The year 2013 proved to be a very eventful, deadly, and costly year worldwide for extreme weather. The Arizona-Colorado area saw the worst wildfire outbreak in 60 years. We also witnessed extreme weather occurrences outside their regular seasons. And while 2013 US Atlantic Hurricane season was the quietest in decades, Mexico, the Caribbean and the Philippines took a beating, storm after storm after storm. As the torrential rainfall also never let up, floods submerged major cities worldwide. 2013 was marked with new breakthrough findings in climate change research. Let’s take a look back at the eventful year. Major media reported on numerous weather related events this year; here are the top 10 events:
10. Winter Storm Atlas
The month of October had a surprise beginning when Winter Storm Atlas came whirling through. Atlas was the first winter storm of the 2013-2014 season. It was an early fall snowstorm that delivered snow from the northern Rockies to Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana. Atlas marked the second heaviest snowstorm on record for Rapid City, South Dakota and was the city’s heaviest snowstorm for the month of October. This storm crippled the west with wind gusts up to 70 miles an hour. Atlas also had harmful impacts on the cattle industry. More than 7,500 cattle were reported dead after the snowstorm struck just days after reported highs of 70 to 80 degree temperatures in the area.
9. European and Alberta Floods
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An aerial view of flood water in the city of Melk, Lower Austria, Austria, 03 June 2013. (Roland Schlager – EPA)
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The summer of 2013 put some major European cities and countries under water. In June 2013 parts of Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic were the hardest hit. Several German villages were evacuated as the Elbe river basin flooded over its riverbanks. The river rose a whopping 22 feet over from its regular height. The Elbe River runs northwest through the Czech Republic and Germany, then flowing into the North Sea. Fatalities were reported as the following: 8 deaths in Germany, 6 deaths in Austria and 11 confirmed in Czech Republic.
The Alberta flood could be credited to an unusual upper atmosphere blocking pattern; feeding moisture from the Canadian Rockies. A total of 12 inches of rain was dumped over the period June 19-22
nd. The overflow of the Elbow and Bow Rivers flooded downtown Calgary. The flooding resulted in 75,000 people being evacuated out of the city, $1 billion in damages and its estimated that it could take up to 10 years to rebuild. Four deaths were confirmed as a direct result of the flooding.
8. Spring Winter Storms
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Winter Storm Yogi dumped heavy snow from the central Rockies to the adjacent Plains and Upper Midwest April 15-19, 2013.
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Spring of 2013 was plagued with colder than average temperatures. An abnormal amount of late spring winter snowstorms made life in the west difficult well into the spring. Fourteen states had record low temperatures that put them into the top 10 coldest springs for period of March through May. The steadily cold temperatures contributed to the late winter storm systems, Walda, Xerxes, Yogi, Zeus, and Achillies. Even the northeast and New England states found digging themselves out in late May with the Memorial Day weekend blizzard.
7. Colorado Floods
Flash Floods. They can develop within hours and with very little warning. During four days in early September parts of northern Colorado found itself engulfed in nine times their average September rainfall. On September 12
th Boulder, Colorado collected 9.08 inches of rain. September 2013 became the single wettest month in Boulder. This tragic flood was not without its destruction: 8 deaths were confirmed and 1,500 homes were destroyed and another 17,500 homes were damaged. Also, nearby sewage treatment plants released an estimated 20 million gallons of raw sewage into the local environment.
6. Atlantic Hurricane Season
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Satellite image of Ingrid on September 13, before the tropical storm strengthened into a hurricane. Photograph: Reuters/Nasa/GOES Project/Handout Photograph: NASA/Reuters
theguardian.com
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The year 2013 was the first season with no major hurricanes (category 3 or higher) in the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico since 1994. Although the 2013 season can be said to be the quietest in years, it did set some records. For the first time since 1968, there were no storms of a category 2 level or higher. Only two storms, Humberto and Ingrid reached hurricane intensity—the lowest number of hurricanes since 1982. In total, there were 13 named storms, many which were weak and short-lived. Tropical Storm Andrea was the only storm to make US landfall. If only the same could be said for Mexico. Mexico had nine tropical systems make landfall and saw another four brush by its coast, which caused some minor damage. Mexico even had two storms, Ingrid and Manuel, strike concurrently from opposite sides; Manuel struck the coastal cities on Mexico’s Pacific coastline and Ingrid targeted Mexico’s Atlantic coastline. This kind of event has not occurred since 1958. Between the two storms 192 lives were claimed mostly due to landslides, mudslides and flooding.
5. Fall Tornado Outbreak
Although fall is known as a second tornado season for the mid-west, we never seem ready for what Mother Nature throws our way. This year we saw much stronger tornadoes impact densely populated areas. Between the months of October and November residents saw 116 tornadoes make touchdown and crippled the Midwest. The first major fall outbreak made an appearance on October 4 when 15 twisters ripped through Nebraska, Iowa and southeast South Dakota. On October 30
th, another wave of violent storms tore through northern Texas, through the Mississippi River Valley, into the Ohio Valley and even up into the northeast. This extreme severe weather system unleashed 29 destructive storms. The largest outbreak this season occurred on November 17
th when a
supercell system released a total of 72 tornadoes over parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. The hardest hit areas; Washington and New Minden, Ill were both struck with EF4 tornadoes.
4. Climate Change Breakthroughs
Often making the 2013 news headlines was the always-debatable topic of climate change. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their fifth assessment report in September 2013. With the help of several hundred scientists from 195 countries, they published startling findings:
- "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia."
- "Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years."
- "Human influence on the climate system is clear."
- "Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions."
While people can argue the merit of climate change there is no doubt that the dense global population and increasingly growing output from automobiles and industry has an adverse impact on the environment.
3. Deadly Wildfires
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Yarnell Wildfire
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Unfortunately, the stars aligned for the deadly wildfires of 2013—and shifting environmental conditions acted as fuel for the fatal fires. The Black Forest fire burned through Colorado in mid June and claimed 500 buildings. The Black Forest fire goes into the books as the most destructive wildfire in Colorado state history. Take dry vegetation from the result of a summer drought and throw a lightening strike into the mix and you’ve got yourself a roaring uncontrollable wildfire. This was the case of the deadly wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona that took the lives of the 19 elite members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. The 2013 summer wildfires came to an end with the burning of The Rim Fire, which burnt 250,000 acres near National Yosemite Park, California. The Rim Fire is recorded as the third largest fire in state history. Even a casual observer can notice there are an increasing number of deadly wildfires each year. This can be attributed to continued urban expansion into these fragile and wildfire prone areas.
2. Oklahoma Tornadoes: Moore and El Reno
What do the cities of Greensburg, Kansas, Smithville, Mississippi, Joplin, Missouri and Moore, Oklahoma have in common? They’ve all been struck by EF5 tornadoes in the 2000’s. The EF5 tornado, the rarest and most violent ranked on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, possesses max sustainable winds of 200 mph or higher. On May 20
th a tornado with max wind speeds of 210 miles per hour plowed through the town of Moore, Oklahoma. In the wake of the tornado’s path, there was more than $1 billion worth of damages and 25 fatalities. The town of Moore, Oklahoma was leveled.
Just 11 days after the Moore twister, an EF3 tornado roared through the suburb of El Reno, Oklahoma. This wasn’t the first time El Reno had experienced such destruction—in 2011 an EF5 twister hit the El Reno-Piedmont area as well. Only this time, the slow moving tornado that struck El Reno was the largest recorded twister, with a diameter of 2.6 miles wide. Since the tornado was moving very slow, the destruction from the twister was greater because the powerful twister remained over the same area far longer than most tornadoes. Between the torrential rainfall and strong winds, 22 lives were claimed, including veteran storm chasers—Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras and Carl Young. R.I.P.
1. Super Typhoon Haiyan
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NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg, aboard the ISS, captured this image of Typhoon Haiyan. NASA
ibtimes.com
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From what started out as a typical topical depression, this monster typhoon spiraled into one of the strongest and most destructive storms ever recorded in history. Within two days of the initial warning, the storm developed into Typhoon Haiyan and in the next two days this monster storm became a super typhoon consisting of max winds of 200 miles per hour. Haiyan made a historic landfall on the morning of November 8
th in the Philippines, marking this storm the strongest tropical cyclonic system to ever impact landfall. After moving through the Philippines, Haiyan weakened over the South China Sea before it again made landfall in Vietnam. After the storm’s dissipation, the countries affected were left with billions of dollars in damages. Haiyan took the lives of 6,000 people and its estimated that 1,800 people are still uncounted for. Survivors were left with very little—losing everything in the storm. The remote impacted locations made it difficult for the rescuers and aid organizations to deliver the food, water, and medical support to survivors. Typhoon Haiyan is currently the strongest storm to ever make landfall.
Now that’s a wrap for 2013, lets see what Mother Nature has in store for us in 2014.
