Huge Windstorm Causing Havoc Through Most Of Western U.S.

Wind damage on the campus of the University of
Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Strong, damaging winds
are hitting a remarkably huge area of the western
and central U.S. 

A widespread windstorm is slamming much of the western United States today as powerful storms and an even more powerful jet stream are roiling the atmosphere. 

Alerts for strong winds extend 1,400 miles from the West Coast in Washington and Oregon to Iowa. This is the second widespread area of strong, destructive winds in a week, and this second one is the worse of the two. 

Washington State has been enduring atmospheric river storms for over a week now. The state suffered its first fatality when a man accidentally drove his truck into a ditch while driving into a flooded road that had been closed. 

Overnight, an immense surge of wind blustered into Washington and Oregon. A gust of 138 mph was measured on Mount Hood in Oregon this morning. In high elevation Washington, gusts reached 112 at Alpental, 99 mph in White Pass and 82 mph at Snoqualmie Pass. 

Where torrential rains fell in the past week in the Olympic and Cascade mountains, blizzard warnings were up today.

As of this morning, the winds had cut power to 500,000 in Washington and Oregon. Across the border in British Columbia, Canada, about 90,000 people had their electricity cut by the gales. 

The winds raced into eastern Washington and Idaho this morning. Lewiston, Idaho gusted to 84 mph and Moscow, Idaho reported 81 mph. Spokane measured a gust to 75 mph. Coeur d'Alene, in northern Idaho, had severe thunderstorms and gusts this morning to 66 mph. 

Another seriously out of season severe thunderstorm packing winds of up to 70 mph was menacing Twin Falls in southern Idaho this morning. Two children were reportedly critically injured in Twin Falls when a tree fell on them as they were waiting for a school bus. 

Remarkably, virtually all of the vast states of Montana and Wyoming are under high wind warnings today, as are most of the Dakotas and Nebraska.  Near the Rocky Mountains in Montana, winds could reach 100 mph.  

It's been oddly warm in western Montana, with heavy rains. The winds will topple more trees than usual for a strong winter storm since the ground is so wet and not frozen like it usually is this time of year. 

The winds in Montana and Wyoming are expected to be strong enough to cut power, sometimes for days, create blinding dust storms and topple tractor trailers. The National Weather Service and officials in both states are discouraging truck traffic because of the impending storm. 

The National Weather Service is comparing the looming Montana storm to the high winds of January, 2021. That storm brought wind gusts of 75 to 80 mph to cities like Great Falls, Helena and Havre. The 2021 storm. also set off some destructive rangeland fires in Montana. The same is possible in central and eastern Montana today, as those areas have not gotten nearly as much snow and rain as areas west of the Continental Divide. 

Similar fears have erupted in Colorado, where intense winds are in the forecast today along the Front Range and the Plains to the east.  The fire risk today actually extends from southeast Wyoming, through central and eastern Colorado down into New Mexico. 

 Memories of the December, 2021 firestorm around Boulder, Colorado are still fresh. Violent downslope winds fanned a wildfire that raced through Boulder-area subdivisions

That fire was the worst and most costly in Colorado history, destroying more than 1,000 homes. The fear is, it could happen again in the upcoming windstorm. 

Winds will be ferocious this time but not as bad as in 2021. Top winds then reached 100 mph. This time, they'll be closer to 80 mph. But that's more than enough for dangerous wildfires. Especially since it has been unusually dry and warm lately.  

The utility Xcel sent a notice to customers Tuesday telling to expect possible power outages.  The utility might shut off power in susceptible areas to avoid the risk of wildfires.  That way, if power lines snap in the wind, they won't start fires because the juice will be off.  

As of early this afternoon, wind worries were spreading. A high wind warning is up for parts of western New York tomorrow. Most of the rest of New York, along with parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont are under wind advisories. 

The stormy regime out west shows no signs of ending. More storms will crash into Washington, Oregon and California several times before New Years Day. 

 

 

Not On My Bingo Card: Ice Fishing Can Lead To Dangerous Methane Fires

Ice fishing shanties on Harriman Reservoir near 
Wilmington, Vermont. Methane escaping through
a hole in the ice created by an auger is believed
to have contributed to a flash fire that burned
a father and his two daughters recently on the lake. 

We know how long term methane emissions can be dangerous. 

It's a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so it's contributing to climate change in a serious way. 

But it turns out methane can pose a more immediate danger.  To, believe it or not, people out on frozen lakes enjoying a day of ice fishing. 

 A terrible incident happened in southern Vermont on February 1, proves the rare but dangerous phenomenon. 

A father and his two daughters went out onto frozen Harriman Reservoir in far southern Vermont for a day of ice fishing. A propane-fueled heating device of some sort warmed their ice shanty. 

Then, horror struck. 

A flash fire erupted inside the shanty, burning the dad and the two daughters. Police said there might have been a defect with the heater, but another factor might well have contributed. Methane bubbling up from rotting leaves at the bottom of Harriman Reservoir became trapped under the ice. 

The hole in the ice the family created inside the shanty allowed the methane to escape and build up inside that shanty. The heater then ignited it. 

The man and two girls were taken to a hospital in Brattleboro, Vermont, and then transferred to a Boston hospital for treatment.  Reports are the three are recovering, but we don't know how long that recovery will take. 

This apparently isn't the first time methane seeping from Harriman Reservoir has caused methane fires. Per the Brattleboro Reformer:

"Police contacted a witness who had provided the injured people a ride off the ice to a parked vehicle following the incident. They 'learned that this person had witnessed several instances where pockets of methane released through holes in the ice surface were ignited and burned, the (Wilmington, Vermont) news release states.

"During the investigation, police also received several phone calls from people providing information about other incidents involving flash burns of methane released through holes in the ice.

'These incidents were reportedly witnessed over the last several years during the ice fishing seasons,' the news release states. 'These incidents had not been reported to the Wilmington Police Department until after this tragic accident had occurred and an investigation was started."

Police said it's not worth it to drill a hole in the ice on Harriman Reservoir and wait to let methane disperse because shifting ice can keep methane billowing out of an ice hole.  Authorities advised people to not bring ignition sources near ice fishing holes and to be especially careful not to do so inside fishing shanties. 

I haven't figured out yet if the methane releases from Harriman Reservoir are unique to that body of water or whether it occurs elsewhere and if so, how often.

You do see methane bubbles frozen or encased in lake ice from time to time. Abraham Lake in Alberta, Canada sometimes draws tourists who want a view of some unique methane bubbles stacked in the ice covering the lake in late winter. 

Some stunning photos were also taken of methane bubbles frozen within the ice on Lake Baikal in Siberia back in 2022. The lake is the world's deepest, and has a large storehouse of methane due to rotting organic material at its bottom.  

I can't imagine that all lakes are ticking time bombs for ice fishing enthusiasts. But I guess you need to be extra careful while trying to stay warm in an ice shanty. You never know where methane lurks. 

I hope that family victimized by the Harriman Reservoir methane in southern Vermont have a speedy and full recovery.  

Frigid January Kansas City Chiefs Playoff Game Resulted In Frostbite, Amputations

This fan was probably among those hospitalized for 
frostbite and hypothermia during a subzero Kansas
City Chiefs playoff game in January. It's coming to 
light now that some people who attended the game
are undergoing amputations due to frostbite

 Some NFL football fans are clearly too enthusiastic.    

During the nation's only substantial cold snap of the winter, thousands of fans watched live in the stadium as the Kansas City Chiefs won their January 14 playoff game against the Miami Dolphins 26-7.

The temperature at kickoff was minus 4 degrees, with a wind chill of 27 below.  

Personally, even if I was an extreme Chiefs fan, I would have watched the game from the warm, dry comfort of my living room.

Surely, some people are seriously regretting going to that game.  According to the Associated Press, here's why: 

"Some of the people who attended the near-record cold Kansas City Chiefs playoff game in January had to undergo amputations after suffering frostbite, a Missouri hospital said Friday.

Research Medical Center didn't provide exact numbers but said in a statement that it treated dozens of people who had experienced frostbite during an 11-day cold snap in January. Twelve of those people - including some who were at the January 13 game - had to undergo amputations involving fingers and toes. And the hospital said more surgeries are expected over the next two to four weeks as 'injuries evolve.'"

Even mild frostbite is painful, as I remember when I dealt with superficial frostbite on my toes and feet when I was in high school. It formed blisters which were really uncomfortable. And this was a minor case that did no permanent damage.

More severe frostbite sounds gross and awful from the start. The Mayo Clinic website says "The tissue turns black and hard as it dies."

Amputations are a worst case scenario with frostbite, but even those who manage to avoid that, some people will face a lifetime of joint aches, sensitivity to cold, long term numbness in affected areas and an increased risk of getting frostbite again.  

Massive Pacific Waves Smash California Coast, Eight Injured

Screen grab of a sneaker wave overwhelming people
in California Thursday as they tried to run away.

 It was another beautiful Thursday along the southern California coast, except for one big problem. Or many big problems, really. 

Massive waves smashed into the coastline, catching people off guard and battering oceanfront homes and businesses.  It was one of the strongest wave onslaughts on record along the California coast. 

The culprit was an intense offshore storm that stirred up the Pacific Ocean, creating the high surf that punished pretty much the entire California coastline. 

Despite warnings to stay away from beaches and other areas that could be hit by waves, people flocked to the shore to watch, which was part of the problem.

Anytime you have high surf in California like on Thursday, so-called sneaker waves will catch people off guard.  A sneaker wave is one that is much bigger than all the others, aka they sneak up on you. You feel safe because all the waves you've been watching for the past half hour have all stopped well away from you. 

Then the sneaker wave comes in, and suddenly, you're in the surf. 

The sneaker waves also smashed into shoreline buildings, including one instance in which waves crashed through a barrier, then through ground floor windows of an occupied motel in Ventura.  Streets were also flooded in Santa Barbara.

Further north, beach neighborhoods in Marin County were evacuated due to flooding, though residents were allowed to return later. Two children in the Bay Area were knocked down and washed onto a walkway by a big wave, but they appeared not to be injured. 

Some very worth watching videos the California waves can be viewed by clicking HERE  HERE and HERE

The waves have subsided somewhat today, but are still pretty huge. Officials are still telling everyone to stay away from the water. The storm is now bringing rain to northern and central California, and a bit of minor flooding is possible today and/or tomorrow.

Storms that produce big waves are pretty common in California during the winter. With El Nino now  raging, I expect California to be at risk for more of these big waves, strong winds and episodes of heavy rain through the winter. 

Climate change is probably making things worse too. The warming planet adds a little extra turbo charge to storms, making them stronger. Sea levels are rising, so wave heights that might not have caused much trouble decades ago now cause some coastal flooding.

That will continue to gradually escalate in the coming years and decades. 

Phoenix, Arizona: Where Just The Summertime Pavement Can Kill You

Here in Vermont, it was sunny and 85 degrees when I 
walked barefoot across my asphalt driveway. It felt
pretty hot. Had I done the same thing on asphalt in 
Phoenix, Arizona this month, I would have been
hospitalized with third degree burns. 

 Emergency rooms in Arizona have certainly been busy with victims of the extreme heat out there. They also dealing with injuries that seem unimaginable to us northerners: Third degree burns from pavement, asphalt and car seats.  

You can imagine how dangerous it would be if an elderly person fell on asphalt sidewalk or parking lot this month in Phoenix and couldn't get up. 

Even those who can get up quickly are being seriously injured from burns caused by hot pavement. The Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health is having an unprecedented business summer.

Says CNN, in an interview with Dr. Kevin Foster, director of burn services at Valleywise Health: 

"Every single one of the 45 beds in the burn center is full, he said, and one-third of patients are people who fell and burned themselves on the ground. There are also burn patients in the ICU and about half of those patients are people burned after falls. "

People are burned by hot objects in Arizona every summer, but this year is much worse due to the persistent, extreme heat in Phoenix and elsewhere in the state.  

The heat has been unrelenting, and that takes a cumulative toll. Every day in Phoenix since June 30 has gotten to or above 110 degrees. This Saturday is forecast to be the first day this month below that level, as the high is "only" expected to reach 109 degrees. 

It's been as hot as 119 degrees in Phoenix this month. Under those conditions, pavement temperatures in the sun can go to 180 degrees or more. 

Says CNN:

"It can take only a 'fraction of a second's get a 'pretty deep burn,' Foster said. For people who have been on the pavement for 10 to 20 minutes, 'the skin is completely destroyed and the damage often goes down deep, meaning it is a third-degree burn.'" 

People with third degree burns need multiple surgeries and will spend weeks or months in a hospital.  They usually face years of reconstructive surgery and therapy. So it's a big deal.  

I'd also have to wonder if your shoes would melt if you walked down a Phoenix sidewalk during the afternoon this time of year. 

Nights have failed to get below 90 degrees in Phoenix since July 9.  Hot nights are even worse for those exposed to heat. People without access to air conditioning don't have an opportunity to lower the body temperature, because nights are too warm. 

Of course, pretty much every house and apartment in Phoenix is air conditioned.  A house without air conditioning in Phoenix is like a house in Vermont without heat. 

However, Phoenix, like most major cities, has a sizable homeless population. The estimated number of homeless people in Phoenix is roughly 6,000. There aren't nearly enough indoor shelter beds to accommodate them all. 

Also, some low income people can't afford to get their air conditioning fixed if it breaks. 

Says CBC radio: 

"As of July 15, at least 18 people have died of heat-associated causes in Phoenix in 2023, according to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. Another 69 suspected heat deaths are under investigation."

That doesn't include the number of heat deaths in other larger communities like Tucson, Arizona, El Paso, Texas or Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Heat is the leading cause of weather related deaths, more than floods, hurricanes, tornadoes or other scary hazards. 

 

Colorado Concert Venue Hailstorm Injures Nearly 100; Performance Should Have Been Canceled MUCH Earlier

Hail drifts cover a walkway at the Red Rocks
Amphitheatre near Denver Wednesday night
after the storm injured dozens

 Nearly 100 people were injured, including seven who needed hospitalization, when a hail storm struck the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver Wednesday. 

This might be one the biggest hail storm injury events in U.S. history, the Washington Post reported. 

The show, featuring Louis Tomlinson, was stopped as hailstones, the biggest ones about the size of tennis balls, pelted the crowd. .

Video taken during the storm showed chaos. People screamed in pain as hail bruised their bodies.  After the storm, hail drifts several inches deep covered parts of the site. 

The concert will probably be rescheduled, but that rescheduling probably should have happened before people even began gathering for the show. 

True, I'm Monday morning quarterbacking, but the signs were there that potential danger loomed.

First of all, the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies are famous for the volatile weather around there. 

Even management at Red Rocks acknowledged this in a Tweet after the disaster. "....we're having a little talk with Mother Nature about this weather business at Red Rocks. Between a wind-whipped opening night wildfire, snow showers, torrential rains and hail, it's been a crazy six weeks in the foothills."

Large outdoor venues at least should have some experts on staff working with meteorologists to ensure public safety.  Summer is chock full of festivals like concerts, fairs and large gatherings. Summer is also known for its severe thunderstorms, high wind, hail and lightning, which can develop pretty quickly

Having an event you've looked forward to for months abruptly canceled due to weather just before it starts is a terrible bummer, to put in mildly.  But you have to consider that being injured or even dying at the show due to the weather just ain't worth it. 

And people have died during severe weather events at outdoor venues. One of the most memorable and tragic examples was in 2011, when a severe thunderstorm blew stage scaffolding and other large debris into a crowd awaiting a Sugarland concert. Seven people died and 58 were injured. 

STORMS LOOMED HOURS BEFORE

Concert organizers should be nimble on their feet. Should being the operative word. 

As early as 3:49 p.m. Wednesday local time, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center released a short-term forecast concerning a severe thunderstorm watch that was already in effect for the area. "Large hail, (some 2+ inches in diameter is the primary threat, though severe gusts may occur," the statement said. 

Professor Ben Alonzo, who, among many other things is a meteorologist and EMT, had a great thread about the incident on Twitter.

Radar images Alonzo shared showed several severe thunderstorm, including one that just barely missed Red Rocks not long before the show. 

The thunderstorm that deposited the hail on concertgoers arrived at the venue at around 9:20 p.m local time. A severe thunderstorm warning had been issued for the Red Rocks area about 20 minutes prior. 

The Washington Post said the severe thunderstorm warning was issued at 9:04 p.m., but the concert  venue didn't tell people to take shelter until 9:14 p.m. 

Of course, that's not a lot of time to send people to shelter before the storm hit. Apparently, people were also reluctant to get up and go to their cars.  They assumed the concern would resume once the storm passed, and they didn't want to lose their good seats.

Perhaps the concert should have been canceled at that initial severe thunderstorm warning, since nobody would then have the incentive to stay in their open air seats. 

Alonzo also points out a good outdoor venue should had an experienced meteorologist on staff who could have understood the danger from the storm before the official severe thunderstorm warning was issued. 

Moreover, lightning within nine miles of Red Rocks from numerous thunderstorms in the area started at around 7:15 p.m, WaPo reports.  Lightning can strike up to 15 miles away from the parent storm, so people were already in danger two hours before the hail.  

A good safety plan would have postponed or canceled the concert and told people to seek shelter by 7:30 p.m, when the lightning was underway. 

Of course, we don't have all the details yet of what happened and how decisions were made, so we'll see with updates.  

The City of Denver owns Red Rocks. I imagine lawsuits are inevitable. That the venue is owned by a municipality will probably complicated those legal proceedings. 

Video: Denver 7 collected clips of the storm at Red Rocks. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that:

Is Climate Change Making Airline Flights More Turbulent?

Prominent lawyer and former 9/11 Commission
member Dana Hyde, 55, died aboard a 
business jet over New England last Friday
due to severe turbulence. Climate 
change might be worsening such turbulence.

Last Friday, a business jet took off from an airport in Keene, New Hampshire bound for Leesburg, Virginia. 

The jet quickly hit very severe turbulence, forcing it to divert and make an emergency landing near Hartford, Connecticut. A person on the jet, Dana Hyde, 55, a prominent attorney who once served on the 9/11 commission, died in the incident. 

It's unclear whether the passenger was wearing a seat belt, and it's still unknown how much damage the aircraft sustained. 

However, deaths due to turbulence are quite rare.

This incident is part of a spate of recent reports of dangerous turbulence hitting aircraft. 

Also last Friday, a Southwest flight hit severe turbulence over North Carolina, causing at least one passenger to pass out and causing other mayhem aboard. 

A Lufthansa flight from Texas to Germany on March 1 encountered severe turbulence over Tennessee, the Associated Press reported. The flight was diverted to Virginia's Washington Dulles International Airport. Seven people aboard were injured.

 In December, a flight near Hawaii hit dangerous turbulence, injuring 36 passengers, 11 of them seriously. 

Turbulence is a serious concern for aviation expert, and the general public who take airline trips. As the Washington Post reports:

"Turbulence accounted for 37.6 percent of all accidents on large commercial airlines from 2009 through 2018 according to a 2021 National Transportation Safety Board report. The FAA reported 122 serious injuries as a result of turbulence over the same period."

Air turbulence has always been a hazard to air travelers. Anecdotes like this don't prove much, but it turns out there is some truth behind the recent headlines about increased turbulence.

Turbulence associated with storms can often observed and  forecasted, and pilots routinely detour around the worst expected air bumps. 

However, turbulence can happen in clear air away from storms. In those cases, nobody knows about the problem until a plane or commercial airliner runs into it. Usually, it's just those annoying bumps you feel on a airline flight. It's kind of feels like driving over the frost heaves on a rural Vermont road in March. 

Aftermath of severe turbulence
aboard a Lufthansa flight
from Texas to Germany last
Friday. The plane was diverted
to Dulles airport in
Virginia after the incident. 

However, the turbulence can get extreme, which is where you get your injuries in flight. 

Weather patterns that cause air turbulence seems like it might be getting worse. .And like so many ills, climate change might be to blame. 

Reports the Washington Post, quoting Paul Williams, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom: 

"'Around the world, it has been clear that atmosphere dynamics have changed significantly since scientists first observed them via satellite data in the late 1970s," he said.

A property known as wind shear, the degree to which wind speeds vary at different altitudes, has increased by 15 percent since 1979, the research concluded. 

Those differing winds create atmospheric disturbances like rippling or waves in the air. That forces a plane that encounters those conditions to jump up and down and sometimes sideways.  

What might be happening, according to at least some scientists, is the speed of the jet stream is overall declining in the lower atmosphere but maintaining its strength higher up. That creates wind shear and turbulence in the transition zone between the slow winds and the stronger winds higher up. 

That said, statistics on injuries caused by turbulence do not show a clear trend,   according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Many of the injuries caused by turbulence are among flight attendants.  Often, they are helping passengers and not belted into their seats when an airliner encounters turbulence.  If you're belted into your seat, you have a much lower chance of getting hurt during turbulence.