This short thread shows how cyclonic storms in the tropical Atlantic affect/drive the weather in Europe. Major Hurricane Sam is bottom left.
Its outflows - atmospheric moisture created and projected into the jet streams 11-18kms up - are already reaching Western Europe.
Major Hurricane Sam is forecast to remain a hurricane until it reaches very northerly latitudes (in line with the France), and then continue as a strong extra-tropical cyclonic storm through Tuesday-Wednesday next week.
This animation shows the past 24 hours over Western Europe. The jet-stream outflows from U.S./Canadian storms and Hurricane Sam can be seen arriving at the bottom. From the north cold northerly jet-streams are colliding with these over the UK.
And here we see the rest of Europe into Central Asia, were there are further Arctic air flows heading south.
Looking forward this is today's full 10-Day @ECMWF solution in terms of PWAT (precipitable water/energy).
And here is the GFS solution. Which as you can see is similar but different.
All solutions result in significant amount of rain. Here are four different 10 day total rainfall model solutions (though till 11th October) from the GFS, ECMWF, CMC and Access G models.
To conclude this forecast, a GEFS 7 day moving total rainfall anomaly forecast tells us in percentage terms how much the forecast rains differs from rainfall expectations at this time of year in Europe.
Kenya took over Presidency of the UNSC for October on Friday. A media/officials briefing was held yesterday at the UN HQ in New York yesterday with the Permanent Representative and the Kenya's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Raychelle Omamo.
WATCH HERE >> media.un.org/en/asset/k1e/k…
This briefing his held each month when the Presidency rotates. The program of work for the month is the subject of the briefing which can be found here >> un.org/securitycounci…
The detailed briefing is by Kenya's Permanent Representative Martin Kimani who participated in the Tigray crisis meeting held on August 26th.
The program includes 2 meetings to be chaired by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on the 12th (Peace) and 28th of Oct. (Cooperation).
Would be nice to see some news reports leading with the allegations that have been made against the UN officials who have been expelled. @AP@Reuters@AFP
@mfaethiopia issued a statement yesterday. There are 2 sides to this story. There seems to be a racist trope at play here.
@AP@Reuters@AFP@mfaethiopia It is clear that the legal basis the UN is relying on is unreliable. According to their own legal opinions and based on recent precedents in the case of both Burundi and in 1998 for the TPLF, who expelled 30 UN officials.
@AP@Reuters@AFP@mfaethiopia One would have thought that the substance of the Ethiopian claims against the UN officials ought to be examined at some point in this discussion. The missing trucks one is undeniable. The "rape as a weapon" data manipulation one is supported by a leaked audio recording.
The appointment of a confirmed Asst. Secretary of State For African Affairs to the Biden Administration is an important development.
And the timing of the appointment is interesting.
Confirmation hearing July 20th.
Confirmation September 28th
Swearing in yesterday.
At the link in Ben's tweet quoted above you can view the video of testimony presented in the confirmation hearing. There is also a transcript there which includes written answers to questions by @AsstSecStateAF#MollyPhee - pages 46 to 64.
@AsstSecStateAF The Republicans have been holding up a large number of important confirmations now for months. Senate Foreign Affairs Cmtte Chairman Menendez made a speech/statement about this most recently on Sept 13th. foreign.senate.gov/press/chair/re…
And here is her archived State Dept biography page. She spent three years serving as Deputy Chief of Mission in Ethiopia. 2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/2…
Ok since we seem to have an information vacuum here - which is unhelpful to all, I have some off the record information to share on the reasons for the expulsions.
It looks as if there was a reason that @KSansculotteG Kwesi Sans-Culotte was singled out with his on special tweet. He appears to be accused of leaking audio of the country team discussion on whether there is credible evidence of "rape as a weapon".
Whether this incident - involving the creation of a HR investigation with the ACPHR apparently without notice & claiming consent - was part of reasoning wrt Kwesi is not known, but here are it seems specific reasons for each expulsion.
The first of these tweets from expelled UNDP country manager for Ethiopia, Dr Kwesi Sansculotte-Greenidge (@KSansculotteG) raises interesting questions.
This false statement is the opening sentence of background.
"On 4 Nov. 2020 the Govt. of Ethiopia launched a military offensive against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), this was followed by attacks on the Northern Command of the ENDF by the TPLF on the same day."