| |
Where to go in October (Updated 5/8/2006 10:32 AM ET, Jack Williams, USATODAY.com)
Odds are high that all of you would find warmth just about anywhere across the southern fourth of the USA in October, say anywhere from South Carolina to California, with the least chance of any chilly weather the farther south you go. And, there's always Hawaii, which is part of the USA, but which might cost more to fly to than other parts of the southern USA. (Don't be the person travel agents joke about: "I don't like to fly, get me a train ticket to Hawaii.")
Your best chances of seeing the sun all day, every day are on the Southwestern deserts, in places such as Phoenix and Tucson, or inland California. Places closer to the coast, such as southern California, will have more clouds, although the chances of rain are almost zero but will increase toward the end of the month. The eastern USA has more clouds than the West in October, as during the rest of the year, and chances of rain are higher, but not as high as during the summer.
Hurricanes are the big October wild card for places along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts because the June through November hurricane season reaches its peak from around the middle of August until the middle of October. But, the odds of a hurricane hitting the place you happen to pick are slim even at this time of the year. Still, it could happen.
Southern California, of course, has plenty of beaches and you don't have to worry about hurricanes there. But, if you are used to Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico beaches, you'll find the water on the West Coast very chilly.
Obama: 'tsunami Samoa grote ramp' (Parool, 30-9-2009)
WASHINGTON - De Amerikaanse president Barack Obama heeft dinsdag verklaard dat een 'grote ramp' Amerikaans Samoa in het zuidelijk deel van de Grote Oceaan heeft getroffen. Het Amerikaans deel van Samoa is samen met het westelijker gelegen en onafhankelijke deel van de eilandengroep getroffen door een tsunami.
Door het tot de Verenigde Staten behorende deel van Samoa tot rampgebied te verklaren komt er ruimte voor federale hulpgelden om manschappen en materiaal naar het afgelegen gebied te sturen. Medewerkers van de Amerikaanse rampenbestrijdingsdienst FEMA zijn naar de eilanden gestuurd om de situatie te beoordelen.
Het dodental als gevolg van het natuurgeweld is woensdag opgelopen tot 36 en zal naar verwachting veel verder stijgen, meldden functionarissen. Op het Amerikaanse deel zijn de meeste doden gevallen: 22. Er zijn al berichten over in totaal meer dan honderd doden. Lokale media meldden ook dat er zeker honderd gewonden en tientallen vermisten zijn.
De tsunami ontstond door een zeebeving met een kracht van 8,0 op de schaal van Richter. Het epicentrum van de beving lag circa 200 kilometer ten zuiden van de eilanden.
Twee bij buitenlandse toeristen geliefde vakantieoorden op het hoofdeiland Upolu zijn verwoest door de tsunami. Vicepremier Misa Telefoni zei dat inwoners en bezoekers weinig tijd hadden zich voor te bereiden voor de verwoestende golven. De populairste vakantieoorden, Sinalei Reef Resort and Coconuts Beach Resort aan de westkust van Upolu, zijn hard getroffen door de tsunami.
More Snow for Montana and Wyoming (Last update: October 7, 2009 - 2:25 PM, www.startribune.com)
Central and western Montana picked up a significant amount of snow Wednesday with up to 6 inches on some east-facing slopes. The storm will slide southward into Wyoming Wednesday night and could drop a little bit of snow on northeastern Colorado Thursday. That would include the Denver area.
The current storm has another right on its heels. After a brief break in the action Thursday, more snow will spread from north to south through Montana Thursday night then reach Wyoming on Friday. Again, this will not be a major snowstorm, but there will be enough snow to cause poor travel conditions through the region.
The second shot of snow will be accompanied by some of the coldest air I have ever seen so early in the season. Friday and Saturday, the entire area from Montana into the Dakotas can expect temperatures to remain below the freezing mark which is 30 to 35 degrees below normal! Story by AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.
Snow hampers travel in South East Wyoming (Billings Gazette, Saturday, October 10, 2009)
CHEYENNE - Parts of Wyoming dug out from a fall snowstorm that dumped up to a foot of snow in some places and interrupted travel Saturday.The National Weather Service said the Cheyenne area in southeast Wyoming received around 10 inches of snow Friday night and Saturday morning. More snow fell in mountain areas west of Cheyenne.
A number of highways in southeast Wyoming, including a 150-mile section of Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Rawlins, were closed early Saturday. Interstate 80 reopened by 11 a.m. as the snow tapered off. The University of New Mexico football team was escorted 50 miles from Cheyenne to Laramie by two snowplows and the Wyoming Highway Patrol on Saturday morning so it could make its noon game against the University of Wyoming.
Tyfoon houdt huis in Japan (AD, 8-10-09)
TOKIO (ANP) - Tyfoon Melor is met zware regenval over Japan getrokken en heeft zeker twee mensen het leven gekost. Ruim zestig mensen raakten gewond, meldden Japanse media. Circa 2500 mensen moesten hun huis verlaten. De achttiende tyfoon van het seizoen raasde in de ochtend over het hoofdeiland Honshu en bewoog zich met windsnelheden van wel 160 kilometer per uur in noordoostelijke richting naar de Stille Oceaan. Het verkeer in de hoofdstad Tokio liep vast en treinen bleven staan. Honderden binnenlandse vluchten zijn geannuleerd. De daken van ongeveer vijftig huizen werden eraf geblazen in Ibaraki, ten noorden van Tokio. Enkele fabrieken sloten hun deuren.
De meteorologische dienst heeft gewaarschuwd voor aardverschuivingen en overstromingen in grote delen van het land.
First storm of season bearing down on NorCal (www.montereyherald.com, 12-10-09)
SAN FRANCISCO—The first major rainstorm of the season is bearing down on Northern California.
The National Weather Service says a strong Pacific storm is expected to move into the region late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Forecasters are predicting the storm system will dump about one to three inches or rain along the coast, with up to six inches possible in the higher elevations.
Besides heavy rain, the storm is also packing some powerful winds. A high wind warning has been issued from Point Reyes south to the Big Sur coast, with forecasters predicting wind gusts could hit 60 miles per hour in some areas. In the Sierra Nevada, forecasters say several feet of snow could fall on some of the higher peaks.
Calif. storm causes power outages, mudslide fears (www.montereyherald.com, 13-10-09)
LOS ANGELES—A big Pacific storm swept into California on Tuesday with damaging winds and downpours that put a community near Santa Cruz under an evacuation advisory because of potential mudslides, while homeowners near the wildfires that burned parts of Southern California braced for a dangerous overnight drenching.
Homeowners filled sandbags and crews erected concrete barriers to channel potential flows from denuded slopes. Some residents placed boulders in key areas around their homes, hoping to blunt the destructive power of flash floods.
The main fear was that the rains would cause mud and debris to rush down hillsides made bare from the summer fire, state fire spokeswoman Colleen Baxter said.
"We know the fires go through and do a lot of damage," Los Angeles County fire Inspector Frederic Stowers said. "Within L.A. County, much of the slopes burned are going to be critical."
Authorities urged evacuation of about 60 homes in the Santa Cruz Mountains town of Davenport, 50 miles south of San Francisco, where an August wildfire stripped vegetation from about 12 square miles of land.
More than 6 inches of rain fell in the Santa Cruz range, the National Weather Service said.
The storm slammed into a drought-stricken state that has become a checkerboard of wildfire scars small, big and gigantic. Flash flood watches were posted for burn areas dating back to early 2008.
Heavy rain, however, took its time to reach Southern California, where there was major concern in the Los Angeles foothill suburbs on the perimeter of the notorious Station Fire, which blackened 250 square miles of the Angeles National Forest in August and September, destroying dozens of homes and causing two deaths.
The fire stripped steep slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains that rise out of the back yards of homes. |