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Homes have been destroyed by floods and mudslides as heavy rain in Chile’s Atacama Desert take residents by surprise.
Four days of heavy rain in Chile ‘s Atacama Desert have forced hundreds from their homes as swollen rivers broke their banks and loosened soil gave way to a second landslide in less than a week.
World's driest desert hit by heavy rains causing floods and mudslides
Seeded on Thu Feb 16, 2012 12:37 PM EST
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Wow.
Snow last August, and now this. See the video here.
Thing is, the Atacama doesn't get this kind of rain. Some people live their whole lives there and never even see rain. In some places, rain hasn't been recoded in the entire time that records have been kept.
On a side note, I've been all over that region - San Pedro de Atacama, Valley of the Moon, etc., etc. It's so dry there that even cacti don't grow. Nothing does - unless it's right next to a glacial-runoff river.
This is truly unusual.
- 5 votes
#1 - Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:42 PM ESTThis is truly unusual.
Feb. 10, 2012
Few locations have swung as widely as the Interior community of McGrath. On Thursday, the town of 350 set a Feb. 9 record high of 43 degrees, said Michael Lawson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Anchorage. Just five days earlier, McGrath's temperature was 85 degrees lower, when the mercury dipped to minus-42.
It was even colder during some January days, said Phil Graham, acting city clerk. The weather service says on Jan. 28 the low was minus-54. That's a 97-degree swing in a dozen days.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/cold-snapped-record-warm-alaska-winter-weather-out-nowhere
- 2 votes
All those powerful storms in Scotland and north since Oct. yet no rain landed in Britain.
- 2 votes
These incredibly dry mountains see an average of less than .004 inches/.01cm of rain per year. Many times this area will go without rainfall at all for years. Some places in the Atacama Desert have not had rainfall for over 400 years.
The annual rainfall (or lack of it) defines a desert, but that doesn't mean that it never rains in Atacama. Every so often a warming effect over the Pacific Ocean around the equator changes the weather the world over and even places like the driest desert in the world can become doused with drenching storms.
http://www.extremescience.com/driest.htm
Local officials have declared this is the worst “inverno boliviano” in over a decade. The term “inverno boliviano” refers to a short period between Chile’s wet and dry seasons, that typically brings heavy rainfall, strong winds and flash flooding to the region.
http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/chiles-atacama-desert-hit-flooding-095943286.html
Notice that says worst in over a decade. Thats not very long ago. So what makes this so strange?
JUST FACTS.
- 1 vote
the worst "inverno boliviano" in over a decade.
"Over a decade", could be 50 years .
Your link -
This is an area with an average rainfall of barely 1mm per year. In fact some weather stations in the Atacama have never recorded any rainfall at all. Evidence even suggests that the Atacama as a whole may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971.
So 40 mm rainfall in just a few days, is an extreme event in a place where rain has never occurred.
- 2 votes
So 40 mm rainfall in just a few days, is an extreme event in a place where rain has never occurred.
The problem here is you are mixing facts up and making a lie.
There are areas of the Atacama that to human knowledge have never had rain. True.
There were areas of the Atacama that recieved 1.5 inches of rain. True. Yes I know 40 mm looks better for you but it is still 1.5 inches.
They are two different areas.
And if it was 50 years they would say fifty years instead of a decade. Whatever sounds the worst is what will be used.
In over a decade means , more than 10.
In less than a decade means, less than 10.
As PR pointed out up the thread, this is the second extreme precipitation event in 7 months. ....... for the "World's Driest Desert".
The images above show the largest snowfall the region has witnessed in a half-century. The top image provides a photo-like, natural color view of the snow. A few clouds hang over the desert, marring the view slightly. The lower image, which includes both visible and infrared light, helps distinguish between snow and clouds. Snow is dark red, while clouds are lighter shades of orange and white.
- 2 votes
As for the use of the metric system , that's the unit being used in your link, a direct quote, . If I was going the convert, I would have used the exact number, which is :
1.57 inches.
And if it rained 1.57 inches in a place where there is reason to believe it didn't rain for 400 years, then 1.57 is in fact a huge number.
- 2 votes
And if it were 20 years it would have said two decades.
Keep trying.
And if it rained 1.57 inches in a place where there is reason to believe it didn't rain for 400 years,
And again I say mixing facts makes a lie.
If I was going the convert, I would have used the exact number, which is :
1.57 inches.
1.57480315 inches
nothing to worry about. this is chile, how could that possibly affect us? its not like the climate in south america has anything to do with the climate here. its not like its a planet wide system.
obviously the desert needs some rain and god is giving it to them.
- 2 votes
#2 - Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:41 PM ESTSmile when you say that mister! Or at least give us a /s, there are actually folk out there who say things like that with a straight face ;=]
- 4 votes
Wouldn't it be a hoot if that whole Apocalypse/Armageddon thing turned out to be the grocery list of lore?
I say this as I look out at a snowless yard and see my tulip bulbs are turning green. And I'm from Minnesota!
- 4 votes
#3 - Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:31 PM ESTPlus a new number on dead trees in Texas, with a warning the number will continue to rise.
5.6 Million shade trees killed.
- 3 votes
#4 - Thu Feb 16, 2012 5:09 PM ESTDo they know that already? I thought we wouldn't be sure until later this Spring.
- 1 vote
This is a report about urban trees , the other was wild lands etc.
The Texas Forest Service has completed its latest update on the effects of the crushing drought, and it's somewhat hard to fathom: about 5.6 million trees in urban areas of the state fell victim to the lack of rain.
And they ain't done dying yet.
"This estimate is preliminary because trees are continuing to die from the drought," said Pete Smith, a TFS forester who led the count. "This means we may be significantly undercounting the number of trees that ultimately will succumb to the drought. That number may not be known until the end of 2012, if ever."
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2012/02/drought_texas_trees_56_million.php
- 2 votes
I seeded another article on this report, that one says it's 10% and counting.
- 2 votes
Hi all of you intellectual scientists
Last time I dropped in to visit one of your articles, the attachment I opened might have contained a virus of some sort. After I closed out the attachment and looked for additional comments to respond to, all I saw were repeat comments with the attachment, at least 10-15 of the repeats.
If you find other attachments that you think might possibly be infected with something, please get rid of the link, you being the intellectuals might be able to weed them out.
Thank you
Pon, and my very, very, very, very good friend, Grisham
- 1 vote
PR -
Reuters -
http://coloradobob1.newsvine.com/_news/2012/02/16/10426120-texas-drought-leads-to-shade-tree-die-off
Desert rain storms are violent. Probably in coordination with the sunspot cycle, about every 11 years. There are actually some species of fish and frogs, that hibernate in the dry baked mud, until it rains hard enough to make lakes, then they swim around and reproduce. Happened years back in Death Valley, and made a huge lake. Would be very fascinating to go there and see what kind of life comes back to life after such a long time.
- 5 votes
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