On day 3 of #ArabianMonsoonBlast here's the view over the region tonight. This is definitely bringing rain, and lots of it to both Tigray and #GERD.
Today's rainfall forecasts follow.
Today's Big Pictures provide a view of the entire planet today in three images.
1. The Atlantic 2. The Pacific 3. Asia
Sometimes its helpful to take a broad view and remember that we are all on this planet together. And that we share the one amazing life giving biosphere.
I found another #MonsoonBurst in the pipeline, this time over the Western Pacific. One which shows very clearly that weird weather is now a universal phenomena in the Northern Hemisphere. And it all started with another Typhoon...
The forecasts for the area which is primarily addressed in this bulletin continue to be volatile in their detail. This seems to be a characteristic of extreme weather events, as the weather models learn from observation.
Here's a rainfall anomaly simulation for the next 16 days
It usefully highlights the aspects of this that are unusual. Rain in the #HornOfAfrica is not. #DesertRain in the Sahara and the rain over the Arabian Peninsula is, when compared with the 1981-2010 climate data set.
Here is another rainfall anomaly simulation, but this time over 46 days. Its from the European @ECMWF simulation (EPS ensemble model). The Euro model is noticeably the most conservative model in forecasting #DesertRain.
The view tonight over the Great Sahara Desert. If you look in the darkened area you can see the pipeline of moisture is moving over the #MiddleEast, the #HornOfAfrica and bringing its water deep into the Sahel already.
Today's 10-Day Rainfall forecasts for North Africa from July 14th through July 25th.
[All four models forecasts for #ArabianStorms have increased, so much show so that the Arabian Peninsula looks like an extension to the monsoon!]
48-hour rainfall forecasts (today and tomorrow from our standard four models: the European @ECMWF, U.S. @NOAA's GFS, Canada's CMC and the Korean KMA models. The last, skinniest, one is the ECMWF.
And finally for #NorthAfrica we have the long-range 16-day (GFS) and 12-day (KMA) forecasts - which remain remarkably well aligned.
We will have a better view of forecast rain over the southern Arabian Peninsula later in the bulletin.
The next three animations show the path of the #ArabianMonsoonBlast from India to the Sahara this morning. First leg across the Arabian Sea, and down through Pakistan.
.. oops not quite the right order. The starting point is here over India.
Here's the Arabian Peninsula leg, also from this morning.
And finally, the view as the stream of storm clouds arrived this morning in the Ethiopian Highlands.
48 Hour forecasts (today and tomorrow) from the same three models. Rains are now forecast in west and coastal #Somaliland in the KMA model, which seems plausible.
[@Somaalilanders if you have reports you can point to it would be interesting to see what is actually happening.]
This animation shows us an even wider view from this morning of the entire #WestAfricanMonsoon
Here's a closeup higher resolution view of today's #ArabianStorms. Its a complex phenomena operating in several layers over a very large area.
& more @Arab_Storms live reports of flooding and storms today. We will focus on the Arabian end of this bonkers weather, but the account is well worth a follow, it has extraordinary footage from all over the world.
A couple of bonus animations returning to the global eye perspective. Here we see 120 hours (5 days) of PWAT anomaly. So this is definitely lasting at least that long.
And my favourite plot of all the GFS North Atlantic PWAT simulation which corresponds to the previous one.
Its going to be very interesting to see whether that burst of PWAT heading north over Egypt brings rain to ever dry Egypt and Israel.
The magnitude of #ArabianMonsoonBurst is now apparent. A major storm is about to cross the Red Sea and arrive in the #HornOfAfrica. Behind it are two enormous super-cell thunderstorms.
Today's rainfall forecasts follow.
The rain activity shown in the @zoom_earth animation preceding is only radar based, Saudi radar, and in this case is complementary to the @meteoblue satellite rainfall estimates you see below. There is likely significantly more rainfall in this than you see here.
Here we see India (the heart of this Monsoon), this morning to 10am East Africa Time. I.E. around seven hours ago.
Make that three threads. This year we have seen some specific identifiable climate anomalies/abnormalities which are brought us these storms, and which are far from over.
@jonathanwatts And this pictorial thread from back in May was an attempt to draw attention to the strange weather Europe has experienced since the Spring. It focuses on the role of the West Africa Monsoon which is contributing to the current storm.
Today's #ArabianStorms thread took a bit of a detour into looking at today's fatal floods in #Benelux and #Germany, and the causes for the weather pattern that brought them.
Here we see satellite images for the three days leading up to this. And a close look at this satellite imagery [@zoom_earth] suggests that the the persistence of the storm, which is far from over, is due to it being mainlined tropical water from the West Africa Monsoon.
It's raining cats and dogs in the highlands northern Ethiopia tonight. Across all of Tigray and south into the #Abbay basin which is busy filling the GERD. The #ArabianMonsoonBlast is getting into gear now but it is far from over.
Today's Rainfall forecasts follow.
The Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea are ultimately responsible for all of this and so we begin with a couple of satellite images of them today. I will post another picture of the #GERD as soon as it reveals itself from under the clouds.
Ongoing coverage of Invest 98w, currently south east of the Phillipines and forecast by the GFS to make landfall in China, after formation and swift strengthening over the next few days. Here is a picture as the Sun came up over the west Pacific ocean.
This cyclone candidate is interesting for two reasons: 1. intrinsically as a potentially dangerous storm and 2. because of the wider set up around it which is detailed in yesterday's thread.
This animation is from this afternoon.
Meanwhile we have a new cyclone candidate in the Atlantic also, #Invest99L which is also stationary and presents visually in a similar manner to #Invest98w. It is developing in a similar spot to the first Tropical Storm of the 2021 Hurricane Season, Ana.