Heavy weather or severe weather and no matter if its twisters in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana in January or large storms at sea.Mother Nature has been raging havoc and hell over a great deal of the earths oceans and surfaces this year and its only the end of January and especially around the UK. But the US and UK are not the only places suffering from severe weather. Its almost to a degree that if you name the country it is experiencing abnormal severe weather.
On the marine side in the UK so much so that the London P&I Club (the leading marine insurance company) issued a heavy weather warning to maritime companies.
Cargolaw has a detailed listing of casualties worldwide. And the BBC just filed this weather story! Here are two of the latest.....
Lifeboat rescue called off again
Another attempt to refloat the Portrush lifeboat stranded off Rathlin Island is unlikely to happen before tomorrow, the Coastguard has said.
Bad weather is hampering efforts to salvage the vessel which is stuck on rocks.
It has been stranded since Tuesday night. The lifeboat, which cost an estimated £2m, got into difficulty while attempting to rescue three people whose boat was in danger.
After several attempts to throw a line to the stricken boat, the RNLB Katie Hannan was forced onto rocks by a heavy swell at 2000 GMT on Tuesday.
Despite the efforts of a fishing vessel and the Larne lifeboat, the stranded vessel could not be moved.
The three people who the lifeboat had gone to assist were rescued by the
Rathlin Island Coastguard crew.
Two of the crew on the Katie Hannan were thrown into the water from its small inflatable rescue boat after assisting attempts to refloat the boat. They managed to climb onto nearby rocks.
RNLI Head of Coastal Management George Rollinson said on Thursday it was important for the vessel to be freed soon.
He said they were confident they could make progress "if not today then tomorrow," but there were no guarantees because of the weather and problems getting to the boat.
Rescue effort ... choppers raced to help people aboard Riverdance
Story from RTÉ News
Rescue drama after freak wave hits ferry
By Gary Cleland, Nigel Bunyan and Laura Clout
Passengers and crew of a stricken ferry, including a nine-month-old baby, have been airlifted to safety after the vessel was hit by a "freak wave" caused by gale force winds.
Four passengers and at least 10 crew were removed from the ferry by 11pm in a treacherous rescue operation in dreadful weather conditions in the Irish Sea.
On the mainland, the stormy weather also killed a lorry driver, brought down scores of trees and caused power cuts, while a baby girl had to be rescued after being blown into a lake.
The roll on, roll off ferry, called Riverdance, sent a Mayday at around 7.45pm in 70 miles per hour gales after it was hit by a huge wave off Morecambe Bay which knocked its cargo out of position and caused it to list.
With 19 crew and four passengers on board, the ferry was travelling from Heysham, Lancs to Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland and hit trouble eight miles west of Fleetwood.
Liverpool Coastguard declared it a major incident. Watch manager Anthony Topping said that the ferry was at one stage listing 60 degrees and passengers had to be evacuated.
John Matthews, from Fleetwood RNLI, said the ship ran into difficulties over a bank known as Shell Flat, which causes powerful banking waves.
Lifeboats and three rescue helicopters, one from the RAF, one from the Royal Navy and one from the Irish Coastguard, were sent to save the passengers.
An elderly couple and a younger family member who were returning to Britain in their car were among the passengers on board. The fourth passenger was an Irish speaking truck driver returning to Britain who emerged briefly to pose for pictures.
The passengers were taken to Blackpool Airport. There were no reports of any injuries.
The ferry later ran aground on the north shore of Blackpool beach with the ferry's master and eight of the crew still on board, Coastguard confirmed.
Chief Supt Richard Spedding, of Lancashire police, said: "The seas were considerable off the shoreline in the Irish Sea. But this is a well rehearsed event in Lancashire before Christmas we held an event practising this.
"This could have been a really, really bad incident. But we are standing here today with no loss of life at all.
"All those airlifted out are very, very glad to be here at Blackpool Airport. They will be put up overnight in accommodation nearby. There are no injuries other than minor."
The severe weather claimed the life of a 45-year-old lorry driver when a gust of around 80mph swept his lorry into the central reservation of the M6 motorway at Tebay, Cumbria.
Further north, the busy Forth Road Bridge was closed to northbound traffic after a lorry overturned in high winds.
Forecasters predicted the high winds would continue overnight, with snow sweeping down from Scotland.
The Met Office said the cold weather was coming "straight from the Arctic", bringing with it the prospect of snow across the whole of Britain.
"There are an awful lot of showers across northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland and they are going to work their way southwards," said a spokesman.
"The air will be a lot colder, with sleet and snow showers working their way across the whole of the UK by Friday morning."
Northern areas were likely to see snowfalls of up to 20cm (8in), with smaller amounts falling in the south.
The high winds can be expected to make conditions worse by piling snow into drifts.
Forecasters believe overnight temperatures in Scotland will fall to "minus double figures" in the next few days. Milder conditions are expected to return by the start of next week.
Ferry swept on to Blackpool beach as 14 plucked to safety
Stricken ferry runs aground
Rescuers rush to Irish Sea as ferry faces capsize
Storms Hit Large Parts of UK as More Bad Weather Is Forecast
Ferry carrying 23 people stranded at sea off England
Don't call us heroes - RAF rescuers
INDY AND KY TORNADO UPDATE!
The Riverchase, Waterfront Pointe and Mariners Village apartment complexes at U.S. 136 and Girls School Road had trees downed and cars hit by pieces of vinyl siding, roofing and other debris being blown between 80 and 90 mph. Residents found doors pulled off apartment buildings and metal siding pulled off exterior walls.
Waterfront Pointe property manger Dana Meeks said about 30 of its 192 apartments were damaged, mostly with doors pulled off the walls, and windows and siding blown off. She said this afternoon that work crews have replaced all the doors and are working on the cosmetic damage. Story
This from Bob Wade in Wisconsin
4 Deaths Linked To Storms; 2 Tornadoes Confirmed Storms Pack 100 MPH Winds, Leave Extensive Damage
This from Storm Chaser Extrodinare Chris Novy...
And this From Storm Chaser Mike Harpe (With Video)...
Thousands without power yesterday
Tony Taylor figured he and his family could dress in layers to keep warm during a second night without power.
But yesterday morning the St. Matthews resident was still searching for ideas about keeping his water pipes from freezing.
"We can wear more clothes but I'm going to have to buy propane heaters or something for my pipes," he said.
Thousands of people in Louisville and Southern Indiana spent yesterday dealing with power outages and cleaning up damage left by Tuesday's storms, which spawned three small tornadoes.
While the tornadoes were considered relatively weak -- all rated F1, which means winds of 73 to 112 mph -- they were unusual for the middle of winter.
"We're having a few too many of these episodes. … Usually in the December to January month span, you might have one severe weather event. We've already had a couple pretty severe storms and we don't usually see any tornadoes in January," said Rick Lasher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Louisville.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY TWISTER REPORTCHICAGO WEATHER Enough said.....dig out.....we must!
Heck of a start for 2008!
RS
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