Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Typhoon 27w (In-Fa), located approximately 233 nm northeast of Yap, is tracking west-northwestward at 17 knots.

Tropical Storm Rick is located about 485 mi...780 km SSW of the southern tip of Baja California with maximum sustained winds...40 mph...65 km/h. Present movement...WNW or 285 degrees at 12 mph...19 km/h.

Tropical cyclone 03s (Three), located approximately 214 nm south-southwest of Diego Garcia, is tracking westward at 06 knots.

NewsBytes:

Kenya - More than 2,500 families have been displaced by floods in Tana River county after the River Tana overflowed. This brings to 10,000 the number of people affected by floods in the county.

Kenya - Floodwaters wreaked havoc in Narok town, blocking the Nairobi-Narok highway and many streets for most of Wednesday. At least 10 people have died in Narok South due to floods since the rains began this month.

El Niño Peaks at Record Level in Pacific

The intensity of El Niño peaked at a record level during the second week of November, leaving scientists wondering how much warmer the tropical Pacific could become during the current outbreak.

Analysis by the U.S. agency NOAA revealed a stretch between South America and Indonesia reaching a weekly average temperature of 3.0 degrees Celsius (5.4 F) above normal — a record.

Despite the peak, the current El Niño has yet to wield the same impacts of previous outbreaks in 1982-83 and 1997-98.

The ability to predict the effects of El Niño on worldwide weather patterns has greatly improved in recent years, but the warming is still likely to inflict considerable damage and even fatalities, according to the U.N.

“This event is playing out in uncharted territory. Our planet has altered dramatically because of climate change, the general trend towards a warmer global ocean, the loss of Arctic sea ice and of over a million square kilometer of summer snow cover in the northern hemisphere,” said World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.

He told a news conference that the naturally occurring El Niño and current manmade global warming may interact and modify each other in ways never before observed.