Rare Japanese tornado kills 1, injures 48
A rare strong tornado ripped through Ibaraki Prefecture in eastern Japan 30 miles northeast of Tokyo on Sunday, killing a teenage boy, injuring 48 people, and damaging or destroying 890 buildings. The tornado carved a path of destruction 15 km long and 500 meters wide, said the Japan Meteorological Agency. The tornado was given a preliminary rating of F-2, with winds of 113 - 157 mph (Japan uses the traditional "F" scale to rate tornadoes, not the "EF" scale used in the U.S.) The tornado also damaged homes in a housing complex in Tsukuba where 20 people from seven families from Fukushima Prefecture had evacuated following the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, caused by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. I bet those families are feeling disaster-prone!
Video 1. A rare tornado in Japan hits approximately 30 miles northeast of Tokyo on May 6, 2012.
Japan's tornado climatology
Tornadoes are rare in Japan, due to the fact the nation is surrounded by ocean, which tends to stabilize the air. Between 1961 - 2010, an average of 15 tornadoes per year hit Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Only four F-3 tornadoes have hit Japan. The most recent F-3 hit on November 7, 2006, in the Wakasa area of Saroma, Hokkaido. Nine people died and 26 were injured. Over 30 buildings, including a dwelling, warehouses and temporary structures were damaged or destroyed. No violent F-4 or F-5 tornadoes have been recorded in Japan, according the Japan Meteorological Agency, though other sources list a December, 1990 tornado as having been an F-4. Wunderground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt has more details in his latest post, Deadliest Tornadoes. Only one F-2 tornado hit Japan in both 2010 and 2011. A 1997 study published in the Journal of Climate found that Japanese tornadoes occurred most frequently in September and least frequently in March, and that typhoons were responsible for about 20% of all the tornadoes. A list of Asian tornado outbreaks maintained at Wikipedia lists the deadliest Japanese tornado as one on 6 September, 1881, which killed 16 people.
Figure 1. Distribution of tornadoes in Japan, 1961 - 2010. Image credit: Japan Meteorological Agency.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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WunderBlogAdmin i wish you ues this on JFV the next time he bypass a bannd of yours
Troll Wipe - This is the most extreme action an Admin can take, and it is reserved for flagrant, repetitive violations of the Terms of Service. This will remove the user completely, making it impossible for them to access that member handle again.
Yeah, that's a large upswing over the past week or so
I'm not gonna buy it until I see another message, but oh well.
Looks like the NAO will be heading back positive soon though...
Nite all.
Yep...and it looks to stay that way.
True.
And note the large pool of cooler water off the coast of Venezuela, WESTof Trinidad.
That's where it has been raining for weeks......
(edited West..)
I've noticed the more rapid warming is concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Stream off of the eastern US. Otherwise...the 26 deg C isotherm has pretty much been in the same spot in the E Atlantic for several days...
Your line of reasoning is the same sad line of reasoning that IDers have tried to use for the past decade or so trying to get religion introduced as science. Unless you're a young Earther your argument doesn't even stand up to the most cursory review of the geological record. Also, following your line of reasoning, there shouldn't be any elements more complex than hydrogen nor any complex molecular compounds such as amino acids either.
"Gawd dun it!" is not a falsifiable premise, and therefore is not science.
Yes it looks that way, but until then, I guess we'll see some continued warming
Yeah, due to that persistent surface trough over the said area
Rumor has it that God goes to him to get advice. :D
Or pictures of Dirty Harry....uh..yeah..you're just gonna have to trust me..
Link
... in the picture.
Will this do?
I think that's the weirdest comment I've read since I've been on here...
Lol!
Night everyone
yes
"Drop a cow on [them], WunderBlogAdmin."
Otherwise it looks like you're calling for a rebellion.
One of the meteorologists had spent time in Norman at either NSSL or OU - I don't recall which. He told me they have more tornadic storms in Japan than can be called tornadoes as, due to the island nature of their country, storms sometimes (edit) remain over water and form water spouts. He smiled when I told him I live in Oklahoma and told me, "We have tornadoes in Japan but not like the ones you have in Oklahoma."
That doesn't look good...hopefully there are no major reports of landslides or flooding
810 PM CDT MON MAY 7 2012
.NOW...
...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 AM CDT TUESDAY...SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS PORTIONS OF EXTREME NORTHEAST TEXAS...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...AND NORTHWEST LOUISIANA THROUGH EARLY EVENING. THE STRONGEST STORMS ARE LOCATED BETWEEN THE I30 AND I20 CORRIDORS.
EXPECT RAINFALL AMOUNTS RANGING FROM A TENTH UP TO A QUARTER OF AN INCH WITH THESE SHOWERS AND STORMS. ISOLATED HEAVIER RAIN AMOUNTS FROM ONE THIRD UP TO ONE HALF INCH ARE POSSIBLE...IN ADDITION TO LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL WITH THUNDERSTORMS.
Glad to see some good healthy rain sans tornadoes.
We had some decent downpours in Central Florida today, too.
Happens more often than you'd like to realize, especially if there's a dollar to be made.
That's gotta be the funniest thing i've seen all day.
We've got a nice storm out here in RPB. Freaked out the pets, which never happened before.
I don't know which is more hilarious, the comment or that avatar you have.
(and is smog weather?)
LA smog: more cows than cars?
By Scott K. Johnson | Published about 11 hours ago
Much to the chagrin of California tourism promoters, smog is likely one of the things you picture when you think about the city of Los Angeles. The haze of pollutants that often hangs over the region is more than just an eyesore; it's a source of considerable respiratory stress. And where does that air pollution come from? Smokestacks, tailpipes, and cows. You read that right - cows. In fact, a new study estimates that cows contribute at least as much as automobiles.
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/05/la-sm og-more-cows-than-cars.ars
Why not both?
Tracking Japan’s Tsunami Debris
Using historical weather patterns, NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory developed this model of how debris will circulate across the Pacific Ocean.
Although a year has passed since Japan’s tsunami sucked tons of wood, nets and other debris into the Pacific Ocean, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continues to track the rubble and urges others to do so to help focus cleanup efforts.
The total amount of debris is unknown — the Japanese government is fine-tuning its estimate of the amount that was generated and sank initially, said Ruth Yender, NOAA’s Japan tsunami marine debris coordinator. And immediately after the event, satellite imagery showed large swaths of floating junk, which dispersed a few months later.
So NOAA is using other means, including higher resolution satellite imagery and the public’s participation, to collect information for planning and cleanup purposes.
NOAA developed a model (above) and a map (below) to track where debris likely will circulate in the Pacific Ocean. It launched a marine debris tracker app, which people can use to log rubble they find along coastlines and in waterways. They also can email the agency with their finds.
Does radiation travels across the sea ?
Courtesy of J. Churnside/NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
It doesn’t matter if the trash is from the tsunami or other sources. “Debris is not a new thing. It washes ashore everyday, and it can be a hazard to marine life,” Yender said. Whales, sea lions and other creatures can ingest it or become entangled, and it also can do damage to coral reefs and boat propellers, she said.
So by gauging any changes in volume and composition, NOAA and other state, local and federal agencies can know where to ramp up their cleanup efforts.
Since nuclear reactors, including those at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, were damaged in the earthquake, there was a concern of radioactive contamination. But agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency have examined tests of nearby damaged vessels and other tsunami remnants, and determined it was “very highly unlikely” the spreading debris would be radioactive, Yender said.
[Note] Tsunami hit before nuclear accidents, so Tsunami debris is actually unlikely to be contaminated. However, the map suggests how contaminated water travels around in Pacific ocean.
Link
I have to admit, I thought of Monte Python and the Holy Grail for a minute... you confused me a bit :)
NOAA's Visualization Lab
Link
When WunderBlogAdmin has to step onto the blog you know your doing bad.
We're getting to the point in the year when bannings will get extremely strict. Stick to the direct topic of Dr. Master's blog and do not venture off otherwise.
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