Here's an interesting graphic on the smoke situation in Florida from the Tampa Tribune:

You can find the article Smoke From Wildfires To Ease Up here.

Posted by Carl at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mala actually means "garland of flowers" in Bengali. Although, my Bengali is a little rusty. It definitely means either "garland of flowers" or "a dozen jelly donuts." One or the other.

AccuWeather has a nice sat shot and write up in our hurricane center.

Posted by Carl at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not quite the category 5 monster she was. Article here. Good news for the cyclone-weary in Australia.

Posted by Carl at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Australia is having a tough season. Tropical Cyclone Monica, with winds gusting to 220 mph, is headed for Darwin. You can see the well-defined eye in this satellite snap:

Does anyone know if Australia has antagonized the Japanese Mafia lately? Or is the J.M. just warming up the machine?

Links:

BoM Track Map
CNN article on Monica.
ABCNews Online article about evacuations.
Find the latest via Google News here.
AccuWeather.com's Hurricane Center has info here.

Posted by Carl at 12:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Western Australia didn't fare too badly, as Glenda missed major population areas. Glenda also missed some more bananas, which is good news for Australia (and banana lovers everywhere.)

Posted by Carl at 2:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Glenda has battered and lashed the coast as the category 4 cyclone came ashore. This ABCNews Online article has some good guest-submitted photos and video. It appears (to my untrained layman's eye) that flooding will be the biggest concern. You can find updates on AccuWeather's site here. The BoM has a good forecast track feature and updates here.

Posted by Carl at 2:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You can find a run-down by the Australian BoM here. Gusts are expected to reach 265 kph (164 mph) when the eye hits.

I'm not very familiar with Australia, but this doesn't look like the kind of place that you want a hurricane running ashore. (Link to FlashEarth map.)

Posted by Carl at 2:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NOT Glinda, the good witch, but Glenda, the bad cyclone. She's headed for "Oz" if I can extend my bit of irony. (Why people call Australia "Oz" is beyond me. I get the "Aus" and "Oz" sounding similar thing, but it still strike me as a little weird.)

Here's a story on the cyclone with gusts of 235km/h (146mph) and pushing cat five status. Keep in mind that storms are graded a bit differently in the south Pacific by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Wind gusts are used instead of sustained speeds, and the numbers for each category are a bit lower.

Posted by Carl at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"It looks like an atomic bomb hit the place," Innisfail mayor Neil Clarke told Australian television.

That, according to this CNN article. And yet, there are no reported fatalities - just 30 people who have suffered minor injuries. If that's not the definition of "miraculous" I'm not sure what qualifies. (I know I'm ignoring, for the moment, the $350 million dollars worth of bananas killed but I'm not any sort of banana bigot or anything. Really! I love bananas, and had two just this past weekend. My heart goes out to the bananas and their families.)

Posted by Carl at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

News and photos out of Innisfail and surrounding areas seem to be sparse. Here's an update including some damage photos. No word on casualties yet.

Here's an article that mentions the agricultural impact I mentioned earlier:

In addition, up to 50,000 homes in the region were without power.

Posted by Carl at 2:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Super Cyclone Larry smashed into northeast Australia with winds of up to 180 mph. It's not clear if that's gusts or sustained winds. A category five hurricane has sustained winds of 156 or more. Early reports say 20 people may have been killed, and houses in Innisfail are being dismantled by the winds. You can find an article here, and a Google News Search here.

I doubt we have any readers from Australia but I hope everyone's safe.

Additional stories here, here, and here. That last link says that Larry may plunge Innisfail farmers into financial ruin.

More: Cyclone "track map." (It's odd to see a storm moving inland due-west like, since we in the states are use to them hitting and curving.

Posted by Carl at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)