Tag: Storms

Watch: Huge carp wrestled from flooded California street

Video footage has surfaced showing two men wrestle a giant carp from a flooded street in Watsonville, Ca.

During extensive flooding, streets can resemble rivers complete with fish that have been swept over the banks of actual rivers and lakes.

The accompanying footage, featured Tuesday by KSBW Action News 8, shows two men wrestling what looks like a huge carp from a flooded street in Watsonville, Ca.

Laughter abounds as one man uses his body and arms to trap the carp against a curb before the other man plucks the fish from the water.

“We received more videos of people fishing in the flood waters around Watsonville,” the network tweeted. “This catch took a little more dedication than the first one.”

ALSO: Rare footage shows hippos attacking lion stranded on rock

That was a reference to the March 11 capture of a large carp on College Road in Watsonville. The fish apparently became dinner.

Watsonville is in Central California, a region battered by atmospheric rivers, which have prompted flood warnings and caused levee failures.

–Image courtesy of KSBW Action News 8

Dramatic video shows impact of ‘atmospheric river’ storms on Monterey Peninsula’s golf courses in California

Monterey Peninsula and its famed golf courses are pounded by extreme weather steered by an ‘atmospheric river.’

Northern California has been battered in recent days by strong winds, rain and even snow, and there is more extreme weather on the way, according to Weather.com. Two people have died in the storms so far and more than 176,000 are without power as of Thursday evening, the site reported.

The area’s famed golf courses are not immune to what is called the atmospheric river that’s driving the storms. That’s especially so for the layouts close to the Pacific Ocean coastline as massive waves and flooding threaten golf holes. Even inland, many course operators are dealing with flooding and the effects of winds that reached 80 mph at elevation and 50 mph in San Francisco and Sacramento. It will be days before the full effects of the storm can be tallied.

Sometimes called “rivers in the sky,” atmospheric rivers are a major factor in extreme rain and snowfall in the West.

Long, narrow corridors of air heavy with moisture form when warmer air from the tropics moves toward the poles ahead of powerful storm fronts. They can carry huge amounts of water over thousands of miles.

Atmospheric rivers function much like rivers on the surface but can carry even more water than the Mississippi River.

MORE: USA TODAY explains atmospheric rivers

One coastal golf club that appears to have been hit hard is Monterey Peninsula Country Club, home to two layouts – the Dunes and the Shore – that both are ranked by Golfweek’s Best to be among the top 10 private clubs in California. Several posts to social media and other clips sent to Golfweek have shown apparent damage to the club’s Dunes Course along the water.

It’s worth noting that despite the tweet’s reference of Chernobyl, the full extent of the damage isn’t clear, though it certainly is eye-opening. A call to the operators at Monterey Peninsula Country Club went to voicemail Thursday afternoon.

Alan Shipnuck of Fire Pit Collective reported later in the day that the club anticipates being able to repair the damage to No. 14 on the Dunes Course and that the hole will be closed “for just a little while.”

There are several other famed courses exposed to the weather pounding Monterey Peninsula, including Cypress Point, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, the Links at Spanish Bay, even the popular municipal Pacific Grove Golf Links. Golfweek reached out to several course operators without hearing back. California Governor Gavin Newsome has declared a state of emergency, and evacuations have been issued in parts of Monterey County and other areas.

Any damage – with none reported so far – to Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill or Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore Course could prove problematic for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the annual PGA Tour event scheduled Feb. 2-5. Pebble Beach also will be host to the U.S. Women’s Open in July.

USA Today’s Janet Loehrke, Ramon Padilla and Dinah Voyles Pulver contributed to this article.

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A green sky leaves South Dakota residents puzzled after a powerful storm

What does it mean when the sky turns green?

On July 5, storms rolled through Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Classified as a derecho, a wind storm with gusts of at least 58 mph, the weather wasn’t out of the ordinary at first. After all, the state has had two derechos recently. What did come as a surprise were the bright green skies many locals witnessed. Puzzled over the unusual color, many South Dakota residents turned to social media to post pictures and find out what was happening.

Argus Leader 911, a Twitter account that tracks crime, accidents, and fire in Sioux Falls, reached out to its followers. “As the storm passes, and as long as you can safely do so, please tell us what you’re seeing. Is there damage in your area? Hail? Broken branches? Share with us,” the account posted. In reply, many Twitter users posted their photos of the green, stormy skies.

While eye-catching, the unusual color doesn’t necessarily indicate anything about the weather, according to Peter Rogers, a meteorologist with the Weather Service’s office in Sioux Falls. Instead, the color relates to how sunlight interacts with the atmosphere during a storm.

Scientific American elaborates, writing that while “researchers remain undecided about the exact mechanisms that cause the sky to appear green in certain thunderstorms … most point to the liquid water content in the air. The moisture particles are so small that they can bend the light and alter its appearance to the observer. These water droplets absorb red light, making the scattered light appear blue. If this blue scattered light is set against an environment heavy in red light—during sunset for instance—and a dark gray thunderstorm cloud, the net effect can make the sky appear faintly green.”

Lead image via @jkarmill