Skymet weather

Death toll rises as tornadoes cripple life in United States

Multiple tornadoes flattened homes, flipped trucks and bent telephone poles through a wide stretch of Mississippi and Alabama on Monday. The previous day, half-mile-wide tornado caused enormous destruction through the suburbs of Little Rock, Arkansas in the Southern region of the United States, killing at least 15 people. Severe storms also led to the death of one person each in Oklahoma and Iowa.

A huge tornado frayed the Tupelo area at 2:45 p.m. on Moday causing widespread damage and injuries on the north side of town. According to local media, the tornado reached the western parts of the town near the Tupelo Airport and tracked northeast toward the Tupelo mall.

Two more twisters at around 4:30 p.m. in Monroe County near Louisville injured at least 45 people. Another was reported from Jackson at around 6:35 local time. Heavy damage has been reported from Richland and Brandon.

Death and Destruction

People were clustered in hallways and basements and people in Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky had to battle the storms without any electricity. Though, Kentucky escaped the wrath of tornadoes it was slammed with severe storms.

The emergency warning issued by the National Weather Service on Monday evening stated that it’s "an extremely dangerous tornado. You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter." This itself explains the brutality of the situation caused by the series of tornadoes.

Six people died in Winston County, at least one died in Tupelo as one of the several twisters damaged residential and commercial buildings, downed power lines, flattened trees and tossed cars like small toys.  At a trailer park near Athens, Alabama at least two people were killed. By far, Arkansas remains the hardest-hit state as severe weather in the country for two days now raised the overall death toll to more than 26.

More tornadoes in the offing

According to latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, this is the season for Tornadoes in the United States and more severe storms could be witnessed in the offing. As Tupelo Mayor, Jason Shelton reiterated the fact that it’s “a very serious situation," and also encouraged “everyone to stay inside and be weather aware. There is still a very real danger of another line coming through and people still need to be inside.”

According to media reports, National Weather Service have confirmed that the threat of tornadoes will linger on for several days to come because a strong weather system is interacting with a large area of unstable air across the central and southern parts of United States.

Picture courtesy- Jhocy, Sean Gardner

Bad weather causing food price inflation

This year’s bizarre weather in India seems to be flaring food price inflation in many parts of the country and with the threat of El Nino, experts raise concerns of food prices climbing if India doesn't have a good rainy season.

Traders and economists say, the food price inflation rates after peaking at close to 20% in November, cooled to 8% in March, jumping again to 10% this month. Morgan Stanley data through the second week of April show vegetable, milk and sugar prices have all risen from March levels. Unseasonal weather could cause trouble for policymakers who have been struggling to keep inflation in check.

The vegetable and fruit prices have seen sudden spurt in Kashmir with dealers blaming the incessant rains for the hike.  Shopkeepers and fruit vendors in Srinagar are selling oranges at Rs 160 a dozen and Saag (a green leafy vegetable) at Rs 50/Kg, which actually sells at a mere Rs 10/Kg.

Director of Consumer and Affairs Public Distribution (CAPD) in Kashmir, Bashir Ahmad, acknowledged that prices of vegetables, fruits had gone up due to inclement weather resulting in shortage of local supply.

Meanwhile, lack of rain in Madurai, the city which owns the biggest mango belt in Tamil Nadu is reeling under intense heat and extremely dry weather which has severely affected the mango crop this year. This has therefore led to a rise in the prices of the king of all fruits, mango.

In another incident of weird weather, unexpected high velocity winds and intermittent showers on the 18th and 19th April, hit wheat production in Uttar Pradesh. Farmers in west Uttar Pradesh suffered a crop loss of 20% as 90% of their crop was still standing in the fields when rain occured.

“Till March, wheat sold at Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,800 per quintal, but prices are likely to go up now. "Wheat would now cost at least Rs 3,000 per quintal," said Bhartiya Kisan Union, Harnam Singh Verma.

It might be slightly early to say that the El Nino will have a major effect on the prices of food commodities. But if that happens and food commodity prices are headed much higher, it would be bad news for consumers and for consumer companies.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) released its Monsoon forecast for 2014 on April 24 and put the Monsoon figure at 95% of the Long Period Average (LPA), with a model error of ± 5%. This corroborated Skymet’s observation of below normal rain during monsoon in India this year, released on the 15th of April.

Photo by Corbis:Demotix

Top ten hottest places in India

According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, heat wave dominated parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra on Monday. Temperatures have now started approaching mid-forties in the region. Barmer in Rajasthan remained the hottest place in the country for the third consecutive day, while Deesa and Idar made the entry at second and third spot respectively to the list of hottest places in India.

Places State Maximum temperature on Monday Forecast trend for Tuesday
Barmer Rajasthan 45.1°C Drop
Deesa Gujarat 44.6°C Same
Idar Gujarat 44.6°C Same
Chandrapur Maharashtra 44.6°C Same
Wardha Maharashtra 44.5°C Same
Khargone Madhya Pradesh 44.5°C Same
Bhuj Gujarat 44.4°C Drop
Brahmapuri Maharashtra 44.2°C Same
Akola Maharashtra 44.1°C Same
Sundarnagar Gujarat 44°C Same

 

 

Photograph by Knowledge seeker

Gujarat and Odisha reeling under heat wave; pre-monsoon rain to continue in South India

Day temperatures in Gujarat and parts of Maharashtra over Vidarbha and madhya Maharashtra were recorded four to seven notches above normal on Monday due to warm land winds. According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, maximums may remain in the same range due to continuation of these winds.

Parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand also remained in grip of heat wave on Monday. According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the heat wave will continue at some of the weather stations in these states for another 48 hours.

Day temperatures in northwest India are expected to rise further in next two days and settle in the early forties. Hot and dry winds could give a sense of heat wave like condition at some of the places in the region. A fresh Western Disturbance may affect the region from 3rd April.

In the Northeast region, the cyclonic circulation over Assam and a north south trough from this circulation to the Bay of Bengal fetched in lot of moisture to give rain at many places in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura in the last 24 hours. Skymet Meteorology Division in India also indicates an increase in rain in the northeast region from mid-week onward as remnants of Western Disturbance will reach the region to continue the southwesterly winds.

Pre-monsoon rain will continue in Kerala and Karnataka in South India. Some parts of madhya Maharashtra in central peninsular region may also receive post noon precipitation due to high temperatures and a wind discontinuity extending from Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu. A trough from Comorin to Konkan coast will give rain in coastal areas.







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