Tag archive: Storm

tornado cover

Attack of the Killer Tornadoes

On Friday evening, 10 December 2010, some 30 tornadoes smashed through six mid-West states, creating havoc and spreading devastation, claiming upwards of 100 lives.  The outbreak, apart from being one of the worst recorded, is all the more historic given the unseasonable timing, with most tornadoes occurring in the spring.  Normally, cooler temperatures preclude the formation of tornadoes, and this December rampage is yet another sign of increasing weather instability stemming from unchecked climate change globally.

Continue reading

HS cover

Sally Sashays Ashore

Moving at barely a walking pace of 3 mph, Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama as a Category Two storm at 4:45 AM CDT on September 16, 2020.  The storm promises to be one of the worst water-dumpers ever, with historic levels of rainfall expected and major flooding likely.  Up to 30” of rain is predicted in some locations, a devastating amount of precip as Sally slogs her soggy way across the south-east.

 

Astrologically, too, Sally promises to be a major event, fitting the pattern of her PNA (Personal-Named Asteroid) in major aspect to the Sun.  In this instance, we have asteroid Salli, an alternate spelling, which at 29 Sagittarius is squared the Sun, coming in just under the wire of 24 Virgo, at 23 Virgo 59 for her landfall.  A broad T-Square is created by Neptune, planetary ruler of floods, opposed the Sun from 19 Pisces, where it is accompanied by asteroid Achilles at 23 Pisces, a symbol of vulnerability, and asteroid Heracles at 25 Pisces, a symbol of strength and power.  In this case, vulnerability (Achilles) from water (Neptune), via a storm that already exceeded expectations for its strength (Heracles) at landfall.

Continue reading

laura cover

The Wrath of Laura

[Cover Image:  Laura was so massive, she filled virtually the entire Gulf of Mexico adjacent to the US]

The first major-impact storm (at least from the US perspective) of the 2020 hurricane season is Hurricane Laura, which made landfall in Cameron, Louisiana at 1 AM CDT on Thursday, August 27th.  Hitting as a Category Four storm, the strongest ever to make landfall on the Louisiana coast, Laura maintained her momentum until well inland, only dropping to a Category Two stage more than fifty miles from shore.

 

From the release of the World Meteorological Organization’s 2020 hurricane name list, Laura betrayed all the hallmarks of becoming a serious storm, from a celestial perspective.  First, she had an exact asteroid match for her name, like 2018’s hurricane Florence, scourge of the Carolinas; or Maria before her, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017; and Irma before that, inundating Naples, Florida earlier that year.  And also like these three, Laura would have a period of time during hurricane season when her PNA (Personal-Named Asteroid) would be interacting with the transit Sun.  Asteroids Florence and Irma had been conjunct the Sun when they wreaked their havoc, and asteroid Maria had been squared.  For asteroid Laura, that time was now, in opposition.

Continue reading

HD cover final

The Picture of Dorian Hurricane

Another hurricane season, another record-setting storm. Spawned from a tropical wave in the Central Atlantic in late August, Hurricane Dorian quickly spiked into a strong Category 5, with winds in excess of 185 mph, skirting Puerto Rico and making landfall on Grand Bahama Island. Where it parked; for two days. Dorian now holds the record for the slowest-moving Atlantic storm ever.

 

The devastation in the Bahamas is apocalyptic, with vast stretches of housing obliterated, infrastructure battered and much of the island inundated with water. As of this writing (Wednesday, 4 September) Dorian continues to make its way north off the east coast of Florida, still threatening Georgia and the Carolinas as a Cat 2 storm.

Continue reading

florence cover

Hurricane Florence

In mid-September, Hurricane Florence became the first major storm to strongly impact the US in the 2018 season. A Category 4 hurricane just days before crashing into the Carolinas, Florence was downgraded to a Category 1 before making landfall, and quickly diminished to tropical storm strength, likely sparing billions in property damage and additional lives.

 

But Florence will still wreak havoc with its storm surge, up to 11 feet in some areas, and its accompanying deluge; with as much as two feet of rain expected generally, some areas could see almost 40 inches in a matter of hours. Billions of dollars’ worth of damage will likely ensue, with affected areas taking years to recover.

Continue reading

maria path

Of Storm and Flood

 

After several fairly quiet years, the 2017 hurricane season promises to be one of the worst, and most expensive, in history. Literally millions of people have been affected, displaced, injured or killed, and hundreds of billions of dollars in damage created, by three massive storms, some of the largest on record, which have pounded the Caribbean and the southern shores of the US.

Continue reading