Swiss Air

This past weekend 51 year-old Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy became the first dude (or dudette) to jet-pack over the Grand Canyon. Apparently the flight, originally scheduled for Friday (the 13th I might add), happened Saturday because Friday was deemed too "risky." Apparently human flight over the Grand Canyon became less risky overnight, and Rossy boarded a chopper from which he launched out of in his jet pack and flew for about 8 minutes. Overly edited Breitling-sponsored video here.

Biggest backpeddle

Members of backcountry.com's list serve received an email that began like this last evening:

We messed up. Yesterday, as the people of Alabama dealt with the devastating aftermath of an intensely damaging and life-taking tornado, we neglected to put a stop to the distribution of an email with the header: "Mother Nature hates you. Deal with it." This was extremely insensitive and offensive, and we are so sorry.

The tornadoes that ravaged the South are absolutely no laughing matter, but atrocious timing and a complete lack of control of email marketing on the behalf of a respected online retailer is. Write that down.

Lightning Strikes!

A strong thunderstorm rolled through NYC last night and someone was able to capture the Empire State Building get struck by lightning three times.

Warning: The Moon is Lurking!

Warning, the moon is “lurking” dangerously close to the earth and on March 19th (Friday) it will be at the closest point (221,567 miles) in the last 18 years. Some astrologers have warned (prior to the Japan earthquake) that this “extreme super moon” could cause massive damage on the planet. I am not one to believe in “astrologers” but I do believe in reading articles with phrases like: “When the moon goes extreme” for my own amusement... so enjoy, but make sure to stick to the science.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20110310/sc_space/willmarch19supermoontriggernaturaldisasters

Thunderstorm Time Lapse

Cantore Goes Nuts Over Thundersnow

His initial reaction is almost Farley-esque. I also love how he prefers the singular use of "holy smokes."

Dungus watch 2011 - PICTURES

I took it upon myself to go out and do some spotter reporting. I'm not sure how much snow Boston received (lots) but I did just hear that some town in central MA. named Munson received about 30". Sounds about right. The snow in Boston was the heavy, wet type. Heavy enough, coupled with a stiff wind, to take down some pretty big trees. Pictures below.
Tree down on Dartmouth St. at Columbus Ave.
Worst parking spot St. Botolph St.
Confirmed. Worst parking spot.
W. Newton St. "Ferociously beautiful."
Yarmouth St. Not a through street.

Dungus watch 2011 - UPDATE

TCD's Boston Bureau is getting pounded by snow and wind today. Hopefully we'll get some reports in from our spotters. Czech out the Storm Total Snow Forecast.

NYC Thundersnow

From yesterday/today's blizzard:

Field Report: Blizzard

For once the forecasters got one right. This storm is still dumping and looks to have a lot moisture left for us before it departs. Having both walked my dog and dug my car out (perhaps prematurely), I would say we've gotten about a foot of snow in Boston so far. Reports from field analysts in the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire tell me that they've also gotten more than a foot with areas of more than 18 inches. Should make for some great skiing.

Enjoy the snow day everyone, the photo below doesn't do the storm justice.

Radar Update

Northeast Crippler?

A big winter storm is tracking directly towards TCD's northeast bureau. Official weather statement below:

Blizzard Warning
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
451 PM EST SAT DEC 25 2010

...DANGEROUS WINTER STORM HEADED FOR SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND SUNDAY
NIGHT INTO MONDAY...

.LOW PRESSURE OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES WILL BE
INTENSIFYING OFF THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST SUNDAY MORNING. THE
STORM WILL THEN STRENGTHEN FURTHER INTO A MAJOR STORM AS IT MOVES
JUST SOUTHEAST OF NANTUCKET AND CAPE COD MONDAY MORNING. BLIZZARD
CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND.
THE STORM WILL PULL AWAY FROM THE REGION MONDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT
BUT STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE COAST.

It's not summer anymore

How can one be totally sure? Well, first of all it is has been balls cold in New England the last few mornings. The other way? When TCD brings it's readers exclusive footage of shredding the red rocks of southern Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park.

Megi is Filipino for The Nino

Yikes. This guy (girl?) is packing heat and barreling into the northern Philippines. Check out the global sat image of the storm on TCD Exclusive: UNIVERSE IMAGE (just kidding, thanks Naval Research Laboratory). Pacific Typhoons - as opposed to Atlantic Hurricanes - have the 2fer deal where you get the wind/storm surge/wave wrath of the storm itself plus massive mud/landslides because the islands are tall volcanoes.

God Speed to our Filipino interests.

All this extreme weather in NYC has got me thinking...

...how long until one of these guys hits the Big Apple head on?

Nothing phases Lady Liberty

The Gothamist has an unreal collection of photographs from the surreal thunderstorm/tornado that tore through La Grand Ciudad last Thursday...

People just don't talk like this anymore...

0500 report of The National Hurricane Center

AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT REPORTED 140 KT WINDS AT 700 MB IN THE NORTHEASTERN EYEWALL. AN EYE DROPSONDE REPORTED A SURFACE PRESSURE OF 929 MB WITH A WIND OF 25 KT...SUGGESTING A
CENTRAL PRESSURE NEAR 928 MB. BASED ON THIS...THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS INCREASED TO 125 KT. EARL IS LIKELY NEAR PEAK INTENSITY AT THIS TIME...AS THE EYEWALL CONVECTION IS BECOMING A LITTLE LESS ORGANIZED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY.

THE INITIAL MOTION IS 330/16. THERE IS LITTLE CHANGE TO EITHER THE
FORECAST PHILOSOPHY OF THE TRACK FORECAST FOR THE FIRST 48 HR.
EARL SHOULD TURN NORTHWARD AND NORTH-NORTHEASTWARD AS IT ROUNDS THE
END OF THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE AND ENTERS THE WESTERLIES. THE TRACK
MODEL GUIDANCE IS TIGHTLY CLUSTERED AROUND THIS SOLUTION...AND THE
NEW TRACK IS DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE CLUSTER. AFTER 48 HR...THE
GUIDANCE HAS SHIFTED TO THE LEFT DUE TO CHANGES IN THE INTERACTION
OF EARL WITH A STRONG WESTERLY TROUGH DURING EXTRATROPICAL
TRANSITION. THE 48-72 HR TRACK HAS BEEN SHIFTED TO THE LEFT...BUT
STILL LIES ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE GUIDANCE ENVELOPE.

THE INTENSITY GUIDANCE SUGGESTS EARL SHOULD MAINTAIN ITS CURRENT
INTENSITY FOR 12 HR OR SO. AFTER THAT...INCREASING VERTICAL WIND
SHEAR AND MOTION OVER DECREASING SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES SHOULD
CAUSE STEADY WEAKENING. EXTRATROPICAL TRANSITION SHOULD BEGIN AT
ABOUT 48 HR AND BE COMPLETE BY 72 HR...WITH THE REMNANTS OF EARL
BEING ABSORBED INTO A LARGER BAROCLINIC LOW BY 96 HR.

IT'S ON LIKE DONKEY KONG

Three storms out there.

Because students always have a crush on a teacher, and because I am somehow usually a student, I have no problem admitting that I recently had a crush on a professor named Fiona. No longer. Longer story.

Badass extreme weather event of the day: The sun sends a charged cloud hurtling our way

From NewScientist:

An unusually complex magnetic eruption on the sun has flung a large cloud of electrically charged particles towards Earth. When the cloud hits, which could be anytime now, it could spark aurorae in the skies around the poles and pose a threat to satellites – though probably not a particularly severe one.

On 1 August, a small solar flare erupted above sunspot 1092. It would not have raised many eyebrows, except that a large filament of cool gas stretching across the sun's northern hemisphere also chose that moment to explode into space.

Despite being separated by hundreds of thousands of kilometres, the two events may be linked. Images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory hint at a shock wave travelling from the flare into the filament. "These are two distinct phenomena but they are obviously related," says Len Culhane, a solar physicist at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London.

Wild Weather

Senior field analyst, Thos. Reed, was at it again tracking down an awesome photo of a funnel cloud over Narragansett Bay last Saturday. Check out the image and weather description below. What’s up with all the cyclonic activity in the Northeast recently?
Just south of the Newport Bridge (RI), a monstrous cloud turned off the lights over Narragansett Bay last Saturday. Notice the funnel (center) that actually touched down between Castle Hill and Beavertail Lighthouse! Moments later a white wall of torrential rain, 4' waves, and gusts to 25kts reduced visibility to 100ft! Photo:Matthew Cohen

If you capture any wild weather photos over the Summer, please send them our way.