2015 was not a good year for Earth.

December 18, 2015

Global temperatures (click here) have already smashed records this year, and now meteorologists are warning 2016 will be even hotter.
The annual global temperature forecast from the Met Office suggests 2016 will be between 0.72C and 0.95C above the long-term average of 14°C.
Man-made global warming, along with a smaller effect from the natural El Niño phenomenon in the Pacific, are expected to push temperatures towards record levels next year.
Professor Chris Folland, from the UK's Met Office, said: "2015 is on track to be the warmest year on record, and this forecast suggests 2016 is likely to be as warm, if not warmer."

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See what happens when he gets out of the White House and among the people?

January 1, 2016
By Megan Cassella

Washington: US President Barack Obama (click here) is expected to announce executive actions expanding background checks on gun sales, media outlets reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with White House proposals and planning.
The changes, which could come as soon as next week, would include requiring more small-scale gun sellers to be licensed and to conduct a background check whenever selling a weapon, Politico reported....

Happy New Year, President Obama.

That is a farm at the base of the tornado. Luckily the tornado landed a short distance from the farm and not on top of it.

James' winning photo of the rare cyclone in Colorado earlier this year. Photo: James Young

December 31, 2015

By Ebony Bowden

A Melbourne man (click here) who picked up a camera just five years ago has won the National Geographic 2015 photo contest.
James Smart, from Balwyn, beat more than 13,000 entries to take out the prestigious competition with his photo of a tornado in Colorado.

The 30-year-old said he entered the competition not even knowing what the prize was – a handsome $US10,000 and a trip to National Geographic's headquarters in Washington.

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Smart, a freelance satellite operator, picked up a camera just five years ago while on holiday in Europe and said he couldn't believe he had won.
"I was surprised, that's for sure. I didn't think I'd win at all to be honest. I didn't even know what the prize was," he said....

Congratulations to James Smart and his brave resolve to photograph this rare phenomena. Interesting though, there is a great deal of rare and record setting events now that Earth is hotter than it ever should be.

This event was well documented. This picture of the storm appeared in The Washington Post.

This phenomenal storm, with two tornadoes spinning simultaneously, was photographed late last week near Simla, Colo. (Kelly DeLay)


June 8, 2015
By Angela Fritz

...Many different photos (click here) and videos of this storm have been shared, and it does seem that one of the tornadoes was rotating anticyclonically — or clockwise — which is a pretty rare occurrence. Just like mid-latitude cyclones and hurricanes, tornadoes in the Northern Hemisphere tend to rotate counter-clockwise, along with their parent thunderstorms, because of the rotation of the Earth and the Coriolis effect.

But every once in a while, a tornado will buck that rule, according to leading tornado researcher and director of the Center for Severe Weather Research Josh Wurman. “Anticyclonic tornadoes can form if a supercell contains an anticyclonic mesocyclone,” said Wurman. “Or, a pair of tornadoes, one cyclonic, one anticyclonic, can form. Both of these are rare.”...


The picture Mr. Smart took was of a tornado that exhibited it's unique characteristics for a very brief time.

This storm in the far North Atlantic is the same storm that caused two tornado outbreaks and widespread flooding in the United States. Photo / earth.nullschool.net

December 31, 2015

A powerful winter cyclone (click here) - the same storm that lead to two tornado outbreaks in the United States and disastrous river flooding - has driven the North Pole to the freezing point this week, 50 degrees above average for this time of year.
From Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, a mind-boggling pressure drop was recorded in Iceland: 54 millibars in just 18 hours. This triples the criteria for "bomb" cyclogenesis, which meteorologists use to describe a rapidly intensifying mid-latitude storm. A "bomb" cyclone is defined as dropping one millibar per hour for 24 hours.
NOAA's Ocean Prediction Center said the storm's minimum pressure dropped to 928 millibars around 1 a.m. Eastern time, which likely places it in the top five strongest storms on record in this region.
"According to the center's records, the all-time strongest storm in this area occurred on Dec. 15, 1986, and that had a minimum central pressure of 900 millibars," Mashable's Andrew Freedman reported on Tuesday....
 

If the artic ocean rises in temperature enough it could release what is now frozen methane.

December 1, 2015
The rate of ice growth  (click here) for the first half of November 2015 was quite rapid, but the pace of ice growth slowed during the second half of the month, only to increase again at the end of the month. Throughout the month, sea ice extent remained within two standard deviations of the 1981 to 2010 average....

Growth in sea ice is more attributed to warmer temperatures at work with resultant formations less than solid ice. The variations in November 2015 may be connected to waxing and waning temperature events over the North American and Northern Asia continents. There were extended frigid temperatures in Siberia. The release of frigid temperatures from the Arctic Ocean due to warmer ocean waters explains the decrease in air masses temperatures that descended to lower latitudes.

December 30, 2015
By Roginson Meyer

The sun (click here) has not risen above the North Pole since mid-September. The sea ice — flat, landlike, windswept, and stretching as far as the eye can see—has been bathed in darkness for months.
But later this week, something extraordinary will happen: Air temperatures at the Earth’s most northernly region, in the middle of winter, will rise above freezing for only the second time on record.
On Wednesday, the same storm system that last week spun up deadly tornadoes in the American southeast will burst into the far north, centering over Iceland. It will bring strong winds and pressure as low as is typically seen during hurricanes.
That low pressure will suck air out of the planet’s middle latitudes and send it rushing to the Arctic. And so on Wednesday, the North Pole will likely see temperatures of about 35 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 degrees Celsius. That’s 50 degrees hotter than average: It’s usually 20 degrees Fahrenheit below zero there at this time of year....

Solargraphs or solargraphics or solarigraphics are photographs people had never seen before.

December 23, 2015
Photographer states, "Looking towards Dunball wharf, the wharf is mainly used to deliver sand dredged from the Bristol Channel, Pinhole size 0.5mm.

The photographer states "Solargraphy: (click here) 5 months."

With all the renewed discussion of an arctic methane blast, I though this might be interesting.

Below is the River Parrett on a good day in 2013.

Published on Jul 1, 2013

Paul Hamilton visits the River Parrett, Thorney, Somerset (tel: 01935 824337, SAT NAV: TA12 6AE) for the Angler's Mail Where To Fish section. Fees have now risen to £15 for the year.

I take it the Missouri Governor aleady called out the National Guard.

It isn't as though the floods are a maybe because the storm arrived. We know the Mississippi River is going to flood beyond anyone's imagination. The states down stream need to issue emergency declarations and harness readiness with their National Guard.

December 29, 2015
Missouri River floods at St. Charles riverfront.

By Reuters

Dec 30 (Reuters) - Rain-swollen rivers (click here) rose across Missouri on Wednesday with widespread flooding forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people, closing parts of a major interstate highway and threatening to wash out scores of structures.
At least 13 people have died in Missouri since the weekend, when days of downpours from a massive winter storm system triggered the state's worst flooding in two decades, Governor Jay Nixon said.
Nixon called the flooding "very historic and dangerous" and urged motorists not to drive into movie water. A dozen of the deaths in Missouri were due to people driving into flooded areas, Nixon told CNN on Wednesday.
Several major rivers, including the Mississippi, and tributaries in Missouri and Illinois were poised to crest at record levels, the National Weather Service said, but parts of the region already are inundated....

According to The Times of Indiat, the death toll from severe storms in the USA is at least 43/

Americans are at the cusp of a new danger they cannot compensate to survive.

Dallas: Storms hit the US South, (click here) Southwest and Midwest over the Christmas holiday weekend, unleashing floods and tornadoes that killed at least 43 people, flattened buildings and snarled transportation for millions during a busy travel time.

The bad weather or threat of it prompted the governors of Missouri and New Mexico to declare a state of emergency for their states.

Flash floods killed at least 13 people in Missouri and Illinois....

Eight deaths at least in Missouri. These are totals of the dead from a single storm system at this time of year is unheard of. I have to look up the death tolls of Sandy. Sandy was an east coast phenomena and considered the equivalent of a Category One hurricane in wind velocity. Sandy is not the same as the Christmas Storm of 2015.

In Missouri, emergency workers have evacuated residents from their homes and conducted dozens of water rescues, Governor Jay Nixon said on Sunday. He said at least eight people had been killed and numerous roadways had been closed....

The Christmas Storm of 2015 was enormous. It was drawing supporting warm air from a very large swath of Earth. Sandy built it's size over a warm ocean. 

Sandy's death toll was 285 primarily from drowning regardless of warnings made to evacuate. Americans don't 'get it' necessarily. It isn't the media's fault. The American media dedicates a great deal of time in warnings about storms. People focus on something to convince themselves they'll "be alright."

In the case of Sandy, I think people focused on "Category 1" status and thought the media was overplaying their hand.

Americans in large measure don't understand physics. A storm the size of Sandy needed a great deal of energy to sustain it's size. The winds were a minor event compared to the size and scope of THE TIDAL SURGE. Americans think high velocity storms carry "high walls of water" a shore and they take it seriously. But, in the case of Sandy it had what most Americans consider a survivable Category wind speed of One.  

These lower category storms carry a large tidal surge not necessary in height but width. The radius/diameter of Sandy was enormous. People have to realize the height of tides at lower velocity storms is not the problem, but, the WIDTH of the ARRIVING tide will 'pile up' once it reaches land/the shore. 

The tide of these lower velocity storms are similar to tsunamis. The height can be lower, but, when it reaches the shoreline/beach/land the water piles on top of itself to cause THE ACCUMULATION of high amounts of water that is not survivable.

May 23, 2015
By Laura Petrecca 

New York  — Drowning (click here) was the most common cause of death associated with the devastating Superstorm Sandy, according to a report out Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Almost half – 45% — of the 40 drowning deaths in the October storm occurred in flooded homes in New York City's mandatory Evacuation Zone A, said the CDC, citing research from the American Red Cross.
That zone covers swaths of coastline areas in city boroughs and includes hard-hit communities such as Breezy Point, Queens, Midland Beach, Staten Island and Lower Manhattan. Residents in Evacuation Zone A received mandatory evacuation orders the day prior to the storm, but many remained in their homes.
"A lot of the drowning occurred in the evacuation zones, and so that just reminds us how important it is to listen to these (evacuation) messages, whether it's for a hurricane, tornado or any severe event," says Amy Wolkin, Team Lead for CDC's Disaster and Epidemiological Response Team....

It is transportation problems in Michigan. There aren't good train access in most areas of the state.

Ice forms along Muskegon Lake as sizable waves hit the Western shoreline in Muskegon, Mich. Dec. 28, 2015. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning that lasts until Tuesday morning, December 29. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)




By Emily Lawler

Lansing, MI -- State of Michigan offices (click here) will resume normal hours on Tuesday, Dec. 29 after having closed early Monday due to severe weather.
According to a press release from the State Emergency Operations Center, a coordinated state and local response effort that Gov. Rick Snyder set into motion Monday afternoon, employees should report to work at the start of their shift. That information is cross-posted on Michigan.gov, where the Snyder administration told employees to look for updates. 
While storms are still raging in parts of Michigan, current predictions show warmer air coming into Michigan and melting much of the ice before morning commute times....

By the time most Michiganders access mass transit the travel time defines a better reason to stay home than venture into work. The mass transit system in Michigan is lacking. 

I have no idea what 'wet-solid' snow is. I think of it as slush. When warming trends attract heat transfer systems the trajectory of weather is predictable. First the frigid temperatures occur accompanied by 'cold weather' precipitation hence causing public warnings. 

BUT, the frigid temperatures are mixed with warmed air and there is turbulence or vice versa warmed air can be mixed with frigid temperatures depending on where one is standing on the geographical match. THE STORM FRONT is what is defined by location and the weather expected.

But, after the frigid temperatures and the weather accompanying it, then there is a change to a more MEDIAN temperature after the hot air mass and water vapor frigid air mass. That median temperature can bring about rapid melting of ice/snow. If the frigid air remains there will be slush accompanied by freezing temperatures and a return to icing conditions. 

These heat transfer systems are macroscopic, but, the way people COPE are microscopic simply because the land falls under turbulence and the outcomes of that multi-front temperature changes. 

LOCAL MICROSCOPIC WEATHER COPING IS BEST. To achieve a generalized national picture is difficult. The USA Weather Service does a great job, but, ultimately it is the journalist on the beat that will have the most accurate picture. It is the local media that will bring about emergency response in areas not yet realized as effected.

Additional snow forecast overnight December 28, 2015. Most areas of northern Michigan will get another five to eight inches overnight. (source: NOAA/weatherbell.com) 

By Mark Torregrossa

...This current storm (click here) has always leaned a little more toward the crystalized forms of precipitation. When freezing rain has been expected, sleet mixed in and dominated at times. Where sleet has been expected, snowflakes outnumbered the sleet pellets.
Now the storm is doing the same thing in northern Lower Michigan and the eastern U.P.
Heavy snow will continue overnight in northern Lower and the eastern and central U.P. An additional five to eight inches of snow is going to be very common from Traverse City to Grayling to Tawas and northward.
You see some 10 inch to 12 inch additional amounts forecast in far northern Lower. That might be two inches too much, so plan on the heaviest spots getting another eight to 10 inches of snow overnight.
It will be a wet, solid snow - the kind that can start a base on northern Michigan snowmobile trails....

The 'idea' winter has arrived is grossly inaccurate with a troposphere that spawns heat transfer systems. There may be seasonal conditions in some elevations and latitudes, but, generally the USA will have very mixed weather through winter.

December 29, 2015

Bloomington — State Farm (click here) has stepped up to help as storms devastated the Midwest and southern United States over the last week.

The company has received nearly 2,400 homeowners and auto insurance claims across seven states due to recent severe weather, said spokeswoman Holly Anderson.

That total includes 620 homeowners claims in Georgia, which was hit by torrential rain and tornadoes Wednesday; 460 homeowners and 160 auto claims in Texas, where at least 11 were killed by Saturday tornadoes; and 460 homeowners claims in Missouri, where rain became flooding over the weekend.

Alabama, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan have also generated homeowners claims — 170, 180, 250 and 40, respectively....

Insurer group urges residents to monitor continued severe weather (click here)
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Responding to tornadoes and other severe weather over the weekend, Farmers Insurance® has deployed its specially-trained Catastrophe Claims Team to begin assisting customers.
In addition to claims handling staff, the Farmers Mobile Claims Center (MCC) catastrophe bus is in the area and has begun providing on-site assistance to residents in Texas. Farmers Insurance personnel are assisting customers file claims on the spot and are providing storm victims with basic necessities. Currently, the MCC is located in the Target parking lot at 4701 Lakeview Parkway, Rowlett, Texas, 75088. Customers can visit the MCC to file claims and ask questions during operating hours from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
Catastrophe claims staff have also initiated triage at this time, via geo-technology, to identify customers located in the areas where damage occurred.
Farmers Insurance encourages everyone in the area to closely monitor the weather and stay safe as additional storms are expected to move through Friday and Saturday.
To aid residents in preparing for additional potential severe weather, Farmers Insurance urges residents to:...

This is the flooding which triggered the EU to reassess its preparedness for the climate crisis.

December 28, 2015

Military personnel (click here) were mobilised on Sunday to help people in Yorkshire and Lancashire as they battled to keep rising flood waters from the doors of their homes and businesses....

HAB or Harmful Algal Blooms is the correct name for this phenomena.

This is a bloom of algae, small microscopic plants. HABs can cause illness, but, not consistently. With each species of algae there can be dangerous health effects. These blooms effect local economies regardless of toxins or not. People don't want to swim in it and it frequently has an odor. Towns effected by these blooms should apply to FEMA for relief under economic and health emergency conditions. 

This was a HAB with a 'Fish Kill." Fish Kill is the proper name for this phenomena. These Fish Kills are not unusual with blooms. 

December 26, 2015
By Garin Flowers

Treasure Island, Fla. -- Ed Inloes is enjoying (click here) a much nicer looking holiday season in Florida than his home in Michigan. But, what rolled in with the tide behind his rental home in Treasure Island put a bit of a stench on his vacation plans.
"This beautiful sight that I'm looking at right now is what we expected to see, nice house and everything. What I did not expect to see was a bunch of dead fish," he said.
And the smell outside was so strong, he and his wife couldn't sit outside and enjoy the Jacuzzi.
"I mean I got up to the number 40 as I was counting them, but there was still plenty more."
For people who live along the coast, they knew it could be a case of red tide. It's caused by an algae from the Gulf of Mexico when there's a high concentration. That leads to the dead fish and murky waters....

The proper name of these weather systems is an upper tropospheric heat transfer system.

Even after Americans achieve the American Dream there is no keeping it. That is a brick house? If that was a brick house that is an F5 tornado. Regardless, it is at least an F4.

Pam Russell, left, and Linda Hart rescued a cat from Ms. Russell's house in Rowlett, Tex., on Sunday. Credit Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News, via Associated Press

December 28, 2015
By Katie Rogers and Christine Hauser

After spawning tornadoes (click here) in Texas and floods in the Midwest, deadly storm systems continued to drift across the United States on Monday. The severe weather has in the last week led to the deaths of at least 43 people and the injuries of dozens more, according to a count by The Associated Press.

The hazardous weather has been caused by several factors, including a stronger-than-average jet stream across the southern United States and the disruptive effects of the weather phenomenon El Niño, Rich Otto, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in College Park, Md., said on Monday.

The pattern is also expected to continue this week, Mr. Otto said, as meteorologists track a winter storm system that is moving from Texas and Oklahoma toward the Midwest and parts of the Great Lakes. Here’s a roundup of the hardest-hit areas of the country....

This is NOT a defined weather system. Call it El Nino if it makes one feel better in having control, but, this weather system has no definition.

 ...As residents attempted to clean up the rubble and assess the damage on Sunday, harsh weather, including quarter-size hail and enough rain to set a precipitation record, pummeled the area. Gov. Greg Abbott warned that the death toll could rise and declared a state of disaster in four counties — Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and Ellis — according to The Associated Press.

In the western part of the state, transportation crews in Lubbock cleared highways during blizzard conditions. On Monday, the National Weather Service reported on Twitter that snowfall in the Dallas area had given way to slush. Mr. Otto said that the worst of the snow was leaving Texas on Monday as a winter storm system moved toward the Midwest....

The picture to the right is from NOAA and an F4 site. The brick building in the background is an F3 damage because the walls are still standing. This was a tornado that crossed Moore, Oklahoma. This system exhibited mixed effect from F3 to F5.

"In order for this scene to be rated F5, the debris must have been swept away, leaving behind evidence that the house was well-attached to its slab. [The brick house in the left background suffered F3 damage, with a mixture of inner and outer walls removed.] This tornado caused an immense amount of F4 damage on its path through the southern portion of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, and several locales of F5 damage."

Empowered and brave children make for mentally healthy young people. It provides a way of having purpose beyond devastation. Children are about the future and this young man knows he is powerful and knows he is important and vital to minimizing the damage to the community. He is great. He is becoming a master of his future. When they want to help, say "Yes, work at my side."

Jayden Covert, 10, of Kimmswick, Mo., filled sandbags with other volunteers on Sunday as the Mississippi River rose south of St. Louis. Credit Cristina M. Fletes/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, via Associated Press

The USA Military linked the climate crisis and global unrest a long time ago. It is true.

December 21, 2015By Bob Koigi

Behind towering acacia trees (click here) that provide much sought after shade in the sunbaked landscape of southern Ethiopia lies the story of a long quest for lasting peace by communities at the Kenya-Ethiopia border, led most recently by a group of community elders. The region has suffered from decades of longstanding conflict over limited resources that have claimed thousands of lives and displaced tens of thousands of families, and which have recently been exacerbated by drought and changing weather patterns...

...But the conflict has taken a new and complex twist in recent years as rains have failed and weather vagaries have taken a toll on pastoralists’ way of life. The 2011 and 2012 drought in the Horn of Africa, for example, impacted more than 13 million people, particularly pastoralist communities, and contributed to an intense food crisis in the region. Dwindling land for pasture, coupled with lack of water, is pushing pastoralists from their homes to new frontiers perceived to be resource rich. Climate change is likely to continue exacerbating challenges in the region — in East Africa, global warming is predicted to cause more severe and frequent droughts, increased desertification, and more intense extreme weather events....

It is obvious airport delays lie along the storm's path.

The delays are related to incoming and outgoing jets in the area of the storm.

December 27, 2015
By Kate Flexter

...But some (click here) weren't as lucky. Across the country, long delays and cancellations many of which were due to severe weather in several parts of the United States. In Mississippi and Alabama, rivers flooded. And in Texas, tornadoes tore through towns, while others were hit by some unexpected snow. That weather system caused a ripple effect, delaying flights across the country, including at Tampa International Airport. 
Kyle Duvall was flying out of Tennessee and had multiple delays on several legs of his trip, all due to weather. He ended up missing the cruise he was supposed to be on.
"Yesterday was an absolute travel nightmare," said Duvall. "Today I'm staying positive. I'm looking at it as a Christmas vacation adventure," he added with a chuckle. 

The worst flooding in seventy years in Great Britain.

December 29, 2015
By Nick Miller

London: Climate change (click here for video as well) is forcing England to re-assess its flood defences in the face of unprecedented river level surges, one of the United Kingdom government's most senior environment officials says.
"We are moving from a period of known extremes into a period of unknown extremes," said David Rooke, deputy chief executive of the UK government's Environment Agency, which manages the country's rivers.
"We will need to re-assess all the defences right across the country."...

This surprises me, because, Europe did a in depth study conducted in Europe within the past few years. The reason was because of flooding it received. The study resulted in building walls to keep water contained. The study and the wall was a very big expense. Europe is alarmed by it's current problems and they will again address the climate crisis and what needs to be done to eliminate the flooding.

Not even Great Britain is experiencing the problems of the USA and it has been second in the amounts of historic greenhouse gas emissions..

Great Britain is a country that has taken responsibility for it's greenhouse gas emissions and the need for it's population's safety. 

This was mid-November in Saudi Arabia and the middle east.

Severe Weather Risk Eyes Saudi Arabia, Iraq Through Tuesday (blowing sand explains somewhat the cultural dress of women in this region of the world)

November 18, 2015
By Eric Leister

The risk for severe weather (click here) will dip unusually far south into the Middle East early this week.
Residents across northern Saudi Arabia and southwestern Iraq should remain on alert for potentially violent thunderstorms.
The danger will shift northwest to southeast across the risk zone into Tuesday. Hail and Medina, Saudi Arabia, and Najaf, Iraq, are among the cities at risk for violent thunderstorms.
Areas from Tabuk and Sakaka to Baghdad could still experience a shower or thunderstorm, though the worst weather will be farther south and east.
"Damaging wind and flooding rain will be the main threats from any severe thunderstorm," stated AccuWeather Meteorologist Rob Richards. Hail cannot be ruled out. Gusty wind from thunderstorms can also produce blinding sand and dust storms.
A second threat area will be across Israel, Lebanon, southern Syria and western Jordan. These areas will be at risk for showers and thunderstorms with strong winds, hail and downpours.

The severe winds around New Zealand dictated the winner.

Sydney, Australia (December 26, 2015) – Record holding eight time (click here) Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours victor, Wild Oats XI, has retired from the race after reporting a torn mainsail. The Mark Richards skippered crew is returning to Sydney. No further details are available at this stage....

If this tear was unique to the sail of this long standing champion boat and crew I would not bother noting it. But, there were very recent winds that stranded a private sailing in New Zealand waters. The sailing boat had nothing to do with racing or a strategy against powerful winds. A torn mailsail is not what one would expect from this world class boat and crew.

Shortly after 10.10pm, local time, the news was received that Pierre Gal’s CEX Dolce had broken her mast and was also returning to Sydney. All on board both yachts are safe.
The front half of the fleet in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 628 nautical mile race was feeling the brunt of a stiff southerly, with Ichi Ban’s navigator, Will Oxley, reporting gusts of up to 43 knots . The southerly will filter to the smaller yachts during the night.
Further updates will be made available when more is known.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the live stream of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race start was unable to be broadcast internationally. We apologise for any inconvenience and frustration that this has caused international followers.

Published on December 26th, 2015

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Sydney, Australia (December 26, 2015) – Record holding eight time Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours victor, Wild Oats XI, has retired from the race after reporting a torn mainsail. The Mark Richards skippered crew is returning to Sydney. No further details are available at this stage.
Shortly after 10.10pm, local time, the news was received that Pierre Gal’s CEX Dolce had broken her mast and was also returning to Sydney. All on board both yachts are safe.
The front half of the fleet in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 628 nautical mile race was feeling the brunt of a stiff southerly, with Ichi Ban’s navigator, Will Oxley, reporting gusts of up to 43 knots . The southerly will filter to the smaller yachts during the night.
Further updates will be made available when more is known.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the live stream of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race start was unable to be broadcast internationally. We apologise for any inconvenience and frustration that this has caused international followers.

- See more at: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2015/12/26/sydney-hobart-wild-oats-xi-retired/#sthash.6ljiU2QP.dpuf