Today is Earth Day, and as is my tradition on Earth Day, I'll present my nominations for best wunderphotos uploaded to our web site over the past year. This year's photos are truly remarkable, and I want to thank everyone who uploaded weather photos for their contributions to what has become one of the world's best weather photo galleries. Enjoy Earth Day!
Update on portlight.org charity errorts
The portlight.org disaster relief charity is sponsoring a Portlight Relief Event Series of fund raising events in cities across the U.S. this Spring. The next event is the Destin Dog Walk, which will take place Sunday, April 26th at Harbor Walk Village in Destin, Florida. Portlight Strategies board chair, Paul Timmons (wunderground handle, presslord) will be in attendance and will have the live webcam running, so please join in. Wunderbloggers code1, sugarsand, and FWBLinda have done an excellent job of putting this event together. It should be a beautiful day and a fun-filled event.
Portlight is also continuing to look for generous people to sponsor walkers for this event. If you would like to contribute, please use the Paypal button or send checks to the address in the Portlight Disaster Relief blog. Make sure to note "For Destin Dog Walk." Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from this event will provide disaster relief for pets. The remaining proceeds will support Portlight's disaster relief efforts for rural communities and people with disabilities.
Many thanks to all of you who have supported Portlight's efforts in one way or another! With yet another hurricane season approaching, they continue to need your help. The Portlight Relief Event Series is a critical part of preparing a more efficient and effective relief effort. If you would like to help coordinate a walk or other fundraising event in your area, please contact Paul Timmons, paul@portlight.org
Jeff Masters
Water Spout over Lake Pontchartrain, Slidell, LA from home in Clipper Estates
Rainbow over the Moon (
cleo85)
Here in the tropics the moon setting and the sun rising in opposite directions is often visible. But a Rainbow at the same time right over the moon thats spectacular even for the tropics. Captured at PaaMul, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Yucatan Penionsula.
This series of photos taken from 2,000' AGL while flying over northern Pennsylvania just after sunrise.
Got this picture on the way to work this morning.I have never seen something like this before.This storm produced a few tornado warnings in our area.
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But then, that makes one wonder why something like Andres in 1997, who was of similar strength to Alma when it made landfall in the same general area, wasn't retired.
Hell, even Adrian in 2005. o_O
It was an unusual storm
Last I checked, being "unusual" wasn't a requirement when it came to retiring a storm. I personally don't feel as though Paloma deserves to be retired, because, despite its enigmatic nature, it only hit Cuba as a Category 2, and degenerated completely, in less than 18 hours after its Cuban landfall. It didn't stay together long enough to cause significant damage.
lol
Maybe because she hit the caymans kind of hard.
Paloma was also the only hurricane starting with the letter P to be retired in the Atlantic Ocean and to be retired with the least deathes in the Atlantic.
Did not see that coming.
I don't see how after killing 500 people they can not retire her.
i agree with them all
except alma thats strange in its self
Well, according to kman, the Caymans weren't hit particularly hard by the storm, and are recovering nicely. Grand Cayman was also largely unscathed.
I'm just throwing out some reasons why. Since they retired Alma they should of retired Fay.
It's just a great song. Woops sorry vortex my bad.
This song just always reminds of hurricane season
It's a powerful song.
I think it was bull**** that Gordon wasn't retired. It's the same with Hanna.
My mom just came back for a quick visit to Haiti to see here family. She said she saw cars upon rooftops, left up there by the flood waters.
To expand on this point a bit, I'd like to comment on the whole "Haiti's infrastructure is crap" thing. Granted, that's obviously true, but the WMO needs to understand that it isn't the fault of the Haitians that they are as vulnerable as they are to flash flooding.
It's the fault of their idiotic government, that advocated the deforestation of the country.
Given this fact, I think it is rather irresponsible for the WMO to continually refuse to retire storms like Gordon and Hanna, despite an extraordinarily high death toll.
lol definitely the government is corrupt, albeit all governments are.
What is more, there is no radar
I lived in Haiti until the age of 10, and I remember how inaccurate the weather forecasts were.
Storm Warning (0000z 23APR)
=============================
Low [988hPa] near 32S 165E moving south 5kt
clockwise winds 50 kts
hmm you think if Myanmar had control of what names would be retired Nargis wouldn't?
Who do you think retired Ike and Gustav.. United States or Cuba?
lol, I have no clue O_o
However, I am truly sure that tropical cyclones that causes anomalously high casualties should be retired...
Korithe, do you remember, we worked this out... the whole point of retiring names is to remove the emotional tags that are attached to that name. You can't quantify a life differently just because they lived in Haiti... They're still a person, and many loved ones are grieving over their loss... they don't want to have another Hurricane Hanna.
It's inane, that's what it is...
Yes, and that was exactly my point. The WMO is disrespecting Haiti by hesitating to retire names such as Gordon and Hanna. Indeed, I would go as far as to say that the WMO is dehumanizing the Haitians.
Very tragic.
Other than a acknowledgment of the tragedy - Financial assistance?
...oh...
I guess I missed the last line... true... yah... remember in October when you thought Hanna shouldn't be retired? lol someone convinced you...
AFAIK, acknowledgment is the only beneficial factor in retiring a name. You'd be surprised how many of us, as humans, myself included, put strong (indeed, what some would argue as needless) emphasis upon acknowledgment.
A tropical cyclone may just be a mass of clouds, but nonetheless, I think it is important to refrain from dehumanizing people, as the Haitians so clearly have been.
Here's what the NHC has to say:
Whenever a hurricane has had a major impact, any country affected by the storm can request that the name of the hurricane be "retired" by agreement of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Retiring a name actually means that it cannot be reused for at least 10 years, to facilitate historic references, legal actions, insurance claim activities, etc. and avoid public confusion with another storm of the same name. If that happens, a like gender name is selected in English, Spanish or French for Atlantic Storms.
note: post-1969 storms in the Atlantic and post-1988 storms in the E Pacific are suspended indefinitely.
Thanks. Sounds like the formal request was what was missing. I guess another country could not request on behalf of the affected country.
Paloma's death total is the smallest of any of the retired hurricane names.
That's so true. Whenever I hear that song, I think of the 2004/2005 hurricane season. With all the hurricanes that affected South Florida that season, that song was constantly playing. Especially for Wilma and Frances. I was glued to the TV for days.
Speaking of Frances, I remember school being cancelled for three days and it was so boring. It was raining nonstop and, while the winds weren't too strong, it would stay at 50/60 mph without any breaks, so it was nearly impossible to leave the house at all during those days. Then, of course, Wilma which was much worst...well, I'm not going to even get started on that.
Yeah, I don't understand Alma being retired. They might as well retire Arthur also. I could see Norbert being retired more than Alma also.
However, I remember many people were confused on why Stan was retired from '05. A lot of people don't understand the rains cause a lot of damage-- it's not all about the wind speed.
that was a little rude dont you think i would re move that commet be for any one see it
Or simply because it's Haiti. If 500 died in the US from a tropical cyclone, the chances of that going to be not retired are fairly slim.
Paloma did a fair bit of damage, more than Fay did, I think. Close to a billion.
I can kinda see why it was retired. There are other names in there that were 'retired' that perhaps could have been avoided.
That said, Dolly did more damage and wasn't retired. One of the very few - if the only - that caused a billion damage and wasn't retired.
It's not exactly a precise science. Could it be modified? Probably. Does it need to be? That's a matter of debate.
Alas, it is only a name at the end of the day. Whether it's not used anymore or not, not going to bring anyone's deceased loved ones back. Nor their homes. Nor their livelihoods. Only time can do that.
Let's hope 2009 has no names that need to be retired.
it was determined that Gabrielle did not meet the minimum requirements of
a tropical cyclone by the Australian definition, which requires that
gales extend more than halfway around the center for at least six hours.
Gales were observed in one quadrant or another throughout most of
Gabrielle's life, but at no one time did they extend more than halfway
around the LLCC. Gabrielle will not be included as a cyclone event in
BoM's Best Tracks file.
---
Gabrielle got downgraded in post analysis from BOM.
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