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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I think it's over as far as affecting the islands.
Here's what StormW said yesterday in his blog about the yellow-circled wave...
"The recent run of the CMC and GFS wind shear forecast maps indicate upper level winds to become more conducive, with wind shear increasing in about 2-3 days. Based on this, save any dry air intrusion, I am calling for continued SLOW development of this area during the next 48 hours, with conditions becoming less favorable near 72 hours.
This area should move generally toward the west for the next 48 hours, with a turn to the NW, and eventually recurving.
I will continue to monitor this area during the next 72 hours for any changes."
I think the bold sentence is STRONGLY wrong lol.
Almost, but not quite entirely,
unlike tea...
Yeah, I remember it. Definitely remember Elena. I didn't follow the tropics as much back then.
Circles are very popular on this blog.
Yellow one's are rooted to orange...
Orange ones are rooted to red...
and red ones are...
***POOF!***
You took my line and improved it. Thanks!
Have a good day SAINT.
Gotta head to work myself.
L8R every-one.
You're correct... but that just a perception since the "Cooler/Colder" weather El Nino brings is mainly due to the storminess increase in the south than an actual colder than normal airmass. This is my opinion. Also the cold spells are typically less in their duration than with La Nina...
This could pretty well be a Modoki inclined El Nino... there's just something not quite right with this El Nino.
We pods try to help the humans whenever possible...
AOI
AOI
AOI
AOI
I've been pondering about that possibility. I'm on a wait and see mode... hehe.
Hehe...
A TROPICAL WAVE LOCATED NEAR THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS IS PRODUCING
DISORGANIZED SHOWER ACTIVITY. SOME SLOW DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM
IS POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT DAY OR TWO AS IT MOVES WEST-
NORTHWESTWARD AT 10 TO 15 MPH. THERE IS A LOW CHANCE...LESS THAN
30 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE
NEXT 48 HOURS.
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