Massive duststorm chokes eastern Australia; Atlanta floods ease
A massive dust storm swept through eastern Australia today, turning the skies in Sydney a eerie shade of red-orange. The dust storm was reportedly the worst since the 1940s, and Sydney recorded its highest levels of particulate air pollution ever. The dust storm resulted from strong winds associated with a powerful low pressure system that swept through eastern Australia this morning. Winds today at the Sydney airport were sustained at 36 mph, gusting to 51 mph. Wind gusts as high as 64 mph were recorded in the Sydney area as the storm's strong cold front passed through. Particulate pollution levels are still in the hazardous range this evening in Sydney, but are expected to improve to the "good" range on Thursday as the winds die down and the dust storm dissipates.
Figure 1.. Strong northwesterly winds carry dust over Sydney, Australia, at 00 UTC 9/23/2009. Image credit: NASA.
Figure 2.. A strong cold front passing through eastern Australia this morning generated a sustained winds in excess of 20 mph over a large portion of the region.
Severe drought has affected large regions of Southeast Australia over the past three years (Figure 3). In isolated areas near Melbourne, the drought is the worst on record. The resulting loss of vegetation has created large regions of loose dust, which the strong winds from this week's storm was able to loft in the air and transport long distances.
Figure 3.. Rainfall deficiencies for Australia for the past three years. Image credit: Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Atlanta floods ease
Very heavy rains exceeding fifteen inches soaked the Atlanta, Georgia region early this week, triggering widespread major flooding that continues today. Rainfall eased yesterday, and all of the rivers in the Atlanta area have crested and are now falling. Record flood levels were observed on at least seven rivers and creeks in the Atlanta area yesterday, breaking records that had been set as long ago as 1919. Utoy Creek near Atlanta broke its previous flood record by nearly 11 feet on Tuesday. The floods have killed at least nine people and did $250 million in damage. Portlight.org is experimenting with a new disaster relief strategy for this flood--they have decided to adopt a single family to help, the Baxter family of Lithia Springs, Georgia. The Baxters lost their home, car, furniture, clothes, and everything else in their house, and need assistance to defray the short-term expenses of lodging, food, and clothing, so help out if you can.
Figure 4. Radar estimated rainfall for the Atlanta, Georgia region ending on September 22. More than 15 inches (white colors) had fallen in and around Atlanta.
There are no threat areas in the Atlantic to discuss today, and none of our reliable computer models are forecasting tropical storm development over the next seven days.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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lol. Very good
Went through an entire blog with no comments. Said he was off to run some errands, and never returned.
I know some people ignore him, but every blog needs comic relief.
The national outlook for rainfall over the December quarter (October to December) shows a moderate shift in the odds favouring a drier than normal season across parts of northeastern and southeastern Australia. On the other hand, the odds are shifted in favour of a wetter than normal season in western and central WA. It should be noted though, that the December quarter is a seasonally dry time of year in northwest WA, with heavy rain being uncommon.
The pattern of seasonal rainfall odds across Australia is a result of recent warm conditions in both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Pacific influence (El Niño) dominates the outlook in eastern Australia, while the Indian Ocean has had a greater influence on the probabilities in WA.
probability of exceeding median rainfall -
The chances of exceeding the median rainfall for October to December are between 25 and 40% over northeast Queensland, parts of Victoria, southeast SA and Tasmania (see map). This means that for every ten years with ocean patterns like the current, about six or seven years are expected to be drier than average over these regions, while about three or four years are wetter.
Contrasting this, the chance of a wetter than average conditions is between 60 and 75% for western and central parts of WA.
Across the rest of the country, including northern Victoria, NSW, NT, much of SA and eastern WA, the chances of exceeding the median rainfall for October to December are between 40 and 60%, meaning that above average falls are about as equally likely as below average falls in these regions.
Outlook confidence is related to how consistently the Pacific and Indian Oceans affect Australian rainfall. During the October to December period, history shows this effect to be moderately consistent over much of the country (see background information).
An unusual El Niño event persists across the Pacific Basin, with most leading climate models forecasting the event to peak late in 2009. El Niño events are usually (but not always) associated with below normal rainfall in the second half of the year across large parts of southern and inland eastern Australia. The SOI is approximately +3 for the 30 days ending 19 September
Certainly do a good impression of a Martian colony in times to come.
As for the Mayans, I'm pretty sure I remember reading one of the emperors talking about a lasting empire mysteriously stopping in 4772AD.
Since they apparently got the invasion of the Europeans right, maybe that one's for Yellowstone!
(Still another 2,500 years of films based on an impending apocalypse. What fun. Hollywood will be pleased, a long-time source of material...)
Good to here from ya, its been a while.
Willaim Miller, one of the founding lights iof the 7th Day Adventists preached that the world would end (or rather, the Milleniuum begin) sometime in 1843; his congregation pushed him on it so he predicted that it would happen beween 3-21-1843 and 3-21-1844...these guys have been at it for quite a while
Lat: 40.43 Lon: -86.93 Elev: 623
Last Update on Sep 23, 11:54 am EDT
Fair
76 °F
(24 °C)
Humidity: 62 %
Wind Speed: Vrbl 3 MPH
Barometer: 30.15" (1020.6 mb)
Dewpoint: 62 °F (17 °C)
Heat Index: 78 °F (26 °C)
Visibility: 10.00 mi.
Thanks for asking; she postponed her departure until today, to allow for the rain to subside, and just left the house in Tallahassee 15 minutes ago. The radar loops looks clear up I-75 from Florida to Rome so I told her to stay off the "loops/connectors" and just ride out I-75 all the way up. She presents tommorow morning and I know she will hit traffic near Atlanta but should get in alright tonight to Rome.
Looks that way....Just off the coast waiting to pounce on you!
haha I thought female's were always "right"?
Yup; convection and sheer everywhere.........
Oddly, we seem to be in the same position, press...I have one up on you, though...my wife and my stepdaughter think I'm stupid; we won't talk about what my kids think...too depressing to contemplate
LOL
:)
LOL
Spoken like a true smart a$$
Amen! Amen! and...Amen!
Forward...post...and spam to your hearts' content...
View images from the deadliest and costliest hurricanes to hit the United States.
... Coastal Flood Advisory remains in effect until 2 PM EDT this
afternoon...
A coastal Flood Advisory remains in effect until 2 PM EDT this
afternoon.
Elevated tides will continue to impact south coastal South
Carolina today. Tide levels are expected to reach 7.0 to 7.2 ft
mean lower low water in the Charleston Harbor with the next high
tide. These levels typically produce shallow coastal flooding up
and down the lower South Carolina coast... particularly in the
downtown Charleston area and along the Charleston County coast.
Rainfall combined with the higher tides may allow for shallow
coastal flooding to develop along the Colleton... Beaufort and
Jasper County coastlines and may exacerbate shallow coastal
flooding concerns for the Charleston County coastline.
High tide will occur at 1208 PM in the Charleston Harbor and
124 PM in the Beaufort river near Beaufort.
I always thought it was:
Red at Night Sailor's Delight, Red in the Day, Australians Dismay.
Very interesting conversations yesterday about low activity in all the basins this particular year.......Agree with some of the folks that El Nino may not be the only reason but I suspect that the pros/scientists will be writing papers very soon trying to figure the reasons/factors behind this overall slow activity this year.......Need to subscribe to the Journal of Atmospheric Science this year to even begin to get a handle on the issue.
I got a TON of toddler to young kids clothes to donate. I might be limited by how much money I can spend to ship them....
Too bad everyone is wrong, the real year is 5770 anyways...
I think the cause is El Nino in the Atlantic basin.
Its spring here not winter...lol
Hey! You have WU mail...
i am out
I bet they are filming the Mars Lander footage at the moment. Maybe even a pre-emptive video of man's first mission to mars.
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