Tag: weather

‘Disaster’ looms as Hurricane Harvey bears down on Texas

by Mark RALSTON / with Brian Knowlton in Washington Agence France-Presse CORPUS CHRISTI, United States – Hundreds of thousands of people in Texas and Louisiana were urged Friday to flee the path of Hurricane Harvey as the Gulf Coast braced for the most dangerous storm to hit the US mainland in over a decade. Roaring towards land with winds whipping up to 110 miles (175 kilometers) an hour, the category two hurricane is predicted to smash into coastal […]

With video: The eye of the storm: Hong Kong’s all-powerful observatory

by Aaron Tam Agence France-Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — As Hong Kong gears up for Typhoon Hato, weather-obsessed residents are glued to updates from the historic observatory which has the power to shut down the city with a signal. Early Wednesday the observatory issued Hong Kong’s highest level Typhoon 10 warning, bringing the city to a standstill with schools shut, hundreds of flights cancelled, and the stockmarket closed. Founded in 1883, when Hong Kong […]

Hong Kong raises highest warning — signal no. 10 — for Severe Typhoon Hato

  Typhoon Hato, which was known as “Isang” when it was still affecting the country, had already left the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), but is now wreaking havoc in Hong Kong, bringing the city to a standstill as heavy rains and winds pummelled the territory. Hong Kong’s weather observatory even raised the storm warning to the city’s maximum Typhoon 10 signal — meaning hurricane force winds are expected — at 9:10 am (0110 GMT). It […]

Tornado rips through town in northern China

HEILONGJIANG, China (CCTV) — A tornado ripped through a town in northern China on Monday (August 21), smashing windows in cars and apartments, footage filmed by locals and broadcast on state media showed. Debris stirred up by the tornado was seen swirling into the air above Nenjiang in Heilongjiang Province. The tornado lasted about 10 minutes, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Authorities warn of possible geological disasters triggered by new round of rainstorms

GANSU PROVINCE, China (CCTV) — China’s disaster relief authority on Monday warned of possible geological disasters in northern and southern parts of China as a new round of heavy rain is expected across the regions. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters warned of high risks of geological disasters including overflowing rivers in north China and severe mountain torrents, mud-rock flows and landslides in the south. Rainstorms will hit parts of northwest, north and northeast […]

Mars weather: ‘Cloudy, chance of nighttime snowstorm’

PARIS, France (AFP) — Mars is buffeted by turbulent snowstorms that occur only at night, according to a study released Monday that revises our understanding of Red Planet weather. Up to now, it was thought that snow falling from low-lying Martian clouds settled slowly and sparsely to the ground in a environment bereft of violent winds. The new findings, reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggest that ice-water particles swirling in a storm hit the […]

South Asia floods claim more than 750 lives

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — More than 750 people have died in floods across South Asia, officials said Monday, with monsoon rains also causing the deaths of hundreds of animals, including rhinos and a tiger. The human toll is steadily rising across India, Nepal and Bangladesh following the latest in a series of deluges since August 10, as the annual monsoon hits the north and east of the region. Nearly 50 bodies were found overnight […]

Heavy rain kills 9 in central, south China

SHAOYANG CITY, China (CCTV) — Heavy rainfall in China’s Hunan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has claimed a total of nine lives and one missing, local authorities said Monday. The rainwater, which accumulated in Hunan’s Shaoyang City and Guangxi’s Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, has turned the two places into Asian Venice, a well-known Italian city, while locals had to paddle boats to commute between places. Continuous rainfall in central China’s Hunan since last Friday […]

Franklin strengthens to hurricane in Mexico: NHC

Cancún, Mexico (AFP) — Tropical storm Franklin strengthened to a category-one hurricane as it raged towards Mexico for a second assault on Wednesday, the United States National Hurricane Center said. The NHC said in a report that Franklin was over the Gulf of Mexico 170 kilometers (105 miles) from the major port city of Veracruz. Franklin struck Mexico’s eastern Yucatan peninsula on Monday and was expected to make landfall again in the province of Veracruz […]

Serbia records hottest summer in five years

BELGRADE, Serbia (CCTV) — Serbia is seeing its hottest summer in five years, according to experts with the country’s national meteorological observatory. Temperatures surpassed 38 degrees Celsius in three days this summer, and the heat wave this week has brought temperatures up to over 42 degrees Celsius. “In this heat wave, we expect even higher temperatures. On Friday and during the weekend, in most places we expect 39 and 40 degrees [Celsius], and locally, it […]

Heavy rainfall warning nakataas pa rin sa Zambales at Bataan

(Eagle News) — Itinaas ng Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) ang heavy rainfall warning sa Zambales at Bataan. Sa abiso ng PAGASA, yellow warning level ang umiiral sa dalawang lalawigan at nagbabala ito na maaaring makaranas ng pagbaha sa mga mabababang lugar. Ang Laguna, Quezon at Batangas ay makararanas din ng malakas na pag-ulan na may malakas na hangin. Ang Metro Manila partikular na ang Taguig, Parañaque, Las Piñas at Muntinlupa , […]

Heat in S. Asia could exceed survivable levels by 2100: study

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — South Asia, home to one-fifth of the world’s population, could see humid heat rise to unsurvivable levels by century’s end if nothing is done to halt global warming, researchers said Wednesday. The study in the journal Science Advances warned of “summer heat waves with levels of heat and humidity that exceed what humans can survive without protection.” The research is based on two climate models. One is a “business-as-usual” scenario […]