Earth ChangesS


Snowflake Cold

Following spring weather, Slovakia faces record cold and snow


The Slovak Spectator
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 13:51 UTC
Snowfall hit also the Donovaly resort on April 18.
© Ján Krošlák Snowfall hit also the Donovaly resort on April 18
March and the first half of April were warm and mild but during Easter a cold spell began that took temperatures closer to the long term average.

It has also brought ground frost during the nights and snow cover in higher altitude and colder regions.

Starting on April 17, the Slovak Hydrometeorological Office (SHMÚ) issued several warnings, with the weather coming closer to winter than to mid-spring.

Cold air has moved to the territory of Slovakia from northern Europe and from April 19 on, Arctic ice-cold air will be influencing the situation here. It will transform quickly in lower geographical latitudes - under the influence of the overall spring conditions. Still, the temperature drop will not be short term, as the whole of Europe will be flooded with cold air.
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Arrow Down

Massive sinkhole opens up behind retirement home in Pinole, California

Devin Fehely
sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com
Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:37 UTC
sinkhole
An enormous sinkhole has opened up on a street in Pinole and is threatening a large retirement community.

The wet weather has exacerbated a shifting soil condition behind the Bay Park Retirement Community on the 2600 block of Appian Way

"You could actually stand three people up in the hole," said Bay Park resident Sylvia Gott.

Gott has watched for weeks now as the sinkhole which has swallowed the access road behind the building has grown to about 50 feet wide.

"I'm very concerned about it," said Gott. "I'm glad they brought in the generator so quickly because we've been on generator power basically the whole time."

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Attention

White-nose syndrome takes heavy toll on northern long-eared bats in Missouri

Ida Sophie Winter
The Columbia Missourian
Wed, 12 Apr 2017 13:16 UTC
Northern long-eared bat
© Jeanette BaileyNorthern long-eared bat
A winter survey of Missouri caves found an alarming decline in the population of a bat species once common across the state.

Surveys of more than 300 caves and mines earlier this winter found a total of seven northern long-eared bats, Shelly Colatskie, a cave ecologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said.

The species' decline accelerated in the past two years. Surveys of 375 caves and mines in 2015 found 2,684 northern long-eared bats.

Shauna Marquardt, a biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Columbia, said the bats were absent this winter in numerous caves where they'd been seen before because of white-nose syndrome. The northern long-eared bat is especially vulnerable to the disease that has ravaged bat populations in parts of the United States.

Comment: See also: All but 23 of 10,000 bats in Durham, Pennsylvania bat mine have died

White nose syndrome: the mysterious bat fungus that threatens entire species, everyone else

US: A race to solve mystery of bat-killing fungus

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Black Cat

Mountain lion snatches dog from inside house in Pescadero, California

Kalin Kipling
The Sacramento Bee
Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:28 UTC
A cougar
© DreamstimeA cougar
A Pescadero family had a very rude awakening early Monday morning when a mountain lion came into their home and took the dog.

A woman reported that she and her child were sleeping in a bedroom with their 15 lb. Portuguese Podengo at the foot of the bed and the dog started barking aggressively at 3 a.m., according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.

They had left the French doors slightly ajar to give the dog outside access, and the woman saw the shadow of an animal enter the room, take the small dog from the bed and leave, deputies reported. Upon searching for the dog with a flashlight, the woman found large wet paw prints at the bedroom's entrance and immediately called 911.

Deputies combing the area found paw prints similar to a mountain lion and notified the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
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Fish

'Blue tide' of countless jellyfish-like creatures wash ashore in Oregon

Jamie Hale
The Oregonian
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 12:18 UTC
Bluish Velella velella sea creatures have washed up by the thousands on Oregon beaches in recent days, including at Seaside and near Fort Stevens.
© Tiffany Boothe / Seaside AquariumBluish Velella velella sea creatures have washed up by the thousands on Oregon beaches in recent days, including at Seaside and near Fort Stevens.
A stroll along the Oregon coast just got a lot more... blue.

Countless jelly-like sea creatures called by-the-wind sailors have once again washed ashore in Oregon, creating what some call a "blue tide" at beaches along the coastline.

Formally known as Velella velella, the tiny gelatinous creatures have a tendency to get stranded in innumerable heaps along the coast, driven ashore by strong summer and spring winds. As the name suggests, by-the-wind sailors utilize clear, triangular sails to travel across the surface of the ocean, drifting where the breeze takes them.

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Black Cat

Leopard wanders into village in India, mauling boy and forest ranger

Dinesh Dubey
Daily Mail
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 20:34 UTC
People scatter as the leopard runs towards a crowd of villagers
People scatter as the leopard runs towards a crowd of villagers
A leopard strayed into a village in India and attacked a boy and a forest ranger before officials were able to tranquillise it and lock it up in a cage.

The boy, Milan Rana, and forest ranger Bijay Khuntia were attacked in Bolangir district in the state of Orissa.

Another man, Satyajit Kundakel, suffered minor injuries when he jumped off the roof of a house in a bid to save himself from the marauding leopard.

After a rescue operation which lasted 12 hours the leopard was captured, caged and taken away.

The animal first appeared in the village in the early hours of Monday morning, when it sneaked inside the house of a villager, Aniruddh Rana.

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Cloud Precipitation

Thousands evacuated as severe floods hit Kazakhstan


Sott.net
Wed, 19 Apr 2017 07:57 UTC
Kazakhstan floods
© Rushan BarayevFlooding in Karaganda Oblast, Kazakhstan
Floods are wreaking havoc across parts of Kazakhstan as authorities are forced to evacuate dozens of settlements. Tengrinews, citing the Karaganda Oblast's Department of Emergency Situations, reports that 1,760 houses have been flooded in 35 villages with 340 livestock having been drowned.

In February this year heavy snow and blizzards hit Kazakhstan forcing some residents to dig tunnels to escape their buried houses. Sharp rises in temperatures recently have intensified the melting of snow and caused widespread flooding.

Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan, Vladimir Bozhko, sought to dispel rumors that the floods in Kazakhstan came as a surprise this year. At a press conference in Astana on April 15, he said that the forecast of Kazhydromet (National Hydrometeorological Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan) made in February suggested that the amount of autumn moisture and winter snow exceeded the normal amount by 30-40 percent in Akmola, Karaganda, North Kazakhstan and Kostanai Oblasts.

Bozhko explained that 11,172 people had been evacuated from danger zones in advance, with 25 people rescued from rooftops. More than 36,000 heads of livestock were driven away from the endangered settlements to higher ground. The danger of flooding still remains high.

A YouTube video shows 15 children being rescued after their school bus was trapped in rising flood waters.
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Ice Cube

Europe's mini ice age: Is it beginning again?

Adapt 2030
YouTube
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 07:31 UTC
Signs of mini ice age in Europe
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
Combining the reports of "Link Found Between Cold European Winters And Solar Activity (+) The Great Frost, Devastated Europe from Italy to Iceland this shows that with the fall in solar activity we should see the Rhine River in Germany begin to freeze and late season snows and early season snows. Now fit in declining TSI and decreasing solar wind pressure and we have the conditions for a mini ice age in Europe, but are there signs? Let's Look at the snows and record cloud this week in Europe.


Comment: See also:

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Ice Cube

Towering iceberg stationed off Newfoundland's east coast


Toronto Sun
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 12:18 UTC
Ferryland iceberg
© Reuters
A towering iceberg stationed off Newfoundland's east coast is drawing dozens of people to the small shoreline community sitting in its shadow.

The massive iceberg has become a star attraction in Ferryland, where cars were backed up bumper to bumper Sunday as curious onlookers tried to get a glimpse of it.

Ferryland Mayor Adrian Kavanagh says the numbers took him by surprise, adding that the "onslaught" showed that people are interested "in that kind of stuff."

Pictures of the iceberg have been making the rounds on social media.

Now, Kavanagh says he has to find a way to keep the iceberg there.

It's been a busy season for icebergs so far, with 616 already having moved into the North Atlantic shipping lanes compared to 687 by the late-September season's end last year.

Comment: Almost 500 icebergs have drifted into North Atlantic Shipping lanes over the last week - six times the average

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Bug

Blanket of spiderwebs cover field in New Zealand

Mindy Weisberger
Live Science
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 14:30 UTC
Spider webs
© Tracey Maris/StoryfulA transparent layer of spider webs covers the grass in a New Zealand park.
Visitors to a New Zealand park recently found the grass blanketed not by flowers, but by silk webs produced by what appeared to be thousands of tiny spiders.

Park-goer Tracey Maris noticed something unusual about the scene on April 16 and captured video footage of the gently rolling silk waves. The web blanket was approximately 98 feet (30 meters) long and as wide as 7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 m), The New Zealand Herald reported. Webs covered ground near a soccer field at the Gordon Spratt Reserve in suburban Papamoa, near the Bay of Plenty on New Zealand's eastern coast, the newspaper said.

Initially, Maris thought the silk nets were unoccupied, she said. But as she and her family explored the webs' outer perimeter, they noticed that there were "little black things on top" — spiders, numbering in the thousands, Maris told The NZ Herald. "So, as you do, we screamed really loudly," she said.

Maris spotted the webs on a newly made tsunami evacuation mound, she told the news agency Storyful. "There was a bright glistening coming from the top of the mound. It looked almost like the hill was sparkling," Maris said. The elevated mound may have attracted spiders seeking higher ground after recent flooding from Cyclone Cook earlier that week, Maris told Storyful.
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