What Is An Avalanche, Information, Facts, Safety & Preparation.

What is an avalanche?

Avalanches generally occur in steep and mountainous terrain where great amounts of snow can accumulate. Once the snow pack becomes too heavy and unstable to keep its current location gravity or human activity does its part and small or large amounts of the snow pack can flow or tumble at great speeds down the mountain.

Who are most effected by avalanches?

The general answer is anyone who is participating in back country activities in mid or late winter. This includes but is not limited to snowboarders, skiers, hikers, snowmobilers and mountain climbers. However, the trend is rapidly leaning toward the snowmobilers who now make up over half the avalanche fatalities anually. New advances in snowmobile technology has made them able to travel further into the back country and has also become an increasingly popular leisure activity.

This YouTube video shows smowmobilers outrunning an avalanche.

Avalanche facts.

• 65% of victims buried in an avalanche will die.
• Of the 35% of victims still alive buried in an avalanche, they will die within 2 hours.
• Avalanches are caused on purpose on ski mountains as a preventative measure.
• Shouting or loud noise does not cause avalanches.

Avalanche safety and best practices.

If you are headed to the back country during the winter avalanche season make sure you are prepared by taking a course offered from the resources cited further on. These courses can teach you how to determine whether the area you are travelling in might have a higher avalanche risk and other precautionary information.

There is also a plethora of products and equipment that can be purchased to make your chances of survival a little better. Besides a shovel, there are some interesting products like the Avalung that can extend your air supply for a little while to an avalanche airbag system designed to keep you buoyant on the avalanche surface. Here is a great little list of avalanche safety equipment providers.

Incredible video of snowboarders and skiers causing avalanches.

Avalanche information and resources.

• Canada. The Canadian Avalanche Centre. Providing avalanche warnings, education and research.
• USA. http://www.avalanche.org. Providing avalanche warnings, education and courses.

Tragic Canada Avalanches of note.

• December 2008 Sparwood BC avalanche. 8 out of 11 people in their group lost their lives while snowmobiling in the back country near Fernie BC.
• November 1998 Son of Pierre Trudeau, Michel Trudeau dies in an avalanche at Kokanee Glacier Park. The youngest son of former and beloved Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau tragically lost his life being swept of a local ski trail and pushed into Kokanee Lake where he had presumed drowned.
• February 2011 Mt. Gerald near Golden BC. 2 Snowmobiling men high marking tragically lost their lives doing what they loved.
• March 1910 Rogers Pass, BC. 62 rail road workers lost there lives in an avalanche.

Notable avalanches in history.

• 218 (BC) Switzerland. Hannibals army trying to cross the Alps lost 18,000 men due to avalanches.
• September 1618 Plurs, Switzerland. Later dubbed the Rodi avalanche destroyed the whole town killing almost 2,500 people.
• 1915-1918 up to 60,000 Austrian and Italian troops lost their lives due to avalanches caused in part by artillery fire.
• May 1970 Yungay, Peru. Spared less than 100 people in a town 20,000 all lost there lives in an avalanche.

By Darshan Montgomery and FriendlyForecast.com providing a great Revelstoke BC Weather Forecast, Golden BC Weather Forecast and Sparwood BC Weather Forecast.

The Northern Lights

If you live in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia or Northern Russia, you’re probably familiar with the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. They are streaks of multi-colored light that illuminate the sky mostly at night, sometimes appearing as an all-over glow, and sometimes as discrete patterns with sharp boundaries including spirals or folds/lines that are a bit like curtains. It’s thought that the term “aurora” was first used to describe this phenomenon by the astronomer Galileo Galilei in the early 17th century. (Aurora was the Roman goddess of the dawn.) The Aurora Borealis has its counterpart in the Southern hemisphere, where it is known as the Aurora Australis.

Aurora Australis surrounding Antarctica. Imige credit: NASA

The Northern Lights are caused by the interaction of solar wind with the earth’s ionosphere. Solar wind is a hot plasma consisting of electrons, protons and a few heavier ions, and blows continuously from the surface of the sun at a speed of about 400 km/second. When the plasma particles reach the earth, they are trapped in the earth’s magnetic field, and start to spiral back and forth along the field lines. (This interaction between the charged particles and the earth’s magnetic field is known as the magnetosphere.) The lines of the earth’s magnetic field are high above the surface of the earth at the equator, but they disappear into the surface at the poles. The points where the electrons in the magnetosphere hit the atoms present in the earth’s ionosphere are the points where the aurora is generated (more on this below). The area covered by these points is known as the auroral oval, which is shaped like a Frisbee with the center cut out; the center of the oval coincides with the geomagnetic pole. This is why it’s actually rare to observe an aurora directly over the geomagnetic poles.

The auroral oval can extend much further away from the poles during high periods of solar activity, which occur on an eleven-year cycle. These high levels of solar activity cause the magnetosphere to experience a disturbance, or geomagnetic storm. During such periods the Aurora Borealis can be seen at latitudes as far south as Florida.

This Northern Lights video brought to you by YouTube shows the Aurora Borealis over Norway doing its beautiful and mesmerizing dance.

Why the different colors? The electrons that form part of the solar wind collide with nitrogen and oxygen high in the earth’s ionosphere, between 90 and 250 km above the earth’s surface. At this height, most of the nitrogen and oxygen is in atomic rather than molecular form. This is because the sun’s electromagnetic radiation (not to be confused with the solar wind) breaks the molecules apart. At this height, they are so thinly distributed that they stay in atomic form for long enough to be “excited” when hit by the electrons of the solar wind. The excitation is caused by electrons in the nitrogen or oxygen atoms jumping up to a higher orbit. Eventually they “decay”, i.e. they go back to their original orbit. When they do this, they emit light in the visible spectrum. The color of this light varies depending on whether the atom is oxygen or nitrogen, and on the initial level of excitation. For example, two commonly-excited states of atomic oxygen result in the production of green and red light. The red light is produced at a height of 200 km or more above the earth’s surface, while green light can be produced at lower altitudes. Reddish-purple and blue are other colors that can also be seen.

By, WriteServe and your Friendly Weather Forecast brining you a great Whitehorse Weather Forecast, Yellowknife Weather Forecast and Iqaluit Weather Forecast.

What is an Earthquake?

An earthquake is when the earths tectonic plates suddenly moves or skips at one of its fault lines. This released energy radiates waves through the ground causing shaking, trembling, collapsing of buildings, phishers in the ground to open up, landslides, tsunamis and a whole host of other environmental catastrophes.

Earthquake terminology explained.

• Tectonic Plate – The Earths crust is not a solid entity. Instead of being whole it is in fact made up of several interlocking plates that slowly move against, below, beneath and along side each other.
• Fault Line – This is the place where 2 different tectonic plates merge and often the place where earthquakes occur.
• Seismometer – The scientific instrumentation used to detect earthquakes.
• Seismologist – Someone who studies earthquakes.
• Moment Magnitude Scale - assigns a number relative to the severity of an earthquake.
• Aftershock – Smaller earthquakes that come after a big earthquake or mainshock, if one of the aftershocks happen to be of greater magnitude than the mainshock then the bigger aftershock is now considered to be the mainshock and the old mainshock is now considered to be a foreshock.
• Epicenter – The location where the earthquake occurred, not necessarily where the damage took place.

What causes an earthquake?

Most earthquakes are caused by moving tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s crust. At the point where two plates converge is called a fault line and at certain points along the fault line the friction and stress can be great. The tectonic plates don’t slide smooth along each other, instead they take little steps, jumps or jolts to relive the strain. Its these jolts that release the built up stress energy  and sends it through the earth in a series of shock waves.

Earthquakes have been known to occur due to human involvement as well. Heavily mined areas can make known stable fault lines unstable, thus making the area a new earthquake zone. Nuclear explosions also have been known to cause earthquakes.

Image earthquake epicenters around the world 1963-1998. Image credit: NASA

San Francisco earthquake fires April 1906. Image credit: Wikipedia

How are earthquakes measured?

Earthquakes are measured by the Moment Magnitude Scale that replaced the Richter Scale in the 1970′s, but still kept the familiar numbering system. Seismic observatories use seismographs that detect the shock waves as they pass through the planet after an earthquake has occurred. Here are the different order of magnitudes and their explanations:

• 1.0 – 3.0 Very slight and virtually undetectable by humans.
• 3.0 – 3.9 Felt by a few or more people, some objects may sway, upper floors in high rise buildings feel the effect more and the sound is often associated with a large vehicle traveling down the road.
• 4.0 – 4.9 Moderate and noticeable to people indoors, windows rattling, some things may fall off shelves and the sound is similar to a freight train passing by.
• 5.0 – 5.9 Felt by everyone, unable to walk properly, items flying off shelves, cars swaying in the street, people fleeing buildings, broken furniture and minor damage to good building structures.
• 6.0 – 6.9 Damage to larger structures, chimneys collapse, houses moved off foundations and wide spread panic.
• 7.0 or Greater. Only the sturdiest of buildings remain standing, noticeable wave ripples passing through the ground, fissuress opening up and even the landscape can be altered.

This YouTube Video shows images of the Haiti earthquake

What are the effects of an earthquake?

Depending on the strength of an earthquake, how close to the surface it is and where the epicenter is, you could expect a wide veriety of earthquake effects. Here are some of note:

• Shaking Ground. Noticeable trembling of the ground accompanied by an auditory rumbling sound and cracks in the earth becoming visible.
• Landslides. Loose soil on steep hills can become unstable, dislodged and travel to lower lying land.
• Soil Liquefaction. Broken water mains saturating the soil beneath structures causing them to tilt or sink. Sink holes appearing along streets.
• Fires. Downed or broken power lines setting fire to combustible materials and spreading throughout neighborhoods.
• Volcanoes. Several earthquakes or earthquake clusters have been known to precede volcanic eruptions.
• Flooding. Dams and dikes can be compromised during an earthquake sending large amounts of water destroying crops and structures.
• Tsunami. When a earthquake displaces a large amount of water this can cause a massive wave that can travel the entire ocean and destroy communities.
• Disease. An indirect effect, sanitation and water purification services can be damaged causing contaminated drinking water which in turn can lead to diseases like cholera.

This YouTube video shows the 2004 tsunami up close and in detail.

Where do earthquakes most likely occur?

Earthquakes can occur almost anywhere, new fault lines are being discovered in areas where there was thought to be none. 90% of all earthquakes occur in a horse shoe shaped area surrounding the Pacific Ocean called the Ring of Fire.

The Pacific Ring Of Fire Image credit: Wikipedia

What to do in case of an earthquake & how to prepare for an earthquake.

If you feel the ground trembling seek shelter under a table, desk, designated earthquake safe zone or find a structurally reinforced area like a door frame. If you live in an area prone to earthquakes you should prepared to survive at least 72 hours or longer without any water, sanitation, medical assistance, food or electricity. Here is a list of things you should have in your home to prepare for an earthquake:

• Flashlight.
• Enough canned and dry food for 3 days.
• Water, 4 liters a day per person.
• At least $200.00 in cash.
• First aid kit.
• Battery or crank powered radio.
• Emergency blanket.
• Important medication.
• Waterproof matches.

Worst earthquakes in history.

• Haiti January 12, 2010 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti displacing millions of people. In addition to the massive destruction a cholera epidemic swept through densly populated areas. The new death toll stands in excess of 300,000 people.
• Indian Ocean, Sumatra, Indonesia December 26, 2004  - A 9.1 magnitude sub aquatic earthquake caused a massive tsunami that destroyed entire communities and killed an estimated 230,000 people.
• Cascadia, West Coast, North America January 26, 1700 – A 9.3 mega thrust earthquake that effected the coast of British Columbia all the way down to northern California. This quake resulted in a tsunami that made it all the way to Japan.
• Shaanxi, China January 23, 1556 – Arguably the deadliest earthquake in history, the estimated death toll was 830,000 people.

Earthquake information and resources.

Canada earthquake resource

USA earthquake resources

By Darshan Montgomery and Friendly Forecast Weather bringing you a great Victoria BC Weather Forecast, Vancouver Weather Forecast and Sandspit BC Weather Forecast.

The official date for winter is either December 21 or 22 depending on the calendar. Known as the winter solstice, it is the moment when the earth’s axis is tilted farthest from the sun. In other words, the top part of the world or northern hemisphere is tilted back away from the sun. That’s the reason why the sun in winter stays low in the sky all day long.

Since the shape of the earth is similar to a ball, the farther north someone lives the less sunlight they receive in winter. In summer, because the tilt is towards the sun, those people living farther north get even more sunlight than people living at lower latitudes.
That seems only fair.

Floridians living in Miami will receive 10 hours and 36 minutes of daylight. Those lucky enough to live in New York City will get 9 hours and 21 minutes of light. Folks in Anchorage Alaska get a measly six hours and forty three minutes and kids in Nuuk Greenland receive only 5 hours and 29 minutes of daylight on the same day in December.

For those calendar hawks who insist that winter has yet to arrive, weather experts tell us that on average the coldest weather in the Northeast tends to start on or about December 1 and lasts until the end of February. Sure it can be nasty in March or November with occasional snowstorms and cold winds but the average daily high temperature for December through February is 42, 37 and 39 degrees for each month. In November the average high is 54 and in March it is 48 degrees.

Even though the calendar says autumn, the atmosphere does not follow human made templates like calendars and clocks very well. Take for example the high and low temperatures on a summer day. Most people think the high temperature occurs around noon every day. Actually, the average high temperature is reached late in the afternoon. Similarly, the low temperature is most often recorded just before sunrise.

These high temperature results must seem counter-intuitive to some. In summer the sun is highest in sky overhead around noon time yet the highest temperature happens hours later. How can this be? It’s because the sun is heating the air all day long and the atmosphere acts like a heat sink capturing sunlight and converting it into heat energy. As the sun starts to get lower in the sky the effect starts to diminish and the temperature peaks out, usually between 3pm and 6pm.

The low temperature results are easier to understand. Since the sun is the source for heating, as soon as it sets temperatures fall continuously through the night reaching their lowest point just before sunrise.

By Gary Paul and FriendlyForecast.com providing a great Ottawa Weather, Toronto Weather and Winnipeg Weather forecast.

Our planet Earth is a living, breathing organism, and to have a healthy planet we need volcanoes. Volcanoes are one of those environmental phenomena that is spectacular to see, but can be deadly. Volcanoes are the number one natural planetary occurrence that effects our environment in drastic and monumental ways. Volcanoes have blackened the skies, disrupted air traffic, caused famines, planetary cooling and mass extinctions. However the ash spewed into the atmosphere helps reflect radiation from the sun, and recently it was discovered that iron rich ash falling into the sea feed microorganisms that produce oxygen.

What are volcanoes?

Volcanoes are where magma comes up through an opening in the Earth’s crust. The typical image of a volcano is a mountain missing its peak and smoke billowing out of it. But, that is not the only one type of volcano.

Kids, don’t try this at home. This YouTube video of a volcano shows the active Marum Volcano close up.

How do volcanoes erupt or form?

Magma pressure deep within the Earth forces itself through weak points along tectonic plates or places where a hot magma plume is near a thinner portion of the crust also known as a hotspot. When pressure reaches the point where the crust can no longer contain it, the volcano violently erupts spewing smoke, ash and lava.

Anatomy of a Volcano.

Anatomy of a volcano. Image credit MesserWoland

1. Magma chamber
2. Bedrock
3. Conduit (pipe)
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Branch pipe
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank
9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14. Crater
15. Ash cloud

What are the types of volcanoes?

Cryptodomes – Is formed when thick lava builds up and causes a bulge before it erupts.

Lava domes – A thick and slow eruption that can be violent, but the lava often doesn’t travel too far.

Mud volcanoes – In lieu of lava how about mud? Can be caused by heated liquid and gases beneath the earth.

Shield volcanoes – Forms a broad profile resembling a shield, thus the name shield volcano. More commonly found in Hawaii and Iceland, these volcanoes do not necessarily have massive eruptions, but the lava is fast moving and can cover long distances.

Stratovolcanoes – Your stereotypical volcano of the high conical mountain with the top blown off. Also known as a composite volcano because over its life span has experienced other types of volcanic eruptions. These volcanoes build themselves up higher and higher after each subsequent eruption adding layers with the debris and lava it spews. From what once could have been a hill can turn into a mountain over time.

Subglacial volcanoes – These form under icecaps creating mountains with a flat top to them, they are also known as Tuya’s.

Submarine volcanoes – Occur on the ocean floor. In shallower water you can see steam forming where they are erupting, in deep water the only evidence you could find of an underwater volcano is a discolouration in the water. Hydrothermal vents are common around these volcanoes and often support a unique ecosystem.

Supervolcanoes – An eruption from one of these has not happened in recorded history, but the evidence they leave behind is Earth changing. Usually they have a huge caldera like the one in Yellowstone Park and when this volcano erupts it cools the world, can poison and destroy on a continental scale. It was theorized that a supervolcano was responsible for one or more global extinctions.

Volcanic cones – Also known as cinder cones, erupt small pieces of red hot rock or pyroclastics giving the visual image of red hot cinders shooting out of it. These eruptions are short lasting and only do it once, these volcanoes often appear near by larger eruptions.

Mt. St. Helens in the USA is a typical great example of a cryptodome and lava dome volcano.

How are volcanoes classified?

A note about classifying volcanoes. There is no current scientific consensus or agreement on how to classify volcanoes. Its important to keep in mind that volcanoes can have a lifespan of a few hours to millions of years. The descriptions below reflect the current common understanding of volcano classification.

Active – An active volcano means it has erupted in our recorded history, or shows signs of activity like venting gases, hot springs or geysers. Scientists also consider an active volcano to have erupted withing the last ten thousand years.

Dormant – Are basically thought to have been extinct but have awakened and erupted. These volcanoes erupt infrequently every several thousand years or so.

Extinct – An extinct volcano is one that has not erupted for thousands of years and doesn’t have a lava supply under it to force another eruption.

What are the effects of volcanoes?

When volcanoes erupt they leave the entire area covered in a rich blanket of ash that over years makes for very fertile ground to grow crops. People have migrated to these areas enjoying a rich bounty, but they run great risk if the volcano is dormant or active.

When a volcano violently erupts it can send a pyroclastic surge containing hot ash and poisonous gases down the mountain at great speeds destroying everything in sight. This is what kills the most people, the lava that follows does not flow as fast and can be avoided. Earthquakes, geysers, mud-pots and hot springs coincide with hot spots and volcanic activity.

The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupting in 2010.

What is the ring of fire?

Though volcanoes are found all over the world where ever there is a hot spot or tectonic plate, the ring of fire is especially active. also known as the Pacific ring of fire it basically outlines the entire Pacific Ocean along its tectonic plates. It starts on the west coast of South America, moves up along Central America, up the Pacific North West of North America, up to the Aleutian Islands, across to Russia, encompassing all of Japan, Philippians, Indonesia, eastward to New Guinea and ending in New Zealand. This area represents 75% of the active and dormant volcano eruptions and activity in the world.

The Ring of Fire. Image credit Wikipedia.

List of the most active volcanoes.

Also known as the decade volcanoes these are some of the most active on Earth.

• Mount Etna, Sicily – Italy
• Galeras, Narino – Colombia
• Santa Maria Santiaguito – Guatemala
• Santorini, Cyclades – Greece
• Taal Volcano, Luzon – Philippines
• Teide, Canary Islands – Spain
• Sakurajima, Kagoshima Prefecture – Japan
• Ulawun, New Britain – Papua New Guinea
• Mount Unzen, Nagasaki Prefecture – Japan
• Vesuvius, Naples – Italy
• Mauna Loa, Hawaii – USA
• Mount Merapi, Central Java – Indonesia
• Mount Nyiragongo – Congo
• Mount Rainier, Washington – USA
• Avachinsky Koryaksky, Kamchatka – Russia
• Nevado de Colima, Jalisco and Colima – Mexico

By Darshan Montgomery and FriendlyForecast.com providing a great Vancouver Weather, Victoria BC Weather and Calgary Weather forecasts.

Undeniably Tsunami’s or tidal waves are one of the worst natural disasters that can effect the coastal regions on our planet. As learned in the 2004 Indian Ocean Boxing Day Tsunami, the effects are truly global, spreading wide spread destruction of entire towns and villages, crops and human life. The only things more destructive than a tsunami is a large asteroid hitting the Earth or nuclear war. For the exception of nuclear war the other 2 aren’t preventable, all we can do is be as prepared and as educated as possible.

What is a tsunami or title wave?

A tsunami is is a series of large waves that are usually caused by a significant geological event, displacing a large volume of water causing a pressure wave that emanates outward or away from the event. Think of it as dropping a pebble into a pool of water, if the pool is calm you can see ripples or waves emanating from the impact point. As any astute pebble dropper can tell you, the bigger the pebble, rock or boulder, the greater the displacement, the bigger the emanating waves and the further they can travel.

What causes a tsunami or tidal wave?

The main causes of a tsunami from most common to infrequent are; under water earthquakes, landslides above water or beneath, volcanic activity, oceanic meteorite impacts and underwater nuclear device detonations. Basically anything that can displace a large amount of water can create a tsunami.

Where do tsunamis occur?

Tsunamis can occur in anywhere on the coast of a large body of water including lakes. However, it is curious to note that the Pacific Ocean has had 80% of all tsunamis and Japan is the one country that is most often effected by the environmental weather related event.

Tsunami Warning System, image credit www.weather.gov

What are the tsunami warning signs?

Whenever there is a significant sub aquatic earthquake or landslide this is instantly registered with scientific and governmental organizing that monitor such activity. They then watch the global tsunami warning system that consists of a network of buoys and underwater pressure sensors to determine if there is a threatening pressure wave travelling across the ocean and where it is most likely to strike. These organizations then issue alerts to local, regional, international authorities and media services that send news broadcasts, sound tsunami horns – alarms and mobilize local military and police to let people know who are on beaches or along the coast that a tsunami is immanent.

How to be prepared for a tsunami?

As a general rule, if you are along the coast by or near any large body of water and especcialy in an area that is clearly marked as a tsunami zone remember these things:

1. Listen and obey media alerts of a tsunami.
2. Be aware of where your closest higher ground, buildings are and know how to get to them quickly. This could also be an official tsunami evacuation route usually marked by a sign.
3. If you see the water recede quickly and may have a subsequent ‘sucking sound’ accompanying it, take for high ground immediately. This is the tsunamis trough and you will only have minutes to get to higher ground.

What are the effects of a tsunami or tidal wave?

Small tsunamis can end up being nothing more than another small wave rolling in on a beach, virtually undetectable. Larger tsunamis can cause deep inland flooding, destroy poorly constructed structures and drown scores of people.

Basically the main effect of a tsunami is the wave it produces, it is that alone that causes all the real damage. There was one tsunami in Lituya Bay Alaska that was caused by a landslide and set the record for the highest wave, over 500 meters tall (yes half a kilometer high) it also killed all the fisherman that were in the bay at the time.

What were the worst tsunamis in history?

This YouTube video of a tsunami animation in the Indian Ocean

December 26, 2004 – The Indian Ocean tsunami caused by a sub aquatic mega thrust earthquake its epicenter being near the coast of Sumatra Indonesia. This was one of the deadliest natural disaster to have ever occurred in history killing in excess of 230,000 people, causing demolishing 30 meter waves and effecting 14 countries in all.

November 1, 1755 – Lisbon Portugal an earthquake caused a tsunami that killed an estimated 60,000 people.

August 27, 1883 – Indonesian Islands of Java and Sumatra over 36,000 people died from a tsunami caused by eruptions from the Krakatoa volcano.

365 A.D. – Alexandria Egypt was not necessarily the worst tsunami in history, but it was the first noticed and recorded tsunami by roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus. This historian describes and earthquake, the retreat of the sea and a subsequent wave.

Tsunamis are a part of life on this planet and there is now way to prevent them. It is important that we educate ourselves as much as possible about this environmental phenomenon so we can be prepared for their eventual occurrences. Here is some more tsunami information via NOAA’s website.

By,

Darshan Montgomery and FriendlyForecast.com providing a great Tofino Weather, Port Alberni Weather and Prince Rupert Weather forecasts.

What Is El Nino & La Nina Weather Pattern?

The El Nino effect weather pattern originates in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America, raises the water temperature greater than 0.5°C and initiates a process of changing weather patterns all over the world. El Nino & La Nina works with the Southern Oscillation weather phenomena and often referred to collectively as ENSO for convenience.

La Nina is the opposite of El Nino and creates a cooling effect in the ocean, but does not occur as often and like its big brother La Nina changes weather patterns globally.

What is the definition of El Nino & La Nina, where did the meaning originate?

South American fisherman were the first to coin the term “El Nino” meaning technically “the boy” and colloquially as “the Christ child” for the time of year when the weather pattern is most prevalent. La Nina means “the girl”, the opposite of El Nino.

What are the effects of El Nino & La Nina?

El Nino is known for causing or increasing droughts in Australia, North & South America and parts of Africa, brings warmer winters for North America, and inhibits trade winds that bring nutrient rich cooler water to come to the surface and flow along currents. The lack of nutrient rich cooler waters means less food for fish, results in lower reproduction, changes their migratory patterns and even fish kills are known to happen. El Nino years have coincided with countless fishery collapses in South America and beyond. In fact, one particularly bad El Nino year it was resposible for killing more  than 15% of the worlds coral reefs because of the change in water temperatures and the lack of flowwing nutrients.

La Nina brings stormier, wetter weather. Monsoons, flooding, active typhoon and hurricane seasons and earlier, heavier snowfall and lower temperatures in northern countries. La Nina is part of what makes our planet active, weather wise. But, La Nina’s have been becoming more few and far between in recent years which brings us to our next section.

This YouTube Video gives some great information on the effects of El Nino.

What causes El Nino & La Nina and how often do the occur?

Scientist don’t have an answer as to the cuase of El Nino’s and El Nina’s. But what is noticeable is the coincidental increase in the global warming phenomenon. Is this nurture or nature; with the increase of El Nino’s and the diminishing of La Nina’s, is human activities the cause of the increased El Nino’s? Or, are we just going through a normal long term warming trend that is caused by El nino? Scientists are busy gathering data and trying to put all the pieces of a very big puzzle into place. Also, depending on which side of the fence you sit on, there is no shortage of opinions.

El Nino’s occur approximately every 3 to 5 years and can last from 6 months 2 over 2 years. Conversely La Nina’s occur in between the El Nino years and don’t last as long. As mentioned earlier going into the future these numbers could change, and the trend is for more frequent and longer lasting El Ninos.

ENSO was such a great discovery for weather meteorologists in that they now can provide much more detailed and longer range weather forecasts.

By,

Darshan Montgomery and FriendlyForecast.com providing a great Victoria BC Weather forecast.

What is a typhoon?

A typhoon is a West Pacific tropical cyclone, similar to the North Atlantic cyclone otherwise known as a hurricane. In fact the only differences between a typhoon and a hurricane is where on the planet they occur, they form the same way and have the same destructive power. Another difference between a typhoon and hurricane, besides the location, is that typhoons don’t have a season and if the weather conditions are right they can develop any time.

How do typhoons form?

Warm shallow tropical waters, but not just any warm shallow waters, the islands in the Pacific Ocean called the Federated States of Micronesia. 90% of all typhoons originate in this area. The consistently favorable weather systems and the warm shallow waters is the main incubator for a typhoon.

What countries are effected by typhoons?

There are 3 different paths the typhoon can take northward, recurved and striaght. If the typhoon heads northward it really effects only small islands Hawaii, Guam and sometimes they make it all the way to Russia and Alaska in a weakened state. If the typhoon is headed straight or recurved it is at its most destructive and can effect the countries of China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

What kind of damage does a typhoon do?

Like hurricanes, typhoons can cause wide spread flooding, high speed winds uproot vegetation, destroy weaker structures, overturn cars, spawn tornadoes, can bring a high storm surge and kill or displace many people.

This YouTube video shows the destructive effects of a typhoon.

Some of the worst or most destructive typhoons in history:

2010 Typhoon Megi – Megi was a category 5 super typhoon that effected the Philipenes, Taiwan and China primarily. Flash floods, evacuations, airport closures and other transportation shut downs were some of the results. Megi took 69 lives and did $694 million dollars in damage.

1983 Typhoon Forest – Forest was one of the worst typhoons in the 1983 typhoon season causing damage mostly to Japan ripping out vegetation, killed 21 people, destroying homes and even sparking a tornado.

1959 Typhoon Joan – Joan was another category 5 super typhoon causing most of the damage over Taiwan and China causing at least 67 deaths and untold crop and structural damage.

Check out Wikipedia for more information typhoons information.

This article is brought to you buy FriendlyForecast.com providing a great Calgary Weather forecast.

What is a waterspout?

Related to and forms similarly as tornadoes and dust devils, a waterspout is a column of air, swirling in a vertical vortex over a body of water. Waterspouts are usually harmless, but larger ones have been known to be dangerous. The maximum strength of a waterspout was estimated to be an F0 on the Fujita scale for tornadoes.

How is a waterspout formed? Here is what Wikipedia had to say:

…cloud that develops them can be as innocuous as a moderate cumulus, or as great as a supercell. While some waterspouts are strong and tornadic in nature, like their land-based counterpart, most are much weaker and caused by different atmospheric dynamics. They normally develop in moisture-laden environments as their parent clouds are in the process of development, and it is theorized that they spin up as they move up the surface boundary from the horizontal shear near the surface, and then stretch upwards to the cloud…

This is a great video of a waterspout tornado found on YouTube.

Where do waterspouts occur?

Waterspouts occur over water both salt and fresh. They are most prevalent in warmer tropical climates, but depending on the time of year and the local weather conditions waterspouts can occur just about over any body of water in the world.

How long do waterspouts last?

Waterspouts have a five part life cycle. They first start off as being a dark or black spot on the surface of the water, a spiral pattern begins to emerge on the water surface, a ring of spray is then formed, a visible condensed water funnel stretching from the water to the cloud and finally it decays then disappears. A waterspout can last for as few as a few minutes to as long as 20 minutes.

Variations.

So far we have talked about the most common of waterspouts also known as ‘fair weather waterspouts’. There is also something called a tornadic water spout that is basically a tornado that formed over land and then its track led it over water, this weather phenomena only occurs in the rarest of occasions. A snowspout is similar to a waterspout accept occurs over snow and generally before a snow squall.

Check out this article from NOAA for more waterspout information.

By,

Darshan Montgomery and FriendlyForecast.com providing a great Vancouver BC Weather forecast.

What is a dust devil tornado?

Dust devils are similar to tornadoes in that they are a swirling vortex of air moving vertically over land. This is pretty much where the similarity ends. Tornadoes occur with super celled thunder storms and dust devil appear only on sunny days, tornadoes are highly destructive while dust devils, in the rarest of exceptions, are harmless.

This YouTube Video shows a dust devil in action.

How are dust devils formed? Here is a quote from Wikipedia:

Dust devils form when hot air near the surface rises quickly through a small pocket of cooler, low pressure air above it. If conditions are just right, the air may begin to rotate. As the air rapidly rises, the column of hot air is stretched vertically, causing intensification of the spinning effect by the scientific principle conservation of angular momentum. The secondary flow in the dust devil causes other hot air to speed horizontally inward to the bottom of the newly forming vortex. As more hot air rushes in toward the developing vortex to replace the air that is rising, the spinning effect becomes further intensified and self-sustaining. A dust devil, fully formed, is a funnel-like chimney through which hot air moves, both upwards and in a circle.

Where do dust devils occur?

Dust devils happen all over the globe and even on Mars, but are most prevalent in dry hot arid and semi arid areas like a desert. Other conditions that contribute to dust devils are clear skies, flat land, no wind and a cooler atmosphere.

This article is brought to you by the folks at FrindlyForecast.com providing a great Vancouver Weather forecast.