Australia (17)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-14/australians-set-for-summer-of-rain-pain/3660966
Australians to suffer summer of rain pain
Updated
With La Nina back for another summer and above average rainfall predicted for much of Australia, the weather is about to become more of a pain than people realise.
The notion of rain pain is often dismissed as a myth, but experts say there is now enough evidence to suggest it exists.
What's more, they say sufferers of conditions like arthritis and chronic pain can actually use their level of discomfort to tell when the weather is about to change.
La Nina was responsible for the Brisbane floods and Cyclone Yasi, and the Bureau of Meteorology says Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in particular should brace for another wet summer.
Dr Graeme Jones, professor of rheumatology and epidemiology at the Menzies Research Institute, says the days of mythical rain pain are long gone.
He says arthritis sufferers' pain levels are without a doubt affected by the weather.
"There are three things in the weather that have an effect," he said.
"The higher the ambient temperature the better the symptoms are; the higher the humidity or dew point the worse the symptoms are; and changes in the barometric pressure, so when a cold front is coming through and when the pressure drops, people tend to ache in their joints before that."
He says their ability to predict the weather is not as farfetched as it sounds.
"My patients have been telling me they can predict the weather for 20 years, and most people were fairly disbelieving, when in fact the studies on the relationship between weather changes and pain are pretty consistent," he said.
"On an anecdotal level, last summer in Tasmania people's joints were much worse because we had a fairly wet winter and wet summer with lots of changes in the weather, whereas generally our summer is very dry."
Psychological factors
Conjoint Professor Nikolai Bogduk from the University of Newcastle, who specialises in spinal pain, is a little less convinced.
He says psychological factors may play a part.
"There is a theory, unproven, that when the barometric pressure drops the ambient pressure is lower and so joints expand, so if you have a painful knee it swells, and that's what makes it more painful," he said.
"That may or may not be true, but it is important for people to be alert to possible intermediate affects.
"Among them is the general affect of weather on people's mood. A patient without pain is going to feel more miserable when the whether is miserable, so a patient that is going to be affected psychologically may well be giving you an amplified measure of their pain on that particular day," he said.
"There may actually be no difference to the pain, but because they feel worse, they will report their pain as being worse."
In terms of pain sufferers' ability to predict the weather, Conjoint Professor Bogduk says a change in blood flow may be the explanation.
"The ability to predict the weather may be related to a number of things, maybe not exactly the joints swelling, but if the ambient pressure is dropping maybe things like veins and the venous drainage out of the joint or out of the bone changes, so there might be changes in blood flow that are occurring," he said.
No escape
Dr Jones jokes that it is difficult for people to avoid weather-inflicted pain in Australia.
"If you got sick of changes in the weather in Tasmania then you could move to Queensland where the high temperature will help your symptoms, but the high humidity won't," he said.
"So then you could move to Canberra, but the fog during winter could make you depressed and then that would make your pain worse."
ABC News Online asked people on Twitter what they thought.
"I have fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis and I can say without doubt that rain does affect my pain," Wendy Fisher from Perth said.
"I have had chronic neck pain for six years. Yes, weather affects pain levels," Barry Steele from Sydney said.
"If it's been dry for a while I can feel big rain coming a week before the rain starts," Matthew Ross from the New South Wales central cost said.
"I have very accurate magic rain-detecting body parts. Some old injuries, some fibromyalgia," said Steph Bateman-Graham from Perth.
Others, however, were still sceptical.
"Rain pain?? - I've never heard of that particular term! Is it an ailment that actually exists? Sounds over the top to me!," Karen Hempel from Albury, in New South Wales, said.
Topics: pain, rainfall, australia
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-09/severe-storm-sweeps-victoria/3655706
Severe storms sweep across Victoria
Updated
A series of wild storms sweeping across Victoria has damaged homes, brought down trees and caused flash flooding.
Storms buffeted the state for several hours, with big downpours near Port Fairy, Wodonga and Ballarat.
Central Melbourne was largely spared, though flash flooding and damage to homes was reported in eastern and south-east suburbs.
The State Emergency Service has received more than 500 calls for help. It says the rain will continue overnight, but will not be as severe.
Residents of the state's north-east say the storm formed a "mini cyclone" when it passed through.
The intensity of the downpour over Werribee led to the storm being classified as "dangerous".
Lachlan Quick of the SES says it is the first time a storm has been given that rating in two years.
"Similar to what we saw in March 2009 where we had hundreds of millions, perhaps even a billion dollars of damage to property and vehicles over that period," he said.
"It looks as if these storms are actually dissipating and weakening as they get across the bay somewhat, but we're probably in for a series of these over the next couple of hours."
The SES has responded to about 500 calls for help across the state. It says a mini-cyclone hit Bellbridge, near Wodonga, this afternoon.
Several houses were damaged at Bellbridge, Bethanga, and Tallangatta in the state's north. Flash flooding was reported on the Mornington Peninsular.
Boronia resident, Alice Ahrens, says her property was right in the storm's path.
"It got dark in about 15 minutes, from bright skies to pitch black and we had about an inch of water flood through our garage," she said.
Bethanga resident Lorraine Craig arrived home to find extensive damage, and a number of trees down.
"When I pulled into the driveway I was just overwhelmed, at least 10 trees down, it's crashed onto the carport," she said.
"We were worried about our caravan because it's under the carport, buts it's ok thank heavens."
Trish Chapman of Bellbridge says the storm badly damaged her home.
"I don't know if it can be rectified," she said. "Our couch from upstairs is out on the grass, there's bits of roof everywhere, inside is an absolute shambles."
In the north-east, Warrick Armstrong, deputy controller with the Wodonga SES, says the storm damaged several houses and a church at Bellbridge.
He says one home also had its roof completely ripped off.
"A second residence has had a third of its roof removed," Mr Armstrong said.
"We have two crews in Bellbridge at the moment trying to tarp as many properties as we can between now and when the next storm front comes through."
He says trees were uprooted at the Lake Hume weir.
"A storm front has come through, basically a small tornado-type wind," he said.
"[It] flattened a large number of trees on the north-east side of the weir and then [it] came across the weir itself and impacted into Bellbridge."
Meanwhile, storms have damaged roofs, toppled trees and cut power lines in South Australia's Riverland.
The Weather Bureau says winds of up to 100 kilometres per hour were experienced across parts of the area, and emergency services say they have received more than 100 calls for help.
Roofs were ripped off homes and buildings, and trees and power lines brought down in places like Waikerie, Loxton, Barmera and Morgan.
About 13,000 homes are without power across the state.
The owner of the Terminus Hotel at Morgan on the River Murray, Josephine O'Donnell, says big trees have been uprooted on the riverfront.
"A lot of the locals coming in saying they've never seen it before and they've been here 50 years," she said.
"This is the strongest they've ever seen it, we've just got a couple of sheets off our roof, but there's a few houses around the town that have got trees on them."
Anne, who lives just north of Waikerie in the Riverland, saw the storm approaching.
"It was like a [category] 1 cyclone. Trees cracking, vertical rain, and everything was flying around in a circle on my patio. It hit fast and furious," she said via story comment.
Topics: storm-event, weather, vic, melbourne-3000, bellbridge-3691, wodonga-3690, bethanga-3691, sa
First posted
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/16/3193477.htm
Aftershocks continue in north Queensland
Updated
There are no reports of damage so far. (USGS)
Residents in parts of north Queensland are continuing to feel aftershocks following a 5.2-magnitude earthquake.
The quake, one of the largest to hit the state in many years, was recorded 60 kilometres west of Bowen just after 3.30pm (AEST).
The rumblings were felt in several towns throughout the region, but police say there are no reports of damage or injuries.
There have been several aftershocks since, with one registering a magnitude 4.
Burdekin resident Karon Mugica says her home shook violently.
"My husband and I looked at each other and he's never looked at me like that before we were quite frightened, we just didn't know what it was, whether it was an explosion," she said.
Burdekin Shire Council chief executive Ken Holt says the earth was rumbling at his Ayr home.
"For a while I thought the roof may fall in so I actually ran outside," he said.
Townsville resident Juanita Bruce Urquhart told ABC News Online the tremor did not last long.
"Walls shook and windows rattled. Duration no more than eight to 10 seconds. No damage apparent," she said.
Sarah Fitzgerald lives at Kuttabul, north of Mackay, and also felt the tremor.
"It felt like something was running into the house," she told ABC News Online.
"I wasn't sure what had happened until I read the news. It is all a little scary.
"You hear about these things but it's a little close to home. Now I didn't think we had earthquakes here."
Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepsen says today's earthquake was a rare event and the state's biggest in more than 70 years.
"There have been quite a few in the early 1900s and the last big one was a 5.5 in 1935 west of Fraser Island. And then there was one near Charters Towers in 1913, about 5.7. Queensland doesn't get too many of this magnitude type event," he said.
John Patrick, from Kelso south of Townsville, said there was "two distinct vibrations".
"The weaker one occurred first followed a few seconds later by a stronger one of longer duration," he told ABC News Online.
Earlier reports said the quake was measured at a magnitude of 5.4.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/21/3144629.htm
Severe storms sweep southern Queensland
Updated 55 minutes ago
Storm clouds roll over land near Maroochydore
Storm clouds roll over land near Maroochydore (User Submitted: Barbara Edmiston)
* Map: Brisbane 4000
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Spectacular electrical storms have swept across large parts of southern Queensland, causing flash flooding and leaving almost 30,000 properties without power.
The Bureau of Meteorology had been warning of a severe storm all day, so flood-weary residents were not caught off guard when dark clouds descended mid-afternoon.
The bureau's latest advice is available online.
It says centres affected include Brisbane, Logan, the Gold Coast, Somerset, Redlands, Toowoomba, Dalby and parts of the Gympie, Ipswich, Sunshine Coast, Scenic Rim and South Burnett council areas.
The Brisbane CBD resembled night time at 3.30pm, when lightning and thunder sent workers scuttling indoors.
Thousands of lightning strikes have been detected and the weather bureau recorded heavy rain at Wacol, south-west of Brisbane, where 98mm fell in an hour and 70mm in 30 minutes.
In the city's north, 70mm of rain was recorded in an hour at Mitchelton.
The weather bureau says the immediate threat of severe storms has passed, but the situation will be monitored and further warnings will be issued if necessary.
It says the first line of storms rolled in this afternoon with ominous clouds, hail and spectacular lightning shows.
A second line of storms followed, hitting Brisbane's CBD from about 6.20pm.
They caused commuter chaos, with train services disrupted, particularly on the Ipswich line, and one of Brisbane's major highways, the Gateway Motorway, congested after several small crashes.
State Emergency Service (SES) crews were called over 100 homes to help with leaky roofs and fallen trees.
Most were in Brisbane, where 94 calls were received, and 28 were from Ipswich, west of the city.
An SES spokeswoman said the deluge had authorities concerned about flash flooding and motorists were warned against driving on flooded roads.
The bureau's radar showed the storms moving from the west toward the Gold Coast.
They were forecast to effect Beaudesert, Laidley, Gatton, Rosewood, Ipswich, Lake Manchester, Lowood and Fernvale.
Energex reported more than 30,000 properties without power at 7.45pm, about half of them in Redcliffe and Caboolture, north of Brisbane.
Its system recorded 27,000 lightning strikes between 12.00pm and 7.00pm, as well as winds gusting to around 80 kilometres per hour.
The storm came after three days of above-average heat in the south-east.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/surf-lifesaver-tells-of-a-life-saved/story-fn6bm90q-1225992900056
I just mentioned in the past day or two to watch for rising tides...could this and the San Fran waves be the beginning of that?
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/01/19/bpr.australia.flood.premier.cnn
Half of Queensland is under water. The cause is torrential rains.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40862006/ns/world_news-asia-pacific/
http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/43173/years-worth-of-rain-in-25-days.asp
http://www.smh.com.au/business/millions-cashless-in-bank-glitch-20101126-18akf.html
From an email from Sheldon Day:
Remember Jim McCanney stating back in '04 or '05 that the Project Wormwood installation in Australia were buzzing with Professional Astronomers & military types & monitoring a 'mini Solar System' coming into ours ???? I HIGHLY suspect that Planet-X has planets or moons surrounding it...
Well, look at all of Mccanney's clues here-
http://article.wn.com/view/2010/08/24/Astronomers_discover_a_solar_system_with_seven_planets_bigge/
