Weatherwatch: Assault and battering from up high
|
Version 0 of 1. Violent thunderstorms affected the Low Countries, north Germany and Denmark on Tuesday afternoon, bringing torrential rain and hail. More than a 100,000 lightning strikes were recorded during the storms’ passage and one thunderstorm led to a tornado that badly damaged Buetzow, near Rostock. The German town suffered extensive battering with roofs being ripped off, trees falling and cars overturned. In one incident strong thunderstorm winds hurled debris at a passing vehicle in Hamburg, killing the motorist inside. Late last week and into the weekend heavy rain of 100-150mm deluged parts of the Alps. This alone was enough to bring some flash flooding in river systems high in the alpine catchments. However, the rain came at the end of a very warm period which rapidly melted a large proportion of the winter snowpack. With this mix of snow melt and heavy rain most ski resorts closed. The French authorities issued amber flood alerts as downstream rivers rose. After being hammered by the super typhoon Maysak, early in April, the island of Yap in the western Pacific is now enduring the effects of typhoon Noul. While this typhoon is currently not as powerful as Maysak, the Micronesian island was still expected to receive upwards of 250-300mm of rain Wednesday, with wind gusts reaching 75mph. Put into perspective, that is about half of London’s average annual rainfall in just 24 hours. Later this week, Noul is expected to strengthen, possibly reaching category four status as it approaches the Philippines by the weekend. |