Super Storm Sandy followed by nor’easter

Super storm Sandy slammed the Northeast and Mid Atlantic sections of America at the end of October earning the name Frankenstorm. Frankenstorm was a unique storm consisting of Hurricane and  winter storm. Sandy left a path of destruction and death along with high winds, floods, power outages and snow in West Virginia.  Here in southwest Virginia there were power outages from wind gusts up to 50 mph.

Now adding insult to injury the northeast is getting slammed by a Nor’easter.  They say bad things come in threes… so I wonder what’s next for these poor folks.   People already devastated by Sandy and many without power woke up to freezing temperatures, high winds and snow this morning.

Hurricane Sandy becomes Monster for Halloween

Hurricane Sandy becomes Monster for Halloween

Trick or Treat…Forecasters have declared Sandy a monster which will have a combination of high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and even snow along the East Coast over the weekend and early next week just in time for Halloween.  Carl Parker a hurricane specialist said, “We are looking at one of the worst storms on record that we have seen in this region”. 

Sandy is expected to collide with a wintry storm moving from east to West along with frigid air streaming south from Canada.  Bryan Norcross another hurricane specialist for the Weather Channel added the storm "will be like a nor'easter with a hurricane embedded in it”.

"It's looking like a very serious storm that could be historic" … Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the Weather Underground

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecaster Jim Cisco… coined the nickname "Frankenstorm,” He also added: "We don't have many modern precedents for what the models are suggesting."

Living in the Roanoke Valley might be intresting in the next few days maybe that will be another post  also see  www.weather.com

Rhino's slaughtered at record Pace

www.msnbc.com reported today that Poachers have killed 455 rhinos so far this year in South Africa . The WWF (The World Wildlife Fund) has urged South Africa for more protection and more pressure on Vietnam.

Vietnam receives the majority of the horn's which the Rhino's are brutely slaughtered for. The WWF also added "There is also an urgent need for law enforcement actions by neighboring countries which are implicated as transit routes for illegal trade in rhino horn, specifically Mozambique."

Polar Bear Update

In July of this year Greenland’s ice cap melting was higher than in 150 years of recorded data.  In addition, Arctic temperatures have risen 4 degrees above global average.  As the floating Arctic sea ice shrinks polar bears find themselves in competition for food leaving some hungry or starving.

The polar bears use the floating ice as a platform to hunt for seals.  The polar bears are now listed as either vulnerable or threatened depending on the list from either the United States or by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Update mother Earth

Nearly 52 record-high temperatures for 2012

The 2012 fire season so far has produced five times the average number of acres burned

Hurricane Isaac 2012 will hit on the same location 7 years to the date of Hurricane Katrina on   August 29, 2005. 

The amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic has reached a record low in three decades of satellite data

Drought conditions at record levels in the United States  2012

Strange Summer Days 2012

Heat Wave
Thousands of so called “unbreakable” records have been broken over the past few weeks from the High Plains to the East Coast, and north into Canada.  The nature of these broken temperature records have left meteorologist and climatologists struggling to understand if these is only temporary or a sign of things to come being the new normal.

Derecho
Also, adding insult to injury a “super derecho” of violent thunderstorms left a 700 mile trail of destruction across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic States. Derecho’s are rare across the mid-Atlantic.    The power was cut to millions of people and thirteen people lost their life.  This storm produced hurricane force winds that gusted up to 91 mph.

The storms destruction included:  power poles snapped, tree limbs in the road, live wires on the ground  and a state of emergency declared in Virginia with 2.5 million without power (Virginia’s largest non-hurricane related power outage in history).  The president of Appalachian Power said “the storm was a major historical disaster.

Nature Update

OK to drill in Arctic Waters

Environmentalists have taken at hit this week as the US gave the OK for drilling in their Arctic waters. “Targeted leasing” will be used in order to protect the native ecosystem.  Environmentalists are opposed to the drilling due to polar bears, walruses, whales, and seals depend on this delicate system for their survival. 

The Alaska Wilderness League has implied that there is no viable way to clean up oil spilled into the Arctic Ocean due to remoteness and harsh weather conditions. Shell will have to conduct business with close oversight and rigorous safety standards…the toughest in the United States history.

Shell will begin exploratory drilling this summer after they receive the final permits.   

Epic Fires

In the last report the Waldo Canyon fire has doubled in size forcing 32,000 people to flee.  Colorado Springs Fire Chief Rich Brown called the Waldo Canyon Fire a "monster event…not even remotely close to being contained."

The cause of the fire is under investigation.  Colorado is battling 12 large fires, its worst fire season in history.

Rhino’s in danger as horns reap more than gold

Home to the greatest number of Rhino’s South Africa had a loss of 443 Rhino’s in 2011 according to the National Geographic News Watch .  In addition, MSNBC news reported a record number of rhinos were poached this year in South Africa, as rising demand in Asia for their horns led to increased killings of the already threatened species.

The street values of the horns are now more than gold or platinum at the cost of $65,000 a kilogram.  In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the horn, ground into a powder and is used to treat fever, rheumatism, gout, and other disorders. Recent claims by a Vietnamese official that he used rhino horn to cure his cancer have escalated demand.