Latest news with #supercells
The Guardian
27-06-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Weather tracker: France hit by severe thunderstorms
After several days of intense heat, large parts of France were hit by a major outbreak of severe thunderstorms on Wednesday night as powerful supercells swept north-east across the country. A low pressure system that originated near Portugal tracked over the unusually warm Bay of Biscay towards northern France late on Wednesday, bringing a strong upper-level disturbance over land that had been intensely heated through the day. As a result, several long-lived supercells formed, producing large hailstones, frequent lightning, damaging winds and torrential rainfall. Hailstones of up to 8cm in diameter caused significant damage to property, crops and vehicles, while rainfall totals up to 150mm in places brought flash flooding, including in Paris. Ferocious winds also brought down pylons and trees, killing two people and bringing power cuts to 110,000 homes. Just north-east of Paris, a gust of 140kph was recorded, the strongest of the outbreak, while supercells elsewhere produced winds up to 126kph. One especially long-lived storm sustained gusts of 90-135kph over several hundred miles as it travelled from the south-west corner of the country to its north-east. Over the course of the night, more than 70,000 lightning strikes were also recorded. A lightning strike recorded in Deux-Sévres in the commune of La Peyratte had an intensity of 517 kiloamperes, 20 times the average strike intensity. Although temperatures reduced a little after the storms, they are expected to rise again and reach the high 30s Celsius in the south of France over the weekend before this spreads northwards into much of the rest of the country next week. Meanwhile, Australia's south-east coast is continuing to experience chilly conditions as its first winter month concludes. An area of low pressure centred to the south of the country earlier this week allowed cold air to push in from the south. Temperatures fell up to 10C below average in parts of Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, with widespread frosts and snow predicted. Across the Australian Alps, ski resorts have reported up to half a metre of snow in just a couple of days. This follows the country's first snow storm of the season, which occurred in the first week of June and gave about a metre of snow to some resorts in just four days. The low pressure system earlier in the week also brought strong, gusty winds to the south-east. Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issued several warnings earlier this week for damaging winds, with gusts of up to 120kph expected. These winds have contributed to large waves and high tides, which have led to coastal erosion and infrastructure damage. Although high pressure has built in places, cold conditions are expected to remain for much of eastern Australia in the coming days.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Complains Biden Let Thunderstorms Into the U.S.
President Donald Trump got a little tongue-tied speaking with reporters on Air Force One, appearing to suggest his predecessor had left the United States vulnerable to attacks by forces of nature. Asked by one journalist about the threat of Iranian retaliation on U.S. soil following strikes against three nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic over the weekend, the president was quick to pin the blame on Joe Biden. 'Biden let a lot of supercells into the United States. He was an incompetent president. He had no idea what he was doing,' Trump said in audio of the exchange obtained by Fox News. 'It was gross incompetence,' he went on. 'Among everything else, he let a lot of supercells in, many from Iran. But hopefully we'll take care of them. What Biden did to this country should never be forgotten.' There has been mounting concern in recent days over the prospect of Iran activating 'sleeper cells' of terrorist agents embedded in the U.S. to carry out attacks against American citizens and infrastructure. The term 'supercell,' meanwhile, refers to a type of thunderstorm that rotates on an axis as the result of powerful updrafts. Trump's comments came as he flew to the Netherlands for a NATO summit at The Hague, where he is expected to discuss mounting global instability with other alliance leaders. Another journalist aboard the aircraft pointed out that at a time of increasing conflict, many member states have expressed concern over the president's historically tepid view of Article Five, pertaining to NATO's provisions for mutual defense. Asked whether he stood by those provisions, Trump responded, 'Depends on your definition.' 'There's numerous definitions of Article Five, you know that, right? But I'm committed to being their friends,' he said. 'I'm gonna give you an exact definition when I get there. I just don't wanna do it on the back of an airplane.'
New York Times
16-05-2025
- Climate
- New York Times
Risk of Severe Weather Looms Over Eastern Half of the U.S.
Large portions of the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic are at significant risk of severe weather on Friday, as a multiday storm system moves slowly to the East. A bull's-eye centered over southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and Indiana and central and western Kentucky highlighted an area at risk for some of the most severe thunderstorms. These storms will be capable of unleashing large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes, possibly some strong ones. 'I'd be surprised if we didn't see some tornadoes in that corridor,' said Aaron Gleason, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center. Here are the key things to know: The threat of thunderstorms on Friday generally stretches from eastern Texas into the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast and is concentrated over the middle Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley with varying degrees of risk. 'It's a fairly broad area for severe potential, and it looks like all hazards could be possible,' Mr. Gleason said. The area of highest concerns includes the cities of Bloomington, Ind.; Evansville, Ind.; Louisville, Ky.; and St. Louis. Those areas are at particular risk of supercells, highly organized, longer-lasting storms that produce even stronger winds and larger hail — in the case of Friday, bigger than baseballs — than typical thunderstorms. 'The same storms that produce very large hail are also the ones that we tend to be most concerned about from a tornado perspective,' Mr. Gleason said. 'There are probably going to be a lot of storms and a lot severe reports if things work out as forecast, unfortunately.' The National Weather Service office in St. Louis warned of hail of nearly three inches, damaging winds and a 'low chance of a strong tornado.' The clash between a cool air mass dropping down from the north and warm, moist air coming in from the Gulf will help create the sort of instability in the atmosphere on Friday that can fuel powerful thunderstorms. That moisture flow will also deliver some rain over the Ohio Valley into the mid-Mississippi Valley and the South on Friday. 'Parts of Kentucky particularly and southern Ohio will have the potential for multiple rounds of thunderstorms and each producing heavy rain,' said Richard Bann, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center. The threat of thunderstorms comes to the Midwest in a week marked by unseasonably warm weather. The heat is expected to continue on Friday with many locations across the region forecast to record afternoon highs in the 80s and 90s. Lower temperatures are predicted to arrive this weekend as cooler drier air sweeps in from the northwest. 'It's an active period and nothing unusual for May,' Mr. Gleason said. 'This is typically when a lot of severe weather tends to occur across the country.'
