Tropical Storm Alberto Forms Off Carolinas, Two Weeks Before Start of Storm Season

Tropical Storm Alberto has formed quickly off the coast of the Carolinas...almost two weeks before the official start of Hurricane/Tropical Storm season in the US.

The storm is not expected to make landfall on the Carolina coast, but it has prompted a tropical storm warning and forecasters are advising that it could produce high winds, heavy surf, rip currents and scattered torrential rain and flash flooding across the region. Alberto is the first storm of its kind to form in a hurricane season that doesn't officially start until June 1.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported at 8 a.m. EDT Sunday that TS Alberto, which formed in the Atlantic early on Saturday, was approximately 95 miles (153 km) south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, with higher gusts being reported, and was moving west-southwest at about 6 mph. Tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the center of the storm.

Alberto is not forecast to strengthen over the next 24 hours, but the National Hurricane Center is advising  people on the coast from Georgia to North Carolina's Outer Banks to monitor the news for the storm's progress and to be prepared with emergency supplies as a precaution. A tropical storm watch is in effect on that Georgia's coast from Savannah River to the South Santee River.

Here Comes the Sun: Massive Solar Storm Could Knock Out Radio & Satellite Communications NASA Warns

A massive solar storm has unleashed a huge Coronal Mass Ejection, which experts warn will begin hitting the Earth starting today and will continue over the next three days. Areas with clear skies in more northern latitudes should be able to witness some spectacular displays of auroras, also called the Northern Lights.

The intense solar flares that will be hitting the earth will possibly create radio and satellite signal black-outs over the next several days caused by the intense radiation being ejected from the sun. Telephone and Internet services will also be subject to spotty outages. Rolling electrical black-outs are also a high possibility.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center wrote on their website: "Category G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storms are expected 28 and 29 December due to multiple coronal mass ejection arrivals. R1 (Minor) radio blackouts are expected until 31 December."


The news comes as NASA has warned the United States government to prepare for more possible disruptions due to increasingly stronger solar activity. The 11-year solar cycle was anticipated to change over into a Solar Maximum event in 2012 (there's that year again), but activity from the sun began to increase unexpectedly earlier this year.

Only last month one of the largest storms the sun can produce was detected by satellites that constantly observe our celestial star. Known as an X1.9 flare, it was one of the biggest produced in years. The flare was so powerful that it disrupted communications systems here on earth a short time later. Another massive X-class flare was emitted from the sun in August, but the flare was not directed toward the earth and caused no communication disruptions. 

In 1989, an intense coronal mass ejection from the sun was responsible for leaving over six million people in Quebec, Canada, without electricity when the intense storm knocked essential power grids offline.

Like a Plague of Locusts: Incredible Radar Images Show Millions of Birds & Bugs Taking Flight During Oklahoma Earthquake

Photo Credits: NOAA/The Daily Mail

Incredible radar images show the exact moment Saturday's 5.6 earthquake struck central Oklahoma, causing literally millions of insects and birds to take flight!

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration released the shocking radar images today, which highlight the changing air patterns at the precise moment the temblor struck in the late-evening hours on Saturday. The wing movement of vast amounts of insects and birds was immediately picked up by local Doppler Radar, which is often used to detect wind rotation or tornadoes embedded in thunderstorms. 


The radar image in the moments before the earthquake was calm and still, but as soon as the earth started to pitch and shake, a shift caused by a simultaneous movement of birds and insects flying  in low altitude was detected. The earthquake was the strongest in history to strike Oklahoma, and caused buildings to crumble and stretches of highway to buckle from its force. 


Scientists are studying the data to see if the creatures took flight slightly before or after the shaking began. Experts have long thought that animals can detect movements in tectonic plates before a quake strikes, exhibiting odd or unnatural behavior in the moments leading up to an earthquake.