On Wednesday a 7.4 earthquake was reported 15 miles offshore of Guatemala. So far the death toll is at 45 people. The earthquake caused landslides. These landslides have cut off highways in the western portion of the country. It is expected to take 24 hours to get roads ready for travel, until then citizens are encouraged not to travel and avoid tall buildings.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photos-earthquake-rocks-guatem/1236750
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Brutus... Snow in West and Midwest
In the western portion of the country, winter storm Brutus is brewing.
With this storm there will be snow and wind on the cold side and a warm sector with potential sever weather.
Currently there is a strong low pressure system over the Rockies and a strong high pressure zone in Canada. These two coming together will create wind driven snow.
Montana is expected to get hit with the worst of it. There are already blizzard warnings going through Saturday. Parts of Montana and North Dakota are expected to get over a foot of snow.
Into the weekend, the storm will move into the Plains and Midwestern states. As it does this it will come in contact with warm air coming from the Gulf of Mexico. The cold front going into the warm air will create a lot of energy in the upper atmosphere. This then has the potential for severe thunderstorms stretching from Minneapolis to Dallas.
This storm is something to keep an eye on because it could be affecting us here in Wisconsin. We could be receiving some thunderstorms with damaging winds.
http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/winter-storm-brutus-snow-blizzard
With this storm there will be snow and wind on the cold side and a warm sector with potential sever weather.
Currently there is a strong low pressure system over the Rockies and a strong high pressure zone in Canada. These two coming together will create wind driven snow.
Montana is expected to get hit with the worst of it. There are already blizzard warnings going through Saturday. Parts of Montana and North Dakota are expected to get over a foot of snow.
Into the weekend, the storm will move into the Plains and Midwestern states. As it does this it will come in contact with warm air coming from the Gulf of Mexico. The cold front going into the warm air will create a lot of energy in the upper atmosphere. This then has the potential for severe thunderstorms stretching from Minneapolis to Dallas.
This storm is something to keep an eye on because it could be affecting us here in Wisconsin. We could be receiving some thunderstorms with damaging winds.
http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/winter-storm-brutus-snow-blizzard
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Huge plugs could have spared subway flooding...
The federal government is creating inflatable plugs to protect subway tunnels from terrorist attacks. The cool thing about these plugs is that they could also be used to protect the subways from flooding during natural disasters.
In January a plug was successfully tested by the Department of Homeland Security using pressurized water. Another test is scheduled for next week for the Resilient Tunnel Project.
Only one plug has been manufactured so far and it will be a couple years before the product is ready to be marketed to the nation's transit and highway authorities.
Greg Holter of the Pacific Northwest National Labority said "If we would have had these things installed in the right places (New York), they could have made a terrific difference. The problem is we don't have a stock of things that we could put in place. It's not like we have a bunch of these sitting in a warehouse. It's a little frustrating really that we weren't at a better stage at this thing."
The plugs are like inflatable balloons that fit to the shape of the tunnel. Team members working on the project say these plugs could have prevented flooding in some tunnels under New York's East River, but not in the porous subway stations. Plug would be made to fit the specific dimensions of the tunnels with the ability to expand or contrast at less than 1%. It is estimated to be cheaper than installing floodgates at $400,000 and with the possibility of being cheaper if manufactured in quantities.
This new technology could be part of future security and prevention.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/31/us/new-york-subway-plugs/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
There is a video on the webpage that shows the plug being inflated.
In January a plug was successfully tested by the Department of Homeland Security using pressurized water. Another test is scheduled for next week for the Resilient Tunnel Project.
Only one plug has been manufactured so far and it will be a couple years before the product is ready to be marketed to the nation's transit and highway authorities.
Greg Holter of the Pacific Northwest National Labority said "If we would have had these things installed in the right places (New York), they could have made a terrific difference. The problem is we don't have a stock of things that we could put in place. It's not like we have a bunch of these sitting in a warehouse. It's a little frustrating really that we weren't at a better stage at this thing."
The plugs are like inflatable balloons that fit to the shape of the tunnel. Team members working on the project say these plugs could have prevented flooding in some tunnels under New York's East River, but not in the porous subway stations. Plug would be made to fit the specific dimensions of the tunnels with the ability to expand or contrast at less than 1%. It is estimated to be cheaper than installing floodgates at $400,000 and with the possibility of being cheaper if manufactured in quantities.
This new technology could be part of future security and prevention.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/31/us/new-york-subway-plugs/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
There is a video on the webpage that shows the plug being inflated.
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