er that may further disrupt power to homes and businesses, meteorologists said today.
The storms followed a day of temperatures reaching triple digits, including a record-setting 104 degrees Fahrenheit
(40 degrees Celsius) at Washington’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, breaking a mark of 101 degrees set in 1934.
At least 10 people have died, including six in Virginia.
276 daily high temperature records were set yesterday, and 1,456 daily high records in the past seven days. Some of those records included 109 degrees in Athens, Georgia, and 106 degrees in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Charlottesville, Virginia, also set a record with 104 degrees. Johnston and Columbia, South Carolina, both recorded 113 degrees yesterday, which would be all-time records for the state, Kines said. Read More.
14.9 million uprooted by natural disasters – Asia worst hit
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) today launched its figures on people internally displaced worldwide by natural disasters at the Rio+20 conference in Brazil.
The report found that in 2011, 14.9 million people were internally displaced throughout the world due to natural disasters,
mostly related to weather events such as floods and storms. 89% of the displacement occurred in Asia “The ten largest
disasters in terms of the amount of people displaced all took place in Asia including multiple events in China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Japan” says NRC’s Secretary General Elisabeth Rasmusson.
“The worst were the prolonged flood disasters in China and Thailand which together displaced over 5 million people”. Read more about their findings.
Top 10 Disaster Films
This group covers a very widespread cross section of possible ways for things to go terribly wrong including natural disasters , man made mistakes, and even a few that have more sinister supernatural undertones.
I hope that you will get as much of a kick out of this jaunt down the apocalypse alley as I did and if anything, it may help you see that our current real life status quo isn't all that bad. Click here to see the list.
Extreme Drought Conditions
Southeast Missouri's drought continues with no substantial relief in sight. On Thursday the latest U.S. Drought Monitor
was released, and the severity of drought in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois was changed from "severe" to "extreme,"
indicating worsening conditions.
David Humphrey, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Ky., said the drought continues to worsen as parched crops languish in fields around the country. Click here for more details.
Independence, MO — The mid-week rain helped – temporarily – but the National Weather Service confirms that the area’s
drought is steadily growing more severe.
The Kansas City area has had only about half of the normal amount of rainfall since April, and most of Missouri and Kansas are rated as abnormally dry, if not worse. Read more.
Northern Lights seen in Maryland
On Saturday night, two waves of plasma unleashed by the sun (coronal mass ejections) collided on their flight towards Earth. The result?
A geomagnetic storm that produced eye-popping aurora (northern lights) as far south as the mid-Atlantic.
Extreme weather photographer Jeff Berkes was in the right place at the right time and took advantage of a very rare opportunity to photograph the northern lights in eastern Maryland. Read more and photos of the auroras.
New System of Weather Emergency Alerts
Starting this week, a new system of weather emergency alerts will be rolled out across the country aimed at reaching people, no matter where they are, through their most-used communication device: the cell phone.
Even if you are nowhere near a computer, TV, radio or warning siren, you can now get a text-like message on your cell phone — called Wireless Emergency Alerts — warning of dangerous weather in your specific area. Article was originally published in the Duluth News.
Flood Victums Aided by Military Drones
Taiwan mobilises its drones for 