the Arctic," a climatologist of the Institute of Biometeorology of the national Research Council (IBIMET-CNR), Marina Baldi, explained to Xinhua.

Baldi expected the weather to improve from Sunday, when the Azores anticyclone, a large-scale circulation of winds typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, whose effects include clearing skies, will move toward east.

She agreed with Guidi that the wave of bad weather was "not exceptional" but in line with the variability and temperatures experienced in the past, while also mentioning a certain influence of climate change on the milder winters and summer heatwaves registered over the last 10-15 years.

"For the next decades, we can expect an increase of extreme weather events and torrential rainfall within short timespans in Italy, with consequent more frequent flooding," Baldi concluded.
  Source: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
7/2/15
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Japanese town buried under six feet (1.8 metres) of snow

Parts of northern Japan were dug out on Tuesday from nearly six feet (1.8 metres) of snow after a massive winter storm dumped record amounts.

Around 50 troops were pressed into action in Hokkaido to shovel paths to snow-blanketed houses in Rausu on the eastern tip of the island.

The town was the worst-hit part of Japan when a major snowstorm whacked into the country at the weekend.

The meteorological agency which gave the snowfall figure warned of strong winds and further snowfall still to come in the region.

"We are telling our residents to stay home if possible," a town official told AFP by telephone.

"It's quite dangerous to go outside in this storm," the official said, adding that there had been no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The snowfall on Monday forced railway operators to cancel nearly 100 train services, affecting some 4,660 passengers, according to local media.

The severe weather comes as the US city of Boston was suffering with its own record snowfall of 40 centimetres (1.3 feet) on Monday, forcing the postponement of a victory parade for Super Bowl winners the New England Patriots and spelling travel misery.  
AFP
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
3/2/15
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Related 2014:

• 5 die, over 600 injured as heavy snow hits eastern Japan. -Issued the first heavy snowfall warning for central Tokyo in 13 years(video)

• Second Japan snow storm leaves thousands stranded as toll rises to 23....

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Related USA:

•  L'offensive hivernale a déjà causé la mort de 11 personnes aux Etats-Unis...

Millions stay at home as massive blizzard hits US

A massive blizzard has hit the US Northeast, halting thousands of flights and closing hundreds of schools.
Officials warned that the storm could dump as much as 90cm of snow on the region. 

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts declared states of emergencies as tens of millions of people were urged to stay at home with transport systems suspending services.

Aer Lingus has cancelled four flights between Ireland and North America today due to the storm.

The flights affected are EI 105 from Dublin to New York at 10.50am and EI 137 from Dublin to Boston at 2pm, as well as the return services - EI 104 from New York to Dublin and EI 136 from Boston to Dublin.

Yesterday one return flight between Dublin and New York was cancelled. Aer Lingus said customers affected by the cancellations had been notified.

The potentially historic storm poses the latest challenge to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has been under fire in recent weeks from police who criticised his support of public protests about white police violence against black men.   
         
The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for New York City and surrounding areas between coastal New Jersey and Connecticut, forecast to worsen overnight.
The blizzard knocked out a number of entertainment events. The New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets called off their games and Broadway performances were cancelled.   
        
The United Nations headquarters gave itself a day off and schools across the east coast dismissed students and cancelled classes, with those in Boston staying closed until Thursday.................http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0126/675582-new-york-snowstorm/
27/1/15
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Related:

• Storms threatens the northeast US with historic snow...

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft arrives at space station

The unmanned Dragon capsule owned by private U.S. firm SpaceX arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday morning for its fifth commercial resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory, U.S. space agency NASA said.

The spacecraft was successfully captured by a robotic arm operated by U.S. astronaut Barry Wilmore inside the ISS at 5:54 a.m. EDT (1054 GMT), 18 minutes ahead of schedule, as the two flew over the Mediterranean Sea, NASA said.

Dragon, which was launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday, carried about 2.5 tons of supplies and payloads, including materials to support 256 scientific experiments in space.

The scientific payloads included an instrument that will evaluate the clouds and tiny particles in the Earth's atmosphere to potentially decipher important clues for climate change and aid in weather forecasting on the Earth.

The spacecraft is also loaded with several biological experiments that will take advantage of the microgravity environment unavailable on the Earth to advance medical knowledge.

• One of the projects will study fruit flies' immune systems as a model for the human immune system, to explore how spaceflight can make organisms more susceptible to disease, especially since microbes can become more virulent in space.

• Another project will grow proteins inside a 10-centimeter cube in weightlessness to research a suspected cause of Alzheimer's and similar brain ailments in people.

Dragon will remain connected to the ISS for more than four weeks before departing for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California.

This is the fifth operational cargo delivery mission for SpaceX to the ISS. The company's 1.6-billion-U.S.-dollar contract with NASA requires at least a dozen cargo delivery flights in all.

Besides SpaceX, NASA has also signed a deal with another private company called Orbital Sciences Corp. to supply cargo to the ISS.

Orbital's first two flights went smoothly, but the third failed when the company's Antares rocket exploded seconds after liftoff in late October. 
 Xinhua - china.org.cn
12/1/15
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Related:

• US Dragon Spacecraft Blasts Off to ISS, Falcon 9 Rocket Landing Fails

• SpaceX launches cargo ship but rocket recovery test ends in crash ...

• The American cargo spacecraft Dragon that was launched last Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to the International Space Station (ISS) is to dock with the orbiting station on Monday...

US Dragon Spacecraft Blasts Off to ISS, Falcon 9 Rocket Landing Fails

The US spacecraft Dragon with 1.6 tons of supplies for the International Space Station (ISS) was successfully launched Saturday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, NASA said on its website.

The Dragon spacecraft was brought into the orbit by the Falcon 9 carrier-rocket. After completing the task, the first stage of the carrier-rocket was expected to land on a huge platform installed in the ocean off the coast of Florida.
According to US media reports, Falcon 9 crashed into the platform and broke into pieces, making it impossible to use the rocket in the future.

• The first stage of SpaceX's Flacon 9 rocket failed to make a soft landing at the ocean platform after separating from the spacecraft Dragon, chief executive of SpaceX private developer said Saturday.

"Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho. Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced," Elon Musk said via Twitter.
Musk earlier stated that in case of successful landing, his company would be able to use the rocket's booster stage multiple times, which would change the economics of space flights completely.....................http://sputniknews.com/science/20150110/1016737710.html
10/1/15
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Related:

• Launch of Dragon supply ship to ISS postponed due to bad weather (NASA)

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• La nave estadounidense Dragon parte hacia la Estación Espacial Internacional ...

• Un cargo privé américain Dragon décolle vers l'ISS ...

• SpaceX on Saturday (Jan 10) blasted off its Falcon 9 rocket on an historic recycling mission, after propelling the Dragon cargo ship toward the International Space Station...

Snowstorm hits west Canada, leaving thousands without power

Thousands of residents in Canada' s western province of British Columbia (B.C.) remained without power on Tuesday, one day after a winter storm swept through the region, BC Hydro spokeswoman said.

The heavy snowstorm has left up to 40 centimeters of snow in some areas and highway and schools closed. Monday was supposed to be the first day back to class after the winter break.

Closed roads and icy conditions made the work to restore power difficult, BC Hydro spokeswoman Simi Heer said.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 2,000 customers in west coast area and more than 1,000 residents in the Interior were left without electricity.

Nearly three dozen warnings remained in effect on Tuesday about winter storms, rainfall, snowfall and extreme cold across the province, except for the South Coast and Metro Vancouver.

Meanwhile, several highways are closed because of the storm, according to the Ministry of Transportation's DriveBC website. The ministry warns that moderate snow and high winds are increasing the avalanche hazard.
 Source:Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
7/1/15
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Related:

• Un froid polaire s'abat en ce moment sur l'Amérique du Nord ...

• As Toronto braces for another deep freeze, Mayor John Tory has asked the city to open its warming centres – a response to the recent deaths of two homeless men in as many days....

Launch of Dragon supply ship to ISS postponed due to bad weather (NASA)

The launch of the American resupply spaceship Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS) has been postponed due to the bad weather conditions.

“Launch of SpaceX's fifth resupply mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida was scrubbed for this morning,” NASA reported on Tuesday. Cargo on board the Dragon spacecraft includes supplies, science investigations and NASA's CATS instrument.

Another launch attempt will be made at 05:09 am, local time (13:09, Moscow time) on Friday.

The Dragon spaceship marks SpaceX’s fifth resupply mission to the ISS under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to deliver 20,000 kg (44,000 pounds) of cargo to the station during a dozen Dragon cargo spacecraft flights through 2016 under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.

The unmanned cargo freighter is loaded with more than 5108 pounds (2317 kg) of scientific experiments, technology demonstrations, crew supplies, spare parts, food, water, clothing and assorted research gear for the space station.
[itar-tass.com]
6/1/15
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Related:

• La NASA suspende el lanzamiento de la nave Dragon ...

• Malfunction in Booster Causes Suspension of Dragon Spacecraft Launch: NASA ...

Gazprom concerned over Ukraine’s possible siphoning off of Russian gas

The possibility of siphoning off of Russian natural gas by Ukraine has increased with the onset of cold weather, CEO of Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom Aleksei Miller was quoted by Rossiya 1 TV channel as saying on Monday. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has received the Gazprom head.

The Russian premier said that Moscow wants to deal with Ukraine as a reliable partner.

“But what you say makes one think of the developments and the way gas consumption takes place in Ukraine,” Medvedev said. According to him, prompt decisions must be made depending on the situation with gas consumption volume, if necessary, and in accordance with the made decision on the price discount Russia offered to Ukraine for the coming period - until March 31, 2015.
[itar-tass.com]
5/1/15
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Related:

• L'amministratore delegato di Gazprom Alexey Miller ha dichiarato che con l'inizio della stagione fredda aumenta il rischio di prelievi di gas russo non autorizzati da parte dell'Ucraina...

• Ukraine’s Naftogaz transfers $1.65 bln to Russia’s Gazprom under Brussels agreements

US Navy sends ship to assist AirAsia flight searching

The United States has sent a destroyer to the Java Sea to assist in searching for a missing AirAsia jetliner, US officials said Monday.

The USS Sampson was expected to arrive Tuesday in the search zone for Flight QZ8501, which lost contact on Sunday with 162 people on board.

"The US Navy is working closely with the government of Indonesia to identify additional surface or airborne capabilities that best assist their search efforts," the Navy's 7th Fleet said in a statement.

The State Department earlier said that the help was at the request of the Indonesian government.

"Our embassy in Jakarta is in close contact with Indonesian officials, and today, we received a request for assistance locating the airplane," said Jeffrey Rathke, a State Department spokesman.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said the assistance "could include air, surface and sub-surface detection capabilities."

Indonesia, Malaysia and several other countries are searching for the missing plane, which went missing en route from Surabaya in Indonesia's east Java to Singapore after the pilots requested a change of flight plan in a stormy weather.
  Source: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
30/12/14
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Related:

• Indonesian officials say they are sending teams to investigate reports of smoke on an island in the area where AirAsia flight QZ8501 has gone missing.... 

• AirAsia plane likely at sea bottom (Indonesia search chief)

AirAsia plane likely at sea bottom (Indonesia search chief)

The AirAsia plane with 162 people on board may have fallen into the bottom of the sea, 24 hours after the jetliner vanished from radar en route from Indonesia to Singapore, said Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency chief in Jakarta Monday.

"We assume the missing jet at the bottom of the sea based on the coordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea," Bambang Soelistyo told the media at the Soekarno-Hatta main airport.

It can be expanded based on evaluation, he noted.

Should the projection be true, Indonesia needs to cooperate with other countries to bring the wreckage to the surface, Soelistyo said.

"We still do not have the equipment, we will borrow the devices from other countries," he said.

The official warned that the current may cause the wreckage of the plane to move.
  Xinhua - china.org.cn
  29/12/14
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• AirAsia QZ8501: Indonesia plane search resumes ... 

• Flight From Indonesia to Singapore Loses Contact 

Flight From Indonesia to Singapore Loses Contact

An AirAsia flight with 162 passengers and crew on board has lost contact with air traffic control.

The flight by the low-cost airline had left the Indonesian city of Surabaya heading to Singapore when it disappeared at 7:24 a.m. Sunday, local time - 42 minutes into its flight.

Officials say the pilot had request a "deviation" from its flight plan to avoid bad weather.

An updated airline statement says the Airbus A320-200 had 157 Indonesian passengers and crew onboard, along with three South Koreans and one person each from Singapore and Malaysia. The crew of seven were all Indonesians.

The airline says search and rescue operations are under way and the company is assisting the rescue service.
 http://www.voanews.com/content/asia-missing-plane/2576242.html
28/12/14
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Heavy snow kills 3, disrupts travel in Japan

TOKYO: At least three people have died in heavy snow that has blanketed swathes of Japan, reports said Thursday (Dec 18), with up to two metres lying in some places and more forecast.

Two elderly women were killed on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, Kyodo News reported, with one hit by a snow-plough and another buried when a warehouse collapsed under the weight of fallen snow. Police said a man died in a traffic accident on snow-bound roads in Hiroshima.

There was also widespread disruption to travel, with around 100 domestic flights cancelled, adding to the 450 that were grounded on Wednesday, including some international routes, officials and media said. Reports said the famous bullet train network was also struggling to stick to its timetables.

The mountain town of Tsunan, near the Sea of Japan (East Sea) coast, was smothered in 185cm of snow, with parts of Hokkaido getting as much as 70cm in 24 hours, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

The snow is accompanied by strong gusting winds of up to 140km/h, which is causing tidal surges and sparking warnings to stay away from the water's edge.

• Forecasters said a powerful low pressure system off the eastern coast of Hokkaido was bringing much of the misery, and warned there was more to come. Parts of northern Honshu could expect up to 80cm of snow by breakfast time on Friday, the JMA said.

- AFP/rw - channelnewsasia.com

18/12/14

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Related (February 2014):

• 5 die, over 600 injured as heavy snow hits eastern Japan. -Issued the first heavy snowfall warning for central Tokyo in 13 years(video)

• Second Japan snow storm leaves thousands stranded as toll rises to 23....

Dozens of trekkers cut off by snowfall near Mount Everest

KATHMANDU - Dozens of foreign hikers and Nepali guides returning from a trekking trip to the base camp of Mount Everest have been cut off by heavy snowfall, a police official said on Sunday.

They have been forced to stay in four hotel resorts in the Gokyo area near the world's tallest peak, which has been battered by heavy snowfall following freak rains in the last 24 hours, police officer Chandra Dev Rai said from Salleri, the nearest town.

Gokyo lies in Solukhumbu region where Mount Everest is located and is a popular destination for hikers. Tens of thousands of trekkers and climbers visit the Solukhumbu region in northeast Nepal every year.

"There is chest-deep snow in the area. There is no report of any casualty so far. If the snowfall continues for long the tourists need emergency rescue," Rai told Reuters by phone.

Most mountainous areas in Nepal have experienced snowfall due to rains which are not common during this time of the year.

Weather officials in Kathmandu said the bad weather could continue for a couple of days, worsening the plight of the trapped tourists who could face a food shortage.

D.B. Koirala, chief of the Himalayan Rescue Association Nepal, said he had not received any SOS call from the hikers.
 [jpost.com by Reuters]
14/12/14

UK braced for 'weather bomb'

 The UK is preparing to be hit by a "weather bomb" with freezing winds of up to 130 kilometers an hour and giant waves causing disruption to travel and power supplies.

The Met Office issued alerts on Wednesday as the deep, low-pressure system headed for the country.

Ferry and rail journeys were cancelled in parts of Scotland due to high winds and large waves hitting the coastline while schools in the Highlands and Western Isles were shut down.

In the Western Isles, 17,000 homes suffered a power cut as lightning struck electricity facilities early on Wednesday morning.

Storm warnings were also issued for Thursday across Britain by weather forecasters, with travelers being warned they would face major disruption.

- Freezing winds

Several flood warnings were issued across Scotland

Amber "be prepared" alerts were issued by the Met Office for western Scotland, the Highlands, Northern Ireland, Orkney and Shetland and Strathclyde regions.

Yellow "be aware" weather warnings were applied to England's South East, South West, North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber and northern Wales.

Referred to by meteorologists as a " weather bomb", deep, low-pressureweather systems known as cyclogenisis are known for their severe effects wrought by freezing, strong winds.
www.aa.com.tr/en
10/12/14
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Related:

• Weather bomb' batters parts of Britain: live updates ...

•  Orkan über dem Atlantik: Wetterdienste warnen vor 20-Meter-Wellen ...

Typhoon Hagupit strikes Philippines (video aljazeera)

Typhoon Hagupit has killed at least three people, destroyed homes and and flooded coastal communities across the eastern and central Philippines, affecting millions of people.
The storm moved in from the Pacific Ocean and struck remote fishing communities on Samar island on Saturday night, but weakened from 210km to 165km an hour as it continued its path through the country on Sunday.

The wind strength made Hagupit the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines this year, exceeding a typhoon in July that killed more than 100 people.


In a span of just 24 hours, the storm brought 396mm of rain, which is equivalent to half a month of precipitation.

Two people, including a baby girl, died of hypothermia in central Iloilo province at the height of the typhoon, officials said.
Another person died after being hit by a falling tree in the eastern town of Dolores, where the typhoon first made landfall, according to Mar Roxas, interior secretary.

Two women were injured when the tricycle taxi they were riding was struck by a falling tree in central Negros Oriental province.
"Tin roofs are flying off, trees are falling and there is some flooding," Stephany Uy-Tan, the mayor of Catbalogan, a major city on Samar, told AFP news agency.
According to reports from news agencies and local media, close to a million people had fled to shelters in areas along the path of the typhoon.
So far, the provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur and Masbate have declared emergency.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas, reporting from the capital Manila, said that the storm had made another landfall in the central island of Masbate, but had slightly weakened as it moved northwest.
Witnesses in Masbate told him that roads had been blocked from typhoon debris, making it difficult to deliver food packages to evacuees.

Lessons of Haiyan
In a statement to Al Jazeera, the UN office in Manila said the humanitarian needs in the Philippines would not be fully known until Hagupit passed over.
Fearful of a repeat of last year when Supertyphoon Haiyan claimed more than 7,350 lives, the government launched a massive evacuation effort to provide shelter to people in the path of Hagupit.
"The government is absolutely determined to do this better," Al Jazeera's Thomas said............................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/12/typhoon-tears-into-disaster-weary-philippines-201412713344420641.html
7/12/4
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Related:
 

• Philippines Start to Evacuate Residents Amid Fears of Powerful Typhoon (3/12/14)

• About half a million people have fled coastal villages and evacuated their homes in the Philippines as a powerful storm approaches the archipelago (6/12/14)

• ***le super typhon Haiyan

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Philippines Start to Evacuate Residents Amid Fears of Powerful Typhoon

The Philippines have started to evacuate residents of coastal villages and landslide-prone communities following warnings of typhoon Hagupit, which is expected to hit the central part of the country, Reuters said.
 Typhoon Hagupit, which translates “lash” from Filipino, is currently near the Palau islands, but is expected to hit the eastern Philippines after picking up more strength – Hagupit’s winds are expected to reach up to 140 km per hour and gusts more than 170 km per hour.

“Definitely we will now strictly enforce forced evacuation,” said vice-mayor of Tacloban City in Central Philippines Jerry Yaokasin, as quoted by Reuters. “We have no more excuse, we have gone through Yolanda, and to lose that many lives, it’s beyond our conscience already”.

Last year, Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,000 people dead or missing. Tacloban City was almost entirely flattened, accounting for nearly half of the dead, Reuters reported.
[sputniknews.com]
3/12/14
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***le super typhon Haiyan