Tornado warning issued for southern Ontario

Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Toronto briefly Sunday afternoon.

“One particular thunderstorm cluster is now moving, at this moment, southeast at 100 kilometres per hour and producing also very strong gusts, close to 90 km/h,” said meteorologist Sarah Wong during the storm.

That cluster was right over Toronto, with torrential rain drenching the city. Twenty to 40 millimetres rain fell in no more than 15 minutes, Wong said.

The warning was downgraded to a watch shortly after 3:20 p.m.

But the agency has issued a tornado warning for Goderich, Bluewater, Southern Huron County, Stratford, Mitchell and Southern Perth County.

There is a severe thunderstorm over Southern Lake Huron that is moving to the southeast at 75 km/hr. and may develop into a tornado, Environment Canada says.

Meanwhile, much of southern Ontario continues to be under a severe thunderstorm watch, Wong said.

The alert warns of conditions that could lead to severe storms Sunday afternoon and evening.

Wind gusts of up to 90 km/h, hail of up to 2 centimetres in diameter, and heavy downpours are likely in severe thunderstorms, the agency says. Tornadoes are also possible.

None were reported in the GTA, Wong said. However, a potential sighting came in from Gananoque, east of Kingston.

Wong said the storms should clear by no later than 9 p.m. Sunday.

With files from Amanda Kwan

Tropical Storm Harvey makes landfall over Belize

MIAMI-Tropical Storm Harvey has made landfall over Belize and is weakening as it heads to northern Guatemala.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Saturday that Harvey was centred about 72 kilometres south of Belize City, moving west-northwest at about 13 mph (21 kph). Maximum sustained winds were 50 mph (80 kph), down from 60 mph (97 kph) when it made landfall.

The storm is expected to bring as much as six inches (15 centimetres) of rain to parts of Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Forecasters say flash floods and mudslides are possible.

-Associated Press

Funnel clouds spotted, but no damage

Environment Canada says funnel clouds spotted over Waterloo and Wellington counties Monday evening did not cause any damage.

The agency’s Geoff Coulson says weak funnel clouds formed after a meeting of lake breezes from Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron.

Coulson says there’s no evidence the funnel clouds reached the ground.

He says the system was not associated with severe weather such as thunderstorms.

Environment Canada issued a special weather statement Monday to let people know about the funnel clouds, and advise they were not expected to become tornadoes.

Several people took the opportunity to take videos and pictures of the funnel clouds.

 

-- The Canadian Press

Auroras light up the sky after geomagnetic storm

 Andrew Fazekas took this photo of Aurora Borealis in the sky above a Montreal suburb.

It was midnight and Andrew Fazekas was standing in his backyard in a Montreal suburb looking at the sky.

The sky was coloured with horizontal bands of ghostly green, lying low on the horizon, dancing in the sky.

“Most people were either sleeping or watching T.V. and here was this cosmic display,” says Fazekas.

Friday night’s Aurora Borealis display defied city light pollution and lit up skies across the globe. There are reports of people seeing the curtain of light all across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, according to Fazekas.

“Astronomers are saying that it was one of the strongest geomagnetic storms that they’d seen in the last few years,” says Fazekas who is a space educator and contributing writer to the National Geographic News.

His website, www.thenightskyguy.com, keeps track of all things related to the cosmos.

On a scale of 0-9, Friday night’s geomagnetic storm was so strong it was an 8.

Strong geomagnetic storms affect some critical infrastructures in powergrids and in the directional drilling for oil and gas, says Larisa Trichtchenko, research scientist with Natural Resources Canada’s space weather group. That’s why they use the NRCan's forecast of geomagnetic activity.

Though Friday night’s Aurora Borealis lights were strong, enthusiasts will probably be disappointed by tonight’s.

“The probability of seeing them again tonight is much lower than yesterday,” says Larisa Trichtchenko, research scientist with Natural Resources Canada’s space weather group.

She says the odds are stacked against our seeing the lights again because the magnetic storms that allow them to be seen already happened on Friday night.

And while there may still be some magnetic disturbances tonight, they are not as strong as magnetic storms.

The stars have to align for us to see an Aurora Borealis: the magnetic radiations emanating from the Sun have to be strong enough, they have to be directed at the Earth and the atmospheric conditions must be clear enough for us to see them.

The latest Auroras are due to a large group of sunspots on the surface of the Sun, according to Fazekas, that are generating solar flares and kicking up huge clouds of charged particles towards the Earth.

These excite the molecules on the Earth’s upper atmosphere and cause a colourful display of light.

Friday night’s lights were a result of a huge solar flare midweek which took two to three days to reach us, says Fazekas.

Despite this travel lag time, it’s not that easy for scientists to predict the next big Aurora Borealis.

“Prediction of weather is problematic, so space prediction is even harder,” says Trichtchenko. But experts can predict general trends, and they believe we can expect more auroras in the next few years.

“We are probably heading into a very strong aurora season in the fall,” says Fazekas.

The Sun’s activity follows a natural cycle and we are just heading out of a minimum, he says, so solar activity is now increasing.

“In early 2013, the Sun will reach its maximum activity,” says Fazekas. “It means we might be in for some nice auroras in the next year or two.”

- Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif, Staff Reporter

Heat wave incinerates records in the U.S.

The suffocating heat wave sweeping the southern U.S. that has led to at least four deaths and left farmers’ fields bone dry shows no signs of abating as temperatures continue to reach record highs and electricity demand threatens to cripple the power grid.

The National Weather Service issued yet more excessive heat warnings Thursday for most of the southern plains, where the temperature in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas reached as high as 43C, without the humidex.

Southern parts of California and Arizona in the west and Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas in the east also fell under heat advisories, while municipalities and counties scrambled to open cooling centres and make house calls on vulnerable residents.

Dallas marked its 34th straight day of temperatures over 38C, while on Wednesday, Fort Smith, Ark., saw the temperature reach 46C without the humidex, breaking a record of 42C set back in 1896.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Florida residents are bracing for the possible arrival of tropical storm Emily, which is expected to pass within 160 kilometres of the state’s easternmost point on Saturday.

The blistering heat is being blamed for the deaths of a 16-year-old Florida high school football player and a coach, who both died after collapsing on the field during practices this week.

A spokeswoman for Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton, Jr. told the Star two municipal employees — a sanitation worker and a police officer — died Thursday from heat-related causes.

“When you’re a city police officer or a firefighter or a sanitation worker, there’s no such thing as ‘it’s too hot’ or ‘we’re not answering calls today,’ ” Wharton said in a statement. “We want the family and friends of these two workers to know that our prayers are with them.”

In Oklahoma City, where students are already back to school in a new initiative designed to curtail the “summer brain drain,” the heat wave has forced administrators to juggle pupils between air-conditioned classrooms and bring in contractors to install cooling units in classrooms.

“It’s a moving target,” Tierney Cook-Tinnin, a spokeswoman for Oklahoma Public Schools told the Star Thursday. “The main problem is that buildings don’t have time to cool at night because it’s still close to (38C) when the sun goes down. So our (air conditioning) units are running around the clock and as a result periodically have problems.”

Outdoor recess has been suspended at all schools, she said, while school buses have also been equipped with coolers filled with bottled water to help students and drivers fend off heatstroke.

In Texas, the state’s electricity transmission grid operator issued its fourth consecutive appeal to consumers to limit power use in the evening as the agency went into a state of emergency when reserves fell below 2,300 megawatts Thursday afternoon. But with nighttime temperatures dipping only to around 30C, it’s doubtful residents will be encouraged to turn off their air conditioners.

The cause of the intense heat — which is expected to continue for at least two more weeks — can be attributed to the La Nina ocean-atmosphere phenomenon, said National Weather Service meteorologist Victor Murphy.

The phenomenon occurs when sea surface temperatures along the equator in the central Pacific Ocean are three to five degrees Celsius lower than normal. These cooler temperatures alter the atmospheric flow pattern of air travelling from the northwest to the southeast across the southern plains, resulting in drier winter and spring seasons.

The period from Oct. 1 to end of July was the driest 10-month stretch on record in Texas, said Murphy. As result, when the summer heat descended on the region two months ago, there was little moisture left in the soil to evaporate, mitigate temperatures and create rainfall.

“It’s like a feedback mechanism,” Murphy told the Star. “Without moisture in the soil ready to evaporate, heat just radiates back into the atmosphere. That’s why we’re so dry and just baking away. There’s no rain.”

--Kenyon Wallace, Staff Reporter

Intense rain threatens Haiti's poor

Choppy seas along Santo Domingo's Malecon seafront on Wednesday.(ERIKA SANTELICES/AFP/Getty Images)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Thousands of earthquake homeless and other poor Haitians waited nervously in flimsy shanties and tents as Tropical Storm Emily swirled offshore early Thursday, threatening to bring dangerous rains.

Strong winds whipped through palm trees and some rain was already falling on southern Haiti.

Forecasters predicted the storm would make landfall on Haiti's southern peninsula after dawn and dump torrential rains across a country where more than 600,000 people still live without shelter after last year's earthquake.

"If any storm comes, we meet our demise," said Renel Joseph, a 57-year-old resident of Cite Soleil, a seaside shantytown of Haiti's capital.

David Preux, head of mission for the International Organization for Migration in the southern city of Jacmel, said that he expected conditions to worsen during the night.

"The problem is when people wait until the last minute to evacuate," Preux said.

The storm's forward motion slowed Wednesday night and it appeared likely to skirt the southern tip of the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Emily had maximum sustained winds of 85 km/h.

Dominican authorities kept a tropical storm warning in effect for the southwestern coast but ended an alert Wednesday night from Cabo Francis Viejo southeastward to Cabo Engano.

Although the centre of the storm seemed likely to miss most of the island, intense rain still posed a threat to both nations, said Diana Goeller, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The countries are divided by a range of high mountains.

"This storm has a lot of heavy rainfall with it," Goeller told The Associated Press. "So in those mountainous areas, there could be very dangerous, life-threatening mudslides or flash floods."

John Cangialosi, a hurricane specialist with the hurricane centre, said up to 50 cm of rain was possible in isolated high-elevation areas. That is enough to cause serious problems in a country prone to catastrophic flooding.

Michel Davison of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the storm earlier dropped up to 250 millimetres of rain in parts of Puerto Rico, though its centre never got within 160 kilometres of the island.

Francois Prophete, who was shoring up the corrugated-metal roof of his one-room cinder block home in the hills southeast of Port-au-Prince, said most people had few options in a nation where the vast majority are desperately poor. "We can't afford to do much," he said.

Local authorities urged people to conserve food and safeguard their belongings.

An unknown number of people left flood-prone areas to stay with relatives and friends, said Emmanuelle Schneider, a spokeswoman for the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. There had been no government-organized evacuations by late Wednesday, she added.

"There will be an official evacuation when there's flooding," Schneider said.

There was reason for concern. A slow-moving storm in June triggered mudslides and floods in Haiti and killed at least 28 people. And widespread poverty makes it difficult for people to take even the most basic precautions.

Joceline Alcide stashed her two kids' birth certificates and school papers in little plastic bags that aid groups handed out. It was her only means to protect herself.

"There really isn't much more we can do. We just got these bags," the 39-year-old Alcide said, standing outside her teepee-like tarp shelter.

The National Hurricane Center said the storm was heading west-northwest at 11 km/h early Thursday. The storm was about 160 kilometres south-southeast of Port-au-Prince.

--The Associated Press

Haiti's capital may dodge worst of Tropical Storm Emily

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Forecasters say Tropical Storm Emily will drop a huge amount of rain on the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

But it appears the worst of the storm will largely spare Haitian capital, where hundreds of thousands of people are sill homeless from last year's earthquake.

Michel Davison of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says parts of the Dominican Republic and rural Haiti could see up to 50.8 cm of rain over the next 36 hours.

Emily is expected to reach the southwestern Dominican coast late Wednesday. If it clears the mountains that divide Hispaniola, the storm is expected to then track across northern Haiti.

--The Associated Press

Haiti braces for possible flooding from storm

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Tropical Storm Emily brushed past Puerto Rico and set its sights on the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where more than 630,000 people are still without shelter after last year's earthquake.

A "steady shield of rain" should reach the island of Hispaniola shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti around noon Wednesday and the rainfall should worsen by late afternoon, said John Dlugoenski, senior meteorologist with Accuweather.com.

"The biggest threat to lives is probably the flooding," Dlugoenski said.

Civil defence officials and the military in the Dominican Republic have already begun moving people out of high-risk zones ahead of the storm. Haitian authorities urged people to conserve food and safeguard their belongings.

In Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince, Jislaine Jean-Julien, a 37-year-old street merchant displaced by the January 2010 earthquake, said she was praying the storm would pass her flimsy tent without knocking it over.

"For now, God is the only saviour for me," Jean-Julien said at the edge of a crowded encampment facing the quake-destroyed National Palace. "I would go some place else if I could but I have no place else to go."

Haitian emergency authorities set aside a fleet of 22 large white buses in the event they needed to evacuate people from flooded areas. Emergency workers would then bus the people to dozens of schools, churches and other buildings that will serve as shelters.

"We're working day and night to be able to respond quickly in case we have any disasters," said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of Haiti's Civil Protection Agency.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said up to 25 centimetres of rain could fall in some parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides in areas of mountainoust terrain.

Emergency workers, both Haitian and foreign, also sent out text messages to cellphone users, alerting them to the approaching storm and to take precautions such as staying with friends or relatives if that were an option.

Such advisories are not uncommon but few in Haiti have the means to heed them because of the crushing poverty.

"This is not the first time we've heard these messages," said Alexis Boucher, a 29-year-old man who lives in Place Boyer, a public square that became a camp after the earthquake. "We receive these messages and yet we still don't have anywhere to go."

A slow-moving storm that triggered mudslides and floods in Haiti killed at least 28 people in June.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Haiti notified its 11,500 troops to be on standby in case they need to respond, said Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg, a spokeswoman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies also, put emergency teams on standby, which have access to relief supplies already in place for up to 125,000 people in seaside towns throughout the country.

In the Dominican Republic's southern tourist districts, workers at hotels and restaurants gathered up umbrellas, tables, chairs, and anything else that might be blown away.

Capt. Frank Castillo, dock master of the Marina Casa de Campo in the southeastern tourist city of La Romana, and his crew helped boat owners secure their vessels in slips or pull them ashore.

In Puerto Rico, there were no reports of major damage or injuries and no immediate demand for the nearly 400 schools that were converted into emergency shelters around the island.

Gov. Luis Fortuno had declared a state of emergency and most government offices were closed. Ahead of the storm, people cleared water and other emergency supplies from store shelves and tourists fled the small Puerto Rican islands of Culebra and Vieques.

But most of the island saw no more than sporadic gusts and showers.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm was heading west-northwest at 22 km/h early Wednesday. The path would bring Emily's centre over Hispaniola by Wednesday afternoon or Thursday. Both countries, but especially Haiti, are prone to devastating floods.

Early Wednesday, the storm was about 295 kilometres southeast of Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. It had maximum sustained winds of 85 km/h.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the southeast Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. A tropical storm watch for the U.S. Virgin Islands was discontinued Wednesday.

--The Associated Press

Storm damage delays flights at Halifax airport

HALIFAX - An intense thunderstorm that damaged equipment and kept workers off the tarmac has caused a flight backlog at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.

Ashley Gallant, a spokeswoman for the Halifax International Airport Authority, says all workers were pulled off the tarmac Tuesday after a red alert was declared.

Gallant says planes were able to land but it wasn't safe for anyone to be working outside.

She says lighting systems on their main and secondary runways were damaged by lightning strikes but they have since been repaired.

Planned upgrades that would have closed the secondary runway today have been delayed to accommodate flights still affected by unsettled weather.

Across the province Nova Scotia Power's outage map showed a few hundred customers in the Liverpool, Bridgewater and Goshen areas without power early Wednesday.

-- The Canadian Press

Tropical Storm Emily threatens Haiti

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO—Rain from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Emily began falling Tuesday in Puerto Rico as the system moved on a track that would take it to the island of Hispaniola within 48 hours and possibly to Florida by the end of the week.

With the storm stalling south of Puerto Rico, most government offices closed and people cleared water and other emergency supplies from store shelves. The showers and wind gusts were sporadic and there were no reports of major flooding or injuries.

The storm was expected to bring up to 15 centimetres of rain in Puerto Rico, enough to trigger floods and mudslides to an island that is already saturated from months of heavy rain.

The storm was moving on a northwestern track that forecasters said would reach Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, by Wednesday. Both countries, but especially Haiti, are prone to devastating floods.

Civil defence officials and the military in the Dominican Republic have already begun moving people out of high-risk zones ahead of the storm.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said the storm was about 435 kilometres southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico at 11 a.m. EDT. It had been meandering, but the forecasters said they expected it to resume its westward path at about 19 km/h later in the day.

A wind gust of 80 km/h was reported on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

-- The Associated Press