Last week I blogged about a new potentially wettest location in the United States (and thus also Oceania). However, new data has come to my attention indicating that a site in New Zealand may be even wetter than Hawaii’s wettest locations.
weatherhistorian, • 8:04 PM GMT on May 22, 2012
A team of scientists from the University of Hawai’i’-Manoa Geography Department has recently published a rainfall atlas to the state and may have discovered a new ‘wettest spot’ in the islands and thus for the entire United States. In 1992 they set up a rain gauge at a location known as the ‘Big Bog’ on the edge of Haleakala National Park on Maui Island. They had originally estimated the rainfall at this site to be on the order of 180” per annum, but the second year of data (1994) saw an amazing 560” of precipitation fall (176" more than Mt. Waialeale). The 30-year (1978-2007) average annual rainfall was 404" at Big Bog (estimated from 1992-2007 data) vs. 393" at Mt. Waialeale."
weatherhistorian, • 10:32 PM GMT on May 15, 2012
April was notable weather-wise for more spring heat records in the U.S.A. and much of Europe. National heat records (for warmest temperature on record) occurred in Germany, Austria, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Hungry, and Slovakia as well as the cities of Moscow and Munich among others. A massive tornado outbreak affected the central U.S.A. on April 14th and severe storms also caused fatalities in Argentina, Japan, India, and China.Below is a summary some of the month’s highlights.
weatherhistorian, • 9:29 PM GMT on May 10, 2012
On April 6, 2011 I posted a blog about the “world’s deadliest tornados”. I had no idea that just three weeks later one of the world’s deadliest tornado outbreaks would occur on April 27th. Then on May 22nd Joplin, Missouri was hit by one of the single deadliest tornados on record leading 2011 to become the 2nd deadliest tornado year in U.S. records. This week, May 3-10, is historically the most active weak for tornados in the U.S.A., so I thought this might be a good time to look back at what the deadliest tornadoes on record have been, not just in the U.S.A., but the world as well. So far this year (2012 as of May 3rd) there have 63 tornado-related fatalities in the U.S., quite a bit above the long-term average for such at this date mostly as a result of the twister outbreak of March 2nd in the Ohio Valley.
weatherhistorian, • 8:52 PM GMT on May 03, 2012