Wacky and Weird Weather highlights of 2018 in Words and Photos and it is still July!!!

The Weirdest Weather Events of 2018 So Far

By Jon Erdman

June 28 2018 01:45 PM EDT

weather.com

We've already seen our share of winter storms, severe weather, cold outbreaks, flooding and droughts so far in 2018. But there are some weather events every year that are downright strange, and this year is no exception.

The events we consider strange are weather phenomena happening repeatedly in one place, in a place where you wouldn't think they would occur or during an unusual time of year. Some are phenomena you may not find in a Weather 101 textbook.

Here are some of weirdest weather events we've seen so far in 2018, in chronological order.

Freezing Rain in Florida

Just after New Year's Day, Winter Storm Grayson blanketed Tallahassee, Florida, with its first measurable snow since 1989, and the first January such occurrence, there, in records dating to 1885. That's eye-catching enough.  What was even more bizarre was seeing an ice accumulation map involving the Sunshine State. Up to a quarter inch of ice accumulation was measured in Lake City, and light icing on elevated surfaces was reported as far south as Levy County.

February 80s in New England

The heat in New England Feb. 20-21 was the "most extraordinary heat event to ever affect the Northeastern quadrant of the U.S. during the month of February, since official records began in the late 1800s," according to Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt. All-time state February heat records were tied or broken in eight states, including 77 degrees at Wells, Maine, 80 degrees at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 83 degrees at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and 80 degrees at Cincinnati's Lunken Airport. 

The Four-easters

Perhaps as payback for the summerlike February heat wave, four nor'easters – Winter Storms Riley, Quinn, Skylar and Toby – in three weeks brought misery to millions along the Eastern Seaboard in March 2018. Incredibly, a fifth low-pressure center was a bit too far offshore near the end of March to join the fearsome foursome from earlier in the month.

A Horseshoe Cloud

While the nor'easter parade was hammering the East Coast, a bizarre cloud was captured in video over Nevada in early March. As meteorologist Jonathan Belles explained, this rare horseshoe vortex is fleeting, lasting only minutes, when a relatively flat cloud moves over a column of rising air, which also gives the cloud some spin.

A State Record Hailstone

Alabama's notorious history of severe weather, particularly tornadoes, is well documented.  On March 19, however, it was a hailstone that captured meteorologists' attention. One softball-size hailstone near Cullman, Alabama, was found to set a new state record, more than 5 inches in diameter. 

Orange Snow

Just after spring officially arrived in late March, a plume of dust tapped by southerly winds from north Africa, lead to the sight of orange snow over parts of eastern Europe. While not unheard of, this particular orange snow event observed in parts of Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania and Moldova featured higher concentrations of dust than usual, according to the BBC. 

New U.S. Rainfall Record?

Less than eight months after Hurricane Harvey smashed a rainfall record for any U.S. tropical cyclone, a deluge in Hawaii appeared to have set another U.S. rain record. A location on the island of Kauai measured 49.69 inches of rain in just 24 hours from April 14-15. If that is verified, it would top the U.S. 24-hour rain record of 43 inches in Alvin, Texas, during Tropical Storm Claudette in July 1979.

Apriluary, Then a Record Warm May

The coldest April in 21 years for the Lower 48 states was followed by the hottest May, in NOAA records dating to 1895. Climate scientist Dr. Brian Brettschneider wrote this was the largest area of Earth to undergo a record cold-to-warm shift in consecutive months in the last 100 years.  Minneapolis-St. Paul went from its heaviest April snowstorm of record in mid-April to a Memorial Day high of 100 degrees in just six weeks.

New England Long-Track Tornado in May

A 36-mile long EF1 tornado May 4 in western and central New Hampshire was one of the longest on record in New England. As strange as an early-May tornado of any kind is in New Hampshire –  its typical peak tornado month is July – perhaps the most amazing aspect to this was how the tornado was discovered. The National Weather Service office in Gray, Maine, gathered public storm reports, then surveyed relatively remote parts of New Hampshire 10 days after the tornado to piece together its path.

Subtropical Cyclone Off Chile

The northeastern Pacific basin's hurricane season starts in mid-May. In early May 2018, however, a bizarre subtropical cyclone formed in the southeast Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Chile. This appeared to have been a first-of-its-kind storm to form over this typically colder stretch of the southeast Pacific Ocean, according to long-term records.   

Wildfire Spawns a Severe Thunderstorm

Lightning from thunderstorms can often trigger wildfires. On May 11, however, heat generated from the Mallard Fire southeast of Amarillo, Texas, generated not just a photogenic pyrocumulus cloud, but also triggered a severe thunderstorm that ended up dumping quarter-size hail in Wheeler County, Texas, just over 60 miles away.

Back-to-Back Middle East Tropical Cyclones in Unusual Locations 

In less than a week in May, a pair of tropical cyclones took unusual tracks in the Middle East. First, Tropical Cyclone Sagar tracked almost the entire length of the Gulf of Aden before landfalling in far western Somalia on May 19, the country's strongest and westernmost in records since the mid-1960s.  Six days later, Tropical Cyclone Mekunu moved ashore near Salalah, Oman, the first Category 3 landfall in southwest Oman in modern records, dumping over 24 inches of rain in four days in the city. 

Alberto is Pure Michigan

After a Memorial Day landfall in the Florida Panhandle, deep moist air and the lack of strong shearing winds kept what was once Subropical Storm Alberto's remnant circulation intact well inland, to the degree that NOAA's Weather Prediction Center didn't issue its final advisory until Alberto was just southwest of Alpena, Michigan, on May 31.  The only other tropical cyclone to have tracked within 75 miles of Alpena since the mid-20th century, according to NOAA, was Connie, as a tropical storm in August 1955.  As The Weather Channel senior meteorologist Stu Ostro pointed out, this was also a highly unusual track for May.

Two Wyoming EF3 Tornadoes in Less Than a Week

In the first six days of June, a pair of EF3 tornadoes tore through areas near Gillette and Laramie, Wyoming, the first F/EF3 or stronger tornadoes in the state since 1987. Wyoming's low population density typically minimizes the chance of a tornado hitting structures or even trees to allow the National Weather Service to rate a tornado. The June 6 tornado north of Laramie scoured grass from the ground, allowing the NWS to rate it EF3. 

Snow After Summer Arrives

Imagine shoveling snow five days after the summer solstice. This happened on June 26, when a storm off the coast of Newfoundland had just enough cold air to blanket parts of the island with snow, prompting plows to be called out. It was one of the latest-in-season snowfalls on record in Gander. Kids had to to trudge through snow during their last week of school before summer vacation.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Melchizedek Predictions - Yellowstone update - Steamboat Geyser comes to life three times after 8 year rest - Is Yellowstone awakening?

So maybe another geyser erupting at Yellowstone is no big deal.  However, coming on top of a massive increase in Earthquake activity, heating up of surface rivers and lakes, and new ways of measuring the monstrous lava pool sitting just below the surface like a giant time bomb ready to erupt, it is getting attention.

People are on edge, while conspiracy dwellers are ready to burst in anxiety, as the dreaded Yellowstone super-volcano shakes, rattles, and rolls.  If the supervolcano should erupt, and the last time was 640,000 years ago, it would cause worldwide damage.

However, Melchizedek said there would be a substantial increase in seismic activity including geyser eruptions, earthquakes, and even superheated rivers and lakes.  While this significant change in behavior in one of the world's most dangerous natural parks will strike fear in the hearts of doomsday advocates, this will not trigger the supervolcano eruption.

We should consider it a wakeup call to remind us to stop damaging Mother Earth, one of God's precious creations, and find harmony and a state of grace with the Earth.  All of God's creations are special to him and should be to us. 

Here is what the news media had to say about the latest Yellowstone activity.

 Unusual eruptions at world's largest active geyser in Yellowstone

 By Jon Herskovitz,Reuters 8 hours ago 

(Reuters) - The world's largest active geyser has erupted three times in the past six weeks at Yellowstone National Park, including once this week, in a pattern that is unusual but not at all indicative of a more destructive volcanic eruption brewing beneath Wyoming, geologists said on Saturday.

Steamboat Geyser, which can shoot water as high as 300 feet (91 meters) into the air, erupted on March 15, April 19 and on Friday. The last time it erupted three times in a year was in 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey's Yellowstone Volcano Observatory said.

The last time it erupted prior to March was more than three years ago in September 2014.

"There is nothing to indicate that any sort of volcanic eruption is imminent," Michael Poland, the scientist in charge for the observatory, said in an email.

This year's eruptions have been smaller than a usual Steamboat eruption, but the two in April were about 10 times larger than an eruption at the park's famed Old Faithful Geyser in terms on the amount of water discharged, he said.

Geologists have not pinpointed a reason for the latest series of eruptions, but say they could indicate a thermal disturbance in the geyser basin, or that Steamboat may be having smaller eruptions instead of one large.

Since most geysers do not erupt on a regular schedule, "it might just reflect the randomness of geysers," Poland said.

Only Waimangu Geyser in New Zealand has rocketed to greater heights than Steamboat, but not for more than 100 years, the U.S. National Park Service said.

Yellowstone sits atop a volcano that created a vast crater. Its plateau hosts the world's most diverse and expansive continental hydrothermal systems, including the multicolored springs, mudpots and geysers for which the park is known.

While the Steamboat eruptions are unusual, what would be far more worrying would be the water in the hydrothermal systems drying up, which could indicate that the super hot magma deep below was making its way to the surface.

"Yellowstone hasn't had a volcanic eruption for 70,000 years! Geysers erupt all the time," said Jake Lowenstern, a USGS research geologist who specializes in volcanoes.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Daniel Wallis and XX)

Yellowstone geyser erupts for 3rd time in 6 weeks

• By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — Apr 27, 2018, 6:50 PM ET

·         Email

Yellowstone National Park geologists have reported the third eruption from the world's largest active geyser in the past six weeks.

The National Park Service says a park visitor reported seeing a rare eruption of Steamboat Geyser on Friday.

Park geologists compared the report with seismic activity and the discharge of water and concluded the eruption probably started at 6:30 a.m.

The geyser also erupted on March 15 and April 19.

All three eruptions were smaller than the last major eruption that occurred on Sept. 3, 2014.

Yellowstone Earthquakes gain in Frequency and Intensity - Could they Trigger Supervolcano?

.

All eyes or motion detectors are focused on Yellowstone National Park and the recent increase in earthquakes as well as the very recent increase in the intensity of earthquakes.  With the well documented massive magma deposit nearing the surface of the earth and the exceptional geologic structure of the park, offering over 400 various types of vents for releasing the massive pressure from below, Yellowstone is the most and best monitored natural disaster zone in the world.

Just last September the earthquake activity picked up substantially and it has been increasing ever since.  In September earthquakes averaged about 2.0 in magnitude.  By January the average magnitude moved up to 2.3 and in the last few days it has reached 2.7 to 2.9.

Cause for alarm, nobody knows.  Cause for concern, you better believe it!

There are perhaps 20 supervolcanoes around the world but none has the massive size and danger potential as Yellowstone.  Since the most recent eruptions have been 640,000, 1.2 million, and 6 million years ago, we are most certainly way overdue.

Here is what the media are reporting on the most recent developments at Yellowstone.  Ironically, the European media is far more interested in Yellowstone than the American media snf they do s much better job of reporting on activity.

Yellowstone earthquake: Fears for deadly SUPERVOLCANO ERUPTION after TEN quakes in one day

FEARS for a Yellowstone supervolcano eruption have been sparked after a swarm of 10 earthquakes struck the seismically volatile US national park today following another quake yesterday.

By JOEY MILLAR

PUBLISHED: 17:10, Sun, Feb 18, 2018 | UPDATED: 17:18, Sun, Feb 18, 2018

Yellowstone has been hit by 10 small earthquakes today, setting alarm bells ringing with the park’s fearsome supervolcano already “under strain” according to one expert. 

While all the quakes were relatively small, it does point to an increasingly volatile geological landscape at the park. 

All of today's earthquakes struck near Maple Creek and measured 2.9 of less magnitude. 

Yesterday Yellowstone was also hit by a 2.6 magnitude earthquake.

Below the surface of the park lies the fearsome Yellowstone Caldera, a supervolcano which last erupted approximately 630,000 years ago. 

Experts warn it erupts roughly every million years, with some geologists claiming it is already showing signs it could be ready to blow once again. 

Yesterday's earthquake roughly 20 miles from the supervolcano will add to concerns of an imminent - and devastating - eruption. 

Earlier this week seismologists from UNAVCO, a nonprofit university-governed consortium, said the site was “under strain”. 

They said “the strain signal is larger than would be expected if the crust under Yellowstone were completely solid”.

However these findings are "no cause for alarm”,  they said, and reflect the expected measurements of a volcano which has been building up for close to a million years.

If the Wyoming volcano were to erupt an estimated 87,000 people would be killed immediately and two-thirds of the USA would immediately be made uninhabitable due to a huge ash cloud sparking rapid climate change.

The large spew of ash into the atmosphere would block out sunlight and directly affect life beneath it creating a “nuclear winter” for huge parts of Earth - not simply the American West. 

The massive eruption could be a staggering 6,000 times as powerful as the one from Washington’s Mount St Helens in 1980 which killed 57 people and deposited ash in 11 different states and five Canadian provinces.

If the volcano explodes, a climate shift would ensue as the volcano would spew massive amounts of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, which can form a sulphur aerosol that reflects and absorbs sunlight.

Movie Clips of Yellowstone Eruption

Scientists 'DON'T KNOW' how big a 'tremendous' eruption from Yellowstone volcano could be

A “TREMENDOUS” super eruption could be about to take place in Yellowstone, US, as local experts admit they “don’t know” how big the volcanic blast will be.

By DAN FALVEY

PUBLISHED: 02:06, Mon, Dec 4, 2017 | UPDATED: 07:03, Mon, Dec 4, 2017

Fears are growing a huge eruption is due from Yellowstone, 630,000 years after the last blast sent debris flying hundreds of miles across America.

A study by a team of scientists from Bristol University found these deadly eruptions may happen every 17,000 years or so.

This means our next super-eruptions could be overdue after the two most recent super-eruptions to rock Earth happened somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago.

Michael Poland, Scientist-in-Charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, has now admitted they do not know how large an eruption could be about to take place.

He said: “We don’t know whether there’s enough magma beneath the surface to have a super eruption.”

What if it erupted?

Explaining exactly how large eruptions are measured he continued: “Super volcanos, or super eruptions, are these eruptions that are on the eruption intensity scale, there’s something called the volcano explosivity index (VEI) and eruptions that have a VEI of eight are considered super eruptions.

“And that’s pretty massive, most eruptions that we see would be VEI three, four. Big ones are five and then once a century or so there’s a six, so a VEI eight is really, really tremendous.”

The confession from Mr Poland that experts are unsure how big an eruption from the volcano would be is unlikely to put people living in the US at ease.

Denver City is the biggest city at direct risk of a major blast, located around 500 miles to the south-east of the volcano.

However, Salt Lake, Cheyenne, Rapid City, Billings and Boise would all also potentially be at risk.

Denver is home 600,000 people with as many as two million others living in the metro area surrounding Colorado’s capital.

Salt Lake City, located one state west in Utah, could see as much as three feet of ash could fall, smothering the city and blotting out the sun if a VEI eight erupted.

More than 180,000 people live in the city with more than one million inhabiting the surround metro area.

Doctor Harley Benz of the US Geological Survey said huge eruptions in the past had left nothing in its wake.

He said: “We’re talking about a huge area that was covered in tens of feet of ash, in a very large area out to 100 miles from the centre.”

However Mr Poland has said he hopes no such event takes place.

He said: “The evidence suggests that a lot of the magma reservoir is actually solid, and about 50 percent of it is molten, so there may not be enough down there to have a super eruption.”

‘UFO’ spotted over Yellowstone Volcano

in SHOCKING video

UFO hunters are convinced that they have spotted an alien spaceship taking off at Yellowstone National Park after witnessing a bright, pulsating light which was caught on a webcam live stream.

By SEAN MARTIN

PUBLISHED: 13:33, Mon, Feb 12, 2018 | UPDATED: 14:46, Mon, Feb 12, 2018

A video uploaded to conspiracy YouTube channel The Hidden Underbelly shows what appears to be a bright light lifting from the ground in the hills in the background.

The light then moves towards the camera slowly, before veering off to the left of the screen.

Viewers of the video were convinced that the bright light is definitely a UFO, and believe that the authorities have some answering to do.

Somme Bomb posted: “Would love to see them explain that one. You can see clearly the light interferes with the clouds and you can see the reflection in the river.”

Twilights daughter added: “They must have been checking out the geysers and scenery just like the humans were.”

Yellowstone has also piqued the interest of many around the globe over fears that it could soon erupt.

The Yellowstone Caldera supervolcano last erupted 70,000 years ago but a spike in seismic activity around the national park has unsettled nerves.

If the Wyoming volcano were to erupt it would kill an estimated 87,000 people immediately and make two-thirds of the USA immediately uninhabitable. 

The large spew of ash into the atmosphere would block out sunlight and directly affect life beneath it creating a “nuclear winter”.

The massive eruption could be a staggering 6,000 times as powerful as the one from Washington’s Mount St Helens in 1980 which killed 57 people and deposited ash in 11 different states and five Canadian provinces.

If the volcano explodes, a climate shift would ensue as the volcano would spew massive amounts of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, which can form a sulphur aerosol that reflects and absorbs sunlight.

Yellowstone timebomb - Over 11,000 MILES of magma just waiting to spew from park

MORE than 11,000 cubic miles of magma is waiting to burst from beneath the world's most dangerous volcano in Yellowstone National Park in the US.

By JON AUSTIN

PUBLISHED: 14:23, Fri, Jun 2, 2017 | UPDATED: 15:36, Fri, Jun 2, 2017

Deep magma reservoirs, such as that below the Yellowstone caldera, are the key to causing volcanic ‘super-eruptions’, that could threaten millions of lives, new research suggests.

If a mega eruption of Yellowstone, one of the world’s largest supervolcanoes, happened so much toxic ash and moult on rock would be hurled into the atmosphere it could block out sunlight and trigger a nuclear-winter type effect or even a mini ice age. 

An international team of geologists carried out the study which shows the importance of large magma reservoirs in creating Earth’s most powerful volcanic eruptions.

The researchers claim that the most powerful volcanic eruptions, dubbed ‘super-eruptions’, are triggered by a slow and steady drip feed of magma from large reservoirs deep within the Earth’s crust into smaller reservoirs closer to the surface.

These large reservoirs draw in hot magma from the Earth’s mantle and exist as large volumes of partially molten rock that are able to store magma like a sponge.

By conducting a number of numerical simulations of this process, the research team showed that these large reservoirs are crucial to generating the largest volcanic eruptions on Earth.

But, fortunately, the team also showed that these large reservoirs can take millions of years to form, hence why ‘super-eruptions’ happen so rarely.

Yellowstone is believed to have seen super eruptions at intervals of two million, 1.2 million and 640,000 years ago, meaning another one could be due any time.

It is believed the new findings could help to understanding why some volcanoes erupt frequently and at certain magnitudes.

The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, found the amount of magma that is stored in the upper layer of the Earth’s crust determines the frequency and magnitude of volcanic eruptions. 

Small eruptions that erupt less than one cubic kilometre of material occur very frequently (from daily to yearly), while the largest eruptions that erupt hundreds of cubic kilometres of material are infrequent, with hundreds of thousands of years between them.

Co-author of the study Dr Wim Degruyter, from Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, said: “Our current understanding tells us that hot magma can be injected from the Earth’s lower crust into colder surroundings near the surface. 

"At this point, the magma can either erupt or cool down to such a point that the magma solidifies and an eruption does not occur.

“Up until now, this theory hasn’t been able to explain how the magma can maintain its heat in these near-surface reservoirs and thus produce extremely powerful eruptions.

“Our study has shown that the key to this is much larger reservoirs deeper below the surface that are able to slowly increase the temperature in the upper part of the crust such that it becomes more amenable to the storage of magma.

"When the crust has become fully mature, giant reservoirs are able to form in the upper crust and thus we see extremely powerful eruptions.”

Previous research revealed that a deeper magma body connects to a magma reservoir in the upper part of the crust underneath Yellowstone, which spreads across the sates of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

The deeper magma body sits 12 to 28 miles below the surface and it’s believed that the hot molten rock could fill the 1,000-cubic-mile Grand Canyon 11.2 times. 

It is believed that the last super eruptions at Yellowstone were fed by the volcanic plumbing system that sits beneath it.

Dr Degruyter added: "Our calculations appear to agree with the observations that have been made at Yellowstone.” 

The study, Lifetime and size of shallow magma bodies controlled by crustal-scale magmatism, was led by researchers at ETH Zurich, and also included researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology.